Daily Archives: December 13, 2022

Here Are The 2022 Nominations of the Chicago Film Critics Association!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, the Chicago Film Critics Association announced their nominees for the best of 2022!  The winners will be announced tomorrow so you’ve got about 12 hours to see all of these.  Get to it!

BEST PICTURE
Aftersun
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All At Once
TÁR

BEST DIRECTOR
Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Todd Field, TÁR
Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
S.S. Rajamouli, RRR

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, TÁR
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Mia Goth, Pearl
Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR
Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees Of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees Of Inisherin
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Janelle Monae, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees Of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees Of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Mark Rylance, Bones and All

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Mad God
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Turning Red

BEST DOCUMENTARY
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Bad Axe
Descendant
Fire of Love
Moonage Daydream

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Bardo, False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths
Close
Decision to Leave
Happening
RRR
Saint Omer

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
After Yang by Kogonada
Bones and All by David Kajganich
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery by Rian Johnson
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro & Patrick McHale
Women Talking by Sarah Polley

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Aftersun by Charlotte Wells
The Banshees Of Inisherin by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All At Once by The Daniels
The Fabelmans by Tony Kushner & Steven Spielberg
TÁR by Todd Field

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Babylon, Linus Sandgren
Bardo, False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths, Darius Khondji
Decision to Leave, Kim Ji-Yong
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Larkin Seiple
Top Gun: Maverick, Claudio Miranda

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Babylon, Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees Of Inisherin, Carter Burwell
The Batman, Michael Giacchino
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Alexandre Desplat
RRR, M.M. Kreem

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
After Yang
Avatar: The Way Of The Water
Babylon
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Babylon, Mary Zophres
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ruth E. Carter
Corsage, Monika Buttinger
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Shirley Kurata
The Northman, Linda Muir

BEST EDITING
Aftersun, Blair McClendon
Babylon, Tom Cross
Decision to Leave, Kim Sang-beom
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Paul Rogers
TÁR, Monika Willi

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: The Way Of The Water
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Nope
RRR
Top Gun: Maverick

MILOS STEHLIK AWARD FOR BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER
Alice Diop, Saint Omer
Audrey Diwan, Happening
John Patton Ford, Emily the Criminal
Jane Schoenbrun, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Austin Butler, Elvis
Frankie Corio, Aftersun
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Amber Midthunder, Prey

Here Are The 2022 Phoenix Critics Circle Nominations!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, the Phoenix Critics Circle announced their nominees for the best of 2022!  

And here they are:

BEST PICTURE
AFTERSUN
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
THE FABELMANS
TAR

BEST COMEDY FILM
BROS
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
JACKASS FOREVER
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILM
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
NOPE
PREY

BEST HORROR FILM
BARBARIAN
BONES AND ALL
PEARL
SMILE
X

BEST ANIMATED FILM
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
LIGHTYEAR
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
TURNING RED
WENDELL & WILD

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
CLOSE
DECISION TO LEAVE
EO
RRR

BEST DOCUMENTARY
FIRE OF LOVE
GOOD NIGHT OPPY
LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK AND BLUES
MOONAGE DAYDREAM
WILDCAT

BEST ACTOR
AUSTIN BUTLER, ELVIS
ADAM DRIVER, WHITE NOISE
COLIN FARRELL, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BRENDAN FRASER, THE WHALE
GABRIEL LABELLE, THE FABELMANS

BEST ACTRESS
CATE BLANCHETT, TAR
VIOLA DAVIS, THE WOMAN KING
ANA DE ARMAS, BLONDE
DANIELL DEADWYLER, TILL
MICHELLE WILLIAMS, THE FABELMANS
MICHELLE YEOH, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
PAUL DANO, THE FABELMANS
BRENDAN GLEESON, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BARRY KEOGHAN, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
KE HUY QUAN, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
MARK RYLANCE, BONES AND ALL

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
HONG CHAU, THE WHALE
KERRY CONDON, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
JAMIE LEE CURTIS, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
JANELLE MONAE, GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
KEKE PALMER, NOPE

BEST DIRECTOR
TODD FIELD, TAR
DANIEL KWAN AND DANIEL SCHEINERT, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
MARTIN MCDONAGH, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
SS RAJAMOULI, RRR
STEVEN SPIELBERG, THE FABELMANS

