Top 10 American Remakes of Foreign Films

With this week’s release of “Miss Bala” and “The Upside” earlier this month, American remakes of foreign films are a hot trend in Hollywood right now. Of course, this is nothing new, as American filmmakers have long borrowed from world cinema since the earliest days of the medium. While many of these fail to live up to the reputation of the original films, there are others which have achieved enough popularity to become known as the definitive versions of their stories. As we anticipate a year slated to bring even more remakes, here’s a look back at 10 such outstanding American Remakes of Foreign Films which either equaled or surpassed their predecessors.

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10 Best Asian Films Since 2008

As the eagerly anticipated “Crazy Rich Asians” arrives in theaters this week, one of the most underrepresented minority groups will get a rare chance to shine in a major Hollywood production. While we wait for Hollywood to catch up to the world, with this long overdue cultural moment, it’s worth reflecting on the success of native Asian filmmakers. Indeed, the well-established film industries across the Asian continent have produced filmmakers and movie stars to rival any Hollywood A-lister. And with the vast array of socioeconomic and cultural contexts of the various countries, Asian cinema is a buffet of cinematic delights. From the dazzling spectacles of India’s Bollywood cinema to the consistently edgy works from South Korean directors, there’s something for everyone.

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Top 10 Spike Lee Joints

On August 10, “BlacKkKlansman” will be released in theaters nationwide, marking the 38th feature film in the storied filmography of Spike Lee. As one of the pioneering figures of the 1980s independent film movement, Lee’s career has made him one of the most influential black filmmakers of all time. And with the release of his latest, early reviews prove that he hasn’t lost his flair for the politically-charged, provocative work that captivates audiences everywhere.

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10 Best Debut Films by Directors of Color Since 2008

Ask any director and they’ll tell you that getting your first feature funded and completed is no easy task. And when you’re a director of color, it’s even more daunting. Indeed, it’s no secret that white directors are often afforded greater opportunities to further their careers following their debut features. But for filmmakers of color, there’s the likelihood that their first film could be their last.

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10 Foreign Directors to Watch in 2018

Taking place at the start of the blockbuster-driven summer season, the Cannes Film Festival always holds a special place in the film calendar. While the next few months will see most of the media attention focused on Hollywood fare, this prestigious festival shines a spotlight on the best of world cinema. Indeed, at the recently concluded 2018 edition, only 2 American directors competed for the coveted Palme d’Or this year, while filmmakers from Egypt to Kazakhstan were feted.

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10 Black Films to Anticipate in 2018

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that “Black Panther” has taken the world by storm. With its record-smashing box office and cultural impact, the film has captured our imaginations and gave us a Black History Month to remember. Its monumental success has truly shattered any illusions as to the limited commercial potential of black films, though Hollywood will surely attempt to dismiss it as an anomaly. It is therefore up to us movie lovers to prove them wrong. And if the exciting slate of 2018 releases is any indication, we can expect many more opportunities to celebrate black excellence at the movies this year.

Ranging from big franchise movies to eccentric indies, here are 10 upcoming films to look forward to, all directed by and starring black talent:

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10 Essential Palme d'Or Winners

In just a matter of hours, the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival will open with Arnaud Desplechin’s “Ismael’s Ghosts,” kicking off an 11-day celebration of contemporary film. Amid the cinephilia, most of the attention will be focused on a select 19 films competing for the coveted Palme d’Or, the most prestigious film festival prize in the world. If chosen by the Pedro Almodóvar-led jury, the eventual winner will go down in history alongside an esteemed group of films. Indeed, the treasure trove of Oscar winners, arthouse classics and smashing debuts associated with the Palme d’Or gives us much to be excited about.

