Mark Ruffalo

THOR: RAGNAROK bursts onto screen, effervescent and irreverent, brimming with confidence, flare, panache, and a bunch other adjectives that all add up to a movie that is raucous, rambunctious, and riotously funny.  Entertaining as hell is another way to put it.  It’s also a little thin, which should be a

SPOTLIGHT: A reminder of how journalism can shed light on hidden, uncomfortable truths and help force social, cultural and political change.

The third cautionary tale, albeit a pulpy, comic-book one, about the pitfalls and perils of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in as many months (e.g., Ex Machina, Chappie), Avengers: Age of Ultron, the not unexpected, over-marketed sequel to 2012’s The Avengers (Disney/Marvel had more than $1.5 billion reasons for making a follow-up

The Independent Spirit Award nominations hit on Tuesday, and as always, they’re a hot topic of conversation. Birdman leads with six nominations, while Boyhood, Nightcrawler, and Selma are just behind with five bids each. But eligible awards contenders like The Imitation Game and Wild were nowhere to be found. It’s

More than just a true-crime story or a character study, FOXCATCHER exposes the central lie of the American Dream.

The “official” kickoff of the awards season may have been last week, but it more or less showed us that Robert Duvall, Chris Rock, and Shailene Woodley will hit the campaign trail harder than we expected… Regardless, the awards part of awards season kicks off over the next two weeks.

J.C. Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR will kick off the AFI Film Festival. How will this affect its Oscar chances?

Chris Rock’s Top Five seemed to be more of a commercial prospect when distributors were fighting for get U.S. rights at the Toronto International Film Festival. However, winning bidder Paramount might also have Oscar on the mind: Five hits select locations on Dec. 5 and theaters nationwide the following weekend.

Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game took the Toronto International Film Festival’s audience award earlier this week. The film won over runners-up Isabel Coixet’s Learning to Drive and Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent; people had pegged James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything as a contender, too. Gold Derby reports that 25 of

David Dobkin’s The Judge – starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall – was the first film to, officially, make its case at the Toronto International Film Festival when it kicked off the fest last Thursday night. Well, the jury reached a guilty verdict… Enough courtroom puns, though – what

The Oscar race moves on as the Telluride Film Festival ends and the Toronto Film Festival begins.

Last time I checked in, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave had just taken best picture, best supporting actress for Lupita Nyong’o, and best adapted screenplay for John Ridley. Of course, quite a bit has changed since then; it’s time to look ahead to this year’s Oscars, but not without

Begin Again – Two times the music well might have been one time too many.

Marvel has become the jewel of Hollywood with their films. How do they stack up against each other?

Another twist hit awards-watchers last week as Sony Pictures Classics bumped Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher out of its 2013 lineup – and not too long after an impressive teaser leaked. Maybe SPC simply wants its potential Oscar pony to avoid the current best picture front-runner. As Sasha Stone of Awards Daily

As if it needed another boost, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave won the Toronto International Film Festival’s audience award. The runners-up were Stephen Frears’ Philomena and Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners. Expect the latter to be the big ticket this weekend as its only new competition comes in the form of