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       Some of the famous movie image. 

 nafiza chowdhury0
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Slide 2 of 13: Universal has already primed the pump for a full-court Oscar campaign for this beloved, button-pushing horror film, with a lavish party that coincided with the home video release. And really this is the type of film that should be recognized by the Academy -- it was a certifiable smash, captured the zeitgeist, and commented on current social and political issues with tact, grace, and wit.Also, "Get Out" was scary as hell. (The last horror film to be nominated for an Oscar was "The Silence of the Lambs," which ended up being a huge Oscar powerhouse.) Hollywood loves a good underdog story and it wouldn't get much better than a low-budget horror movie ascending to capture the gold.      Slide 3 of 13: While Sofia Coppola took home the Best Director Award at Cannes this year, rarely does that cross over to Academy acceptance. But with the right campaign, "The Beguiled" could connect. It's something of a crowd pleaser -- a kicky, kitschy delight with a cast full of strong female actresses that could each warrant a nomination (Nicole Kidman is probably the safest bet). It also has superb direction, cinematography, and the like.The movie is just now hitting home video, so maybe the additional awareness will help its chances. This one is very much a question mark, but an intriguing one nonetheless.   Slide 6 of 13: The sweet historical drama from Stephen Frears probably won't make a huge impact on the major awards but never count out Judi Dench. Not only is she a beloved figure readily embraced by the Academy, but in "Victoria & Abdul" she gives the kind of sweet, nuanced performance that is catnip for voters. (It's also the first time she has played Queen Victoria since "Mrs. Brown.") Counting her out would be a huge mistake, especially since the movie is the perfect thing to watch at home -- cozy, easily digestible, and fun.

Slide 7 of 13: While clearly the long-awaited "Blade Runner" follow-up had trouble connecting with audiences on opening weekend, don't count it out when it comes to the Oscars. At the very least "Blade Runner 2049" is a virtually unparalleled technical achievement and a nomination (and potential win) for cinematographer Roger Deakins is all-but-assured.There have also been rumblings that Harrison Ford could lock down a nod for his returning role as android hunter Deckard, with many drawing comparisons to the nuanced elder statesman nomination Sylvester Stallone took for "Creed." The Academy clearly loves director Denis Villeneuve based on the nominations "Arrival" claimed last year. Also, by the time voting comes around, many more people will have seen this instant classic.

Slide 8 of 13: Herein lies one of the biggest questions of this year -- can Netflix score an Oscar nomination? They're certainly going to try. While Sundance sensation "Mudbound" is probably their biggest play -- which doesn't come out until November. That leaves us with their other biggie, Bong Joon-ho's brilliant creature feature "Okja." (Screeners have already been mailed.) It made audiences at Cannes weep, was a social media sensation, and is a total masterpiece.The problem is that it's also really weird. So while the movie might grab nominations for below-the-line credits, like cinematography for Tak Fujimoto and visual effects, most of the major awards will be elusive and just-out-of-reach. Most of this has to do with the mixed response to the film's cartoony performances, although nothing would make me happier than a nom for Jake Gyllenhaal for his buffoonish television host.   Slide 9 of 13: "Battle of the Sexes" was another movie that seemed, on paper, like a potential dynamo. But critical and audience appraisal has been slightly more tepid. Still, it would be wrong to count it out entirely, especially since it is led by two terrific performances (by Emma Stone and Steve Carell) that fall into that sweet spot of being about actual historical figures and, also, being totally great.If the movie catches on more or is bumped by year-end accolades, then this could get pushed into more categories. It, like "Victoria & Abdul" should also benefit from playing just as well on the small screen as the big.

Slide 10 of 13: Could "The Big Sick" go from summer sleeper to genuine Oscar hopeful? Stranger things have happened. This sweet, based-on-a-true-story romantic comedy certainly has a lot going for it and its most vocal admirers absolutely love it. Plus, medical crises are always catnip for voters.But we wonder if the movie isn't too slight for major consideration -- and the pacing too sluggish -- to attract viewers who watch the movie at home. Either way, it's probably safe to assume that it will at least get an original screenplay nomination for the fine script by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.  Slide 11 of 13: While Fox is already campaigning for "Logan" (and are really hoping for a Hugh Jackman nomination), "Wonder Woman" seems to be the superhero epic to beat -- at least when it comes to awards glory. The movie was a huge hit, of course, but also inspired cultural discourse that few movies can touch. In a year when a number of high profile men are accused of indefensible treatment of women, it was lovely to see a lady on the big screen that didn't take guff from anyone.Not only would Academy attention bolster the somewhat tepid Warner Bros. comic book lineup but also fundamentally legitimize the genre as a whole. However, if "Justice League" sucks, look for it to drain any momentum from the "Wonder Woman" campaign.

