Interactive Fiction Review: Being a Thing (2021, R. Asu)

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

Are you a person or a thing is the question at the heart of this game and finding out is going to take some courage.

At the start of Being A Thing 2, you are standing outside a dark city, unsure of who you are and what you are going to find inside of there. From the start, you have two choices. You can either follow what you feel you’re supposed to do and enter the city or you can turn around and leave and fail. Usually, it’s a bad thing to fail but considering what is waiting for you inside of the city, it might actually be the better option.

Most people playing Being A Thing 2 are going to want to explore. Since it’s a short game, why not take the 10 minutes necessary to discover what is inside of the city instead of turning around and leaving? And once you enter the city, you’ll still have the option to turn and leave. For a while, at least. Stay too long and you might lose that option but you may not have any other choice if you want to determine whether you’re a person or a thing.

This is one of those works of Interactive Fiction that is more of a short story with options instead of being a straight-forward game. Your main decision is how much of the story you want to explore before bringing things to an end by turning around and leaving the city. This really isn’t for people looking for complex puzzles or a huge range of choices to make. But if you’re looking for a well-written piece that actually has something to say about the human (or non-human) condition, Being A Thing 2 might be right up your alley.

Play Being A Thing 2.

Riders of Destiny (1933, directed by Robert N. Bradbury)

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

John Wayne sings!

Well, not really. Wayne does play a cowboy named Singin’ Sandy Saunders in this early, pre-code Western but his voice was dubbed by someone who didn’t sound anything like Wayne. Wayne was only 25 when he starred in Riders of Destiny and this was six years before Stagecoach made him a star but he already had his famous way of speaking.

Riders of Destiny starts off with Singin’ Sandy riding through the west. When he comes across a wounded sheriff and then witnesses a stagecoach being robbed by Ms. Fay Denton (Cecilia Parker), he knows that he’s reached the town of Destiny. The town is under the control of a land developer named Kincaid (Forrest Taylor). Kincaid and his henchmen have been extorting the local citizens and stealing money from Fay and her father (George “Gabby” Hayes). After Singin’ Sandy reveals his skills with a gun, Kincaid offers him a position in his gang and if Sandy accepts, Kincaid will be unstoppable. Before Sandy’s mysterious appearance, the townspeople wrote to Washington to help and Washington has agreed to send down one of their best agents. Could that agent be traveling in disguise as a singing cowboy?

It’s always difficult for me to take a Singing Cowboy film seriously. (That’s especially true after watching Tim Blake Nelson in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.) John Wayne is not an actor who was ever meant to be seen playing a guitar and singing a song, even if his voice was dubbed. But Riders of Destiny is not that bad of a programmer. If you can overlook the singing, the story is surprisingly mature and violent and Forrest Taylor is a good villain as the oily Kincaid. (With Kincaid demanding protection money and gunning down anyone who refuses to play it, he has more in common with the type of gangsters who were appearing in Warner Bros. crime films than with the typical western bad guy.) Cecilia Parker, who would eventually be best known for appearing in the wholesome Andy Hardy films, is sexy as Fay and, because this is a pre-code film, she gets away with robbing a stagecoach. With a running time of barely an hour, the action has to move quickly and there’s no need for any padding. Finally, even this early in his career, John Wayne was a perfect western hero, whether he was on his horse chasing the bad guys or walking down a dusty street, singing a song about how the “streets will run with blood” before drawing his guns.

Wayne would go on to play one more Singing Cowboy, in 1935’s The Lawless Range. Again, his voice was dubbed. He later said that he abandoned the Singing Cowboy genre because the children who saw the films would often approach him and ask him to sing one of the songs and they were always disappointed to learn that he couldn’t actually a sing a note. Of course, in 1939, John Ford would select Wayne to play The Ringo Kid in Stagecoach and Wayne would never have to sing again.

The National Society of Film Critics Honors Drive My Car!

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Every time I start to dismiss the idea of Drive My Car as a possible best picture nominee, it picks up another award for another critics group. Today, it was named best picture of 2021 by the National Society of Film Critics. At this point, I have to say that it’s definitely possible — perhaps even probable — that Drive My Car will be nominated for both Best Picture and Best International FIlm.

Here are the winners and the runner-ups!

