Oscar: The Morning After

As if Olivia Colman's Best Actress upset over Glenn Close wasn't stunning enough, Peter Farrelly's Green Book did the unthinkable Sunday night in Hollywood, nabbing Best Picture honors over heavy favorites Roma and Black Panther at the 91st Academy Awards, a decision the Los Angeles Times called "the worst Best Picture winner since Crash."

Apparently director Spike Lee didn't think much of the decision either, as he was reported storming up the aisle heading for the exit after the announcement, ala Eddie Murphy, only to be turned back toward the stage where he stopped mid-aisle and stood with his back to the winners. I guess he was a Black Panther fan, since his BlacKkKlansman was an extreme longshot to nab the top honor.

Lee did score his first Oscar earlier in the evening for Klansman's adapted screenplay, where he promptly brushed aside his three fellow collaborators onstage to more or less make the win all about himself. Classy as always, Spike.

To be fair, Green Book had earned Golden Globe and Producers Guild honors for Best Picture, not to mention Mahershala Ali's award-season sweep for Best Supporting Actor. I have yet to see the film, but from what I've gleaned from the trailer, it's an old-fashioned, play-it-safe account of a very turbulent time. A recipe that used to render Oscar gold in decades past, not so much in 2019.

Nice to see Rami Malek win for Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk. Regina's paid her dues in Hollywood, going all the way back to playing Marla Gibbs' teenage daughter on the popular '80s series 227. A true survivor.

Otherwise a pretty pedestrian, uneventful telecast. But still too long, even without a host.

Oscar Predictions: Can Black Panther Outmuscle Roma?

Below are my picks in the major categories for Sunday's 91st Academy Awards.

Alfonso Cuarón's beloved Roma leads the field with 10 nominations and seems to be the consensus pick for Best Picture. I'm thinking, however, that with Roma assuredly taking Best Foreign Language Film, Black Panther may spring into action and nab the top prize. But I've been wrong before. We shall see Sunday. Enjoy the show.

Picture: Black Panther
Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Actor: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Actress: Glenn Close, The Wife
Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Supporting Actress: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Original Screenplay: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Top 5 Films of 2018

Well the sun is about to set on another year at the movies. Hollywood had another record-breaking year thanks to blockbusters like Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Incredibles 2.

As usual I did my part, catching a couple dozen in the theater and on video, although I didn't see everything I wanted to (If Beale Street Could Talk, Roma, Stan & Ollie and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse). But I was able to piece together some semblance of a Best Of list for the year. Below you'll find my Top 5 films of 2018 (the ones I saw anyway).

1. A Quiet Place: This nearly wordless little thriller from John Krasinski was not only the sleeper hit of 2018 but easily the most enjoyable piece of cinema this year. Just 90 minutes of jolts, gasps and pure delight.

2. Bohemian Rhapsody: Great music, a revealing story and Rami Malek hitting one out of the park as Freddie Mercury kept a smile on my face from start to finish.

3. Isle of Dogs: Wes Anderson's latest was the talented auteur's most ambitious and wildly conceived film to date, with more characters you could wiggle a chew toy at and scratching me right where I itched.

4. A Star is Born: Caught this one after the hype had worn down and you know what: it was actually pretty darn good. Nice performances by Bradley Cooper & Gaga, good music, sad ending. The things Oscar dreams are made of.

5. Juliet, Naked: This adaptation of Nick Hornby's 2009 novel concerning an English couple and their relationship/obsession with an erstwhile American folk singer was an absolute joy to watch unfold onscreen, featuring fine performances by Ethan Hawke, Rose Byrne and even Chris O'Dowd (finally something I liked the guy in).

Rounding Out the Top 10: 6. Black Panther/Avengers: Infinity War 7. Christopher Robin 8. The Favourite 9. Puzzle 10. Leave No Trace

Happy New Year!

Still Believing A Man Can Fly: 40 Years of Superman: The Movie

Ah, Christmastime 1978. I had just turned eight, was a few months into second grade. Star Wars was more than a year and half old but its presence was still everywhere that holiday season, especially in the toy aisles where all those glorious action figures, vehicles and playsets had been trickling in throughout the year. The original Battlestar Galactica was just rounding the corner on its third month of must-watch Sunday-night TV and after months of being told "You Will Believe A Man Can Fly," Superman: The Movie was finally set to soar into theaters worldwide.

Like most kids my age, I'd spent the last few years reading Superman comics (Supes vs. Muhammad Ali, anyone?) and enjoying both the Super Friends on Saturday mornings and old '50s episodes of the Adventures of Superman after school, so the prospect of a big-budget Man of Steel movie, complete with Star Wars-like effects and music, was more than enough to get me to a theater opening weekend.

My mom and I caught it that first Saturday as a matinee at one of the larger, Dolby-equipped theaters in the area and as soon as that goosebump-inducing John Williams score began to play over that thundering opening-credit sequence I was hooked on the last son of Krypton's journey to Earth to fight for truth, justice and the American way.

For the next two and half hours I gleefully watched as Superman rescued Lois Lane from a dangling helicopter, saved a lighting-disabled Air Force One, tussled with a pair of nuclear missiles and reversed the rotation of the earth to cancel out a devastating earthquake. Oh, I believed a man could fly and spent the rest of the weekend proving it around the house, begging my mom for a red cape.

