Here Are The Independent Spirit Award Winners!


Adam Sandler may not even be an Oscar winner but he is now officially an Independent Spirit Award winner.  Last night, at the Spirits annual ceremony, he won Best Actor for Uncut Gems.  Willem DaFoe picked up the Best Supporting Male award for The Lighthouse, another film that was largely overlooked by the Academy.  Best Feature went to The Farewell, another movie that was totally snubbed by the Academy.

In other words, the Spirits were incredibly awesome and probably had better taste this year than the Oscars.  Here’s a full list of what won:

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

  • Noah Jupe, “Honey Boy”
  • Shia LaBeouf, “Honey Boy”
  • Jonathan Majors, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”
  • Willem Dafoe, “The Lighthouse” (WINNER)
  • Wendell Pierce, “Burning Cane”

BEST EDITING

  • Ronald Bronstein, Bennie Safdie, “Uncut Gems” (WINNERS)
  • Julie Beziau, “The Third Wife”
  • Tyler L. Cook, “Sword of Trust”
  • Louise Ford, “The Lighthouse”
  • Kirill Mikhanovsky, “Give Me Liberty”

BEST DOCUMENTARY

  • “American Factory” (WINNER)
  • “Apollo 11”
  • “For Sama”
  • “Honeyland”
  • “Island of the Hungry Ghosts”

BONNIE AWARD

  • Kelly Reichardt (WINNER)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • Todd Banhazl, “Hustlers”
  • Jarin Blaschke, “The Lighthouse” (WINNER)
  • Natasha Braier, “Honey Boy”
  • Chananun Chotrungroj, “The Third Wife”
  • Pawel Pogorzelski, “Midsommar”

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD

  • “Burning Cane”
  • “Colewell”
  • “Give Me Liberty” (WINNER)
  • “Premature”
  • “Wild Nights With Emily”

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

  • Andrew Patterson, Craig W. Sanger, “The Vast of Night”
  • Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy, “Blow the Man Down”
  • Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, “Greener Grass”
  • Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen, “Driveways”
  • Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol, “See You Yesterday” (WINNERS)

BEST FIRST FEATURE

  • “Booksmart” (WINNER)
  • “The Climb”
  • “Diane”
  • “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”
  • “The Mustang”
  • “See You Yesterday”

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

  • “Invisible Life” (Brazil)
  • “Les Miserables” (France)
  • “Parasite” (Korea) (WINNER)
  • “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (France)
  • “Retablo” (Peru)
  • “The Souvenir” (United Kingdom)

BEST SCREENPLAY

  • Noah Baumbach, “Marriage Story” (WINNER)
  • Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, “Uncut Gems”
  • Chinonye Chukwu, “Clemency”
  • Tarell Alvin McCraney, “High Flying Bird”
  • Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder, “To Dust”

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

  • Jennifer Lopez, “Hustlers”
  • Taylor Russell, “Waves”
  • Zhao Shuzhen, “The Farewell” (WINNER)
  • Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, “Give Me Liberty”
  • Octavia Spencer, “Luce”

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD: “Marriage Story”

BEST DIRECTOR

  • Robert Eggers, “The Lighthouse”
  • Alma Har’el, “Honey Boy”
  • Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie, “Uncut Gems” (WINNER)
  • Julius Onah, “Luce”
  • Lorene Scafaria, “Hustlers”

BEST MALE LEAD

  • Chris Galust, “Give Me Liberty”
  • Kelvin Harrison Jr, “Luce”
  • Robert Pattinson, “The Lighthouse”
  • Adam Sandler, “Uncut Gems” (WINNER)
  • Matthias Schoenaerts, “The Mustang”

BEST FEMALE LEAD

  • Karen Allen, “Colewell”
  • Hong Chau, “Driveways”
  • Elisabeth Moss, “Her Smell”
  • Mary Kay Place, “Diane”
  • Alfre Woodard, “Clemency”
  • Renee Zellweger, “Judy” (WINNER)

BEST FEATURE

  • “Clemency”
  • “The Farewell” (WINNER)
  • “A Hidden Life”
  • “Marriage Story”
  • “Uncut Gems”

Scenes That I Love: The Opening Of The Very First Televised Oscar Ceremony


Today, we take it for granted that the Oscars will always be on television in February or March of every year.  We know that they will be broadcast on ABC on Sunday night.  We also know that there’s a good chance that, every year, some clueless TV exec will try to do something to ruin our annual tradition.  Whether it’s the idea of introducing an award for Best Popular Film or maybe suggesting that some awards should be given off camera, we know better than to trust ABC.

However, for the first 25 years of the Academy’s existence, the Oscars were not televised.  In fact, for a while, they weren’t even broadcast on the radio because it was assumed that no one outside of Hollywood cared about them.  It really wasn’t until the mid-30s that the Oscars became an annual ritual for so many Americans.  At first, people listened to the ceremony on the radio and then eventually, the ceremony came to television.

The first Oscar telecast was on March 19th, 1953.  The ceremony was split between two locations, Hollywood and New York.  Bob Hope hosted in Hollywood while Conrad Nagel and Fredric March hosted in New York.  The ceremony didn’t start until 10:30 pm and it ran for two hours and 20 minutes.  Why the late start?  Several of the nominees were also appearing in Broadway shows and they had to finish their nightly performances before they could attend the ceremony.

