Ernest Borgnine, that great character actor, was born 104 years ago today. In tribute, today’s scene that I love comes from one of my favorite Borgnine films, 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure.
Borgnine was a great yeller and, in The Poseidon Adventure, he even manages to outyell the great Gene Hackman.
The Oscar nominations were not the only thing announced yesterday! The Online Film Critics Society also announced their picks for best of 2023.
The winners are listed in bold.
Best Picture
Anatomy of a Fall
Asteroid City
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Animated Feature
The Boy and the Heron
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Best Director
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Greta Gerwig – Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Martin Scorsese – Killers of the Flower Moon
Celine Song – Past Lives
Best Lead 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 Lead 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 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 Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
May December
Past Lives
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Editing
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Best Cinematography
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Best Original Score
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The Zone of Interest
Best Production Design
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Best Costume Design
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Best Visual Effects
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Best Debut Feature
Raven Jackson – All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Cord Jefferson – American Fiction
Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou – Talk to Me
A.V. Rockwell – A Thousand and One
Celine Song – Past Lives
Best Film Not in the English Language
Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Godzilla Minus One
Perfect Days
The Zone of Interest
Best Documentary Feature
20 Days in Mariupol
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
Kokomo City
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
“My humor is a bit abstract.”
— Victor Browning (Bill Oberst, Jr.)
“He’s a very strange guy.”
— Edith (Laura Ellen Wilson)
A Stranger In The Woods opens with a car driving into the woods. The skies are cloudy. The road is isolated. It’s unsettling because, other than the driver of the car, there aren’t any other people around. Other than the road, there are no signs of civilization. It’s the type of image that causes the viewer to consider just how much we take for granted the idea of interacting with other people and living in a world where our needs are taken care of. Today, we view anyone who would separate themselves from civilization as being an eccentric. In the past, though, that was how most people lived. They lived alone in home that they built for themselves and visitors and strangers were viewed with suspicion. It’s a way of life that many people had forced upon them from 2020 to 2021 and it led to the anger and societal anxiety that is still shaking the world today. Living in isolation is not easy for most people in the modern world, which is perhaps why we are so fascinated with people who can actually handle it.
Driving the car is Edith (Laura Ellen Wilson), a 20-something film student who has been given a tip by one of her professors. There is a man named Victor Browning (Bill Oberst, Jr.) who lives by himself in the woods. He’s known for being a bit off-key but he is considered to be generally harmless. He lives in a cabin, spending his time in what appears to be self-imposed exile from the world. He only occasionally leaves his cabin so he can get supplies. Victor has agreed to be interviewed by Edith for a student documentary.
The first meeting with Victor is a bit awkward but he soon starts to open up to Edith. Victor seems to be friendly and polite, even if he does appear to be a bit haunted by things that happened in the past. Then again, Edith has things in her past that haunt her as well. However, as Edith’s stay with Victor continues, she starts to notice some odd and eventually disturbing things about Victor and his isolated existence….
A Stranger In The Woods is a found footage film, playing out as a combination of the footage that Edith shot for her documentary and audio recordings of phone calls that she placed to various people. As a result, we learn about Victor’s secrets along with Edith. Like Edith, we start the film liking Victor for his shy manners and his seemingly gentle sense of humor and, just like Edith, we are shocked to witness his sudden changes in mood and his seeming reluctance to discuss certain aspects of his life. Bill Oberst, Jr. gives a performance that keeps you guessing about just who Victor is and what he’s doing out in the woods. Oberst is sometimes likable and sometimes frightening and he always keeps the audience from getting too complacent while watching the story unfold. Victor Browning’s name brings to mind such Universal horror icons as Victor Frankenstein and director Tod Browning and, like the characters who appeared in those classic horror films, he is compelling even when we’re not sure what’s going on inside his head.
A Stranger In The Woods is an atmospheric film, one that understands that there’s nothing scarier than being alone in the middle of nowhere in the dark. Victor is a fascinating character and fans of 70s horror will want to watch for Lynn Lowry’s cameo during the second half of the film. A Stranger In The Woods is an effectively creepy portrait of a very strange guy.
After all the build-up, the Oscar nominations turned out to be what I imagine most people were expecting. There’s a lot of worthy nominees but not many surprises. Greta Gerwig was not nominated for Best Director and Charles Melton was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor. (I imagine more than a few voters were too creeped out by that particular film to vote for it.) Oppenheimer leads with 13 nominations. Godzilla Minus One becomes the first Godzilla film to ever receive a nomination (for Visual Effects).
Here are the nominees:
American Fiction (Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers)
Anatomy of a Fall (Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers
Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers)
The Holdovers (Mark Johnson, Producer)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers)
Maestro (Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)
Oppenheimer (Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers)
Past Lives (David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers)
Poor Things (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers)
The Zone of Interest (James Wilson, Producer)
Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)
Bradley Cooper (Maestro)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)
Annette Bening (Nyad)
Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Carey Mulligan (Maestro)
Emma Stone (Poor Things)
Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)
America Ferrera (Barbie)
Jodie Foster (Nyad)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
American Fiction (Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson)
Barbie (Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach)
Oppenheimer (Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan)
Poor Things (Screenplay by Tony McNamara)
The Zone of Interest (Written by Jonathan Glazer)
Anatomy of a Fall (Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
The Holdovers (Written by David Hemingson)
Maestro (Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer)
May December (Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik)
Past Lives (Written by Celine Song)
The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki)
Elemental (Peter Sohn and Denise Ream)
Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary)
Robot Dreams (Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal)
El Conde (Edward Lachman)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto)
Maestro (Matthew Libatique)
Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema)
Poor Things (Robbie Ryan)
Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Jacqueline West)
Napoleon (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Oppenheimer (Ellen Mirojnick)
Poor Things (Holly Waddington)
Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Society of the Snow
Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
The After
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
“The Fire Inside” (Flamin’ Hot)
“I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)
“It Never Went Away” (American Symphony)
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” (Killers of the Flower Moon)
“What Was I Made For?” (Barbie)
American Fiction (Laura Karpman)
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Robbie Robertson)
Oppenheimer (Ludwig Göransson)
Poor Things (Jerskin Fendrix)
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol
The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island in Between
The Last Repair Shop
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Io Capitano (Italy)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Teacher’s Lounge (Germany)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest
The Creator
Godzilla: Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One
Napoleon
The Oscar nominations are due to be announced in a few more hours. I’m still struggling to get caught up with all of the movies that I need to see before I can post my personal Oscar nominations (expect to see them and all of my “best of 2023 lists” at the end of this month) but I have been following the precursor season and I feel confident about predicting what will be nominated in the major categories.
