I’ve written a lot about the Oscars in the past 12 months: I implored voters to recognize feminist musical dramas, I highlighted how women’s alliances laid the foundation for many of 2019’s films, and I drew the historical relationship between silent female performances and Oscar love. (Sadly, I also had to call Academy voters to account for fearing a changing world.) And thus concludes another roller coaster-like Oscar season. (Justice for Adam Sandler, J.Lo, and everyone in

Top 10 Films Released in 2019 10. Good Boys There's something to be said for laughing your ass off in the movie theater. My number 10 slot could have easily gone to Sam Mendes' sensorial WWI masterpiece 1917 or Alex Ross Perry's Shakespearean Riot Grrrl drama Her Smell, but I wanted to honor one of the few films this year that really made me feel happy when I left the theater. Good Boys, directed by Gene Stupnitsky, is a gritty middle school Superbad, following a trio of 11-y

Tomorrow is my version of Christmas. I get up early in the morning, giddy with excitement, and I wait for catharsis after a year’s worth of anticipation. Will I get what I want? Will my heart break into a thousand pieces if I don’t? Arguably, Oscar nomination day is better than the awards show itself. By that time, the frontrunners have already been identified and its fairly boring to watch the same folks win again and again. (Last year’s Best Picture fiasco notwithstanding.)

Top 10 films Released in 2017 10. Battle of the Sexes Can we just pretend Emma Stone won her Oscar for this one instead of Blah-Blah Bland? Stone is warm and understated as feminist tennis legend Billie Jean King, who faces off against Steve Carrell's frustrating/charming Bobby Riggs in the famed 1970s tennis match of the title. The film is funny, moving, and boasts some of the best erotic scenes of the last decade in film. (Who knew a head massage from a hair dresser could b