Hollywood's Golden Underdog: Leonardo DiCaprio

As far back as I can remember, Leonardo DiCaprio has been one of my favorite movie stars. The tall tale of his fans' adoration is an extraordinarily common one: young girl watches Titanic (or Romeo and Juliet), falls in love, and continuously cries out for the subsequent snubs he's received with every Academy Awards ceremony.

Rewind back to my 1997 where every friend, friend of friend, and relative took me to see Titanic - a film about two fictional passengers from opposite social classes who fall in in love on the fated ocean liner. The chemistry between the film's stars Kate Winslet and DiCaprio radiated on-screen making it easy for the world to fall head over heels. As I grew up, most movies of my teenagerdom fell to the wayside except for Titanic. Its intricate production was filed into my fandom archives under "I Will Defend This Movie Until My Last Breath". And, DiCaprio remained a hardcore favorite.

Pinpointing the exact origin of my love for his work is difficult. His good looks probably played a role a long time ago, as time has passed, his ability to move from teenage heartthrob into mature actor has become an increasingly influential quality I've admired.

2016 Oscars Best Picture Nominated Posters

It's that time of year again for the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences to award one of eight nominated films for Best Picture: The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight. The header above was inspired by the official theme of the ceremony this year: dreaming in gold. In continuing another collection of artwork from around the web, here's a selection of posters nominated for the coveted Best Picture.

The Walking Dead S6x10 The Next World

Photo Credit: The Walking Dead / Gene Page

Last week of The Walking Dead took us on an unforgettable ride as Rick and his family squared off against walkers treading into Alexandria. They lost some valuable members and Carl suffered a tremendous injury. A major reprieve is on the horizon for everyone reading - this is fairly one of the most light-hearted episodes in a long time. Perhaps for the history of the show? Below includes spoilers of the series so far. You've been warned but hope you enjoy!

How To Be Single (2016) fails to tap into singlehood potential

Photo Credit: How To Be Single / Warner Bros Pictures

February is a go-to month for Hollywood to release movies about love and relationships. Taking a break from the Nicholas Sparks' norm, and truly awesome Pride and Prejudice and Zombies adaptation, was a more modern comedy How To Be Single starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, and Leslie Mann.

Putting her long-term relationship on pause to ensure no part of her own identity is left untapped Alice (Dakota Johnson) explores the freedom of being single. Helping her navigate a new world of flirtation and one-night-stands is a workaholic sister Meg (Leslie Mann) recognizing her desire for motherhood, and Robin (Rebel Wilson), a non-stop partying and unfiltered coworker.

How To Be Single is more funny than romantic, and the credit goes to its leading ladies.

Johnson had a tremendous breakthrough last year 50 Shades of Grey, and she's steadily establishing herself as a versatile and natural talent. So many women have been in Alice's shoes - single and going through all the wrong relationships to figure out what she really wants? She really gives a nice protagonist to relate to and root for. On top of that, Johnson has a natural quiet nature which organically bounces off Wilson's wild ways.

Speaking of which, the surrounding cast lends a nice camaraderie. Wilson, whose built up an impressive persona as a genuinely funny and blunt best friend, gives the most eccentric performance. It's always funny to see her take physical comedy to new heights without it being over-the-top or see her on-screen personality become too annoying. Also, Mann has become a veteran of this genre, making well-rounded characters in the midst of modern-day mayhem of man-boy husbands/boyfriends. Here it's nice to see her as a single lady wanting a different future for herself with kids that may or may not be without a man. The women in the film are first independent, and second seeking a substantial relationship. Though I'd say Wilson provides most of the laugh-out-loud, everyone lends to the film's upbeat nature.

"If Tom texts you wait four hours to respond.
And if you use an emoji I will tit-punch you."

As much as I liked How To Be Single for the cast and overall message, it's hard for me to wholeheartedly recommend. My only qualm is that at face-value the title doesn't fit the story. Alice's relationship going in all the wrong directions takes too much of the running time.

In fact, Meg at one point shades entertainment like Sex and the City because they focus too much on self-proclaimed single independent women spending all their time hunting down men and depending on their love for validation. Though Alice is given more of a try-and-try-again way of finding what's right for her, How To Be Single does too much of the same SATC thing. Her attempt to understand singlehood by being in relationships her actual singlehood.

What I liked the most is that it's not a romantic comedy pushing an agenda - like the regular guy who can't get a girl yearning to just sleep with the girl-next-door but not really appreciate her, or women "daring" to try to balance it all, etc. Instead, How To Be Single feels quite judgement-free, which is perhaps the film's greatest strength next to the cast. Alice, Robin, and Meg provide different layers of what women in want and aren't shoved into boxes that don't work for them.

