Tag Archives: Kathleen Chalfant

The New York Film Critics Online Honor One Battle After Another

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The New York Film Critics Online have announced their picks for the best of 2015.  The winners are listed in bold.

PICTURE
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
Nuremberg
One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Sentimental Value
Sinners (RUNNER-UP)
Train Dreams

DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (RUNNER-UP)
Park Chan-wook – No Other Choice
Ryan Coogler – Sinners (WINNER)
Mona Fastvold – The Testament of Ann Lee
Olivier Laxe – Sirāt
Jafar Panahi – It Was Just an Accident
Lynne Ramsey – Die, My Love
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Chloe Zhao – Hamnet

SCREENPLAY
Bugonia
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It Was Just an Accident (WINNER)
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value (RUNNER-UP)
Sinners
Sorry, Baby
Train Dreams
Twinless

ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet – Marty Supreme (RUNNER-UP)
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Sope Dirisu – My Father’s Shadow
Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon (WINNER)
Lee Byung Hun – No Other Choice
Dylan O’Brien – Twinless
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Jesse Plemons – Bugonia

ACTRESS
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (RUNNER-UP)
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet (WINNER)
Kathleen Chalfant – Familiar Touch
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Jennifer Lawrence – Die, My Love
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone – Bugonia
Sydney Sweeney – Christy
Tessa Thompson – Hedda

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Michael Cera – The Phoenician Scheme
Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein (WINNER)
Noah Jupe – Hamnet
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
Pierre Lottin – When Fall is Coming
Paul Mescal – Hamnet
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
Alexander Skarsgard – Pillion
Stellan Skarsgard – Sentimental Value (RUNNER-UP)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Odessa A’zion – Marty Supreme
Glenn Close – Wake Up Dead Man
Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
Regina Hall – One Battle After Another
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value (WINNER)
Amy Madigan – Weapons (RUNNER-UP)
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – Eternity
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

ENSEMBLE CAST
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another (RUNNER-UP)
Sentimental Value
Sinners (WINNER)
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wake Up Dead Man

USE OF MUSIC
Hamnet
KPop Demon Hunters
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners (WINNER)
Sirāt (RUNNER-UP)
Song Sung Blue
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wicked: For Good

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Hamnet
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sinners (WINNER)
Sirāt
Train Dreams (RUNNER-UP)
The Testament of Ann Lee
28 Years Later
Wicked: For Good

DEBUT DIRECTOR
Akinola Davies Jr. – My Father’s Shadow
Harris Dickerson – Urchin
Sarah Friedland – Familiar Touch
Scarlett Johansson – Eleanor the Great
Harry Lighton – Pillion
Carson Lund – Eephus
Charlie Polinger – The Plague (RUNNER-UP)
Kristen Stewart – The Chronology of Water
Constance Tsang – Blue Sun Palace
Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby (WINNER)

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER
Odessa A’zion
Everett Blunck
Miles Caton (RUNNER-UP)
Chase Infiniti (WINNER)
Jacob Jupe
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
Kayo Martin
Abou Sangare
Eva Victor

ANIMATION
A Magnificent Life
Arco (WINNER)
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amelie or the Character of Rain (RUNNER-UP TIE)
100 Meters
Predator: Killer of Killers
Scarlet
Zootopia 2 (RUNNER-UP TIE)

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
It Was Just an Accident (WINNER)
Left-Handed Girl
No Other Choice
Resurrection
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value (RUNNER-UP)
Sirāt
Sound of Falling
The Voice of Hind Rajib
We Will Not Be Moved

DOCUMENTARY
Afternoons of Solitude
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions (WINNER)
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cover-Up
My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air in Moscow
Pee-wee as Himself
Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk
The Perfect Neighbor (RUNNER-UP)
The Alabama Solution
2000 Meters to Andriivka

Here Are The 2025 Nominations of the New York Film Critics Online

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the 2025 nominations of the New York Film Critics Online!

