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Articles by Amy Smith All
Sound of Subtitles: A Dissertation Update (Introduction)
I am going into the final year of my university course, and with that comes a dissertation that must be produced. 8,000 daunting words, but on a subject that I am passionate about and something that I am excited to learn about. The idea of writing a dissertation is something that I have been excited about for years, and yet I had struggled to find a true passion within the film course to focus on.
First Oscars 2022 Nomination Predictions - September 2021
I have waited for months to start getting word of mouth from festivals and for confirmation of what is coming out this year, but now it is time for my first official predictions for the 2022 Academy Awards. As of right now, I will only be focusing on the eight above-the-line categories and I will not be ranking the nominees, just alphabetically listing them. I plan to do these updates monthly leading up to the start of award season. Here are my current predictions for the 2022 Oscars.
A Month of Bisexuality - how the media represents sexuality
If anyone doesn’t already know this, I am bisexual. Yes, I date someone who is male, but that doesn’t make me less bisexual or my sexuality less valid. Bisexuality is something that is rarely explored in popular media, with many characters written to either be exclusively straight or gay.
TV Series Review - 'Loki' Season One - Film For Thought
IMDb: Loki (TV Series 2021- ) Created by: Michael Waldron Directed by: Kate Herron Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson Synopsis: The mercurial villain Loki resumes his role as the God of Mischief in a new series that takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. THIS REVIEW OF LOKI DOES CONTAIN SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON. My feelings on Loki’s character has changed throughout the years before the release of his own TV show.
My Top Ten Films of 2021 So Far
Well, 2021 has certainly been a year so far. I can already tell you that everyone who has a 2021 list will be setting different criteria and mine is no different. Going by the list that I have set so far, this year has been extraordinary for releases and there is still plenty to come with the new blockbusters and the festival hits that I have already fallen in love with. I am proud to share my list of the top ten films of 2021 so far.
The Power of Production Design - an analysis and review of The Father (2021)
WARNING: This piece discusses major spoilers for The Father. When the advertisement for The Father started rolling out, showing Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman smiling and with quotes talking about “tender” and “stunning” performances, I was shocked by the tone that the marketing team wanted to give with this film. To me, those posters feel deceptive of what the film is actually about and how harrowing the subject matter actually is.
Back to the Cinema: My Reviews of May 2021
For the past two weeks of May, cinemas have been able to re-open and I have been able to see three films. Whilst two of these have had mixed reviews, I am glad that report that it has been a strong two weeks and I am excited to be able to share some mini reviews for these films. Before I share my thoughts on the films though, I want to thank the staff who helped make my experiences at the cinema not only safe, but good.
Mental Health Awareness Week: an analysis of Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
This week, Monday 10th May – Sunday 16th May, has been Mental Health Awareness week and many people in the film community have been sharing their stories on their mental health, as well as representation of mental health in films. To this day, there is a shocking lack of good representation of mental health issues as most of these illnesses are instead played on for horror and comedic purposes.
Award Season 2022: An Early Best Picture Prediction
Yes, it has only been a few weeks since the Oscars happened. However, it is time to look forward and see what might be getting in for the 94th Academy Awards. With a guaranteed ten nominees for next year’s show, I will be sharing my early predictions in the Best Picture category with a reason as to why I am predicting it. Note: This list is currently based on expected release dates for these films, and as such all of the films predicted may not actually release this year.
Back to the Cinema: MAY 2021
It is time. One week from now, the cinemas will re-open their doors in the UK and I will be able to experience the cinematic experience once more. With this, I launch a new monthly blog post on this site in which I talk about five films within the month that I am excited to see. NOTE: I will be taking my sources from IMDb, and I may talk about films that I have already seen due to screeners or festival runs. This is also based on a UK list.
Film Review: Black Bear (2021)
IMDb Link: Black Bear (2020) Director: Lawrence Michael Levine Writer: Lawrence Michael Levine Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon Synopsis: A filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and surprising ways. Lawrence Michael Levine has created a film that is structured in two parts, which in itself is an interesting concept.
Awards Season 2021: Independent Spirit Awards Predictions
Tonight, the 36th Independent Spirit Awards are happening and I am proud that I got to cast my vote for these awards. However, my winners will not necessarily be everyone’s picks so it is time for me to be subjective and predict who I think will win each award.
Awards Season 2021: The Alternative Oscars
In such a strong year for the Academy Awards, many nominees who were fighting for a spot or deserving of nominations didn’t even get a chance to have a campaign going. I have decided to create an alternative Oscars line-up of the eight above-the-line categories, consisting solely of non-nominees within each category. Here is who I would nominate in an alternative Oscars for this year.
