5 (Real) Ideas to Fix the Oscars

Award shows should be an exciting affair, and generally, they are for the people who they’re geared towards – Grammys ring in devoted music lovers, Tonys for the theatre crowd, Oscars for cinemaphiles, and so on. However, over the past several years  the Academy Awards has felt pressure to increase its ratings despite movie fans accepting the ceremony format (excluding the lack of diversity, of course) the way it is.

With making the Oscars more dynamic in mind, the Academy Awards's planned some big changes. Two, in particular, set fire to the film community: the show's running time will be limited to three hours period (by filming the technical winner's speeches during commercials and then aired as a montage). And, creating a new separate category for Popular Film instead of acknowledging blockbusters with other Best Picture nominees.

While their new ideas certainly had good intentions, it's not difficult to notice that the Oscars ceremony continues to gloss over its other mistakes. From forced comedy sketches to general pat-each-other-on-the-pack merriment, there's harmless flubs that makes it feel like we're watching the same ceremony over and over again; small reasons why the ratings continue to decline. So, how can the most anticipatory time of the year for movie buffs actually change for better? I have a few ideas. I'd love to know how you feel about the Oscars' announcements. Let me know in the comments!

Why It’s Okay To Lean Onto Fandom in Troubled Times

Every day there are always more shocking and disturbing headlines highlighting what’s going wrong in the world. Not that tragic, controversial, or destructive incidents haven’t been occurring since the beginning of time, but now with social media, the spotlight singles out every event at the same time: gun violence, net neutrality, police brutality, incompetent governments, Families Belong Together, horrific allegations of abuse and sexual assault - to name a few. As technology captures every minuscule or massive piece of news, the world never stops watching and reporting, moving faster than humans can process one event from the next.

The news has become so rampant and extreme, reality is a blender of all of our scariest dystopias because life is becoming a real dystopia. One day it’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The next day it’s 1984. Or Brave New World or Animal Farm. Combining them all together can feel like we're in a never-ending episode of Black Mirror, so much so we only wish Rod Serling was narrating us for The Twilight Zone. While we all have the best intentions to log onto the internet or social media to stay-up-to-date, what we see and read almost binds us to our sails being deflated. No matter what at the end of the day we're still normal people with a sense of responsibility to the world around us, who are also trying to do our best. But it's also so easy to feel absolutely helpless about it all.

Top Nomination Picks for the 70th Emmy Awards

Summer is winding down, but the new season of television is just around the corner. Which means it's almost the biggest time of the year for TV land. On September 17th, 2018, the Emmy Awards will celebrate actors and series nominated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Will Donald Glover make history again? Will underdogs like The Americans have a chance to sweep? I thought it might be fun to share my top picks of major award categories (check out the full list of nominees here). Who do you hope will win at the 70th Emmys? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Wonder Women: Mission: Impossible Franchise

If Ethan Hunt is considered the quintessential American spy opposite MI6 British royalty James Bond, then his female counterparts are presumably bad-asses in their own right. Throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise led by Tom Cruise, Hunt's squad has offered actresses a wide range of love interests and agents. With the series's sixth installment Fallout hitting theaters, I thought it was about time to take a look at how the women fare throughout the franchise. Here's another edition of Wonder Women featuring Mission: Impossible. (Note: this list is in chronological order of the movies' release date and contains spoilers). Which is your favorite Mission: Impossible female character? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Where Are All The It Girls of 2018? (And Here Are My Top Five)

The label It Girl is a complicated one. Originating in the 1920s, Clara Bow was a young up-and-coming actress who captivated audiences on-screen with her looks, vulnerability, style, and talent to become one of Hollywood's earliest icons. In one year, she made twenty-five movies, and was eventually dubbed the first It Girl, the simple definition of which is a woman with a magnetic personality and/or sex appeal. Despite becoming an instant sensation, her work and unique charisma from the silent film era continues to live on and inspire.

Over the years, It Girl has often come to mean something else; a way of noticing women for their fifteen minutes of fame regardless of the industry in film, television, music, or fashion; treating them more as a promoted trend than a natural force to be reckoned with. It became less about celebrating actresses who rose from indies or obscurity to entertain and enlighten, and more of who could be more gif-worthy in interviews and on the red carpet. Most recently, Hollywood used the the term to peg rising stars Brie Larson, Emma Stone, Lupita N'Yongo, and Jennifer Lawrence as they captured the audience's and media's attention with their talent, personality, and range on-screen. Yet just as fast as they took over film, magazine covers, and social media, the celebration of a woman or women taking over Tinseltown slipped quietly out of the spotlight, rarely to be used again since.

This suddenly made me ask: What happened to all the It Girls? Granted, the answer arrived pretty easily: The past six months in Hollywood alone from the #TimesUp and #MeToo movement, and the political warfare making waves around the world, have paved the way for more important issues. (And comparatively, there is no It Bro putting actors on a pedestal, is there?.) The glamorous side of Hollywood isn't the first thing on most people's minds right now when it constantly feels like the world is in peril.