The women and men aren't harshly judged for their approach in relationships. You can be single and party the hell out of life. You can be single for most of your life and realize that’s not something you want anymore. You can commit to someone/not enjoy one-night-stands but not lose sight of yourself as an individual. The film doesn't cap a limit on what it means to be single i.e. if you are a lone person, you are not automatically sad, anti-social, or an old maid waiting to be discovered half-eaten by ravaged dogs a la Bridget Jones' worst fears. There's no right or wrong way to be single or in relationships. That in itself is refreshing, even if some of the movie's qualities have been done before.

Rating: ★★☆

Have you seen How To Be Single? What are your thoughts?

The Walking Dead - S6X09 No Way Out

Photo Credit: The Walking Dead / Gene Page

The previous mid-season finale of The Walking Dead left us with Deanna's death and our group's safety hanging in the balance. A hoard of zombies broke through one of the community's shattered walls. We had subtle and not-so-subtle ideas about where the returning episode would tread. I don't think anyone expected for No Way Out to be regarded as one of the best episodes in a longtime, as well as one that is best for the series. An action-packed premiere left us wanting so much more! Beware of spoilers - if you haven't seen this yet!

The X-Files Revival: Home Again Review

Coming off of the heartwarming monster-of-the-week episode Mulder and Scully Meet the Were Monster, the X-Files took a somber turn with its latest episode. Director and writer Glen Moran combined an unknown force known as the Trash Man, and a solid focus towards Scully with her mother and as a mother.

In Home Again, the agents are sent to Philadelphia to investigate a serial killer connected to the homeless. Stuck between the streets and the city laws, dozens of homeless men and women were being shuffled around the city like cattle - until the local officials are mysteriously killed by a mystery assailant who swoops in and out of a garbage truck.

Just as the case gets underway Scully is called back to Washington D.C. where her mother suffered a fatal heart attack. Left stricken at her beside, Scully tries to stay strong as her mother mysteriously calls out for her long-distant son Charlie - whom she hadn't had contact in many years. Trying to focus at the task of hand, Scully struggles with her own regrets as a mother.

For the revival, it's been an explored subject that Scully had to give her and Mulder's son up for adoption in the original series. Now that so much time has passed and they've returned to the X-Files, Scully's plagued with doubts if she made the right call. With her mom lying in a near-coma, she feels like there needs to be said between them. Scully struggles to understand her mother's outreach to her brother, who's been a distant relative to the family.

What I really liked about the fourth episode was the combination of the 'monster-of-the-week' as well as focusing on Scully. While last week's episode was definitely more light and heartwarming, this took a darker turn. The Trash-Man and his link of killings brought back the good ol' days of the XX-Files that took take something normal and twist it into something truly creepy. Tall, scarred and with a bandaged nose, he snuck into the night to twist his assailants into literal trash.

I wouldn't necessarily say this was a strong episode. Was it better than last week's or the first two episodes? I'm not quite sure. The revival itself hasn't really returned to the pace of the original series - which is not something the actors could be expected to repeat. The chemistry and emotional intelligence is still there as they return to their characters, but the episodes themselves feel a little slow-going - not bad, or terrible. But I wonder, if this one revival is the only revival we are going have, has the material been the absolute best? I can't give a definitive yes, yet. That's perhaps is the biggest quandary.

The nastiness of the Trash-Man's crimes were both scary and chilling, but it didn't necessarily mar Scully's side of the plot. Gillian Anderson hasn't had a lot to do with the revival so far since much of the episodes centered on Mulder. In regards with her dealing with her mothers' condition, she gave the sorrow and confusion we were reminded of throughout the original series. The biggest difference now is that she is deeply experiencing the turmoil and void of Williams' adoption. The void of his William's presence and Scully's struggles with her mother is what really created the emotional impact and made the episode memorable.

Fancasting: The Choice By Nicholas Sparks

One of my favorite summer reads used to be Nicholas Sparks' books. I say used to because when he was served with a lawsuit in 2014 claiming racist and homophobic behavior, my hobby was somewhat buzzkilled. It was hard to separate the claims from what he was writing. Not only that, but every adaptation following The Notebook sizzles out into the Blandlands.

A lot of people will say his books are virtually the same and I'd agree: they are all about pretty people who are shot with a love-at-first-sight arrow by a North Carolinian cupid. Two people spend two hours or 300 pages in love with each other and don't face the obstacle challenging their true love until the third act. Despite reading the same thing over and over again, there were adaptations I looked forward to - Safe Haven, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John. Yet every time, something fell flat - either the direction, the acting, the script, or all three.

When I heard last year that The Choice was going to be Hollywood's next victim, my inner fangirl spazzed. Typically, when an adaptation is made, the casting doesn't bother me. I'm all for whoever is chosen 'cause my imagination rarely matches up to how I picture characters or a setting. As far back as I initially read The Choice, my fancasting was finite. It's the type of casting I just can't accept otherwise. So no disrespect to the actors in the film but the trailer makes me shudder. (The cinematography is all over the map. What is up with the black-helmet wigs? And, why does he get all creepy-stalkerish at 1:16?) No - just no. That is not my idea of The Choice.