Black Panther Dominates The Black Reel Nominations

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Black Reel Nominations were announced today, with Black Panther picking up a record 17 nominations! Coming in second was If Beale Street Could Talk, which received 14 nominations while Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman received 11 nominations.

Here’s a full list of the nominees:

Outstanding Motion Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Green Book
If Beale Street Could Talk
Widows

Outstanding Screenplay
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sorry to Bother You
Widows

Outstanding Ensemble
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sorry to Bother You
Widows

Outstanding Documentary
Amazing Grace
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Quincy
Whitney

Outstanding Foreign Language/ World Cinema Motion Picture
Green Days by the River (Trinidad & Tobago)
Lionheart (Nigeria)
Rafiki (Kenya)
Vaya (South Africa)
Where Hands Touch (UK)

Outstanding Voice Performance
Mahershala Ali | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Taraji P. Henson | Ralph Breaks the Internet
Brian Tyree Henry | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Samuel L. Jackson | Incredibles 2
Shamiek Moore | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Outstanding Score
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Creed II
The Hate U Give
If Beale Street Could Talk

Outstanding Original Song
“All the Stars” (Black Panther) | Kendrick Lamar & SZA
“I’ll Fight” (RBG) | Jennifer Hudson
“Love Lies” (Love, Simon) | Khalid & Normani
“Pray For Me” (Black Panther) | The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar
“We Won’t Move” (The Hate U Give) | Arlissa

Outstanding Independent Feature
A Boy. A Girl. A Dream.
Jinn
Monsters and Men
Roxanne Roxanne
Yardie

Outstanding Independent Documentary
Basquiat: Rage to Riches
Lorainne Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/ Feeling
Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me

Outstanding First Screenplay
Blindspotting
Jinn
Monsters and Men
Roxanne Roxanne
Sorry to Bother You

Outstanding Cinematography
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Widows
A Wrinkle In Time

Outstanding Costume Design
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sorry to Bother You
A Wrinkle In Time

Outstanding Production Design
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Green Book
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Wrinkle In Time

I’ve Caught A “Ghost Sickness” — You Should, Too

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

Ryan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse

I don’t know Ariel Cooper. She (perhaps even that’s being presumptuous?) is a mystery to me. I’ve not seen her other work. I can find no examples of it online. Her self-published comics ‘zine Ghost Sickness contains no address indicating where she may be from. I literally know nothing about this artist. And yet —

Some work is so powerful that the idea of hewing to a “narrative” would hold it back not just conceptually, but physically. This is one such work, perhaps even a prime example of it. Cooper (or her stand-in) is born into this world from sickness, and from there — oh, dear whatever-god-you-believe-in, from there —

Dueling polarities of “fine” and “outsider” art create not so much an inexorable tension in this 12-page publication, but a mutually-generated gravitational pull, Cooper’s sublime self-referential imagery first firmly establishing its power and potential to subsume and overwhelm…

View original post 424 more words

Nathan Gelgud Builds “A House In The Jungle”

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

Ryan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse

There’s so much I love about this book : Nathan Gelgud, whose prior work I’m unfamiliar with, has an intuitive grasp of the rhythm and flow of the comics page that few who have been at it for many years master, his borderless panels floating in negative space, each leisurely guiding the reader’s eye into the next, vibrantly-colored image; his characters are both simple and highly expressive, emoting more with slight facial tics and quirks than lines and lines of even the most rich, “purple prose” exposition can express (although, admittedly, this results in most of the images featuring characters with a kind of listless-by-design, bordering on taciturn, look on their faces as a kind of “baseline” emotional affect) ; his world-building is solid and ingenious, the idea of a newly-incorporated town with easily-identifiable American political norms somehow existing right at the edge of a dense, thick jungle immediately seeming…

View original post 845 more words

Hollywood Babylon: TOO MUCH, TOO SOON (Warner Brothers 1958)

Posted on December 13, 2018 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Hollywood biopics are by and large more about their entertainment value than historical accuracy. TOO MUCH TOO SOON is no exception. It tells the story of actress Diana Barrymore, daughter of “The Great Profile” John, based on her 1957 best-selling tell-all, and though it pretty much sticks to the facts, many of them have been sanitized for audience consumption. Dorothy Malone , fresh off her Oscar-winning role in WRITTEN ON THE WIND, is very good indeed as Diana, whose true life was much more sordid than fiction, and we’ll get to all that later. What makes the film for me was the actor portraying the dissipated John Barrymore – none other than Errol Flynn !

Errol Flynn (1909-1959) as John Barrymore

Don’t expect to see the dashing star of CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD here. Flynn (who a year later would release his own tell-all book, MY…

View original post 657 more words

Artwork of the Day: Career of Sin (by Lou Marchetti)

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Dazzling Erin

by Lou Marchetti

Music Video Of The Day: Skyrim by Lindsey Stirling & Pete Hollens (2012, dir by ????)

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I was planning on just picking Christmas videos up until the 25th of December but then I came across this video of Lindsey Stirling and Pete Hollens performing the main theme from Skyrim Elder Scrolls and I simply knew that I had to pick it.

This is for Arleigh.

Enjoy!

