Tag Archives: Film

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Rob Zombie Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to Rob Zombie!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Rob Zombie Films

House of 1000 Corpses (2003, dir by Rob Zombie, DP: Alex Poppas and Tom Richmond)

Halloween II (2009, dir by Rob Zombie, DP: Brandon Trost)

The Lords of Salem (2012, dir by Rob Zombie, DP: Brandon Trost)

3 From Hell (2019, dir by Rob Zombie, DP: David N . Daniel)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Alfonso Arau Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we celebrate the birthday of Mexican director and actor Alfonso Arau!  It’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Alfonso Arau Films

Calzonin Inspector (1973, dir by Alfonso Arau, DP: Jorge Stahl Jr.)

Like Water For Chocolate (1992, dir by Alfonso Arau, DP: Emmanuel Lubezki)

A Walk In The Clouds (1995, dir by Alfonso Arau. DP: Emmanuel Lubezki)

The Trick In The Sheet (2010, dir by Alfonso Arau, DP: Vittorio Storaro)

Catching Up With The Films of 2023: Nyad (Dir by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

64 year-old swimmer Diana Nyad swimming all the way from Cuba to Florida (and making it on her fifth attempt) is one of those inspiring stories that I totally missed when it happened.  I can’t remember for sure exactly what was going on in my life in 2013 but paying attention to inspirational sports stories was apparently not high on the agenda.

Fortunately, any amazing true story will eventually be turned into a film and that film will eventually premiere on Netflix in time for Oscar consideration.  That’s certainly the case with Nyad, which stars Annette Bening as the title character and Jodie Foster as her best friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll.  The film follows Nyad as she spends four years of her life trying to make it from Cuba and Florida and prove the naysayers wrong.  Along the way, she learns about humility, she learns to value her friends, and she also starts to deal with the various traumas of her youth.

It’s not a bad film.  It may sound like a traditional sports biopic and, in many ways, it is.  The directors are documentarians making their feature debut and they do have a tendency to rely a bit too much on archival footage of network news reporters announcing that Nyad will be making another attempt to make the swim.  The film (and the characters) unquestioning love for Cuba can be a bit hard to take, considering that the story takes place at a time when Raoul Castro was still ruling the country.  (The amount of “Visit Cuba” shirts felt more than a little excessive.  Don’t visit Cuba as long as Jose Daniel Ferrer is being detained.)  That said, the cinematography is gorgeous and the film does a wonderful job of showing just how physically and mentally exhausting Nyad’s accomplishment was.  It’s not just that Diana is physically drained from the experience.  She also occasionally suffers hallucinations as a result of exhaustion and exposure and, often times, she’s unaware of how far along she is in her journey.  While Diana swims, Bonnie and the rest of her team steer her, trying to keep her moving with the unpredictable current.  This is a film that will leave you respecting professional swimmers and their support teams.

The film’s cast does a great job bringing the story to life.  As portrayed in the film, Diana Nyad can be a bit of a pain to deal with and, to her credit, Annette Bening doesn’t try to soften any of the character’s rough edges.  Nyad is a egotistical, grandiose, impractical, demanding, and frequently self-centered and it says a lot of about Bening’s performance that the audience still ends up sympathizing with her and her desire to not be dismissed as obsolete at the age of 60.  That said, the film truly belongs to Jodie Foster and Rhys Ifans, playing Nyad’s coach and her navigator.  While Nyad rails against age and insists that her destiny is to successfully make the swim,  it falls to the characters played by Foster and Ifans to just keep Diana alive.  Foster is the film’s heart, playing Bonnie as a tough but caring coach who understands that, even though they drive each other crazy, she and Nyad are meant to make the journey together.  While the film portrays Nyad’s accomplishment, what it truly celebrates is her friendship with Bonnie.  We should all be so lucky to have a friend and supporter like Bonnie in our lives.

It may not break any new cinematic ground but Nyad still does a good job of telling a worthy story.

