Here Are The 2024 Nominations of the Michigan Movie Critics Guild!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Michigan Movie Critics Guild have announced their nominations for the best of 2024.  The winners will be announced on December 9th!

Best Picture
Anora
The Brutalist
Dune: Part Two
The Substance
Wicked

Best Director
Sean Baker – Anora
Jon M. Chu – Wicked
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Robert Eggers – Nosferatu
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance

Best Actress
Amy Adams – Nightbitch
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Nicole Kidman – Babygirl
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance

Best Actor
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Daniel Craig – Queer
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Hugh Grant – Heretic

Best Supporting Actress
Ariana Grande-Butera – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Natasha Lyonne – His Three Daughters
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

Best Supporting Actor
Yura Burisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Adam Pearson – A Different Man
Denzel Washington – Gladiator II

Best Animated Film
Flow
Inside Out 2
Piece By Piece
Transformers One
The Wild Robot

Best Documentary
Daughters
Music By John Williams
No Other Land
Piece By Piece
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper

Best Ensemble
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Saturday Night
Wicked

Best Screenplay (Adapted or Original)
Anora
The Brutalist
Challengers
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

Breakthrough Award
Mikey Madison – Actress for Anora
Giovanni Ribisi – Cinematographer for Strange Darling
Jane Schoenbrun – Director for I Saw the TV Glow
Maisy Stella – Actress for My Old Ass
Zelda Williams – Director for Lisa Frankenstein

Stunts
Deadpool & Wolverine
The Fall Guy
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Kill
Monkey Man
Road House

The MMCG Award for Film Excellence (presented to a filmmaker, writer, actor, crew member, etc., who has Michigan ties or to a film made or set in Michigan)
The Fire Inside (Set in Flint, and lead actress Ryan Destiny is a Detroit native)
Francis Ford Coppola (Writer/Director of Megalopolis)
Hundreds of Beavers (Partially filmed in Michigan)
Keegan-Michael Key (Actor in IF, Transformers One & Dear Santa)
J.K. Simmons (Actor in Saturday Night, Red One and Juror #2)

The Seattle Film Critics Society Announced Their Nominees For The Best of 2024

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Seattle Film Critics Society has announced their nominations for the best of 2024!  The winners will be announced on December 16th!

BEST PICTURE
Anora – Sean Baker
The Beast – Bertrand Bonello
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
Challengers – Luca Guadagnino
Conclave – Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – George Miller
I Saw the TV Glow – Jane Schoenbrun
Sing Sing – Greg Kwedar
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

DIRECTOR
Sean Baker – Anora
Bertrand Bonello – The Beast
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Part Two

LEAD ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Keith Kupferer – Ghostlight
George MacKay – The Beast

LEAD ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Léa Seydoux – The Beast

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Chris Hemsworth – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Josh O’Connor – Challengers
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Joan Chen – Dìdi (弟弟)
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave

ENSEMBLE
Anora – Sean Baker
Conclave – Nina Gold and Martin Ware
Dune: Part Two – Dixie Chassay and Francine Maisler
His Three Daughters – Nicole Arbusto
Sing Sing – Greg Kwedar

PACIFIC NORTHWEST FILM
All We Carry – Cady Voge
Fish War – Jeff Ostenson, Charles Atkinson, and Skylar Wagner
Gasoline Rainbow – Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
Rainier: A Beer Odyssey – Isaac Olsen
Strange Darling – J.T. Mollner

INTERNATIONAL FILM
The Beast – Bertrand Bonello
Evil Does Not Exist – Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Flow – Gints Zilbalodis
Red Rooms – Pascal Plante
The Seed of the Sacred Fig – Mohammad Rasoulof

DOCUMENTARY FILM
Dahomey – Mati Diop
No Other Land – Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui
Will & Harper – Josh Greenbaum

ANIMATED FILM
Flow – Gints Zilbalodis
Inside Out 2 – Kelsey Mann
Transformers One – Josh Cooley
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park
The Wild Robot – Chris Sanders

