Friday, February 7Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: oscars

Highbrow Horror: Our Current Golden Age of Scary Cinema
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Highbrow Horror: Our Current Golden Age of Scary Cinema

Something strange is happening in the film industry today: horror, the longstanding recipient of film critics’ harshest vitriol, is experiencing its very own renaissance. The genre, which for decades has been derided as only a source of schlocky thrills and cheesy plotlines, is finally gaining positive attention thanks to a new wave of horror films garnering rave reviews. Films like The Babadook, The Witch, It Comes At Night, and Hereditary are challenging viewers’ suppositions of what a horror movie is, and how good it can be. These films eschew common horror tricks, like numerous jump scares or gratuitous gore, instead choosing to find horror in more thought-provoking places. It Comes At Night in particular foregoes the inclusion of a supernatural entity or crazed serial killer at all...
What Went Right at the Oscars?
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

What Went Right at the Oscars?

The Orbital’s Sumi Bal discusses the disaster that was the Oscars. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the 2017 Oscars were quite the event. We had milestones reached with the first Muslim to win an Oscar, and we had disasters like a performer savagely attacked by a prop, and of course presenting an award to the wrong film. It’s been interesting to say the least. Let’s go through the good, the bad and the oh so very uncomfortable. The highlight of the night was Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali being the first Muslim actor to win an Academy award. His hard earned success is being celebrated across the world, as not only is Moonlight centered around a black cast, but is also based on a gay relationship. This film breaks boundaries, and in doing so will be a source of inspiration for like minded people...
A Night at the Oscars!
Culture & Literature, Film & TV

A Night at the Oscars!

On Sunday night, the most important night in Hollywood and in cinematography took place and I had the determination to see it through, right there and then, with an all-nighter. Neil Patrick Harris once ironically said: “I am incredibly grateful to Ellen for setting the bar very high for me”. Indeed, Ellen de Genres, who triumphed last year as a superb host in the magical night of Hollywood set the bar extremely high and it would take an extraordinary performance to top it. Neil Patrick Harris managed to entertain the audience in a charismatic and captivating way, but that generated some controversial arguments regarding some of his offen sive jokes and some awkward interactions with the audience. Of course, there were some flops in his performance, such as his Oscar predictions.  He s...