Monthly Archives: December 2022

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Zoolander!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

 

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et and weather-permitting, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  The movie? 2001’s Zoolander!

It may be freezing outside but #FridayNightFlix will be keeping things hot with Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Will Ferrell!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

Zoolander is available on Prime and Paramount!  See you there!

Holiday Spirit: A Mom For Christmas (dir by George T. Miller)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 1990 made-for-TV movie, a little girl wishes for a mom for Christmas.  So, of course, a mannequin played by Olivia Newton-John comes to life and serves as her mother.  The only catch is that she goes back to being a mannequin on Christmas Eve!  Can Olivia’s new family find a way to make her into a real person or will she go be forced to back to decorating a department store as soon as the holidays end?

Watch to find out!

Here Are The 2022 Nominations of the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Greater Western New York Film Critics Association have announced their nominees for the best of 2022!

And here they are:

BEST PICTURE
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
The Batman
Decision to Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Nope
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Athena (France)
Decision to Leave (South Korea)
EO (Poland)
Happening (France)
RRR (India)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Good Night Oppy
Moonage Daydream
Sr.

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Apollo 101⁄2: A Space Age Childhood
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red

BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Field, Tár
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

LEAD ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Mia Goth, Pearl
Margot Robbie, Babylon
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Keke Palmer, Nope

LEAD ACTOR
Austin Butler, Elvis
Diego Calva, Babylon
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Paul Mescal, Aftersun

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Todd Field, Tár
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Park Chan-wook & Jeong Seo-kyeong, Decision to Leave
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro & Patrick McHale / Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins (story), Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale
Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
David Kajganich, Bones and All
Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews, Women Talking

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Davis, The Banshees of Inisherin
Florian Hoffmeister, Tár
Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick
Linus Sandgren, Babylon
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Nope

BEST EDITING
Tom Cross, Babylon
Eddie Hamilton, Top Gun: Maverick
Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Matt Villa & Jonathan Redmond, Elvis
Monika Willi, Tár

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Vanessa Burghardt, Cha Cha Real Smooth
Austin Butler, Elvis
Frankie Corio, Aftersun
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR
Audrey Diwan, Happening
Damien Leone, Terrifier 2
Lila Neugebauer, Causeway
Chloe Okuno, Watcher
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

The winner will be announced on December 30th!

Retro Television Reviews: City Guys 3.7 “Ebony & Ivory” and 3.8 “Reluctant Hero”

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 Thursdays, I will be reviewing City Guys, which ran on NBC from 1997 to 2001.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

Last week’s episodes of City Guys were actually pretty good.  Let’s see if it continues this week!

Episode 3.7 “Ebony & Ivory”

(dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 9th, 1999)

Jamal’s dating a white girl!  Kristen Jones (Amy Leland) is the daughter of a deputy mayor who pretends to be all progressive about race but who is actually a racist who doesn’t want Kristen dating a black guy.  But Jamal has asked Kristen to the latest school dance.  Chris agrees to pretend to be Kristen’s date but, when Kristen leaves her purse at the house, her father comes to the dance and catches Chris making out with his actual date, Sarah (Natalie Austin).  Racist old Mr. Jones makes a big deal about the world not being ready for interracial relationships.  Ms. Nobel and the students tell him off.

This episode had a good message but it was somewhat sabotaged by the fact that Kristen appeared to be in her early 30s and seemed to be too old to be dating anyone in high school, regardless of what race they may be.  As well, the actress playing Kristen delivered her lines in a somewhat creepy monotone.  For that matter, so did the actor playing her father and the actress playing Chris’s date.  All of the guest actors were so stiff and unconvincing in their performances that this episode took on an odd Twilight Zone sort of feel.  I found myself wondering if maybe Manny High had been transported to planet full of androids.

