Expanding the pool to 10 movies also served to dilute it — By Todd Hill The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did the right thing in 1944 when it more or less standardized its all-over-the-place Oscars, limiting the number of Best Picture nominees to five to match the number of nominees in the acting and most other award categories. Beginning…

Some lesser films got chance to shine during pandemic Oscars — By Todd Hill Every year of my not-so-short-anymore life, I have watched the Oscars, and I have almost never enjoyed the experience. That’s not as masochistic as it sounds, since I have enjoyed the films the Academy Awards honor every year — well, at least some of them. But the…

She’s the best thing about this grim survival flick — By Todd Hill (2.5 stars out of 5) There’s a big, looming question at the center of the new Angelina Jolie movie “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” It’s all to do with the title of the film. A boy is on the run from a pair of assassins after they…

Dementia film features Anthony Hopkins in top form — By Todd Hill (4 stars out of 5) For some two decades now, we’ve been treated — if that’s the word — to several superlative films about dementia. This year’s “The Father,” nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and starring Anthony Hopkins, joins a sterling list of dementia-themed…

Tender film about Korean immigrants a deceptively pretty picture — By Todd Hill (4 stars out of 5) Know any good stories? Of course you do! If you’ve lived a life, then you have ready access to the best stories available to tell in the entire world, which are your own. And they’re just as unique as you are. Writers…

But film features career-best performance by Carey Mulligan — By Todd Hill (3 stars out of 5) “Promising Young Woman” is the feel-bad movie of the 2021 film awards season, and a lot of people appear to have a problem with that. I don’t quite understand why. This is a film about rape, and tangentially the #MeToo movement, which…

Acceptance, community take center stage in Best Picture nominee — By Todd Hill (4 stars out of 5) I had no real knowledge of “Sound of Metal” until I learned that the film had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. And that was all I really knew about it when I saw the movie, apart from the…

David Fincher’s father would be pleased, but the movie is a slog — By Todd Hill (2.5 stars out of 5) It’s never fair to criticize a motion picture because of what it isn’t or what it could’ve been instead of what it actually is. But nothing about life — and certainly film criticism — is fair. “Mank,” the latest movie by David…

Aaron Sorkin’s film comes out against injustice — By Todd Hill (3 stars out of 5) Watching a movie or series that was written by Aaron Sorkin is a lot like eating at Applebee’s. By making that remark, I am in no way intending to insult Applebee’s (or Aaron Sorkin, for that matter). I’ve had some thoroughly decent…