Here’s the good news everyone: It’s almost over.

I’m talking, of course, about awards season. By the time I post my Lisa’s Week In Review next Sunday, the Oscar telecast will (hopefully) be over and this very long and dragged out Oscar season will come to a close. Our five month (!) awards season will finally come to an end and I’ll finally feel as if I can start to concentrate on the films of 2021.

Of course, due to the pandemic and all of the theaters closing, most of the “big” films of 2021 are going to be movies that were originally meant to be released in 2020. Consider that. After the Oscars, we’ve got 7 months of upcoming films that were produced several years ago. How long have we been waiting for Black Widow? West Side Story? Dune? How about the “new” Bond film? Where’s that old lady from the Titanic? Has it been 87 years?

This extended awards season has totally thrown me off my rhythm. I’ve never felt more unproductive as a culture critic as I’ve felt over the past 4 months or so. I think that’s because one of the joys of reviewing movies (of reviewing anything, for that matter) is finding something that surprises you. It’s the type of thrill that I feel when I come across some barely acknowledged, low-budget masterpiece on Prime or Tubi. But it’s hard not to feel that there really aren’t any surprises out there right now because we’ve been waiting to see the majority of these upcoming films for several years. At this point, I don’t even care what happens in the new Bond film. I just want it to be released so we can move on!

Fortunately, I’ll be on a bit of a mini-vacation next week, giving me a chance to get myself centered and, even more importantly, get caught up on my writing and my film viewing! Who knows? Maybe I’ll even rediscover my enthusiasm for the new Bond film while I’m at it. Anything’s possible.

With all that in mind, here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week.

Films I Watched:

1. Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
2. The Citadel (1938)
3. Friendship Never Dies (2021)
4. FX (1986)
5. Hellraiser (1987)
6. The House by The Cemetery (1981)
7. It Happened One Night (1934)
8. Mazes and Monsters (1982)
9. The Wrong Mr. Right (2021)

Television Shows I Watched:

1. America’s Most Wanted
2. American Idol
3. Baywatch
4. Couples Court with the Cutlers
5. Friends
6. Gangs of London
7. Hell’s Kitchen
8. Hill Street Blues
9. Kung Fu
10. The Last Drive-In
11. Lauren Lake’s Paternity Court
12. The Masked Singer
13. The Office
14. The Old Guys
15. Open All Hours
16. Protection Court
17. Rebel
18. The Rookies
19. Saved By The Bell
20. Seinfeld
21. The Serpent
22. South Park
23. Tough as Nails
24. Upstart Crow
25. The Voice
26. Yes, Minister

Books I Read:

1. The Last House On Needless Street (2021) by Catriona Ward

Music To Which I Listened:

1. Above & Beyond
2. Adi Ulmansky
3. Armin van Buuren
4. Avicii
5. Bob Dylan
6. Britney Spears
7. Cage the Elephant
8. The Chemical Brothers
9. Coldplay
10. Daft Punk
11. Dillon Francis
12. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes
13. Florence + The Machine
14. Gwen Stefani
15. Hrdza
16. Jake Bugg
17. Joy Division
18. Katy Perry
19. Kedr Livanskiy
20. Kelly Clarkson
21. Led Zeppelin
22. Linkin Park
23. Mick Jagger
24. Muse
25. Nat & Alex Wolff
26. New Order
27. Olivia Rodrigo
28. Phantogram
29. The Prodigy
30. Public Service Broadcasting
31. Saint Motel
32. Santa Esmerelda
33. Selena Gomez
34. Shakira
35. Sleigh Bells
36. Steve Aoki
37. Talking Heads
38. Taylor Swift
39. TV Noise

Awards Links:

1. American Society of Cinematographers
2. Cinema Audio Society
3. American Cinema Editors
4. Golden Reel
5. Annie Awards
6. Artios Awards
7. Minnesota Film Critics Alliance
8. Costume Designers Guild

Trailers:

1. Riders of Justice
2. The Water Man
3. Flashback
4. Fast & Furious 9

News From Last Week:

1. Helen McCrory Dies
2. Damian Lewis Pens Tribute To Late Wife, Helen McCrory
3. Horror SFX Legend Giannetto De Rossi Dies at 79
4. RIP Enzo Sciotti
5. ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Tops Box Office Again, Crosses $80 Million in the U.S.
6. Gucci family slams ‘House of Gucci’ movie: ‘We are truly disappointed

Links From Last Week:

1. An interview with Ryan Carey
2. Remembering Derrick Ferguson (In His Own Words)
3. Derrick Ferguson — An Ongoing Collection of Tributes
4. Kelly Clarkson Covers “Gaslighter!” Here’s The Video For Her Powerful #Kellyoke Performance!
5. London After Princess Diana’s Death

Links From the Site:

1. I shared my week in television and I reviewed The Citadel and The Serpent! I shared music videos from Mick Jagger and Saint Motel!
2. Erin shared Home To The Night, A Trap For Sam Dodge, A Place In My Heart, A Panting by Vidan, Her Officer and Gentleman, Other Worlds Science Stories, and Everybody Welcome!
3. Jeff shared music videos from Georgia Satellites, The Who, INXS, INXS again, and The Police!
4. Ryan reviewed The Lonely Grave of Bobby Franks, Cash Grab, and On A Hot Summer Night I Like To Eat My Favorite Cartoon Characters!

More From Us:

1. Ryan has a patreon! Consider subscribing!
2. At SyFy Designs, I shared: I’m Sick of Twitter, Chop Suey, So How Do We Do It?, Room in New York, New York Office, Morning Sun, and Cape Cod Morning!
3. At my music site, I shared songs from: Shakira, Olivia Rodrigo, Santa Esmerelda, Steve Aoki x Linkin Park, Jake Bugg, Joy Division, and Dillon Francis & TV Noise!
4. At my online dream journal, I shared: Last Night’s Trip To Italy Dream, Last Night’s Roadhouse Dream, and Last Night’s Book Dedication Dream!
5. At Pop Politics, Jeff shared: Reagan vs. Biden, Reagan vs. Cuomo, Reagan vs. Glenn, Hart vs. Reagan, Reagan vs Kennedy, Is Yang Too Strange To Be Mayor of New York, and Lori Lightfoot Resigning?
6. At her photography site, Erin shared: Watch Tower, Fountain, I Miss You, Blue Sky, Net, Founders Plaza, and Dallas!

Want to see what I did last week? Click here!