Interestingly enough, Chris spent the previous episode talking about how much he loved Cassidy but, even after it was revealed that she still didn’t have a date, Chris never asked her to the dance.  Instead, Cassidy discovered the L-Train also didn’t have a date so she agreed to go with him.  Dawn and Al, meanwhile, also discovered that neither one of them could get a date so they went together.  It fit into the show’s message about interracial relationships and that’s a good thing but, at the same time, it also felt a bit forced.  L-Train is the president of the student body and apparently a pretty popular guy.  Cassidy usually has a new boyfriend every week.  Since when have any of these characters ever had difficulty getting a date? 

Episode 3.8 “Reluctant Hero”

(dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 9th, 1999)

In order to combat crime, Ms. Nobel decides to appoint L-Train, Al, Dawn, and Cassidy as hall monitors.  L-Train and Al end up taking bribes in the form of brownies and Philly cheesesteaks.  Whatever.  It’s stupid.  Let’s move on to the main story.

Along with turning her students into narcs, Ms. Nobel also decides that the school needs a self-defense class.  Coming in to teach the class is Yvonne and …. OH MY GOD!  It’s Lorena from California Dreams!  That’s right, Diana Uribe plays Yvonne and naturally, both Chris and Jamal fall for her.  (“She’s got a black belt in hot!” Chris exclaims.)  Yvonne agrees to go on a date with Jamal but — uh oh! — Jamal’s been grounded.  Jamal goes on the date anyway and, afterwards, he sees a man being mugged.  Using his self-defense training, Jamal knocks the mugger out.  But — oh no! — now his dad will know that he went  out when he was grounded.  Jamal convinces Chris to take credit for knocking out the mugger.

Chris is declared to be a hero.  Jamal gets jealous, especially after the Mayor — THE MAYOR! — shows up at the diner to give Chris an award.  (No one asks the mayor anything about the deputy mayor who is opposed to interracial relationships.)  Jamal gets upset when Chris accepts the award but honestly, I have no sympathy for Jamal.  Jamal’s the one who told Chris to take credit for knocking out the mugger.  Anyway, after Chris has an attack of conscience and declines to accept the award, Jamal confesses that he disobeyed his father.  While he does so, everyone in the diner watches him.  I can only imagine how awkward it would be to witness something like that in real life.

This episode made me yell a lot because it was pretty stupid but, on the plus side, Lorena was always the California Dreams character to whom I most related so it was good to see Diana Uribe beating up the cast of City Guys.  They should have made her a regular.

The Black Film Critics Circle Honors The Woman King

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Black Film Critics Circle has announced their picks for the best of 2022!  And here they are:

Best Film: The Woman King
Best Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Woman King
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Best Actress: Danielle Deadwyler – Till
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best Original Screenplay: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Adapted Screenplay: (Tie) The Whale and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best Cinematography: Top Gun: Maverick
Best Documentary: Fire of Love
Best Animated: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best Foreign Film: RRR
Best Ensemble: The Woman King

BFCC Signature Awards:

PIONEER – Viola Davis

This year’s BFCC Pioneer Award is given to Viola Davis who, to quote BFCC Member K.A. GRANT (KAGrant.com), “The Woman King was truly a labor of love for her as a producer and as an actress. Not only did she work tirelessly to bring this story to life, but she changed her physical appearance to be combat ready for the film. Her contribution is immeasurable in what she has done for black women on the big screen. Her passion, and dedication to her craft embodies the very essence of the word Pioneer.”

RISING STAR – Adamma ebo

This year’s BFCC Rising star Award for producing, writing, directing, goes to – Adamma Ebo for her feature-length directorial debut for “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul” to quote BFCC Member Harrison Martin,

(FLIXFROG), “A truly outstanding film that is well-written, acted, and directed. This is a great example of improving on a short film while keeping the same message.”

SPECIAL MENTION – Nikyatu Jusu

Special Mention this year goes to Nikyatu Jusu, for her horror film “Nanny” which was the first horror film to win Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize, is a deeply personal look at the American immigrant experience through the eyes of its lead character Immigrant nanny Aisha.

BLACK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE TOP TEN FILMS OF 2022
1. The Woman King
2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
3. Top Gun: Maverick
4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
5. RRR
6. Nope
7. Avatar: The Way of Water
8. Women Talking
9. Till
10. The Batman

The Florida Film Critics Circle Honors Everything!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Florida Film Critics Circle has announced its picks for best of 2022!

And here they are:

Best Picture
Aftersun
Decision to Leave (RUNNER UP)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER)
Tár
The Fabelmans

Best Actor
Austin Butler – Elvis
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin (WINNER)
Brendan Fraser – The Whale (RUNNER UP TIE)
Park Hae-il – Decision to Leave (RUNNER UP TIE)
Paul Mescal – Aftersun

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – Tár (WINNER)
Danielle Deadwyler – Till
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Tang Wei – Decision to Leave (RUNNER UP)
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actor
Paul Dano – The Fabelmans (RUNNER UP)
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER)

Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley – Women Talking (WINNER TIE)
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Nina Hoss – Tár (WINNER TIE)
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Ensemble
Babylon (RUNNER UP)
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER)
The Fabelmans

Best Director
Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave (WINNER)
Todd Field – Tár
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans (RUNNER UP)
Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

Best Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh (RUNNER UP TIE)
Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-Gyeong (WINNER)
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (RUNNER UP TIE)
The Fabelmans – Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
Tár – Todd Field

Best Adapted Screenplay
Three Thousand Years of Longing – George Miller, Augusta Gore (RUNNER UP TIE)
Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Gris Grimly, Patrick Hale
She Said – Rebecca Lenkiewicz (RUNNER UP TIE)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rian Johnson
Women Talking – Sarah Polley (WINNER)

Best Cinematography
Decision to Leave – Kim Ji-yong (WINNER)
Empire of Light – Roger Deakins
The Fabelmans – Janusz Kamiński
Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda (RUNNER UP)

Best Visual Effects
Avatar: The Way of Water (WINNER)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Nope (RUNNER UP)
Top Gun: Maverick

Best Art Direction/Production Design
Babylon (WINNER)
Crimes of the Future (RUNNER UP)
Elvis
RRR

Best Score
Babylon – Justin Hurwitz (WINNER)
Empire of Light – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (RUNNER UP TIE)
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Son Lux
The Fabelmans – John Williams
Nope – Michael Abels (RUNNER UP TIE)

Best Documentary Film
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (WINNER)
Descendant
Fire of Love
Good Night Oppy
Moonage Daydream

Best Foreign Language Film
Decision to Leave (WINNER)
Playground
RRR
Saint Omer

Best Animated Film
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Inu-Oh
Marcel the Shell with Shoes
Turning Red (WINNER)

Best First Film
Aftersun – Charlotte Wells (WINNER)
Causeway – Lila Neugebauer
Emily the Criminal – John Patton Ford (RUNNER UP)
You Won’t Be Alone – Goran Stolevski

Breakout Award
Austin Butler – Elvis (WINNER)
Anna Cobb – We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Frankie Corio – Aftersun (RUNNER UP)
Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Here Are The 2022 Nominations of the North Carolina Film Critics Association!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the 2022 nominations from The North Carolina Film Critics Assocation!

BEST NARRATIVE FILM
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Nope
RRR
Tár
The Fabelmans
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Good Night Oppy
Moonage Daydream
Navalny

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
The Bad Guys
Turning Red

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All Quiet on the Western Front
Close
EO
RRR
Decision to Leave

BEST DIRECTOR
Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Todd Field (Tár)
Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)
Jordan Peele (Nope)
S.S. Rajamouli (RRR)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Russell Carpenter (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Larkin Seiple (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Hoyte van Hoytema (Nope)
Claudio Miranda (Top Gun: Maverick)
Linus Sandgren (Babylon)

