Category Archives: Features

10 Actors Who Should Have Won the Oscar But Didn’t

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BY KEVIN CARR

Art is subjective, as is the appreciation for it and the accolades thrust upon it. This is no more evident that during award season each year, in which every film critic, entertainment journalism outfit and average moviegoer throws in their two cents as to what were the best and worst of the previous year.

The Academy Awards are famous for the nomination snubs (such as this year’s snubbing of Ben Affleck and Kathyrn Bigelow for Best Director), but less remembered are the performances that should have won but didn’t. Reasons for this range from the age of the average Academy voter to the sheer politics of the industry.

From the more-than eight decades of the Oscars, here is a look at some people who should have won Best Actor but did not.
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The 10 Worst Films of 2012

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BY KEVIN CARR

While publicists and the film industry itself eagerly await the bevy of Best Films lists from critics, they’re less excited about our lists for the bottom of the barrel. But when there’s arguably more films that can make it on a Worst Films list, this can be a cathartic act for people like me. Where my Best Films list inevitably contains several animated titles, a new trend has shown up on my Worst Films list. Check out numbers 1, 2 and 3 and question whether I want to see another shaky-cam movie in the near future.
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The 10 Best Films of 2012

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BY KEVIN CARR

This past year was a year of firsts, including the first movie to make more than $200 million on its opening weekend and the first movie to be presented in the high frame rate of 48 fps. It was a year of life imitating art, sometimes tragically and violently. There was plenty of bad with the good, and like any year, only a rare few rose to the top. I did not ubiquitously enjoy the movies throughout the year as I did in 2011, but there were still some real great ones. Here’s my ten favorite….
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The 10 Worst Films of 2011

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BY KEVIN CARR

As the year ends, many critics rush to build a list of top films from the past twelve months. While I do that myself (and you can check it out here), it’s sometimes more fun (or at least more cathartic) to compile a hate-filled rant that masquerades as a Worst of the Year list. Like any year, there have been plenty of terrible movies, but here is the sour cream of the crop for 2011.
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The 10 Best Films of 2011

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BY KEVIN CARR

Some folks will probably disagree with me, but I thought 2011 was actually a pretty good year for films. It didn’t have a ton of fantastic movies, but it had plenty of good movies throughout. Sure, there were real stinkers (which you can check out here), but there were plenty of three- and four-star films out there to enjoy. And the beginning of 2011 treated us to some truly original content, even if none of those films made this final list. But when all is said and done, there were still some fantastic films to enjoy, and the year really ended with a bang.
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The 10 Most Mediocre Films of 2010

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BY KEVIN CARR

This past year had some good films. It also had some great films. And yes, it had some bad films as well. Such is the case for any year, but what stood to me the most was the wash of mediocre movies that hit the screens. These were films that were okay to watch but not great. They defined “meh” and just didn’t rise above any sort of scrutiny. Not much more can be said about the entries to this list, except for the fact that they were all just stunningly okay.
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The 10 Worst Films of 2010

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BY KEVIN CARR

10. CONVICTION
conviction_2010
Each year, some films try so hard to win awards that they become mockeries of themselves. “Conviction” was such a movie, featuring a woman trying to exonerate her brother for murder. Like last year’s “Amelia,” no amount of good acting from Hillary Swank could save this film from the wash of award movie cliches that were thrown at the screen.
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The 10 Best Films of 2010

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BY KEVIN CARR

10. MACGRUBER
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I may be the only person in the known universe to find this movie funny (or to have actually seen it in the first place), but I’m okay with that. Considering the desolate minefield of unfunny SNL adaptations that have roamed the planet, it was nice to see a flick that actually made me laugh. It worked as a spoof movie and as a send-up of 80s action flicks. And it was classic MacGruber.
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The Worst Films of the Decade (2000-2009)

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BY KEVIN CARR

10. Norbit (2007)
After being nominated for an Oscar, Eddie Murphy bounced back to remind the cinematic world that he still made some of the worst movies imaginable. It may have been a hit, but like the hideous spoofs of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, it only proved that at the right time, the public likes absolute crap.

9. Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows (2000)
Although it induced nausea in moviegoers around the world, The Blair Witch Project was a bona fide indie hit that was a pretty neat film when all was said and done. However, in the wake of spoofs done by everyone from Chris Rock to porno producers, the sequel to this cinematic innovator reached levels of suck only consistently seen in Uwe Boll’s film repertoire.
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The Best Films of the Decade (2000-2009)

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BY KEVIN CARR

10. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Mel Gibson had a vision to make a cinematic passion play in dead languages, and he did so without Hollywood’s backing or support. It was a very polarizing film, but it was a powerful movie that shook things up in Hollywood.

9. United 93 (2006)
Only a few years after the events of September 11, Paul Greengrass directed the first theatrical movie about the terror attacks. With its gritty docudrama style, “United 93” presented an ultra-realistic look at some of the greatest American heroes in modern time.
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The 10 Worst Films of 2009

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BY KEVIN CARR

10. All About Steve
Sandra Bullock had three movies in 2009, two of which have garnered award nominations. This is the other one. She plays a crossword puzzle writer who falls in “love” with a news cameraman and then stalks him from job to job. It’s a non-traditional romantic comedy that fails because it ignores the formula… and the characters are just plain stupid.

9. My Sister’s Keeper
Nick Cassavetes, who gave us the weepy drama “The Notebook,” directs this adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s novel about a family that creates a child to be an organ and tissue farm for their other daughter who is dying of leukemia. It’s overly manipulative and has some of the cheesiest plot points and line deliveries ever.
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The 10 Best Films of 2009

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BY KEVIN CARR

10. Paranormal Activity
The theme for this year in my moviegoing adoration was the return of the theatrical experience, and “Paranormal Activity” was a tiny little film that made it big because of this. If you didn’t see this movie in a dark theater with 250 of your closest friends, you were really missing out.

9. Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Each year, a special documentary seems to make it on my list. This year’s pick is “Anvil: The Story of Anvil.” It’s a tender story of a real-life “Spinal Tap” with a bit of “American Movie” mixed in. I dare you to watch it and not root for the guys in the greatest metal band that never was.
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Bill Birnes and Giorgio Tsoukalos Interview, Part II

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racetowitchmountainbdA Q&A with “Race to Witch Mountain” UFO Experts: Part I

BY KEVIN CARR

Noted real-life UFO experts, Bill Birnes and Giorgio Tsoukalos, joined press in a virtual roundtable to discuss the UFO phenomenon and how it relates to the Disney film “Race to Witch Mountain.” Bill Birnes is the publisher of “UFO Magazine” and appears on the History Channel’s series “UFO Hunters.” Giorgio Tsoukalos is an expert on the ancient astronaut theory and the publisher of “Legendary Times Magazine.” Both had cameos in “Race to Witch Mountain.”
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Bill Birnes and Giorgio Tsoukalos Interview, Part I

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racetowitchmountainbdA Q&A with “Race to Witch Mountain” UFO Experts: Part I

BY KEVIN CARR

Noted real-life UFO experts, Bill Birnes and Giorgio Tsoukalos, joined press in a virtual roundtable to discuss the UFO phenomenon and how it relates to the Disney film “Race to Witch Mountain.” Bill Birnes is the publisher of “UFO Magazine” and appears on the History Channel’s series “UFO Hunters.” Giorgio Tsoukalos is an expert on the ancient astronaut theory and the publisher of “Legendary Times Magazine.” Both had cameos in “Race to Witch Mountain.”
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The “Disney View” of “Pinocchio”

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pinocchiodvdLegendary Disney artist Toby Bluth explains the process of “Disney View,” which enhances the BluRay experience of the 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition of “Pinocchio.”

BY KEVIN CARR

Over the years, the Walt Disney Company has treasured its classic animated films, bringing them out of the vault periodically for limited releases on home video. Once digital home entertainment took hold with the public, Disney has given its most revered films for releases in Platinum Editions, which feature multi-disc releases and restored footage and sound, plus plenty of bonus features.

Now that the BluRay hi-def format is widely available, Disney is moving their Platinum releases to this new superior format. The most recent Platinum Edition is the 1940 classic “Pinocchio,” which is getting a 70th anniversary release on March 10, 2009.
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