Visually Stunning Films.

There is a sweet spot in film. This sweet spot is best illustrated in a venn diagram. On one side, we have beautiful visuals, and on the other side have a fantastic story. Today, we're not going to talk about the sweet spot, we're going to talk about the visually stunning side.

Let me explain what I mean when I say "visually stunning". When i say visually stunning, I'm referring to those films that take your breath away. Those films that make you step back and really appreciate their beauty. Before we go on, I'd like to clarify that these movies are not just visually stunning. These films received recognition in a number of categories, but for the sake of this post, we will focus on them mainly for their visuals.

Pans Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro 

I'm just going to start out by saying that any film directed by Guillermo del Toro is going to be stunning. If you are unfamiliar with his work, he is most famous for directing all installments of the Hellboy franchise as well as writing all installments of the Hobbit trilogy. Guillermo is well known for his makeup effects, creating some of the creepiest and imaginative creatures to be shown on film. Pan's Labyrinth focuses on Ofelia, a young girl living with her mother and sadistic army officer stepfather in World War II era Spain. Pan's Labyrinth brings a child's world to life with it's remarkable and eerie setting and it's menacing creatures.

Life of Pi directed by Ang Lee

Life of Pi, based on the best selling novel of the same name, focuses on a young boy who is cast away at sea after a shipwreck with his only companion being a ferocious bengal tiger. Life of Pi features gorgeous visuals that landed it with four oscar wins, two of which were for the visuals alone.

Her directed by Spike Jonze

Her is the story of a single, lonely writer who develops feelings for an astoundingly realistic operating system designed to meet his every need. Spike Jonze uses cinematography and a crisp color palette to draw the audience in and create a totally different world.

Why Selma should have won.

For those of you who are aware, the Oscars weren't that long ago. I was unfortunately not able to view the show until yesterday. I remember scrolling through my Twitter and Facebook the night of and the morning after the ceremony and reading the usual Oscar comments; who wore it best, the funny jokes Neil Patrick Harris made, and the joy and sorrows of who won. The performance at the Oscars that I enjoyed the most was Common and John Legend performing "Glory", the best original song nominee from the film Selma. When I saw the posts saying it won best song, I was overjoyed. I thought Selma was an amazing film and was excited to see that it earned some recognition. What I failed to realize was that it was only nominated for two categories: Best film and best original song. Where were the other nominations? Surely there would be more. Best director? Best actor? Nothing else?

The Oscars always have been somewhat bias. After all, the academy decides, not the people. I don't want to delve too far into this topic for now, however, I will share this video and article from The Huffington Post about diversity at the Oscars and ask everyone to think about the time we live in and the impact this win could've had.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/20/oscars-diversity-problem_n_6709334.html