Scenes That I Love: Steve McCroskey Realizes That He Picked The Wrong Week To Stop Sniffing Glue in Airplane!


Lloyd Bridges was born 111 years ago today.

Lloyd Bridges appeared in a lot of films and TV shows over the course of his long career.  He was the untrustworthy deputy in High Noon, for instance.  He was also the father of actors Jeff and Beau Bridges.  And, of course, he was one of the many Golden Age actors to be recruited to appear in the 1980 film, AirplaneAirplane! was such a success that it launched a whole new career for Bridges, who went from being known for his serious roles to appearing in comedies, where he was often cast as well-meaning but clueless authority figures.

In today’s scene that I love, Lloyd Bridges plays the air traffic supervisor Steve McCroskey, who comes to realize that he picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Death Hunt and Murphy’s Law!


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 2017’s Death Hunt!! I picked it so you know it’ll be good.

Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet.  We will be watching Charles Bronson in Murphy’s Law!  This film is also available on Prime and Tubi!

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 Death Hunt on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  Then, at 10 pm et, switch over to Twitter, start Murphy’s Law, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag!  The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

Scenes That I Love: Bonnie Meets Clyde in Bonnie And Clyde


Today is Faye Dunaway’s birthday and today’s scene that I love comes from the film that made Dunaway a star, 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.

In this scene, Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) first meets Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty).  Interestingly enough, Warren Beatty originally wanted Bob Dylan to play the role of Clyde and, at one point, he envisioned Bonnie being played by his sister, Shirley MacClaine.  That would have been interesting, to say the least.  Fortunately, in the end, Beatty decided to not only produce the film but to play the role of Clyde himself.  Natalie Wood, Tuesday Weld, Leslie Caron, and Jane Fonda were among those who turned down the role of Bonnie before Faye Dunaway, who had done two films at that point, was eventually cast in the role.  And the rest is film history!

Retro Television Review: Thief (dir by William A. Graham)


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 1971’s Thief!  It  can be viewed on Tubi and YouTube.

Neal Wilkinson (Richard Crenna) would appear to be living a great life.  He has a nice house in the suburbs.  He has a beautiful girlfriend named Jean Melville (Angie Dickinson).  As he heads into middle-age, he is still fit and handsome and charming.  He dresses well, or at least well by the standards of the early 70s.  (By the standards of today, a few of his ties are a bit too wide.)  Everyone believes that Neal has a nice and comfortable job as an insurance agent.

Of course, the truth is far different.

Neal is a veteran con man and a thief.  He’s just recently been released from prison and his deceptively friendly parole officer (played by the great character actor, Michael Lerner) is convinced that Neal will screw up again eventually.  And, of course, Neal has screwed up.  A gambling addict, he is $30,000 in debt.  Can Neal steal enough jewelry from enough suburban homes to pay off his debt?  Can a man like Neal change his ways?

This is a surprisingly somber made-for-TV movie.  Just from the plot description and the film’s first few minutes, you might expect Thief to be a light-hearted caper film in which Neal and Jean work together to pull off one last heist so that Neal can retire.  Instead, Neal spends almost the entire film lying to Jean and there’s hardly a light moment to be found.  Neal says that he wants to retire from his life of crime but, as the film makes clear, that’s a lie that he’s telling himself.  Neal cannot stop stealing and gambling because he’s as much of an addict as the wild-haired junkie (Michael C. Gwynne) who briefly confronts Neal at the parole office.  At one point, Jean tells Neal, “The more I know you, the less I know you,” but the truth of the matter is that Neal is so deep in denial about the futility of his life that he doesn’t even know himself.

It’s not a particularly happy film.  Richard Crenna is ideally cast as Neal, playing him with enough charm that the viewer can buy that he could talk his way out of being caught in a stranger’s backyard but with also with vulnerability that the viewer can see his fate, even if he can’t.  Thief also provides a rare opportunity to see Cameron Mitchell playing a sympathetic role.  Mitchell is cast as Neal’s attorney, who continually tries to get Neal to stop messing up but who ultimately knows that his attempts to reform Neal are just as futile as Neal’s attempts to go straight.

The movie ends on a surprisingly fatalistic note, one that suggests that there’s only one way to truly escape from a life of crime.  I can only imagine how viewers responded in 1971, when they turned on their television and found themselves watching not a light-hearted caper film but instead a bleak examination of criminal ennui.  It’s not a happy film but it is more than worth watching for Richard Crenna’s lead performance.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Joseph Losey Edition


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.

