Here’s what happened today in Oscar History.
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Poll: What Are You Most Anticipating? (May 2019, Wide)
Loading ...Film Preview: Avengement (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 24, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “While released on furlough from prison, a lowly criminal evades his guards and returns to his old haunts to take revenge on the people that made him a cold-hearted killer. It’s an epic, bloody battle to search for the soul he lost years ago on the streets of an unforgiving city.”
Poster Rating: –
Review: There was no poster immediately available for my review. Should one become available in the future, this section will be updated.
Trailer Rating: C-
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Review: A terrible title is the least of this film’s worries as it never establishes a purpose. The film looks more like an excuse for endless fight sequences, not for serious drama.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
Film Preview: All Creatures Here Below (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 10, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “A desperate young couple on the run seek refuge in Kansas City.”
Poster Rating: D+
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Review: A cheaply made poster that looks like it was cobbled together from the worst possible sources.
Trailer Rating: C
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Review: A cheaply made trailer that doesn’t present a film that has a lot of merits, won’t entice an audience, and cannot find its path through its own narrative.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
Film Preview: The Convent (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 3, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “During the 17th Century a young woman is saved from execution and led to a priory to repent her sins but discovers a greater evil lies within.”
Poster Rating: –
Review: There was no poster immediately available for my review. Should one become available in the future, this section will be updated.
Trailer Rating: C
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Review: The trailer suggests the film wants desperately to dig into the bountiful supernatural horror box office that has propelled many a film to success. Yet, nothing about the trailer suggests the film will be more than passable.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
Weekend Preview: Apr. 26-28, 2019
Below are two previews for films opening next weekend.
Avengers: Endgame (Wide)
The White Crow (Limited)
Gallery: Detective Pikachu (2019)
Below is a gallery for the upcoming film Detective Pikachu.
Gallery: Warner Bros. Summer Preview
Below is a gallery for the Warner Bros. summer preview.
This Day in Oscar History: April 21 (2019)
Film Preview: Photograph (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 17, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “A struggling street photographer in Mumbai, pressured to marry by his grandmother, convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancée. The pair develop a connection that transforms them in ways they could not expect.”
Poster Rating: B-
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Review: A couple falling in love over photographs express on a photograph. It’s a solid, though utterly predictable construction on a theme.
Trailer Rating: C
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Review: Romantic dramas are commonplace and trying to set oneself away from the pack is a difficult prospect and this trailer doesn’t quite accomplish that.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
Film Preview: Professor and the Madman (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 10, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.”
Poster Rating: C+ / C-
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Review: (#1) You definitely know who you’re looking at (even if the actor names in appear in reverse order at the bottom. The problem is that it looks more like a film set in Spain than it does a film about the modern dictionary. (#2) Properly reversing the Actors to match their names, it still looks like a post-Renaissance film set somewhere other than England. The words in the background are a cheap ploy for relevance.
Trailer Rating: C / C+
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Review: (#1 & #2) Both trailers suffer from an undercurrent of pomposity that makes the film feel like an unnecessary diversion to give Mel Gibson a shot at redemption and Sean Penn another chance to play a madman. Neither work terribly well, though the second is better at explaining the plot, which makes it sound a little more interesting.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
Film Preview: The Souvenir (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 17, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “A young film student in the early 80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.”
Poster Rating: C
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Review: There isn’t much here. The use of reflections is interesting, but it doesn’t play into the plot as well as it probably should and it certainly doesn’t make the film look appealing.
Trailer Rating: C+
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Review: This indie drama wants to feel important and it wants the audience to know it’s important, but the end result is that no one thinks it’s important, just pompous.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
This Day in Oscar History: April 20 (2019)
Here’s what happened today in Oscar History.
Our Site Milestones
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Our Site Milestones
2010: This Day in Oscar History (9)
Film Preview: Charlie Says (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
May 17, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “Three young women were sentenced to death in the infamous Manson murder case, but when the death penalty was lifted, their sentence became life imprisonment. One young graduate student was sent in to teach them – and through her we witness their transformations as they face the reality of their horrific crimes.”
Poster Rating: B- / C (2) / C- / D
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Review: (#1) The semi-psychedelic design fits the period well, though the colors don’t work well together and the construction is clunky. (#2-#3) This pair of posters is nearly identical and that’s the problem. Both of them employ a heavy amount of red with the second being less heavily awash int he color. (#4) Is this a potential scene from “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago, or something altogether different. The blocky nature and cheap looking embellishments are all poorly combined. (#5) Taking the blocky design of the previous poster and combining them poorly into this even less impressive fifth design simply does not work.
Trailer Rating: C+
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Review: Some of the charm of Charles Manson comes through in the trailer, but the film is focused more on rehabilitating the women he brainwashed. While that’s not an ignoble goal, the trailer doesn’t make a case for it being a riveting or important version.
Oscar Prospects:
None.
Trailer #1
Film Preview: The Addams Family (2019)
Page Revisions:
(April 14, 2019) Original
Release Date:
October 11, 2019
Synopsis:
From IMDb: “An animated version of Charles Addams’ series of cartoons about a peculiar, ghoulish family.”
Poster Rating: B
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Review: Not very creepy. A little bit kooky. Not altogether ooky. Though, it is the Addams Family as originally envisioned by Charles Addams rather than either previous incarnation.
Trailer Rating: C+
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Review: We’ll all be attempting to evoke the original Addams Family TV theme in our reviews, but the trailer doesn’t quite encapsulate those versus, which makes the first trailer a bit disappointing.
Oscar Prospects:
An Animated Feature nomination is possible. A win is unlikely.