The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on May 27, 2013

Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) is a German film by Wim Wenders.  In Berlin, angels watch over the city and its people.  They can hear the people’s thoughts, which gives us many scenes listening in on individuals’ silent worries.  They seem to be able to comfort, but not...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on May 20, 2013

In 1925, Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush was one of the first feature films to star Chaplin in his Little Tramp role.  Before this time, The Tramp had been established and already well loved, but mostly in short films.  Here, Chaplin not only starred on screen, but he wrote, directed,...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on May 13, 2013

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is considered one of those great science fiction movies that has risen to cult status.  Every nerd and film nerd has seen it and if they were around, saw it re-released in 1992.  It is currently ranked #123 on IMDB, #97 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on May 6, 2013

“Choose life…but why would I do a thing like that?”  In Trainspotting, Renton and his friends have instead chosen heroin.  It’s not glamorous, in fact it’s downright gritty, filled with hardship and heartache.  They lie, steal and screw people over for one more hit, that ever elusive euphoric   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 30, 2013

Over my lifetime, I’ve seen bullying from multiple vantage points.  A tease, a name shouted out, a push.  Most times it’s over in a moment and too easily forgotten, unless you’re the victim.  It stings and festers while the rest of the world moves on unaffected.  As a kid, I...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 22, 2013

I have sat through a good number of depressing films: Chinatown, Schindler’s List, The Hours.  The list goes on.  When I decided I needed to add Sophie’s Choice, part me me didn’t want to subject myself to another dreary afternoon of holocaust stories and unhappy endings.  But a bigger part...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 15, 2013

Film is a magic trick.  Illusions of fictitious people and places fill a two dimensional space before us for an hour or so and we choose to believe it.  It’s not real and we know it.  Many times we know how these tricks are done, but that’s not the point....   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 11, 2013

I don’t know everything about film.  Far from it.  There are big names I have only recently become acquainted with and many I had never heard of before starting this blog.  One name I had been missing out on for far too long was the work of Buster Keaton and...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 6, 2013

Twenty years ago, Jurassic Park was first released to theaters and I was a kid crazy about dinosaurs.  However, heeding a warning from my aunt who said it was “too scary for kids,” my parents did not take me to see it.  I remember this being a very big deal...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on April 5, 2013

Thank you for the autograph and the inspiration, Mr. Ebert. Yesterday, I had just gotten off work and found refuge from the rain in my favorite coffee shop.  My mind was set to write a new review, but out of bad habit, I opened up Twitter, for just a moment,...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 26, 2013

A Cat in Paris (or Une Vie de Chat in its original French) is a hand-drawn gem of modern animation.  Created by the French animation studio, Folimage, the film keeps to beautiful 2D animation and tells a rich story in a very short amount of time.  It was nominated for...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 20, 2013

I know it’s an old art-school cliche, but Vincent van Gogh is my favorite artist.  The Night Cafe fascinated me and helped me understand a setting for madness while The Starry Night is a painting that helps me see light and beauty in darkness and meaning to chaos.  My old...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 15, 2013

In Room at the Top, Joe (Laurence Harvey) is a young, headstrong accountant who has just found a job in a small town.  With the help of a friend, he gets joins a theater club to meet young and beautiful Susan (Heather Sears).  While Joe attempts to woo her, he...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 11, 2013

For the most part, I find musicals to be the goofy branch of film with flimsy plots interrupted by silly songs.  Yet, in my eyes, there has been one musical I could only love from the start: Singin’ in the Rain.  Now, what on earth made a sarcastic kid like...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 6, 2013

The biggest treat last the summer was Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.  It is a sweet, nostalgic story of a twelve-year-old couple who run away together, and the search party looking for them, on a small New England island in the 1960s.  Among the a large cast of young actors are...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on February 23, 2013

I guess I can’t put this off anymore.  The Oscars will be presented on Sunday and this year I believe I have seen more nominees than in any year since I began this blog, (29/53 total nominees).  However, this feels like one of the most unpredictable years I have ever...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on February 21, 2013

In Blithe Hollow, Norman Babcock (voice of Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a boy with an odd gift; he can see and talk to ghosts.  To Norman, it’s nothing scary, but it freaks out everyone else, including his family.  They don’t seem to believe him, though it’s hinted that this sort of...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on February 20, 2013

Last weekend, my husband and I took a little road trip into Tennessee to see the final film nominated for best picture, Amour.  At the theater, Amour was tucked away in a small, far back theater, where we were joined by no more than twenty other viewers, all of whom...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on February 19, 2013

5 Broken Cameras In 2005 a Palestinian farmer named Emad Burnat got a camera to make home videos of his new son, Gibreel.  As the Israeli army takes land from his village, his friends and neighbors protest.  Emad makes sure that he is always there to film the conflict.  The...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on February 18, 2013

Disney’s latest animated film, Wreck-It Ralph, is made for those who have grown up witnessing an evolution in video games.  It’s the first animated feature in years that my husband was more excited about than I was.  I must admit, from the trailers I wasn’t sure how well the story...   read more