Slide 12 of 13: The response to "mother!" has been, to put it lightly, mixed. But it remains a must-see, not only because of its brilliant filmmaking on the part of Darren Aronofsky, but because it still could be an Oscar hopeful.For one, all of its technical achievements could be recognized (cinematography, production design, sound effects editing, etc.) and there's still a chance that Jennifer Lawrence's performance, as raw and fearless as anything seen on screen this year, could secure a nomination. Like Dench, the Academy absolutely loves her, so much so that they could look past the movie's polarizing response.Still, it's hard to imagine any older Academy voter sticking with the movie, especially during the gore-soaked third act.   Slide 13 of 13: It will be interesting to see if Fox pushes this for "Return of the King"-style "hey, you didn't nominate any of the other sin this beloved trilogy" recognition, or if they'll hedge their bets and just try for the technical categories. (The technical categories, primarily best visual effects, are all but assured. This makes the last film in the series look like crayon scribbles.)The biggest and most fascinating play would, of course, be for Andy Serkis' performance in "War for the Planet of the Apes" as Caesar. No actor has ever been nominated for a performance capture role (or a voice role, for that matter) so a nomination would be more than groundbreaking, it'd be downright historic. And totally deserving, to boot.  Slide 1 of 16: <p>Welcome to the world of symbols, subtext and messages buried beneath the surface. Here are 15 movies with hidden meaning, starting with the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz."</p>

Slide 2 of 16: <p>The yellow brick road is said to represent the gold standard, and Emerald City could be a stand-in for Washington, D.C., a town that mixes money (green) and politics. But the key symbol is the Wizard himself, a fraud who, like an untrustworthy political leader, does his best to divert the public's attention ("Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!").</p>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide 3 of 16: <p>A lawman (Gary Cooper) can't get a single citizen to man up and help him fight an outlaw gang due to arrive on the noon train. The story was a veiled reference to McCarthyism: Screenwriter Carl Foreman had been blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. John Wayne, who had turned down the lead role, called the movie "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life."</p> Slide 4 of 16: <p>Even before Luke (Paul Newman) talks to God, the movie is packed with religious references. When he collapses after winning the egg-eating bet, Luke looks like Jesus on the cross. He sings the song "Plastic Jesus" after his mother dies, and in the end, the war veteran turned chain gang prisoner is killed by the authorities. Sacrificed, you might say.</p>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide 5 of 16: <p>Hidden behind the story of 10-year-old Elliott is the story of Steven Spielberg. Elliott lives with his mother, brother and sister, as the director did when he was growing up. The boy's father, like Spielberg's, has apparently abandoned the family. Many details in the film (Elliott faking a temperature by holding a thermometer to a lamp, for instance) come directly from Spielberg's life. Though we don't think young Steven ever befriended—or tearfully said goodbye to—a space alien.</p>         Slide 6 of 16: <p>Although it's not spelled out, many say Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), the adoring fan turned assistant of Margo Channing (Bette Davis), is a lesbian. Theater critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) is also said to be gay—a taboo subject for Hollywood back in the day. During the Red Scare, homosexuality and communism were often linked, which gives a Cold War subtext to a movie that doesn't seem to be about politics at all.</p>

Slide 7 of 16: <p>Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the Stephen King novel includes a number of subtle references to the annihilation of Native Americans. The hotel where Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) and his family stay for the winter was built on an Indian burial ground (this isn't in the novel). It's decorated in Native American artifacts, and when Jack kills Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) the body lies on a rug with a Native American motif.</p>   Slide 8 of 16: <p>Some religious moviegoers see Harold Ramis' celebrated comedy as, well, a religious experience. Weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) finds himself in Purgatory. He has to relive the same day over and over until he gets it right—i.e., makes himself a better man than he was when the day started. Makes sense to us. Makes sense to us. Makes …</p>

 

Slide 9 of 16: <p>Another Cold War parable, this science fiction film combines allusions to Christianity (the spaceman Klaatu goes by the name John Carpenter) with a message for the nuclear age. The scientist played by Sam Jaffe is based on Albert Einstein, who co-sponsored the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace in 1949. Einstein was then branded a radical—as was Jaffe, who was blacklisted for much of the 1950s.</p>

 

 

Slide 10 of 16: <p>Film scholars almost unanimously agree that Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror flick is rife with dark sexual overtones, specifically dealing with rape. This makes sense when you think of the phallic creature that bursts out of one astronaut's chest and spends the rest of the movie chasing down the others.</p>

