Fearless Oscar Predictions, 2016 Edition (2016 Feb 21)

No contest this year, but that hasn't stopped me from making my annual list of picks.

2015 in Review: The Top 10 (2015 Dec 30)

A few general comments about the year in film followed by the full Top 10 list.

2015 in Review: The Bottom 10 (2015 Dec 27)

A look back at 2015's role of dishonor. 10 films to avoid at all costs.

Revisiting the STAR WARS Saga (2015 Aug 30)

A time to look back at the original "Star Wars" saga and the prequels. New reviews on the way for all six films in advance of the December 2015 release of Episode VII.

The 2015 Halftime Top 10 (2015 Jul 06)

My view of the top 10 films released during the period of January 1 - June 20, 2015. (Updated 7/10 to address two omissions.)

The Future of the Superhero Movie (2015 Apr 29)

Where does the Superhero Movie go after "The Age of Ultron"?

Touring the New Site (2015 Apr 26)

A walkthrough of where to find favorite features on the new site.

Fandom: For the Love of the Franchise (2015 Apr 21)

This is the first part of a three-part series about fandom and movies. Part One is a personal reminiscence.

To Boldly Go: Not an Obituary (2015 Apr 02)

"Now he belongs to the ages."I don't write obituaries except in cases when I knew the person; I'm not about to change that policy now. So if you want a fact-based recap of Leonard Nimoy's life and career, there are countless places on the web for ...

Author's Notes (2015 Mar 12)

Why did I do it? That's a question I am often asked when people learned I devoted nearly every spare moment of three years to write a 1500-page saga cataloging the exploits of a stableboy struggling with an existence...

Beat Berardinelli 2015 (2015 Feb 14)

Time to lay out the rules for the 2015 edition of the "Beat Berardinelli" Oscar prediction contest. As is the case every year, I have made a few minor changes. Also, a new prize. This year, as was the case last year, my "live commentary" will come in...

Re-Invigorating Oscar (2015 Feb 08)

Note #1: This is an attempt to be controversial. It is not, however, a cry to receive hate mail. If you want to dispute my proposal, that's fine. But please do me the dignity of reading it all the way through (not skimming it or just reading ...

The 2014 Top 10 (2014 Dec 28)

[Note: In 2014, as in 2012 and 2013, this article will be published over a span of several days, with the reveal of two or three new titles every day during the December 25-30 period. It's done that way to generate some suspense and keep the website ...

One-and-Done (Part 3): Future Gaze (2014 Dec 23)

Link to "One and Done (Part 1)"Link to "One and Done (Part 2)"For Hollywood to weather the "one-and-done" storm, it has to adapt. When television threatened movies during the 1950s, the industry moved toward color and widescreen to provide an ...

One-and-Done (Part 2): Root Causes (2014 Dec 20)

Link to "One and Done (Part 1)"Link to "One and Done (Part 3)"In Part 1 of this essay, I provided an overview of what I call the "one-and-done" phenomenon which has been responsible in part for shaping (and skewing) the 2014 box office for high ...

Hacking, Fear, and Maximizing Profits (2014 Dec 18)

Did Sony Pictures "cave in"? The question, like so many others involving terrorists and terrorism, is more complicated than it might seem. True, there's no credible evidence to support the idea of a terrorist plot being prepared against theaters. ...