PICTURE
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
Nuremberg
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Park Chan-wook – No Other Choice
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Mona Fastvold – The Testament of Ann Lee
Olivier Laxe – Sirāt
Jafar Panahi – It Was Just an Accident
Lynne Ramsey – Die, My Love
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Chloe Zhao – Hamnet

SCREENPLAY
Bugonia
Hamnet
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Sorry, Baby
Train Dreams
Twinless

ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Sope Dirisu – My Father’s Shadow
Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Lee Byung Hun – No Other Choice
Dylan O’Brien – Twinless
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Jesse Plemons – Bugonia

ACTRESS
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Kathleen Chalfant – Familiar Touch
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Jennifer Lawrence – Die, My Love
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone – Bugonia
Sydney Sweeney – Christy
Tessa Thompson – Hedda

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Michael Cera – The Phoenician Scheme
Benicio Del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Noah Jupe – Hamnet
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
Pierre Lottin – When Fall is Coming
Paul Mescal – Hamnet
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
Alexander Skarsgard – Pillion
Stellan Skarsgard – Sentimental Value

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Odessa A’zion – Marty Supreme
Glenn Close – Wake Up Dead Man
Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
Regina Hall – One Battle After Another
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – Eternity
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

ENSEMBLE CAST
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wake Up Dead Man

USE OF MUSIC
Hamnet
KPop Demon Hunters
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirāt
Song Sung Blue
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wicked: For Good

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Hamnet
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirāt
Train Dreams
The Testament of Ann Lee
28 Years Later
Wicked: For Good

DEBUT DIRECTOR
Akinola Davies Jr. – My Father’s Shadow
Harris Dickerson – Urchin
Sarah Friedland – Familiar Touch
Scarlett Johansson – Eleanor the Great
Harry Lighton – Pillion
Carson Lund – Eephus
Charlie Polinger – The Plague
Kristen Stewart – The Chronology of Water
Constance Tsang – Blue Sun Palace
Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER
Odessa A’zion
Everett Blunck
Miles Caton
Chase Infiniti
Jacob Jupe
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
Kayo Martin
Abou Sangare
Eva Victor

ANIMATION
A Magnificent Life
Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amelie or the Character of Rain
100 Meters
Predator: Killer of Killers
Scarlet
Zootopia 2

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
It Was Just an Accident
Left-Handed Girl
No Other Choice
Resurrection
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirāt
Sound of Falling
The Voice of Hind Rajib
We Will Not Be Moved

DOCUMENTARY
Afternoons of Solitude
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cover-Up
My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Last Air in Moscow
Pee-wee as Himself
Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk
The Perfect Neighbor
The Alabama Solution
2000 Meters to Andriivka

Here Are The 2025 Spirit Nominations

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Independent Spirit Nominations were announced earlier today.  As always, one should take the Spirit Awards with a grain of salt as a lot of the current Oscar contenders — like One Battle After Another and Hamnet — are not eligible for the Spirit Awards.  That said, Train Dreams is an Oscar contender that is eligible for the Spirit Awards and it had a fairly nice showing today.  I should also note that Peter Hujar’s Day received the most film nominations, with five.

Film Categories

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the producer)

Peter Hujar’s Day
Producers: Jonah Disend, Jordan Drake

The Plague
Producers: Derek Dauchy, Joel Edgerton, Roy Lee, Lucy McKendrick, Steven Schneider, Lizzie Shapiro

Sorry, Baby
Producers: Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski

Train Dreams
Producers: Michael Heimler, Will Janowitz, Marissa McMahon, Ashley Schlaifer, Teddy Schwarzman

Twinless
Producers: David Permut, James Sweeney

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to director and producer)

Blue Sun Palace
Director: Constance Tsang
Producers: Sally Sujin Oh, Eli Raskin, Tony Yang

Dust Bunny
Director/Producer: Bryan Fuller
Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee

East of Wall
Director/Producer: Kate Beecroft
Producers: Shannon Moss, Melanie Ramsayer, Lila Yacoub

Lurker
Director: Alex Russell
Producers: Galen Core, Archie Madekwe, Marc Marrie, Charlie McDowell, Francesco Melzi D’Eril, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky, Olmo Schnabel, Jack Selby

One of Them Days
Director: Lawrence Lamont
Producers: Deniese Davis, Poppy Hanks, James Lopez, Issa Rae, Sara Rastogi

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $1,000,000 (Award given to the writer, director and producer)

The Baltimorons
Director/Writer/Producer: Jay Duplass
Writer/Producer: Michael Strassner
Producers: David Bonnett Jr., Drew Langer

Boys Go to Jupiter
Director/Writer: Julian Glander

Eephus
Director/Writer/Producer: Carson Lund
Writer/Producer: Michael Basta
Writer: Nate Fisher
Producers: David Entin, Tyler Taormina

Esta Isla (This Island)
Directors/Writers/Producers: Cristian Carretero, Lorraine Jones Molina
Writer: Kisha Tikina Burgos

