Best Movies

Another year, another slew of great performances.  Every year this is the toughest list to make and every year I feel bad about leaving some performances off and this year is no different.  Like previous years, I have broken the performances down by category, much like the Oscars.  I will list the “nominees” of each category and then pick a winner and go further in depth as to why that actor gave the best performance…

When thinking about the movies of each year, I always like to think about what happened throughout the cinematic year.  I take a look back at all the movies that I saw over the year, as well as think about major news headlines and stories that broke during the year, and I reflect.  What did we learn?  What did we see?  Is there a new trend brewing?  What shook cinema this year?  Here are the…

Continuing to look at the best movies and performances of 2019, here is a look at the technical awards.  These are the awards I think we take for granted.  The editing, costumes, and production, to name a few, are some of the most important aspects of a films greatness.  I also added a few new categories for this year at the end for fun.  Here are my picks for the best from 2019.    …

Continuing to look at the best movies of 2019, it is now time to look at the genres.  I like to see movies from all genres from all around the world and this is the opportunity to highlight the best from all genres.  There are some conventional categories, like Best Animated Film and Best Foreign Film, but also categories you won’t find at the Oscars.  Here are my picks.         BEST ANIMATED…

Every year when I begin to look back at the movies of 2019 and begin to make my lists, this is always my favorite list to make.  It is a tough list to make, but always an exciting and interesting list to make.  I get to look back and look at my favorite moments of the year in movies. Whether it was a scene or a moment that scared me, thrilled me, caused an emotional…

Another year, another slew of comic book movies.  We got nine theatrical comic book/superhero movies this year and compared to previous year, 2019 was kind of a lousy year for comic book/superhero movies.  Though there are some good ones on here, particularly the top few films, 2019 did produce some of the worst comic book movies ever created and offered up a number of disappointing ones as well.  Here’s my ranking of the 2019 comic…

Usually when making this list, a list I have been doing monthly for three years, I have a relatively easy time picking which movies should make the cut.  Sometimes I’m forced to snub one or two, but usually the five are pretty easy to pick.  This month was the opposite of that.  There are over fifteen films coming out in November that I am excited for, which is kind of insane.  We got horror movies,…

The 55th Chicago International Film Festival has officially come to a close.  Over the last twelve days, the festival showed numerous films from all different genres with various budgets from a number of different countries from all around the world.  This is an incredibly diverse film festival and every year I am honored to attend it.  I saw 26 films at this year’s festival and I would say it was a very good year at…

The 55th Chicago International Film Festival kicks off this week and it is a festival I love attending.  Not only was this the first festival that I attended back in 2008, but it is a festival that highlights so many unique movies from all around the world and showcasing some of the best filmmakers working today.  This year’s festival is no different, with a slew of movies from all genres from dozens of different countries. …

October might be my favorite movie month of the year.  It’s right in the middle of the fall festival circuit, Oscar season is in full motion, and the month is loaded with interesting titles, from family films to Oscar hopefuls.  This month is loaded with potentially great movies.  The directors and actors that are on display this month are some of the best.  We got satirical comedies, indie drams, a controversial comic book film, and…