TV Review: The Dropout 1.8 “Lizzy” (dir by Erica Watson)

Posted on April 7, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Below, you will find spoilers for the final episode of The Dropout. I would recommend not reading this post until you’ve watched the episode.)

After all the drama and the deception, The Dropout ended the only way that it could, with Theranos in ruins, Sunny out of Elizabeth’s life, and Elizabeth still unable to comprehend why everyone got upset with her in the first place. While George Schultz tries to come to terms with his mistakes and Erika Cheung worries about whether or not she’s ruined her future career by coming out as a whistleblower, Elizabeth tries to do damage control by forcing Sunny out of Theranos and then going on television for a cringey interview that pretty much seals her fate. Both David Boies and Linda Tanner (Michaela Watkins, who became the unexpected heart of this episode) tell Elizabeth that it’s important that she come across as being contrite and sincerely “devastated” by Sunny’s actions. Elizabeth, however, can’t do it. As she explains to her mother, Elizabeth has been locking away her emotions for so long that she no longer knows how to express or even feel them.

The end of the episode finds Elizabeth finally pursuing the life that she would have led if she hadn’t dropped out of Stanford, started Theranos, and gotten involved with Sunny. She’s dating a younger man. She’s going to Burning Man. She owns a dog. She’s ditched the turtleneck. She’s let her hair down. She’s speaking in her real voice. She’s going by “Lizzie.” She’s reverted back to being the somewhat flakey child of privilege that she was at the start of the miniseries. Even while Linda Tanner confronts her with the number of lives that she and Theranos destroyed, Elizabeth doesn’t break her stride. Elizabeth has decided that she’s moved on, even if no one else can. It’s only when she’s alone that she briefly allow her composure to crack, just long enough to scream into the void.

Of course, the final title card informs us that it doesn’t matter how much Elizabeth wants to be Lizzie, the girl who goes to Burning Man with her boyfriend. Having been convicted of defrauding her investors, Elizabeth Holmes is currently awaiting her sentencing. She could end up spending the next twenty years in prison. And, just as Phyllis Gardner predicted in the previous episode, Elizabeth has made it difficult for other female entrepreneurs to find success in Silicon Valley.

As the episode came to a close, with Elizabeth walking through the now empty offices of Theranos with her dog and an increasingly agitated Linda, I found myself thinking about how those offices progressed through the series. Theranos went from a shabby office building in the worst part of town to being the epitome of Silicon Valley chic. In the early episodes, the cluttered Theranos offices and labs were disorganized but there was also a very sincere earnestness to them. Men like Ian Gibbons actually believed in what they were doing. By the fourth episode, Theranos transformed into a secretive place that was fueled by paranoia. With each subsequent episode, the offices became a bit less individualistic and bit more joyless. In the final episode, the offices were dark and deserted, as empty as Elizabeth and Sunny’s promises. Looking at those offices, it was hard not to mourn the lost idealism of those early days. Sunny may have never shared that idealism. The miniseries suggests that Elizabeth lost her idealism as soon as she finally started to get the positive publicity that she craved. But the people who were there at the beginning believed in Theranos and its stated mission. Even Elizabeth’s early investors were taking a chance because they thought she could make the world a better place. In the end, Elizabeth and Sunny betrayed all of them. As I said at the start of this review, The Dropout ended the only way that it could, with an empty office, a lot of broken hearts, and Elizabeth Holmes convinced that the world had somehow failed her. Viewers may never fully understand what was going on in Elizabeth Holmes’s mind but they’ll never forget her or the story of Theranos.

The Dropout was a good miniseries, probably the best that we’ll see this year. This is a miniseries that better be remembered come Emmy time. Amanda Seyfried seems to be a lock to at least get a nomination. Naveen Andrews deserves consideration as well. The supporting cast provides an embarrassment of riches. Sam Waterston, Dylan Minnette, Kurtwood Smith, Michaela Watkins, William H. Macy, the great Stephen Fry, Camryn Mi-Young Kim, Kate Burton, Anne Archer, and Laurie Metcalf, all of them are award-worthy. Give them the Emmy campaign that they deserve, Hulu!

