Here Are The 2020 Nominations of the Hollywood Critics Association!

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Hollywood Critics Association has announced their nominees for the best of 2020! The winners will be announced on March 5th, 2021 in a virtual ceremony.

As for the nominees, themselves, it’s pretty much more of the same. Judas and the Black Messiah — which really wasn’t a huge factor during the December and January portion of awards season — seems to be coming on strong in the 2nd half. In this case, it took the Best Picture spot that probably would have otherwise gone to First Cow.

Here are the nominees:

Best Picture
Da 5 Bloods
Judas and The Black Messiah
Minari
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
Promising Young Woman
Soul
Sound of Metal
The Father
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Zendaya – Malcolm & Marie

Best Supporting Actor
Bo Burnham – Promising Young Woman
Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and The Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal

Best Supporting Actress
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari

Best Animated or VFX Performance
Ben Schwartz – Sonic the Hedgehog
Cathy Ang – Over the Moon
Honor Kneafsey – Wolfwalkers
Jamie Foxx – Soul
Tina Fey – Soul

Best Male Director
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
David Fincher – Mank
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Shaka King – Judas and The Black Messiah
Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods

Best Female Director
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Regina King – One Night in Miami
Sofia Coppola – On the Rocks

Best Original Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Abraham Marder & Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
Andy Siara – Palm Springs
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari

Best Adapted Screenplay
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
Florian Zeller – The Father
Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Cast Ensemble
Da 5 Bloods
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
One Night in Miami
Promising Young Woman
The Prom
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best First Feature
Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Radha Blank – The 40-Year-Old Version
Regina King – One Night in Miami

Best Animated Film
Onward
Over The Moon
Soul
The Croods: A New Age
Wolfwalkers

Best International Film
Another Round
Bacurau
I’m No Longer Here
La Llorona
Two of Us

Best Documentary
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Boys State
Class Action Park
Dick Johnson is Dead
Time

Best Action
Bad Boys for Life
Birds of Prey
Extraction
Tenet
The Old Guard

Best Blockbuster
Birds of Prey
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tenet
The Old Guard
Wonder Woman 1984

Best Comedy/Musical
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
On the Rocks
Palm Springs
The Personal History of David Copperfield
The Prom

Best Horror
Freaky
His House
Host
Relic
The Invisible Man

Best Indie Film
Black Bear
First Cow
Minari
Miss Juneteenth
Palm Springs

Best Short Film
Burrow
Canvas
Cops And Robbers
If Anything Happens, I Love You
The Heart Still Hums

Best Cinematography
Mank
News of The World
Nomadland
Tenet
The Midnight Sky

Best Stunts
Birds of Prey
Extraction
Tenet
The Old Guard
Wonder Woman 1984

Best Score
Mank
Minari
News of The World
Soul
The Midnight Sky

Best Original Song
Husavik (My Hometown) – Eurovision Song Contest
Rocket to the Moon – Over the Moon
Speak Now – One Night in Miami
Turntables – All In: The Fight for Democracy
Wear Your Crown – The Prom

Best Hair & Makeup
Birds of Prey
Hillbilly Elegy
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Promising Young Woman

Best Costume Design
Birds of Prey
Emma
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The Personal History of David Copperfield

Best Production Design
Emma
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The Personal History of David Copperfield
The Prom

Best Film Editing
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Father
The Invisible Man
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Visual Effects
Birds of Prey
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tenet
The Invisible Man
The Midnight Sky

Here Are The Nominees of the 2020 Indiana Film Journalists Assosciation!

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bad Education

The Indiana Film Journalists Association (IJA) has announced their nominees for the best of 2020! They’ll be announcing the winners on December 21st!

What I like about these nominations is that there’s a lot of them. 2020 may have been a difficult year for many but there were a lot of good films released and it does seem kind of silly (as it does every year) to limit things to some sort of arbitrary number. Why only nominate 10 films when you could nominate 20 or 30? Many of the nominees below will appear on my own personal best lists in January.