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Simon Duggan
Nickel Boys – Jomo Fray
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke

EDITING
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Dávid Jancsó
Dune: Part Two – Joe Walker
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Eliot Knapman and Margaret Sixel
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat, Jérôme Eltabet, and Valentin Feron

SCREENPLAY
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
Conclave – Peter Straughan
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist – Judy Becker (Production Design)
Conclave – Suzie Davies (Production Design) | Cynthia Sleiter (Set Decoration)
Dune: Part Two – Patrice Vermette (Production Design) | Shane Vieau (Set Decoration)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Colin Gibson (Production Design) | Katie Sharrock (Set Decoration)
Wicked – Nathan Crowley (Production Design) | Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

COSTUME DESIGN
Conclave – Lisy Christl
Dune: Part Two – Jacqueline West
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Jenny Beavan
Nosferatu – Linda Muir
Wicked – Paul Tazewell

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
Challengers – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Conclave – Volker Bertelmann
Evil Does Not Exist – Eiko Ishibashi
The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers

ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY
Dune: Part Two – Lee Morrison (Stunt Coordinator) | Roger Yuan (Fight Choreographer)
The Fall Guy – Chris O’Hara and Keir Beck (Stunt Coordinator) | Jonathan Eusebio (Fight Choreographer)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Tim Wong (Stunt Coordinator) | Richard Norton (Fight Choreographer)
Monkey Man – Udeh Nans (Stunt Coordinator) | Brahim Achabbakhe (Fight Choreographer)
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In – Kenji Tanigaki (Stunt Coordinator)

VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune: Part Two – Paul Lambert, Stephen James, and Rhys Salcombe
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Andrew Jackson and Dan Bethell
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – Erik Winquist and Sean Noel Walker
The Substance – Bryan Jones and Guillaume Le Gouez
Wicked – Anthony Smith, Jonathan Fawkner, Pablo Helman, and Robert Weaver

YOUTH PERFORMANCE
Alyla Browne – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Katherine Mallen Kupferer – Ghostlight
Izaac Wang – Dìdi (弟弟)
Alisha Weir – Abigail
Zoe Ziegler – Janet Planet

VILLAIN OF THE YEAR
Count Orlok – Nosferatu (as portrayed by Bill Skarsgård)
Dementus – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (as portrayed by Chris Hemsworth)
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen – Dune: Part Two (as portrayed by Austin Butler)
Longlegs – Longlegs (as portrayed by Nicolas Cage)
Macrinus – Gladiator II (as portrayed by Denzel Washington)

Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix For After Hours!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and 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, #FridayNightFlix presents Martin Scorsese’s After Hours!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

After Hours is available on Prime!  See you there!

THE DEAD POOL – the 5th and final Dirty Harry adventure!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Dirty Harry Callahan has brought so much joy into my life. I remember when I was in 5th Grade in 1983, the hot phrase was “Go ahead. Make my day.” You heard that phrase everywhere. It may have been said by Dirty Harry in the 4th Harry Callahan adventure, SUDDEN IMPACT, but it transcended the movie and became a cultural phenomenon. Somewhere between 1983 and 1988, I was able to watch all of the Dirty Harry films, DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, THE ENFORCER and SUDDEN IMPACT. I just loved Harry. He was always sticking it to his superiors, and then doing whatever it took to take out the bad guys. That was an amazing combination for me. I was 14 years old when the 5th and final Dirty Harry film, THE DEAD POOL, was released into the theaters in July of 1988. This was the first Dirty Harry film to be released after our family got our VCR in the mid 80’s. I couldn’t wait to rent it. 

