Spare Parts
Spare Parts may look slightly like an after-school special, mostly due to the inexperience of the writers, based on an incredible true Wired magazine article. H
true story
Selma
Director Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere) will very likely make history in 2015 as the first African American female to be nominated for best director in the Academy Awards history. DuVernay will only be the 5th woman ever nominated in that category. It’s probably an insignificant trivia fact for some, but it’s one more example
The Imitation Game
Winning the Toronto International Film Festival award proved to be a good omen for 12 Years a Slave, The Kings Speech and Slumdog Millionaire, as they went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards. The Imitation Game is based on the extraordinary true story of mathematician Alan Turing, whom Winston Churchill acknowledged contributed
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
This has been an incredible year for black history in film, and another beautiful film joins that welcome cluster. Director Just Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) is no stranger to historical pictures, and while his Mandela picture isn’t the sleekest and well rounded piece of cinema, it’s still a beautiful telling of an amazing story
Philomena
What appeared to me like a light hearted “human interest” story, as the film refers, is actually full of heart and quite emotional when it gets down to it. Philomena is based on an extraordinary true story that is partly worth telling due to the type of circumstances one just can’t make up. Oscar winner
The Sapphires
It seemed like Dreamgirls had clobbered the market in 2006 when it reigned supreme over the road to soul music success, even though it didn’t win best picture. In typical fashion, out of the blue comes an unexpected hit from Australia about the most unlikely soul singers who reinvent what Dreamgirls standardized. Australian films always
Hyde Park on Hudson
Director Roger Michell delivered a fantastic romantic comedy in the 90’s with Notting Hill; it was smart, enlightened and very European. Michell also directed the thriller Changing Lanes as well as 2010’s morning news romance Morning Glory. One of his most ambitious films is Hyde Park on Hudson because of the subject matter and the