Here Are The Golden Reel Winners!


If you’re making out your Oscar predictions and you need a little help predicting which film will win Best Sound, fear not!  The Motion Picture Sound Editors have announced the winners of this year’s Golden Reel awards!

And here they are:

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Effects/Foley
“Cherry”
“Greyhound”
“The Midnight Sky”
“News of the World”
“Sound of Metal”
“Tenet”
“Wonder Woman 1984”

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Animation
“The Croods: A New Age”
“Onward”
“Over the Moon”
“Soul”
“Wolfwalkers”

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Documentary
“Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”
“Crip Camp”
“John Lewis: Good Trouble”
“My Octopus Teacher”
“The Reason I Jump”
“Rebuilding Paradise”
“The Social Dilemma”
“Zappa”

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Foreign Language Feature
“Bacurau”
“The Eight Hundred”
“I’m No Longer Here”
“Jallikattu”
“The Life Ahead”

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Musical
“Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga”

“The High Note”
“I Am Woman”
“The Forty-Year-Old Version”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“The Prom”

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore
“The Invisible Man”
“The Midnight Sky”
“News of the World”
“Sound of Metal”
“Tenet”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“Wonder Woman 1984”

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Dialogue/ADR
“Emperor”
“Greyhound”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“News of the World”
“Nomadland”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Sound Effects Editor: Lucas MillerOutstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Non-Theatrical Feature
“Bad Education”
“Bliss”
“Blow the Man Down”
“The Bygone”
“Christmas On the Square”
“Safety”
“Troop Zero”
“The Ultimate Playlist of Noise”

The Annie Awards Honor Soul


I think it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Soul is going to win the Oscar for Best Animated Film.  I’m not complaining because I really, really liked Soul.  (I also really liked Farmageddon but, sadly, there can only be one winner.)  That said, if Soul needed a boost, it certainly got one from the Annie Awards last night.

The Annie Awards reward the best in animation.  Here are their 2020 winners:

Best Feature
Onward
Soul
The Croods: A New Age
The Willoughbys
Trolls World Tour

Best Indie Feature
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Calamity Jane
On-Gaku: Our Sound
Ride Your Wave
Wolfwalkers

Best FX for Feature
Over the Moon
Soul
The Croods: A New Age
Trolls World Tour
Wolfwalkers

Best Character Animation – Feature
Onward
Soul
The Croods: A New Age
The Willoughbys
Wolfwalkers

Best Character Design – Feature
Soul
The Croods: A New Age
The Willoughbys
Trolls World Tour
Wolfwalkers

Best Direction – Feature
Calamity Jane – Rémi Chayé
Over the Moon – Glen Keane
Ride Your Wave – Masaaki Yuasa
Soul – Pete Docter & Kemp Powers
Wolfwalkers – Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart

Best Music – Feature
Onward
Over the Moon
Soul
The Willoughbys
Wolfwalkers

Best Production Design – Feature
Onward
Soul
The Willoughbys
Trolls World Tour
Wolfwalkers

Best Storyboarding – Feature
Earwig and the Witch
Over the Moon
Soul
The Croods: A New Age
Wolfwalkers

Best Voice Acting – Feature
Earwig and the Witch – Vanessa Marshall (Bella Yaga)
Onward – Tom Holland (Ian Lightfoot)
Over the Moon – Robert G. Chiu (Chin)
The Croods: A New Age, – Nicolas Cage (Grug)
Wolfwalkers – Eva Whittaker (Mebh Óg MacTíre)

Best Writing – Feature
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Mark Burton & Jon Brown
Onward – Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley & Keith Bunin
Over the Moon – Audrey Wells
Soul – Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers
Wolfwalkers – Will Collins

Best Editorial – Feature
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Calamity Jane
Onward
Soul
The Willoughbys

Here Are The Winners of 2020 Artios Awards!