Best Picture
Winner: DRIVE MY CAR (48 points)
Runners-up: PETITE MAMAN (25 points) & THE POWER OF THE DOG (23 points)

Best Director
Winner: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR and WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (46 points)
Runners-up: Jane Campion, THE POWER OF THE DOG (36 points) & Céline Sciamma, PETITE MAMAN (28 points)

Best Actress
Winner: Penélope Cruz, PARALLEL MOTHERS (55 points)
Runners-up: Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (42 points) & Alana Haim, LICORICE PIZZA (32 points)

Best Actor
Winner: Hidetoshi Nishijima, DRIVE MY CAR (63 points)
Runners-up: Benedict Cumberbatch, THE POWER OF THE DOG (44 points) & Simon Rex, RED ROCKET (30 points)

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Ruth Negga, PASSING (46 points)
Runners-up: Ariana DeBose, WEST SIDE STORY (22 points) & Jessie Buckley, THE LOST DAUGHTER (21 points)

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Anders Danielsen Lie, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (54 points)
Runners-up: Vincent Lindon, TITANE (33 points), Mike Faist, WEST SIDE STORY & Kodi Smit-McPhee, THE POWER OF THE DOG (26 points)

Best Screenplay
Winner: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, DRIVE MY CAR (46 points)
Runners-up: Pedro Almodóvar, PARALLEL MOTHERS (22 points) & Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA (20 points)

Best Cinematography
Winner: Andrew Droz Palermo, THE GREEN KNIGHT (52 points)
Runners-up: Ari Wegner, THE POWER OF THE DOG (40 points) & Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, MEMORIA (35 points)

Novel Review: The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

First published in 1982, Jeffrey Archer’s The Prodigal Daughter is one of the many paperback novels that I recently inherited from my aunt. It’s 485 pages long but, as I discovered earlier this week, it’s a quick read. I got through it in a day and a half.

It tells the story of Floratyna Rosnovski, the daughter of Abel Rosnovski, a Polish immigrant who worked his way up from poverty and now owns a chain of luxury hotels. Abel is enemies with William Kane, a WASP banker from a wealthy family. Why are Kane and Abel enemies? Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that they have ironic names. Obviously, if your name is Abel, you’re going to mistrust anyone named Kane. Beyond that, The Prodigal Daughter is a sequel to an earlier Archer novel called Kane and Abel. I assume that Kane and Abel goes into more detail about the rivalry between the two men but all that really needs to be known, as far as The Prodigal Daughter is concerned, is that they hate each other.

Unfortunately for Abel, Floratyna grows up to fall in love with Richard Kane, the son of William. Rejected by her father, Floratyna marries Richard and together, they make their own fortune by opening up a chain of stores. Along the way, Floratyna is approached by a childhood friend named Edward. Edward, who is obviously in love with Floratyna, recruits her to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. At first, Floratyna struggles in Washington but soon, she wins the respect of her colleauges and learns to stop being such a leftist. Eventually, she becomes a Senator and starts to look towards the White House. But will a personal tragedy keep Floratyna from becoming the first woman to serve as President?

Reading The Prodigal Daughter, I found myself thinking about how Floratyna Kane lived an almost ludicrously charmed life. Yes, there were some conflicts. When she was a child, a group of her classmates made fun of her for being Polish. She dated one jerk before she ended up with Richard. Her wealthy father hates her husband but he still secretly helps them set up their chain of stores. She deals with one great tragedy but she recovers from it after seeing a group of homeless veterans and realizing that at least she has a place to live. Floratyna is a frustratingly passive character. Her friend Edward finds her a safe congressional district to run in and essentially guides her political career. Her subsequent success as a politician is largely the result of luck and coincidence. The book even ends on a note of deus ex machina. The book’s seems to suggest that the best way for a woman to become president is to passively wait for it to happen. That’s not particularly empowering.

The Prodigal Daughter was written by Jeffrey Archer, a best-selling British author who was also a member of Parliament and who has a reputation for being a bit of a shady and disreputable character. Archer’s prose is simple and rarely sings but, at times, his straight-forward approach to storytelling does pay off. It makes for a quick read. If nothing else, the book would seem to indicate that, early in his writing career, Archer understood that people with money are more fun to read about than people without.

Here Are The 2021 Nominations of the San Diego Film Critics!

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The San Diego Film Critics Society have announced their nominees for the best of 2021! The winners will be announced on January 10th so that gives you a day or two to watch all of the nominees. Have fun!

