Author Archives: Lisa Marie Bowman

The Boston Society of Film Critics Honors Nomadland

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Like all things this year, 2020’s Awards Season is a bit strange.  Because the Academy foolishly decided to extend the Oscar-eligibility window to February, several groups sold out and moved their annual awards back as well.  The National Board of Review, for instance, won’t be giving out their awards until February or something stupid like that.

Fortunately, some groups — like the Boston Society of Film Critics — are continuing to honor the best of 2020 at the end of 2020.  I love these groups because they’re reminding us that these awards are supposed to be about the movies and not about influencing the Academy.  I mean — seriously, the best films of 2020 should be films that came out in 2020, not films that came out in 2020 and the first two months of 2021.

On that note, earlier today, the Boston Society of Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2020.

And here they are:

Best Picture
Nomadland
Runners Up: First Cow

Best Foreign Language Film
La Llorona
Runner Up – The Painted Bird
​
Best Director
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Runner Up: Kelly Reichardt – First Cow

Best Ensemble
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Runner Up: Minari

Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Runner Up: Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

Best Actress
Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
​Runner Up: Julia Garner – The Assistant
​
Best Supporting Actor
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Runner Up: Brian Dennehy – Driveways

Best Supporting Actress
Youn Yuh-jung – Minari
Runner Up: Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Best Screenplay
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things
​Runner Up: First Cow

Best New Filmmaker
Florian Zeller – The Father
Runner Up: Autumn de Wilde – Emma.

Best Documentary
Collective
​Runner Up: The Painter & The Thief

Best Animated Feature
The Wolf House
​Runner Up: Wolfwalkers

Best Cinematography
Nomadland
Runner Up: Lover’s Rock

Best Editing
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things
Runner Up: Nomadland

Best Score
Minari
Runner Up: Mank

Holiday Film Review: A Very British Christmas (dir by Steven Nesbit)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

2019’s A Very British Christmas tells the story of Jessica (Rachel Shenton), a world-famous singer who misses her flight to Vienna and somehow ends up stuck in a small country village in England.  Now, to be honest, I’m not really sure how Jessica missed her flight or why she ended up in that village.  I probably missed some important dialogue in the beginning to explain the problem with the flight and arriving in the village had something to do with getting too relaxed on a train.  But, to be honest, in the grand scheme of the film’s overall story, it really doesn’t matter why she’s in the village or why she missed her plane.

Instead, what’s important is that it’s nearly Christmas and Jessica needs a place to stay.  Fortunately, the local B&B is owned by a handsome widower named Andrew (Mark Killeen).  Andrew lives with his adorable daughter and his caring mother.  He’s not only a perfect host but he’s also an aspiring artist and he’s also the one man in the village who can hopefully convince the rest of the landowners not to sell out to a mining company….

Does all this sound familiar?  This may be a very British Christmas but it’s also a very Hallmark-y Christmas, even though this is not technically a Hallmark film.  That said, it has everything that you would typically expect from a Hallmark Christmas film.  Rachel and Andrew fall in love.  They do Christmas stuff.  They tour the countryside.  Rachel has to decide whether to stay in the village or to leave so that she can continue with her career.  You already know what’s going to happen.

I have to admit that I do wish that the film had been a bit more British.  Nowadays, when I hear the term “Very British,” I assume that means that there will at least be a fierce debate over Brexit, a good deal of casual profanity, and a lot of football talk.  Instead, this movie takes place in the type of British village that we Americans like to fantasize about, the place where all of the streets are cobblestone, all the citizens are friendly and earnest and everyone has mince pies for breakfast.

That said, it’s a sweet movie and, if you like this sort of thing, you should enjoy A Very British Christmas.  The scenery is nice, the actors are all likable, and the Christmas cheer cannot be denied.  One thing that I particularly appreciated about this film is that Rachel wasn’t presented as being someone who hated Christmas or who needed a man to show her how to embrace the holiday spirit.  Instead, Rachel pretty much falls in love with both the village and the B&B as soon as she sees it.  She’s not a snob or a cynic who needs be taught the importance of family and love.  Instead, she’s a nice person who meets a bunch of other nice people in a nice village and they all have a nice holiday.  You may have noticed that the key word here is “nice.”  There’s no darkness to be found in A Very British Christmas.  Andrew is a surprisingly cheerful widower and everything pretty much works out wonderfully for everyone.  Yay!