Last night, the Casting Society of America handed out the Artios Awards, honoring the best of 2020.  There is no Academy Award for Best Casting, though I definitely think there should be.  (There should also be an award to honor stunt crews as well.)  For that reason, let’s extend a healthy congratulations to last night’s winners!  Casting directors and associates have a very important job that, quite frankly, doesn’t get as much recognition as it deserves.

Here are the winners:

BIG BUDGET – DRAMA
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
Francine Maisler, Mia Cusumano (Location Casting), Jennifer Rudnicke (Location Casting), Mickie Pascal (Location Casting), Kathy Driscoll-Mohler (Associate), Molly Rose (Associate), AJ Links (Associate)

BIG BUDGET – COMEDY
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
Nancy Bishop

ANIMATION
SOUL
Kevin Reher, Natalie Lyon, Kate Hansen-Birnbaum (Associate)

SHORT FILM
NETUSER
Stephanie Klapper

MICRO BUDGET – COMEDY OR DRAMA
THE SURROGATE
Erica Hart

LOW BUDGET – COMEDY OR DRAMA
MINARI
Julia Kim, Chris Freihofer (Location Casting)

STUDIO OR INDEPENDENT – DRAMA
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Kimberly R. Hardin, Tracy Kilpatrick (Location Casting)

STUDIO OR INDEPENDENT – COMEDY
THE 40-YEAR OLD VERSION
Jessica Daniels

SERIES – DRAMA
SUCCESSION
Avy Kaufman

SERIES – COMEDY
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
Gayle Keller, Jenny Lewis (Location Casting), Sara Kay (Location Casting), Emer O’Callaghan (Associate)

LIMITED SERIES
NORMAL PEOPLE
Louise Kiely

REALITY SERIES
QUEER EYE
Danielle Gervais, Beyhan Oguz, Pamela Vallarelli, Ally Capriotti Grant (Location Casting)

ANIMATION
BIG MOUTH
Julie Ashton

PILOT AND FIRST SEASON – DRAMA
EUPHORIA
Mary Vernieu, Jessica Kelly, Jennifer Venditti, Bret Howe (Associate)

PILOT AND FIRST SEASON – COMEDY
THE GREAT
Rose Wicksteed

FILM, NON-THEATRICAL RELEASE
BAD EDUCATION
Ellen Lewis, Kate Sprance

SHORT FORM SERIES
#FREERAYSHAWN
Jessica Kelly, Mary Vernieu, Brent Caballero (Location Casting)

CHILDREN’S PILOT AND SERIES (LIVE ACTION)
THE BABYSITTER’S CLUB
Amber Horn, Danielle Aufiero, Tiffany Mak (Location Casting)

LIVE PERFORMANCE, VARIETY OR SKETCH COMEDY
A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW
Victoria Thomas

THEATRE TOURS
THE BAND’S VISIT
Tara Rubin, Peter Van Dam

SPECIAL THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE
PRIDE PLAYS
James Calleri, Erica Jensen, Paul Davis

LOS ANGELES THEATRE
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Ryan Bernard Tymensky

REGIONAL THEATRE – MUSICAL
SIX
Tara Rubin, Peter Van Dam

REGIONAL THEATRE – PLAY
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD
Jim Carnahan, Alexandre Bleau

NEW YORK THEATRE – MUSICAL
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Jim Carnahan

NEW YORK THEATRE – PLAY
ALL THE NATALIE PORTMANS
Will Cantler, Destiny Lilly

NEW YORK BROADWAY THEATRE – REVIVAL, PLAY
A SOLDIER’S PLAY
Jim Carnahan

NEW YORK BROADWAY THEATRE – MUSICAL
TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL
Patrick Goodwin, Bernard Telsey, Lauren Harris (Associate)

NEW YORK BROADWAY THEATRE – PLAY
SLAVE PLAY
Taylor WIlliams

Here’s The Trailer For Riders of Justice!


