Monthly Archives: January 2023

Everything Wins in Georgia

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, the Georgia Film Critics Association announced their picks for the best of 2022!  And here they are!

Best Picture
“After Yang”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Decision to Leave”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (WINNER)
“The Fabelmans”
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
“Nope”
“RRR”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick” (RUNNER UP)

Best Director
“Decision to Leave” – Park Chan-wook
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” – Daniels (Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert) (WINNER)
“The Fabelmans” – Steven Spielberg (RUNNER UP)
“Nope” – Jordan Peele
“Tár” – Todd Field

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

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

Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) (RUNNER UP)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)
Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) (WINNER)

Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) (WINNER)
Janelle Monáe (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”) (RUNNER UP)
Keke Palmer (“Nope”)

Best Original Screenplay
“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh (RUNNER UP)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” – Daniels (Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert) (WINNER)
“The Fabelmans” – Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
“Nope” – Jordan Peele
“Tár” – Todd Field

Best Adapted Screenplay
“After Yang” – Kogonada
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” – Rian Johnson (WINNER)
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” – Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Gris Grimly, Patrick McHale (RUNNER UP)
“She Said” – Rebecca Lenkiewicz
“Women Talking” – Sarah Polley, Miriam Toews

Best Cinematography
“Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” – Darius Khondji
“The Batman” – Greig Fraser (RUNNER UP)
“The Fabelmans” – Janusz Kaminski
“Nope” – Hoyte Van Hoytema
“Top Gun: Maverick” – Claudio Miranda (WINNER)

Best Production Design
“Avatar: The Way of Water” – Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, Vanessa Cole
“Babylon” – Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino (WINNER)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – Hannah Beachler, Lisa K. Sessions
“Elvis” – Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Beverley Dunn
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” – Jason Kisvarday, Kelsi Ephraim (RUNNER UP)

Best Original Score
“Babylon” – Justin Hurwitz (RUNNER UP)
“The Batman” – Michael Giacchino (WINNER)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – Ludwig Göransson
“The Fabelmans” – John Williams
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” – Alexandre Desplat
“Nope” – Michael Abels

Best Original Song
“Carolina” – Taylor Swift (“Where the Crawdads Sing”)
“Ciao Papa” – Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro (“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”)
“Hold My Hand” – Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice (“Top Gun: Maverick”) (WINNER)
“Lift Me Up” – Tems, Rihanna, Ludwig Göransson, Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
“Naatu Naatu” – M.M. Keeravani, Kaala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj (“RRR”) (RUNNER UP)

Best Ensemble
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (RUNNER UP)
“The Fabelmans”
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (WINNER)
“Women Talking”

Best International Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Argentina 1985”
“Close”
“Decision to Leave” (RUNNER UP)
“RRR” (WINNER)

Best Animated Film
“Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (WINNER)
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” (RUNNER UP)
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”
“Turning Red”

Best Documentary Film
“All That Breathes”
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”
“Descendant” (RUNNER UP)
“Fire of Love” (WINNER)
“Good Night Oppy”
“Navalny”

Breakthrough Award
Danielle Deadwyler (WINNER TIE)
Stephanie Hsu (WINNER TIE)
Tenoch Huerta
Gabriel Labelle (RUNNER UP)
Amber Midthunder

Oglethorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema
“Bad Dream” (short; Camilo Diaz Caro, Colby Hollman)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole)
“Devotion” (J.D. Dillard, Jake Crane, Jonathan Stewart)
“Emergency” (Carey Williams, K.D. Dávila)
“Glitter Ain’t Gold” (short; Christian Nolan Jones)
“Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” (Adamma Ebo)
“I Want You Back” (Jason Orley, Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger)
“The Menu” (Mark Mylod, Seth Reiss, Will Tracy) (RUNNER UP)
“Refuge” (Erin Levin Bernhardt, Din Blankenship)
“Till” (Chinonye Chukwu, Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp) (WINNER)

Live Tweet Alert: Watch The Black Phone with #ScarySocial

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, for #ScarySocial, ArtAttackNYC will be hosting The Black Phone!

If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start the film at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag!  The film is available on Prime.  I’ll be there co-hosting 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.

