Nerd in the 'Noke

Manchester by the Sea (2016), R, 137 minutes - When the Academy Awards nominations were announced last week, I found myself in an odd position: I had not yet seen a single nominee from a major category.  I suppose that I shouldn't have been surprised considering the lack of time I have had for movies over the last few months.  This year's nomination announcement jolted me out of the post-holiday lull I had fallen into and the first film I had the opportunity to check out was Manchester by the Sea. Going in, I didn't know much about this film.  I knew that had been nominated for a number of Academy Awards, that it starred Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, and that it was based in Massachusetts, that's about it.  What I discovered was a very emotional look at a man who returns home after his brother's death to oversee arrangements, only to find himself caught in an emotional tug of war between his own personal demons and what is best for his nephew's futur...

Interstellar (2014), PG-13, 169 minutes  - There are a handful of directors whose films I will make the time for no matter what.  It doesn't matter how much I know or have seen of one of their films, I know that I'll enjoy it.  Christopher Nolan is in that group and I have tried very hard to avoid any other information about Interstellar that could spoil the film.  These efforts were undoubtedly helped by our recent move - I just haven't had the time to browse the web and inadvertently stumble across something spoilery. At an undisclosed time in Earth's future, the planet has become increasingly uninhabitable.  Each year more and more crops fall to blight and corn is one of the few that has not yet been infected.  The atmosphere has deteriorated and vicious dust storms are a regular occurrence.  Most of the planet is focused on trying to adapt their way of life to cope with the changes, but a secretly re-constituted NASA (they had been shut down to...