The other thing that I like about these nominees is that the include films like Bad Education and Mangrove. There’s some debate as to whether or not these films should be considered Oscar eligible. I feel that they should be so it’s nice to see that the folks in Indiana agree with me!

Here are the nominees:

BEST FILM
Da 5 Bloods
Another Round
The Assistant
Athlete A
Bad Education
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Dick Johnson is Dead
Emma.
The Father
First Cow
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
The Nest
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
Palm Springs
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Possessor
Promising Young Woman
Small Axe: Mangrove
Song Without a Name
Soul
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Twentieth Century
The Vast of Night

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Onward
Soul
Wolfwalkers

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
76 Days
Another Round
Bacurau
Beanpole
La Dosis
Song Without a Name

BEST DOCUMENTARY
76 Days
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Athlete A
Boys State
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Desert One
Dick Johnson is Dead
Disclosure
John Lewis: Good Trouble
The Last Out
Miss Americana
MLK/FBI
Time
Totally Under Control
Welcome to Chechnya

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Brandon Cronenberg – Possessor
Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers – Soul
Sean Durkin – The Nest
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Kitty Green – The Assistant
Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Tobias Lindholm and Thomas Vinterberg – Another Round
James Montague and Craig W. Sanger – The Vast of Night
Matthew Rankin – The Twentieth Century
Andy Siara – Palm Springs
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Alice Wu – The Half of It

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller – The Father
Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell – The Personal History of David Copperfield
Charlie Kaufman – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Mike Makowsky – Bad Education
Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami
Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

BEST DIRECTOR
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Brandon Cronenberg – Possessor
Pete Docter – Soul
Sean Durkin – The Nest
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Kitty Green – The Assistant
Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Kirsten Johnson – Dick Johnson is Dead
Charlie Kaufman – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Regina King – One Night in Miami
Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods
Melina Léon – Song Without a Name
Steve McQueen – Small Axe: Mangrove
Matthew Rankin – The Twentieth Century
Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
George C. Wolfe – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Alice Wu – The Half of It
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

BEST ACTRESS
Haley Bennett – Swallow
Jessie Buckley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Carrie Coon – The Nest
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Sidney Flanigin – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Julia Garner – The Assistant
Han Ye-ri – Minari
Leah Lewis – The Half of It
Rachel McAdams – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Pamela Mendoza – Song Without a Name
Cristin Milioti – Palm Springs
Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Aubrey Plaza – Black Bear
Margot Robbie – BIrds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Anya Taylor-Joy – Emma.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jane Adams – She Dies Tomorrow
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Toni Collette – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Olivia Colman – The Father
Olivia Cooke – Sound of Metal
Allison Janney – Bad Education
Margo Martindale – Blow the Man Down
Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Youn Yuh-jung – Minari

BEST ACTOR
Christopher Abbott – Possessor
Ben Affleck – The Way Back
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami
Paul Bettany – Uncle Frank
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Eli Goree – One Night in Miami
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Hugh Jackman – Bad Education
Jude Law – The Nest
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
Mads Mikkelsen – Another Round
Jesse Plemons – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Eddie Redmayne – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Steven Yeun – Minari

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chadwick Boseman, Da 5 Bloods
Bo Burnham – Promising Young Woman
Bill Burr – The King of Staten Island
Peter Capaldi – The Personal History of David Copperfield
Colman Domingo – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Aldis Hodge – One Night in Miami
Caleb Landry Jones – The Outpost
Alan Kim – Minari
Frank Langella – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Orion Lee – First Cow
Ewan McGregor – BIrds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Bill Murray – On the Rocks
Leslie Odom, Jr. – One Night in Miami
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
J.K. Simmons – Palm Springs
Dan Stevens – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
David Strathairn – Nomadland
David Thewlis – I’m Thinking of Ending Things

BEST VOCAL / MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE
Sean Bean – Wolfwalkers
Tina Fey – Soul
Jamie Foxx – Soul
Oliver Platt – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Donald Ray Pollock – The Devil All the Time
Ben Schwartz – Sonic the Hedgehog

BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING
Da 5 Bloods
Another Round
The Devil All the Time
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
The King of Staten Island
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Minari
One Night in Miami
The Personal History of David Copperfield
She Dies Tomorrow
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Uncle Frank

BEST MUSICAL SCORE
Erick Alexander and Jared Bulmer – The Vast of Night
Terence Blanchard – One Night in Miami
Ludovico Einaudi – Nomadland
Ludwig Göransson – Tenet
Emile Mosseri – Minari
Richard Reed Parry – The Nest
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Soul
William Tyler – First Cow
Jay Wadley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Isobel Waller-Bridge and David Schweitzer – Emma.
Benjamin Wallfisch – The Invisible Man
Jim Williams – Possessor

BREAKOUT OF THE YEAR
Maria Bakalova (actress) – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Max Barbakow (director) – Palm Springs
Emerald Fennell (writer / director) – Promising Young Woman
Sidney Flanigin (actress) – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Alan Kim (actor) – Minari
Orion Lee (actor) – First Cow
Leah Lewis (actress) – The Half of It
Darius Marder (writer / director) – Sound of Metal
Andrew Patterson (director) – The Vast of Night
Tayarisha Poe (writer / director) – Selah and the Spades
Kemp Powers – co-writer / co-director for Soul and writer for One Night in Miami
Matthew Rankin (writer / director) – The Twentieth Century
Andy Siara (writer) – Palm Springs
Autumn de Wilde (director) – Emma.

HOOSIER AWARD
Athlete A
Eliza Hittman, writer / director of Never Rarely Sometimes Always and graduate of Indiana University

ORIGINAL VISION AWARD
After Midnight
Assassin 33 A.D.
Dick Johnson is Dead
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Possessor
Promising Young Woman
She Dies Tomorrow
The Twentieth Century
The Vast of Night
Vivarium

Mangrove

The Films of 2020: Standing Up, Falling Down (dir by Matt Ratner)

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Having failed to achieve his dream of becoming a comedy superstar in Los Angeles, 34 year-old Scott (Ben Schwartz) returns home to Long Island. How bad are things for Scott? Consider this:

When he left for Los Angeles, he left behind Becky (Eloise Mumford), despite thinking that he was in love with her and despite her asking him to stay. While he was in L.A., he purposefully chose to not respond to her attempts to get in contact with him because he was determined to move on with his life. Now, he’s back and he’s wondering what could have been. As for Becky, she’s now an acclaimed photographer and she’s married to a surfer named Owen (John Behlman).

All of his old friends are now married and have families and don’t really have time to hang out with a 34 year-old who is still struggling with adulthood.

When Scott returns home, he moves back in with his parents. His mother (Debra Monk) spoils him while his father (Kevin Dunn) barely says a word to him. Scott announces that, even though he knows he needs a job, there’s no way that he’s going to go to work at his father’s lumberyard. His father says that’s not a problem because he wasn’t planning on offering Scott a job in the first place.

Scott’s sister (Grace Gummer) is also living at home and is stuck in a less than glamorous job but she’s dating Ruis (David Castaneda), an extremely charming security guard who is loved by everyone who meets him.

And, to top it all off, Scott has developed a rash of some sort in his arm!

In fact, the only positive development in Scott’s life is that he’s made a new friend. Marty (Billy Cyrstal) is a bit older and he’s an alcoholic but he also has the best weed and he’s full of good advice. On top of that, Marty’s also a dermatologist and is willing to just give Scott the medicine for his arm free of charge. Marty becomes a bit of a mentor to Scott. Of course, Marty has demons of his own. His first wife committed suicide and his second wife died of stomach cancer. His own son refuses to speak to him and won’t allow him to see his grandson. Marty’s drinking isn’t the quirky character trait that it first appears to be. Instead, it’s what he does to deal with the pain and the guilt that he carries around with him every day.

