The Academy Award for Best Picture has slowly taken on a life of its own, and anyone who confidently thinks they know who’ll win it in 2018 is a fraud.

Every Academy Awards ceremony draws criticism in one form or another, and this year the majority of social media boo-birds looked away from Ellen Degeneres, away from John Travolta (how can you get mad?) and settled upon the branches of the Best Actor race. “Leonardo DiCaprio was robbed again,” they said.

When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I shudder. I hate that question. In fact, don’t ever ask me what my favorite anything is. The things I love in this world have a depth of variety and a multi-faceted nature that make it impossible to anoint one as “the best.” Ask me what […]

I am a 20-something male who has no children, and I watch animated movies. I would normally preface such a statement by outwardly saying that this is something I’m not ashamed to admit it, but I felt no need to blanket it with any kind of qualifier because I know I’m not alone. Animated/family films […]

Wanting to destroy the world just doesn’t cut it these days. Wealth, power and greed? Kid stuff. As Heath Ledger’s Joker said, “this city deserves a better class of criminal, and I’m gonna give it to them.” Who knew that by “city” he meant Hollywood?

When newly minted Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence tripped on the steps up to the Dolby Theatre stage on Sunday, you could hear the rumble in the tabloid Twitter-verse as Hollywood followers raced to call out the gaffe and smear Lawrence’s embarrassment all over the Internet. To casual Oscar viewers and those whose attention to celebrity […]

Crazy to think that this is my fourth time wrapping up Movie Muse’s Oscar coverage, but here we are, another awards season gone by. This year was highly unusual in that there were so many good films and performances, but there was never really a clear favorite for Best Picture, even with “Argo” sweeping all […]

As always, I close the book on 2012 with my year in review, a close examination of the trends in movies and moviegoing that either emerged or changed during the course of the year.

  “Star Wars” returning to the big screen for Episodes VII, VIII and IX is a super exciting prospect, but we all felt the same way before I, II and III. So if you’re one of those “Star Wars” fans out there who’s extremely nervous that new films could further sully the reputation of the […]

If you need a reminder of why “The Dark Knight Rises” is the most anticipated film in years, just watch “The Dark Knight” — one more time. Christopher Nolan’s sequel never disappoints.

Sony’s reboot of Spider-Man is still baffling to the general public. Why start all over again? Why retell Peter Parker’s origin story when an overwhelming majority of moviegoers know it by heart?

With “Prometheus” about to enter theaters, you may have been one of many—myself included—who put “watch ‘Alien’” on their to-do list. Director Ridley Scott and writer Damon Lindelof have tried to obscure the relationship between this summer’s blockbuster and the 1979 classic, but the former is a convenient excuse for visiting the latter.

His formula is simple: 1) Create a character. 2) Imbue him with social and cultural ignorance and a host of stereotypes and/or insensitive world views. 3) Commit to him on and off the screen. 4) Use character to push boundaries of political correctness and obscenity. 5) Do not stop repeating No. 4. Ever. The success […]

No risk, no reward — you can’t exactly picture Hollywood execs saying that one too often. The movie industry is almost always about sure bets, especially when studios spend more than $100 million on most of their major films. Sequels, book adaptations — anything familiar with a built-in fan base to justify a high price […]

Directing can be assessed in countless ways, from the how someone frames a shot to how they interpret the script to simply an ability to get the best out of the talent on screen. Sometimes, they might just be damn good at picking the right projects. The very best directors seem to possess one or […]