Monthly Archives: December 2020

Here Are The 2020 Music City Film Critics Association!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, just in case anyone is wondering, the Music City Film Critics Association is based out of Nashville.  Personally, I like the fact that they used a nickname for their city in the name of their group.  The DFW Film Critics need to change their name to the Big D Film Critics.  I’ve been saying this for years.

Anyway, the winners won’t be announced until January 11th so you’ve got a lot of time to think about these nominees!  I’m happy to see that they nominated I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

​BEST FILM
Da 5 Bloods
First Cow
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Father
The Trial of the Chicago 7
​
BEST DIRECTOR
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
David Fincher – Mank
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Florian Zeller – The Father
Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods

BEST ACTOR
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
Gary Oldman – Mank
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

BEST ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Bill Burr – The King of Staten Island
Bill Murray – On the Rocks
Leslie Odom, Jr. – One Night in Miami…
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Olivia Colman – The Father
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Da 5 Bloods
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
One Night in Miami…
The Trial of the Chicago 7

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Onward (dir. Dan Scanlon)
Over the Moon (dir. Glen Keane)
Scoob! (dir. Tony Cervone)
Soul (dir. Pete Docter)
Wolfwalkers (dir. Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Another Round (dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
Bacurau (dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles)
Collective (dir. Alexander Nanau)
I’m No Longer Here (dir. Fernando Frías)
​The Platform (dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Collective (dir. Alexander Nanau)
Dick Johnson is Dead (dir. Kirsten Johnson)
The Social Dilemma (dir. Jeff Orlowski)
Time (dir. Garrett Bradley)
You Cannot Kill David Arquette (dir. David Darg & Price James)

BEST SCREENPLAY
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman)
Mank (Jack Fincher)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)

BEST SONG
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – “Hear My Voice”
Eurovision Song Contest – “Husavik (My Hometown)”
Trolls: World Tour – “Just Sing”
Over the Moon – “Rocket to the Moon”
One Night in Miami… – “Speak Now”
Tenet – “The Plan”

BEST SCORE
Minari (Emile Mosseri)
Tenet (Ludwig Göransson)
Da 5 Bloods (Terence Blanchard)
Mank (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)
Soul (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Da 5 Bloods (Newton Thomas Sigel)
Mank (Erik Messerschmidt)
News of the World (Dariusz Wolski)
Nomadland (Joshua James Richards)
Tenet (Hoyte van Hoytema)

BEST EDITING
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
Mank (Kirk Baxter)
Tenet (Jennifer Lame)
The Father (Yorgos Lamprinos)
The Invisible Man (Andy Canny)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Alan Baumgarten)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Mank (Donald Graham Burt)
Emma. (Kave Quinn)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Mark Ricker)
Da 5 Bloods (Wynn Thomas)
The Personal History of David Copperfield (Christina Casali)

The Florida Film Critics Circle Honors First Cow!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Florida Film Critics Circle today announced their picks for the best of 2020!  You can check out a full list of nominees here.  Meanwhile, the winners are below!

Best Picture: First Cow

Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins in The Father  (Runner-Up: John Magaro in First Cow)

Best Actress: Frances McDormand in Nomadland (Runner-up: Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci in the Sound of Metal (Runner-up: Brian Dennehy in Driveways)

Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bakalova in Borat Subsequent Movie Film (Runner-up: Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari)

Best Ensemble: Mangrove (Runner-Up: The Trial of the Chicago 7)

Best Director: Chloe Zhao for Nomand Land (runner-up: Kelley Reichardt for First Cow and Aaron Sorkin The Trial of the Chicago 7)

Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung for Minari (runner-up: Sorkin)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman for I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Runners-up: Chloe Zhao for Nomadland, Ruben Santiago-Hudson for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)

Best Cinematography — Erik Messerschmidt for Mank (Runner-up: Shabier Kirchner for Lovers Rock)

Best Visual Effects: Murray Barber for Possessor (runner-up: Andrew Jackson for Tenet)

Best Art Direction: Dan Webster for Mank (Runner-up: Adam Marshall for Lovers Rock)

