Author: Mark A. Lester

Predictions for the 96th Academy Awards

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date March 9, 2024
No Comments on Predictions for the 96th Academy Awards

I am really coming in to the 11th hour.

With the only a few days left until the Academy Awards, my predictions are finally done, but at the cost of a few things, namely, that I don’t have all the photos I would normally have with this post.

(On the plus side, I did have time to see all the shorts).

Much of that has to do with the same old story of me overthinking certain categories and not knowing what to pick. That is not to say that there are not certain categories that are easy to predict. the real question of Oscar night will be how many awards will Oppenheimer sweep and how many will the rest get?

Here are my predictions

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Tags 96th, 96th Academy Awards, Academy Awards, american fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Oscar Predictions, Oscars, Past Lives, Poor things, Predictions, THe Holdovers, The Zone of Interest

4 1/2 Stars Movies

Dune: Part Two (2024)

“Dune Part 2 is the The Godfather 2 of Sci-Fi films.”

– My buddy Rudy

Like many, Rudy was able to see this movie this past Sunday (I was unaware of this early showing until I had already had my tickets). As great a movie lover (and friend) that he is, Rudy does tend to over hype things a bit (I fall into this same trap, but I am gradually improving a little).As the storytelling is more gradual and less bombastic as other sci-fi films, so was my appreciation for this epic sequel.

1 Star Movies

Madame Web (2024)

Recently, the MCU announced the long awaited casting decisions for the Fantastic Four going forward.

The cinematic stories showcasing “Marvel’s First Family” have been rather substandard at best. There was a nearly forgotten 90s movie followed by two lackluster films in the mid 2000s. There was promise when a new version was to be displayed in the mid 2010s with stars Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, resulting in Fan4stic Four, one of the worst comic book movies ever made. I never thought I would see a superhero film stoop that low again.

Enter Madame Web.

Tags 2024, 50 Shades, Adam Scott, Celeste O'Connor, Dakota Johnson, Emma Roberts, Fantastic Four, Isabel Merced, Madame Web, Marvel, Movie Reviews, Napoleon, PG-13, Rated PG-13, S.J. Clarkson, Super Hero, Sydney Sweeney, Tahar Rahim

1 Star

Argylle (2024)

If you have seen at least one movie at the cinema in the last 3-4 months, then you have seen a trailer for Argylle.

One of the taglines for this movie is “Once you know the secret, don’t let the cat out of the bag.” While this is easily meant to apply to the plot, it did not take long for me to realize the makers meant this for the movie itself. The secret is that this cinematic “cat” is the first one to not land on its feet since Mufasa (I totally understand if that is too soon to bring up).*

Tags Argylle, Ariana DeBose, Bryan Cranston, Bryce Dallas Howard, Catherine O' Hara, Colin Firth, Dua Lipa, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Killers of the Flower Moon, Kingsmen, Matthew Vaughn, Oppenheimer, PG-13, Rated PG-13, Richard E Grant, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Star Wars

4 Stars

Suncoast (2024)

I was a Junior in High School when the Terri Schiavo case made headlines.

From what I remember, it was brought up in at least one of my classes as a potential debate topic, and it also was something I thought could hurt the film Million Dollar Baby at that year’s Oscars (it didn’t). Being what introduced the world (or at least me) to the term “euthanasia”, the whole impact of the ordeal seems to have been lost to time.

Tags 2024, Dumbo, Laura Chinn, Laura Linney, Million Dollar Baby, Movie Reviews, Nico Parker, R, Rated R, Suncoast, Sundance, Terri Shiavo, Woody Harrelson

2 1/2 Stars

I.S.S. (2024)

Premise alone is not always the best way to intrigue me, but that is definitely what happen when I first saw the trailer for I.S.S.

Tags 2024, Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, Costa Ronin, I.S.S., ISS, John Gallagher Jr., Maria Mashkova, Rated R, Sci Fi, Science Fiction

"Top Tens", and others Movies

Top 10 Films of 2023

There are a lot of positives and negatives to look back on in 2023 when it comes to cinema, both industry wise and personally.

Of course, Hollywood had a big dent in the year with two strikes (which I did support, for what it is worth), While they have thankfully ended, we will probably feel the fall out of them in this upcoming year (and possibly into 2025). Looking back at the amount of films I have seen (just shy of 80, which is more than I have done in previous years), I saw nearly 90 percent of them (whether in theater or streaming) by myself. It would really be nice to have my friends and family have a better schedule for me, but such is life.

Tags 2023, A Thousand and One, afire, american fiction, american symphony, Anatomy of a Fall, Are you there God its me margaret, Barbie, Beau is afraid, Blackberry, bottoms, fallen leaves, ferrari, Godzilla Minus One, How to Blow up a Pipeline, iowa caucus, John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 4, Killers of the Flower Moon, leave the world behind, Love at First Sight, Maestro, May December, Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible -Dead Reckoning: Part 1, Movie Reviews, no hard feelings, No one will save you, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor things, Rye Lane, Saltburn, Showing Up, Society of the Snow, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse, Still a michael j fox movie, Talk to Me, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift The Eras Tour, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem, The Boy and the Heron, the color purple, The Creator, The Eras Tour, THe Holdovers, The Iron Claw, The Killer, The Zone of Interest, Theater Camp, they cloned tyrone, top ten movies of 2023, wonka

"Top Tens", and others

Top 10 Worst Films of 2023

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date December 30, 2023
No Comments on Top 10 Worst Films of 2023

In the past month, I found myself doing something I never imagined I would do in my time on this planet:

I started watching Hallmark movies.

My first was Holiday Road, followed by titles such as Christmas with a Kiss, On the 12th date of Christmas, A Biltmore Christmas, Norwegian Holiday, and Christmas on Cherry Lane. Much of this was “pressure” from my insistent (and wonderfully amazing) cousin Monroe.

Tags 2023, Hallmark Channel, Heart of Stone, Left Behind, Left Behind: Rise of the Anti-Christ, Love Again, Meg 2: The Trench, Nefarious, Rebel Moon, Rebel Moon Part One A CHild of Fire, Sound of Freedom, The Exorcist, The Exorcist Believer, The Flash, The Marvels, Top Ten, Worst of the year

4 Stars

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

I was definitely not expecting that.

Am I the only one who thought this after seeing Godzilla Minus One? Having been around for nearly seven decades and being in more than a dozen movies, Godzilla is nothing short of a cinematic icon.

Tags 2023, Godzilla, Godzilla Minus One, PG-13, Rated PG-13

4 Stars

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date December 14, 2023
4 Comments on The Boy and the Heron (2023)

(Note: All actors regarded to are in the English version of the film).

I’m not sure if I was too late in joining the Studio Ghibli band wagon when I discovered Spirited Away (which, after two decades, is still the best animated film of the century), but I have yet to jump off of it.

Tags 2023, Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Florence Pugh, Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, Mark Hamill, Movie Reviews, PG-13, Rated PG-13, Robert Pattinson, Studio Ghibli, The Boy and the Heron, Willem Dafoe