Tag Archives: Michael B. Jordon

Here Are The 2025 Nominations of the Las Vegas Film Critics Society

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the 2025 nominations of the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.

BEST PICTURE
Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Jesse Plemons – Bugonia

BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone – Bugonia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emily Blunt – The Smashing Machine
Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

BEST DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Clint Bentley – Train Dreams

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Sorry, Baby
Weapons

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Bugonia
Frankenstein
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
F1: The Movie
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

BEST FILM EDITING
F1: The Movie
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

BEST SCORE
F1: The Movie
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Tron: Ares

BEST SONG
Clothed by the Sun – The Testament of Ann Lee
Drive – F1: The Movie
Golden – KPop Demon Hunters
I Lied to You – Sinners
Train Dreams – Train Dreams

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cover Up
John Candy: I Like Me
The Perfect Neighbor

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Arco
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle
In Your Dreams
KPop Demon Hunters
Zootopia 2

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
It Was Just an Accident
Left-Handed Girl
No Other Choice
Sentimental Value
The Secret Agent

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1: The Movie
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Superman
The Fantastic Four: First Steps

BEST ACTION FILM
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Predator: Badlands
Superman
The Running Man

BEST COMEDY
Eternity
Friendship
The Ballad of Wallis Island
The Naked Gun
One of Them Days

BEST HORROR / SCI-FI
28 Years Later
Bring Her Back
Frankenstein
Sinners
The Long Walk

BEST FAMILY FILM
How to Train Your Dragon
KPop Demon Hunters
Lilo & Stitch
The Legend of Ochi
Zootopia 2

BEST ANIMAL PERFORMANCE
Bing, the Great Dane – The Friend
Hercules, the Dog – Marty Supreme
Indy – Good Boy
Olga, the Cat – Sorry, Baby
Richard and Baba – The Penguin Lessons

BEST ENSEMBLE
Jay Kelly
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

BREAKOUT FILMMAKER
Clint Bentley – Train Dreams
Drew Hancock – Companion
Emilie Blichfeldt – The Ugly Stepsister
Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
James Sweeney – Twinless

BEST STUNTS
F1: The Movie
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Predator: Badlands
The Running Man

YOUTH MALE PERFORMANCE (UNDER 21)
Christian Convery – Frankenstein / The Monkey
Jacobi Jupe – Hamnet
John Wren Phillips – Bring Her Back
Mason Thames – How to Train Your Dragon
Miles Canton – Sinners

FEMALE YOUTH PERFORMANCE (UNDER 21)
Helena Zengel – The Legend of Ochi
Maia Kealoha – Lilo & Stitch
Nina Ye – Left-Handed Girl
Shannon Mahina Gorman – Rental Family
Sora Wong – Bring Her Back

WILLIAM HOLDEN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Kathryn Bigelow
Barbara Broccoli
Kathleen Kennedy
Delroy Lindo
Sigourney Weaver

One Battle After Another Gets Another Win In St. Louis

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The St. Louis Film Critics Association has announced its picks for the best of 2025.  The winners are listed in bold.

BEST FILM
Frankenstein
Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Phoenician Scheme
The Secret Agent
Sinners
Superman
Weapons

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – “One Battle After Another”
Ryan Coogler – “Sinners”
Jafar Panahi – “It Was Just an Accident”
Josh Safdie – “Marty Supreme”
Chloe Zhao – “Hamnet”

BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley – “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne – “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Chase Infiniti – “One Battle After Another”
Amanda Seyfried – “The Testament of Ann Lee”
Emma Stone – “Bugonia”

BEST ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet – “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke – “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan – “Sinners”
Wagner Moura – “The Secret Agent”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Glenn Close – “Wake Up Dead Man”
Elle Fanning – “Sentimental Value”
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan – “Weapons”
Teyana Taylor – “One Battle After Another”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benecio del Toro – “One Battle After Another”
Paul Mescal – “Hamnet”
Sean Penn – “One Battle After Another”
Andrew Scott – “Blue Moon”
Stellan Skarsgard – “Sentimental Value”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams
Wake Up Dead Man

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Sorry, Baby
Weapons

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Sinners
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wicked: For Good

BEST EDITING
F1
A House of Dynamite
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Frankenstein
Hamnet
The Phoenician Scheme
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners
The Testament of Ann Lee

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Sinners
Superman
Tron: Ares

BEST SOUNDTRACK
KPop Demon Hunters
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Wicked: For Good

BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE
Arden Cho – “KPop Demon Hunters”
Ginnifer Goodwin – “Zootopia 2”
Damian Lewis – “Orwell: 2+2=5”
Will Patton – “Train Dreams”
Scarlet Sher – “Weapons”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Ne Zha II
Zootopia 2

BEST ENSEMBLE

Black Bag
Hamnet
A House of Dynamite
One Battle After Another
Sinners

BEST HORROR FILM
28 Years Later
Companion
Frankenstein
Sinners
Weapons

BEST STUNTS
Ballerina
F1
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Warfare

