Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.
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‘Little Woods’ review — Tessa Thompson goes against the system

Little Woods, Nia DaCosta's directorial debut, finds two sisters going up against a system that doesn't want them to succeed in One sentence review: Little Woods is a quiet, well-directed character-driven drama that features a powerhouse emotional performance by Tessa Thompson. One paragraph review: Though it may be on the nose at times, Little Woods is a tense and emotional look at…
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2020 Oscars Update #1: Are ‘Us’ or ‘Captain Marvel’ contenders?

This is the state of the race. At the end of every month, I'm going to take a look at the state of the race — breaking down the contenders that made a splash, those that fizzled out, and the ones to come.

317 days until the

Oscar contenders that were released this month

By this time last year, three Oscar-nominated films had premiered — Best Picture nominee Black Panther, Best Animated Feature nominee Isle of Dogs, and Best Visual Effects nominee Ready Player One.

Most notably, it was the second year in a row that a best picture nominee was released in the first quarter of the year — Get Out was released in February 2017. And what do Get Out and Black Panther have in common? They were both massive hits at the box office. It makes sense considering it takes a lot for a voter to remember your film almost a year later.

2019 has been notably slow at the box office, but there have been two massive hits that could be in the Oscar conversation. enough, they both have connections to past early Oscar contenders:

Continue reading “2020 Oscars Update #1: Are ‘Us' or ‘Captain Marvel' contenders?”
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Comedic Performances that Deserved Oscar Nominations

The are notorious for ignoring comedies, so we took to Twitter to find the comedic performances that were worthy of nominations.

Dying is easy, comedy is hard. However, in the eyes of the , comedy isn't equal. Comedies are rarely taken seriously and when they are they are rarely broad comedies.

With taking home the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in comedy The Favourite, I took to #FilmTwitter to find other comedic performances that should have been nominated for Oscars. Here are some of those answers.

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‘High Flying Bird’ review — The politics of basketball

High Flying Bird is a masterfully constructed drama that tackles the professional sports business with as much intrigue as a heist movie.  30-second review: High Flying Bird doesn't clue you into its real intentions until the very end, that doesn't make the journey to get there any less compelling. Steven Soderbergh is a master of storytelling…