Best Picture
BELFAST
CODA
DUNE
MASS
THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Director
Kenneth Branagh – BELFAST
Jane Campion – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Guillermo del Toro – NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Maggie Gyllenhaal – THE LOST DAUGHTER
Denis Villeneuve – DUNE

Best Actor
Nicolas Cage – PIG
Benedict Cumberbatch – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Peter Dinklage – CYRANO
Andrew Garfield – TICK, TICK…BOOM!
Jude Hill – BELFAST

Best Actress
Caitriona Balfe – BELFAST
Olivia Colman – THE LOST DAUGHTER
Penelope Cruz – PARALLEL MOTHERS
Emilia Jones – CODA
Kristen Stewart – SPENCER

Best Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck – THE TENDER BAR
Ciaran Hinds – BELFAST
Jason Isaacs – MASS
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Kodi Smit-McPhee – THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett – NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Ariana DeBose – WEST SIDE STORY
Ann Dowd – MASS
Ruth Negga – PASSING
Martha Plimpton – MASS

Best Comedic Performance
Bradley Cooper – LICORICE PIZZA
Leonardo DiCaprio – DON’T LOOK UP
Jamie Dornan – BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR
David Harbour – BLACK WIDOW
Simon Rex – RED ROCKET

Best Youth Performance (Performers under the age of 16)
Mckenna Grace – GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE
Jude Hill – BELFAST
Daniel Ranieri – THE TENDER BAR
Saniyya Sidney – KING RICHARD
Demi Singleton – KING RICHARD

Best Original Screenplay
Pedro Almodovar – PARALLEL MOTHERS
Kenneth Branagh – BELFAST
Fran Kranz – MASS
Adam McKay – DON’T LOOK UP
Michael Sarnoski – PIG

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jane Campion – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Joel Coen – THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Guillermo del Toro, Kim Morgan – NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Rebecca Hall – PASSING
Sian Heder – CODA

Best Documentary
FLEE
MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY
SUMMER OF SOUL
VAL
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

Best Animated Film
ENCANTO
FLEE
LUCA
THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

Best Foreign Language Film
DRIVE MY CAR
I’M YOUR MAN
LAMB
PARALLEL MOTHERS
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Best Editing
Úna Ní Dhonghalle – BELFAST
Paula Huidobro – CODA
Myron Kerstein – IN THE HEIGHTS
Joshua L. Pearson – SUMMER OF SOUL
Joe Walker – DUNE

Best Cinematography
Alice Brooks – IN THE HEIGHTS
Bruno Delbonnel – THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Greig Fraser – DUNE
Dan Laustsen – NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Ari Wegner – THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Production Design
Jim Clay – BELFAST
Tamara Deverell – NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Grant Major – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo – THE FRENCH DISPATCH
Patrice Vermette, Richard Roberts, Zsuzsanna Sipos – DUNE

Best Visual Effects
DUNE
THE GREEN KNIGHT
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Best Costumes
Jenny Beavan – CRUELLA
Odile Dicks-Mireaux – LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
Antionette Messam, THE HARDER THEY FALL
Jacqueline West, Bob Morgan – DUNE
Janty Yates – HOUSE OF GUCCI

Best Sound Design
Malte Bieler, Brandon Jones – A QUIET PLACE PART II
Simon Chase, James Mather – BELFAST
Theo Green, Dave Whitehead – DUNE
Nathan Robitaille – NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Dave Whitehead – THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Use of Music
BELFAST
CRUELLA
IN THE HEIGHTS
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
WEST SIDE STORY

Breakthrough Artist
Alana Haim – LICORICE PIZZA
Jude Hill, BELFAST
Emilia Jones – CODA
Fran Kranz – MASS
Anthony Ramos – IN THE HEIGHTS

Best Ensemble
DON’T LOOK UP
DUNE
THE HARDER THEY FALL
IN THE HEIGHTS
MASS

Great Moments In Television History #11: Elvis Sings With Sinatra

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

The fourth episode of The Frank Sinatra Timex Show was officially called It’s Nice To Go Trav’ling but it’s unofficial name was Welcome Home Elvis. That’s because this special, which aired on May 12th, 1960, also marked Elvis Presley’s first appearance on television after his release from the U.S. Army.

It was a 30-minute special, sponsored by Timex. Elvis only appeared in 8 of those minutes. The rest of the show’s running time was made up of Frank Sinatra hanging out with his Rat Pack pals. Still, in those 8 minutes, Elvis performed with Sinatra and television history was made. (Elvis even wore a tuxedo for the occasion, so he would fit in with Frank and the pack.) This special was the highest rating program of the week and it proved that being away in Germany hadn’t diminished Elvis’s popularity one bit.

Elvis, who was born 87 years ago on this day, would later go on to star with Nancy Sinatra in 1968’s Speedway.