TV Review: The Dropout 1.6 “Iron Sisters” (dir by Francesca Gregorini)

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week’s episode of The Dropout opens with Elizabeth Holmes staring at a camera.

She’s got the black turtleneck on. She’s speaking in the voice. She’s doing the un-blinking stare. She’s a bit awkward whenever she has to talk to anyone but that awkwardness now feels much more calculated than it did when we first met her. Offscreen, we hear the voice of famed documentarian Errol Morris telling her which camera to look at. Elizabeth tells Morris that she’s a huge fan of his work. Though we don’t see Morris’s reaction, he certainly sounds thrilled by the compliment. Of course, those of us who have been watching The Dropout from the start and who have also watched Alex Gibney’s documentary about Holmes, can guess what it probably the truth. In all probability, Elizabeth Holmes had never seen any of Errol Morris’s documentaries. For the most part, Elizabeth Holmes doesn’t appear to have had many interests beyond maintaining her carefully constructed public persona. When Errol Morris makes mention of friends, a look of confusion crosses Elizabeth’s face. Friendship is something that can only be shared between real people and, at this point, there’s nothing real about Elizabeth Holmes.

Friendship is a recurring theme throughout the sixth episode of The Dropout. In fact, the episode returns so frequently to the theme that, for all of the show’s strengths, it actually runs the risk of getting a bit heavy-handed. George and Charlotte Schultz are busy preparing Elizabeth’s 30th birthday party and they ask Elizabeth who they should invite. They ask her who her friends are. Elizabeth laughs and replies that the Schultzes are her friends. The Schultzes laugh it off but to Elizabeth, her relationship with the Schultzes and the other members of the Board are really the only thing that she has. For her, friendship is all about the validation of being praised by older, powerful people and, as this episode shows, men like George Schultz had a need to feel as if they were supporting her “good” work and ensuring that their final legacy will be a positive one. Mix that with the stubborn refusal to admit to one’s mistake when one is old, wealthy, and well-connected and the end result is the type of environment that’s perfect for someone like Elizabeth Holmes.

Indeed, the only vaguely real relationship that Elizabeth has is with Sunny and that relationship is one that she insists on keeping a secret. (Though Charlotte instinctively understands what’s going on with Elizabeth and Sunny, George is clueless and complains, to Elizabeth, that Sunny just doesn’t have enough class. In this case, George is right.) In this episode, we see a bit more of Elizabeth and Sunny’s life together. Sunny is resentful and manipulative. Elizabeth needs him because she needs someone to actually be the bad boss while she’s busy shooting commercials and hanging out with the board of directors. They enable each other, with Elizabeth almost using Sunny’s amorality as a shield from having to deal with the consequences of her own behavior. If Elizabeth seems to be in deep denial about the extent of her fraud, Sunny seems to be convinced that he will always be able to outsmart anyone who tries to uncover the truth. (Of course, as the show has repeatedly demonstrated, Sunny isn’t really that smart.)

Meanwhile, over the course of the episode, a much more unlikely friendship develops between Richard Fuisz, Phyllis Gardner, and Rochelle Gibbons. All three of them are linked by a common desire to see Elizabeth revealed as a fraud. Richard feels that Elizabeth treated him disrespectfully, Phyllis is offended by Elizabeth’s faux feminism, and Rochelle saw first-hand how Elizabeth and Sunny drove her husband to suicide. Throughout the episode, the three of them try to get a Wall Street Journal reporter interested in the story but they struggle to find concrete evidence of Elizabeth’s fraud. William H. Macy, Kate Burton, and especially Laurie Metcalf brought some much-needed moral clarity to last night’s episode. In the past, I’ve complained that, as played by William H. Macy, Richard was almost too cartoonish to be believed but, as of last night’s episode, I stand corrected. Richard is just as socially clueless as Elizabeth but, unlike Elizabeth, he has no idea how to use that to his advantage. Instead of being cartoonish, Macy’s performance is instead a perfect counterpoint to Amanda Seyfried’s more tightly controlled performance as Elizabeth.

