Nick Allen

Rating: 3.5/5.0

After years of enlivening adapted work in front of the camera and on the stage, only recently has the prolific actor Ralph Fiennes taken to directing films; in 2011 he gave the world a version of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus,” which included the odd treat of watching Gerard Butler espouse the Bard’s words from his mouth, and a sporadically-lauded performance from Vanessa Redgrave.

As there are upwards of 6,000 members in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, I simply do not have the time or wherewithal to graffiti on everyone’s house “Robert Redford?” However, I can at least make a post on the internet calling out those they have snubbed; exposing where their collective categorizing as a majority of old white males went wrong.

Those who live in Chicagoland but can’t make it to Sundance 2014 this weekend are invited to ring in a ten-year anniversary of one of the festival’s biggest premieres, “Napoleon Dynamite.”

After an intense season of outside-industry kudos delivery, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has proclaimed its favorites of a memorable award season. “12 Years a Slave” continues its momentum with nominees for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and more.

Filmgoers may bash the January to October movie fare for being boisterous, obnoxious, directed by Michael Bay, etc. However, even during the supposedly tasteful sanctuary that is the award season of November to January, those films themselves can be lumped together to sponsor their own lack of subtlety.

Including films that achieve the correct button-mashing combo to earn fancy kudos and are positively lauded, there are only a select few from the whole bunch that have the significance of “definitive.”

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize in Documentary and Audience Award at Sundance 2013, Blood Brother is a film about a great Pittsburgh guy by the name of Rocky, who left America to create a new life in India. Over the course of three years, he became a rock star at a shelter for children with AIDS, caring for them in all manners, and creating strong relationships with them.

CHICAGO – “Laurence Anyways” is a carte blanche project of passion from Québécois director Xavier Dolan, a 24-year-old with two feature films (“I Killed My Mother,” “Heartbeats”) already under his belt. Close to a total three-hour running time and filled with numerous extended musical interludes, it is a bulky movie that could certainly be significantly slimmed down and still be able to leave the same size bruise. For Dolan, however, such hugeness is yet another statement from him and his growing understanding of filmmaking, this project a showcase for his current aesthetic artiness as filmmaker first, storyteller second.

CHICAGO – Revered horror director Dario Argento has numerous classics to his name, including “Suspiria” and “Deep Red,” which have cemented him to a designation in which filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Brian De Palma, and James Wan cite him as an influence. As a writer, he has numerous co-writing credits, including story work on “Once Upon a Time in the West” with Bernardo Bertolucci and the film’s director, Sergio Leone.

CHICAGO – The 2013 Chicago International Film Festival may be heading into its final stretch but it’s far from over, as new films from Errol Morris, Joel & Ethan Coen, Jason Reitman, and many more are scheduled to make their Chicago premiere.