Awards Season 2021: My Oscar Ballot
Today is the last day that Academy members are voting on their ballots, and it is also the day that I have completed watching every film nominated in this year’s ceremony. There is so much to reward this year and I am glad that I have taken the time to watch and appreciate every film that is up for an award. However, I have been wanting to make a post where I would give my votes and pretend that I have an Oscar ballot, and now I am ready to do that.
Awards Season 2021: My Final Oscar Predictions
Here we are, it is one week until the Oscars and it is time to make my final predictions. With the final major precursors occurring over the weekend, we are getting no more hints as to who the Academy may be going for this season. It also feels like a lot of the categories are locked up, with only the likes of Best Editing and Best Actress being the deciders for this year’s Oscar ballot. Without further ado, here are my final predictions for the 2021 Academy Awards.
Short Film Showcase #16: Best Documentary Short
I have now been able to see all five shorts from the Best Documentary Short category for this year’s Academy Awards and once again, I am incredibly impressed with the selection. Aside from one short which I really disliked, I would rate every nominee more than 4/5 stars. Here is my final ranking of the Oscar nominees for this year. 1.
Film Review: Love and Monsters (2021)
IMDb Link: Love and Monsters (2020) Director: Michael Matthews Writers: Brian Duffield, Matthew Robinson Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick, Michael Rooker Synopsis: In a monster-infested world, Joel learns his girlfriend is just 85 miles away. To make the dangerous journey, Joel discovers his inner hero to be with the girl of his dreams. Dylan O’Brien is an actor that I have been fascinated by over the past decade, especially with the projects that he has taken on.
Film Review: Promising Young Woman (2021)
IMDb Link: Promising Young Woman (2020) Director: Emerald Fennell Writer: Emerald Fennell Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie Synopsis: A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path. Even though the film is only about to drop in the UK, it still feels like I am late to the conversation. What can I say about this film that hasn’t already been said hundreds of times by many other publications?
The Ultimate Choice #22: Best Picture 2021 Contenders
Last year for The Ultimate Choice, I did an edition in February in which I got my fellow film fans and Oscar pundits to write a piece on why each of the contenders should or will win the Oscar. Because I loved that edition so much, I am doing it again and I have gotten a piece on every film contending this year. Even if we know who is actually going to win, I am excited to share the passion behind all of the contenders this year.
Awards Season 2021: My Independent Spirit Award Ballot
This year, I was proud to become an official member of Film Independent. This was a decision I made at the start of 2021 when hearing about the range of opportunities they give, from watching the screeners, attending Q&As, and getting to vote for the Independent Spirit Awards, something I was glad to do. The value of the membership is so worth the money and I am glad I chose to be a part of it.
Film Review: Sound of Metal (2021)
IMDb Link: Sound of Metal (2019) Director: Darius Marder Writers: Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance Starring: Riz Ahmed, Paul Raci, Olivia Cooke Synopsis: A heavy-metal drummer’s life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing. Firstly, I want to thank the director and writer Darius Marder for simply telling this story.
Short Film Showcase #14: Best Live Action Short 2021
I have now been able to see all five shorts from the Best Live Action Short category for this year’s Academy Awards and honestly, I am impressed with the selection. Even with the big miss of The Human Voice, I can say that I liked every contender in this category. However, here is my official ranking of the contenders for this year’s show. 1.
Awards Season 2021: Oscar Predictions (08 April)
M I Quite a bit has changed with my Oscar nominations, so before the BAFTA takes place it is time to share my updated list.
Awards Season 2021: SAG Predictions
It feels strange trying to predict the SAG awards in a year where the winners already know who they are. Of course, there are rumours floating about on who has already won, but I am doing my best to avoid those rumours until they are officially revealed. These predictions are not going to be based on any rumour, but instead based on who I would suspect will win based on previous precursors. Here are my predictions for the 2021 SAG Awards.
The Ultimate Choice: Lockdown Edition
It has now been just over a year since most of the world went into lockdown, and is has certainly been an interesting year for film fans. With cinemas shut down and movie releases postponed, many of us scraped the bottom of the barrel for new releases and relived some of our favourite tales. I wanted to get my fellow film friends to write a piece on the best film they saw during lockdown.
