If you're like us, you're already getting pumped up for the Oscars! Not. Jeez, let's get past New Year's first, O.K.? Oops. Too late. The Chicago Film Critics Association has already jumped the gun and handed out their awards. To the surprise of no one the big winner was No Country for Old Men, the new Coen brothers movie that both impressed and disturbed us when we saw it last month. It won four awards in all (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem). We're very pleased that Bardem won; there wouldn't be much of a movie without his chilling character study, and he damned well better win the Oscar. more ›

In two short days the 79th Academy Awards will be presented, and this will cause two things to happen. First, people will immediately start whining about what won and what didn't win. Second, our list of Oscar predictions will probably look ridiculous. Since hindsight is always 20/20, undoubtedly we have made some stupendous blunders. (Where's Karnak when you need him?) But it's all in good fun. Unlike predicting the Super Bowl or election results, our... more ›

With the exception of The 40 Year Old Virgin getting shut out of all major categories,* there were few surprises when the Oscar nominations were announced this morning. The full list is up at Oscar.com. Brokeback Mountain picked up eight nominations; Crash and Good Night and Good Luck snagged six; Capote and Munich picked up five, while Syriana and History of Violence garnered two each. In technical categories, Memoirs of a Geisha scored six nominations,... more ›

The Pre-Show Ah, what to say. Everyone looks so...puffy. We're watching WGN because...well, we can't find the remote honestly. 6:10 PM - Do you even have the right to complain about cheesy presenters if you're watching an Oscar pre-show? Isn't that like visting a dominatrix and complaining about the pain? Still, we have a deep burning hatred of Sam Rubin. 6:17 PM - Hilary Swank going against the grain with no cleavage display. Wearing drapes... more ›

Several years ago, Chicagoist was reading an interview with a Big Famous Movie Critic who was asked why critics sometimes fall all over themselves to single out a particular film for near unanimous praise. BFMC replied that as critics, they are required to see almost every movie that’s released and most of them are crap. So when a film (or a filmmaker) comes along with an original, intelligent work that is also entertaining, he and... more ›