115 years ago, on this date, director Joseph Losey was born in Wisconsin.  Losey began his film career in the United States before exiling himself to Europe during the McCarthy era.  Losey was a director who worked in all genres, usually bringing a political subtext to most of his films.  Today, Losey is perhaps best remembered for his collaborations with playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter.

In honor of Joseph Losey, here are….

4 Shots From 4 Joseph Losey Films

The Boy With Green Hair (1948, dir by Joseph Losey, DP: George Barnes)

The Servant (1963, dir by Joseph Losey, DP: Douglas Slocombe)

Boom! (1968, dir by Joseph Losey, DP: Douglas Slocombe)

The Assassination of Trotsky (1972, dir by Joseph Losey, DP: Pasqualino De Santis)

Barbie Wins In Hawaii!


The Hawaii Film Critics Society has announced its picks for the best of 2023!

And here they are, with the winners in bold:

BEST PICTURE
American Fiction
Barbie
Ferrari
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST DIRECTOR
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Adam Driver, Ferrari
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

BEST ACTRESS
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Emma Stone, Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert DeNiro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
John Magaro, Past Lives
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Ferrari
Viola Davis, Air
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Barbie
The Holdovers
The Iron Claw
Maestro
Past Lives

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Fiction
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Ferrari
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST ART DIRECTION
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Poor Things

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Barbie
Ferrari
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Poor Things

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Barbie
Ferrari
Maestro
Poor Things
Oppenheimer

BEST EDITING
Barbie
Ferrari
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Albert Brooks: Defending Your Life
American Symphony
Four Daughters
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

BEST MAKE-UP
Ferrari
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST SOUND
Ferrari
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
American Fiction
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST SONG
“Dance the Night” (Barbie)
“I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)
“What Was I Made For?” (Barbie)
“Road to Freedom” (Rustin)
“Peaches” (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST STUNT WORK
Extraction 2
The Iron Claw
John Wick: Chapter 4
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Silent Night

BEST NEW FILMMAKER
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Adele Lim, Joy Ride
Danny & Michael Philippou, Talk to Me
A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One
Celine Song, Past Lives

BEST FIRST FILM
American Fiction
Joy Ride
Past Lives
Talk to Me
A Thousand and One

BEST OVERLOOKED FILM
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
A Thousand and One
Joy Ride
Shortcomings
They Cloned Tyrone

BEST VOCAL/MOTION CAPTURE PERFORMANCE
Jack Black, The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Bradley Cooper, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
Kumail Nanjiani, Migration
Robert Pattinson, The Boy and the Heron
Jason Schwartzman, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST HORROR FILM
Evil Dead Rise
Godzilla Minus One
M3GAN
Talk to Me
Totally Killer

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
The Marvels
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

BEST SCI-FI FILM
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
The Marvels
Robot Dreams

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
The Taste of Things (France)
The Three Musketeers:- Part I: D’Artagnan (France)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)

BEST HAWAIIAN FILM
Decade of the Dead, dir. Adam Deyoe, Fairai Richmond
Hokulea: Finding the Language of the Navigator, dir. Ty Sanga
Growing Up Local, dir. James Sereno
My Partner, dir. Keli’I Grace
Uncle Bully’s Surf School, dir. Leah Warshawski, Todd Soliday

WORST FILM OF 2023
65
80 for Brady
Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantum Mania
The Flash
Meg 2: The Trench

Here Are The 2023 AARP Nominations! (wait, the aarp does nominations?)


Did you know that the AARP gives out awards?  Seriously, the American Association of Retried Persons is getting in on the act.  Anyway, here are their nominations for the “Best Movies for Grownups.”

Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups
Barbie
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer

Best Actress
Annette Bening (Nyad)
Juliette Binoche (The Taste of Things)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Origin)
Helen Mirren (Golda)
Julia Roberts (Leave the World Behind)

Best Actor
Nicolas Cage (Dream Scenario)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Anthony Hopkins (Freud’s Last Session)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis (Air)
Jodie Foster (Nyad)
Taraji P. Henson (The Color Purple)
Julianne Moore (May December)
Leslie Uggams (American Fiction)

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe (Poor Things)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Colman Domingo (The Color Purple)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

Best Director
Ben Affleck (Air)
Michael Mann (Ferrari)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Alexander Payne (The Holdovers)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Screenwriter
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig (Barbie)
David Hemingson (The Holdovers)
Tony McNamara (Poor Things)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Ensemble
American Fiction
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Rustin

Best Actress (TV)
Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)
Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus)
Jennifer Garner (The Last Thing He Told Me)
Imelda Staunton (The Crown)
Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building)

Best Actor (TV)
Brian Cox (Succession)
Bryan Cranston (Your Honor)
Oliver Platt (The Bear)
Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat)
Henry Winkler (Barry)

Best TV Movie/Series or Limited Series
The Bear
Fargo
Only Murders in the Building
Succession
The White Lotus

Best Reality TV Series
The Amazing Race
America’s Got Talent
The Golden Bachelor
Jury Duty
The Voice

Best Intergenerational Film
American Fiction
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
The Holdovers
Leave the World Behind
Poor Things

Best Time Capsule
Ferrari
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Priscilla
Rustin

Best Documentary
Invisible Beauty
Judy Blume Forever
The Lost Weekend
The Pigeon Tunnel
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Foreign Film
Amerikatsi (Armenia)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Radical (Mexico)
The Taste of Things (France)
The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)

Here Are The 2023 Nominations of the Cinema Audio Society!


The Cinema Audio Society have announced their nominations for the best sound mixing of 2023!  The winners will be announced on March 3rd!

Here are the feature film nominations:

Motion Pictures – Live Action
“Barbie” – Production Mixer – Nina Rice Re-Recording Mixer – Kevin O’Connell CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Ai-Ling Lee CAS Scoring Mixer – Peter Cobbin Scoring Mixer – Kirsty Whalley ADR Mixer – Bobby Johanson CAS Foley Mixer – Kevin Schultz
“Ferrari” – Production Mixer – Lee Orloff CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Andy Nelson CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Tony Lamberti Re-Recording Mixer – Luke Schwarzweller CAS Scoring Mixer – Andrew Dudman ADR Mixer – Matthew Wood Foley Mixer – Giorgi Lekishvili
“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Production Mixer – Mark Ulano CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Tom Fleischman CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Eugene Gearty Foley Mixer – George A. Lara CAS
“Maestro” – Production Mixer – Steven A. Morrow CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Tom Ozanich Re-Recording Mixer – Dean A. Zupancic Scoring Mixer – Nick Baxter ADR Mixer – Bobby Johanson CAS Foley Mixer – Walter Spencer
“Oppenheimer” – Production Mixer – Willie D. Burton CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Gary A. Rizzo CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Kevin O’Connell CAS Scoring Mixer – Chris Fogel CAS Foley Mixer – Tavish Grade Foley Mixer – Jack Cucci Foley Mixer – Mikel Parraga-Wills

Motion Pictures – Animated
“Elemental” – Original Dialogue Mixer – Vince Caro CAS Original Dialogue Mixer – Paul McGrath CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Stephen Urata Re-Recording Mixer – Ren Klyce Scoring Mixer – Thomas Vicari CAS Foley Mixer – Scott Curtis
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” – Original Dialogue Mixer – Brian Smith Original Dialogue Mixer – Aaron Hasson Original Dialogue Mixer – Howard London CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Michael Semanick Re-Recording Mixer – Juan Peralta Scoring Mixer – Sam Okell Foley Mixer – Randy K. Singer CAS
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” – Original Dialogue Mixer – Doc Kane CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Michael Semanick Re-Recording Mixer – Mark Mangini Scoring Mixer – Trent Reznor Scoring Mixer – Atticus Ross ADR Mixer – Chris Cirino Foley Mixer – Chelsea Body
“The Boy and the Heron” – Original Dialogue & Re-Recording Mixer – Kôji Kasamats
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” – Original Dialogue Mixer – Carlos Sotolongo CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Pete Horner Re-Recording Mixer – Juan Peralta Scoring Mixer – Casey Stone CAS ADR Mixer – Doc Kane CAS Foley Mixer – Richard Durante

