2017 Academy Award Winners

In an epic flub that drew gasps of horror — and joy — at the Dolby Theater here, Faye Dunaway mistakenly named “La La Land” best picture at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday night, but in reality “Moonlight” won the top prize.

The producers of “La La Land” were still thanking their families and fellow artists when the interjection came that “Moonlight” had in fact won, as everyone wondered if that was a joke. But it wasn’t, and the “La La Land” people quickly exited the stage as producers and stars of “Moonlight,” just as stunned as everyone else, walked on.

20th Century Women (2016)

The new critically acclaimed comedy-drama, from writer/director Mike Mills . It tells the story of a single mother, in 1970s California, who asks her two friends to help her raise her son. The movie stars Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann and Billy Crudup. It's received mostly rave reviews from critics, and it's also been nominated for several prominent awards. I absolutely loved it.

The film is hilarious at times, and there's several all-time classic scenes in it. The performances are all great (especially Bening and Gerwig) and the characters are all likable . The movie is also extremely touching, and involving. I cared a lot for all of it's main characters; I really wanted them all to succeed, and be happy.

Lion (2016)

Lion is based on Saroo Brierly's book "A Long Way Home," which chronicles his search for his biological mother from whom he was separated under strange and devastating circumstances when he was five years old. This film has been on my to-do list since I first noticed it a couple of months ago. And it turned out this movie is the best tear jerker movie of this year for me.

The story tells about 5-year-old, vulnerable Indian boy Saroo who gets lost on a train and travels thousands of miles across India away from his dear family. Saroo faces many hardships of life all by himself. Eventually he is taken in and adopted by a caring Australian couple. Years later Saroo feels a part of himself missing and is filled with murky memories of his past as a young child in India. Using Google Earth, Saroo is determined and passionate to find his lost family through the use of this tool.

BAFTA 2017 Winners

This year's Bafta Film Awards boasted a particularly formidable line-up of nominees.  La La Land led the pack: 32-year-old director Damien Chazelle's nostalgic Hollywood musical has been nominated in 11 categories, and won in four, including Best Picture and Best Director.

British director Ken Loach has finally won his first non-honorary Bafta for gritty benefits drama I, Daniel Blake, which had already bagged the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In his acceptance speech, Loach attacked the "callous brutality" of the UK government.

Hidden Figures

This is the true story of three African-American women who worked for NASA on the Mercury program in the early 1960s. Solid performances by all, some laugh-out-loud scenes, and some very emotional moments. It's also an important look back at the civil rights issues of the time period. The climax is a bit Apollo 13ish, and I'm fairly certain some scenes were embellished, but who cares. You should walk away from this film smiling.

The movie takes place in the 1960s where sexism and racial discrimination is still at a high. There is fear of the Soviet Union since they already have the technology to send astronauts into space, though there is still hope for America. Hidden Figures deals not just with their work at NASA but also the challenges they face in their personal lives, both as friends and individually as wives and parents.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Nocturnal Animals is a dark and devilishly stylish thriller from Tom Ford, who knows a thing or two about style having worked as creative director for both Gucci and Yves Saint Lauren in the past. Nocturnal Animals is one of those movies as after you watch you leave being stunned and thinking about life in somewhat of a dark manner seeing that many times it's in the form of regret and tragedy.

The plot centers around Susan Morrow( Amy Adams)who's an elegant high class society L.A. art gallery owner who kind of finds herself in a state of doubt. She's married now to a new guy yet, it's when Susan receives a novel from her ex-husband Ed Sheffield(Jake Gyllenhaal)that brings back the memories of doubt and guilt. As with each page that Susan reads and turns this violent thriller becomes more and more of a symbolic tale that seems like a memory of her life with Ed. As it's clear Ed set out to bring fright to Susan thru the pages of a novel, as it has Susan doing a flashback of her time with Ed.