Short Film Showcase #13: Best Animated Short 2021
I have now been able to see all five shorts from the Best Animated Short line-up and overall I am impressed with the nominees. Whilst I would have still chosen Kapaemahu or Out to have received nominations, I am glad to be able to share my ranking of the nominees. 1. If Anything Happens I Love You Directors: Will McCormack, Michael Govier Writers: Will McCormack, Michael Govier Synopsis: Grieving parents struggle with the loss of their daughter after a school shooting. An elegy on grief.
Awards Season 2021: Breaking Down "Best Supporting Actress"
As far as I can tell, the acting categories are starting to feel like locks. Unless the upcoming SAG awards do something drastic, I feel like Chadwick Boseman, Carey Mulligan and Daniel Kaluuya are all ready to accept their first Oscar. However, many of us are still perplexed by who is the frontrunner for the Best Supporting Actress category and today, I plan to answer that by pushing you towards two of the nominees: Olivia Colman and Youn Yuh-jung. To start, let’s summarise the wins so far.
Awards Season 2021: The Final Oscar Nomination Predictions
We have been on quite a journey over the past five months, with films rising and falling and the road being really unpredictable. However, with the voting complete for the Oscar ballots and only a few days until Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Nick Jonas announce the nominees, it is time for me to lock my final predictions. I will not be predicting winners this time, just the nominees listed in alphabetical order. All 23 categories will be predicted here.
Awards Season 2021: FYC - Sound of Metal
During the voting period of the Oscar nominations (Fri 5 – Wed 10 March), I will be putting out FYC campaigns for what films Academy members should be giving a watch and who they should be considering giving a nomination for. Today’s FYC push: Sound of Metal Note: I will not be talking about the Best Sound and Best Actor categories, as Sound of Metal is not needing a push in those particular categories for nominations.
Awards Season 2021: FYC - The Mauritanian
During the voting period of the Oscar nominations (Fri 5 – Wed 10 March), I will be putting out FYC campaigns for what films Academy members should be giving a watch and who they should be considering giving a nomination for. Today’s FYC push: The Mauritanian Best Adapted Screenplay This year’s Adapted Screenplay category has some great films in it, but it is also the case that the Academy might end up resorting to some standard, average picks.
Awards Season 2021: Breaking Down the ‘Shorts’
As part of the Oscar voting week, I will be breaking down the potential nominees in numerous categories, and giving my official predictions as of right now of what will make it into the line-up. For this post, I will be breaking down the three ‘Shorts’ categories: Live-Action, Animation, and Documentary. Live-Action Short This is the hardest category for me to make a solid prediction on, based on the fact that I have only seen two of the shortlisted films as of right now.
Awards Season 2021: FYC – Soul - Film For Thought
During the voting period of the Oscar nominations (Fri 5 – Wed 10 March), I will be putting out FYC campaigns for what films Academy members should be giving a watch and who they should be considering giving a nomination for. Today’s FYC push: Soul Note: I will not be talking about the Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score categories, as Soul is not needing a push in those particular categories for nominations.
Awards Season 2021: Critics Choice Predictions
Last week was the Golden Globes and there is no time for a break as tonight the Critics Choice Awards air. Whilst certain races feel like locks, this is the place to potentially get some clarity for the Actress races after the unpredictable winners of the Golden Globes. Here is who I am predicting to win at the Critics Choice Awards.
Awards Season 2021: FYC - Pieces of a Woman
During the voting period of the Oscar nominations (Fri 5 – Wed 10 March), I will be putting out FYC campaigns for what films Academy members should be giving a watch and who they should be considering giving a nomination for. Today’s FYC push: Pieces of a Woman Best Actress: Vanessa Kirby In what was a very strong start to the campaign for Pieces of a Woman, Vanessa Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival, above McDormand for the Golden Lion film Nomadland.
Awards Season 2021: Breaking Down the 'Features'
As part of the Oscar voting week, I will be breaking down the potential nominees in numerous categories, and giving my official predictions as of right now of what will make it into the line-up. For this post, I will be breaking down the three ‘Feature’ categories: Best International Feature, Best Animated Feature, and Best Documentary Feature. Best Documentary Feature It is clear from the shortlisted films that there is a lack of care for the COVID-19 documentary.
Glasgow Film Festival 2021 – Days 6 - 9 - Film For Thought
I ended up seeing a lot less films than I was expecting, due to an unexpected work experience that came up. However, I still managed to squeeze in three fils during the four-day run of this line-up and I still want to share my thoughts on them. Here are the reviews for the films that showed between days 6 and 9 of the Glasgow Film Festival.