Riders of Justice is a Danish film, featuring Mads Mikkelsen as a soldier who comes home from Afghanistan after his ex-wife is killed in a train crash. When Mikkelsen receives information that the crash was not exactly an accident, he sets out for revenge. Though it may not be obvious from the plot description, Riders of Justice is apparently a dark comedy as well as being a thriller.

Riders of Justice proved to be a pretty popular film when it premiered in Denmark and was even nominated for several Danish film awards. (Again, you might not guess this strictly from reading a description of the film’s plot.) On May 21st, it’s finally going to be released here in the United States. I would suggest seeing the original now so that you can compare it to the inevitable English-language remake with Liam Neeson.

Here’s the trailer!

Here’s The Trailer for Flashback!


I have to be honest.

Whenever I see any trailer for a film featuring Dylan O’Brien, my main reaction is one of relief. It doesn’t matter whether or not the film looks like it’s any good or not. Instead, I’m just relieved that Dylan’s still with us and still making movies. It’s only been five years since O’Brien was seriously injured during the filming The Maze Runner: The Death Cure. At the time, some reports speculated that O’Brien might never act again. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Dylan O’Brien is a good actor but I still don’t feel like he’s quite had his breakthrough film. The Maze Runner, for all of its success, always labored in the shadow of The Hunger Games and the Divergent films. Despite being better than the last few Bourne movies, American Assassin was not a hit. Love and Monsters had the misfortune to be released in the middle of a pandemic. Some day, though, Dylan O’Brien will get a project that will really allow him to show the world what he’s capable of doing.

I don’t know that Flashback is gong to be that project but the trailer certainly looks intriguing and properly creepy. Flashback features O’Brien as a man struggling with an unsolved mystery and literally entering his memories in an attempt to try to solve it. It co-stars Maika Monore and will be released on June 4th!

Here’s the trailer:

Here’s The Trailer for Fast & Furious 9!


Earlier today, a lot of people on twitter got insanely excited when Helen Mirren showed up for a few seconds in the trailer for Fast & Furious 9. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. Even before her casting was announced, Helen Mirren seemed like someone who belonged in a Fast & Furious film.

Personally, I’ve always been a fan of the Fast & Furious films. They’re just so wonderfully over the top while at the same time, in their own strange way, being almost achingly sincere. When Dom starts talking about family, you believe that he means everything that he’s saying. I’m happy that, after being delayed by COVID and to make room for the original release dates for Hobbes & Shaw and No Time To Die, F9 is finally going to be released. While Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham apparently will not be appearing in this film, Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez are back! And it also appears that Lucas Black will also appear in this film. A lesser franchise would have just pretended like Tokyo Drift never happened but the Fast & Furious films have always been surprisingly good when it comes to maintaining continuity from film to film. There’s none of this “Let’s just do a reboot and pretend like 75% of the franchise never happened” attitude. This isn’t Halloween. This is Fast and this is Furious!

Anyway, F9 will finally be released on June 25th and I’m sure that Leonard is already making plans to see it on opening night. I can’t wait to see it myself. Check out the trailer below:

The Minnesota Film Critics Alliance Honors Nomadland


The Minnesota Film Critics Alliance has announced its picks for the best of 2020 and the first three months of 2021!  This is their first year to give out awards so congratulations to them!

Being their inaugural year, this would have been a good opportunity to totally honor something unexpected.  Instead, they honored Nomadland.

Here are the nominee and winners out of Minnesota!

BEST PICTURE
“Da 5 Bloods” Producers Spike Lee, Jon Kilik, Lloyd Levin and Beatriz Levin.
“The Invisible Man” Producers Jason Blum and Kylie Du Fresne.
“Judas and the Black Messiah” Producers Charles King, Ryan Coogler and Shaka King.
“Minari” Producers Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Christina Oh.
WINNER: “Nomadland” Producers Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Dan Janvey, Chloé Zhao and Mollye Asher.
RUNNER-UP: “Promising Young Woman” Producers Ben Browning, Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie, Josey McNamara, Tom Ackerley and Ashley Fox.
“Sound of Metal” Producers Bert Hamelinck, Kathy Benz, Bill Benz and Sacha Ben Harroche.