In THE DEAD POOL, Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) finds himself the target of crime boss Lou Janero, as Harry was crucial in his arrest and subsequent conviction. This high profile news story has caught the attention of the horror film director, Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). It’s seems Swan and some of his friends are playing a twisted game called “the dead pool” where they predict the deaths of certain celebrities based on various factors going on in their lives. Harry Callahan is a local celebrity and Swan includes him on his list due to his role in the Janero conviction. This “dead pool” game is leaked to reporter Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) after the murder of Johnny Squares (Jim Carrey), who’s on Peter Swan’s list. As celebrities who are on Swan’s list continue to die, Harry and his partner Al Kwan (Evan C. Kim) try to figure out if Swan is behind the killings, or if someone else is trying to frame him, all while trying to keep themselves alive!

There are so many cool and interesting things about THE DEAD POOL. First, there has never been a character any more awesome than Harry Callahan, as played by Clint Eastwood. He will do whatever it takes to get the bad guys, regardless of what his superiors think. As a rule follower, I absolutely love Harry’s approach to life and live vicariously through him. Only vigilante Paul Kersey, played by Charles Bronson in the DEATH WISH films, rivals Callahan in his willingness to fight for justice, everyone else be damned! Second, future superstar actor Jim Carrey has the role of Johnny Squares, the drug-addicted rocker whose death kicks off the public’s knowledge of the dead pool. In hindsight, it’s fun seeing Carrey as a working actor in 1988, while also knowing that he’d become one of the biggest stars in the world over the next decade. It’s also pretty cool seeing a pre-superstar Liam Neeson as horror director Peter Swan. Third, in the late 80’s, I loved the rock group Guns N Roses. The group members are in this film in two places. They’re in the sequence where a harpoon stunt goes wrong, as well as at the funeral of Johnny Squares. Hell, guitarist Slash gets to fire the harpoon! Their hit song “Welcome to the Jungle” also has a prominent part in the film. I loved their other hits “Sweet Child of Mine,” and “Paradise City,” when I was a teenager. Fourth, I always love Harry’s catchphrases from the films. Each Dirty Harry film has its own catchphrase, including examples like “Do you feel lucky?” and “Go ahead. Make my day.” In THE DEAD POOL, various bad guys get “you’re shit out of luck.” Shit is a favorite curse word of my family, so I like this one. Fifth, THE DEAD POOL has a crazy car chase sequence. In this sequence, Harry and his partner Al Kwan find themselves chased by a remote-controlled car packing a bomb. It makes for some interesting visuals as the tiny car chases them through those familiar streets of San Francisco. It’s not often that filmmakers can come up with a new way to present a car chase, but they do a great job here. Finally, I enjoy seeing the media getting skewered in THE DEAD POOL. Patricia Clarkson’s reporter character has a solid arc as she goes from someone at the beginning of the movie who will do anything to get an exclusive story, to someone who is even willing to forego the exclusive if it’s the “right thing to do.” Our media is a hopeless mess these days where opinion is treated as facts, and actual facts are treated as an option. Where’s Dirty Harry to clean this up in 2024? 

I’m a fan of THE DEAD POOL, and I probably watch it every year or two. If you haven’t ever seen it, or if it’s been a while, I’d definitely recommend it! 

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 3.4 “Another Kind of War, Another Kind of Peace”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee and several other services!

This week, Jonathan and Mark bring together a family.

Episode 3.4 “Another Kind of War, Another Kind of Peace”

(Dir by Dan Gordon, originally aired on October 15th, 1986)

Clancy (Eugene Roche) is an old man who has never gotten over the death of his son in Vietnam.  He lives alone in an apartment in Los Angeles.  His only friend is Guido Liggio (Ernest Borgnine), an Italian taxi driver who lives next door.  Guido, who came to this country as a refugee during World War II, is the type of salt-of-the-Earth character who says stuff like, “Clancy, how come you no be a-nice to the people?”  And Clancy is the type of bitter old man who says stuff like, “Don’t ask me for money, ya bum!”

Jonathan and Mark show up at Clancy’s apartment and inform him that they work for an agency that brings refugees to the United States.  They explain that Clancy’s son had a child in Vietnam.  Now, both Clancy’s grandchild and the grandchild’s mother are in the United States and they need somewhere to stay.  Clancy is angered by the news, claiming that the mother is lying and just trying to get into the country.  But eventually, he agrees to allow Lan Nguyen (Haunani Minn) and Michael Nguyen (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) to stay in his apartment.  He even agrees to give Michael lunch money so that Michael won’t starve at school.  Otherwise, Clancy says that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with either of them.