Superman: The Movie opened on December 15, 1978 and nabbed nearly $44 million in its first 18 days of release, a then-record, finishing with a worldwide theatrical take over $300 million, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of all time. The film garnered three Oscar nominations, winning a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Its success spawned three sequels in nine years and made a household name of actor Christopher Reeve, a six-foot-four, Julliard-trained talent who would go on to star in dozens of films over the next 15-plus years but would always be remembered as the one, true Man of Steel.

40 years later Superman: The Movie remains the gold standard for superhero films, a glowing testament to the humanity, humor and heart infused by director Richard Donner, stars Reeve, Marot Kidder, Gene Hackman and composer Williams.

I screen it every couple of years and regularly spin the soundtrack on quiet Saturday afternoons. It always takes me back to those magical years of the late '70s/early '80s when anything seemed possible: a galaxy, far, far away, an abandoned alien hiding in your backyard or believing a man can fly.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Five Autumn Films Worth Falling For

Did you have a good summer? Well Hollywood sure did, as rising temperatures and a bevy of sequels drove folks to the movies over the last four months, allowing the industry a healthy 14 percent increase over 2017, the worst May-August period in over a decade.

As usual, I caught a few of them and as usual nothing really stayed with me, although I did enjoy Christopher Robin. Now comes the time for more character-driven, thought-provoking fare, the films that will ultimately carry us to awards season come January. In other words, the flicks for boring old fogies like me.

In all, the studios will trot out more than 100 films between now and Christmas. Below are my five fall flicks worth leaving the house for.

The Sisters Brothers: An arthouse Western with John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as Gold Rush contract killers? Even the wife is willing to try this one in the theater. (Today)

First Man: Damien Chazelle's follow-up to La La Land tells the story of Neil Armstrong and the Apollo moon landing. This one looks like The Right Stuff for a new generation, just as long as lead Ryan Gosling doesn't break into "City of Stars" after that "giant leap for mankind." (Oct. 12)

Bohemian Rhapsody: Although director Bryan Singer was fired before production was completed, you only need see the trailer for this Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic to know that we're in for one hell of a ride and that star Rami Malick will have a reserved seat at the Oscars come February. (Nov. 2)

Widows: It's been five years since 12 Years a Slave and director Steve McQueen returns with a Chicago-set, politically charged heist film concerning a fallen crew and the wives who pick up where they left off. Works for me. (November 16)

Welcome to Marwen: Robert Zemeckis' tale of a victimized artist (Steve Carell) who creates a miniature land and introduces it to the world through photographs may sound like a bit of a snoozer, but I innately know a film from the director of Back to the Future and Forrest Gump will prove to be anything but. (Dec. 21)

Five More That Should Be On Your Radar: A Star is Born (Oct. 5); Galveston (Oct. 19); Halloween (Oct. 19); Outlaw King (Nov. 9); Creed II (Nov. 21)

Remembering Burt Reynolds

As a child of the 1970s, I never knew a world without Burt Reynolds....until yesterday.

I'm pretty sure the first time I ever saw the charismatic, mustached leading man was as bootlegger Bo Darville in 1977's Smokey and the Bandit.

I was six and as usual on Saturday afternoons my mom and I caught a movie after our weekly errands. She loved both Burt (said he reminded her of my dad) and Sally Field (they were born in the same year) so I really didn't have a choice on what flick we were catching that opening weekend. But the preview promised plenty of car chases and laughs so I was game and by the end of the film I became a life-long fan of the smooth-talking smart aleck with the devilish grin and one-of-a-kind laugh.

The next year came Hooper, then Smokey and the Bandit II and the Cannonball Run films. They were fun, often silly, usually politically incorrect and I loved each and every one of them. Still do.

Not every Burt film carried a PG rating when I was a kid but I usually found a way to catch gritty adult titles like Sharky's Machine (an ON-TV staple a buddy and I watched incessantly after school) and Stick (a New Year's Eve VHS rental my mom was more than willing to sanction).

By the late '80s Burt's star had begun to fade, but I was always interested in what he was doing. Whether he was playing an aging safecracker in the character-driven Breaking In, Wood Newton in the CBS series Evening Shade, Jack Horner in Boogie Nights or Vic Edwards in this year's The Last Movie Star, I kept tabs on Burt Reynolds and was always glad to see him staying relevant, still making people smile.

Burt Reynolds was one of a kind, not just an actor, but a personality. Someone who indelibly weaves themselves into the fabric of society and our lives. And when we lose them, it's like losing a piece of ourselves. But at least we still have his films to help us fill that void. The Last Movie Star, indeed.

Quick Flick Review: Mission: Impossible: Fallout

Mission: Impossible: Fallout contains all the thrilling prerequisite stunt pieces we've come to expect over the franchise's 22-year run. But when it comes to filling the space between the action, it's just another been-there-done-that, highly convoluted storyline we won't remember a thing about in three months time.

No, it seems pretty apparent that the only reason to keep crawling back into the trenches with Ethan Hunt is to see how 56-year-old star-turned-stuntman Tom Cruise will risk his life next for our amusement. Grade: B-