 

 

Slide 11 of 16: <p>It's easy to miss hidden meanings in a fantasy movie where humans and cartoon characters share the screen, but the clues in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" all point to a theme involving racism. Even though Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) helps to clear Roger Rabbit on a murder charge, the detective actually hates all the "toons" who live—segregated from the human population—in Toontown. Sound familiar?</p>

 

Slide 12 of 16: <p>This cult classic is about as surreal as horror movies get. It also carries a disturbing hidden message: Parenthood is terrifying. You get that impression when Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) has a vision of being decapitated by a creature that looks like his own child. Director David Lynch apparently got over his fear, but how do his four children feel about it? "I think they really like the film," Lynch said, "but I don't know what their take on it is."</p>

 

Slide 13 of 16: <p>Some key characters in this musical fantasy have been linked to the seven deadly sins. They run the gamut from overfed Augustus Gloop (gluttony) and stuck-up Violet Beauregarde (pride) to Willie Wonka himself, who personifies wrath. This hidden meaning seems like a natural for Roald Dahl, the dark but brilliant author of the children's book that "Willy Wonka" is based on. Then again, Dahl disowned the movie.</p>

Slide 14 of 16: <p>To fully understand this beloved classic, just look to Sam's piano. It's the heart of the movie—and of Monsieur Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who is cynical about everything except Sam and his music (just don't play "As Time Goes By"). It's no accident that Rick hides the letters of transit in that piano, or that Sam is front and center when the regulars at Rick's Cafe drown out the Germans by singing "La Marseillaise."</p>

 

Slide 15 of 16: <p>It's obvious who we're supposed to root for in this one. Astronaut George Taylor (Charlton "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" Heston) is our guy—after all, he's human. But there's an allegorical message here about racism. In the end, it's an ape named Zira (Kim Hunter) who helps Taylor to escape from Ape City. We may not be the superior "race" after all.</p>

Slide 16 of 16: <p>Try this hidden meaning on for size, courtesy of the 2006 documentary "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema": The three floors in Norman Bates' house represent the three parts of the psyche identified by Sigmund Freud. The top floor (where Mother lives) is Norman's superego, the ground floor is his ego, and the basement (where Norman ultimately carries his mother's corpse) is his id. Now go ahead and scream.</p>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide 2 of 22: Was anyone actually clamoring for another "Jaws" sequel by the time the franchise finally uttered its last death rattle? Literally, the shark actually ROARS in this movie.The made for TV-worthy special effects were the least of this movie's problems.  Slide 3 of 22: We'll grant that crafting a follow-up to the original "Highlander" is pretty difficult when that movie left very little room for a sequel. But maybe that should have been taken as a sign to let these immortal swordsmen rest.Instead, "Highlander II" came along to vomit all over the mythology of the original and pave the way for other, equally terrible sequels -- none of which make sense in the context of one another.

Slide 4 of 22: The bizarre monstrosity seen in this image is supposedly a Goomba, the iconic, ever-present enemy in every "Super Mario Bros." game since the dawn of the NES. We don't know what franchise this movie was trying to adapt, but it clearly wasn't Mario. Even the stars of this ill-advised film question why it was ever made.

 

 Slide 5 of 22: Kevin Costner was at the height of his Hollywood bankability in this post-"Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" era, so it probably seemed like a good idea to make him the star of this ambitious post-apocalyptic action movie. But, given that it was also the most expensive movie ever made at the time, perhaps some of the suits at Universal should have kept a closer eye on the script. Or just have never read it at all.

Slide 6 of 22: Hollywood was in the midst of a dinosaur renaissance in the '90s, thanks to the "Jurassic Park" movies, so you'd think it wouldn't be much of a stretch for a studio to deliver a halfway decent, American-ized "Godzilla" movie. But somewhere between ruining the monster's iconic design and hiring Roland Emmerich to direct, this one went way, way off the rails.

Slide 7 of 22: If New Line executives were hoping to capitalize on lingering nostalgia for the classic TV series, they probably should have focused on crafting a reboot that actually captured the spirit of the original. Instead, "Lost in Space" is a grim, charmless, action-oriented update to a fun, campy show. Sadly, this one didn't jump-start Matt LeBlanc's career as an action hero. Slide 8 of 22: Look, we understand that Will Smith was pretty much the hottest commodity in Hollywood coming off the success of 1997's "Men in Black." But why WB thought that would be enough to make up for this dreadfully stupid update to the 1960's TV series is a mystery.