Standing Up, Falling Down is an occasionally effective and occasionally awkward mix of comedy and drama. As a character, Scott can occasionally be a bit hard too take. It’s one thing to have trouble accepting the fact that you’re getting older while it’s another thing to be in your mid-thirties with the maturity level of a 13 year-old. At times, Scott seems to be so helpless that you find yourself wondering how he survived in Los Angeles for as long as he did. Fortunately, Ben Schwartz is an appealing actor and the film doesn’t make the mistake of trying to idealize Scott’s lack of direction. You find yourself sincerely hoping that Scott will finally manage to get his life together, even though you know he probably won’t.

The big surprise of the film is Billy Crystal, who gives a genuinely good and complex performance as Marty. Like Crystal, Marty is a bit of an attention hog and occasionally seems a bit too satisfied with his jokes. However, the film also explores why someone like Marty always feels the need to be “on.” The best moments in the film are the ones where Marty quietly considers why his life has reached the point that it has. In the film’s quieter moments, there’s a lot of sadness in Crystal’s performance. The scene where he unsuccessfully tries to get his son to talk to him is absolutely heart-breaking, all the more so because Cyrstal downplays the scene’s potential for sentimentality. Right when you’re expecting schmaltz, Crystal instead holds back. With just the slightest change in his facial expression, Crystal immediately tells us everything that’s going on inside of Marty’s head. It’s a truly good performance.

Standing Up, Falling Down is a low-key, occasionally effective dramedy. Not all of it works (I could have done without Scott harassing his sister’s co-worker at the pretzel place) but it has a good heart and an unexpectedly great performance from Billy Crystal.

Sonic gets a makeover in the 2nd Sonic the Hedgehog Trailer

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Leonard Wilson

Earlier in the year, when Paramount released the trailer for the Sonic The Hedgehog movie, audiences were up in arms over Sonic’s look. It was so bad that the production team shelved the film for a bit and reworked the CGI. Six months later, we have a vastly improved Hedgehog, and everything appears to be looking better for the film. The character has more expressive eyes, the classic sneakers and what seems like a new voiceover.

Now we just have to hope that all of that extra work by the effects team is rewarded by moviegoers when the film comes out. Here’s hoping, anyway.

Sonic the Hedgehog, starring Jim Carrey, James Marsden and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, premieres in time for Valentine’s Day of 2020.

Film Review: The Walk (dir by Robert Zemeckis)

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

If you didn’t get a chance to see Robert Zemeckis’s latest film, The Walk, in a theater and, at the very least, in 3D, you really missed out.

In fact, I’m actually a bit surprised that The Walk hasn’t gotten more attention than it has. Over the past year, whenever I would see the trailer play before another movie, it always seemed like a palpable sense of excitement descended over the theater. Then, The Walk was released, it got wonderful reviews, and …. nothing. Down here in Dallas, it played in theaters for three weeks and then it went away. Since I was on vacation for two of those weeks, I nearly missed it!

But I’m glad that I didn’t miss it. I say this despite the fact that I’m beyond terrified of heights and The Walk is all about creating the experience of balancing on a wire that’s been suspended between two of the tallest buildings in the world. As I watched the film, there were many times when I struggled to catch my breath. I had to put my hands over my mismatched eyes a few times. But I’m still glad that I saw the film.

The Walk is based on a true story. In 1974, French street performer Philippe Patet (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is even more adorable here than usual if that’s possible) and a group of accomplices manage to suspend a high wire between the twin towers of the just constructed World Trade Center. High above New York City, Philippe walked across the wire a total of six times. In the film, Philippe narrates the story while standing on top of the Statue of Liberty. From the minute that we see Gordon-Levitt and he starts to speak in a theatrical (but never implausible) French accent, we immediately like and relate to Philippe. By the end of the film, his triumph is our triumph.

At the same time, we also feel his sadness. Up until the film’s final line, when Philippe makes a subtle reference to it, 9-11 is never explicitly mentioned in The Walk but the shadow of that monstrous attack still looms over frame of the film. By recreating both Philippe’s act of daring and the Twin Towers themselves, Zemeckis attempts to reclaim the legacy of the World Trade Center from the asshole terrorists who destroyed it.

And The Walk really does put you right there on that wire. If ever there’s been a film that you must simply see in 3D, it’s The Walk. Just be prepared to watch some of the movie through your fingers.