2018 In Review: Lisa’s Top 12 Non-Fiction Books

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

All day today, I’ve been posting my favorites (and least favorites) of 2018. If you’ve missed the previous entries …. well, that’s kind of on you.

Anyway, we have now reached the part of our program where I list my top twelve non-fiction books. There was actually quite a lot of good non-fiction published this year. The list below is a nice mix of memoirs, politics, and true crime. Read them all and then be sure to come back here and thank me.

Here’s the list!

I’ve got three more topics left to cover: music, television, and my favorite movies of the year. For now, I need to take a small break and stretch my legs so expect to see the rest of my picks for the best of 2018 later tonight or tomorrow.

(Probably tomorrow, to be absolutely honest.)

Lisa Looks Back At 2018:

2018 In Review: Lisa’s Top 10 Novels

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, I’ve had dinner and now I’m ready to get back to sharing my picks for the best of 2018!

We’ve now come to my 10 favorite novels of 2018. I hate to say it but I didn’t read as many new novels as I should have this year. I read a lot of old James Bond novels and I inherited about a dozen vintage Choose Your Own Adventure Books. Those kept me pretty busy.

Plus, I also traveled a lot last year and I was also sick for several days. I’ve always assumed that traveling and having a serious sinus infection would lead to reading more books and not less. But apparently, it doesn’t work that way. That sucked.

PLUS — I WASTED AN ENTIRE WEEK TRYING TO MAKE MY WAY THROUGH THAT SEAN PENN NOVEL! Goddammit….

(Yes, it’s an extremely short novel but it didn’t feel short when I was reading it….)

Anyway, of the 2018 novels that I did read, here’s my top ten!

Up next, my ten favorite non-fiction books of 2018!

Lisa Looks Back at 2018:

2018 In Review: The Best of SyFy

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Continuing my look back at the best of 2018, it is now time to reveal my picks for the best SyFy movies and performances of the previous year!

But before I do that, a plea to the SyFy Network. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because I make this plea every year and it never does any good. It probably won’t do any good this year. But still, I’m going to make it. SyFy, give us more original films! From a business point of view, I can understand why SyFy shifted their focus from movies to episodic television. But I’m not a business person! I’m a movie lover, one who has wonderful memories of when every weekend would bring another gloriously over-the-top SyFy movie. Those were wonderful days and it’s sad that the only time that I get to relive them is either during Shark Week or during October.

(Of course, with the Sharknado franchise ending last year, is there even going to be a Shark Week in 2019?)

Seriously, SyFy — give us more original movies!

With that in mind, allow me to say that SyFy’s 2018 films were some of the best that they’ve ever aired. It’s unfortunate that there weren’t more of them but the ones that they did show were excellent. It was not easy to narrow down my picks this year but I’ve done it. And here they are:

(All credits are based on what’s listed at the imdb. If anyone has been incorrectly credited or left out, please leave a comment and I will correct the mistake.)

Best Picture — The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (produced by Paul Bales, Jarrett Furst , David L. Garber, Andrew Golov, David Michael Latt, Bogdan Moncea, Tara Reid, David Rimawi, Justin Smith, Josh Van Houdt, Ian Ziering)

The Sharknado franchise ended with everything you could possibly want: flying sharks, bad puns, meta humor, and finally a heart-warming speech from Finn that not only saluted those who worked on the films but those of us who watched as well. After years of defining SyFy for many people, the Sharknado franchise concluded on the perfect note.

Best Director — Anthony C. Ferrante for The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time

Anthony C. Ferrante has been with the franchise since the beginning and he brought it to an end with style.

Best Actor — Reid Miller in Santa Jaws

Playing an aspiring comic book artist who brings to life a shark that’s full of Christmas spirit, Reid Miller gave a likable performance that achieved just the right balance between comedy and terror.

Best Actress — Jearnest Corchado in Cucuy: The Boogeyman

Jeanest Corchado did a great job grounding this Halloween in film in reality (or as close to reality as you’re going to get in a SyFy film).