And finally, the episode’s most important friendship was the friendship between two new Theranos employees, Tyler Schultz (Dylan Minette) and Erika Cheung (Camryn Mi-Young Kim). Erika began the episode in awe of Elizabeth, just to discover that Theranos was faking results and that the Edison was just a repurposed Siemen machine. Tyler and Erika took on the role of whistleblowers, just to discover that no one — especially not Tyler’s grandfather, George — had any interest in listening. In the end, they both ended up losing the jobs. That’s not a big deal for Tyler, who is a scion of the establishment. For Erika, an idealist who shared much in common with the pre-Theranos Elizabeth Holmes, it’s very much a big deal. As this episode makes clear, people will look the other way if it means being able to pay the rent and put food on the table. It takes true bravery to do the right thing when you actually need the job, as Erika does. Erika does the right thing and asks the right question and ends up by escorting out of Theranos by security guards.

There was a lot going on in this week’s episode but, ultimately, what I’ll always remember was Elizabeth’s birthday party, which featured the elderly members of the American establishment all wearing expressionless Elizabeth Holmes masks. It was a sight of almost Cronenbergian horror. Things only got more awkward as Elizabeth and George demanded that Tyler sing a song that he had written in honor of her birthday. Of course, by this point, Tyler knew that Elizabeth was a fraud and Elizabeth knew that Tyler knew. It was truly a moment of supreme cringiness but also one that apparently actually happened.

The episode ends as it began, with Elizabeth Holmes staring straight at a camera and announcing that Theranos is the future. #IronSisters!

TV Review: The Dropout 1.5 “Flower of Life” (dir by Francesca Gregorini)

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Who was Elizabeth Holmes?

Was she an idealist who got in over her head and ended up cutting corners with the best of intentions?

Was she a con artist who simply lied for the money?

Was she the abused and manipulated partner in a crime that masterminded by Sunny Balwani?

Or was she a sociopath who was simply incapable of feeling any empathy for the people that she manipulated and, in some cases, destroyed?

That’s the question that’s been at the heart of the first five episodes of The Dropout. It’s also a question that the show’s version of Elizabeth Holmes (played, brilliantly, by Amanda Seyfried) is struggling with. One gets the feeling that she herself doesn’t full understand what’s going on inside of her head. For the first half of the episode 5, Holmes is an almost sympathetic character. Still desperate for Sunny’s approval and seemingly convinced that Theranos can come up with some magic spell that will actually make the Edison work, Elizabeth comes across as being more self-delusional than malicious. For the first half of the episode, it’s like we’re watching the socially awkward but earnest Elizabeth who we first met at the beginning of the series. At her uncle’s funeral, she asks her mother if she ever had any hobbies when she was younger and her mom can only list several competitive activities that Elizabeth took part in. But, as becomes clear, Elizabeth never did anything just for fun or just for enjoyment. Instead, everything the she’s always done has been a part of an obsessive need to not only prove her own abilities but to also prove that she’s superior to other people.

Perhaps this strange mix of a grandiose self-image and gnawing insecurity is why she simply cannot bring herself to settle the lawsuit that’s been brought against her by Richard Fuisz (William H. Macy). Instead, with the help of her newest mentor, George Shultz (Sam Waterston), Elizabeth brings in David Boies (Kurtwood Smith). Boies is one of the leading lawyers in the United States. Before getting involved with Theranos, Boies tried to put Al Gore in the White House. After his involvement with Theranos, Boies tried to keep Harvey Weinstein out of jail. Boies failed on both accounts but he was far more successful when it came to battling Fuisz’s lawsuit. One of the key scenes in the episode comes when Schultz mentions that he and Boies are on different sides politically but that they’re willing to come together to protect Theranos. It doesn’t matter that Schultz is a Republican and Boies is a Democrat. What matters is that they’re both a member of the elite and Theranos, with its prestigious board of directors, is now a part of the elite as well. Richard Fuisz, with his terrible haircut and his excitable manner, is far too gauche to be allowed to defeat Theranos.

