Movie Mom on AU’s District Wire News

Posted on January 5, 2018 at 8:42 pm

Thanks so much to American University’s District Wire network for inviting Hannah Buchdahl and me to talk about the movies of 2017.

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Media Appearances

Online Film Critics Society: 2017 Awards

Posted on December 28, 2017 at 10:32 pm

I’m honored to be a member of the Online Film Critics Society and very proud of this year’s awardees. I note that they closely track another group I belong to, the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

Best Picture
Get Out

Best Actor
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Best Director
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk

Original Screenplay
Jordan Peele, Get Out

Adapted Screenplay
James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name

Best Documentary
Faces Places

Best Foreign Language Film
BPM (Beats Per Minute)

Best Supporting Actor
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Best Animated Feature
Coco

Best Editing
Lee Smith, Dunkirk

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049

Best Ensemble
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Breakout Star of the Year
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

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Rogerebert.com: 2017’s Great Performances

Posted on December 27, 2017 at 9:36 pm

It was an honor to have my thoughts on Meryl Streep in “The Post” included in rogerebert.com’s annual tribute to some of the most noteworthy performances of the year. Other highlighted actors include Adam Sandler in “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” Harry Dean Stanton in “Lucky,” Rebecca Hall in “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women,” Andy Serkis in “War for the Planet of the Apes,” Tiffany Haddish in “Girls Trip,” and Kyle Mooney in “Brigsby Bear.”

The Year in Movies from The Credits

Posted on December 22, 2017 at 6:01 pm

One of my favorite movie sites is MPAA’s The Credits, and I am always honored when they let me write for them. I love their tribute to 2017 in film — take a look!

My Best of Best of 2017 Lists

Posted on December 19, 2017 at 6:50 pm

I often say, to use the words of Jan Struther on another subject, that rankings are “indefensible but irresistible.” (Struther is on my own list of favorite writers, or, I should say since she is very British, favourite.) I don’t spend much time on my own end of the year best/worst lists, but I really enjoy reading other people’s. As usual, this year’s top ten movies of 2017 lists have a lot of overlap (“3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” “Lady Bird,” “Mudbound,” “Call Me By Your Name,” “The Big Sick,” “Get Out,” and “The Florida Project” showed up on most lists) and a few titles that turned up on some best lists AND some worst lists, primarily “mother!,” “Killing of a Sacred Deer,” and “Phantom Thread.” (All were on my worst list.)

One I look forward to every year is the list from The Atlantic’s Chris Orr. He always had great descriptions of the films he loved, but what puts him at the top of my best list of bests list is his shrewd and very funny list of other bests and worsts, for example:

The Aaron Taylor-Johnson Award for Repeated Failure to Become an Actual Movie Star: Charlie Hunnam (The Lost City of Z; King Arthur: Legend of the Sword)

The Sienna Miller Award for Perpetual Widowhood: Sienna Miller (The Lost City of Z)

The “Tony Soprano in Holsten’s Ice Cream Parlor” Award for Most Ominous Door Chime: mother!

Funniest Stone-Man: Thor: Ragnarok
Sexiest Fish-Man: The Shape of Water

Trends of the year I noted: poison mushrooms (two movies), retreat framed as victory (at least five movies), different characters’ points of view (at least two movies)

Other top ten lists worth reviewing: David Edelstein, Dana Stevens, and the list of the year’s best performances from my friends at Rogerebert.com

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Critics