Where does one even begin when attempting to contextualize the career of Ennio Morricone? I'm not sure if Morricone is the most prolific composer in the history of cinema, but with more than 500 credits over a 60 year career, I have a hard time imagining anyone stealing that mantle from him. What might be more difficult than quantifying his career is qualifying it. How could someone be this busy and always be so great? It seems impossible, doesn't it? Born in Rome, Morricone got an early start as a composer. How early?...

There is no easy way to confront what is happening right now. But it's a good dry run for how much Oscar contenders still need theaters. If Netflix has figured out how to work around the theater model, they are mostly alone in that achievement. The reason being, they spare no expense building the necessary prestige to launch an Oscar contender, with or without the big studio premieres or film festivals. All the same, movies have to open and Rod Lurie's war film, The Outpost, based on Jake Tapper's book, is opening this...

Oscar season appears to remain on track, albeit following a long rattling agonizing season that won't really become a real race until February of next year. All the same, old habits die hard and many of us are conditioned to think in the short term as well as the long term. Still reeling from the highs of an Oscar Night that saw the first film to win Best International Film also won Best Picture and Best Director, mere moments later the world was hit with a global pandemic the likes of which we...