Best Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste for Soul (runner-up: Ludwig Goransson for Tenet)

Best Documentary: You Don’t Nomi (Runner-up: Dick Johnson is Dead)

Best Foreign Language Film: Los Fuertes (runner-up: Minari)

Best Animated Film: Soul (runner-up: Wolfwalkers)

Best First Film: Promising Young Woman (runner-up: The Father)

Breakout Award: Sidney Flanigan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always (runner-up: Maria Bakalova for that Borat movie)

The Golden Orange Award: Enzian Theater

Lisa’s Week In Review: 12/14/20 — 12/20/20

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Christmas is almost here!

And you know what that means …. it’s time to rob the money plane!

No, no — actually, it means that it’s time to start preparing for a new year!  We’ve finally got a COVID vaccine, we’ve got an extended awards season, and …. well, 2021 will have to be an improvement, right?  My hope is that — after nonstop drama and spending the past 20 years or so being told what to do — 2021 will be the year that people say, “Screw it!” and start doing whatever the Hell they want.

It’s time to bring about the 1920s and the 1970s, my friends.  And the best way to do that is to …. rob the money plane!

Anyway, ’til then, here’s what I watched and listened to this week:

Films I Watched:

  1. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
  2. Burden (2020)
  3. The Call of the Wild (2020)
  4. Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960)
  5. Friday the 13th (1980)
  6. Howard the Duck (1986)
  7. Maid in Manhattan (2002)
  8. Money Plane (2020)
  9. My Psychedelic Love Story (2020)
  10. Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020)
  11. Office Space (1999)
  12. Peyton Place (1957)
  13. Robot Monster (1953)
  14. Shooting Heroin (2020)
  15. Trilogy of Terror (1975)
  16. Valley Girl (2020)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. A Teacher
  2. The Amazing Race 32
  3. The Bachelorette
  4. Bar Rescue
  5. The Bob Newhart Show
  6. The Bold and the Beautiful
  7. The Brady Bunch
  8. Cold Case Files
  9. Coronation Street
  10. Days of Our Lives
  11. Friends
  12. General Hospital
  13. Industry
  14. The Mandalorian
  15. The Office
  16. Parking Wars
  17. Saved By The Bell
  18. Seinfeld
  19. The Voice
  20. The Young and the Restless

Music To Which I Listened:

  1. Annie Lennox
  2. Armin van Buuren
  3. Backstreet Boys
  4. Britney Spears
  5. The Chemical Brothers
  6. Chuck Berry
  7. DJ Judaa
  8. Dropkick Murphys
  9. Frank Sinatra
  10. Kodaline
  11. Rick Astley
  12. Saint Motel
  13. Saxon
  14. Sharon den Adel
  15. Taylor Swift
  16. Tim Agaye

Awards Season:

  1. Indiana Film Journalist Association
  2. Florida Film Critics Circle
  3. Chicago Film Critics
  4. New York Film Critics Circle
  5. Boston Online Film Critics
  6. Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Links From The Site:

  1. I shared music videos from DJ Judaa, Annie Lennox, Kodaline, Chuck Berry, Annie Lenox again, Tim Agaye, and Rick Astley!
  2. Erin shared the Holiday Covers of Galaxy Science Fiction and Faith of Tarot, Demon in the Mirror, Fantastic Adventures, The Castle of Iron, Avon Fantasy, Thongor and the Dragon City, and Rebel of Antares!
  3. Ryan reviewed Malarkey, 1956, and Burning Hotels!

More From Us:

  1. For Reality TV Chat Blog, I wrote about The Amazing Race!
  2. Ryan has a patreon!  You should consider subscribing!
  3. At Days Without Incident, Leonard shared Hearing Damage by Thom Yorke!
  4. On my music site, I shared songs from Saxon, Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, Dropkick Murphys, Armin Van Buuren,  Taylor Swift, Frank Sinatra, and Britney Spears!
  5. On her photography site, Erin shared; Ice, More Ice, Stuck in the Parking Lot, Sundown, Bike, Winter, and Christmas Is Coming!