Best Supporting Actor — Varun Saranga in Killer High

If you’re high school reunion is ever attacked by hellish monsters, you’re going to want a friend like Varun Saranga’s Ronnie at your side. Or maybe not….

Best Supporting Actress — Alyson Hannigan in You Might Be The Killer

If you ever find yourself surrounded by a bunch of dead bodies at a summer camp, Alyson Hannigan is exactly the friend that you want giving you advice. Or maybe not….

Best Screenplay — Jesse Mittelstadt for No Escape Room

With its clever script and ominous feeling of impending doom, No Escape Room was my favorite of SyFy’s Halloween films. Seriously, it was creepy as Hell.

Best Cinematography — 6-Headed Shark Attack (Mark Atkins)

Paradise is a paradise, even with a multi-headed shark eating everyone in sight.

Best Costumes — The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (costumes by Oana Draghici)

The best thing about time travel is getting to see what everyone’s wearing.

Best Editing — Santa Jaws (Eva K. Morgan and Misty Talley)

If the Sharkando films really are finished with, I certainly wouldn’t mind another five or so films about Santa Jaws.

Best Makeup — The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (Petcu Alina, Alexandra Barladeanu, Devin Bianchini, Jeremy Bramer, Roxana Cardas, Denise M. Chavez, Bee Cruz, George Doroftei, Brianna Farfel , Adelina Handuri, Caitlin Krenz, Andreescu Maria, Tracy Rosen, Victoria Rowe)

Again, the best thing about time travel is getting to see what everyone looked like.

Best Score — You Might Be The Killer (Andrew Morgan Smith)

Smith’s score created the perfect mood and atmosphere for this homage to the horror films of the past.

Best Production Design — No Escape Room (Shane Boucher and Garrett Dunbar)

Seriously, this film was creepy as Hell.

Best Sound — No Escape Room (Bryson Cassidy, Joseph Facciuolo, Danielle McBride, Lucas Roveda, Laszlo Szijarto, Julie Zhu)

Again, creepy as hell.

Best Visual Effects — Nightmare Shark (Adam Clark and Gretchen McNelis)

When you give your film a title like Nightmare Shark, you’re obviously making a bold statement. Fortunately, the visual effects were able to live up to the title.

And that’s it for the best in SyFy! I really hope that SyFy will continue to air original movies so I’ll be able to do another one of these lists next year.

(For my previous picks, click on the links: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017)

Up next: dinner! And then, after that, I’ll post my favorite novels of 2018.

Lisa Looks Back at 2018:

Fever Dreams: Fritz Lang’s THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (RKO/International Pictures 1944)

Posted on January 19, 2019 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

Back in 2016, I did a post expounding on one of my favorite films noir, 1945’s SCARLET STREET . This dark masterpiece of corruption starred the titanic trio of Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea in a sordid tale directed by German legend Fritz Lang, with moody cinematography courtesy of Milton Krasner. Recently, I viewed a film this team made the year previous, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, with a screenplay by producer Nunnally Johnson. Comparisons were inevitable, but though there are certainly similarities between the two films, this one stands on its own as a powerful entry in the film noir canon. With all that talent, would you expect anything less?

Robinson plays college professor Richard Wanley, an intellectual lecturing on the psychology of homicide to his students. He’s a happily married father of two kids, left alone while the fam visits relatives. Whaley goes to his…

View original post 405 more words

2018 In Review: The Best of Lifetime

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, I continue my look back at the previous year with my picks for the best of Lifetime in 2018! Below, you’ll find my nominations for the best Lifetime films and performances of 2018! Winners are starred and listed in bold!

(As a guide, I used the credits for the imdb. If anyone has been miscredited or left out, please feel free to let me know and I’ll fix the error both here and, if I can, on the imdb as well.)

(For my previous best of Lifetime picks, click on the links: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)

Best Picture

The Art of Murder, produced by Neil Elman, Bryce Fishman, James Lourie, Hannah Pillemer, Edgar Rosa, Fernando Szew

The Bad Seed, produced by Justis Greene, Harvey Kahn, Elizabeth Guber Stephen, Mark Wolper.

Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey. Produced by Mary Petryshyn, Charles Tremayne, Jeff Vanderwal

Cocaine Godmother, produced by Jamie Goehring, S. Lily Hui, Jonathan Koch, Stephen Michaels, Andrew Molina, Alisa Tager, Shawn Williamson.

Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill, produced by David Manzaners and Judith Verno

*The Girl in the Bathtub, produced by Kevin Leeson, Emanuel Pereira, Diane Sokolow, Rachel Verno*

Girl in the Bunker, produced by Kim Bondi, Stephen Kemp, Thomas Vencelides

I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter. Produced by Len Murach and Rick Van Meter.

No One Would Tell. Produced by Shawn Angeliski, Paddy Bickerton, Martin Fisher, Lisa Richardson, Danielle Von Zerneck

Terror in the Woods. Produced by David Eubanks, Les Franck, Adam Freeman, Leslie Greif, James Heerdegen, Ashley Hudson, Christina Ricci, Eric Tomonsanus, DJ Viola

Best Director

Jim Donovan for Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey

Gail Harvey for No One Would Tell

Seth Jarrett for I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter

Rob Lowe for The Bad Seed

*Karen Moncrieff for The Girl in the Bathtub*

Guillermo Navarro in Cocaine Godmother

Best Actor

Burgess Abernethy in Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance

Kevin Fonteyne in Lover in the Attic

Rob Lowe in The Bad Seed

Austin P. McKenzie in Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill

*Eric Roberts in Stalked By My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge*

Henry Thomas in The Girl in the Bunker

Best Actress

Haylie Duff in Deadly Delusion

McKenna Grace in The Bad Seed

Caitlin Stasey in The Girl In The Bathtub

Bella Thorne in Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill

Megan West in I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter

*Catherine Zeta-Jones in Cocaine Godmother*

Best Supporting Actor

Juan Pablo Espinosa in Cocaine Godmother

David Fierro in Lover in the Attic

Joel Gretsch in I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter

Patrick Muldoon in A Tale of Two Coreys

*Jason Patric in The Girl in the Bathtub*

Rossif Sutherland in Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey

Best Supporting Actress

Krista Allen in Party Mom

Cara Buono in The Bad Seed

Angela Kinsey in Terror in the Woods

*Lydia Look in Mistress Hunter*

Jenny Pellicer in Cocaine Godmother

Katherine Reis in I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter

Best Screenplay

The Bad Seed. Barbara Marshall.

Believe Me: The Abudction of Lisa McVey. Christina Welsh.

Cocaine Godmother. Molly McAlpine, David McKenna.

The Girl in the Bathtub. Karen Moncrieff.

*No One Would Tell. Caitlin D. Fryers*

Terror in the Woods. Amber Benson.

Best Cinematography

The Bad Seed. Peter Menzies, Jr.

Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey. Sasha Moric.

Cocaine Godmother. Guillermo Navarro.

Girl in the Bunker. Fraser Brown.

*I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter. Brian J. Reynolds*

Terror in the Woods. David McGrory.

Best Costuming

*The Art of Murder. Steviee Hughes.*

Cocaine Godmother. Jori Woodman.

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance. Claudia Da Ponte, Diah Wymont.

I Killed My BFF: The Peacher’s Daughter. David Anthony Crowley.

Psycho Prom Queen. Anie Fisette.

A Tale of Two Coreys. Jennifer Garnet Filo.

Best Editing

The Bad Seed, Eric L. Beason.

Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey. Lisa Grootenboer.

Cocaine Godmother. Luis Carballar.

*Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill. Henk van Eeghen*

The Girl in the Bathtub.

