The Irishman Is Like No Other Gangster Movie Scorsese Has Ever Made

Early on in The Irishman, the film's titular lead character, Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), recounts a story about his time serving in World War II where he held two enemy soldiers at gunpoint while they dug their own graves. Sheeran, while telling this tale, puzzles over why the two soldiers were doing this task. "Did they think that, if they did a good enough job, they would be let go?" he ponders. Whatever drove them to dig those graves, it really didn't matter in the end, they ended up as corpses in the ground. Such a tale ends up being a parallel for the overarching story of Martin Scorsese's epic crime saga The Irishman, which is all about gangsters like Sheeran digging their own graves while ignoring the inevitable doom that awaits them.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette Is Shockingly Lifeless

After more than a decade doing independently financed arthouse fare, director Richard Linklater, one of the best directors currently working today, uses a film adaptation of the Maria Semple-penned book Where'd You Go, Bernadette as his return to more broadly appealing commercial fare, a domain he hasn't traipsed into since that Bad News Bears remake in 2005 that history has left to be forgotten. Linklater has been on an incredible hot streak in the 2010s with films like Bernie, Before Midnight and Boyhood, which makes it all the more profoundly disappointing how underwhelming his final feature of the decade ends up being. Linklater's well-known for making quiet films but they've never been as lacking in a pulse like Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

Slacker Saw Richard Linklater Hit The Ground Running As A Filmmaker

Having already written an extensive piece about Slacker for The Spool, I've already said plenty about this Richard Linklater directorial debut. But though it may be as casual as a gentle breeze floating through the air, Slacker offers up so much to viewers that there's still plenty to talk about in regards to this motion picture. Said motion picture follows the lives of a whole assortment of Austin, Texas citizens which feels in line with how writer/director Richard Linklater has frequently found plenty to be enamored with in the casual lives of everyday people. Unlike the majority of his films concentrating on that subject matter, though, Slacker doesn't have a protagonist to serve as a recurring fixed point for the audience to return to.

Before Sunrise Kicked Off A Sprawling Intimate Story Excellently

I believe I have to turn in my Film Critic Badge for saying this, but I saw Before Midnight in its summer 2013 theatrical run without having seen either of its two predecessors. I know, I'm a heathen for doing so, but even without knowledge of the prior films, I still loved Before Midnight, it was easily one of my favorite movies of 2013 and it got me hooked on Richard Linklater, one of my all-time favorite directors, as a filmmaker. Five years after watching Before Midnight, I felt it was high time to finally watch the two movies that preceded Linklater's 2013 gem, because I'm timely like that, a mission I would kick off with an inaugural viewing of the 1995 motion picture Before Sunrise.

Last Flag Flying Is The Newest Thoughtful & Heartfelt Accomplishment From Director Richard Linklater

Some of the most famous movies made by director Richard Linklater tend to center on youthful protagonists, like the High Schoolers in Dazed and Confused, the college-aged fraternity boys of Everybody Wants Some!!! or the lead character who inhabits numerous stages of youth in Boyhood. Linklater has a knack for writing both realistic and dramatically involving younger characters, but Last Flag Flying shows he doesn't lose his talents as a screenwriter when he's dealing with older individuals (fellow entries in Linklater's dynamite 2010's run Before Midnight and Bernie are similar showcases for this), on the contrary, he seems to thrive when given the opportunity to explore more life-experienced human beings.

Everybody Wants Some!! Is A Joyride Through The 80's Steered By Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater is absolutely in the zone with Everybody Wants Some!!, his newest directorial effort that has him setting his sights on the culture of the 1980's in the same way he thoroughly examined the 1970's in his landmark motion picture Dazed & Confused. And just like that 1993 film, human beings bouncing off each other in an academic environment is the name of the game, though in Everybody Wants Some!! the environment has shifted from the high school domicile of Dazed & Confused to college, specifically the weekend before one freshman's first college classes (and by default, a new chapter of his life) begins.

Richard Linklaters Next Movie Gets Spring 2016 Release Date

My most anticipated movie of 2015, no contest, was Richard Linklaters That's What I'm Talking About, his newest feature after making my favorite movie of 2014, Boyhood. Alas, it looks like I'll just have to settle for the likes a new Star Wars movie and The Martian in terms of forthcoming 2015 films as Linklaters next effort has not only ditched its original title (to my knowledge, it's still untitled) but it has also been given an official release date....in April 2016.

The Five Best 2015 Oscar Acceptance Speeches

Last nights Academy Awards ceremony was a predictable affair, with great films like Selma, Whiplash and especially Boyhood not getting as many awards as they deserved. In the end, Birdman took home the Best Director and Best Picture award, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the film (I found it audacious, but lacking in substance) I'm glad something a bit more unorthodox won at least. But that doesn't mean there weren't highlights of the ceremony, especially when it came time for Everything Is Awesome to be performed!