Previous Great Moments In Television History:

Blast From The Past: The Outsider (dir by Arthur Wolf)

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The year was 1951 and Susie Jane was struggling to fit in at school. While everyone else was planning dances and hanging out at the malt shop, Susie was standing off to the side, quietly. Why was Susie Jane such an outsider? Was it the fault of her peers or was it her fault for being such a nonconformist?

This educational short, from Young American Films, puts most of the blame on Susie. Yes, the film suggests, her classmates could have made more of an effort to include her. But Susie also should have made more of an effort to fit in and she shouldn’t have been so quick to assume that everyone was against her. Susie might think that Marcy is only calling the house to taunt her but Marcy is actually calling because she feels guilty and obligated.

The short film may feel like one of the films that Herk Harvey made before directing Carnival of Souls but this film was actually directed by Arthur Wolf. The narrator, I have to say, is a bit of a jerk and spends the entire film talking down to Susie. Susie’s having a hard enough time without having to put up with all of that! That said, the film also takes a very 1950s approach to the issue of fitting in. Susie’s an outside because she’s shy. No consider is paid to the idea that maybe Susie just isn’t interested in doing the same thins as everyone else.

From 1951, here is The Outsider.

Here Are The 2021 Nominations of the Georgia Film Critics Association!

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the 2021 nominations of the Georgia Film Critics Association! They’re not quite as much fun as the nominations for Hawaii. Sorry, everyone.

However, like the critics in Hawaii, the Georgia critics will be announcing their winners on January 14th!

Best Picture
BELFAST
CODA
DUNE
FLEE
THE GREEN KNIGHT
LICORICE PIZZA
THE POWER OF THE DOG
TICK, TICK… BOOM!
WEST SIDE STORY
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Best Director
DUNE – Denis Villeneuve
THE GREEN KNIGHT – David Lowery
LICORICE PIZZA – Paul Thomas Anderson
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jane Campion
WEST SIDE STORY – Steven Spielberg

Best Actor
Nicolas Cage – PIG
Benedict Cumberbatch – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Peter Dinklage – CYRANO
Andrew Garfield – TICK, TICK… BOOM!
Will Smith – KING RICHARD

Best Actress
Lady Gaga – HOUSE OF GUCCI
Alana Haim – LICORICE PIZZA
Agathe Rousselle – TITANE
Kristen Stewart – SPENCER
Rachel Zegler – WEST SIDE STORY

Best Supporting Actor
Bradley Cooper – LICORICE PIZZA
Colman Domingo – ZOLA
Ciarán Hinds – BELFAST
Jason Isaacs – MASS
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Kodi Smit-McPhee – THE POWER OF THE DOG

Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose – WEST SIDE STORY
Ann Dowd – MASS
Kirsten Dunst – THE POWER OF THE DOG
Kathryn Hunter – THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Ruth Negga – PASSING

Best Original Screenplay
BEING THE RICARDOS – Aaron Sorkin
BELFAST – Kenneth Branagh
LICORICE PIZZA – Paul Thomas Anderson
MASS – Fran Kranz
TITANE – Julia Ducournau

Best Adapted Screenplay
CODA – Sian Heder
DRIVE MY CAR – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
THE GREEN KNIGHT – David Lowery
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jane Campion
WEST SIDE STORY – Tony Kushner

Best Cinematography
DUNE
THE GREEN KNIGHT
THE POWER OF THE DOG
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
WEST SIDE STORY

Best Production Design
DUNE
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
THE GREEN KNIGHT
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Best Original Score
DUNE – Hans Zimmer
ENCANTO – Germaine Franco
THE HARDER THEY FALL – Jeymes Samuel
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jonny Greenwood
SPENCER – Jonny Greenwood

Best Original Song
“Dos Orugitas” from ENCANTO
“Guns Go Bang” from THE HARDER THEY FALL
“Just Look Up” from DON’T LOOK UP
“No Time to Die” from NO TIME TO DIE
“So May We Start” from ANNETTE

Best Ensemble
CODA
DUNE
LICORICE PIZZA
MASS
THE POWER OF THE DOG

Breakthrough Award
Alana Haim – LICORICE PIZZA
Jude Hill – BELFAST
Cooper Hoffman – LICORICE PIZZA
Emilia Jones – CODA
Agathe Rousselle – TITANE
Rachel Zegler –

Best Foreign Language Film
DRIVE MY CAR
FLEE
THE HAND OF GOD
PETITE MAMAN
TITANE
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Best Animated Film
ENCANTO
FLEE
LUCA
THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

Best Documentary Film
THE FIRST WAVE
FLEE
THE RESCUE
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
VAL

Oglethorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema
ANGIE (short)
BLACK WIDOW
CLEAN SLATE
CONGRATULATIONS (short)
COPSHOP
A FIRE WITHIN
RED NOTICE
RESPECT
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
THE SUICIDE SQUAD

Here Are The 2021 Nominees of the Hawaii Film Critics Society!