Click here to check out last week!

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Honors …. Small Axe!?

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Small Axe: Mangrove

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association met earlier today and announced their picks for the best of 2020.  In the past, the LAFCA has been considered to be one of the more reliable of the Oscar precursors.  For the past decade, the LAFCA’s pick for best film has gone on to pick up several Oscar nominations.

Well, that streak came to an end today.  In a totally unexpected but still rather nice twist, the LAFCA selected Steve McQueen’s Small Axe as Best Picture.  Small Axe, of course, is the umbrella title for five films that McQueen produced for the BBC and which are currently streaming on Prime.  I’ve reviewed two of them — Mangrove and Red, White, and Blue.  I’ll watch and review the other three this week.

Whether or not Small Axe is Oscar eligible has long been an open question.  Both Mangrove and Red, White, and, Blue were selected to premiere at Cannes and to play at other festivals before making then airing on the BBC and streaming on Prime.  Due to the pandemic, the Academy also changed the rules this year to make it easier for streaming films to compete.  However, Steve McQueen has said that Small Axe was always intended to be a television miniseries and that, despite the films being accepted to Cannes and other festivals, there was never any plan to release any of them theatrically.  For its part, Amazon has submitted Small Axe to the Golden Globes as a Limited Series and was apparently planning on mounting an Emmy campaign next year.  With the exception of documentaries, films nominated for Emmys are not eligible to be nominated for Oscars and vice versa.  The rule, even in this odd year, is that you have to pick one or the other.

So, by all those standards, none of McQueen’s five films nor Small Axe as a whole are Oscar-eligible.  Will that change?  Will Amazon decide to forgo the Emmys and instead go for an Oscar campaign?  Eh …. probably not.  But who knows — with this year blurring the lines between theatrical and television films like never before, anything could happen.  (But probably won’t.)

Anyway, here are the LAFCA winners!

Best Film
Small Axe
Runner-Up: Nomadland

Best Foreign Film
Beanpole
Runner-Up: Martin Eden

Best Director
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Runner-Up: Steve McQueen – Small Axe

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Runner-Up: Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Actor
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Runner-Up: Riz Ahmed – Sound Of Metal

Best Documentary Film
Time
Runner-Up: Collective

Best Screenplay
Promising Young Woman
Runner-Up: Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Animated Film
Wolfwalkers
Runner-Up: Soul

Best Supporting Actress
Youn Yuh-jung – Minari
Runner-Up: Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Best Editing
The Father
Runner-Up: Time

Best Production Design
Mank
​Runner-Up: Beanpole

Best Supporting Actor
Glynn Turman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Runner-Up: Paul Raci – Sound Of Metal

Best Music/Score
Soul
Runner-Up: Lovers Rock

Best Cinematography
Small Axe
Runner-Up: Nomadland

New Generation Award
Radha Blank – The Forty-Year-Old-Version

Career Achievement Award
Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Harry Belafonte

Legacy Award
Norman Lloyd

The Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize
John Gianvito – Her Socialist Smile

John Boyega in Small Axe: Red, White, and Blue

 

The Boston Online Film Critics Honor Nomadland

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Boston Online Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2020 today and Nomadland picked up another win.  I have a feeling that I’m going to soon get bored with Nomadland winning awards from the critics.  That’s not a knock on Nomadland as much as it’s just a lament for a more varied awards season.  Oh well!

​Top 10 of 2020
1. Nomadland
2. First Cow
3. Da 5 Bloods
4. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
5. Minari
6. Lovers Rock
7. Promising Young Woman
8. Mank
9. Dick Johnson is Dead
10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Director
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Best Actress
Frances McDormand – Nomadland

Best Actor
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods

Best Supporting Actor
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal

Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova – Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

Best Screenplay
Charlie Kaufman – I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Best Cinematography
Joshua James Richards – Nomadland

Best Editing
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Best Score
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Soul

Best Ensemble
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Animated Film
Wolfwalkers

Best Documentary
The Painter and the Thief

Best International Feature
Bacurau