Liam Heffernan

Many think the road to the Oscars begins in Toronto, and officially they’re right. However, when a studio presents an exclusive screening of their latest film to Academy members it sends a pretty clear message. Dunkirk has been praised magnanimously by critics, but it was in London earlier this week where it’s campaign really started. Warner Bros. have invested a lot of resource into Christopher Nolan’s latest project – a drama retelling the historic Battle of Dunkirk where 300,000 soldiers wer

On Tuesday 8th November the world watched in disbelief as Donald Trump, a billionaire New York businessman, defied the pollsters and any shred of common sense to continue a year of major political reform. “Brexit times ten” was how he and aide Nigel Farage (a man all too familiar to UK voters) described the potential upset that subsequently materialized. The internet exploded as results trickled in and the unfortunate reality unfolded. No prizes for guessing my stance on this. As I watched from

The 2016 Academy Awards were clouded by controversy. From the nominations announcement through to the closing moments of the telecast, the buzz word on everyone’s lips was diversity. For the second year in a row, there was no black representation among the 20 acting nominees. Considering strong shouts for both Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan throughout awards season, the repercussions for the Academy were severe. Various high profile members of Hollywood boycotted the ceremony, while the organ

Over its 84 years the Academy Awards have commanded global audiences and millions, if not billions, of press articles and blogs and reviews and whatever else anyone wants to splurge on the internet including this article, with each ceremony seemingly more spectacular and controversial than the last. Every year we are hypnotised by the spotlights, our attention possessed by the extravagance of Hollywood’s finest. The Oscars are ‘an orgy of self-congratulation’, according to author and film critic