As for why this ceremony was telecast — well, as always, it all comes down to money.  The Academy needed the money that came from selling the broadcast rights to NBC.  (NBC, to their credit, did not demand an award for Best Popular Film.)  The show was such a ratings success that it led to the annual tradition that we all know and love today.

What won at the first televised ceremony?  The Greatest Show On Earth won Best Picture while John Ford took home Best Director (for The Quiet Man) and Gary Cooper was named Best Actor for High Noon.  Shirley Booth was named Best Actress for Come Back, Little Sheba.  The supporting awards went to Anthony Quinn for Viva Zapata! and Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful.

Here is the opening of the very first televised Oscar ceremony.  As you can tell, it was quite a bit different from what we’re used to today!

 

Weekly Reading Round-Up : 02/02/2020 – 02/08/2020


Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarRyan C.'s Four Color Apocalypse

What’ve we got this week? A one-shot, a first issue, the start of a new story arc, and the prelude to the prelude to a new story arc. It’s about as mixed a bag as it sounds, to be honest, but every one of these books has at least something going for it, and you can’t always say that. And so, with that in mind —

Never one to pass on the chance to squeeze as much blood from a rock as they can (and then some), Marvel is cashing in on the resurgent popularity of the Hulk with a series of one-offs from their main series, the first of which is The Immortal Hulk : Great Power #1, which sees Bruce Banner’s gamma powers temporarily take up residence in Peter Parker — and if one guest star’s not enough for you, the entirety of the Fantastic Four is on…

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4 Shots From 4 Films About Hollywood: The Bad and the Beautiful, The Stunt Man, Mulholland Drive, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood


4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today’s edition of 4 Shots from 4 Films is dedicated to four of the best films that I’ve ever seen about Hollywood!  I mean, it is Oscar Sunday after all!

4 Shots From 4 Films About Hollywood

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952, dir by Vincente Minnelli)

The Stunt Man (1980, dir by Richard Rush)

Mulholland Drive (2000, dir by David Lynch)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019, dir by Quentin Tarantino)

Welcome to Oscar Sunday!


Welcome, one and all, to Oscar Sunday on the Shattered Lens!

Oscar Sunday is an official holiday at the Shattered Lens Bunker and the humans who work here have got a lot planned for today!  There’s going to be a potluck dinner.  There’s going to be a horseshoe tournament out back.  The flame-haired one even says that she’s going to try to hire a clown to come keep everyone entertained during the commercial breaks!

Maybe a clown like this one:

As for what you’ll be seeing on this site during today’s holiday, the TSL humans have got a lot planned for today!  I think there might be some reviews and maybe some Oscar trivia.  Whenever the ceremony ends, someone will probably post the end results so you can see how much money you made off of your Oscar predictions.  It should be fun so enjoy the day and don’t forget to watch the Oscars tonight!

By the way, Matt Smith likes the clown too!

Happy Oscar Sunday!

Music Video of the Day: Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones (1982, directed by Hal Ashby)


“The story here is the miracle that we ever found that track. I was convinced – and I think Mick was – that it was definitely a reggae song. And we did it in 38 takes – ‘Start me up. Yeah, man, cool. You know, you know, Jah Rastafari.’ And it didn’t make it. And somewhere in the middle of a break, just to break the tension, Charlie and I hit the rock and roll version. And right after that we went straight back to reggae. And we forgot totally about this one little burst in the middle, until about five years later when somebody sifted all the way through these reggae takes. After doing about 70 takes of ‘Start Me Up’ he found that one in the middle. It was just buried in there. Suddenly I had it. Nobody remembered cutting it. But we leapt on it again. We did a few overdubs on it, and it was like a gift, you know? One of the great luxuries of The Stones is we have an enormous, great big can of stuff. I mean what anybody hears is just the tip of an iceberg, you know. And down there is vaults of stuff. But you have to have the patience and the time to actually sift through it.”

— Keith Richards on Start Me Up

Since today is Oscar Sunday, let’s start the day with a video that was directed by an Oscar winner.

Hal Ashby got his start as an editor and a favorite collaborator of director Norman Jewison.  Ashby won his only Oscar for editing the 1967 best picture winner, In the Heat of the Night.  Ashby then went on to become a director himself and, in that role, he was responsible for some of the most important films of the 1970s.  Check out this list of credits: Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound for Glory, Coming Home, Being There, and Let’s Spend the Night Together.  All of these films were directed by Hal Ashby.

Let’s Spend The Night Together was a Rolling Stones concert film and I imagine that his work on that film is probably what led to Ashby directing this music video.  Like a lot of the great 70s directors, his career struggled as people like Don Simpson took over Hollywood and the industry’s focus shifted away from empowering directors to keeping studio executives happy.  While Ashby found himself practically unemployable in Hollywood, he was still able to make a living with work like this video and directing television episodes.

Hal Ashby died in 1988 of pancreatic cancer.  Bruce Dern famously said that the way Ashby was treated in Hollywood was the “most disgusting thing” that he had ever seen over the course of his long career.  Fortunately, movies are forever and Ashby’s work has since been rediscovered and continues to influence aspiring filmmakers all over.  Richard Linklater is a huge fan and paid homage to Ashby with Last Flag Flying.

Enjoy!