BEST SCREENPLAY
TODD FIELD, TAR
DANIEL KWAN AND DANIEL SCHEINERT, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
MARTIN MCDONAGH, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
RUBEN OSTLUND, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
JORDAN PEELE, NOPE
CHARLOTTE WELLS, AFTERSUN

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
JANUSZ KAMINSKI, THE FABELMANS
KK SENTHIL KUMAR, RRR
CLAUDIO MIRANDA, TOP GUN: MAVERICK
LINUS SANDGREN, BABYLON
HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA, NOPE

BEST SCORE
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
MICHAEL GIACCHINO, THE BATMAN
JUSTIN HURWITZ, BABYLON
JOHN WILLIAMS, THE FABELMANS

The winners will be announced on December 15th, hopefully via a press release written by someone who knows how to turn off the caps lock.

The Indiana Film Journalists Association Nominates Everything That Was Released in 2022!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, maybe the headline is a bit hyperbolic.  That said, the Indiana Film Journalists Association did announce their 2022 nominations today and there are quite a few of them.  Personally, I like that approach.  Why limit yourself to ten when you can nominate 20 or 30?  Why ignore a good film just because it was the 11th best film of the year as opposed to being the 10th?

(That said, what the Hell is Halloween Ends doing on the list?)

The winners will be announced on December 19th!  Here are the nominees:

BEST FILM
After Yang
Aftersun
All Quiet on the Western Front
Ambulance
The Banshees of Inisherin
The Batman
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Halloween Ends
Happening
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
The Northman
RRR
TÁR
Till
Top Gun: Maverick
The Whale
Women Talking

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All Quiet on the Western Front
Broker
Decision to Leave
EO
Happening
Hit the Road
RRR
You Won’t Be Alone

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood
The Bad Guys
The House
Mad God
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Turning Red
Wendell & Wild

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Aftershock
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Bad Axe
Chop & Steele
Fire of Love
I Didn’t See You There
Navalny

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alex Garland – Men
Todd Field – TÁR
John Patton Ford – Emily the Criminal
Jeong Seo-kyong and Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave
Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch – On the Count of Three
Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Cooper Raiff – Cha Cha Real Smooth
Seth Reiss (screenplay) and Will Tracy (screenplay / story) – The Menu
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner – The Fabelmans
Ti West – X

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Noah Baumbach – White Noise
Dean Fleischer Camp (screenplay / story), Jenny Slate (screenplay / story), Nick Paley (screenplay / story), and Elisabeth Holm (story) – Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Samuel D. Hunter – The Whale
Rian Johnson – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
David Kajganich – Bones and All
Kogonada – After Yang
Sarah Polley – Women Talking
Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp and Chinonye Chukwu – Till
Marcia Romano and Audrey Diwan – Happening
Sjón and Robert Eggers – The Northman

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky – The Whale
Michael Bay – Ambulance
Dean Fleischer Camp – Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Audrey Diwan – Happening
Robert Eggers – The Northman
Todd Field – TÁR
Alex Garland – Men
Rian Johnson – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Kogonada – After Yang
Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave
Jordan Peele – Nope
Sarah Polley – Women Talking
Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Woman King
S.S. Rajamouli – RRR
Matt Reeves – The Batman
Steven Soderbergh – KIMI
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Charlotte Wells – Aftersun
Ti West – X

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Cate Blanchett – TÁR
John Boyega – Breaking
Jessie Buckley – Men
Austin Butler – Elvis
Daniel Craig – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Tom Cruise – Top Gun: Maverick
Viola Davis – The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler – Till
Colin Farrell – After Yang
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Mia Goth – Pearl
Mia Goth – X
Jake Gyllenhaal – Ambulance
Rebecca Hall – Resurrection
Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram
Rory Kinnear – Men
Zoë Kravitz – KIMI
Paul Mescal – Aftersun
Aubrey Plaza – Emily the Criminal
Florence Pugh – The Wonder
N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. – RRR
Adam Sandler – Hustle
Alexander Skarsgård – The Northman
Ram Charan Teja – RRR
Anamaria Vartolomei – Happening
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Christopher Abbott – On the Count of Three
Jessie Buckley – Women Talking
Hong Chau – The Whale
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
Frankie Corio – Aftersun
Essie Davis – Nitram
Judy Davis – Nitram
Colin Farrell – The Batman
Ralph Fiennes – The Menu
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Dakota Johnson – Cha Cha Real Smooth
Nicole Kidman – The Northman
Lashana Lynch – The Woman King
Thuso Mbedu – The Woman King
Janelle Monáe – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Justin H. Min – After Yang
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Tim Roth – Resurrection
Sadie Sink – The Whale
David Howard Thornton – Terrifier 2
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans

BEST VOCAL / MOTION-CAPTURE PERFORMANCE
Richard Ayoade – The Bad Guys
David Bradley – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Rosalie Chiang – Turning Red
James Hong – Wendell & Wild
Marc Maron – The Bad Guys
Isabella Rossellini – Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
J.K. Simmons – Glorious
Jenny Slate – Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Christoph Waltz – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING
After Yang
Broker
The Duke
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Flux Gourmet
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Hit the Road
The Northman
Soft & Quiet
What We Do Next
The Woman King
Women Talking

BEST MUSICAL SCORE
Michael Abels – Nope
Lorne Balfe – Ambulance
Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury – Men
Volker Bertelmann – All Quiet on the Western Front
Terence Blanchard – The Woman King
Carter Burwell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough – The Northman
Dan Deacon – Hustle
Disasterpeace – Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Danny Elfman – White Noise
Michael Giacchino – The Batman
Ludwig Göransson – Turning Red
Hildur Guðnadóttir – Women Talking
Jo Yeong-wook – Decision to Leave
Nathan Johnson – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
M.M. Keeravani – RRR
Cliff Martinez – KIMI
Aska Matsumiya and Ryuichi Sakamoto – After Yang
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Bones and All
Rob Simonsen – The Whale
Son Lux – Everything Everywhere All At Once
John Williams – The Fabelmans

BEST EDITING
Doug Brandt, Pietro Scalia and Calvin Wimmer – Ambulance
Tom Costain, Brian Robinson and Keiko Deguchi – Hustle
Louise Ford – The Northman
Eddie Hamilton – Top Gun: Maverick
Michael Kahn and Sarah Broshar – The Fabelmans
Kim Sang-bum – Decision to Leave
Kogonada – After Yang
Blair McClendon – Aftersun
Joe Murphy – Barbarian
Akkineni Sreekar Prasad – RRR
Paul Rogers – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Steven Soderbergh – KIMI
Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond – Elvis
Monika Willi – TÁR

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jarin Blaschke – The Northman
Matias Boucard – Athena
Russell Carpenter – Avatar: The Way of Water
Roberto De Angelis – Ambulance
Michal Dymek – EO
Greig Fraser – The Batman
James Friend – All Quiet on the Western Front
Rob Hardy – Men
Florian Hoffmeister – TÁR
Janusz Kaminski – The Fabelmans
Arseni Khatchaturan – Bones and All
Kim Ji-yong – Decision to Leave
KK Senthil Kumar – RRR
Matthew Libatique – Don’t Worry Darling
Benjamin Loeb – After Yang
Claudio Miranda – Top Gun: Maverick
Larkin Seiple – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Laurent Tangy – Happening
Hoyte Van Hoytema – Nope
Mandy Walker – Elvis

BEST STUNT / MOVEMENT CHOREOGRAPHY
Robert Alonzo (supervising stunt coordinator) and Daniel Arrias (fight co-coordinator / trainer) – The Batman
Jón Viðar Arnþórsson (stunt coordinator) and C.C. Smiff (stunt coordinator) – The Northman
Vicky Arora (action design and weapons trainer / stunt coordinator) and Raicho Vasilev (fight choreographer / stunt coordinator), and Prem Rakshith (dance choreographer) – RRR
Timothy Eulich (stunt coordinator), Andy Le (fight choreographer) and Brian Le (fight choreographer) – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Mike Gunther (stunt coordinator) – Ambulance
Daniel Hernandez (stunt coordinator / fight coordinator), Grant Powell (stunt coordinator), and Jénel Stevens (fight choreographer) – The Woman King
Kevin LaRosa, Jr. (aerial coordinator) and Casey O’Neill (stunt coordinator) – Top Gun: Maverick
Steven McMichael (stunt coordinator) – Prey
David Neumann (movement / dance choreographer) – White Noise
Celia Rowlson-Hall (dance choreographer) – After Yang

BREAKOUT OF THE YEAR
Hanna Bergholm (director) – Hatching
Jerrod Carmichael (director / performer) – On the Count of Three
Frankie Corio (performer) – Aftersun
Beth de Araújo (writer-director) – Soft & Quiet
Mariama Diallo (writer-director) – Master
Audrey Diwan (director / co-writer) – Happening
John Patton Ford (writer-director) – Emily the Criminal
Amber Midthunder (performer) – Prey
Nick Richey (writer-director) – 1-800-HOT-NITE
Jane Schoenbrun (writer-director) – We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Domee Shi (director / co-writer) – Turning Red
Charlotte Wells (writer-director) – Aftersun
Dallas Dupree Young (performer) – 1-800-HOT-NITE

ORIGINAL VISION
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Flux Gourmet
Glorious
The House
Mad God
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
The Northman
Strawberry Mansion
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

Retro Television Reviews: Fantasy Island 1.14 “Call Me Lucky/Torch Song”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1986.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

This week, the first season of Fantasy Island comes to a close!