Girl in the Bunker. Stephen Kemp.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Cocaine Godmother. Laura Copó, Victoria Ferguson, Brittany Isaacs, Andrea Manchur, Joanna Mireau, Adam James Phillips, Trefor Proud, Juanita Santamaria, Ronnie Sidhu, Vicki Syskakis

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance. Lorna Bravo, Helena Cepeda, Jenni Brown Greenberg, Shelly Jensen, Melissa Rankl, Cydney Sjostrom

I Killed My BFF: The Preacher’s Daughter. Missy Scarbrough and Christina Kim.

*Lover in the Attic. Crystal Broedel, Brittanie Cruz, Robin Styles, Diana Valerie, Nataleigh Verrengia*

A Tale of Two Coreys. Katherine Chandler, Lynnae Duley, Monique Hyman, Katie Kilkenny, Kaity Licina, Megan Nicoll, Rebecca Violet Schroeder, Adina Sullivan

Zombie at 17. Jessica Awad, Cinthia Burke, Christine Capustinsky, Shannon Doyle.

Best Score

Cocaine Godmother. Eduardo Aram.

The Girl in the Bathtub. Adam Gorgoni.

Lover in the Attic. Ozzy Doniz.

No One Would Tell. Mark Lazeski.

A Tale of Two Coreys. Jim Dooley.

*Terror in the Woods. Ozzy Doniz.*

Best Production Design

*The Art of Murder. Yana Veselova.*

Cocaine Godmother. Eric Fraser.

The Girl in the Bathtub. Laura Lola Maier.

Girl in the Bunker. Andrew Berry.

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance. Mayne Berke, Ashley Swanson, Vincent Wright

Lover in the Attic. Lindsay Glick.

Best Sound

Cocaine Godmother

*Deadly Delusion*

House of Darkness: New Blood

Killer Under The Bed

Lover in the Attic.

Terror in the Woods

Best Visual Effects

The Bad Seed.

Cocaine Godmother

Deadly Delusion

House of Darkness: New Blood

*Killer Under The Bed*

Zombie at 17

And those are my picks for the best of Lifetime in 2018! (Lifetime had a pretty good year.) Now, I’m off to make my selections for the best of SyFy 2018! I’ll be back …. well, maybe not soon. It took me about three hours to do my Lifetime post. So, I’ll be back eventually.

Lisa Marie’s 2018 In Review:

The 10 Worst Films of 2018

Lisa’s Picks For The 10 Worst Films of 2018

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, I guess it’s finally that time!

It’s time for me to finally post my picks for the best (and worst) of 2018. This is something that I do every year. Usually, I manage to do it before the third week of January but I’ve been running behind. I’ll be posting my film, television, book, and music picks throughout today and maybe into tomorrow, depending on how long it takes me to narrow down my choices.

Let’s start with my picks for the 10 worst films of 2018! Now, I have to admit that 2018 was not really a big year for bad films. It wasn’t really a big year for good films, either. 2018 was just kind of a middle-of-the-road year altogether. Below are my picks for the worst. Some of you will agree and some will disagree. In the end, what truly matters is that I’m right.

(Also be sure to check out my picks for 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010!)

10. Holmes & Wason

9. Fifty Shades Freed

8. Pacific Rim: Uprising

7. Vice — I’m fully aware that this film is being hailed by some as the best of the year. I found it to be painfully smug and overlong. It was like watching The Big Short have roid rage.

6. Deep Blue Sea 2

5. 6 Balloons — Drug addicts are so tedious to watch.

4. Red Sparrow — I’m really starting to worry about Jennifer Lawrence. She’s still a good actress but she seems to spend more time coming up with embarrassing late night talk show anecdotes than actually finding good scripts.

3. Den of Thieves

2. The Happytime Murders — Oh my God, did you know muppets could curse and fuck!? My mind is blown!

And finally, the worst film of 2018 is ….

1. Life Itself

Life Itself is basically what This Is Us is going to turn into by the time it gets around to its sixth season.

So, those are my picks for the worst films of 2018. You may agree. You may disagree. I love you either way.