Indeed, Elizabeth spends most of this episode worrying about the lawsuit and also what might happen if Ian Gibbons (Stephen Fry) is called to testify. Gibbons’s name is on all of Theranos’s patents, along with Elizabeth’s. Gibbons is perhaps the one person who can testify that Elizabeth had nothing to do with designing any of Theranos’s equipment. When we first see Theranos’s legal team pressuring Ian to sign a statement saying that, as an alcoholic, he can’t testify, we’re left to wonder whether the team is working at the direction of Sunny, Boies, or Elizabeth. When Ian points out that signing such a statement will end his career, no one seems to care. Ian Gibbons goes home, plays with his dogs, listens to his favorite opera, says goodnight to his wife, and then kills himself.

Elizabeth’s reaction to Ian’s death tells us all we need to know about her and it pretty much erases whatever sympathy we may have had for her. She’s a bit like a robot, trying to generate the “right” emotions but not quite sure the proper way to do it. When told that Ian is dead and that the lawsuit is apparently dead as well, Elizabeth focuses on the finger puppets that she wants to stock in the Theranos Wellness Centers. The puppets are for children to wear after getting their finger pricked but they’re also a part of Elizabeth’s fantasy world, a world where Theranos will be fine and she’ll be as famous and beloved as Steve Jobs. And if that means that the Edison had to be built with technology with Sunny stole from another company, so be it.

The episode ends with Brendan (Bashir Salahuddin) quitting the company and George Schultz’s nephew, Tyler (Dylan Minnette), starting his first day. Using her fake voice, Elizabeth gives a speech to her cult-like employees. She talks about her uncle’s death and how it effected her and we know that it’s all a lie but Elizabeth sells it. The only disconcerting note comes from Sunny, who can’t stop himself from casually threatening to fire anyone who doesn’t share Elizabeth’s version. They’re a team. Elizabeth knows how to sell Theranos. Sunny knows how to terrify anyone who asks too many questions.

This was the first episode of the series to not be directed by Michael Showalter. Instead, it was directed by Francesca Gregorini and there are a few scenes where you really do miss Showalter’s ability to balance the absurd with the dramatic. That said, this episode worked due to the performances of not only Seyfriend and Naveen Andrews but also William H. Macy, Kurtwood Smith, and especially Stephen Fry. Fry especially broke my heart, even though I knew enough about the real story of Theranos that I already knew that Gibbons was going to take his own life. Still, Fry plays the role with such a wounded dignity that you are left with no doubt that Gibbons was the last of the true believers. He gave his life for Theranos and, in the end, Theranos gave him nothing in return.

The episode ends with Richard calling Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf), who was last seen telling a very young Elizabeth that there was no way to make the idea behind Theranos a reality. Phyllis tells Richard that Elizabeth is a fraud. And I have to admit that, as a viewer who had just spent 50 minutes with Elizabeth Holes and Sunny Balwani and David Boies, it was nice to hear someone come straight out and say it.

Next week, Tyler Schultz starts working at Theranos and he discovers that everything is not as it seems! It’s the beginning of the end for Theranos and I’m looking forward to watching it all come down.

TV Review: The Dropout 1.4 “Old White Men” (dir by Michael Showalter)

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

If the first three episodes of Hulu’s The Dropout occasionally seemed as if they might be a bit too sympathetic to Elizabeth Holmes (played, brilliantly so far, by Amanda Seyfried), the fourth episode presented us with Elizabeth in full supervillian mode.

Gone was the socially awkward but well-meaning Elizabeth. Now speaking with her trademark deep voice, wearing her black turtlenecks, and possessing the wide-eyed stare of someone who rarely blinks, Elizabeth spent the fourth episode conning Walgreens into investing in her worthless blood testing machine. When she wasn’t manipulating the Walgreens execs, she was coldly firing poor Ian Gibbons (Stephen Fry) and only bringing him back after the rest of the lab team threatened to quit in protest. Of course, it wasn’t Elizabeth who placed the call to Ian and asked him to return. It was Sunny (Naveen Andrews) and, when Ian returned, he was taken out of the lab and given a desk job.