Episode 1.14 “Call Me Lucky/Torch Song”

(Dir by Cliff Bole, originally aired on May 20th, 1978)

As always, this week’s episode of Fantasy Island brings us a collection of guest stars who have all flown to the island to have their fantasies granted.  However, none of these fantasies are quite as interesting as the rather bizarre relationship of Mr. Roarke and Tattoo.

I’ve often commented on the fact that, during the first season of this show, Mr. Roarke and Tattoo seemed to harbor a strong dislike for each other.  Tattoo was always complaining that Mr. Roarke wasn’t charging enough for the fantasies.  Mr. Roarke often chastised Tattoo for his attempts to hit on the guests.  Even though they were supposed to be good friends and business partners, nearly every episode seemed to end with Mr. Roarke getting rather exasperated with Tattoo.  Reportedly, Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize did not get along off-screen and, as I’ve said before, it often seems like that dislike bled into their performances on the show.

This episode begins with Tattoo smoking a pipe and wearing a monocle.  As he explains to Mr. Roarke, he’s trying to be appear sophisticated so he can “get all the broads.”  He also says that he’s specifically trying to act like Mr. Roarke.  Now, I know enough about passive-aggressive behavior that I immediately realized that Tattoo’s compliment was basically his way of accusing Mr. Roarke of being a pompous jackass.  Mr. Roarke obviously figured it out as well because, a few scenes later, he takes a twenty dollar bill away from Tattoo and gives it to a guest on the island.  When Tattoo objects, Mr. Roarke suavely replies, “Finders keepers, losers weepers.”  At the end of the episode, when Tattoo gets his twenty back, Roarke promptly snatches it away from him.  It’s hard not to notice that, even with two fantasies to keep an eye on, Mr. Roarke’s main concern seems to be making sure that Tattoo doesn’t get anything that he wants.

As for the fantasies, the first one deals with Harry Beamish (Richard Dawson), a degenerate gambler who has lost his family due to his need to make bets and risk his cash.  Harry’s fantasy to be the luckiest guy in the world and, for a day or so, he is.  Every bet that he makes pays off.  Tattoo even starts to follow Harry around at the race track so that he can too can make money.  (Fantasy Island has a racetrack?)  But then Harry’s ten year-old son, Joey (Brad Savage), shows up.  It turns out that Joey’s fantasy is for his father and his mother to get back together.  (Mr, Roarke mentions that he only charged Joey $5 for the fantasy so Tattoo does have a point about Roarke not charging enough.)  When Harry realizes that Joey idolizes him and is planning on following in his footsteps, Harry realizes that it’s time to stop gambling and be a father.  Awwwwww!

The other fantasy deals with Edith Garvey (Kathryn Holcomb), whose fantasy is to go back to the 20s and become a torch singer.  Under the name of Kitty Abilene, she finds a good deal of success.  She also falls in love with her piano player, Neil (Edd Byrnes).  Unfortunately, two rival gangsters go to war over who owns her contract.  Edith’s fantasy ends at the exact moment that the local speakeasy is attacked by crime boss Big Al.  Fortunately, it turns out that Neil is also a guest on the island and that he was having a fantasy of his own.  Edith and Neil leave the island together.  Awwwwww!

The fantasies weren’t bad and, being the 20s loving history nerd that I am, I enjoyed the gangster action.  But, ultimately, it was the passive aggressive hostility between Mr. Roarke and Tattoo that made this episode memorable.  The first season ended with Roarke rolling his eyes at Tattoo.  Will their relationship improve during the second season?  We’ll find out next week!

Music Video of the Day: A Real Indication by Thought Gang (1992, dir by David Lynch)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Thought Gang was a musical collaboration between David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti.  This video was directed by David Lynch and it starts none other than Angelo Badalamenti himself!

Enjoy!