Final 2014 Oscars Predictions

I must say, the announcement of the nominations for this years Academy Awards ceremony really took a spring out of my step. While it was great to see notable filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater receive long overdue recognition in the Best Director category, the lack of nominations for excellent people like Gillian Flynn, David Oyelowo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ava Duvernay, and of course, a movie like The LEGO Movie just helped reinforce how out of touch the Oscars are with recognizing truly great cinema.

This Week, The Oscars Demonstrated Extremely Troubling Regress

This week, perhaps the most notable and talked about snub (aside from The LEGO Movie bizarrely not getting into Best Animated Feature) was Ava Duvernay not getting into Best Director for her superb work in Selma. Many complained, noting that the Academy Awards had displayed sexist and racist tendencies in the past. Other retorted to this, stating 12 Years A Slave winning Best Picture last year eradicated any possibility of those voting for the awards demonstrating racist tendencies, while also noting that the Academy should focus on voting for quality films instead of looking to "fill some quota".

Final 2015 Oscar Nominees Predictions!!!

Two days from now, the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards will be announced, ending months of speculation over who will get into the massively prominent awards ceremony. Right now I'll be attempting to predict the nominees for 13 of the 24 categories at the Oscars. God knows how accurate I'll be, but let's get things started, shall we?

My Current Best Supporting Acting Nominee Predictions!! (January 1, 2015 Edition)

Well, here's the final (for now!) set of my Oscar predictions. This time around, I'm covering the Supporting Acting categories, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress specifically. Shall we get this started then?

My Current Best Picture Nominees Predictions!! (December 28, 2014 Edition)

Well, the nominations for the next Academy Awards ceremony will be released two weeks from this Thursday.So let's take a look at my current predictions for the largest category of the ceremony, Best Picture.

My 12 Favorite Movie Trailers Of 2014

You won't see a ton of "Best of 2014" lists on this site at this time of the year, mainly because a good chunk of notable 2014 movies (Inherent Vice, Selma, American Sniper) won't come to a theater near me until mid-January. Expect lists revolving around my favorite 2014 features around that time, but I'll still toss a few retrospective lists in the next few days, starting with the one, which covers my 12 favorite 2014 trailers.

Editorial: What The Screen Actors Guild Nominations Mean For The 2014 Oscars

We're in the thick of awards season now, with tons of awards outlets announcing their nominations for various awards designed to give praise to the best in 2014 cinema. This morning, the Screen Actors Guild announced their nominations for various awards in the realm of acting. Let's take a look at those nominations and how they impact this years Academy Awards race, shall we?

Summer Movie Memories: Boyhood Is A Cinematic Treasure

In Summer Movie Memories, I'll be looking at summer movies from Summer 2014 and analyzing what really made them stand out this summer, for reasons both good and bad. In this final entry, I look at the masterpiece Boyhood, so obviously, SPOILERS for Boyhood lie ahead. 

Box Office Predictions: Can Sylvester Stallone Manage To Defeat Turtles And Star-Lord?

What a jam-packed weekend! We got three new releases, plus two holdovers that'll make over $20 million each, plus new updates on the limited release circuit. All of these releases are competing for box offiice glory, and I'm here to predict how they'll fare, so let's get right to it!!

Box Office Predictions: Raccoon With Machine Guns Battles Ninja Turtles For Box Office Glory

So Guardians of The Galaxy just blasted off last weekend, shattering all expectations, and frankly, looks like it'll become the biggest movie of the summer. Exceptional. It'll likely dip this weekend, thanks to huge Thursday night grosses last week, but it should manage to beat out four new releases this weekend for the Number One spot at the box office. Let's take a look at Guardians and these four new releases, as well as some new arthouse openings, shall we?

Box Office Analysis: Where Does Boyhood Go From Here?

An extraordinary movie is out right now in about 107 theaters, a movie called Boyhood. It's an astonishing film, one that everybody should see, but as the amount of theaters suggests, many can't yet. Luckily, it's doing gangbusters so far, including this past weekend where it made $1.7 million at its small amount of locations (which includes a $16,121 per theater average, indicating excellent attendance), so expansion should be coming quickly.

Boyhood Review

A Life of Thoughtfulness

I'm one of those guys who just thinks. A lot. Like, I can't turn off my brain. That's probably what's made me so cautious as a person; I can't help but think of every possible scenario that can come from any given scenario. As one might expect, my thoughts can occasionally drift to the heavy stuff, like the point of existence. Now, to go with my ability to do such deep thinking, is my photographic memory. I'm a visual kind of dude, and I can remember the smell, surroundings, feel of almost every single moment in my life.