Yes, it quickly became obvious that Theranos had changed a lot since the previous episode. Security was everywhere, befitting a company that claimed to have come up with revolutionary technology. People in different departments were not allowed to talk to each other. The earnest and free-wheeling atmosphere had been replaced by a slick but curiously impersonal office. Even the quote from Yoda now felt out of place. Yoda would have been fired for asking too many questions.

Of course, the majority of the episode dealt with Elizabeth and Sunny’s attempts to sell their “wellness center” concept to Walgreens. It was an obvious con but the Walgreens execs eventually fell for it. One of them, Jay Rosen (Alan Ruck), fell victim to Elizabeth’s flattery and a belief that Elizabeth represented the future. (In a rather endearing scene, Jay compared Elizabeth to a Katy Perry song.) Another exec, Wade Miquelon (Josh Pais), initially understood that Theranos’s claims were too good to be true but, ultimately, he set aside his concerns when it appeared that Theranos might make a profitable deal with CVS instead. Only Kevin Hunter (Rich Sommer) was able to see through Theranos and, ultimately, his concerns were ignored. Ruck, Pais, and Sommer were all wonderfully cast and they all did a good job of showing how Elizabeth, Sunny, and Theranos were able to con so many people who should have known better. By the end of the episode, Elizabeth has tricked former Secretary of State George Shultz (Sam Waterston, radiating gravitas as only he can) into joining the Board of Directors. While the Walgreens corporate leaders performed an endearingly dorky version of What I Like About You, Kevin Hunter curiously looked at the Edison blood testing machine and Elizabeth coldly looked at him.

After being so disappointed with both Inventing Anna and Pam & Tommy, I resolved to be a little bit more cautious when it comes to overpraising the early episodes of The Dropout. And I do think you could probably make the argument that devoting an entire episode to Walgreens is an example of how a miniseries will occasionally drag a story out and will devote an entire episode to something that could have been handled with just one five-to-ten minute scene. But, when you’ve got a cast this good and writing this sharp, it almost doesn’t matter. Director Michael Showalter did a wonderful job of balancing the cringey humor of the Walgreens plotline with the more emotional moments in which Ian Gibbons dealt with his frustrations over the direction in which Sunny and Elizabeth took Theranos. Even if you don’t already know the details about what ultimately happened to Ian Gibbons, Stephen Fry’s performance will still break you heart. Fry plays Gibbons as a man who, despite advancing age and poor health, refuses to surrender his idealism. That makes him a good scientist but also the perfect victim for Elizabeth and Sunny’s syle of manipulation.

Old White Men was a well-done episode, perhaps one of the best that I’ve seen so far this year. I look forward to seeing where the show takes us next week.

TV Review: The Dropout Episodes 1, 2, and 3 (dir by Michael Showalter)

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On Thursday, I binged the first three episodes of Hulu’s The Dropout.

The Dropout is Hulu’s miniseries about the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes (played by Amanda Seyfried), the enigmatic Stanford dropout who founded Theranos and became a billionaire before she turned 30. She promised that Theranos would revolutionize both the way that blood was tested and the world of health care in general. She was known for black turtlenecks, her deep (and possibly fake) voice, and her habit of not blinking. Of course, as common sense should have made obvious to just about anyone, it turned out that Elizabeth Holmes was lying about the blood testing machinery that her company was marketing. She and her business partner and former lover, Sunny Balwani (played, in The Dropout, by Lost‘s Naveen Andrews) were eventually charged with defrauding their investors. At trial, Holmes argues that her intentions were good and that she was trapped in an abusive relationship with Balwani. While Balwani’s trial is scheduled to being later this month, Elizabeth had already been convicted and currently await sentencing. Theranos, of course, no longer exists.

After the first three episodes, I would say that I’m cautiously optimistic. Seyfried and Andrews seem to be perfectly cast as Elizabeth and Sunny and the story itself is an interesting one. The miniseries format seems like a good one for director Michael Showalter’s trademark mix of dark comedy and drama. Much as with Showalter’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, there were a few moments that felt a bit too cartoonish, most of which involved William H. Macy as Elizabeth’s former neighbor and eventual business rival but, for the most part, the first three episodes managed to establish and maintain a consistent tone. Before she lowers her voice and dons her black turtleneck, Elizabeth comes across as being socially awkward but likable. It’s only towards the end of the 3rd episode that we really start to see her as being the villainous figure that she eventually began. The first 3 episodes are like an origin story.

