Oscars and Racism in the U.S.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We have a winner! In 2015, Selma is the only film that approaches the majesty and gravitas of what an Oscar for Best Picture should be. It is a superb story but, ironically, not a well-produced film. Selma is actually a ten-part HBO television series squashed into a two-hour movie. The writer and director try to tell the complicated story of a flawed hero - Martin Luther King - in the weeks before the civil rights march from...

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So If You’re So Good, How Come You Lost?

American Sniper (minus) 2 ** stars  As we get towards Academy Awards night, a series of essays on the themes from the films nominated for Oscar for Best Film.  Today, American Sniper.  The least thing they could do is admit they lost. The problem with the film American Sniper is that claims to be the truth.  It claims to be the story of a brave, American hero who goes over to Iraq and kills one-hundred-and-sixty people for a great cause.  It claims that those people deserved to die...

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