Artwork of the Day: Detective Fiction Weekly (by Emmett Watson)

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Dazzling Erin

by Emmett Watson

“Hobo Mom” : Restless Heart, Listless Read

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

Ryan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse

And so the first (arguably) “major” release of 2019 in the “alternative” comics world is upon us — never mind that Charles Forsman and Max de Radigues’ Hobo Mom is actually about five years old and is just now being released in an English-language version, publisher Fantagraphics Books is understandably, given the pedigree of its creators (Forsman’s notable critical and commercial successes including The End Of The Fucking World and I Am Not Okay With This, while de Radigues, who hails from Belgium, is probably best known on this side of the pond for Bastard), giving it the “For Your Consideration” full-court press, but hold on just a second : its physical dimensions alone clearly mark this as something of an “also-ran” project, seeing as it clocks in at a mere 62 pages, and a significant chunk of those are wordless.

How much storytelling is really going on…

View original post 890 more words

Music Video of the Day: Stronger by Britney Spears (2000, dir by Joseph Kahn)

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Britney Spears certainly did not invent the “I don’t need my cheating boyfriend to feel strong” genre of music but, over the past 20 years, she’s done a lot to popularize it. Stronger was the first great “I don’t need you” song from Britney and I’ll admit right now that I’ve got the song memorized. It’s a great one to sing along with. “I’m not your property?” Hell yeah! “I don’t need nobody.” Uhmmm, okay, the grammar could use some work but still …. you go, girl!

(Technically, that’s a double negative so, when Britney was singing “I don’t need nobody,” she was actually saying that she does need someone. I used to frequently point that out, mostly because I was annoying like that. “I don’t need anybody” may be the correct way to phrase the sentiment but nobody sounds better than anybody when it’s sung aloud. Anyway, I’m just kind of rambling right now….)

As for the video, I guess the first question we should ask ourselves is, “Is Britney in the future?” Now, seen today, the video might not seem extremely futuristic but, way back in 2000, this was like some serious Matrix shit going on. Even in the future, though, Britney still has trouble finding a good man. Upon finding her boyfriend cheating on her, Britney announces, “Whatever,” and then proceeds to drive a car and dance in a chair. Apparently, Britney can use her magic chair to make people trip and fall. Past, present, or future, you don’t want to get on Britney’s bad side. Whenever I’m watch this video, I’m amazed by both how good a dancer Britney is and also how bad everyone else in the video is. Watching everyone else dance in the spinning future night club, I was reminded of the infamous “Hanging Out With My Family” dance scene from Birdemic.

This video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who began his career in the 90s and who has directed videos for basically everyone. He’s worked with both Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, which means that we’re pretty much living in Joseph Kahn’s world now, whether we realize it or not.

Enjoy!

Trailer: John Wick 3

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone!

I have a theory about movies, specifically about the people who go to see the movies. My theory is that audiences really like to watch Keanu Reeves kill people.

I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Keanu seems to be pretty centered in real life. He’s one of the few celebs about whom you never seem to hear anything negative. Whenever Keanu’s in the news, he’s either volunteering at a homeless shelter or he’s in the park feeding ducks. You never hear about Keanu acting obnoxious and pulling a star trip on anyone. He seems to be at peace with both the world and his place in it. While all the other celebs are on twitter being grumpy, Keanu seems like he should be hanging out on a ranch and having a beer with Kurt Russell and Jeff Bridges.

In short, real world Keanu seems to have reached a state of perfect zen. So, it’s kind of fun to watch him tear through these action movies, battling either computer viruses or international mobsters. The man who once known as Neo is now best known as John Wick. When we first met John Wick, he won our hearts by avenging a dog. Judging by the just released trailer of John Wick 3, he’s still a friend to animals.

He’s also still got people looking to kill him, of course. Judging from the trailer, John Wick 3 looks like it will be an action spectacular. You have to wonder about the mercenaries and killers who keep getting sent after Wick. I imagine that, when they find out what they’re expected to do, a lot of them quit on the spot. No one can kill John Wick.

And if you need proof, just check out the trailer below!