La La Land could continue its Oscar sweep in Best Cinematography, but Lion and Arrival have a chance at upsetting. Best Cinematography seemed like a shut category until Greg Fraiser (Lion) upset frontrunner Linus Sandgren (La La Land) at the American Society of Cinematographers Awards. Even though the group only predicts the Oscar winner about half of the time, it showed that La La Land isn't infallible.…
Best Director looks like a locked up category with Damien Chazelle becoming the youngest winner in history for La La Land. Best Director is probably the easier of the major categories to predict at the Oscars. Even if Best Picture is a surprise — Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan or Crash over Brokeback Mountain — Best Director always goes the way that…
La La Land seems invincible in Best Picture. But I can see an upset coming from Moonlight or even Hidden Figures. Since the film premiered at Venice in September, La La Land has been the frontrunner for Best Picture. It really has won everything it needs to win — Golden Globe, BAFTA, the Guilds — and has ratcheted up incredible buzz…
Emma Stone (La La Land) should easily win Best Actress at the Oscars. However, there are two contenders that could take her down. Best Actress is looking more and more like it's going to be going to Emma Stone (La La Land) this year. It would be her first Oscar after being nominated in 2015 for Birdman.…
The race for Adapted Screenplay is a low-key competitive category. However, I think it's also prime for an upset. Moonlight has to watch its back. Best Adapted Screenplay is a seemingly low-key category that is probably going to go the way we expect. However, I actually think it's among the most competitive of the night. I could…
Zootopia is the comfortable frontrunner in this category, however, Kubo and the Two Strings could pull off a surprise upset While Best Animated Feature sounds like an open and shut category, there is actually room for an upset. But let's start at the bottom first. I think the only film that has absolutely zero chance of winning The Red…
The overarching story of awards season this year has to be La La Land's dominance from beginning to end. After winning a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and tying the record for the most Oscar nominations with 14, it seemed that Best Picture was a done deal. And I think it probably is. Smart pundits will put…
The Age of Miracles, a speculative fiction coming-of age-story, is Karen Thompson Walker’s debut novel. It’s a look into the lives of 11-year-old Julia and her family during “the slowing”—due to unknown causes, the earth’s rotation has shifted, and the days are getting longer. Like, 40 hours of sunlight longer. Walker speculates (hence, speculative fiction)…
Because my commute involves two hours on three trains every morning, I was able to read 41 books this year. While I am very proud of this fact, I'm also sad about it. But these ten (well, eleven) books were well worth it. Here are my favorite books I read in 2016! 10. Looking for Alaska (tie)…
In honor of the finale of the brilliant fifth season of The Good Wife, here is a list of what I consider to be their 10 Best Episodes. Hitting the Fan (Season 5, Episode 5): When I started writing this list I knew from the beginning that this episode would be number one. It brought together every…