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, the Hawaii Film Critics Society announced their nominations for the best of 2021! The neat thing about the Hawaii Film Critics is that they also give out awards for the Best Horror Film, the Best Sci-Fi Film, and the Worst Films of 2021! So, if you like lists, you’ll like our friends in Hawaii.

The winners will be announced on January 14th. Here are the nominees!

BEST PICTURE
Belfast
CODA
Last Night in Soho
Mass
The Power of the Dog

BEST DIRECTOR
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Destin Daniel Cretton – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Guillermo Del Toro – Nightmare Alley
Sian Heder – CODA

BEST ACTOR
Nicolas Cage – Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Peter Dinklage – Cyrano
Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick…Boom!
Will Smith – King Richard

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Emilia Jones – CODA
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Thomasin McKenzie – Last Night in Soho
Kristen Stewart – Spencer

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jamie Dornan – Belfast
Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Jared Leto – House of Gucci
Kodhi Smit- McPhee – The Power of the Dog

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Caitriona Balfe – Belfast
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
Marlee Matlin – CODA

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Last Night in Soho
Pig

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth

BEST ART DIRECTION
Belfast
Dune
The Green Knight
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Dune
House of Gucci
Last Night in Soho
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune
Belfast
Last Night in Soho
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog

BEST EDITING
Belfast
Dune
Last Night in Soho
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Encanto
Luca
The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Sing 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room
Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Bunny
The First Wave
Summer of Soul
Val

BEST MAKE-UP
Cruella
Cyrano
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci

BEST SOUND
Dune
Last Night in Soho
A Quiet Place Part II
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Encanto
The Harder They Fall
The Power of the Dog

BEST SONG
“Down to Joy” – Belfast
“Beyond the Shore” – CODA
“Just Look Up” – Don’t Look Up
“Be Alive” – King Richard
“No Time to Die” – No Time to Die

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home

BEST STUNT WORK
Black Widow
Nobody
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home

BEST NEW FILMMAKER
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Fran Kranz – Mass
Lin Manuel Miranda – Tick, Tick…Boom!
Michael Sarnoski – Pig

BEST FIRST FILM
Mass
The Novice
Passing
Pig
Tick, Tick…Boom!

BEST OVERLOOKED FILM
The Card Counter
CODA
Last Night in Soho
Malignant
The Night House

BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE:
Olivia Colman – The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Thomas Hayden Church – Spider-Man: No Way Home
John Leguizamo – Encanto
Kelly Marie Tran – Raya and the Last Dragon
Danny McBride – The Mitchells vs. The Machines

BEST HORROR FILM
Antlers
Candyman
Last Night in Soho
Malignant
A Quiet Place Part II

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE
Black Widow
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Suicide Squad
Zack Snyder’s Justice League

BEST SCI-FI FILM
Dune
Free Guy
The Matrix Resurrections
A Quiet Place Part II
Reminiscence

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Benedetta (France)
Drive My Car (Japan)
The Hand of God (Italy)
Lamb (Iceland)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

BEST HAWAIIAN FILM
Finding Ohana (Oahu)
I Was a Simple Man (dir. Christopher Makoto Yogi) (Oahu)
Ka Ho’i The Return (dir. Mitchel Viernes) (Oahu)
Waterman (dir. Isaac Halisima) (Oahu)
Our Makawao (dir. Robert Stone, Matt Yamashita) (Maui)

WORST FILM OF 2021
Coming 2 America
Don’t Breathe 2
The Matrix Resurrections
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Scene That I Love: David Bowie Performs For Christane F.

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday. Though it’s been six years since David Bowie passed, he remains an iconic cultural force. He is missed, as both a musician and an actor.

In honor of the man’s birthday and his legacy as a performer, today’s scene that I love is from the 1981 German film, Christiane F. Directed by Uli Edel and based on a true story, Christiane F. is the story of a 13 year-old drug addict. It’s a powerful film, though perhaps not one to watch if you’re dealing with any sort of severe depression. David Bowie both composed the film’s soundtrack and appeared in the film himself.

Here, he performs Station to Station while Christiane F. watches. The scene perfectly captures not only Christiane F.’s fascination with Bowie but also Bowie’s charisma as a performer. The scene was shot an actual concert that David Bowie performed in Berlin, though the shots of Christiane F. and her friends watching were filmed separately.