17 November
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In Movie Reviews

FORD v FERRARI Director: James MangoldStarring: Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Caitriona Balfe, Josh Lucas, Jon Bernthal, Tracy Letts, Noah Jupe It’s 1966 and the Ford Motor Company is trailing behind Chevy and needs innovation to keep them ahead of the competition. One idea is to build an elite race car modeled after a Ferrari. After a business deal with Ferrari goes bad, this fuels the flames of building the car and racing against Ferrari at France’s Le Mans race. Helping them out is Matt Damon’s Carroll Shelby, a former Le Mans winner now turned car builder, and Christian Bale as Ken Miles, one of theRead More →

14 January
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In Award Ceremonies

THE 24th CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS – THE WINNERS BEST PICTURERoma BEST ACTORChristian Bale – Vice BEST ACTRESSGlenn Close – The WifeLady Gaga – A Star Is Bor BEST SUPPORTING ACTORMahershala Ali – Green Book BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSRegina King – If Beale Street Could Talk BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESSElsie Fisher – Eighth Grade BEST ACTING ENSEMBLEThe Favourite BEST DIRECTORAlfonso Cuarón – Roma BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYPaul Schrader – First Reformed BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAYBarry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk BEST CINEMATOGRAPHYAlfonso Cuarón – Roma BEST PRODUCTION DESIGNHannah Beachler, Jay Hart – Black Panther BEST EDITINGTom Cross – First Man BEST COSTUME DESIGNRuth Carter – Black Panther BESTRead More →

07 January
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In Award Ceremonies

THE 76th GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS – THE WINNERS And the Golden Globe goes to… Best Motion Picture – DramaBohemian Rhapsody Best Motion Picture – Musical or ComedyGreen Book Best DirectorAlfonso Cuaron, Roma Best Actor in a Motion Picture – DramaRami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody Best Actress in a Motion Picture – DramaGlenn Close, The Wife Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or ComedyOlivia Colman, The Favourite Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or ComedyChristian Bale, Vice Best Supporting ActorMahershala Ali, Green Book Best Supporting ActressRegina King, If Beale Street Could Talk Best ScreenplayPeter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Green Book Best AnimatedRead More →

01 January
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In Movie Reviews

VICE Writer/Director: Adam McKayStarring:  Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Tyler Perry, Jesse Plemos, Lisa Gay Hamilton Writer/director Adam McKay is best known for comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers. In 2015, he surprised audiences and critics with The Big Short, a “dramedy” about the housing market crash. That film led him to an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He’s back with the same approach to tell the Dick Cheney (Bale) story. The film starts with his early days as a rowdy, trouble-making partygoer in Wyoming and his wife Lynne (Adams) threatening him to get his act together. The first half jumps back andRead More →

21 March
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In Special Series

MY DEFINITIVE RANKING OF BATMAN ON THE BIG SCREEN Batman is making another return to the big screen this weekend with Zach Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. This is the second film in DC Comics’ larger Justice League universe. The Caped Crusader is my all-time favorite superhero. I even donned the cape and cowl for Halloween one year when I was a kid. I thought I would take a look back at the many iterations we’ve seen of the character. We’ve seen a variety of Oscar winners, villains, styles, themes, bat logos, and nipples in the eight movies that have come before. Let’sRead More →

16 March
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In Movie Reviews

KNIGHT OF CUPS Writer/Director: Terrence Malick Starring: Christian Bale, Wes Bentley, Brian Dennehy, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Imogen Poots, Teresa Palmer, Cherry Jones, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Isabel Lucas The first line of dialogue from Christian Bale’s Rick has him pontificating on the idea that he was “living the life of someone I didn’t know.” Now, I doubt that director Terrence Malick cast Bale solely based on his name but it does seem coincidental that Christian is also the name of the main character in The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. In it, Christian leaves his hometown, the “City of Destruction”, in an attempt toRead More →

23 December
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In Movie Reviews

THE BIG SHORT Director: Adam McKay Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Hamish Linklater, Jeremy Strong, Finn Wittrock, John Magaro, Marisa Tomei, Rafe Spall If you saw The Wolf of Wall Street, it gave a heavy, behind the scenes look at a horrible stockbroker that stole money from innocent people to rake in the profits. The Big Short tackles the banking industry and will further cement those awful hidden truths of the industry except with 90% less profanity. 2008 saw the largest financial crisis that shook the lives of millions of Americans. It crashed the housing market and pummeled big banks asRead More →

12 December
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In Movie Reviews

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Ben Kingsley, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, María Valverde This is the second biblical epic to hit the big screen in 2014. Darren Aronofsky’s Noah was released to mixed reviews and naturally controversy followed. Continuing on with stories from the Old Testament, Ridley Scott has decided to tackle the story of Moses (Bale) and his dysfunctional relationship with “brother” Ramses (Edgerton). Even after Moses saves Ramses’ life in battle, their feud and rivalry is nowhere near over. Moses has grown up in the royal court under the current Pharoah (Turturro), but RamsesRead More →

03 January
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In Movie Reviews

AMERICAN HUSTLE Director: David O. Russell Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Peña, Robert DeNiro Sometimes it is the most random choices and tidbits that catch my eye that lead me to believe I will really love the movie. The use of the vintage Columbia Pictures studio logo and the phrase “Some of this actually happened” hit just the right spot even though I am sure most people will gloss right over them. I do not know too many folks that take an interest in studio logos. While Irving Rosenfeld (Bale) runs a chain ofRead More →

31 July
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In Movie Trailers

AMERICAN HUSTLEDirector: David O. RussellStarring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Renner Oh, the hair! The costume design! I already love the look and tone of this 1970s con artist story. Russell’s previous film Silver Linings Playbook was one of my favorite films of 2012. The film’s leads are all veterans of working with David O. Russell and Bale and Lawrence have both won Oscars for their work in The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, respectively. Russell was interviewed on “Good Morning America” and was excited by the fact that his actors are playing all new characters that they have never had a chance toRead More →