Here Are The 2023 Nominations of The Houston Film Critics Society!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On January 9th, the Houston Film Critics Society announced their nominations for the best of 2023!  The winners will be announced on January 22nd!

Picture
“American Fiction”
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
“Barbie”
“The Color Purple”
“Godzilla Minus One”
“The Holdovers”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Past Lives”
“Poor Things”

Director
Alexander Payne, “The Holdovers”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Greta Gerwig, “Barbie”
Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”

Actor – Leading
Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”

Actress – Leading
Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Fantasia Barrino, “The Color Purple”
Greta Lee, “Past Lives”
Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Margot Robbie, “Barbie”

Actor – Supporting
Dominic Sessa, “The Holdovers”
Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”
Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”

Actress – Supporting
Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
Rosamund Pike, “Saltburn”

Screenplay
Celine Song, “Past Lives”
Christopher Nolan, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, “Oppenheimer”
Cord Jefferson, “American Fiction”
David Hemingson, “The Holdovers”
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, “Barbie”
Tony McNamara, “Poor Things”

Animated
“The Boy and the Heron”
“Nimona”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
“Robot Dreams”

Cinematography
Hoyte Van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer”
Linus Sandgren, “Saltburn”
Robbie Ryan, “Poor Things”
Rodrigo Prieto, “Barbie”
Rodrigo Prieto, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Documentary
“20 Days in Mariupol”
“American Symphony”
“Beyond Utopia”
“The Eternal Memory”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”

Foreign Language
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Godzilla Minus One”
“Perfect Days”
“Society of the Snow”
“The Zone of Interest”

Score
Robbie Robertson, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Ludwig Göransson, “Oppenheimer”
Jerskin Fendrix, “Poor Things”
Joe Hisaishi, “The Boy and the Heron”
Daniel Pemberton, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

Song
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
“Dance the Night” from “Barbie”
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
“Keep It Movin’ ” from “The Color Purple”
“Meet in the Middle” from “Flora and Son”

Visual Effects
“The Creator”
“Godzilla Minus One”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One”
“Poor Things”

Stunts
“The Iron Claw”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
“John Wick: Chapter 4”
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One”
“Polite Society”

Ensemble
“Barbie”
“Oppenheimer”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“The Holdovers”
“The Iron Claw”

Texas Independent Film Award
“Bolivar”
“Breaking the Code”
“Chocolate Lizards”
“I’ll Be There”
“A Town Called Victoria”

Killers Of The Flower Moon Wins In Austin

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, the Austin Film Critics Association announced their picks for the best of 2023!

The winners are listed in bold!

Best Picture
American Fiction
Barbie
Godzilla Minus One
The Holdovers
The Iron Claw
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Director
Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Celine Song, Past Lives

Best Actress
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy Of A Fall
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Andrew Scott, All Of Us Strangers
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Best Supporting Actor
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Charles Melton, May December
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Julianne Moore, May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Ensemble
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Original Screenplay
Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, May December
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Celine Song, Past Lives
Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy Of A Fall

Best Adapted Screenplay
Kelly Fremon Craig, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Cinematography
Hoyte van Hoytema, Oppenheimer
Matthew Libatique, Maestro
Rodrigo Prieto, Barbie
Rodrigo Prieto, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robbie Ryan, Poor Things

Best Editing
Jennifer Lame, Oppenheimer
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Poor Things
Thelma Schoonmaker, Killers of the Flower Moon
Kevin Tent, The Holdovers
Michelle Tesoro, Maestro

Best Original Score
Jerskin Fendrix, Poor Things
Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer
Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon
Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, Barbie

Best International Film
Anatomy Of A Fall
The Boy and the Heron
Godzilla Minus One
The Taste of Things
The Zone of Interest

Best Documentary
20 Days in Mariupol
Beyond Utopia
Four Daughters
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Animated Film
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Suzume
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best Voice Acting/Animated/Digital Performance
Bradley Cooper, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Ayo Edebiri, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Shameik Moore, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Chloë Grace Moretz, Nimona
Hailee Steinfeld, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Stunt Coordinator
Stephen Dunlevy & Scott Rogers, John Wick: Chapter 4
Wade Eastwood, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Chavo Guerrero, Jr., The Iron Claw
Crispin Layfield, Polite Society
Noon Orsatti, Extraction 2