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10 Great Foreign Language Performances Overlooked by Oscar

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OSCAR WATCH: Foreign Language Contenders

Palme d'Or winner Dheepan

With this year's Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Cannes Film Festivals behind us, I decided to do a little preliminary prognostication on the upcoming Foreign Language Oscar race. Here are some of the films I've identified based mainly on the following criteria:

• Festival Awards (Sundance, Berlin, Cannes or Tribeca)
• National Awards
• Previously submitted director
• Prime US distributor (i.e. Sony Pictures Classics)

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10 Foreign-Language Directors You Should Know

After Wednesday's opening day festivities, the 2015 Cannes Film Festival is fully underway, bringing cinephiles together at the mecca of auteur-driven world cinema. I therefore decided this would be the ideal time to shine a spotlight on some of world cinema's most exciting working directors, including some of the names that will be involved in this year's fest in various capacities.

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10 Foreign-Language Actors You Should know

Ever since the earliest days of cinema, international actors have been embraced by American audiences for being among the best in the business. During Hollywood's Golden Age it was people like Ingrid Bergman, Laurence Olivier and Marlene Dietrich. Today, it's the likes of Christoph Waltz, Marion Cotillard and Javier Bardem who are becoming household names. But for every Lupita Nyong'o that comes along and steals our hearts, there are countless other talented actors who aren't afforded the mainstream visibility that comes with Hollywood success. For this week's Foreign Circuit column, we will highlight 10 of these individuals. Specifically, we will celebrate the foreign actors who have thus far worked exclusively in the underseen realm of non-English language films.

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The 6 Key Predictions for your Oscar Pool

After a long awards season with an abundance of precursors, the Oscar ceremony can sometimes feel anticlimatic in terms of the winners. Most of the categories have such strong frontrunners that I'm sure that the many nominees don't even bother preparing acceptance speeches. Still, there are always more or less 6 categories that are still unknown quantities ahead of the big night. Predicting those categories can therefore make the difference between winning and losing your office Oscar pool. This year, these are the categories that you need to pay particular attention to (apart from the shorts of course):

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Why the Oscars are still relevant

I was recently asked to contribute an article to the site Only Oscar. It was concieved in response to a dissenting opinion that the Oscars are now useless. Head on over there to read what I had to say and check out some of the site's other interesting posts.

Click here for the article

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Black contenders target Oscar record

Earlier this year, the New York Times ran an article titled "Coming Soon - A Breakout Year for Black Cinema". It put a welcome spotlight on all the emerging talent from black filmmakers and their deserved acclaim. Of course, it's perhaps too early to declare a paradigm shift in Hollywood, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. What's truly outstanding about this year though, is the number of black contenders in the Oscar race. In fact, we may see a new record for the number of individual black Oscar nominees (discounting duplicate citations) for a single Oscar year. The current record was set in 2006, which yielded nods for 8 persons - Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Sharen Davis, Siedah Garrett and Willie D. Burton. While that tally was largely due to "Dreamgirls", this year is noteworthy for the wider variety of films gaining attention. Of course, many of the smaller films will lose some traction throughout the season. However, I'm fairly confident that we'll see at least 9 different black contenders securing nods on January 16th.

So without further ado, here are the black nominees(in bold) I'm currently projecting for the 2013 Oscar year:

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DISCUSSION: The "0-Star" Rating

In the past couple of weeks I've twice come across instances where persons have felt inclined to give a film the "0 star" rating. Every time I see this, it immediately triggers something in my mind that this person is exaggerating their disdain. I fully admit I am perhaps too lenient with my ratings (I never hesitate to give a 4 1/2 or 5 star rating, while rarely ever giving a movie 1 star or less). I usually only watch movies that appeal to me, so perhaps I'm really missing a lot of dreck. At the same time though, I find myself always taking something positive from my worst movie-watching experiences. Sometimes it's a standout acting performance, or maybe it's just some brilliant costume design. Perhaps I take the term "0" too literally, but for me there's always something there to give it a rating of substance. Even if it's just a 1/2 star.
When discussing this with a fellow blogger, he brought up the benefits of letter grades over numbered ratings systems. While I do use the 5-star rating system myself, I often find it more meaningful to give a really bad movie an "F", rather than a "0". It implores me to wonder if maybe the letter grade system is better suited to movie criticism.

What's your stance on the "0 star" rating? Please feel free to discuss in the comments section. I'm very interested to hear your thoughts.

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