Guido, on the other hand, is more than willing to host Lan and Michael.  He’s a refugee himself and, even more importantly, he’s everyone’s favorite character actor, Ernest Borgnine!  But Jonathan and Mark understand that their assignment is to bring together Clancy and his grandson.  Guido is a nice guy but he’s not Michael’s grandfather.

At school, a bully (Adam Gifford) is stealing Michael’s lunch money.  When Michael says that he needs the money for food, the bully threatens to hurt Clancy.  What a jerk!  Seriously, check out this totally 80s bully:

When the principal tells Mark and Jonathan that Michael has been spending his lunchtime searching for food in the school dumpsters, Jonathan tells Clancy.  Clancy, angered that his money is being wasted, heads down to the school and confronts the bully.  Jonathan briefly gives Clancy and Michael “the stuff,” which allows them to beat up the bully and his entire gang.  This experience brings grandson and grandfather together.  So, I guess the message here is that violence is the answer.  Forget about that turning the other cheek stuff.  Instead, just throw your bully through a car window.

This episode was pretty much what most people picture when they think of a typical Highway to Heaven episode.  It was unabashedly sentimental and a bit simplistic in its approach.  It was earnest enough to be likable though a bit too heavy-handed for its own good.  Any show that features Ernest Borgnine as a special guest star is not exactly going to deliver anything resembling a subtle story.  While this episode was never quite as good as I wanted it to be, I was still glad that Michael and his mother found a home.

Retro Television Review: Malibu, CA 1.20 “The Older Woman”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Malibu CA, which aired in Syndication in 1998 and 1999.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week, things get even dumber than usual.  Forever summer!

Episode 1.20 “The Older Woman”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on April 11th, 1999)

Tracyee wants to try to out for the Lakers cheerleading squad.  Unfortunately, she makes the mistake of sharing her plans with Samantha and Stads, both of whom are morally offended that Tracyee would actually want to do something that could bring her 1) a steady income and 2) the fame that she’s desperately been searching for since this show started.  Stads and Sam both declare cheerleading to be sexist and degrading.  However, when they find out that the auditions will be televised, they decide to try out so that they can denounce the Lakers on television.

(Of course, unless the try-outs are being aired live, it’s probable that anything Samantha or Stads said would have been edited out of the program.  Add to that, it doesn’t seem to occur to either one of them that they would also probably be ruining Traycee’s chance of making the squad as well.)

Now, I should point out that this is just the B-story.  Only a few scenes are devoted to Murray training Sam, Stads, and Traycee before their try-outs.  In the end, Murray is such a good coach that he’s the one hired for the cheerleading squad.  The most (and really the only) interesting thing about this B-story is that it shows just how unlikeable and one-dimensional both Sam and Stads became as the first season progressed.  There’s really no reason for them to even involve themselves in Traycee’s quest to become a Lakers Girl.  Traycee indicates that she knows that it’s all sexist and exploitive but — and this is key — she doesn’t care.  As soon as Traycee indicates that she doesn’t care, that’s the signal for Stads and Sam to back off.

(One of the consistent things about all of the teen sitcoms produced by Peter Engel was that feminists, whether they were Jessie Spano on Saved By The Bell or Julie on Hang Time, were always portrayed as being shrill, humorless, and, worst of all, hypocritical.)

As for the main plot — hey, it’s stupid too!  In fact, it’s both stupid and creepy!  Peter has hired a graphic artist named Laura (Odile Corso) to redesign the restaurant’s menus.  Peter seems to like Laura and Jason decides that he’s going to help his father get laid.  (He doesn’t put it that way but that’s still the general idea.)  However, while Jason is trying to convince his father to ask out Laura, Laura decides to ask out Jason.

This is a bit awkward, seeing as how Jason is supposed to be a high school student!  Even worse, the episode ends with Peter explaining that Laura was too young for him and suggesting that Jason should have asked her out.  Again, why would a successful and attractive woman in her mid-to-late 20s want to date a shallow high school student who works in his father’s restaurant?  This is not the first time that I’ve wondered if this show’s writers remembered that Jason and Scott were established, at the start of the season, as being high school students.  Then again, even if Jason wasn’t a high school student, he would still be a sociopathic nepo baby so maybe Laura just has bad taste in general.  As for Peter, he ends up dating a dentist, who is played by Deborah Shelton (who, in presumably better times, had a key role in Brian DePalma’s Body Double).

This was a dumb episode, even by the standards of Malibu, CA.

 

The AFI Announces Their Top Ten Of 2024!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The American Film Institute has announced it’s top ten films of 2024.  And here they are!

AFI MOTION PICTURES OF THE YEAR

ANORA
THE BRUTALIST
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
CONCLAVE
DUNE: PART TWO
EMILIA PÉREZ
NICKEL BOYS
A REAL PAIN
SING SING
WICKED

AFI is considered to be one of the best precursors out there.  Though there have been some notable exceptions, the Academy’s Best Picture line-up tends to include the majority of the AFI’s list.  Typically, there will be maybe one or two nominees that didn’t appear on the AFI list but, with the way this year is playing out, I would not be surprised if the AFI goes 10/10 as far as predicting the 2024 Best Picture nominees is concerned.

So, that’s definitely good news for all the films listed above.  And it’s bad news for Gladiator II, Saturday Night, September 5, Juror #2, and all of the other potential nominees that did not make the AFI cut.

FAST-WALKING – James Woods and Kay Lenz light up the screen!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

One of the first movies I ever watched starring James Woods is COP. It’s a 1988 action thriller about a police detective on the trail of a serial killer. I really enjoyed the movie, which was directed by James B. Harris. Harris is a producer and director whose various credits include THE KILLING (1956), PATHS OF GLORY (1957), LOLITA (1962) and TELEFON (1977, with Charles Bronson). Harris also directed James Woods in a movie from 1981 called FAST-WALKING. 

FAST-WALKING is about a prison guard named Frank “Fast-Walking” Minniver. He loves to smoke pot and dream about a future life in a beautiful part of Oregon. In order to make that move, though, he needs to make some money. When a black revolutionary named William Galliot is transferred to his prison, he finds himself with some options, as he receives offers of money from two different sides. On one side is his cousin Wasco, a prison trustee who offers Fast-Walking $25,000 to kill the revolutionary as part of a staged prison race riot. On the other side is Galliot’s own people who offer him a bag of money containing $50,000 if he’ll help Galliot escape. The biggest obstacle to taking the bigger payday is that Wasco threatens to kill Fast-Walking’s lady love Moke, if he doesn’t make the right choice.

The cast is phenomenal in FAST-WALKING beginning with James Woods as the title character. In his best roles, Woods is somewhat morally ambiguous, and we hope he makes the right decisions at the end. This definitely fits that mold. Kay Lenz was sexy as hell as Moke. We’re not supposed to be sure if she’s just using Fast-Walking or if she truly loves him. She plays that balance well. In a surprising turn of events, M. Emmet Walsh gives the most memorable performance of his career, and it doesn’t have a thing to do with his acting. Rather, he does a full frontal nude scene. I’d like to forget this performance, but it’s burned into my psyche at this point. Tim McIntire was the revelation to me, though, as Fast-Walking’s inmate cousin Wasco. This is the only role I really know him from, and he absolutely nails it. The fate of his character is one of the most satisfying parts of the entire film. Unfortunately, McIntire would suffer from drug and alcohol addiction and would pass away a few years after completing his role in FAST-WALKING. I can’t help but think there could have been more great performances if his career would have been longer. 

I recommend FAST-WALKING. It’s not a perfect film, but James Woods, Kay Lenz, and Tim McIntire all make it worth watching.