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Articles on Oscars 2015

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Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Birdman took home four awards, including Best Picture. Mike Blake/Reuters

Oscars 2015: expert reaction

Indies to the rescue, the quiet power of foreign language films, Gen-X’s crowning moment. All – and more – are covered by our experts, who weigh in on this year’s Oscars.
In American Sniper, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is the ‘sheepdog’ – someone who operates in a state of constant, anxious alertness against inevitable attack. Entertainment Weekly

At its core, American Sniper is about white fear

Many are decrying the film as merely conservative propaganda. But American Sniper – as with many of Eastwood’s films – has a more nuanced approach that addresses modern anxieties.
Colman Domingo, director Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo at the Berlin film festival. Jens Kalaene/EPA

We must make sure some good comes out of Selma’s award snub

The 2015 Golden Globe nominations for Selma (Best Actor, Best Picture and Best Director) seemed to signal that the film’s chances were high for being on all the nomination lists for the rest of the awards…
An outstanding performance from David Oyelowo. Atsushi Nishijima © 2014 Paramount Pictures

It’s dangerous to draw parallels between Selma and today

In an early scene in Selma, a sunlit stairwell is the backdrop for several floral-clad girls chatting happily about the hair styles of Coretta Scott King. This gorgeous vision then explodes before our…
To die for? Warner Bros. Pictures

America’s tragic journey from Selma to American Sniper

Two films about recent American history feature in the Oscars run up this year. There’s Selma, a heroic retelling of the civil rights movement. And then American Sniper, about US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle…
Recognition is a super-human process that requires sacrifice …. and a bit of flying. Atsushi Nishijima/Twentieth Century Fox

Is it a Birdman? Is it a play? It’s super meta-textuality!

What do Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Simpsons, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film Birdman have in common? All three utilise the concept of meta-theatre. The concept of meta-theatre, or meta-text, in its crudest…
Julianne Moore’s star turn in Still Alice provides a lesson in understanding neurodegenerative diseases. Icon Film

Still Alice, and the advocacy for Alzheimer’s in fiction

Still Alice – starring Julianne Moore – tells the story of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor diagnosed with a form of early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Moore has already netted a Golden Globe and is…
Still Alice is a window into the lives of the millions of people living with Alzheimer’s disease. Icon Film

Still Alice: a rare look at how dementia steals memories from millions

For many of us, memories are our most precious possessions; they makes us the people we are. Consider how you would feel then if your memories were stripped from you, as they are from people diagnosed…
All hail the penis. Ian West/PA Archive

Oscar nominations 2015: it’s still a man’s world

This year’s Oscar nominations quickly prompted ire from all quarters. This isn’t unusual, the awards are an easy target. “Everything is awful”, moans the Telegraph: “The Lego Movie, the most successful…
The movie Selma takes King – best known to Americans as an orator – and turns him into an organizer. Wikimedia Commons

How the movie Selma made MLK human again

It’s been almost 60 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. became a household name during the 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and some may find it astonishing that, until the recent release of Selma, he’s…

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