Familiar Touch
Director/Writer/Producer: Sarah Friedland
Producers: Alexandra Byer, Matthew Thurm

BEST DIRECTOR

Clint Bentley
Train Dreams

Mary Bronstein
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Lloyd Lee Choi
Lucky Lu

Ira Sachs
Peter Hujar’s Day

Eva Victor
Sorry, Baby

BEST SCREENPLAY

Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin
Splitsville

Angus MacLachlan
A Little Prayer

James Sweeney
Twinless

Christian Swegal
Sovereign

Eva Victor
Sorry, Baby

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Andrew DeYoung
Friendship

Elena Oxman
Outerlands

Alex Russell
Lurker

Syreeta Singleton
One of Them Days

Constance Tsang
Blue Sun Palace

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE

Everett Blunck
The Plague

Rose Byrne
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Kathleen Chalfant
Familiar Touch

Chang Chen
Lucky Lu

Joel Edgerton
Train Dreams

Dylan O’Brien
Twinless

Keke Palmer
One of Them Days

Théodore Pellerin
Lurker

Tessa Thompson
Hedda

Ben Whishaw
Peter Hujar’s Day

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Naomi Ackie
Sorry, Baby

Zoey Deutch
Nouvelle Vague

Kirsten Dunst
Roofman

Rebecca Hall
Peter Hujar’s Day

Nina Hoss
Hedda

Jane Levy
A Little Prayer

Archie Madekwe
Lurker

Kali Reis
Rebuilding

Jacob Tremblay
Sovereign

Haipeng Xu
Blue Sun Palace

BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Liz Larsen
The Baltimorons

Misha Osherovich
She’s the He

Kayo Martin
The Plague

SZA
One of Them Days

Tabatha Zimiga
East of Wall

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Alex Ashe
Peter Hujar’s Day

Norm Li
Blue Sun Palace

David J. Thompson
Warfare

Adolpho Veloso
Train Dreams

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker
Dust Bunny

BEST EDITING

Ben Leonberg
Good Boy

Carson Lund
Eephus

Fin Oates
Warfare

Sara Shaw
Splitsville

Sofía Subercaseaux
The Testament of Ann Lee

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – Given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast

The Long Walk
Director: Francis Lawrence
Casting Director: Rich Delia
Ensemble Cast: Judy Greer, Mark Hamill, Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Joshua Odjick, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Garrett Wareing

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director and producer)

Come See Me in the Good Light
Director/Producer: Ryan White
Producers: Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen

Endless Cookie
Director: Peter Scriver
Director/Producer: Seth Scriver
Producers: Dan Bekerman, Alex Ordanis, Jason Ryle, Chris Yurkovich

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow
Director/Producer: Julia Loktev

The Perfect Neighbor
Director/Producer: Geeta Gandbhir
Producers: Sam Bisbee, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne

The Tale of Silyan
Director/Producer: Tamara Kotevska
Producers: Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM (Award given to the director)

All That’s Left of You
Palestine, Jordan, Germany, Cyprus
Director: Cherien Dabis

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Zambia, UK, Ireland
Director: Rungano Nyoni

A Poet
Colombia
Director: Simón Mesa Soto

The Secret Agent
Brazil
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

Sirāt
Spain
Director: Oliver Laxe

Emerging Filmmaker Awards

PRODUCERS AWARD – The Producers Award, now in its 29th year, honors an emerging producer who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrates the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality independent films. This award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Emma Hannaway

Luca Intili

Tony Yang

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The Someone to Watch Award, now in its 32nd year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. This award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Tatti Ribeiro
Director of Valentina

Neo Sora
Director of Happyend

Annapurna Sriram
Director of Fucktoys

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The Truer Than Fiction Award, now in its 31st year, is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. This award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Tony Benna
Director of André is an Idiot

Rajee Samarasinghe
Director of Your Touch Makes Others Invisible

Brittany Shyne
Director of Seeds

Horror Film Review: Old (dir by M. Night Shyamalan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

An odd film, Old.

Seriously, 2019’s Old is so odd that I feel the need to point out repeatedly just how strange it is.  As I watched the film, I respected it’s dedication to being odd but, at the same time, I was a bit surprised that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan.  For all of the fame that he’s gained for his twist endings and his suspenseful films, Shyamalan has always aspired to being a member of the Hollywood mainstream.  As such, his films are usually twisty without being transgressive.  He’s usually careful about alienating the audience.