BEST ACTOR
Austin Butler (Elvis)
Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Daniel Kaluuya (Nope)
Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Paul Dano (The Fabelmans)
Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway)

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
Mia Goth (Pearl)
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Viola Davis (The Woman King)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)
Jessie Buckley (Women Talking)
Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE IN ANIMATION OR MIXED MEDIA
Ewan McGregor (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On)
Rosalie Chiang (Turning Red)
Sandra Oh (Turning Red)
Sam Rockwell (The Bad Guys)

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
The Banshees of Inisherin
The Woman King
Women Talking

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Jordan Peele (Nope)
Todd Field (Tár)
Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner (The Fabelmans)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Sarah Polley (Women Talking)
Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie (Top Gun: Maverick)
Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)
David Kajganich (Bones and All)
Edward Berger, Ian Stokell & Lesley Patterson (All Quiet on the Western Front)

BEST EDITING
Tom Cross (Babylon)
Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa (Elvis)
Paul Rogers (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Monika Willi (Tár)
Eddie Hamilton (Top Gun: Maverick)

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Guillaume Rocheron, Jeremy Robert, Sreejith Venugopalan, and Scott R. Fisher (Nope)
Ryan Tudhope, Scott R. Fisher, Seth Hill, and Bryan Litson (Top Gun: Maverick)
Zak Stoltz, Ethan Feldbau, Benjamin Brewer, and Jeff Desom (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, and Dominic Tuohy (The Batman)

BEST STUNT COORDINATION
Timothy Eulich (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Nick Powell (RRR)
Robert Alonzo (The Batman)
Danny Hernandez (The Woman King)
Casey O’Neill (Top Gun: Maverick)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Ruth Carter (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Catherine Martin (Elvis)
Shirley Kurata (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Gersha Phillips (The Woman King)
Mary Zophres (Babylon)

BEST HAIR & MAKE-UP
Heba Thorisdottir and Jaime Leigh McIntosh (Babylon)
Camille Friend and Joel Harlow (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Shane Thomas, Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Louise Coulston (Elvis)
Anissa E. Salazar and Michelle Chung (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, Zoe Tahir (The Batman)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, and Vanessa Cole (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino (Babylon)
Jason Kisvarday and Kelsi Ephraim (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Rick Heinrichs and Elli Griff (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)
James Chinlund and Lee Sandales (The Batman)

BEST SCORE
Justin Hurwitz (Babylon)
Carter Burwell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Michael Giacchino (The Batman)
M. M. Keeravani (RRR)
John Williams (The Fabelmans)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Naatu Naatu” (RRR)
“Hold My Hand” (Top Gun: Maverick)
“new body rhumba” (White Noise)
“This is a Life” (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
“Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” (Avatar: The Way of Water)

BEST SOUND DESIGN
Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Michael Hedges, and Julian Howarth (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Brent Kiser, Andrew Twite, Stephen Nelson, Alexandra Fehrman, and Ian Chase (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Johnnie Burn and Jose Antonio Garcia (Nope)
Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson (The Batman)
Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor (Top Gun: Maverick)

BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Domee Shi (Turning Red)
John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal)
Parker Finn (Smile)
Zach Cregger (Barbarian)

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Amber Midthunder (Prey)
Austin Butler (Elvis)
Frankie Corio (Aftersun)
Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: COMPOSER
Carter Burwell
Danny Elfman
Ennio Morricone
Hans Zimmer
John Williams

KEN HANKE MEMORIAL TAR HEEL AWARD
Aldis Hodge (Black Adam, City on a Hill) – Born at Camp Lejune in Jacksonville, North Carolina
Earl Owensby – Owner of Earl Owensby Studios in Shelby, North Carolina
Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway, Bullet Train, Atlanta) – From Fayetteville, North Carolina
Jonathan Majors (Devotion) – Studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Evan Rachel Wood (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Phoenix Rising) – Born in Raleigh, North Carolina

The winners will be announced on January 3rd!