Music Video of the Day: Flowers by Miley Cyrus (2023, dir by Jacob Bixenman)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

With this video, Miley Cyrus lets the world know that she doesn’t need Liam Hemsworth to have fun.  Or, at least, that seems to be the most popular interpretation online.  Myself, whenever I see a Miley Cyrus video, I remember how, whenever The Soup did a segment on her, the producer would yell, “It’s Miley!”

That was good fun.

Enjoy!

Game Review: Conflict (1990, Virgin Mastertronic International, Inc)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

In 1997, after the Israeli Prime Minister is assassinated, you are appointed to take his place.  It is up to you to lead Israel and to keep it safe.  It won’t be easy because there are enemies all around.  Not only do you have to deal with America continually pressuring you to surrender the West Bank and not increase the size of your army but Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan all border you and could be either strong allies or potential threats.  It all depends on the decision that you make.

Conflict is a political strategy simulator where the goal is to be the last country standing.  The only way to ensure that Israel is safe is to make sure that the governments around it either collapse or surrender.  That does not necessarily mean that you should go to war with these countries.  Though that is an option, it’s sometimes easier to covertly support an internal rebellion or to wait for those countries to go to war with each other.  Along with the countries bordering you, you also have to deal with Libya, Iran, and Iraq, three countries that can be manipulated to go to war with the rivals on your border.  If you do not want to go to war with bigger and more populated countries, it is sometimes best to just wait for those counties to collapse on their own.  Another solution is to develop a nuclear arsenal and use it on your enemies but that will not only earn you the enmity of the United States but there’s also a chance that it could cause the end of the world.

What makes Conflict so challenging is that each game is randomized.  Sometimes, you’ll start the game with none of your neighbors acting aggressively towards you.  Sometimes, Syria and Egypt will both be aggressively pursuing their own nuclear programs and sometimes, they won’t.  If you start the game with both Syria and Egypt threatening to invade you at the same time, you might as well give up and start over because there’s no way that you’re going to survive.  Just as in real life, so much of succeeding in Conflict depends on getting a few lucky breaks.

Along with the role of chance, another thing that stands out about Conflict is what a pain of the ass the United States can be.  If you do anything to defend your country, the U.S. will condemn you and possibly even declare an arms embargo on you.  (Again, a lot of it has to do with chance.)  If you call out an air strike on the nuclear installations in Egypt or Syria, the U.S. will get upset despite the fact that you really don’t really have any other option.  Losing the race to be the first to deploy nuclear weapons in Conflict usually means losing the game.  After I played the game a few times, I realized it was pointless to worry about how the U.S. felt about anything.  Instead, I had to do whatever I had to do in order to survive.

Conflict is a challenging game.  There is a way to win by declaring war on everyone but you can also win by being a peaceful neighbor and never attacking anyone.  Of course, both of those approaches can also lead to you being led away to be hanged by your enemies.  Conflict can be frustratingly difficult but that just makes it all the more rewarding when you do win.

Play Conflict at the Internet Archive.

Retro Television Review: One World 3.13 “Hitting On A Guy”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Fridays, I will be reviewing One World, which ran on NBC from 1998 to 2001.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

The Cast of One World

On January 6th, 2001, One World aired not only the finale of their third season but also the final episode of the series.  All stories and shows must come to an end and we have reached the end of One World.  For one last time, here’s the One World theme song.

Does anyone else find it weird that the show never bothered to update their opening credits, despite the fact that Brandon Baker hit a major growth spurt and cut his hair after the first season?  Seriously, it just seems incredibly lazy.

Episode 3.13 “Hitting on a Guy”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on January 6th, 2001)

Dave and Karen have been named the Foster Parents of the Year!  Marci decides to throw a big party for them at …. can you guess where? …. Miami’s “hottest under 21 club,” The Warehouse!  Unfortunately, the kitchen crew refuses to work for the party because they haven’t been paid for the week.  (Why would Marci, who is just the assistant manager, have to deal with payroll?  Where’s The Warehouse’s owner?)  Fortunately, the entire family decides that they’ll do the cooking themselves.  But …. IT’S THEIR PARTY!?  Who cooks at their own party!?  What type of party is this?