 

  Slide 9 of 22: 'Battlefield Earth' may be one of the most iconic science fiction novels ever written, but that didn't stop it from becoming one of the most expensive terrible movies ever made. From the acting to the cinematography to the story, there's no aspect of this film that isn't awful. It's little wonder the Golden Raspberries "honored" it with their "Worst Movie of the Decade" award in 2010.

 

Slide 10 of 22: We don't question WB's decision to give Catwoman her own movie. She deserves it, and hopefully this femme fatale will one day get a movie worthy of her. But it definitely isn't this one. "Catwoman" proves two things -- that Halle Berry should stay away from superhero movies, and that you can't make a decent Catwoman movie without having read at least one Catwoman comic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide 11 of 22: On paper, a Universal Monster movie starring Wolverine as THE OG vampire slayer Van Helsing sounds soooo good. It's the execution where this one went terribly, terribly wrong. Director Stephen Sommers may have done right (ish) by the "Mummy" franchise, but he couldn't do much to save a film riddled with bad plotting and terrible CGI.

 

 

Slide 12 of 22: It seems like Hollywood studios spent most of the 2000's trying to recapture the success of "The Fast and the Furious" by cramming Vin Diesel into one bad action movie after another. "Babylon A.D." brought nothing new to the sci-fi genre, but at least it probably played a role in convincing Diesel to return to doing what he does best.

Slide 13 of 22: Mark Wahlberg clearly regrets starring in this disastrous blockbuster. He once said that Amy Adams "dodged the bullet" by dropping out of the picture. We don't blame him one bit, as the only real twist in this terrible M. Night Shyamalan film is how far Shyamalan had fallen since his "Sixth Sense" days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide 14 of 22: The reason it took so long for a fourth "Indiana Jones" movie to materialize is that Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Harrison Ford all had to agree on a story direction. We're baffled that the trio agreed on such a goofy, aggressively mediocre follow-up to one of the great cinematic trilogies. Here's hoping "Indy 5" can redeem the aging archaeologist.

Slide 15 of 22: 'X-Men: The Last Stand' was a disappointment, but it's got nothing on the biggest stinker in the X-Men franchise. Riddled with plot holes, lousy special effects, and some extremely questionable storytelling choices, this is one prequel that needed a lot more time in the oven. And it lends credence to the argument that some origin stories shouldn't be told at all.

 

Slide 16 of 22: How does one of the most popular and critically acclaimed animated TV series wind up spawning the worst movie in M. Night Shyalmalan's spotty career? "The Last Airbender" captured zero of the source material's appeal. And the inexplicable whitewashing only adds further insult to injury.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slide 17 of 22: It's hard to pinpoint where exactly this one went wrong. It's not as if Ryan Reynolds can't play a fantastic superhero lead. And co-writer/producer Greg Berlanti has done amazing things with the DC Universe on the small screen. Yet neither could do much to save this disastrous adaptation of the iconic DC franchise. But at least Hal Jordan has nowhere to go but up in the DCEU.

 

Slide 18 of 22: One lesson we really wish studios would take to heart is that you need a better reason to remake a classic film than "Because we can." "Total Recall" is one of the most frustratingly pointless remakes in recent memory. It regurgitates the original while improving on none of it and losing most of the charm in the process.

Slide 20 of 22: If you ever needed proof that box office success doesn't always equate to quality filmmaking, look no further than "Jurassic World." This movie is by far the dumbest entry in a franchise that had already seen some serious low points.Between the trained raptor sidekicks, and the world's most obnoxious pair of child heroes -- left to go to Crazy Dinosaur Island, by their mother, all because she somehow rationalizes that them potentially dying in T-Rex jaws is preferable to telling them she wants to divorce their dad -- we're about ready for dinosaurs to start ruling the Earth again.

 

Slide 19 of 22: "RIPD" is basically a mashup of "Men in Black" and "Ghostbusters," which by all rights should have made it an instant classic. Instead, it quickly cemented itself as one of the worst comic book adaptations ever filmed and an epic waste of time on the part of everyone involved.

Slide 21 of 22: With a cast this good, tackling a franchise that practically begs to make fun itself, "Baywatch" should have been a guaranteed hit. We're not sure what went wrong here, but "Baywatch" was not the hilarious romp we were hoping for. Instead, it's just one more example of Hollywood dredging up old favorites without having anything new or meaningful to add to them.

Slide 22 of 22: Between "Van Helsing," "Dracula Untold," and now "The Mummy," it really seems as though Universal is lost as far as its classic monster properties go. Why the studio thought this reboot would hold its own alongside the vastly superior 1999 film is a complete mystery.

Some of the famous movie image.

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