Ethan Hawke and Regina King Are Snubbed By The SAG

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On Wednesday morning, the SAG announced their nominations for the best of 2018.

The SAG nominations are usually a fairly good precursor of what will actually be nominated when the Oscar nominations are announced. (For instance, last year, no one was paying much attention to Christopher Plummer until he picked up a SAG nom.) This year, the nominations are a little bit strange in that neither Regina King nor Ethan Hawke received nominations, despite dominating the critics awards. While King’s campaign can probably recover from being snubbed, Hawke may be in trouble. He’s now been snubbed by both the Golden Globes and the SAG.

A lot of people are shocked that Bohemian Rhapsody picked up a nomination for Best Ensemble. I’m not. Bohemian Rhapsody is the type of crowd pleaser that often defies the critics and sneaks into the Oscars.

For me, the big news is that Black Panther is still showing a lot of strength. That nomination for Best Ensemble was not necessarily expected and it goes to show that Black Panther may have the backing necessary to become the first comic book film to be nominated for best picture.

Anyway, here are the weird SAG film nominations:

Outstanding Performance By a Cast in a Motion Picture
“A Star Is Born”
“Black Panther”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“Crazy Rich Asians”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper, “A Star is Born”
Christian Bale, “Vice”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”
John David Washington, “BlacKkKlansman”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture
Emily Blunt, “Mary Poppins Returns”
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”
Lady Gaga, “A Star is Born”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Timothee Chalamet, “Beautiful Boy”
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
Sam Elliott, “A Star is Born”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams, “Vice”
Emily Blunt, “A Quiet Place”
Margot Robbie, “Mary Queen of Scots”
Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
“Ant-Man and the Wasp”
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Black Panther”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”

Song of the Day: Be Natural (by Red Velvet)

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Arleigh

Red Velvet - Be Natural

My love for music may not be on the same level as my love for film, but it’s up there in terms of the range of types of music that has appealed to my personal taste. Pop music may be a bad word for those who see themselves as gatekeepers of what’s good or bad music, but pop music has always been a major part of music throughout history. One can even say that the music that Mozart wrote a couple hundred years ago was a form of pop music for it’s time.

Even pop music has branched off into different subgenres. Every country which has its own music industry has their own take on what’s pop music. This is why there are such terms as J-pop (Japanese pop music), K-pop (South Korean pop music) and everything else pop in-between.

Fellow site contributor pantsukudasai56 knows all about J-pop (this type of pop music being a major contributor to all things anime), but he also knows that K-pop is right there just waiting in the wings to snatch the unwary with it’s brand of pop music. I am one such unwary music traveler who has fallen to dark side, as pantsukudasai56 has told me.

Yet, while I have begun to appreciate the merits of K-pop and the hard work and creativity which goes into the creation of K-pop groups, albums and music videos, I am still very conscious of which type of K-pop music I’m drawn to. While many K-pop fans love all types, I have been more drawn to K-pop that’s not as sugary and cute. I’ve enjoyed the more mature and different sounding K-pop which draws music influences outside of dance and electronic. Influences that ranges from soulful jazz to Middle-eastern.

One such K-pop group that has become a favorite of mine of recent is the girl group Red Velvet from S.M Entertainment (yes, these groups come out of production companies). They made their debut in 2014 and with each passing year they’ve continued to grow (both creatively and by adding a 5th member to what was a 4-girl team).

Their second single, “Be Natural,” is a departure from their debut single “Happiness.” This second offering is a cover of an earlier song from S.M.E. first girl group (S.E.S.) and is less to do with the catchy, dance pop of their debut single and more in line with the original S.E.S. track that was all soulful jazz with more than just a hint of sensuality dripping through every line of music.

I do love this song and the original it covers. The one part of the song that does break the mood for just a moment is the rap section in the song where the break would typically be. Other than that part the song is a major must-listen and the video itself is sensuality personified. Lisa Marie is probably a better judge on the video’s choreography and fashion style worn by the group’s four member (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy).

Above is the song without the rap section while below is the official music video. Unfortunately, the music video does still have the rap section instead of just an instrumental break. It would’ve been preferable to have either group member Irene or Seulgi handle the rap section. At least, the tone of the song would’ve kept the sensual nature intact.

Oh, if I have a bias from the group its a toss-up between Irene and Joy with Seulgi being my bias wrecker.

Artwork of the Day: The Clocks at Ravenwood (by Lou Marchetti)

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Dazzling Erin

by Lou Marchetti

Music Video Of The Day: Silent Night by Lindsey Stirling (2011, dir by ????)

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I am a totally unapologetic fan of Lindsey Stirling. I imagine some of that is because I wish I could play the violin. It’s an instrument that has always fascinated me and I’ve always regretted that I never learned how to play it. I also regret that I never learned how to play the piano or really any musical instrument. Back when I was in the third grade, I had a music teacher who told me that I had the worst singing voice she had ever heard and that I needed to pay more attention in class. Oh well!

Anyway, this is a really nice and heartfelt performance of Silent Night. Silent Night is actually one of my favorite Christmas songs. I certainly prefer it to that one where everyone’s singing about the bells.

This video was filmed at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Enjoy!