Daily Archives: December 17, 2019

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Association Names 1917 As The Best of 2019!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Reunion Tower (picture by Erin Nicole)

Here are the winners in Dallas!

BEST PICTURE

Winner: 1917

Runners-up: MARRIAGE STORY (2); PARASITE (3); THE IRISHMAN (4); ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (5); JOJO RABBIT (6); LITTLE WOMEN (7); THE FAREWELL (8); THE TWO POPES (9); KNIVES OUT (10)

BEST ACTOR

Winner: Adam Driver, MARRIAGE STORY

Runners-up: Joaquin Phoenix, JOKER (2); Antonio Banderas, PAIN AND GLORY (3); Leonardo DiCaprio, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (4); Robert De Niro, THE IRISHMAN (5)

BEST ACTRESS

Winner: Scarlett Johansson, MARRIAGE STORY

Runners-up: Renée Zellweger, JUDY (2); Charlize Theron, BOMBSHELL (3); Saoirse Ronan, LITTLE WOMEN (4); Awkwafina, THE FAREWELL (5, tie); Lupita Nyong’o, US (5, tie)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Winner: Brad Pitt, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

Runners-up: Willem Dafoe, THE LIGHTHOUSE (2); Joe Pesci, THE IRISHMAN (3); Al Pacino, THE IRISHMAN (4); Shia LaBeouf, HONEY BOY (5)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Winner: Laura Dern, MARRIAGE STORY

Runners-up: Margot Robbie, BOMBSHELL (2); Florence Pugh, LITTLE WOMEN (3); Jennifer Lopez, HUSTLERS (4); Annette Bening, THE REPORT (5)

BEST DIRECTOR

Winner: Sam Mendes, 1917

Runners-up: Bong Joon-ho, PARASITE (2); Martin Scorsese, THE IRISHMAN (3); Quentin Tarantino, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (4); Noah Baumbach, MARRIAGE STORY (5)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Winner: PARASITE

Runners-up: PAIN AND GLORY (2); THE FAREWELL (3); LES MISÉRABLES (4); PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (5)

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Winner: APOLLO 11

Runners-up: ONE CHILD NATION (2); AMERICAN FACTORY (3); HONEYLAND (4); FOR SAMA (5)

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Winner: TOY STORY 4

Runner-up: I LOST MY BODY

BEST SCREENPLAY

Winner: Noah Baumbach, MARRIAGE STORY

Runner-up: Steven Zaillian, THE IRISHMAN

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Winner: Roger Deakins, 1917

Runner-up: Hong Kyung-pyo, PARASITE

BEST MUSICAL SCORE

Winner: Thomas Newman, 1917

Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, LITTLE WOMEN

RUSSELL SMITH AWARD (best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film)

Winner: THE LIGHTHOUSE

Slimy Old Men, Indeed : Abby Jame’s “Lizard Daddies”

Posted on by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

Ryan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse

What the hell is this, anyway? A review of a four-page mini? Am I nuts?

Well, yeah, I am — but that’s nothing new. What is new is the idea that there could, indeed, be a four-page mini worth devoting more than a quick 150-word paragraph to talking about, but such is indeed the case with Abby Jame’s latest from Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club, Lizard Daddies. I don’t expect this to happen too often, mind you, but Jame’s work is always worthy of examination on some level, and this one touches on so many relevant cultural themes in so few pages that the word “extraordinary” comes to mind pretty quickly and easily.

The set-up here is as immediately grabbing as one would assume it to be : a group of teenage girls decide to attend a “sugar daddy/sugar baby” party to fleece some cash out of some horny old…

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“The Legend Of Stick Dirtly” : The Savior Walks Among Us

Posted on by Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)

Ryan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse

Sam Spina is one of those cartoonists who never strayed too far from his DIY roots — and for that, we should all be thankful.

You never know when one of his new self-published minis is going to hit, nor what it’s going to be about, but you can be sure of a couple things without fail : whatever he comes up with is going to be funny, and it’s going to make you think just a little bit, too. These are both good things, of course, but lots of comics manage to do them — what sets Spina’s work apart, then, is a little something extra that we’ll just call, for lack of a better term, charm.

Which, if we’re being honest, is a well-nigh impossible thing to quantify and is entirely subjective in the extreme, but still — you know it when you see it, and you’re…

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Joker Arises From The Ashes To Be Named Best Picture By The Phoenix Film Critics Society!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Joker picked up its first award for best picture earlier today, courtesy of the Phoenix Film Critics Society!

Here’s a complete list of winners:

BEST PICTURE
Joker

BEST DIRECTOR
Sam Mendes – 1917

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Renee Zellweger – Judy

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Brad Pitt – Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Laura Dern – Marriage Story

BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING
Knives Out

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Knives Out

BEST SCREENPLAY ADAPTED FROM OTHER MATERIAL
Jojo Rabbit

THE OVERLOOKED FILM OF THE YEAR
Hotel Mumbai

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Toy Story 4

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Parasite

BEST DOCUMENTARY
One Child Nation

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Into the Unknown – Frozen 2

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1917

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1917

BEST FILM EDITING
1917

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
1917

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Rocketman

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avengers: Endgame

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Roman Griffin Davis – Jojo Rabbit

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUTH
Roman Griffin Davis – Jojo Rabbit

PFCS TOP TEN (in alphabetical order)
1917
Avengers: Endgame
JoJo Rabbit
Joker
Knives Out
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite
The Irishman
The Two Popes

Music Video Of The Day: Crush With Eyeliner by R.E.M. (1995, directed by Spike Jonze)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

As with so many of R.E.M.’s songs, the meaning of Crush With Eyeliner is open to interpretation.

Courtney Love, for instance, has sworn that this song was about her.  Michael Stipe was friends with Kurt Cobain and took Courtney Love to the MTV Music Video Awards in 1994, after Cobain’s suicide.  Love has said that both Crush With Eyeliner and County Feedback are about her.

For his part, Michael Stipe has said that the song was meant to be a tribute of sorts to the New York Dolls, with the song’s mentioning of Frankenstein meant to serve as a direct reference to the Dolls’s song of the same name.  Stipe has also said that the song is also about people who take on different personalities depending on whatever situation they find themselves in at the moment.  That could very well describe Dolls.  Of course, it could also describe Courtney Love as well.

Crush With Eyeliner was also one of the first songs that Stipe wrote after suffering through five months of writer’s block.  Stipe had sunk into a deep depression following the death of his friend, the actor River Phoenix.  When it came time to record Crush With Eyeliner, Stipe brought in another friend, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, to provide backing vocals on the song.

The video was directed by Spike Jonze and features a Japanese band lip-synching to the song.  Jonze is a director who needs no introduction.  Jonze got his start doing pop culture-themed music videos before eventually going on to become one of the most interesting feature filmmakers around.  Four years after the shooting of this video, he would marry (and later divorce) Sofia Coppola.  Coppola’s Lost In Translation, which was also set in Japan, features Giovanni Ribisi playing a character who is widely thought to have been based on Jonze.  Coppola, for her part, said that the character was not directly based on Jonze, though “there are elements of him there, elements of experiences.”

Enjoy!