Oscar snubs, a Road House remake, and much more from a busy week at the movies

The biggest snubs and surprises from the 2024 Oscar nominations

Try as they might, the Academy Awards will never get it 100 percent right. The 2024 list of nominees, which Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid announced this morning in Los Angeles, was full of plenty of the usual suspects; huge hits Oppenheimer and Barbie earned 13 and nine nominations, respectively, while critical darlings Poor Things and Killers Of The Flower Moon earned 11 and 10 nominations. Across acting, directing, and screenplay categories, however, there were some pleasant surprises and some fairly upsetting snubs. Read More

Pain don’t hurt, but Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House remake trailer might

Jake Gyllenhaal wants you to be nice to his remake of Road House—until it’s time to not be nice. The trailer for Gyllenhaal’s MMA-inspired spin on Rowdy Herrington’s late-80s classic, Road House, is finally here. Judging by the intensity with which Gyllenhaal bulked up for the role as an ex-UFC middleweight fighter, 2024’s Road House promises a visceral action comedy far removed from Swayze’s contemplative warrior. But that was a different throat-ripping good time, as influenced by pro wrestling as this is by MMA. Read More

Where to stream all of the 2024 Oscar nominees, including Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Killers Of The Flower Moon

The final stretch of awards season is here, so how many of the Oscar-nominated films have you seen? If the answer is “not enough,” or you just feel like hosting your own Barbenheimer double feature at home, we’ve got you covered. Between the many streaming platforms, video-on-demand services, and good old-fashioned physical media, there are plenty of opportunities to catch up on the nominees. Some of these films are even still playing in theaters, so you can see them on the big screen, just as the filmmakers (well, mainly Christopher Nolan) intended. Read More

20 great (and 5 not-so-great) sophomore films from famed directors

The only thing more challenging for a director than making a splash with their first feature film is avoiding the “sophomore slump” with their second. If their debut movie is a massive success, both creatively and financially, audiences and critics wrap very high (some would say too high) expectations around whatever may come next. Or they want that film to walk the exact edge of their wish list and deliver an experience just as good or better. Read More

Ranking the Best Picture nominees for the 2024 Oscars

When the 96th annual Academy Award nominations were announced today, the biggest surprise was that there weren’t any really big surprises. With 13 nominations to its name, it may seem like Oppenheimer is set to dominate the awards, as it has all season. But the Academy is still the Academy and, to borrow a phrase from the world of sports, that’s why they play the game (or in this case, count the votes). Even the most inevitable winners can lose steam as the ceremony looms closer. Remember 2016, when La La Land earned a record-tying 14 nominations and then went on to lose Best Picture to Moonlight? Read More

15 years later, it’s still easy to see how Taken redefined the action genre

French director Pierre Morel’s Taken came out in U.S. theaters 15 years ago this month, meaning we’ve been able to intermittently enjoy a decade and a half of star Liam Neeson’s attempts to just do Taken again, and again and again and again. And why shouldn’t he? Taken made $200 million past its budget and rebuilt Neeson’s career, and if the premise of “older guy you wouldn’t expect to be an action star” was good in 2009 when he was in his 50s, then it only gets better as he gets older. Read More

Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color and the rise of the de-colorized version

Godzilla Minus One returns to theaters this weekend minus one important element: Color. Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, a black-and-white version of the king lizard’s biggest Japanese movie ever, makes this old-fashioned blockbuster feel more like the era it mimics. For one week, the monster stomps into multiplexes with an Oscar nomination and the gravitas that comes with a black-and-white cut. It isn’t alone. Read More

Thank God, Dev Patel directed a movie where he gets to be a hot action star

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, the culture needs more Dev Patel. For years, audiences have been fancasting Patel in all sorts of projects (please, Dev Patel rom-com… save us Dev Patel rom-com!), but it turns out Patel has been busy casting himself. He’s starring in his own directorial debut, Monkey Man, which premieres in theaters April 5. On Friday, we got our first look at the Jordan Peele-produced action thriller in the form of a first trailer. Read More