Music Video of the Day: Burning Down The House by Tom Jones and the Cardigans (2003, dir by David Mould)

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s Tom Jones and the Cardigans covering a classic song from The Talking Heads.

Enjoy!

Congratulations! You Have Survived Another Oscar Sunday!

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

That’s it! That’s a wrap! All that is left to do is to cue up all of our applause GIFs:

We hope everyone has enjoyed Oscar Sunday!

Now that the Oscars are over with, it’s time to start a new year of entertainment! Thank you everyone for reading us over the course of 2025 and the first three months of 2026!

Now, let’s make 2026 the best year ever as we continue to celebrate the 250th birthday of America!

Love you!

Lisa Marie’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions For March

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Now that the awards for the best of 2025 have been handed out, it’s time to think about what might be nominated next year!

Below are my first set of Oscar predictions for 2026! What am I basing these predictions on? Nothing but instinct, wild guesses, and hopeful thinking. Take them with a grain of salt. If nothing else, we’ll look back on these a year from now and we’ll laugh. Or, we’ll be amazed at my cognitive abilities.

Best Picture

Digger

Disclosure Day

Dune Part Three

I Play Rocky

The Invite

Mother Mary

The Odyssey

Queen At Sea

The Social Reckoning

Wild Horse Nine

Best Director

Lance Hammer for Queen At Sea

Martin McDonagh for Wild Horse Nine

Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey

Steven Spielberg for Disclosure Day

Denis Villeneuve for Dune Part Three

Best Actor

Nicolas Cage in Madden

Timothee Chalamet in Dune Part Three

Tom Cruise in Digger

Anthony Ippolito in I Play Rocky

John Malkovivh in Wild Hose Nine

Best Actress

Juliette Binoche in Queen At Sea

Emily Blunt in Disclosure Day

Isabelle Huppert in The Blood Countess

Mikey Madison in The Social Reckoning

Anya Taylor-Joy in Joni Mitchell

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Courtenay in Queen At Sea

Willem DaFoe in Werewulf

Stephan James in I Play Rocky

Edward Norton in The Invite

Jeremy Strong in The Social Reckoning

Best Supporting Actress

Anna Calder-Marshall in Queen At Sea

Michaela Coel in Mother Mary

Penelope Cruz in The Invite

AnnaSophia Robb in I Play Rocky

Meryl Streep in Joni Mitchell

Lisa Marie’s Week In Review: 3/9/26 — 3/15/26

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, we survived both Friday the 13th and Oscar Sunday! Yay!

Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week.

Films I Watched:

Television Shows I Watched:

The 98th Annual Academy Awards
American Love Story: John and Carolyn Bessette
The Bachelorette: Before The First Rose
Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life
Rollergames
The Simpsons
Top of the Pops

Books I Read:

Fever: The Complete History of Saturday Night Fever (2025) by Margo Donohue

Music To Which I Listened:

Live Tweets:

Awards Season:

Best Picture Race In Review

Scenes I Love:

4 Shots From 4 Films:

News From Last Week:

Links From Last Week:

Links From The Site:

Arleigh reviewed Ironwood, Into the Grand Line Episode 2.3, Whistle, Into The Grand Line Episode 2.2, Hellfire, Into the Grand Line Episode 2.1, and War Machine!
Jeff shared a music video from INXS!
Brad shared an Oscar memory, wished a happy birthday to Terrence Howard, and shared a scene from Code of Silence!
Erin shared the Oscars through the years and reviewed Who Killed The Montreal Expos!
Erin shared Robert Duvall and Dolly Parton At The 1984 Oscar Ceremony, Airborne Passions, Friday the 13th Part 3, Grave Business, Mammoth Detective, New Sports Magazine, and Argosy!
I reviewed Tripfall, Grizzly, Creature, The Crater Lake Monster,
I picked 6 Actors, Actresses, and Directors Who I Hope Win An Oscar In The Next 10 Years! I welcomed you to Oscar Sunday and Friday the 13th! And I also congratulated you for surviving Friday the 13th! Yay! I also announced that Retro Television Reviews would return in two weeks!

