Today would have been Lee Van Cleef’s 101st birthday.
Today’s scene that I love features Van Cleef as the title character in 1969’s Sabata. In this scene, he faces off in a duel with William Berger’s Banjo. Even when he’s playing the good guy, like in this film, Lee Van Cleef leaves no doubt that he’s not someone you want to mess with.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, on what would have been his 97th birthday, we pay tribute to director Ulu Grobsard with….
4 Shots From 4 Ulu Grosbard Films
The Subject Was Roses (1968, dir by Ulu Grosbard, DP: Jack Priestley)
Straight Time (1978, dir by Ulu Grosbard, DP: Owen Roizman)
True Confessions (1981, dir by Ulu Grosbard, DP: Owen Roizman)
Georgia (1995, dir by Ulu Grosbard, DP: Jan Kiesser)
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties. On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday. On Mastodon, 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, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix! The movie? 1979’s The Humanoid, starring Richard Kiel!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find The Humanoid on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! I’ll be there happily tweeting. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
See you there!
I picked today’s music video of the day to make everyone feel old.
Enjoy!
The Columbus Film Critics Association has announced its picks for the best of 2025. The winners are listed in bold.
Best Film
1. One Battle After Another
2. No Other Choice
3. Sinners
4. It Was Just an Accident
5. Bugonia
6. Wake Up Dead Man
7. Sentimental Value
8. Train Dreams
9. Weapons
10. Marty Supreme
11. Frankenstein
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Ryan Coogler, Sinners (RUNNER-UP)
Rian Johnson, Wake Up Dead Man
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Best Lead Performance
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet (RUNNER-UP)
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Joel Edgerton, Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon (WINNER)
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Jesse Plemons, Bugonia
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia
Best Supporting Performance
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another (RUNNER-UP)
Adam Sandler, Jay Kelly
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Best Ensemble
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Sinners (RUNNER-UP)
Wake Up Dead Man
Actor of the Year (For an Exemplary Body of Work)
Josh Brolin, The Running Man, Wake Up Dead Man, and Weapons
Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another and The Phoenician Scheme (RUNNER-UP)
Josh O’Connor, The History of Sound, The Mastermind, Rebuilding, and Wake Up Dead Man (WINNER)
Amanda Seyfried, The Housemaid and The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone, Bugonia and Eddington
Breakthrough Film Artist
Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme (Acting)
Miles Caton, Sinners (Acting)
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another (Acting) (WINNER)
Carson Lund, Eephus (Directing and Screenwriting)
Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby (Acting, Directing, and Screenwriting) (RUNNER-UP)
Best Cinematography
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners (WINNER)
Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another (RUNNER-UP)
Dan Laustsen, Frankenstein
Claudio Miranda, F1
Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams
Łukasz Żal, Hamnet
Best Film Editing
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Stephen Mirrione, F1 (RUNNER-UP)
Joe Murphy, Weapons
Michael P. Shawver, Sinners
Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams
Guillermo Del Toro, Frankenstein
Park Chan-Wook, Lee Kyoung-Mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee, No Other Choice (RUNNER-UP)
Will Tracy, Bugonia
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet
Best Original Screenplay
Ryan Coogler, Sinners (WINNER)
Zach Cregger, Weapons
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (RUNNER-UP)
Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, Marty Supreme
Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Best Score
Alexandre Desplat, Frankenstein
Ludwig Göransson, Sinners (WINNER)
Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another (RUNNER-UP)
Daniel Lopatin, Marty Supreme
Max Richter, Hamnet
Best Documentary
Cover-Up (RUNNER-UP)
Orwell: 2+2=5
The Perfect Neighbor
Predators (WINNER)
Seeds
Best Foreign Language Film
It Was Just an Accident (WINNER)
No Other Choice (RUNNER-UP)
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirât
Best Animated Film
Arco
The Bad Guys 2
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters (RUNNER-UP)
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (WINNER)
Predator: Killer of Killers
Zootopia 2
Frank Gabrenya Award for Best Comedy
The Baltimorons (RUNNER-UP)
Friendship
The Naked Gun
One of Them Days (WINNER)
Splitsville
Best Overlooked Film
The Ballad of Wallis Island
The Baltimorons
The Mastermind (RUNNER-UP)
Peter Hujar’s Day
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Warfare (WINNER)
The American Society Of Cinematographers have announced their nominations for the best of 2025. And here they are:
Theatrical Feature Film (Sponsored by Keslow Camera)
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, ASC for “Sinners”
Michael Bauman for “One Battle After Another”
Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC for “Marty Supreme”
Dan Laustsen, ASC, DFF for “Frankenstein”
Adolpho Veloso, ABC, AIP for “Train Dreams”
Spotlight Award (Sponsored by Panavision)
Steven Breckon for “The Plague”
Mátyás Erdély, ASC, HSC for “Orphan”
Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC, BVK for “Amrum”
Documentary Award (Sponsored by Canon U.S.A.)
Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko for “2000 Meters from Andriivka”
Brandon Somerhalder for “Come See Me in the Good Light”
Lars Erlend Tubaas Øymo and Tor Edvin Eliassen for “Folktales”
The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominees for the best directors of 2025. And here they are:
FEATURE FILM
Paul Thomas Anderson – “One Battle After Another” (Warner Bros.)
Ryan Coogler – “Sinners” (Warner Bros.)
Guillermo Del Toro – “Frankenstein” (Netflix)
Josh Safdie – “Marty Supreme” (A24)
Chloe Zhao – “Hamnet” (Focus Features)
FIRST-TIME THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Hasan Hadi – “The President’s Cake” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Harry Lighton – “Pillion” (A24)
Alex Russell – “Lurker” (Mubi)
Charlie Polinger – “The Plague” (IFC)
Eva Victor – “Sorry, Baby” (A24)
This has a nice near future feel to it.
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.
Time to get back to 1st & Ten. To be honest, with all the excitement of the holiday season, I totally forgot that I was reviewing this show.
Episode 2.8 “Easy Come, Easy Go”
(Dir by Burt Brinckerhoff, originally aired on January 6th, 1987)
This is yet another episode of 1st & Ten that felt as if it was put together almost at random.
Mad Dog (Tony Longo) has a one night stand with a lawyer named Molly (June Chadwick) and he ends up becoming obsessed with her. He shows up at a fancy cocktail party being hosted by Molly’s law firm. “This man is stalking me!” Molly yells. All of the men at the party are like, “Mad Dog! You’re my favorite player!” Now, I will say that this is a realistic portrayal of how most men act whenever they see a professional athlete but it still felt a bit icky to watch.
Jethro takes a blood test and discovers that little Tommy is not his son. But he still wants to be a part of the kid’s life.
Yinessa sees a tabloid newspaper headline about his “nude pictures” and starts yelling at a supermarket manager for selling the paper.
Waldren is in financial trouble because he’s been tossing money around. A group of gamblers approach him and offer to pay to shave points. OJ Simpson (in the role of offensive coordinator T.D. Parker) tells Waldren, “I’m keeping my eye on you.” Oh no! LOOK OUT, WALDREN!
However, Waldren does not shave points. Instead, he catches the ball that seals the Bulls victory in their first playoff game. Woo hoo! Go, Waldren!
A lot happened but, in typical 1st & Ten fashion, none of it added up to much. It could be because the streaming episodes were edited for syndication but this is just a weird show. Every episode feels as if their huge chunks of plot missing.
The Art Directors Guild has announced its nominees for the best of 2025! And here they are….
BEST PERIOD FEATURE FILM
Frankenstein — Production Designer: Tamara Deverell
Hamnet — Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
Marty Supreme — Production Designer: Jack Fisk
The Phoenician Scheme — Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen
Sinners — Production Designer: Hannah Beachler
BEST FANTASY FEATURE FILM
Avatar: Fire and Ash — Production Designers: Dylan Cole, Ben Procter
The Fantastic Four: First Steps — Production Designer: Kasra Farahani
Mickey 17 — Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
Superman — Production Designer: Beth Mickle
Wicked: For Good — Production Designer: Nathan Crowley
BEST CONTEMPORARY FEATURE FILM
Bugonia — Production Designer: James Price
F1 — Production Designers: Ben Munro, Mark Tildesley
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning — Production Designer: Gary Freeman
One Battle After Another — Production Designer: Florencia Martin
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery — Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Bad Guys 2 — Production Designer: Luc Desmarchelier
Elio — Production Designer: Harley Jessup
KPop Demon Hunters — Production Designers: Mingjue Helen Chen, Dave Bleich
The Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepants — Production Designer: Sean Haworth; Animation Production Designer: Pablo R. Mayer
Zootopia 2 — Production Designer: Cory Loftis
Through the Shattered Lens 