Of course, the fact that it took 3 hours to tell her origin story is one reason why I’m cautious in my optimism. Streaming services are currently full of miniseries that all take stories that should be interesting but then drag them out to such a length that it’s hard not to eventually lose interest. (If you need an example of what I’m talking about, go check out Netflix’s Inventing Anna.) The Dropout‘s first three episodes were well-done but it’s still hard not to feel that the story told in those three hours could have just as easily been told in 20 minutes, without denying the viewer anything that they needed to know to understand Elizabeth and Sunny. There are five more episodes to go. Can the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos remain interesting for 8 hours? I’m hopeful but I’m not totally sure.

With all that in mind, I’m recommending The Dropout, on the basis of the first three episodes. But remember …. I was originally pretty enthusiastic about Pam & Tommy as well.

Lisa Marie’s Final 2020-2021 Oscar Predictions

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2020 Oscar nominations are finally going to be announced on March 15th and then the Oscars themselves are going to be awarded at the end of April. To be honest, we should call these the 2020-2021 Oscars because I refuse to think of Nomadland, Minari, or The Father as being 2020 films. Because of the extended eligibility window, they’re all Oscar-eligible but still….

That means that it’s time for me to make my final Oscar predictions for this latest awards cycle. Last night, The Golden Globes cleared up a few races and suggested that a few others are still in a state of flux. Of the three big surprise winners from last night (Andra Day, Jodie Foster, and Rosamund Pike) Day seems to be the most likely to benefit from her victory. I also think that Foster might benefit as well, just because she’s Jodie Foster and she doesn’t appear in a lot of films nowadays. I’m also willing to say that, based on his getting a GG nom and a SAG nom, I think Jared Leto has a better chance than some might realize of picking up another Oscar nomination.

What about Glenn Close? On the one hand, Close has never won an Oscar and she gives a very awards baity performance in Hillbilly Elegy. On the other hand, Hillbilly Elegy was critically-blasted and both the film and Close’s performance were included on the Razzie longlist, which was released earlier today. (The Razzies suck but that’s a topic for another post.) I would feel better about Close’s chances if she had won a Golden Globe last night but I’m still inclined to include her in my predictions.

(To be honest, up until Close lost, I still thought there was a chance that Hillbilly Elegy could pick up an Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-style best picture nomination, the type of nomination that comes as a result of voters watching a critically lambasted film for one performance and saying, “Well, that wasn’t as bad as everyone says!”)

Finally, I’m going to continue to predict a surprise Best Picture nomination for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, just because it’ll be another chance for the same voters who nominated Vice to express their feelings about Donald Trump and Rudy Guiliani.

If you want to see how my thinking has evolved over this long awards season, check out my predictions for January (2020), February (2020), March (2020, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, and January (2021)!

Here are my final predictions:

Best Picture

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Mank

Minari

News of the World

Nomadland

One Night In Miami

Promising Young Woman

The Trial of the Chicago 7

(I’m predicting 9 best picture nominees. I’m looking forward to the Academy going back to having a set number of best picture nominees. It breaks my heart not to include First Cow and Sound of Metal among my predicted nominees.)

Best Director

Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman

Regina King for One Night in Miami

Aaron Sorkin for Mank

Chloe Zhao for Nomadland

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Anthony Hopkins in The Father

Gary Oldman in Mank

Steven Yeun in Minari

Best Actress

Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Andra Day in The United States vs. Billie Holliday

Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman

Frances McDormand in Nomadland

Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman

Best Supporting Actor

Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago 7

Chadwick Boseman in Da 5 Bloods

Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah

Jared Leto in The Little Things

Leslie Odom Jr. in One Night In Miami

Best Supporting Actress

Maria Bakalova in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy

Jodie Foster in The Mauritanian

Amanda Seyfried in Mank

Youn Yuh-jung in Minari

We’ll find out how right or wrong I am on March 15th!

The Iowa Film Critics Association Honors Nomadland

Posted on February 20, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Though we may never know who actually won the Iowa Caucus last year, we do know which films won with the Iowa Film Critics Association! Here are their picks for the best of the year:

BEST FILM: “Nomadland”
Runners up: “Minari” and “Sound of Metal”

BEST DIRECTOR: Chloe Zhao – “Nomadland”
Runners up: Darius Marder – “Sound of Metal” and Florian Zeller – “The Father”

BEST ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Runners up: Anthony Hopkins – “The Father” and Riz Ahmed – “Sound of Metal”

BEST ACTRESS: Frances McDormand – “Nomadland”
Runners up: Viola Davis – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and Carey Mulligan – “Promising Young Woman”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Paul Raci – “Sound of Metal”
Runners up: Bill Murray – “On the Rocks” and Leslie Odom Jr. – “One Night in Miami”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Yuh-jung Youn – “Minari”
Runners up: Olivia Colman – “The Father” and Amanda Seyfried – “Mank”

BEST ANIMATED FILM: “Soul”
Runners up: “Over the Moon” and “Wolfwalkers”

BEST DOCUMENTARY: “Dick Johnson is Dead”
Runners up: “Crip Camp” and “The Dissident”

BEST SCORE: Ludovico Einaudi – “Nomadland”
Runners up: James Newton Howard – “News of the World” and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “Mank”

BEST SONG: “Speak Now” – “One Night in Miami”
Runners up: “Green” – “Sound of Metal” and “Rain Song” – “Minari”

Here Are The 2020 Nominees of the Vancouver Film Critics Circle!

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The never-ending awards season continues with the Vancouver Film Critics announcing their nominees for the best of 2020! Apparently, up in Vancouver, they really, really like Mank. I guess it’s because of the whole drunk socialist thing, I don’t know.

The Vancouver nominations are kind of strange because, in most of the categories, there’s only three nominees. I mean, that just seems kind of pointless to me. When other groups are nominating a 100 movies for best picture before selecting Nomadland, why would you only nominate three? It’s especially strange when you consider that the eligibility period has been extended to such an extent that it seems to be practically begging everyone to give into excess. The three nominee thing is odd and it’s going to leave me thinking for the next few hours or so. Of course, as well all know, Vancouver is never less than intriguing.

Anyway, the winners will be announced on February 22nd! Here are the nominees:

Best Picture
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman

Best Director
Thomas Vinterberg – Another Round
David Fincher – Mank
Chloe Zhao – Nomadland

Best Screenplay
Jack Fincher – Mank
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Gary Oldman – Mank
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

Best Actress
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Yuh-jung Youn – Minari

Best Documentary
Athlete A
Collective
Totally Under Control

Best Foreign Language Film
Another Round
Dear Comrades
Minari

Nomadland Wins At The Satellite Awards

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s what won at the Satellite Awards on the 15th. I apologize for being a bit late in posting this but the weather conspired to keep me from watching the Satellite Awards.

Actually, did anyone watch the Satellite Awards? Does anyone even know who is even giving these things out?

Well, regardless, here’s what won in the film categories:

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Mary Pickford Award: Tilda Swinton
Tesla Award: Dick Pope
Auteur Award: Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Best First Feature: Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth
Stunt Performance Award: Gaëlle Cohen
Humanitarian Award: Mark Wahlberg
Ensemble Motion Picture: The Trial of the Chicago 7
Ensemble Television: The Good Lord Bird

Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Kate Winslet – Ammonite
Sophia Loren – The Life Ahead

Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Steven Yeun – Minari
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Gary Oldman – Mank

Actress in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Meryl Streep – The Prom
Rashida Jones – On the Rocks
Margot Robbie – Birds of Prey
Michelle Pfeiffer – French Exit
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Anya Taylor-Joy – Emma

Actor in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Andy Samberg – Palm Springs
Lin-Manuel Miranda – Hamilton
Dev Patel – The Personal History of David Copperfield
Sacha Baron Cohen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Leslie Odom Jr. – Hamilton

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Olivia Colman – The Father
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Nicole Kidman – The Prom
Helena Zengel – News of the World