Though I shirk at the idea of singling out actresses over others in a superficial game of Who-Is-Better-or-More-Famous, I also look forward to the inspiring success newer actresses have created by breaking out on-screen or out of the mold. It is refreshing to see fresh faces pave the way for themselves and imagine where their careers will be in the future. As 2018 is almost halfway over, powerful actresses have continued to slay on-screen but haven't been offered the spotlight as they have in the past. This still made me want to share my top five favorite bad-ass It Girls for 2018 in the hopes that you're inspired to check them out and see what they have going on. 'Cause they are slaying Tinseltown right now (and for the foreseeable future).

What actresses or actors are onto big things this year? Whose work should I check out? Let me know in the comments below!

Everything I Love About Captain America in Age of Ultron and Civil War

Marvel Studios

We started with his origin Captain America: The First Avenger where we fell in love with the kid from Brooklyn. His identity began to build in The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the third part of this series, everything comes to a head for the Star-Spangled Man with a plan in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Civil War. In the next leg of his own series and the Avengers spin-off, Captain America is tested to stand up for what he believes in as always, but also starts to fail a little - being a superhero is not what it is cracked up to be. There's a real human cost to saving the world. Hope you enjoy!

Everything I Love About Captain America in The Avengers and The Winter Soldier

Marvel Studios

In my previous post about everything I love about Captain America, I focused mainly on Captain America: The First Avenger, which explored his origins as the kid from Brooklyn who became Captain America. After being frozen for seventy years and reintroduced into the 21st Century, the following movies The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier starts to unpack who Steve Rogers is without his super-patriotic alter ego. This second part is all about what I love about the man and the myth. Hope you enjoy!

Everything I Love About Captain America: The First Avenger

Marvel Studios

When you look at the Marvel franchise and its vault of superheros, the casting has been incredible so far. Rarely does an actor miss a beat from the larger-than-life comic book character they're playing, but there a few that stand out above the rest. As humble as Chris Evans is, just like his All-American alter-ego, he has been an incredible asset throughout his own installments and The Avengers films. Along with the direction and writing, Captain America has honestly my favorite character in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the fate of his arc up in the air for the epic Avengers: Infinity War duology, here is an endless list of reasons why I love Captain America starting with Captain America: The First Avenger (the others will come in part two). 

Did your favorite moment make the list? Let me know in the comments below?

Stars I Love: Saoirse Ronan

It's hard to believe we've been watching Saoirse Ronan on-screen for more than a decade. Breaking out in her first award-worthy performance in 2007 for Atonement, she grabbed Hollywood's attention as a young teenager whose wild imagination has devastating consequences. And she's been collecting more acclaim ever since.

When we take a deeper look at the young Irish actress's work, it's hard to believe she's only twenty three years old and she's been nominated for three Academy Award nominations, slipping in and out of playing characters as swiftly as veterans like Meryl Streep and Viola Davis.

5 Marvelous Things To Do Before Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is only one of the biggest movies in comic book history. Connecting superheros from all over the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the movie ties in years of franchises and spin-offs for one of the biggest battles ever. The Avengers's epic third film is only part one of this ginormous fandom-tastic event (part two will be out next year) and will be hitting theaters April 27th (in the U.S.), which means fans only have a few weeks to catch up on the Marvel franchise. Are you ready? Assemble your calendar - Here are five marvelous ways to prepare for Avengers: Infinity War. Hope you enjoy!

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) Teaser Reaction

Photo Credit: Warner Bros Studios

Ya'll know how much I love Harry Potter, but if you dived into the penseive with me for a second...you might be surprised to know my initial reaction to Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them wasn't the rapturous adoration one might expect. Fast forward two years to today, and the first film has increasingly become one of my favorites of the series. I've watched it countless times to the point that I have it memorized, not to mention that I just want to hold Newt, Tina, Jacob, Queenie, and all of his magical creatures and never let them go.

So it's pretty exciting that after a long, controversial wait for more news about the sequel, the official teaser has finally been released! #WandsReady? Let's go! 

5 Favorite "Guilty Pleasure" Romantic Comedies

I don't believe in guilty pleasures. We all have books, movies, or tv shows that we love, but in other people's eyes, we're supposed to feel bad about liking. Why? 'Cause they're not masterpieces or universally praised? We're supposed to "hate ourselves" for liking something other people don't? I don't get it. Since it's the month of love, and romantic comedies are supposed to be the bane of "serious" filmmaking, I thought it'd be fun to share some movies I should probably feel guilty about but don't. Here are 5 Favorite "Guilty Pleasure" Romantic Comedies. What are you some of your favorite rom-com movies other people hate? Feel free to share in the comments!