The Eric Roberts Collection: Tripfall (dir by Serge Rodnunsky)

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In an effort to save their marriage, Tom (John Ritter) and Gina (Rachel Hunter) take a vacation in California. However, when they arrive at the home that they’re going to be renting, they are taken hostage by a group of redneck criminals led by Mr. Eddie (Eric Roberts). Mr. Eddie wants all of Tom’s money and this leads to a rather drawn-out hostage situation as Tom tries to get the better of Mr. Eddie and Mr. Eddie spends a lot of time purring threats in a thick Southern accent.

That’s plot of 2000’s TripFall. Don’t ask my why it’s called TripFall. It seems like a bit of a redundant title because a trip and a fall are pretty much the same thing. In fact, don’t even ask me what the point of the film is because there’s really not that much action or suspense. It’s mostly just Eric Roberts and the gang driving John Ritter from one location to another. I’m not a big fan of films about people being held hostage because they always seem to feature the same scene played over and over again. The hostage refuses to do something. The person holding him hostage gives a long monologue. It gets boring after a while.

TripFall is not a career highpoint for either Roberts or Ritter. It’s an action film in which there is very little action. Watching the film, I found myself thinking that it would have been more interesting if Ritter and Roberts had switched roles. Roberts could have played the likable family man for once and maybe the film could have explored the darkness behind Ritter’s goofy persona. (Comedic actors sometimes make the best villains.)

That said, it’s difficult to resist the oddness of John Ritter and Eric Roberts starring in the same movie. If there are two actors who feel as if they literally come from different planets, it’s Ritter and Roberts. Ritter is his typical goofy self, even when he’s trying to play up the drama of the situation. Roberts hisses his lines as Mr. Eddie and appears to be acting in a totally different movie from Ritter. They’re so mismatched that they become rather fascinating (if not exactly memorable) to watch.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The TSL Grindhouse: Grizzly (dir by William Girdler)

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1976’s Grizzly, something is making a national park a lot less inviting.

Campers are turning up dead. Bloody body parts are being found buried underneath leaves. It’s obvious that a bear is to blame but reports seem to indicate that this isn’t just any bear. This is a super bear, standing 8 feet tall and capable of knocking down an observation tower and picking up a helicopter. This is the most dangerous bear known to man and the park has to be closed.

Closing the park during tourist season!? Surely not!

Does this all sound familiar? Grizzly came out a year after Jaws. In all fairness to Grizzly, there were a lot of movies that ripped-off Jaws. As a matter of fact, there are still movies ripping off Jaws. The Jaws films eventually ended up ripping off themselves with three sequels. Still, it’s hard to ignore just how blatantly Grizzly rips off Jaws. We get shots from the bear’s point of view. Christopher George plays the sheriff who keeps demanding that the park be closed down until the bear has been taken care of. Andrew Prine is the hippie bear expert. Richard Jaeckel is the crotchety old man who knows more about bears that just about anyone else in the world. In Jaws, they needed a bigger boat. In Grizzly, they need a bigger helicopter. Jaws features scenes of people fleeing from the water. Grizzly features an unintentionally funny shot of hundreds of panicked campers fleeing down the side of a mountain.

Grizzly is Jaws, without the water and without the wit. And yet, in its own grim way, it works well enough. The fact of the matter is that bears are scary and the bear in Grizzly is really, really big. The gore effects are memorably grotesque and, perhaps even more so than Jaws, Grizzly goes out of its way to establish that anyone can die. As for the actors, I’ve always enjoyed seeing Christopher George in films like this. He was one of those actors who always seemed to try to give a convincing performance, even when he was appearing in a film that no one would mistake for a classic. Richard Jaeckel and Andrew Prine also do their best to bring their characters to life.

Finally, I should mention that the film ends on a properly silly and over-the-top note. Actually, it’s not that much different from the ending to Jaws. It’s just that Jaws was made with such skill that even the silly moments worked. Grizzly was directed by William Girdler, who was no Steven Spielberg. At the end of Grizzly, I found myself shouted, “Why didn’t someone just do that in the first place!?” Then again, if they had, we never would have gotten all of those point of view shots of the bear wandering through the forest while growling like an 70s obscene phone caller.

As a final note, I defy anyone to watch Grizzly without imagining Werner Herzog narrating the bear’s activities. It cannot be done!

Here Are The Oscar Winners

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s what won at the Oscars!

Best Picture — One Battle After Another

Best Directing — Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Best Actor — Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Best Actress — Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Best Supporting Actor — Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Best Supporting Actress — Amy Madigan, Weapons

Best Original Screenplay — Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay — One Battle After Another

Best Animated Feature — KPop Demon Hunters

Best Casting — One Battle After Another

Best Production Design — Frankenstein

Best Cinematography — Sinners

Best Costume Design — Frankenstein

Best Film Editing — One Battle After Another

Best Makeup and Hairstyling — Frankenstein

Best Sound — F1

Best Visual Effects — Avatar: Fire and Ash

Best Original Score — Sinners

Best Original Song — “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters

Best Documentary Feature — Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Best International Feature — Sentimental Value

Best Animated Short — The Girl Who Cried Pearls

Best Documentary Short — All The Empty Rooms

Best Live Action Short (TIE) — The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva

The Best Picture Race: 2020s

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

And now, we reach the 2020s. The Oscars are heading towards their 100th year and a lot has changed between then and now. Many of the films that are nominated today would have been unthinkable as nominees in the 50s or even the 90s. I’m glad to see that the Academy is now more willing to nominate genres like horror and science fiction.

That said, this is the streaming age and this is the age of AI and I do worry about the future of movies in general. The Oscars are no longer the big event that they once were but then again, the same can be said of movies in general. The times are changing. Who knows what we’ll be talking about when Oscar Sunday rolls around in 2030?

2020

The Father

Judas and the Black Messiah

Mank

Minari

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Won: Nomadland

Should Have Won: These were the COVID Oscars. With the world shut down for a virus, movie theaters closed and the Academy was forced to give even more consideration than usual to the streaming platforms. A lot of studios held back on releasing their big movies and the end result was the weakest Best Picture line-up in recent history. Nomadland won, largely because it reflected the current national anxiety. (Interestingly, it was directed by the daughter of the type of communist official who would probably of thrown the majority of the Nomadland cast into prison for re-education.) Of the nominees, I would have voted for either Promising Young Woman or The Father. My favorite film of the year was an unnominated French film called Girl With A Bracelet.

2021

Belfast

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

Won: CODA

Should Have Won: CODA. The Academy got it right. With the world still recovering from the (totally unnecessary) COVID lockdowns, the Best Picture lineup was still weaker than usual but there was something very satisfying about watching the sweet-natured CODA overtake the presumed front runner, Power of the Dog. Power of the Dog was well-made but heartless. CODA was obviously limited by its low budget but it was all heart and, after two years of totalitarian excess, that was what was truly needed.

2022

All Quiet on The Western Front

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All AT Once

The Fabelmans

Tar

Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness

Women Talking

Won: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Should Have Won: Literally anything else. Seriously, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a mess of a movie and nowhere near as profound as it thinks it is. I personally would have voted for Top Gun: Maverick, a film that is unapologetic about being entertaining. After all of the COVID stupidity, Top Gun: Maverick was the film that world needed.

(That said, I could also make a case for voting for TAR, The Banshees of Inisherin, All Quiet On The Western Front, and even Elvis. After two rather weak Best Picture line-ups, the 2022 nominations were a return to form.)

2023

American Fiction

Anatomy of a Fall

Barbie

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

The Zone of Interest

Won: Oppenheimer

Should Have Won: I can’t complain about Oppenheimer winning. It’s a great film. That said, I probably would have voted for another great film, Past Lives. This was another strong line-up of best picture nominees.

2024

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Perez

I’m Still Here

Nickel Boys

The Substance

Wicked

Won: Anora

Should Have Won: The unnominated Juror No. 2. That said, I probably would have voted for either Anora or Dune Part Two.

And there you have it! Soon, we’ll be adding another title to the list of best picture winners!

The Best Picture Race: The 2010s

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Ah, the 2010s. Social media made anxiety the norm and Americans became obsessed with “red states” and “blue states.” Americans fetishized politicians and the Academy decided that it would be cool to do away with the idea of having a set number of best picture winners. One bright spot, for me at least: Arleigh invited me to write for this site! And the rest, as they say, is history!

2010

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

Toy Story 3

Won: The King’s Speech

Should Have Won: Ah, The King’s Speech vs The Social Network. On the one hand, The King’s Speech was a far more conventional film than The Social Network. On the other hand, The Social Network‘s supporters tended to be so obnoxious about it that you kind of wanted it to lose just to spite them. Personally, I liked The King’s Speech on an emotional level. The Social Network holds up fairly well, though I still find it to be overrated. Inception is still exciting to watch and Winter’s Bone gets better every time I view it. In the end, though, my vote still goes to Black Swan, a film that gave me an asthma attack the first time I watched it.

2011

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

War Horse

Won: The Artist

Should Have Won: The Artist isn’t bad but its victory was still more about its novelty than its quality. The Tree of Life is visually stunning but the scenes with Sean Penn are a bit too heavy-handed for me. My vote goes to Hugo, a film that gets better each and every time that I see it. (My favorite film of the year remains the unnominated Hanna.)

2012

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Won: Argo

Should Have Won: “Argo f*ck yourself!” Yes, I can see why this won! Actually, Argo‘s victory has always struck me as weird. Argo is a rather forgettable winner. (Has anyone even mentioned Argo when discussing the current war with Iran?) My vote goes to Life of Pi.

2013

12 years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

Won: 12 Years A Slave

Should Have Won: This was a good year and I can make an argument for why American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Her, and The Wolf of Wall Street all deserved to win. In the end, though, the power of 12 Years a Slave cannot be denied.

2014

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

Won: Birdman

Should Have Won: We all love Michael Keaton but Birdman was a pretentious film that thought it was more profound than it actually was. Of the nominees, Boyhood is my pick. (My favorite film of the year was — and I make no apologies for this — the terrifically entertaining Guardians of the Galaxy.)

2015

Room

Spotlight

Won: Spotlight

Should Have Won: Spotlight is a well-acted, visually flat movie that feels like it belongs on television as opposed to playing in theaters. Of the nominees, I really love Brooklyn but Mad Max: Fury Road is a masterpiece of the pulp imagination and that’s the film that gets my vote.

2016

Hidden Figures

Lion

Manchester By The Sea

Moonlight

Won: Moonlight

Should Have Won: This is one of the stronger best picture line-ups and the fact that I would pick a film other than Moonlight should not be taken as a criticism of the Academy’s decision. Moonlight is a worthwhile winner. La La Land would have been a worthy winner, as well. In retrospect, 2016 was a better year for movie than a lot of us realized a the time. Back then, I would have voted for Arrival but today, I would probably vote for Hell or High Water. “We ain’t got no g-dd-mned trout.”

2017

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Won: The Shape of Water

Should Have Won: Considering how much I love Guillermo Del Toro, it pains me that I didn’t particularly care for The Shape of Water. But I have to admit that the film lost me as soon as the Fishman ate that cat. Of the nominees, I would have voted for Lady Bird.

2018

BlackKklansman

The Favourtie

Roma

Vice

Won: Green Book

Should Have Won: My favorite film of the year, Eighth Grade, was not nominated. In fact, a lot of good films weren’t nominated in 2018. What a strange year that sees both Vice and Bohemian Rhapsody nominated but not Eighth Grade or First Reformed. Spike Lee finally got his first nomination but it was for one of his most conventional films. It was a strange year. Of the nominees, I would vote for A Star is Born.

2019

Jojo Rabbit

Little Women

1917

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Parasite

Won: Parasite

Should Have Won: My favorite film of the year was The Souvenir, which barely got any distribution at all in the States and went unnominated. Parasite‘s victory was a great moment and it’s certainly a good film. That said, I still would have voted for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood or The Irishman.

Up next, in 30 minutes, the 2020s …. so far!

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019, dir by Quentin Tarantino)

The Best Picture Race: The 2000s

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Lost In Translation (2003, dir by Sofia Coppola)

Ah, the aughts. The new century started out with the terror of 9-11 and it ended with the collapse of the world’s economy. In between, a lot of films were released. Some of them were really good. A few of them were nominated for Best Picture. Most of them were not.

2000

Chocolat

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Erin Brockovich

Gladiator

Traffic

Won: Gladiator

Should Have Won: I’m in a minority here but I’ve never particularly cared for Gladiator. Joaquin Phoenix is a good villain and I can certainly understand why some people have adopted it as a sort of a life manual but, for the most part, Gladiator just falls flat for me. If I was voting, I would have voted for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There was a time when I would have voted for Traffic but Crouching Tiger has aged with a bit more grace the Steven Soderbergh’s look at the war on drugs.

2001

A Beautiful Mind

Gosford Park

In the Bedroom

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Moulin Rouge!

Won: A Beautiful Mind

Should Have Won: A Beautiful Mind gets criticized for being too Oscar bait-y but it’s not a bad film. What it does, it does well. That said, I would have voted for Todd Field’s haunting In The Bedroom.

2002

Chicago

Gangs of New York

The Hours

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Pianist

Won: Chicago

Should Have Won: As much as I love Chicago, this is the year that I would have selected to honor Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Two Towers is the darkest chapter in the saga and it’s also the best.

2003

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Lost in Translation

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Mystic River

Seabiscuit

Won: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Should Have Won: Even while it was sweeping the Oscars, it was understood that Return of the King was being honored as a way to acknowledge the entire trilogy. Since I already honored the trilogy with The Two Towers, that frees me up to vote for Lost In Translation this year. Lost In Translation is a film that haunts me in a way that few other films ever have or ever will.

2004

The Aviator

Finding Neverland

Million Dollar Baby

Ray

Sideways

Won: Million Dollar Baby

Should Have Won: Million Dollar Baby is good but The Aviator is Scorsese at his best. It also features Leonardo DiCaprio’s first legitimately great performance.

2005

Brokeback Mountain

Capote

Crash

Good Night and Good Luck

Munich

Won: Crash

Should Have Won: Oh God, don’t get me started on Crash. What should have won? Anything other than Crash. I’ll go with Brokeback Mountain.

2006

Babel

The Departed

Letters From Iwo Jima

Little Miss Sunshine

The Queen

Won: The Departed

Should Have Won: Martin Scorsese finally won his first Oscar for The Departed. Sadly, The Departed is actually one of his weaker films. (Of course, a weak Scorsese film is still better than an average film from any other director.) Back in 2007, I thought Babel should have won but that’s just because I was going through a pretentious phase where I thought any film with multiple storylines was automatically brilliant. Today, I realize that The Queen was the proper winner.

2007

Atonement

Juno

Michael Clayton

No Country For Old Men

There Will Be Blood

Won: No Country For Old Men

Should Have Won: No Country For Old Men. The Academy got it exactly right.

2008

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Won: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Have Won: Of the nominees, I have to go with Slumdog Millionaire. This, of course, is the year that The Dark Knight was not nominated and the internet lost its mind as a result.

2009

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up In The Air

Won: The Hurt Locker

Should Have Won: This is the year that the Academy went back to ten nominees. The idea was that this would lead to a more diverse best picture lineup and it certainly worked the first year they tried it. This is one of the strongest best picture lineups in Oscar history and I say that as someone who really disliked Avatar and who thought The Hurt Locker was a bit overrated. I could make an argument for honoring Up In The Air, Up, District 9, A Serious Man, and Inglourious Basterds but my final vote would go to the underrated but wonderful An Education.

Coming up in 30 minutes, we look at the history of the Best Picture race with the 2010s!