Motion Pictures – Documentary
“32 Sounds” – Production Mixer – Laura Cunningham Re-Recording Mixer – Mark Mangini Scoring Mixer – Ben Greenberg ADR Mixer – Bobby Johanson CAS Foley Mixer – Blake Collins CAS
“American Symphony” – Re-Recording Mixer – Tom Paul Re-Recording Mixer – Tristan Baylis Foley Mixer – Ryan Collison
“Little Richard: I Am Everything” – Re-Recording Mixer – Tom Paul
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” – Re-Recording Mixer – Skip Lievsay CAS Re-Recording Mixer – Paul Urmson Re-Recording Mixer – Joel Dougherty Scoring Mixer – John Michael Caldwell Foley Mixer – Micah Blaichman
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” – Production Mixer – Jacob Farron Smith CAS Re-Recording Mixer – John Ross CAS Re-Recording Mixer – David Payne Re-Recording Mixer – Christopher Rowe

Here Are The 2023 Nominations of the Art Directors Guild!


The Art Directors Guild announced their nominees for the best of 2023 on the 9th.  The winners will be announced on February 10th!

FEATURE FILM NOMINEES:

PERIOD FEATURE FILM
Asteroid City – Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen
Killers of the Flower Moon – Production Designer: Jack Fisk
Maestro – Production Designer: Kevin Thompson
Napoleon – Production Designer: Arthur Max
Oppenheimer – Production Designer: Ruth De Jong

FANTASY FEATURE FILM
Barbie – Production Designer: Sarah Greenwood
The Creator – Production Designer: James Clyne
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Production Designer: Beth Mickle
Poor Things – Production Designers: James Price, Shona Heath
Wonka – Production Designer: Nathan Crowley

CONTEMPORARY FEATURE FILM
Beau is Afraid – Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
John Wick: Chapter 4 – Production Designer: Kevin Kavanaugh
The Killer – Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – Production Designer: Gary Freeman
Saltburn – Production Designer: Suzie Davies

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Boy and the Heron – Art Director: Yoji Takeshige
Elemental – Production Designer: Don Shank
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Production Designer: Patrick O’Keefe
The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Production Designer: Guillaume Aretos
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – Production Designer: Yashar Kassai

Oppenheimer Wins in San Francisco


Way back on January 9th (not that long ago, to be honest), the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (try to say that 10 times fast) announced their picks for the best of 2023!

And here they are:

Best Picture
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Past Lives”
“Poor Things”
“The Zone of Interest”

Best Director
Celine Song, “Past Lives”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Greta Gerwig, “Barbie”
Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best Original Screenplay
Celine Song, “Past Lives”
David Hemigson, “The Holdovers”
Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, “Barbie”
Justine Triet, Arthur Harari, “Anatomy of a Fall”
Samy Burch, “May December”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Andrew Haigh, “All of Us Strangers”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Cord Jefferson, “American Fiction”
Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Tony McNarma, “Poor Things”

Best Actor
Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”

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

Best Supporting Actor
Charles Melton, “May December”
Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”
Robert Downey Jr, “Oppenheimer”
Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”

Best Supporting Actress
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
Jodie Foster, “Nyad”
Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”
Sandra Hüller, “The Zone of Interest”

Best Animated Feature
“The Boy and the Heron”
“Elemental”
“Nimona”
“Robot Dreams”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

Best International Feature Film
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Fallen Leaves”
“The Taste of Things”
“Perfect Days”
“The Zone of Interest”

Best Documentary Feature
“20 Days in Mariupol”
“American Symphony”
“Beyond Utopia”
“Menu Plaisirs – Les Troigros”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Story”

Best Cinematography
Hoyt Van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer”
Lukas Zal, “The Zone of Interest”
Robbie Ryan, “Poor Things”
Rodrigo Prieto, “Barbie”
Rodrigo Prieto, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best Production Design
Adam Stockhausen, “Asteroid City”
Jack Fisk, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
James Price (Production Designer), Shona Heath (Production Designer), Szusza Mihalek (Set Decorator), “Poor Things”
Ruth DeJong, “Oppenheimer”
Sarah Greenwood, “Barbie”

Best Film Editing
Jennifer Lame, “Oppenheimer”
Laurent Senechal, “Anatomy of a Fall”
Paul Watts, “The Zone of Interest”
Thelma Schoonmaker, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Yorgos Mavropsaridis, “Poor Things”

Best Original Score
Daniel Pemberton, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Jerskin Fendrix, “Poor Things”
Ludwig Göransson, “Oppenheimer”
Mica Levi, “The Zone of Interest”
Robbie Robertson, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Special Citation for Independent Cinema
“The Blue Caftan”
“Earth Mama” (TIE)
“Fremont” (TIE)