Top Nomination Picks for The 90th Academy Awards

It's the biggest time of the year for the film industry: the Academy Awards are just around the corner! Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are closing in on naming the chosen ones for best actors and productions over the past year. What are the odds this year's nominees will win? After aggregating the nominations from award shows so far and figuring out who might actually walk away with gold this year, I thought it'd be fun to share my top picks of everything from Best Music to Best Picture. Who do you hope will win at the 90th Academy Awards? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Stars I Love: Carrie Fisher

Despite being a huge geek, Star Wars wasn't a fandom I easily connected with growing up. My mom and sister have always been obsessed with George Lucas's space opera. Even though they took me to the prequels released in theaters, always had the original trio playing on tv, and even attended conventions to meet a parade of castmates, The Force failed to click with me.

Even though I didn't get the hype of the original movies, the iconography of the damsel-without-the-distress was a simple concept to love. My interest in the Star Wars realm wasn't strong, but I hugely admired Carrie Fisher.

When it’s out, it’s someone else’s version of what’s the matter with me. I want it to be my version of what it is. My recourse is to do my version. (x)

In 2015, when the original cast was announced to return to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, knowing Carrie Fisher would be on press tours and much more involved in the public than she had been was an absolute gift for me. If there was one person I looked forward to hearing from, it was her - that sharp humor, vulnerable candor, and unvarnished approach to life in and out of Hollywood.

5 Questions That Need To Be Answered in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

In 2015, Disney revitalized the galactically popular Star Wars franchise with the exciting reboot Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In the seventh installment, Rey (Daisy Ridley) was an orphaned scavenger who discovers her astonishing Jedi abilities and becomes entangled in Luke Skywalker's legacy, the rise of the First Order, and the dark Jedi-in-training Kylo Ren. As the follow-up to the previous flick, The Last Jedi aims to be a massive success at the box office and hopefully answers a lot of questions its predecessor left behind. Before we hop into our Millennium Falcons and hit hyperdrive to the movie theaters this weekend, here are five questions that need to be answered in Star Wars: The Last Jedi! Hope you enjoy!

20 Scenes Why Gal Gadot Should Be Nominated for Best Actress

One of the biggest highlights in 2017 was Wonder Woman. After the studios had so little faith in her own solo movie, she was finally able to shield herself from an onslaught of low expectations, superficial backlash, and a crummy production to give female-driven movies a continued fighting chance.

It's hard to believe a movie like Wonder Woman - adventurous, romantic, funny, dramatic - took 72 years in the making. The culmination of her film's success - which includes breaking box office records - came to down to timing with director Patty Jenkins, screenplay by Allan Heinberg, and most importantly, its leading lady Gal Gadot. If the movie was rushed to rake in money or compete with other female-led superhero movies, WW could've been a complete disaster. Because Zak Snyder discovered Gal, and she stole the show in Batman Versus Superman: Dawn of Justice, this movie offered an incredible portrayal of the legendary character.

The Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Trailer Reaction

After nearly twenty movies following every other superhero in the Marvel catalogue, the fight between good and evil all comes to a head with The Avengers: Infinity War. Earth's mightiest heroes unite to fight against Thanos, a superbeing causing destruction throughout the galaxies on the hunt for the Infinity Stones. Hype has been building for this galactic movie since Comic Con this year, and why not - it's filled with every actor of the Marvel Cinematic Universe all kicking butt and taking names.

Hold onto your Spidey-senses as we get straight into the new trailer! SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

Stars I Love: Ryan Gosling

Art Streiber New York Magazine

How do you describe Ryan Gosling? I've unceremoniously given him the nickname Canadian Sugarcube, but that's just my massive crush talking. (The Twelve Days of Ryan Gosling is up to two threads on twitter and has only just begun...) But critics have called him one of the best actors of his generation, while almost anyone familiar with The Gos calls him charming, talented, smart, personable - to say the least. Settle into your onesie, in celebration of his birthday, we're digging into the charisma of his career and what makes him so lovable. Or, all of the reasons why he's one of my favorite stars - if not my TOP favorite.

20 Favorite Episodes of The Walking Dead

One of my all-time favorite shows The Walking Dead has hit its monumental 100th episode! For eight years, we've seen epic walker kills, learned how not to be walker bait, and witnessed beloved characters' deadly fates, surviving some of the worst a zombie apocalypse could deliver. After ranking my favorite seasons, quotes by the cast and Rick Grimes, Glenn Rhee moments, I thought it'd be a perfect time to cover myself in walker guts and go down a brutal memory lane.

In an effort to not repeat myself, some episodes are reserved for my favorite Rick-Grimes centered episodes, and there's probably a lot more I could give honorable mentions. But these are my top twenty favorites (so far). P.S. Reviews of the new season will be returning as a weekly feature on Wednesdays!

Happy 100th Episode The Walking Dead! (SPOILERS BELOW) What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Trailer Reaction

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The time has finally arrived young Padawans! After months of the first teaser release, the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer dropped. As expected excitement for the eighth film, which will return to the Resistance's fight against the First Order, and Rey's ascent/descent with the force, was absolutely insane as we get a bigger idea of what's going to happen next.

Let's get straight into the new trailer! SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT