MCN Originals Archive for January, 2019
The DVD Wrapup: Nutcracker, Always Room For Giallo, Mondo, Hunter Killer, Slice, Night Is Short, Suburbia, Masanjia and more
Disney decided that “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” had a better ring to it than “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” And, perhaps, that’s where the studio’s expectations for the holiday movie first hit a wall.
Read the full article »Gurus o’ Gold On The Oscar Chart No. 1

Weighing in on a first set of Oscar nominations, including acting nods after the Sunday night SAG awards. Harsh weather and (harsher?) Sundance delayed several Gurus, but the roster will be back to full strength in charts leading up to Oscar night.
Love for BlacKkKlansman pushes Spike Lee’s multi-nominated pic atop Green Book for second ranking for Best Pictures. Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor predications offer up a pretty solid consensus
Read the full article »Sundance: Untitled Amazing Johnathan Documentary, The Magic Life of V and Walden

What sets “Untitled Amazing Johnathan Documentary” apart is that about midway through the film there’s a plot twist, followed by another plot twist, followed by a period of tense relationship between documentarian and subject that left Berman sad, morose, feeling badly used, and uncertain as to whether he’d ever finish his film. It’s here that “Untitled Amazing Johnathan Documentary,” not unlike “Winnebago Man,” becomes a film as much about the filmmaker unearthing deep and sometimes unpleasant truths about himself and ultimately becoming part of his own film, as it is about the subject the film thought it was going to be when it grew up.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Mikey & Nicky, Apparition, Widowed Witch, Dis, Spiral, Wandering Muse, Jack the Ripper, Howling 3, Eating Animals, Scoundrels, Waterworld … More
Cassavetes and Falk may fit the mold of small-time wise guys, but the characters’ likability factor decreases from the moment May ratchets up the dial on Nicky’s booze-fueled paranoia. It plummets even further during their visits to former wives and girlfriends, who act as if they expect to be slapped around, fucked and forsaken.
Read the full article »The Gurus O’ Gold Weigh The Acting Categories And Best Picture

Hello, Glenn Close!
Oscar nominations drop on Tuesday morning, and the Gurus anticipate some shifts in the Academy’s Final Five for acting nominations, plus a few flyaway titles from the Best Picture roster, which could contain as many as ten nominees.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Not A Witch, Jonathan, The Captain, Speed Kills, Room 304, Hippocrates, The Dark, Crimson Peak, Tea With Dames, Forbidden Photos, Addiction … More
I was reminded of Nǃxau while watching I Am Not a Witch, an offbeat dramedy by Rungano Nyoni. It depicts the ways women convicted of being witches in rural Zambia cope with ignorance, prejudice and forced labor.
Read the full article »The Gurus o’ Gold Highlight Best Picture, Best Foreign Language, Best Documentary

Checking in a week before Oscar nomination voting ends: predictions for documentary feature, foreign language film, and of course, best picture, with a good range of wiggling in the rankings after major guilds have announced their nominees.
Read the full article » 4 Comments »The DVD Wrapup: Mid90s, Oath, Obamaland, Bad Reputation, Hell Fest, Time Freak, Kusama, Oddsockeaters, Bent, Harry/Sally, Nemesis, Frontline, Cats … More
Jonah Hill’s endearing dramedy is only the latest entry in a long list of movies in which skateboarding plays a key role in the social development of borderline characters looking for a reason to wake up in the morning.
Read the full article »Gurus Predict Globes Picks And Best Picture

The Gurus weigh in on Best Picture after the PGA nominations and Hollywood Foreign Press best pics before Sunday night gets its Globe on.
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