Yes, cats don’t really care about the Oscars or the movies. But some humans do! And if you’re one of those humans, the Shattered Lens has you covered today! Though the flame-haired one is up at her lakehouse lovenest right now, I know that she has several reviews and other bits of Oscar trivia that she’s planning on sharing throughout the day. Here at the TSL Bunker, I’ll be keeping a eye on all the humans to make sure that they’re ready for the Oscars tonight!
Happy Oscar Sunday to those who observe. If you watch the ceremony, don’t forget that the cat needs some attention too!
As for who I think is going to win this year …. meh. I haven’t seen any of the nominees but I’m sure they needed more scenes featuring hunting, stalking, and napping. Lots and lots of napping.
I’m talking, of course, about awards season. By the time I post my Lisa’s Week In Review next Sunday, the Oscar telecast will (hopefully) be over and this very long and dragged out Oscar season will come to a close. Our five month (!) awards season will finally come to an end and I’ll finally feel as if I can start to concentrate on the films of 2021.
Of course, due to the pandemic and all of the theaters closing, most of the “big” films of 2021 are going to be movies that were originally meant to be released in 2020. Consider that. After the Oscars, we’ve got 7 months of upcoming films that were produced several years ago. How long have we been waiting for Black Widow? West Side Story? Dune? How about the “new” Bond film? Where’s that old lady from the Titanic? Has it been 87 years?
This extended awards season has totally thrown me off my rhythm. I’ve never felt more unproductive as a culture critic as I’ve felt over the past 4 months or so. I think that’s because one of the joys of reviewing movies (of reviewing anything, for that matter) is finding something that surprises you. It’s the type of thrill that I feel when I come across some barely acknowledged, low-budget masterpiece on Prime or Tubi. But it’s hard not to feel that there really aren’t any surprises out there right now because we’ve been waiting to see the majority of these upcoming films for several years. At this point, I don’t even care what happens in the new Bond film. I just want it to be released so we can move on!
Fortunately, I’ll be on a bit of a mini-vacation next week, giving me a chance to get myself centered and, even more importantly, get caught up on my writing and my film viewing! Who knows? Maybe I’ll even rediscover my enthusiasm for the new Bond film while I’m at it. Anything’s possible.
With all that in mind, here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week.
The House By The Cemetery (1981, dir by Lucio Fulci)
This weekend, I received the shocking and saddening news that my friend, the writer Derrick Ferguson, had passed away. Derrick left many comments on this site and I left quite a few on his. It’s hard for me to think of anyone who took as much joy from encouraging others to write as Derrick did. If you want to pay tribute to Derrick, please check out his two sites: The Ferguson Theater and Ferguson Ink. I plan on writing more about Derrick later. For now, let me just say that I’m going to miss him.
Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week:
This was a good week. I survived April Fool’s Day and, unlike last year, I was able to spend Easter with my family. For this upcoming week, I look forward to continuing to clean out my DVR and also to getting caught up on my film reviewing.
Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to last week:
So, just like last year, I was originally planning on writing a lengthy post about why you shouldn’t play any April Fools jokes on anyone today and I was going to come up with a list of really important reasons why it’s just not a good idea to do this sort of thing when everyone’s already on edge.
At the very least, I was going to suggest that you keep your jokes simple and short. I had a friend who used to come up with elaborate pranks for April 1st but she never knew when to stop. So, you’d laugh and then she’d just keep going and going until people weren’t laughing anymore and then she’d still keep going until people actually felt ashamed and resentful for laughing in the first place. She was like the human equivalent of a Seth MacFarlane show.
But then I thought about it and I realized that the main reason why I wanted to tell everyone not to play an April Fools Day joke is because I always end up falling for them and feeling foolish afterwards. I’m the one who always ends up wishing people a happy birthday on April 1st, even though I can plainly remember celebrating their birthday on June 16th. I’m the one who gets all excited and teary-eyed when someone tells me that they ran off to Vegas and got married. I’m the one who believes every pronouncement of death. I’m the one who always falls for these tricks and it’s left me totally bitter and angry….
April Fools! I never fall for your jokes! Ha!
Okay, see how annoying that was?
Seriously, I hope that if any of you played an April Fools joke today, it was better than that. I hope you gave some thought to it. I hope you put some effort into making it believable. I hope that your friends and your family eventually forgive you.
Anyway, April Fools is the most annoying day of the year but if you want to take part in it, go ahead! Don’t let anyone else tell you what to do! If you want to pretend to get married, do it! If you want to fake your own death to get out of paying taxes, do it! Do whatever the Hell you want and stop taking advice from people online who are just trying to hit a certain word count.
Finally, if you need something to do today that doesn’t involve personally playing any pranks on anyone, might I suggest one of the best slasher films of the 80s? The 1986 film, April Fool’s Day, is currently on Prime and that’s no joke.
