The Grab Bag (Jan. 21, 2014)

OFCS members don’t just write film reviews. Here are several articles you might find interesting.

Best of Lists

The 10 most exciting films of 2014

Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix

The 25 Best Films of 2013

Kenji Fujishima @ Slant Magazine

Cinema Junkie Awards

Beth Accomando @ KPBS Cinema Junkie

  • Excerpt: There’s also a dissonance at the heart of my number two pick, “Only God Forgives” from Denmark’s Nicholas Winding Refn. Set in Bangkok, the film is a meditation on violence and revenge.

Slant Magazine’s Top 25 Films of 2013

Kenji Fujishima @ The House Next Door

Top Ten Shorts 2013

Michael Pattison @ Keyframe

Year In Review: InRO’s Top 20 Films of 2013, Part I

Kenji Fujishima @ In Review Online

Year In Review: InRO’s Top 20 Films of 2013, Part II

Kenji Fujishima @ In Review Online

Interviews

The Coen Brothers Talk ‘Llewyn Davis’

piers Marchant @ Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Valeria Golino

Joseph Proimakis @ Popaganda.gr [Greek]

Festivals: General Coverage

Shorts By Northwest: Curtocircuíto

Michael Pattison @ idFilm

Awards Coverage

12 Years a Slave is Golden Globes Best Picture

Jennie Kermode @ Eye For Film

Best Adapted Screenplay: No Longer a Novel Affair?

Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer

  • Excerpt: Will this year’s race for Best Adapted Screenplay be the first since 1929 to omit a film based on a novel?

Best Cinematography

Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema

  • Excerpt: It is more than just pretty pictures.

CinEuphoria Award Winners 2014

Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]

  • Excerpt: CinEuphoria Blog Awards 2014: International Competition, Portuguese Competition, Honorary Awards and Audience Awards

Films, DVDs, Chickens and Eggs: How Screeners Affect Awards Season

Erik Childress @ RogerEbert.com

Golden Globe Awards

Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk

  • Excerpt: Let’s just say I am pretending that Elisabeth Moss won for Mad Men (even though it wasn’t even nominated) and not for the bedtime lullaby Top of the Lake (zzzzz…).

Golden Globes: I Declare Emma Thompson the Winner!

Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer

  • Excerpt: Recap of the 2014 Golden Globe awards broadcast

Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards (and Brief Analysis)

Tony Dayoub @ Cinema Viewfinder

Oscar Morning: The Article (2013)

Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight

  • Excerpt: A preview and prediction guidline for the 86th Academy Awards nominations

The Oscar Nominations

Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema

  • Excerpt: The surprise wasn’t who was on the list, but who wasn’t

Oscar Preview: Precursor Winners & Losers, Week 7

Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight

  • Excerpt: Looking at the winners and losers of week 7 of Precursor Season

Oscars

Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk

  • Excerpt: This year’s Oscar nominations were announced early this morning and they were filled with “OMG” and “told ya” moments.

Razzie Awards

Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk

  • Excerpt: If you know me at all then you know that my affinity for snark refuses to let something like the Razzie award nominations, which honors the worst talent in films, pass me by without a single comment.

Television

Doctor Who: “The Time of the Doctor”

MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com

  • Excerpt: I’ve watched this episode four times now, and it annoys me more every time.

Elementary: Ancient History

Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan

  • Excerpt: It’s good to see Elementary taking more risks and grow in confidence with this tale that starts with a body but where murder wasn’t the actual cause of death.

Elementary: Poison Pen

Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan

  • Excerpt: Poison Pen continues what seems to be the theme of Elementary Season Two: a personal exploration of the main character…

Shameless and House of Lies

Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk

  • Excerpt: Just as I anticipated, Sunday’s season 4 premiere of Shameless titled “Simple Pleasures” served mainly to enable my obsession with V and Kevin (Shanola Hampton and Steve Howey).

Sherlock: Season One

Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan

  • Excerpt: I have completed Season/Series One of Sherlock, the BBC update of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and frankly I can’t understand why Sherlock fans are so fierce and fanatical over this particular series.

Sherlock: The Great Game

Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan

  • Excerpt: As much as I wanted to I could never shake off the idea that Sherlock’s Jim Moriarty was a variation of the Master in the revived Doctor Who.

True Detective

Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire

  • Excerpt: You’ve seen all these elements before, but you’ve not seen them done like this. As Roger Ebert used to say, “It’s not what a movie is about, but how it’s about it.”

Essays

Barbecues and Ballgames: Heat

Michael Pattison @ idFilm

BBFC revised guidelines released

Jennie Kermode @ Eye For Film

Ben-Hur: 1925, 1959, and 2010

Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan

  • Excerpt: The 1959 Ben-Hur remains among the greatest films ever made. Cineastes will enjoy the 1925 version and find good things in it. The 2010 version will be forgotten.

Destroy All Monsters: Stop J.J. Abrams

Matt Brown @ Twitch

Home Alone 2 at 20

Michael Pattison @ idFilm

Pluto – Pluto – Pluto

Michael Pattison @ idFilm

The Problem With Netflix’s Goofy Sub-Genre Algorithms

Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire

  • Excerpt: These recommendation engines must be working, or else Netflix wouldn’t keep using them, so my anecdotal experience — that I’ve never used them for anything more than a giggle, and don’t know any serious cinephiles who’d take their recommendations seriously — is probably irrelevant. But I know this much: these intricate categorizations are basically filler for the Netflix front page, a clunky interface that pushes lesser titles so we don’t notice how infrequently they’re streaming what we’re actually looking for.

Other Articles

2014 Oscars Predictions

Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]

  • Excerpt: Mi quiniela de los Oscars 2014

Between the Conceivable and the Actual: Patrick Keiller’s The View From the Train

Michael Pattison @ The Notebook / Mubi

The Morning After: January 13, 2014

Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight

  • Excerpt: Short review of “The Train”

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