Meanwhile, Jane is dating a nice guy named Ralph but he reminds her of her former foster brother, who was also named Ralph and who was abusive.  Because she’s thinking about the Bad Ralph, she beats up the Good Ralph.  Jane comes to terms with her anger and apologizes to the Good Ralph.  Good Ralph says thanks and then runs off.

Having lost Good Ralph, Jane still shows up at the Warehouse party and gives a speech about how thankful she is for the Blakes.  Dave rewards her by giving her a piece of Cake and that’s how the series ends.

And I have to admit that I was a little bit moved by all of the Blake kids giving their testimonials, though I honestly doubt I’ll remember anything about any of them a week from now.  I was also surprised that the show did not end with Karen giving birth.  I imagine that any other TNBC show would have.  In the end, One World ended with a lot of unanswered questions.  Will Ben ever find success as a musician?  Will St.  Neal ever get into college?  Will Sui ever make the Olympic team?  How long until Maci gets fired from her job at the Warehouse?  Will Cray ever come to terms with having a black grandfather?  (Seriously, that whole episode was weird.)  Will Jane ever find a stylist who understands how to make her hair look good?  Sadly, these questions will never be answered.

One World is a show that attempted to bring some edge to the TNBC brand.  Occasionally, it came close to succeeding.  Usually, it was a bit too much like California Dreams with juvenile delinquents instead of a rock band.  One of the huge problems with the show was that the Blakes themselves had very little chemistry.  Watching the actors perform opposite each other, it was hard to believe they even knew each other’s names, let alone lived together.  Alisa Reyes and Michelle Krusiec (who played Marci and Sui) were the strongest performers on the show but they were rarely given enough to do.

Staring next week, I’ll be reviewing something new in this time slot.  Until then, we’re all living in one world!

Music Video of the Day: Dirty Laundry by Lisa Marie Presley (2005, dir by Patrick Hoelk)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

RIP, Lisa Marie Presley.  The daughter Elvis and the mother of Riley Keough passed away yesterday at the age of 54.

In this video, she sings about the vultures in the tabloid press that she had to deal with for most of her life.  Dirty Laundry was originally written by Don Henley.  Lisa Marie covered it on her album, Now What?

Lyrics:

I make my living off the Evening News
Just give me somethin’, somethin’ I can use
People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry

Well, I could’ve been an actor but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don’t have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear, give us dirty laundry

Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em all around

We got the bubble headed bleach blonde who comes on at five
She can tell you ’bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It’s interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set! We need dirty laundry

You don’t really need to find out what’s goin’ on
You don’t really want to know just how far it’s gone
Just leave well enough alone, eat your dirty laundry

Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re stiff, kick ’em all around

Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re stiff, kick ’em all around

Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s pie
We love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry

We can do “The Innuendo,” we can dance and sing
When it’s said and done we haven’t told you a thing
We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry

Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down
Kick ’em when they’re up, kick ’em when they’re down

Here Are The Nominations Of The Producers Guild!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Producers Guild announced their nominations for the best of 2022 today!  The Producers Guild is usually seen as being one of the more reliable Oscar precursors out there.  While getting a PGA nomination doesn’t necessarily guarantee that a film will be nominated, being snubbed by the PGA can often knock a film out of contention.

This year, there are two surprises in the nominees,  One is The Whale, which has been getting a lot of attention for Brendan Fraser’s performance but which hasn’t really be spoken of as a probable Best Picture nominee.  The other, at least for me, is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  Despite good reviews and a probable Oscar nomination for Angela Bassett, Wakanda Forever is another film that many had written off as a potential Best Picture nominee.

Women Talking received neither a DGA or a PGA nomination so it could be in trouble.  Babylon was also snubbed by both the PGA and the DGA but it was nominated by SAG and it’s a film about actors.  So right now, I’m feeling a lot better about Babylon’s chances than the chances of Women Talking.

For the record, if the Best Picture lineup mirrored the PGA nominees, that would mean that 4 sequels would be nominated for Best Picture in one year.  That would definitely be a record, as well as a reflection of where Hollywood is at as an industry right now.

(Previous sequels that have been nominated for Best Picture include The Bells of St. Mary’s, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Toy Story 3, and Mad Max: Fury Road.  One could say that Black Panther should also be listed here, considering that it can be argued that every film in the MCU is technically a sequel to Iron Man and T’Challa and Wakanda were both first introduced in Captain America: Civil War.  With both Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of the Water looking pretty solid for nominations, 2022 will probably be the first year that multiple sequels with be nominated.)