BEST COMEDY FILM
Eephus
Friendship
Good Fortune
The Naked Gun
The Phoenician Scheme

BEST ACTION FILM
F1
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Superman
Warfare

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
2000 Meters to Andriivka
Afternoons of Solitude
Deaf President Now
Orwell: 2+2=5
The Perfect Neighbor

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
It Was Just an Accident
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirāt

BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM
Emilie Blichfeldt – “The Ugly Stepsister”
Andrew DeYoung – “Friendship”
Drew Hancock – “Companion”
Carson Lund – “Eephus”
Eva Victor – “Sorry, Baby”

BEST SCENE
The Globe theatrical production in “Hamnet”
Finale in “It Was Just an Accident”
Music evolution “I Lied to You” in “Sinners”
Baktan Cross Car Chase Scene in “One Battle After Another”
The fate of Aunt Gladys in “Weapons”

Here Are The 2025 Nominations of the St. Louis Film Critics Association

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the wonderfully quirky 2025 nominations of the St. Lous Film Critics Association!  Thank you, St. Louis, for thinking outside the box.

BEST FILM
Frankenstein
Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Phoenician Scheme
The Secret Agent
Sinners
Superman
Weapons

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – “One Battle After Another”
Ryan Coogler – “Sinners”
Jafar Panahi – “It Was Just an Accident”
Josh Safdie – “Marty Supreme”
Chloe Zhao – “Hamnet”

BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley – “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne – “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Chase Infiniti – “One Battle After Another”
Amanda Seyfried – “The Testament of Ann Lee”
Emma Stone – “Bugonia”

BEST ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet – “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio – “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke – “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan – “Sinners”
Wagner Moura – “The Secret Agent”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Glenn Close – “Wake Up Dead Man”
Elle Fanning – “Sentimental Value”
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan – “Weapons”
Teyana Taylor – “One Battle After Another”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benecio del Toro – “One Battle After Another”
Paul Mescal – “Hamnet”
Sean Penn – “One Battle After Another”
Andrew Scott – “Blue Moon”
Stellan Skarsgard – “Sentimental Value”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams
Wake Up Dead Man

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Sorry, Baby
Weapons

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Sinners
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wicked: For Good

BEST EDITING
F1
A House of Dynamite
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Frankenstein
Hamnet
The Phoenician Scheme
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners
The Testament of Ann Lee

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Sinners
Superman
Tron: Ares

BEST SOUNDTRACK
KPop Demon Hunters
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Wicked: For Good

BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE
Arden Cho – “KPop Demon Hunters”
Ginnifer Goodwin – “Zootopia 2”
Damian Lewis – “Orwell: 2+2=5”
Will Patton – “Train Dreams”
Scarlet Sher – “Weapons”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Ne Zha II
Zootopia 2

BEST ENSEMBLE

Black Bag
Hamnet
A House of Dynamite
One Battle After Another
Sinners

BEST HORROR FILM
28 Years Later
Companion
Frankenstein
Sinners
Weapons

BEST STUNTS
Ballerina
F1
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Warfare

BEST COMEDY FILM
Eephus
Friendship
Good Fortune
The Naked Gun
The Phoenician Scheme

BEST ACTION FILM
F1
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Superman
Warfare

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
2000 Meters to Andriivka
Afternoons of Solitude
Deaf President Now
Orwell: 2+2=5
The Perfect Neighbor

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
It Was Just an Accident
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirāt

BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM
Emilie Blichfeldt – “The Ugly Stepsister”
Andrew DeYoung – “Friendship”
Drew Hancock – “Companion”
Carson Lund – “Eephus”
Eva Victor – “Sorry, Baby”

BEST SCENE
The Globe theatrical production in “Hamnet”
Finale in “It Was Just an Accident”
Music evolution “I Lied to You” in “Sinners”
Baktan Cross Car Chase Scene in “One Battle After Another”
The fate of Aunt Gladys in “Weapons”

My Top 6 Super Bowl Commercials

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Let’s just admit that the Super Bowl was weird this year.

I’m not talking about the game.  To be honest, I could really hardly care less about the game.  When it comes to winners and losers, I’m one of those people who wishes that both teams could win. I think the coach of the winning team should let the losing team score a touchdown so that no one’s feelings get hurt.  I worry about concussions, broken ankles, and compound fractures.  I can handle some of the most graphic zombie films ever made but football just freaks me the fug out.

Instead, I’m one of those people who watches for the commercials and this year, the commercials were odd.  I guess that’s to be understood, all things considered.  But even when you take into account the pandemic and the general sappiness of modern American culture, the commercials felt weak.  There were a lot of inspirational commercials.  Bruce Springsteen gave a two-minute monologue about America while sitting in a jeep.  There was a Ford commercial about how we’re all in this together or something like that.  The beer commercials were less surly and more cringey this year.  There were a lot of commercials with celebrities where the whole joke seemed to be, “Hey, look!  A celebrity!”