Best First Film
Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou, Talk To Me
A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand And One
Celine Song, Past Lives

The Robert R. “Bobby” McCurdy Memorial Breakthrough Artist Award
Ayo Edebiri, Bottoms, Theater Camp, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Unknown Country, Fancy Dance, Quantum Cowboys
Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Celine Song, Past Lives

Catching Up With The Films of 2023: The Equalizer 3 (dir by Antoine Fuqua)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), the Equalizer, is killing people again.

This time, he goes to Sicily, where he invades a local winery, kills all of the guards, and then shoots the winery’s owner in the ass while the already wounded man pathetically crawls away.  Admittedly, everyone that McCall killed was bad and the winery owner would have killed McCall if things had worked differently but still, it’s an awful lot of death and violence just to retrieve some money that was stolen in a cyber-heist.

As McCall leaves the winery, he sees the owner’s young son and he declines to kill a child because, in the movies, adults only kill other adults.  Otherwise, the viewer might lose sympathy for them.  The kid, however, does not live under the rules of Hollywood so he grabs a shotgun from his father’s car and shoots McCall in the back.  McCall falls to the ground and attempts to shoot himself in the head.  However, his gun is out of bullets.

That’s right, our hero nearly shot himself in the head.  If he had succeeded, the movie would have been much shorter.  But since he wasted all of his bullets on the guards at the winery, McCall just passes out from the shock.  Eventually, he is found and taken to a village doctor named Enzo (Remo Girone).  Enzo removes the bullet.  When McCall awakens, Enzo asks him if he’s a good man or a bad man.  Enzo later says that McCall’s inability to answer was all the proof the he needed to know that McCall was a good a man.

McCall recuperates in the village and soon, he becomes an accepted member of the community.  He starts to contemplate leaving behind his life of violence and, in a well-done sequence, is haunted by the memory of how many people he killed at the winery.  But when the local Camorra starts to harass the villagers and threaten McCall’s new friends, it’s time for McCall to once again go to action.

If I sound a bit snarky, it’s because I’ve lost track of the number of films that I’ve seen about stoic former intelligence agents who kill a lot of people.  The Equalizer 3 is actually a well-made film, one that makes good use of its star’s charisma and the beautiful Sicilian scenery.  Denzel Washington isn’t getting any younger but he’s still believable as someone who could take down an army single-handedly and, even more importantly, he does a good job of portraying what a life of violence would do to a man’s soul.  Appropriately enough given the Sicilian setting, the film is full of religious imagery and The Equalizer 3, at its best, becomes a story about a man searching for redemption and a higher calling.

That said, the film is entertaining and it holds your interest (and I’m thankful that this is one mainstream film that does not feature an excessive running time) but the plot is undeniably formulaic and the villains aren’t particularly interesting.  There’s a subplot featuring Dakota Fanning as a young CIA agent that feels tacked on.  On a personal note, I find myself growing weary of CGI violence and stories about one-man killing machines.  (When I was younger, I could easily celebrate a hundred henchmen getting taken out by our hero.  Now, I found myself saying, “He probably had a family.”)  The film ends on a note of redemption for McCall and I hope he takes it for all it’s worth.

Scenes That I Love: The Nowhere To Run Montage From The Warriors

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Walter Hill’s birthday so what better day to share one of the greatest musical montages ever? In the Nowhere To Run montage from The Warriors, a radio DJ lets every gang in New York City know that they are all now hunting for the same group of people.  What I love about this montage is how the gangs grow increasingly flamboyant as the montage continues.  We go from seeing relatively normal-looking gang members to a bunch of people dressed up like a phantom baseball players.  It’s quite a progression!

From Walter Hill’s 1979 film, The Warriors, here is a scene that I love!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Walter Hill Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today, we here at the Shattered Lens wish a happy 82nd birthday to the great director Walter Hill.