Actor in a Supporting Role
Brian Dennehy – Driveways
David Strathairn – Nomadland
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods
Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami
Bill Murray – On the Rocks

Motion Picture, Drama
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Father
Promising Young Woman
Minari
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Tenet
Sound of Metal
One Night in Miami
Miss Juneteenth

Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
On the Rocks
Hamilton
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Palm Springs
The Personal History of David Copperfield
The Forty-Year-Old Version

Motion Picture, International
Another Round
Tove
A Sun
Two of Us
Jallikattu
I’m No Longer Here
Atlantis
My Little Sister
La Llorona

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Over the Moon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Demon Slayer-Kimetsu No Yaiba-The Movie: Mugen Train
Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus
No. 7 Cherry Lane

Motion Picture, Documentary
Collective
Crip Camp
MLK / FBI
The Dissident
A Most Beautiful Thing
The Truffle Hunters
Acasa, My Home
Coup 53
Gunda
Circus of Books

Director
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
David Fincher – Mank
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Florian Zeller – The Father

Screenplay, Original
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Jack Fincher – Mank
Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers – Soul
Andy Siara – Palm Springs
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

Screenplay, Adapted
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller – The Father
Jessica Bruder & Chloe Zhao – Nomadland
Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami
Edoardo Ponti – The Life Ahead
Luke Davies & Paul Greengrass – News of the World

Original Score
Ludwig Goransson – Tenet
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Mank
Alexandre Desplat – The Midnight Sky
James Newton Howard – News of the World
Emile Mosseri – Minari
Terence Blanchard – One Night in Miami

Original Song
“Io Si” – The Life Ahead
“Hear My Voice” – The Trial of the Chicago 7
“Rocket to the Moon” – Over the Moon
“Speak Now” – One Night in Miami
“Everybody Cries” – The Outpost
“The Other Side” – Trolls World Tour

Cinematography
The Midnight Sky
Nomadland
Mank
News of the World
One Night in Miami
Tenet

Film Editing
Nomadland
The Father
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Mank
One Night in Miami
Minari

Sound (Editing and Mixing)
Sound of Metal
Tenet
Mank
The Prom
The Midnight Sky
Nomadland

Visual Effects
The Midnight Sky
Mank
Tenet
Birds of Prey
Greyhound
Mulan

Art Direction and Production Design
The Personal History of David Copperfield
One Night in Miami
Mank
The Midnight Sky
The Prom
Mulan

Costume Design
Mulan
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
The Personal History of David Copperfield
One Night in Miami

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Honor Nomadland

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics announced their picks for best of 2020 yesterday. I’m sad to say that they picked the exact same winners that all the other critics groups are picking. I mean, seriously, DFW — we’re supposed to be the individualists and the contrarians! We’re supposed to be the ones who say, “We’re going to honor whoever we want and if you folks up north don’t like it, tough!” Where’s that independent spirit?

In other words — where’s the love for Money Plane!? I keep waiting for one of these critics groups to have the courage to honor one of the best films of the year. They don’t even have to name it best picture. How about Kelsey Grammer for best supporting actor. “I am the Rumble!” Who else could have delivered that line as skillfully? But, so far, none of the regional groups have had the guts. As a result, both the Golden Globes and SAG ignored Money Plane. I’m starting think that the Oscars might do the same thing. Sometimes, the best films go unhonered and that could happen here. “We’re going to rob the money plane!” That’s a line that will never be forgotten.

Oh well. I am happy that Carey Mulligan won best actress. I haven’t watched Judas and the Black Messiah yet but Daniel Kaluuya is really coming on strong here in the home stretch so I’m going to guess that he’ll soon be picking up his second Oscar nomination. Even if Money Plane is being snubbed, it’s still interesting to watch momentum for a performance build in real time.

Here are the winners from my hometown:

Best Picture
Nomadland

Best Actor
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas And The Black Messiah

Best Supporting Actress
Amanda Seyfried – Mank

Best Director
Chloe Zhao – Nomadland

Best Foreign Language Film
Minari

Best Documentary
Time

Best Animated Film
Soul

Best Screenplay
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman

Best Cinematography
Joshua James Richards – Nomadland