Daily Archives: December 7, 2018

Here Are The Chicago Film Critics Association Nominations For 2018!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On Friday, the Chicago Film Critics Association announced their nominations for the best of 2018!  The winners will be announced on Saturday night.

Here are the nominees!

BEST PICTURE
The Favourite
First Reformed
Hereditary
Roma
A Star is Born

BEST DIRECTOR
Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here
Paul Schrader, First Reformed

BEST ACTOR
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here

BEST ACTRESS
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
Regina Hall, Support the Girls
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther
Steven Yeun, Burning

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Elizabeth Debicki, Widows
Zoe Kazan, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BlacKkKlansman by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive Me? by Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty
The Death of Stalin by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider & Ian Martin
If Beale Street Could Talk by Barry Jenkins
A Star is Born by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Eighth Grade by Bo Burnham
The Favourite by Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara
First Reformed by Paul Schrader
Roma by Alfonso Cuaron
Vice by Adam McKay

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Ruben Brandt: Collector
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Free Solo
Minding the Gap
RBG
Three Identical Strangers
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Burning
Capernaum
Cold War
Roma
Shoplifters

BEST ART DIRECTION
Annihilation
Black Panther
The Favourite
Paddington 2
Roma

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cold War – Lukasz Zal
The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
First Man – Linus Sandgren
If Beale Street Could Talk – James Laxton
Roma – Alfonso Cuaron

BEST EDITING
First Man
The Other Side of the Wind
Roma
Widows
You Were Never Really Here

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
First Man – Justin Hurwitz
If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
Mandy – Johan Johannson
Suspiria – Thom Yorke
You Were Never Really Here – Jonny Greenwood

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
Annihilation
Black Panther
First Man
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Paddington 2

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Ari Aster, Hereditary
Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
Bing Liu, Minding the Gap
Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Leave No Trace
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman & Monsters and Men

Confessions of a TV Addict #12: An Appreciation of Ken Berry

Posted on by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer


I’ve always said if Ken Berry had been born a bit earlier, he would have taken up the mantle of song-and-dance masters Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in films. But Berry, who died this past weekend at age 85, came up at a time when Hollywood musicals were, if not dying, definitely on life support. Berry had his greatest success in the world of TV sitcoms, though he did find opportunities to display his dancing skills in variety shows of the era.

Moline, IL born Ken won a talent contest at age 15 and toured with popular Big Band leader Horace Heidt’s Youth Opportunity Program. Joining the Army after high school, he was assigned to Special Services to entertain the troops. His sergeant encouraged Ken to head to Hollywood after his hitch was over. The sergeant’s name: Leonard Nimoy ! Ken begun his professional show biz career as a Universal…

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Here’s The Trailer For Avengers: Endgame!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The trailer for the fourth Avengers movie was released earlier today.

The trailer reveals that:

  1. Thanos did succeed in wiping out 50% of the universe’s population.
  2. Tony Stark is floating around in space.
  3. Thor is feeling depressed.
  4. Thanos is wandering around his new home, perhaps in the nude and maybe suffering from the ennui that often inflicts people who have achieved their lifelong dream too early.
  5. Captain America has a plan.  Doesn’t he always?
  6. The Black Widow is still doing the blonde thing.
  7. Clint Barton is now some sort of ninja and Ant-Man made it back from that dimension that he was stranded in at the end of his previous film.
  8. The name of the latest Avengers film is Endgame.

And, to be honest, I think that might be an appropriate title.  I loved Infinity War but, after going to the extreme of wiping out 50% of the universe, it’s kind of hard to see how any other film is going to top it.  At some point, the MCU bubble is going to pop and, with Chris Evans apparently leaving the role of Captain America after this film, we’ll have to see wait and see what the next phase of the MCU is going to be.

Here’s the trailer!

Music Video Of The Day: What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? by R.E.M. (1994, directed by Peter Care)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

On October 4th, 1986, CBS News anchor Dan Rather was attacked on the streets of New York by a man who, as he pummeled Rather, repeatedly shouted, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?!”  When a doorman intervened to protect Rather, the man took off running.  (Some accounts say that there were actually two men attacking Rather.)

Though he wouldn’t be identified for another 11 years, the attacker’s name was William Tager.  Tager believed that the television networks were beaming signals into his brain.  In 1994, he killed a stagehand while trying to force his way into NBC studios.  In 1997, while Tager was serving a 25-year prison sentence, he was identified as the man who had attacked Rather.  Tager was subsequently paroled in 2010.

The same year that Tager was arrested, R.E.M. released a song called What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?  Though the song was clearly inspired by the attack on Rather, lead singer Michael Stipe has also said that the song was about an older man trying to understand the younger generation.

The video for What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? was directed by frequent R.E.M. collaborator Peter Care and features the band performing the song.  The jacket worn by bassist Mike Mills once belonged to the legendary Gram Parsons.

Rumors that R.E.M. stands for “Rather’s Ear Muffs” were once popular but have been denied by the band.  Instead, Michael Stipe selected the name after randomly coming across “Rapid Eye Movement” in the dictionary.