If you were a kid in the 90s, there's a great chance that your parents did not let you anywhere near the "Mortal Kombat" video-game. The game alone, with its ultra-realistic graphics, excessive violence and its patented "fatalities" end-moves sparked a national debate on video-game violence and led to the creation of a video-game ratings system that is still in use today.
In other words, it was super bad-ass. "Mortal Kombat" was the bloody cousin of the neutered "Street Fighter" franchise, and it has since grown into one of the most massive, successful video-game properties of all-time, spawning more than 20 game versions, a 1995 film (and it's horrible 1997 sequel) and now this 2021 movie incarnation. Like it's big-screen predecessor, the new "Mortal Kombat" knows its audience and in that vein, it delivers what's expected. If you were offended then, you'll most likely be offended now, and if you're new to the whole thing, you probably won't think that this is anything all that special at all, given that blood, gore and violence have become pretty mainstream across all mediums, since the "Mortal Kombat" video-game debuted back in 1992.
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OSCAR Week: 5 reasons you shouldn't sleep on the Oscar Short Film categories this or any year4/22/2021 Oscar Short Films have long been the biggest enigma of every Academy Awards ceremony. Where most movie-goers tune in to the Oscars for the glitz, glamour and celebrity of it all, very few have seen or even heard of many of the nominated Short Films each year.
Often, the audience might recognize one of the Animated Shorts (if it happened to play in front of big Animated blockbusters like "Frozen" or "Moana"), but two would be a stretch. In recent years, the entire nominated Short Film slate has been packaged and shown in theaters, but even then, they're a hard sell for everyone except the Oscar die-hards or the movie-going elite, and rarely have the Shorts been played at any multiplex or theater that isn't a small art house. Despite this, they continue to be a part of the celebration, earning a seat at the table among the "longies" at the biggest awards celebration of all. The Globes, the Critics Choice and even the Screen Actors Guild has no such public (or private) award for the Short Film format (under 40 minutes in length), so it is very much a medium which The Academy alone seems to deem important. But I'm here to tell you: Do not sleep on the Oscar Short Films! Here are 5 reasons why: There are several smallish, independent comedies that see release each year, many centering on relationships. But none quite operate like the new gem "Together Together," about a man and a woman who need each other, just not in the way you might think.
It seems simple enough: What makes a movie a good movie?
The experience of watching a film is subjective of course. You have to factor in not only what you're watching, but where, when and with whom you're seeing it. "The Wizard of Oz," for example, is a great film on many fronts, but its achievements in sound, visual effects, production design or musical numbers are not why I personally think of it as a great film. Sure it has all that, but it's great to me, because it reminds me of my papa and grandma's house, of being a kid curled up in front of their vintage TV, seeing the joy on their old, wrinkled faces, rewinding and watching that tired VHS tape like there wasn't a care in the world. There really wasn't back then. A question I often get asked now that I watch movies for a living is: "What makes a movie a good movie?" Sidestepping that direct question, since it is "Oscar Week" (the 93rd Academy Awards air this Sunday on ABC), I thought I would ponder a similar Oscar-themed inquiry: What makes a movie a Best Picture candidate? I put some thought into this and asked some of my fellow film critic colleagues to ponder the concept (and looked to a few of the icons of the profession as well), in the hopes that the average movie-goer may gain some insights as to why critics like certain movies and dislike others, and what makes some movies a Best Picture candidate and others, not. There are no aliens, no secret attacks, no mutinies in "Stowaway." The entirety of the film is presented as a moral dilemma, the kind of situation a group of college psychiatric students might try to work through over the course of a semester.
It's small in scale despite taking place mostly in the outer reaches of space, but "Stowaway" carries with it both some dead weight and some unexpected surprises. After the year we've all just endured, whose game for a celebration? Well, Hollywood is for one. The 93rd Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars - will air live on Sunday, April 25th, 2021, at 8pm EDT on ABC and will undoubtedly be a different kind of awards show than we've ever seen before. So what's different? And what can you expect on Sunday? You've come to the right place.
Here's all the info you'll need to ready yourself for this year's Oscars, an annual event that this year, will hopefully not just celebrate film, but will act to restore our faith in them...to rekindle our love of movies, the movie-going experience and that yearning for shared experience that we're all craving. Let's get to it! The 93rd Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars - will air live this Sunday, April 25th, 2021, at 8pm EDT on ABC. Our Oscar Week coverage continues with the two biggies: Best Director and Best Picture. The winners of these two awards are often intertwined...but will they be this year?
Before we dive in, a reminder: Join us and get ready for the Oscars this Sunday from 5pm - 6pm ET with the "Movie Show Plus LIVE! - Oscar Preview Special," streaming on MovieShowplus.com, as well as our Facebook and YouTube channels. The 93rd Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars - will air live this Sunday, April 25th, 2021, at 8pm EDT on ABC. Our Oscar Week coverage continues with a look at all of those "technical" categories that can be hard to predict, or even understand.
Don't fret! We've got you covered. Before we dive in, a reminder: Join us and get ready for the Oscars this Sunday from 5pm - 6pm ET with the "Movie Show Plus LIVE! - Oscar Preview Special," streaming on MovieShowplus.com, as well as our Facebook and YouTube channels. The 93rd Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars - will air live this Sunday, April 25th, 2021, at 8pm EDT on ABC. Our Oscar Week coverage continues with a look at the two Screenplay categories (Original and Adapted) as well as the Best Feature Films in the Animated, International and Documentary categories.
Before we dive in, a reminder: Join us and get ready for the Oscars this Sunday from 5pm - 6pm ET with the "Movie Show Plus LIVE! - Oscar Preview Special," streaming on MovieShowplus.com, as well as our Facebook and YouTube channels. As you may have heard by now,The 93rd Annual Academy Awards - The Oscars - will air live this Sunday, April 25th, 2021, at 8pm EDT on ABC. Our Oscar Week coverage continues with a look at the four "major" acting categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
Before we dive in, a reminder: Join us and get ready for the Oscars this Sunday from 5pm - 6pm ET with the "Movie Show Plus LIVE! - Oscar Preview Special," streaming on MovieShowplus.com, as well as our Facebook and YouTube channels. |
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