In 2019, Joel and Ethan Coen, the award-winning filmmaking brothers behind such films as Raising Arizona, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski, announced that they were splitting up because Ethan Coen was “giving movies a rest” and wanted to focus on stage plays and did not want to work on Joel’s next project, The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ethan has now returned to the directors’ chair with Drive-Away Dolls, a zany lesbian road-trip movie that felt…
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Amir Naderi’s 1984 film The Runner is the latest film to enter the Criterion Collection. Inspired by director Amir Naderi’s own boyhood, The Runner is lit from within by Madjid Niroumand’s electrifying performance as a young orphan fending for himself on the streets of a port city, determined to rise above his circumstances—working odd jobs, passing time with friends, learning to read—and running, always running, toward the future. Water, fire, the human body in motion: in hypnotic images…
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The 2024 Academy Awards are here! Despite hardly ever agreeing with who wins at the Oscars and the constant controversy surrounding the nominees and the show in general, I always get excited about Oscar night. Like most years, some categories seemed locked up based on precursors and awards-season wins. This year feels more predictable than most, but there are still a few battles that I am excited to see and I’m sure there will be…
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The 2024 Academy Awards are here, which means the 2023 movie year is almost officially over. This year’s Oscars finds Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer leading the way in nominations with thirteen, followed by Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things with eleven nominations, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon with ten nominations, respectively. This year’s group of Best Picture nominees is one of the best we have seen in quite some time. Six of the ten films nominated…
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