Anyway, here are the nominations of the Producers Guild!

The Award for Outstanding Producer of a Feature Theatrical Motion Picture
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
The Whale

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Minions: The Rise of Gru
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red

Retro Television Reviews: City Guys 3.13 “Down and Out In Soho” and 3.14 “When Al Met Dawn”

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!

Smart and streetwise!

Episode 3.13 “Down and Out in Soho”

(Dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 30th, 1999)

So, I guess the reality show is still a thing.  This episode begins with Ms. Nobel telling the Gang that she’s spoken to the show’s producer and she thinks it would be a good idea for them to do a community service project.  I find myself asking this every review but seriously …. how is this any of Ms. Nobel’s business?  Is Ms. Nobel a producer on Reality House now?

Anyway, the community service project involves hanging out with a bunch of Romanian immigrants.  This leads to a lot of scenes featuring the immigrants speaking in broken English and thick accents while the audiences laughs it up.  For a show that was supposedly all about celebrating diversity, City Guys certainly did enjoy poking fun at people with thick accents.

When Dawn comes across Euri, one of the Romanians, sleeping on the streets, she invites him to come live at the loft.  Jamal warns that the guy could be a thief but he’s outvoted by his loftmates.  Euri moves into the Loft and promptly steals a computer.  At first, Dawn is disillusioned and swears she’ll never help another immigrant.  Fortunately, Jamal and Dawn then run into Euri at a coffeehouse and he explains that his name is actually Joey and he’s from New Jersey.  Upon discovering that she was robbed by an American instead of a Romanian, Dawn feels a lot better.

In the B-plot, Cassidy starts a folk act with L-Train and Chris and pretends to be a bad singer so that Chris and L-Train will quit the group.  But if Cassidy wanted to be a solo act, why was she working with L-Train and Chris in the first place?

It was a bit of a confusing episode.  Apparently, everyone is watching the reality show but no one recognizes Chris or Jamal when they’re in public.  And we never actually see a camera crew filming the group.  If the Loft is full of cameras, wouldn’t they have  captured Euri/Joey stealing the computer?

Hopefully, this next episode will make more sense….

Episode 3.14 “When Al Met Dawn”

(Dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on November 6th, 1999)

“After two months of Reality House,” Cassidy says as the episode begins, “the best part is that you really get to know your roommates.”

“The worst part,” Jamal says, “is you really get to know your roommate.”

Actually, for the past two and a half seasons, the characters on this show have exclusively hung out with each other, to the extent that it almost seems like they’re in a Ms. Nobel-centered cult.  It also seems like they should already know each other.

Speaking of getting to know each other, Dawn and Al are working on a science project together and they end up falling for each other and you know what?  They’re actually a cute couple.  However, Dawn is worried about the pressure of pursuing a relationship while on a reality TV show.  “I mean, look at Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck!” she says, “Their relationship was killed because no one would leave them alone!”  

Wow, Ben and his love life have been pop culture reference points for a while now.

(By the way, Dawn and Al’s science project is a big bulky television mounted on the handlebars of a bicycle.  The idea is that you can watch TV while pedaling but it seems like it would just cause more accidents than anything else.)

Since Dawn and Al are keeping things a secret, L-Train sets Al up on a date with another girl.  When the girl kisses Al, Dawns sees them and freaks out.  At the science fair, Dawn humiliates Al by accusing him of cheating.  Ms. Nobel, who has nothing better to do, tells Dawn that it was actually all her fault for trying to keep things a secret.  (Ms. Nobel isn’t wrong but again, why does Ms. Nobel have to get involved in everything?)  Dawn hijacks that Manny High radio station and asks Al to meet her at their favorite coffeehouse.  Of course, everyone else from the reality show and the school all show up at the coffeehouse so that they can watch Al and Dawn get back together.  It’s kind of cringey but, again, they’re a cute couple.

Meanwhile, Chris and Jamal are in love with the building’s new superintendent.  So, the Loft is actually in a real building as opposed to just being a Big Brother-style set?  I’m starting to think this show is not a realistic look at reality television.