TV Series Review: WandaVision
IMDb Link: WandaVision (TV Mini Series 2021) Distributor: Disney Creator: Jac Schaeffer Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn Synopsis: Blends the style of classic sitcoms with the MCU, in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision – two super-powered beings living their ideal suburban lives – begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems. This review will be spoiler-free.
Awards Season 2021: My Oscar Ballot
Carey Mulligan stars as “Cassandra” in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features Academy members will be voting for their nominees for the 2021 Academy Awards in the next few days, and that marks the start of Oscar week over at Film For Thought. From FYC’s, predictions, bold bets, category breakdowns and more, from today until the 10th of March, there is going to be a lot of content coming here in regards to the Oscars.
Film Review: Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
IMDb Link: Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Director: Shaka King Writers: Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons Synopsis: The story of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal. Something that I have been saying since the trailer dropped for Judas and the Black Messiah was that Daniel Kaluuya’s performance would be undeniable.
Awards Season 2021: Oscar Nomination Predictions (06/02)
We have now had a couple of the big award show nominations come through, from the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards alongside the longlist for the BAFTA nominations. With some big shocks within the nominations, it is time to see how it impacted what I am predicting for the Academy Awards. Here are my predictions as of right now for the 2021 Academy Award nominations.
Sundance 2021: Top Ten Feature Films
Sundance 2021 is officially over and so much happened. I ended up finishing off the festival with 28 features watched, which I am really pleased about. The quality of these films are insane, and I am glad to be able to share my top ten films at the festival. Obviously I did not see every film that showed at the festival. There are some big ones that I missed, particularly Prisoners of the Ghostland, Summer of Soul… and John and the Hole.
Awards Season 2021: SAG Nomination Predictions
We are really getting into awards season now, with the Golden Globe nominations today and the SAG nominations tomorrow. It is therefore time to predict who I think will get a nomination at the SAG awards tomorrow in the five main categories.
Awards Season 2021: Golden Globes Nomination Reactions
Carey Mulligan stars as “Cassandra” in director Emerald Fennell’s PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features Well I certainly have a lot to say here. The nominations were just announced for the Golden Globes (the full list can be found here) and there are some highs, and there are some lows.
Sundance 2021: Day 5
Yesterday may have been my favourite day of the festival so far. Aside from watching some great shorts, which I will be reviewing over the next two days, I ended up covering five films and being able to review six. There are some incredible films from the past day, and I cannot wait to share them. Without further ado, here are my reviews for the Day 5 line-up of the Sundance Film Festival.
Awards Season 2021: Golden Globes Nomination Predictions
In the midst of the Sundance festival, we are still keeping an eye on awards season. Tomorrow, the Golden Globe nominations will be announced and it is time for me to predict what is going to land a nomination at the first major precursor of the season.
Sundance 2021: Short Film Showcase – Shorts 4 - Film For Thought
Out of every short film collection at Sundance 2021 this year, I am ready to declare Shorts 4 as my favourite of the lot. With all seven of these films, the lowest score any of them received was a 3.5/5. I am so excited to share these films with you and encourage you to check them out whilst you still have time at the festival. Here are my reviews of the Shorts 4 collection at Sundance 2021.
Sundance 2021: Day 3
If we thought there was quality in the first two days of the festival, then we are in for a ride as I would consider Day 3 of the festival to be packed with even more quality films. I ended up seeing five feature films released on this day, one that came from a screener before the festival began. Here are my reviews of the Day 3 films at Sundance 2021.
Sundance 2021: Short Film Showcase - Shorts 2
We have a real mixed bag with the Shorts 2 collection as there are some wonderful shorts here, but also a few that sadly disappointed me. Without wasting your time, here are my reviews of all seven films in the Shorts 2 collection at Sundance 2021. White Wedding Director: Melody C. Roscher Writer: Melody C. Roscher Starring: Nabiyah Be, J.
Sundance 2021: Days 1 & 2
We are in the thick of Sundance 2021 now and I have seven features to review from the first two days. The reason I put both of these days together is because the first day only had one film for me in CODA. Now, I have plenty to talk about and I want to share my love for them as this was a strong opening to the festival. Without further ado, here are my seven film reviews.
Sundance 2021: Short Film Showcase - Shorts 1
To see the rest of my Sundance Festival Coverage, click here. The festival has already begun and even with the few options of features that were showing on day one, there were plenty of shorts on offer. Today, we cover seven films as part of the Shorts 1 selection. Without further ado, here are my reviews. Five Tiger Director: Nomawonga Khumalo Writer: Nomawonga Khumalo Starring: Fumani Shilubana, Ayanda Seoka, Manzi Biyela Synopsis: South Africa, present day.
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