Peculiar Reviewer

A brief playground fight leads to an awkward deliberation between the children's parents in Roman Polanski 's ( The Pianist, Chinatown ) delightful black comedy Carnage . Based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, this film's bare bones dialogue and tense confrontation between the two couples is reminiscent of the masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and Hitchcock's Rope. From the first glimpse of the credits zooming in on us, we know that all will be exposed, in due time. Kate Winslet ( Eternal Sunshine, The Reader ) perpetually delivers, and the perfectly cast John C. Reilly ( Cyrus, The Hours ) does classic-Reilly. Polanski, who is not shy with the up close(-up) and personal shots of his characters, has been able to capture perfect comic timing. I'm talking riotous. For a movie that takes place primarily in the same living room, you've got to have an absurdly talented cast to keep the audience interested. Carnage knows exactly what...

Only four more days remain until the official 84th Academy Award nominees will be announced on Jan. 24th, yet I couldn't wait. So after careful consideration and several glasses of wine, I've concocted a list of my own predictions. 2011 had a lot of hits. But it also had a plethora of misses. Naturally, my keen eye for a stah-pictcha has helped me to dodge the lot of them. Thankfully we can rest freely knowing that Oscar-host-heavyweight Billy Crystal will steer the show in a better direction than last year's train-wreck hosts James Franco (pretty boy) and Anne Hathaway ( Catwoman ). Oscar night is Sunday, February 26th , so get your ballots and red faux carpets ready for the main event! And the predictions are... Best Supporting Actress, Octavia Spencer - The Help ( She'll be celebrating with her famous pie)   Best Supporting Actor, Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn (He should know Sir Laurence Olivier best- he used to write him letters!) Best Actress , Mer...

Two words: Meryl Streep . Virtually unrecognizable, Streep removes herself completely, becoming the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady fought for power in a male-dominated party, as did Streep fight to save this film. Mamma Mia! Phyllida Lloyd's showy editing techniques are merely a distraction from the storyline, and our focus on Streep, who delivers as if completely unaware of the camera. Watch as Meryl's penetrating performance takes over, albeit the director should have taken her job as seriously as Thatcher did. Streep's iron fist dominates both the UK, and the picture. Academy Award nom number 17?   

The year was 1927. Just as the talkies were coming along and beginning to evade the era of the silents, Kinograph's George Valentin ruled the title card film screens with that teeth-for-days face. Before the silent film star abruptly fades away with silence, he meets the fledgling, yet talented actress Peppy Miller. I know what you're thinking: we don't need another A Star is Born remake, right? Well, this one changes the game, and the color, and removes the chatter. Apparently, the stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo rehearsed their dance scenes in Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynold's studio! But, The Artist does more than just sing in the rain...It danced its way into nostalgic black-and-white hearts from here to eternity.

HBO 's smart new series Enlightened scored this fall season, where Hung left viewers limp and unsatisfied (which is why it got chopped off). Never has the office workplace been so dead-on-screen as the numbing corporation Abaddon (which literally means in Hebrew: the depths of hell), that drives Laura Dern 's ( Wild At Heart , Jurassic Park ) character to seek enlightenment at a Hawaii retreat. Diane Ladd ( Chinatown ) limelight's as seasoned Inland Empire -er Laura Dern's real-life, and fake-life mother, who is aloof when her daughter hugs her. The series co-creator, and writer, Mike White ( Chuck & Buck , The School of Rock ) plays Dern's corporate confidant. Enlightened has been picked up for a second season and will return to HBO next fall. Higher calling coming soon.