Right now, there’s a lot that I could talk about as far as world events are concerned but I’ll be honest with you. As of right now, I’m obsessed with one thing:
Yes, that’s right. This boat is currently blocking the Suez Canal. (Update: The ship is apparently now free. — LMB) And you know there’s going to be a movie. There’ll probably be several movies. Peter Berg will make a movie with Mark Wahlberg as the engineer brought in to figure out how to move the boat. Wes Anderson will make a movie with Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and a hundred others having quirky adventures that are all somehow connected to the boat. Steven Spielberg will come up with an inspiring story starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. I’m sure there’s also a hundred horror fans thinking about sea monsters and pirate ghosts right now.
Personally, I want to see a 70s-style disaster movie made about the Suez Canal crisis. I want C and D-list actors emoting all over the place.
Here’s what I read, watched, and listened to this week:
(For some reason, I pretty much exclusively watched old shows this week. To be honest, I think it’s because I spent a lot of time out in my private office, where I can get a lot of the retro stations on my TV. Sometimes, when you’re trying to meet a deadline, a low-stakes show from the 60s or the 70s can provide the ideal background noise.)
After all the drama of the extended awards season and all of the scenarios that we all went through as we tried to predict which films would and would not be nominated, Monday’s Oscar nominations were rather anti-climatic. For the most part, there were no shocking snubs nor were there any truly awful nominations. I can even accept the nominations that Borat received. For those who were hoping for at least one totally weird nod — like Jared Leto for The Little Things — it didn’t happen. (The only real shocker was both Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield being nominated for supporting actor for Judas and the Black Messiah, a film that I guess the Academy decided did not have a lead actor.) For the first time in history, two female directors were nominated. That’s a good thing but, otherwise, the Oscar nominations were, for those of us who love controversy, almost boring.
Of course, I have to admit that I was far more interested in celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this week than obsessing over the Oscars. Even though the annual parade got cancelled, I was determined to go out and celebrate and that’s just what I did. I went out and I celebrated my heritage with friends and family and I stepdanced to Celtic folk music and, later on that night, I got a bit too enthusiastic and I missed a few steps and I managed to twist my ankle. It’s really not a holiday unless I manage to injure myself in some way, is it?
Anyway, it’s not a bad sprain. (To be honest, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve sprained and/or strained that ankle.) I spent most of this weekend resting and, when I woke up on Sunday morning, I was feeling a lot better. Of course, as I stumbled around this morning, I managed to accidentally slam my ankle against the coffee table, which led to me doing a lot of cursing and hopping around but I’ve recovered.
Finally, I hosted three live tweet events this week. For #FridayNightFlix, we watched Cocktail, which is on Prime and which everyone of you needs to watch this upcoming week. And then, for Saturday’s #ScarySocial, it was The House On Sorority Row! And then, after #ScarySocial, it was time to watch The Thirty Dead with the #LateNightMovie Gang! And then, just a few hours ago, I watched Deadly Illusions with some of my fellow TSL contributors. Four fun movies with good friends, that’s the perfect way to end your week.
Here’s what I watched, read, and listened to this week:
St. Patrick’s Day has always been an important day to me. I’m Irish on my father’s side and I’ve always been a bit obsessed with Irish history. Add to that, St. Patrick has always been one of my favorite saints. Patrick lived a fascinating life, first going to Ireland as a slave and spending six years as a shepherd before escaping back to Britain. He would subsequently return to Ireland as a missionary and eventually becoming one of the most influential figures in Irish history. Admittedly, there is some debate about the exact facts of Patrick’s life. Did Patrick really drive the snakes out of Ireland? I have no idea but it’s a good story and certainly one worth celebrating. I’ve spent most of my life living in the Southwest and once, in New Mexico, I nearly stepped on a freaking rattle snake so you better believe that I appreciate anyone who can drive away the snakes.
During this pandemic, I’ve noticed that, for some people, the holidays sometimes seem to run together. When no one is going out and celebrating, it’s easy to forget what day it is. One of the worst things about the lockdowns is the way that they’ve robbed people of anything to look forward to. That’s one thing that I think is often overlooked. People are not robots that can be simply reprogrammed to stay in one place or to forget about what their existence used to be like. It takes a startling lack of empathy to fail to understand that there’s more to most people’s happiness than just going to work, come home, and doing what they’re told.
For that reason, I think it’s important to remember that today is St. Patrick’s Day! And it’s also important to celebrate it in whatever way you feel comfortable doing. Take whatever precautions you have to take to protect yourself and your loved ones but also enjoy the day. Celebrate the night. Most importantly, don’t give up. If Patrick could get the snakes out Ireland, then we can certainly survive whatever life decides to throw at us.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. May the road rise up to meet you.
We lost an hour but, soon, we will have gained a whole new slate of Oscar nominees. So, everything evens out!
Anyway, I’m feeling a little under the weather — and before anyone asks, it’s just a cold and not the COVID, so I’m going to lay down and wait for the Oscar nominations to be announced! While I wait, I’ll think back to all of the movies and television shows that I watched over the previous 7 days.
Through the Shattered Lens