“Having 10 Best Picture nominees will allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," AMPS President Sid Ganis said at a press conference.  While the expansion of the Best Picture category at the Oscars allows for more movies to receive the recognition they deserve, it does not change the fact that the voters lean towards awarding similar themes and performances every year.  They love dramas, lengthy historical epics, and tales of patriotism, controversy, and triumph over adversity.

While strong female protagonists have been all but invisible in conventional war genre films (Jarhead, Hurt Locker, Black Hawk Down, Restrepo), a new sub-genre has cropped up that puts women at the center of military defense politics. From Alias and Salt to Homeland and the Oscar-nominated Zero Dark Thirty, we have witnessed the emergence of a contemporary screen obsession with watching ass-kicking female CIA agents hunting the world’s most elusive political terrorists. 

Grohl has assembled an assortment of diverse music legends for interviews throughout the movie, including Stevie Nicks, Trent Reznor, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Rick Springfield and Barry Manilow.  All these artists and more, including Fleetwood Mac, have recorded at the now defunct Sound City Studios, a run down, hole-in-the-wall recording studio in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles that contained a unique soundboard, the Neve console, in the age before digital recordings.  

This is one case where the hype is deserved because the movie, directed by its star, Ben Affleck, is a remarkable real-life drama. Set during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, the picture focuses on six American diplomats who escape a siege of the U.S. embassy in Iran only to find themselves trapped in the hostile country. Realizing the refugees are in danger, U.S. officials authorize an improbable rescue helmed by CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck).

President’s Day, or February 18^th as the good people residing in Bhutan may call it, is a second-tier holiday. Most get the day off, a few buy a mattress and everyone else is looking ways to kill the time on a Winter day. No parades, no festival of lights, or even sparklers. What better way to honor the men (sorry ladies) that have served as the lone executive to the United States and spruce up the holiday than watching a movie with a President in the starring role?

Denzel Washington earned his sixth Oscar nomination for “Flight,” a film in which he delivers a brilliant portrayal of a booze-and-drug-addled pilot who crash lands a disabled airplane. The great thing about Washington is his characters always have enough depth to move beyond movie archetypes, and his drunken pilot – Whip Whitaker – is no exception.  Ultimately, “Flight” isn’t about an aircraft crash. It’s about Whip’s demons, and the movie offers a surprisingly realistic view of addiction. 

Al Pacino plays a just released “gangster” who has all the exaggerated manners of Pacino, circa someone impersonating Pacino in Scent of Woman with a dash of Al Pacino from Heat. Christopher Walken plays Christopher Walken circa numerous Saturday Night Live appearances and one particular Fat Boy Slim video. For popcorn entertainment purposes this not a bad thing. Walken could read bird bath installation instructions on the big screen for two hours and elicit more than a few chuckles. The movie is at its best with Arkin serving as an emotional fulcrum and delivering dry one-liners to extinguish Pacino’s over-acting.

In 2008, writer-director Martin McDonagh teamed with actor Colin Farrell for  “In Bruges,” one of the best movies of the year. With the rollicking dark comedy “Seven Psycopaths,” they’ve proven that lightning can indeed strike twice. The film focuses on Marty (Farrell), a Hollywood screenwriter struggling to finish his latest project, a story about seven characters with psychopathic tendencies. 

Writer-director David Ayer made his name showing film lovers the ugly, dangerous side of Los Angeles, and his greatest achievement to date is “End of Watch.”  The documentary-style film focuses on two police officers working the roughest parts of L.A. Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an ambitious former Marine who films many of his on-duty adventures for a night-school project. His partner, Miguel Zavala (Michael Pena), is a devoted father and husband expecting his second child. 

Director Pierre Morel’s “Taken” was a surprise hit in 2008, and it helped turn Liam Neeson into a full-fledged action star. In the film, Neeson introduced us to Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative with an uncanny aptitude for finding and dispatching bad guys. After learning that his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), fell victim to a human-trafficking ring, Bryan travelled to Europe and put his skills to work, eventually recovering her.