Music Video of the Day: Let It Snow, performed by Goo Goo Dolls (2020, dir by Raul Gonzo)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Seriously, I hope we get some snow down here in Texas this year.  I can’t remember the last time it actually snowed here by I know that it’s been at least a year.  I don’t think we’ve had any serious snow since 2016 and that’s really not fair.  For me, there’s nothing frightful about snow.  Instead, it’s something that I see so rarely that I can’t help but think of it as being a reward.  I want a nice, cold Christmas and I want a sudden snow storm and I want to look outside and see a bunch of people building snowmen out in their front yards.

It won’t happen by a girl can dream.

And we can also listen to yet another cover of Let It Snow, this one by Goo Goo Dolls.

Enjoy!

Documentary Review: Alabama Snake (dir by Theo Love)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Snake handling has never been for me.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I know that there are a lot of people who incorporate handling poisonous serpents into their religious rituals.  And I can even kind of see the appeal of it.  If the idea is that your faith is so strong that you don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen to you if you die, why not prove it by holding something that could potentially kill you?  If you believe that God is going to protect you, why would you fear handling a creature that can inject toxin straight into your bloodstream?

In fact, I’ll even go further and I’ll even acknowledge that there’s probably quite a rush that comes from successfully grabbing a snake and dancing around without getting bit.  I mean, it only makes sense.  Before you pick up the snake, you would undoubtedly be terrified.  But once you grabbed it and started to move around with it, the relief of not being bitten would have to be overwhelming.  In fact, it would probably be so overwhelming that it could potentially put you in a bit of a trance.  When I was eighteen, I was in a pretty serious car accident.  The car flipped over with me in it.  It was terrifying when it happened but after I realized that I had somehow survived the experience without only a few cuts and bruises, I was so exhilarated that I felt like I could fly.  I felt as if I had proof that I was special.  If I wasn’t special, how else could you explain me totaling my car without breaking my neck?

So, don’t get me wrong.  I get it.  That said, snake handling is not something that I could ever see myself doing.  Seriously, snake are scary!  I’ve seen my share of them and they always freak me out.  I once nearly stepped on a rattlesnake in New Mexico.  In Arkansas, I saw a water moccasin slithering down a creek.  I swear that I once saw a boa constrictor in Oklahoma, though my sisters swear that I was just dreaming and that there aren’t any boa constrictors in Oklahoma.  Maybe they’re right but still, the point stands.  I could flip my car and survive a hundred times, I’m still never going to go anywhere near a snake.

Alabama Snake is a creepy true crime documentary about Glenn Summerfield, a Pentecostal minister who did handle snakes.  In fact, he had an entire farm of them.  In 1991, he was arrested for trying to murder his wife, Darlene, with those snakes.  Darlene claimed that Glenn was an angry and mentally unbalanced drunk who forced her to stick her hand into a box of rattlesnakes, not once but twice.  The defense claimed that Darlene was trying to kill Glenn with the snakes but that she accidentally got bitten instead.

Featuring commentary from local historian and folklorist Thomas Burton, Alabama Snake takes a look at the crime, the trial, and the culture of fundamentalist serpent handling.  It’s a Southern Gothic horror story and it makes for creepy and atmospheric viewing.  Though the documentary doesn’t always go as far beneath the surface as one might hope that it would, it tells an interesting story and Thomas Burton provides lively commentary.  Fans of strange true crime will enjoy it and those of us who need another excuse to be wary of snakes will find one.

Music Video of the Day: Suzy Snowflake, performed by The Norman Luboff Choir (1953, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This music video is from 1953, back before anyone had even heard the term “music video.”  It originally aired on local Chicago television and it was produced by the animators at Centaur Productions.  It’s said that, for two minutes, there was no mafia activity in Chicago as everyone watched Suzy Snowflake.  That’s the power of the holidays!

I’m not sure if this was the first time this song was ever sung but Suzy Snowflake was subsequently covered by several artists and, in previous years, it was one of those songs that was in the regular holiday music rotation for most stores.  Maybe it still is.  I’m doing almost all of my Christmas shopping from home this year so I’m not really sure what they’re playing out there.  Yesterday, I did my nightly Christmas shopping while listening to Britney Spears.  Tonight, I’m going to listen to The Chemical Brothers and tomorrow, it’ll be time for Saint Motel.  I don’t know if people are going to like their presents but I’m enjoying the soundtrack.

But anyway, back to Suzy Snowflake!