But then, he makes something like Old, which features a group of people going to the beach and aging a year every 30 minutes.  This group includes middle-aged people (and wow, are they ever in trouble) but it also includes young children who quickly become teenager and then quickly become adults and, by the end of the film, are middle-aged and walking around in ill-fitting swim suits.  Along the way, there’s a 10-minute pregnancy, a baby that only lives for a few seconds because it’s aging too quickly, and a blood infection that kills within seconds.  Eyesight and hearing fades.  Bones snap.  Bodies quickly decay.  Aging sucks.

It’s not a happy film at all.  Yes, the movie does end with a minor victory but it still leaves the remaining characters in a sort of mental and emotional limbo, the type that you know they’re never going to escape.  The majority of the characters die and often, they die graphically and painfully.  Under normal circumstances, they would have died over the course of several years and, at the very least, people would have time to grieve in between.  On the cursed beach of Old, people die one after the other and there’s no time to grieve.  Two character do manage to make some sort of peace with themselves before they age to death but the majority of the characters go out railing against that dark night.  One of the most disturbing things about the film is that the characters have no control over what is happening to them.  Even when they try to leave the beach, they pass out and reawaken on the sand, a few years older.  I guess it’s like life.  There is no escape and there’s no way to prevent getting older.  Some will age well and live a full life.  Others will randomly get sick and die and, in the end, there’s no way to control which will be which.

Seriously, that’s depressing!  I’m not used to M. Night Shyamalan being that depressing!  But then I discovered that this movie was based on a French-language graphic novel and it all made sense.

The people on the beach are played by a talented group of actors, with several different performers playing the rapidly aging children over the course of the film.  Rufus Sewell gives a good performance as a surgeon who cracks under the pressure.  I was happy to see one of my favorite actors, Ken Leung, on the beach but I wasn’t particularly happy with what happened to his character.

It’s a strange film.  Say what you will about Shyamalan and his career has definitely been uneven, he can still deliver when he has the right material.

Horror Film Review: Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (dir by John Harrison)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

First released in 1990 and based on a horror-themed television series that was created by the one-and-only George Romero, Tales From The Darkside: The Movie is an anthology film.  Usually, I can’t stand anthology films because it seems like the viewer only gets one good story and has to sit through two or three mediocre stories to get to the worthwhile stuff.  However, I have to say that I really enjoyed all of the stories featured in Tales From The Darkside: The Movie.

The film opens with a wrap-around story, featuring Timmy (Matthew Lawrence), a young boy who is chained up in a pantry and who a local witch named Betty (Debbie Harry) is planning on cooking for a dinner party.  Timmy tries to distract Betty from her kitchen duties by telling her three stories.

The first story features Steve Buscemi as a nerdy college student named Edward Bellingham.  On the verge of getting a much-needed scholarship, Edward is framed for theft by two of his classmates (one of whom is played by Julianne Moore) and loses the scholarship.  Edward responds by doing what anyone would do.  He unrolls an ancient parchment and brings to life a mummy who kills his rivals.  A very preppy Christian Slater plays Andy, the smug brother of one of the victims who seeks revenge against Bellingham.  In a surprise twist, Bellingham is able to get some vengeance of his own.

The second story features William Hickey as Drogan, an annoying old man who is convinced that he is being stalked by an evil black cat.  Drogan hires a hitman (David Johansen) to kill the cat but, as we all know, black cats are far more clever than anyone realizes.  The story ends on a notably grisly note because cats rule!

Finally, the third story features James Remar as a struggling artist who, one night, discovers that the stone gargoyle that sits atop of his apartment building is actually alive.  After witnessing the gargoyle kill someone, the artist promises never to reveal that the gargoyle exists.  “Cross your heart?” the gargoyle asks before flying away.  Later, the artist meets a mysterious woman (Rae Dawn Chong) who helps him to become a success on the art scene.  However, even after he marries the woman and they start a family, Remar is still haunted by his memories of the gargoyle.

As I said at the start of this review, I’m not a huge fan of anthology films but I really liked Tales From The Darkside: The Movie.  All three of the stories are equally good and there’s really not a slow spot to be found.  This is a horror anthology that manages to balance scares and laughs without becoming too silly or forgetting that the movie is meant to be a horror story.  Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater, and James Remar are stand-outs amongst the cast.  Even the wrap-around story had a good ending!

If you’re going to watch an anthology film for Halloween, allow me to recommend Tales From The Darkside: The Movie!