We’ll find out how correct I am in just a few more hours!
Best Picture
American Fiction
Barbie
The Color Purple
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Director
Greta Gerwig for Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Alexander Payne for The Holdovers
Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Bradley Cooper in Maestro
Colman Domingo in Rustin
Paul Giamatti in The Holdover
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction
Best Actress
Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Huller in Anatomy of a Fall
Greta Lee in Past Lives
Carey Mulligan in Maestro
Emma Stone in Poor Things
Best Supporting Actor
Willem DaFoe in Poor Things
Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey, Jr. in Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling in Barbie
Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple
Penelope Cruz in Ferrari
Jodie Foster in Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers
The Houston Film Critics Society has announced its picks for the best of 2023! The winners are listed below in bold.
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”
In memory of the late Norman Jewison, today scene that I love comes from my favorite film to have been directed by him.
In this scene from 1973’s Jesus Christ Superstar, Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman) attempts to comfort Jesus (Ted Neeley) while Judas (Carl Anderson) tries to pull Jesus away from her. This scene showcases both Elliman’s angelic voice and Anderson’s ferocious intensity as Mary and Judas present two very different sides of a spiritual journey.
4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films is just what it says it is, 4 (or more) shots from 4 (or more) of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films lets the visuals do the talking.
Rest in Peace, Norman Jewison, a director who believed in the power of cinema to change the world.
4 Shots From 4 Norman Jewison Films
In The Heat of the Night (1967, dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Haskell Wexler)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971, dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Oswald Morris)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973, dir by Norman Jewison, DP; Douglas Slocombe)
The Hurricane (1999. dir by Norman Jewison, DP: Roger Deakins)
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasionally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.
Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be Godzilla 1985, selected and hosted by Sweet Emmy Cat!
Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet. We will be watching 2010’s The Bounty Hunter!
It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Godzilla 1985 on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag! Then, at 10 pm et, switch over to Twitter and Prime, start The Bounty Hunter, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag! The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay. Today’s film is 1967’s The Hippie Temptation! It can be viewed on YouTube.
“This is a hippie,” a sober and serious voice says over the image of a rather clean-cut young man sitting in a park.
So starts the 1967 CBS news documentary, The Hippie Temptation. Hosted by a white-haired and distinguished voiced journalist named Harry Reasoner, The Hippie Temptation takes a look at the subculture that, in 1967, was taking the youth of America by storm. Reasoner walks through the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, followed by a group of hippies who hang on every word.
Hippies, Harry explains, their very name suggests that they are hip!
Harry Reasoner talks about how the hippies are predominantly liberal and say that they are dropping out of a society that they consider to be hypocritical. They have no interest in what their straight parents are concerned with. Harry’s tone goes from being gently condescending to rather alarmed as he explains that hippies use a new illegal drug called LSD to try to open up their minds. The bad trip, Harry says, is always a possibility and suddenly, the screen is full of Dutch angle images of San Francisco.
The majority of this documentary focuses on the dangers of LSD. A pipe-smoking scientist shows a diagram of a chromosome of a repeated LSD user. The repeated use of LSD is compared to having epilepsy. Harry says that LSD is illegal in California but it’s still easy to find in San Francisco. No mention is made of marijuana or heroin or any of the other drugs that may have been a part of the Haight Ashbury scene.
Harry is a bit surprised that the hippies are not particularly concerned about what the scientists think about LSD. The Hippie Temptation is to not care about consequences and to instead do whatever you want. Harry discusses how the hippies claim not to care about money or material things but, as he points out, some people are getting rich in Haight Ashbury. He drops in to visit a local band called the Grateful Dead “who appear to be living in affluence.” The members of the band admit that they also use LSD and other drugs. Harry shows us a performance of the Grateful Dead performing and comments on how the light show is designed to imitate a psychedelic experience.
(Along with the Grateful Dead, future actor Peter Coyote also appears briefly, giving out free food as a member of a collective called The Diggers.)
Hippies can make money, Harry says, if they can find an employer who doesn’t mind long hair and strange clothing. It’s hard not to smile at this comment because, by today’s standards, the hippies in this documentary look remarkably preppy and almost conservative. Turtlenecks, colorful shirts, and neck length hair no longer come across as being the height of rebellion. The majority of the hippies that Harry talks to look like they could be accountants.
This is one of those documentaries where the older generation tries to figure out why their kids are so weird. It’s hard not to smile at the sight of a clearly uncomfortable Harry Reasoner being surrounded by a bunch of future accountants and middle managers. That said, this documentary was an interesting time capsule. It was a chance to see a firsthand account of what people were worried about in 1967.
Through the Shattered Lens 