The Iowa Film Critics Association Honors Nomadland


Though we may never know who actually won the Iowa Caucus last year, we do know which films won with the Iowa Film Critics Association!  Here are their picks for the best of the year:

BEST FILM: “Nomadland”
Runners up: “Minari” and “Sound of Metal”

BEST DIRECTOR: Chloe Zhao – “Nomadland”
Runners up: Darius Marder – “Sound of Metal” and Florian Zeller – “The Father”

BEST ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Runners up: Anthony Hopkins – “The Father” and Riz Ahmed – “Sound of Metal”

BEST ACTRESS: Frances McDormand – “Nomadland”
Runners up: Viola Davis – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and Carey Mulligan – “Promising Young Woman”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Paul Raci – “Sound of Metal”
Runners up: Bill Murray – “On the Rocks” and Leslie Odom Jr. – “One Night in Miami”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Yuh-jung Youn – “Minari”
Runners up: Olivia Colman – “The Father” and Amanda Seyfried – “Mank”

BEST ANIMATED FILM: “Soul”
Runners up: “Over the Moon” and “Wolfwalkers”

BEST DOCUMENTARY: “Dick Johnson is Dead”
Runners up: “Crip Camp” and “The Dissident”

BEST SCORE: Ludovico Einaudi – “Nomadland”
Runners up: James Newton Howard – “News of the World” and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “Mank”

BEST SONG: “Speak Now” – “One Night in Miami”
Runners up: “Green” – “Sound of Metal” and “Rain Song” – “Minari”

Artwork of the Day: The Lost Eagles (by Tom Dunn)


by Tom Dunn

A story about a Roman soldier who becomes a barbarian, The Lost Eagles was first published in 1955.  This edition, with the cover from Tom Dunn, came out in 1956.  That the soldier-turned-barbarian looks shell-shocked shouldn’t come as a surprise but I’m concerned about the woman standing behind him.  You can tell that she’s seen things.

Music Video of the Day: I Alone by Live (1994, directed by Tim Pope)


In retrospect, this music video is probably best known for drummer Chad Gracey wandering around in the background while the rest of the band performed the song.  Beavis and Butthead speculated that Gracey forgot to bring his drums to the video shoot and that…

Well, why take it from me when you can hear it from the boys themselves?

To the band’s credit, they actually had a sense of humor about the whole thing and, in fact, later credited Beavis and Butthead for helping to make the song a hit.  That’s quite a contrast to the reaction that some artists — *cough* Kip Winger *cough* — had to being featured on the show.

The song rocks, by the way!

Enjoy!