There were precious few commercials for any upcoming movies or TV shows.  In fact, there were four.  FOUR!  Every previous year, I’ve worked myself to a beautiful exhaustion trying to keep up with all the movies being advertised during the big game.  This year, I wrote a few — very few — words about Coming 2 America, Old, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Raya and the Last Dragon.

Anyway, with all that in mind — here are 6 commercials that I did enjoy.  I don’t know if it’s right for me to say that any of these really qualify as a “favorite” because I really didn’t have any favorites this year.  But, the important thing is that I enjoyed the commercials below.

6) Edgar Scissorhands — Cadillac

I guess Edward is dead or something?  Because Edward’s definitely not in this commercial.  I can only assume that he died or he moved to Paris and was later judged to be too problematic to be invited back to appear with his son.  Well, regardless, this is a cute commercial.  I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a good commercial because people are going to remember Edgar on the bus more than they’re going to remember the Cadillac but still, it was nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4AOxyPzmE

5) Adam Levine Sets Up Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton — T-Mobile

But if not for the spotty network, Gwen and Blake never would have gotten together!  Oh well.  What matters is that Gwen and Blake are a cute couple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxllNfjYw2U

4) Jason Alexander Hoodie — Tide

This was actually kind of a disturbing commercial but then again, I like the idea of clothing that screams at you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvjuL6Bci6M

3) Doritos — Flat Matthew McConaughey

It was weird enough to work.

2) Alexa — Michael B. Jordan

It was sexy enough to work.

  1. Reddit

This made my night.  This ad was short.  It wasn’t pretentious.  It didn’t pretend that it was going to bring America together.  It didn’t feature Bruce Springsteen doing his Kerouac imitation.  Instead, it popped up for five seconds, it freaked a lot of people out, and it kind of gave the finger to the whole silly culture that’s sprung up around Super Bowl advertising.  That was brilliant.  (Considering that Reddit has now become the favorite scapegoat of the establishment, I applaud them for raising their profile as opposed to just meekly waiting for the storm to pass.)

Reddit wins the night!  And, just in case the above video gets taken off of YouTube for some reason, here’s the ad:

Hardball (2001, dir. by Brian Robbins)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Conor O’Neill (Keanu Reeves) is a gambler who is going to be killed by his bookies unless he can pay off a $6,000 debt.  When he finds out that he can make $500 a week just for coaching a little league team in the Chicago projects, he takes the job.  He’s not planning on caring about the team but, of course, he does.  He doesn’t expect to fall in love but when he meets his team’s 5th grade teacher (Diane Lane), he does.  No one expects him to get his team to the championship but he does.  When tragedy strikes one of his players, Conor and the team have to decide whether to keep playing or to give up.

Hardball is a movie that I wanted to like because Keanu Reeves is in it and the movie tells a good, heart-warming story.  Hardball is really predictable, though, and the movie is so focused on Conor that you never really get to know most of the players on team or what winning the championship would mean to them.  I wanted to know about the members of the team, all of whom were poor, black, and living in the most dangerous neighborhood in Chicago.  (When Conor drops one of them off from practice, he’s told to duck whenever he walks by a window, just in case someone outside is shooting a gun.)  There is one really powerful scene that drives home the reality of the danger that the kids on the team live with on a daily basis but other than that, the movie is almost all about the white coach and his problems.  The team should be the heart of the movie but instead, Hardball focuses everything on Conor and whether or not he’s going to stick with coaching the team even when things get difficult. Even Conor says he’s done, everyone knows he’s not going anywhere.

The other thing that bothered me about Hardball is that, for a baseball movie, there wasn’t enough baseball.  Conor didn’t spend any time discussing strategy with his players or doing any other coaching beyond telling his players not to trash talk each other and to always do their best.  I understand that little league is not the same as major league baseball but I still would have liked to have seen more scenes of Conor actually being a coach and his players actually learning how to play the game.

Hardball‘s not all bad.  It’s got a good heart and it’s got Keanu Reeves.  I just wish it had more baseball.

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Embraces Roma and Orson Welles!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle announced their pics for the best of 2018 earlier today.  They picked Roma for Best Picture and they also rightfully honored Orson Welles for his work on The Other Side of the Wind.

Check out a list of their nominees here and check out the winners below!

Best Picture: ROMA

Best Director: Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

Best Actor: Ethan Hawke (First Reformed)

Best Actress: Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Best Supporting Actor: Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther)

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Best Original Screenplay: Paul Schrader (First Reformed)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Watchel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

Best Film Editing: Bob Murawski and Orson Welles (The Other Side of the Wind)

Best Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón (ROMA)

Best Production Design: Hannah Bleacher (Black Panther)

Best Foreign Language Film: ROMA

Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse

Best Documentary: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Marlin Riggs Award (for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community): Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You)

Special Citation Award (for and under-appreciated independent film): The Endless – a genre-bending story of emotionally estranged brothers starring and directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead