Peculiar Reviewer

The first Chilean film ever to be nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar is Pablo Larraín's No , which revolves around the 1988 Chilean national plebiscite of General Augusto Pinochet for another 8-year term as Chile's President. Pinochet had forcefully taken over control of Chile in 1973, overthrowing Salvador Allende's socialist government. In this referendum, the public is asked to vote a controversial "yes" or "no" to continue the military dictatorship that has existed in their country for the past fifteen years. A political retelling without the fluff and glamorization, Larraín blends together actual found footage through the advertising campaigns of both parties in this examination of the ad tactics used to bring a nation to a decision for their country. Gael García Bernal plays an in-demand advertising executive who is persuaded by the opposing side to run the No campaign, which aims...

My alarm wasn't set for 5:30am this morning when Emma Stone and this year's Oscar host Seth MacFarlane announced the nominees, but I compiled the gist of it. Villain-ry gets no love at the Oscars this year: Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo DiCaprio are painstakingly left out. Best Supporting Actor category is filled to the brim with all previous Oscar winners. At 85 and 9-years-old, both the oldest and the youngest ever nominees for Best Actress were announced. When I was 9 I was picking scabs and eating grass, so kudos to her. A foreign film no one has seen nabs 5 nominations, including Best Picture. As upsetting as yet another snub for great talent DiCaprio (who literally has no comfort zone as an actor. Seriously Academy, are you still with us?), my favorite film this year, Silver Linings Playbook , did get recognized for the 5 majors: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress. Although, it has no chance up against the Spielberg sn...