— by Renard N. Bansale — Potential spoilers below The 91st Academy Awards take place this Sunday. Betting contests on who will win and debates on who should win rage until the moment each category’s presenter reads the card from the sealed envelope. I just stick by my personal picks (strictly from the final list …

— by Renard N. Bansale — Definite spoilers below One of my favorite film sites, the B+ Movie Blog, has an annual tradition I greatly appreciate: On the Saturday before the annual Academy Awards, he publishes articles on his five favorite moments from each Best Picture nominee (see here). I love that tradition because he …

— by Renard N. Bansale — Potential spoilers below It is never the films themselves, but rather the perception of them that is overrated or underrated. Once more, a brief glance at the opposite end of the spectrum: Renard’s 10 Most Overrated Films of 2018: Aquaman (dir. James Wan) Avengers: Infinity War (dir. Anthony Russo …

— by Renard N. Bansale — Potential spoilers below First, I would like to get these out of the way: Renard’s Bottom 10 Films of 2018: 1.) Slender Man (dir. Sylvain White) 2.) Blockers (dir. Kay Cannon) 3.) Life of the Party (dir. Ben Falcone) 4.) Holmes & Watson (dir. Etan Cohen) 5.) The Happytime …

(2018—Director: Paweł Pawlikowski) (watch trailer here) — by Renard N. Bansale — ★★★★ (out of 5 stars)     “Two hearts, four eyes, oy oy oy. / Crying all day and all night, oy oy oy.” “Believe in yourself.” … “I do. It’s you I don’t believe in.” — Wiktor Warski (Tomasz Kot) and Zuzanna “Zula” …

(2018—Director: Adam McKay)  — by Renard N. Bansale — High ★★★½ (out of 5 stars)  “You are the President. War is yours.” — Vice President Richard “Dick” Cheney (Christian Bale) to President George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) Potential spoilers below Three years after The Big Short propelled writer-director Adam McKay from comedy auteur of the …

(2018—Director: Barry Jenkins) — by Renard N. Bansale — ★★★★ (out of 5 stars)  “You ready for this?” “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my whole life.” Potential spoilers below Few will forget that infamous moment (see here and here) at the tail end of the 89th Academy Awards. Writer-director Damien Chazelle’s smash …

(2018—Directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, & Rodney Rothman) — by Renard N. Bansale — High ★★★ (out of 5 stars)  “No matter how many times you get hit, can you get back up?” — Gwen Stacey/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) to Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) Potential spoilers below “All right, people, let’s do this one last time.” …

(2018—Director: Rob Marshall) — by Renard N. Bansale — High ★★★½ (out of 5 stars)  “Some people think a great deal too much. Of that, I’m certain.” — Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) to Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) Potential spoilers below 2018 was a banner year for Disney, who made over $7.33 billion in worldwide box …

(2018—Director: Alfonso Cuarón) — by Renard N. Bansale — ★★★★★ (out of 5 stars)  “We are alone. No matter what they tell you, women, we always are alone.” — Señora Sofía (Marina de Tavira) to Cleodegaria “Cleo” Gutiérrez (Yalitza Aparicio) Potential spoilers below Cinema in 2013 bolsters multiple candidates for “the most year-defining film”. The …