The Dark Knight

While the prickly sense of tension is a consistent strength in the film, “The Batman” makes a habit of giving itself away too soon.

If your film is a commercial film, it has to reinvent its genre of choice, be constantly talked about by the press and audiences and/or have a hefty studio campaign budget standing behind it to even stand a chance at getting nominated. And then you’ll still lose to stuff such as “The Shape of Water.”

Somewhere between witnessing a sweaty Tom Hardy chomp on a live lobster and seeing the character of Venom soulfully tell Eddie Brock that he’d made him change his mind about humanity, I realized that “Venom” was not the version of the story that I’d grown up with.

Even for an institution as terminally sanitized as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group’s newly announced changes to its telecast read as its deepest kowtow yet.

“Best Picture” is a massive concept that is not properly captured by the rules and logistics in place because it transcends them.

Christopher Nolan may have received that coveted nomination, but the industry’s unwillingness to celebrate him remains to a significant degree.

In the era of superhero movies, “Logan” stands apart. This is, in part, evidenced by the film’s Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Legends like Hans Zimmer and Kendrick Lamar are certain to draw massive crowds, but they aren't the only artists taking over next week.

It’s the height of summer, but theaters around the Bay Area are currently resplendent in a wide variety of amazing pictures right now, from tentpole superhero movies to quiet, meditative micro-budget films