BEST DIRECTOR
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
RUNNERS-UP: Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Shaka King, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
RUNNERS-UP: Spike Lee, “Da 5 Bloods”
WINNER: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”

BEST ACTOR
RUNNERS-UP: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”
WINNERS TIE: Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
RUNNERS-UP: Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”
WINNERS TIE: Delroy Lindo, “Da 5 Bloods”
RUNNERS-UP: Lakieth Stanfield, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
RUNNERS-UP: Steven Yuen, “Minari”

BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Sidney Flanigan, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”
Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
RUNNER-UP: Elisabeth Moss, “The Invisible Man”
WINNER: Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman, “Da 5 Bloods”
Bo Burnham, “Promising Young Woman”
WINNER: Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Alan Kim, “Minari”
Leslie Odom Jr., “One Night in Miami”
RUNNER-UP: Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
RUNNER-UP: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Movie Film”
Olivia Colman, “The Father”
Dominique Fishback, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
WINNER: Youn Yuh-Jung, “Minari”
Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”

BEST SCREENPLAY
Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee, “Da 5 Bloods”
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
WINNER: Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
Charlie Kaufman, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
RUNNERS-UP: Aaron Sorkin, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
RUNNERS-UP: Leigh Whannell, “The Invisible Man”
RUNNERS-UP: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
WINNER: K.K. Barrett, “Birds of Prey”
RUNNER-UP: Donald Graham Burt, “Mank”
David Crank, “News of the World”
Molly Hughes, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
Peter Francis, “The Father”
Mark Ricker, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Kave Quinn, “Emma”

BEST EDITING
Alan Baumgarten, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
RUNNER-UP: Robert Franzen, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
Adam Gough, “Da 5 Bloods”
WINNER: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, “Sound of Metal”
Kristan Sprague, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Frédéric Thoraval, “Promising Young Woman”
Harry Yoon, “Minari”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
RUNNER-UP: Stefan Duscio, “The Invisible Man”
Lachlan Milne, “Minari”
WINNER: Joshua James Richards, “Nomadland”
Newton Thomas Sigel, “Da 5 Bloods”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” Producer Paul Kewley.
“Onward” Producer Kori Rae.
“Over the Moon” Producers Peilin Chou and Gennie Rim.
RUNNER-UP: “Soul” Producer Dana Murray.
WINNER: “Wolfwalkers” Producers Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, Paul Young and Stephan Roelants.

BEST MUSIC
RUNNER-UP: Terence Blanchard, “Da 5 Bloods”
“Judas and the Black Messiah” Music by Craig Harris and Mark Isham. Featuring the song “Fight for You” by D’Mile and H.E.R., lyrics by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas.”
Emile Mosseri, “Minari”
WINNER: Trent Reznor, Atticus Russ and John Batiste, “Soul”
Benjamin Wallfisch, “The Invisible Man”
Anthony Willis, “Promising Young Woman”

BEST SOUND WORK
“Da 5 Bloods”
“Greyhound”
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things”
RUNNER-UP: “The Invisible Man”
WINNER: “Sound of Metal”

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
“Birds of Prey”
“Greyhound”
WINNER: “The Invisible Man”
“Mank”
“Mulan”
RUNNER-UP: “Tenet”
“Wonder Woman 1984”

The Costume Designers Guild Honors Promising Young Woman and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom


With the Oscars just a little over a week away, there’s still a few precursors to be awarded.  Last night. the Costume Designers Guild announced their picks for the best of 2020.  And here they are:

Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film
“Dolittle” – Jenny Beavan
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” – Michael Wilkinson
“Mulan” – Bina Daigeler
“Pinocchio “– Massimo Cantini Parrini
“Wonder Woman 1984” – Lindy Hemming