I have to admit that I really hate this song.  I mean, seriously …. Suzy Snowflake just feels like she’s taunting those of us who live in the southwest.  We don’t ever get any snow!  Or at least, we haven’t gotten any recently.  A few years ago, it actually did snow on Christmas in Dallas and I ran outside and jumped up and down and then I ended up having to say in bed for a few days because I had a pretty cold.  But anyway, Suzy Snowflake plays favorites.  Poor Frosty melted and Suzy apparently can’t travel any further south than Indiana.  You’re a snob and an elitist, Suzy.

That said, this video is cute.  The song may make me grind my teeth but I probably would have loved the video if I had been alive in 1953.  And it’s a piece of history!  It’s from the early days of television!  You couldn’t do something like this one the radio, could you!?  Go to hell, Little Orphan Annie!  Drink your Ovaltine, indeed.  Oddly, the video actually aired on December 28th, three days after Christmas!  What’s up with that, Suzy?  YOU THINK YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR CHRISTMAS!?

Anyway, enjoy!

Holiday Film Review: The Christmas Chronicles 2 (dir by Chris Columbus)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

If I ever actually meet Santa Claus, I’ll be really disappointed if he doesn’t look like a bearded Kurt Russell.

Russell plays the role of St. Nicholas in The Christmas Chronicles 2 and he’s absolutely perfect in the role.  It’s not just that Russell is an intensely likable actor, though that’s certainly some of it.  Santa, after all, should be a likable character and it’s pretty much impossible not to like Kurt Russell.  Even when he was killing people in Death Proof, he was still the most likable serial killer that you could ever hope to meet.  Beyond just being likable, though, Russell brings a lot of joi de vivre to the role of Santa.  As played by Russell, Santa loves what he does.  Spreading Christmas cheer and keeping the holiday spirit alive is what he lives for.  Over the years, movies have given us stern Santas and humorous Santas and occasionally even incompetent Santas.  Kurt Russell is the fun Santa.

In The Christmas Chronicles 2, Russell is joined by his real-life partner, Goldie Hawn.  Goldie plays Mrs. Claus, who turns out to be a witch but a good one.  She’s the type of witch who makes gingerbread cookies the explode, which is certainly the best type of witch to be.  As I watched Goldie Hawn in this film, it occurred to me that if Hollywood is ever foolish enough to try to remake The Wizard of Oz, Goldie would be the perfect choice for Glinda.  Not surprisingly, Hawn and Russell have a lot of chemistry in The Christmas Chronicles 2.  They’re the perfect couple.  They’re exactly who you would hope Santa and Mrs. Claus would turn out to be.

(I have to say that, of all the Hollywood couples out there, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are the couple that I would want to actually live next door to.  Kurt seems like he would be good about repairing stuff around the neighborhood while Goldie seems like she would be the type to keep an eye on my Amazon deliveries until I got home from work or wherever.  I’d much rather live next to them than George and Amal Clooney, if just because the Clooneys seem like they would be the type to complain because you accidentally clipped their yard with a lawn mower or something.)

The Christmas Chronicles 2 actually does have a plot and it tells a pretty sweet little story.  A bitter elf named Belsnickel (Julian Dennison) is trying to ruin Christmas and it’s all up to Katie (Darby Camp) and Jack (Jahzir Bruno) to help Santa and Mrs. Claus save the world’s Christmas spirit.  Along the way, Katie gets to travel through time and meet her father and both Katie and Jack learn about the importance of family.  It’s all very sincere and very sweet and if it doesn’t bring at least one tear to your eyes this holiday season, you’re hopeless.  That said, The Christmas Chronicles 2 is ultimately all about star power and charisma.  The film works because Russell and Hawn are a total joy to watch.  Consider this: it’s a 114-minute film but the main story is resolved in 90 minutes.  The remaining 24 minutes are spent watching Russell and Hawn light a Christmas tree and hang out with Santa’s elves and it’s absolutely delightful to watch!  By the end of the film, you basically just want to move to the North Pole and live with the Clauses.

The Christmas Chronicles 2 is currently on Netlfix and it’s a fun little holiday romp.  It’s perfect for kids and the adults who sometimes have to watch movies with them.  There’s a great musical number and a few surprisingly clever jokes.  (I loved that when Santa and Mrs. Claus watched It’s A Wonderful Life, it was a version that had been dubbed into the Elvish language.)  Check it out.  It’ll lift your holiday spirits.