Walter Hill is one of those legendary figures who has a devoted cult of fans but it still seems like he’s never quite gotten all of the opportunities and the acclaim that he deserved.  Perhaps because so many of his films are considered to be genre pieces, they were often not appreciated until a few years after they were first released.  But for film lovers and film students, Walter Hill is one of the most important directors of the past 50 years.

Today, we celebrate with….

4 Shots From 4 Walter Hill Films

The Driver (1978, dir by Walter Hill, DP: Philip H. Lathrop)

The Warriors (1979, dir by Walter Hill, DP: Andrew Laszlo)

Streets of Fire (1984, dir by Walter Hill, DP: Andrew Laszlo)

Last Man Standing (1996, dir by Walter Hill, DP: Lloyd Ahern II)

Here Are The DGA Nominations

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Directors Guild of America announced its nominations today.  The DGA is an even bigger precursor than the SAG and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Oscar line-up mirror this DGA’s line-up.

Here are the nominees!

NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM
Greta Gerwig – Barbie
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Alexander Payne – The Holdovers
Martin Scorsese – Killers of the Flower Moon

FIRST TIME NARRATIVE FEATURE FILM

Cord Jefferson – American Fiction
Manuela Martelli – Chile ’76
Noora Niasari – Shayda
A.V. Rockwell – A Thousand And One
Celine Song – Past Lives

Here Are The 2023 SAG Nominations!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The nominations for the 2023 SAG Awards were announced earlier today and there were a few interesting results to be found.  The SAG Awards tend to be a pretty strong sign of what’s in the Oscar conversation, if just because the Actor’s Branch is the biggest voting bloc in the Academy so being snubbed (or unexpectedly mentioned) here can actually mean something.

Is that bad news for Charles Melton?  Melton has been dominating the critics awards for his performance in May/December but he was not nominated for a SAG Award.  In fact, no one from May/December was nominated, indicating that the film may not be the Oscar favorite that some assumed.

The Color Purple has not really figured that much into the critics awards but SAG obviously liked it.  For some reason, I was expecting The Holdovers to get an ensemble nomination.  It didn’t but Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph still received individual nominations.

(In retrospect, I’m not sure why I was so convinced The Holdovers — which does not have the type of huge cast that is usually honored with the ensemble award — would get an ensemble nomination but oh well.  It happens!)

Willem DaFoe — and not Mark Ruffalo — was nominated for Poor Things.

It’s rare that any precursor ever lines up 100% with the actual Oscar nominations.  But SAG is one of the strongest precursors around so today (especially with the DGA film nominations coming out later) is good day to adjust your predictions.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
American Fiction
Barbie
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening – Nyad
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Margot Robbie – Barbie
Emma Stone – Poor Things

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
Penelope Cruz – Ferrari
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Willem Dafoe – Poor Things
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie

OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Barbie
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
John Wick: Chapter 4
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
Matt Bomer – Fellow Travelers
Jon Hamm – Fargo
David Oyelowo – Lawmen: Bass Reeves
Tony Shalhoub – Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie
Steven Yeun – Beef

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
Uzo Aduba – Painkiller
Kathryn Hahn – Tiny Beautiful Things
Brie Larson – Lessons in Chemistry
Bell Powley – A Small Light
Ali Wong – Beef

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES
Abbott Elementary
Barry
The Bear
Only Murders in the Building
Ted Lasso

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso
Bill Hader – Barry
Ebon Moss-Bachrach – The Bear
Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso
Jeremy Allen White – The Bear

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Ayo Edebiri – The Bear
Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES
The Crown
The Gilded Age
The Last of Us
The Morning Show
Succession

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Brian Cox – Succession
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin – Succession
Matthew Macfadyen – Succession
Pedro Pascal – The Last of Us

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Elizabeth Debicki – The Crown
Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us
Keri Russell – The Diplomat
Sarah Snook – Succession

OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA OR COMEDY SERIES
Ahsoka
Barry
Beef
The Last of Us
The Mandalorian