Excellence in Contemporary Film
“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” – Trayce Gigi Field
“Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” – Erin Benach
“Da 5 Bloods” – Donna Berwick
“Promising Young Woman” – Nancy Steiner
“The Prom” – Lou Eyrich

Excellence in Period Film
“Emma.” – Alexandra Byrne
“Judas and the Black Messiah” – Charlese Antoinette Jones
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” – Ann Roth
“Mank” – Trish Summerville
“One Night in Miami ” – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

Lisa Reviews An Oscar Nominee: The Citadel (dir by King Vidor)


The 1938 Best Picture nominee, The Citadel, is about a doctor who briefly loses his way but — don’t worry! — he eventually finds it again.

The film opens with the following title card:

This motion picture is a story of individual characterizations and is in no way intended as a reflection on the great medical profession which has done so much towards beating back those forces of nature that retard the physical progress of the human race.

Having gotten that out of the way, it goes on to tell the story of Dr. Andrew Manson (Robert Donat), an idealistic British doctor who serves his apprenticeship in rural England and who eventually ends up in Wales, trying to figure out why all of the miners seem to developing a mysterious cough. Along the way, he marries the always supportive Christine (Rosalind Russell, doing a lot with an underwritten role). Unfortunately, Dr. Manson discovers that being a doctor is not always an easy life. He’s frequently underpaid and underappreciated. His patients are often suspicious and argumentative and the medical establishment is hesitant to accept change. When the frustrated Dr. Manson returns to London, he discovers that he can make a fortune by working as a doctor for the type of wealthy people who are always willing to spend a little extra money on the latest fad treatment. With the encouragement of the decadent Dr. Lawford (Rex Harrison), Manson abandons his old ways and he’s finally able to make some money off of patients who will basically do anything that he tells them to do. However, a personal tragedy forces Manson to reexamine his life and consider why he became a doctor in the first place.

The Citadel is a coming-of-age film, one the follows Dr. Manson from the time when he’s a young doctor in need of a mentor until he himself is the one who is doing the mentoring. It gets off to a bit of a slow start. To be honest, I found Manson’s early apprenticeship to be almost as tedious as Dr. Manson found it to be. Things pick up a bit once Manson is on his own, fighting for the rights of miners or trying to find some sort of ethical justification for only treating the rich. If Robert Donat seems oddly hesitant during the first half of the film, he’s undeniably compelling during the second half. Though Dr. Manson has many scenes in which he rails against ignorance and injustice, Donat wisely resists the temptation to go overboard while portraying his indignation and, as a result, The Citadel never slips into melodrama. Donat doesn’t play Manson as being a crusader but instead as just being an often frustrated professional who knows that he’s being prevented from doing his best work. Director King Vidor, who made several films about thwartded visionaries, was never a particularly subtle director but Donat’s performance goes a long way towards making Vidor’s messianic tendencies tolerable.

Donat gets good support from the rest of the cast, especially Ralph Richardson in the role of his sometimes mentor. That said, Donat is still definitely the main reason to watch The Citadel, which is an uneven thought ultimately worthwhile film. The Citadel is very much a film of 1938 and it’s slow pace, earnest seriousness, and dialogue-heavy style will undoubtedly be an issue for some people watching the film in 2021. Watching a film like The Citadel today requires a willingness to adjust to the aesthetics of a past age. This is a film that will definitely be best-appreciated by those who aren’t unfamiliar with spending an entire weekend watching TCM. But you know what? It’s good to watch old movies. You can’t understand the present or prepare for the future if you’re not willing to look at the past.

The Academy nominated The Citadel for Best Picture. It was one of the first British films to be so honored (though not the first, that honor went to The Private Life of Henry VIII). However, it lost to Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You. Though Robert Donat lost the Oscar for Best Actor to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town, he would be rewarded the very next year for his performance in Goodbye Mr. Chips. Among those who Donat defeated was Clark Gable, nominated for playing Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, a characters that Margaret Mitchell always said she envisioned as being played by Robert Donat.