Happy 64th Birthday to legendary South Korean Actor Choi Min-sik!


I’m a big fan of the South Korean actor, Choi Min-sik, especially due to his performance in the film OLDBOY (2003). I remember buying the foreign DVD when the movie came out. I had a region-free DVD player so I was able to watch it back in the early 2000’s before everyone else knew about it. Back in those days, it felt like I knew something that nobody else knew, and it was pretty awesome. Choi would soon go on to star in movies like LADY VENGEANCE (2005) and I SAW THE DEVIL (2010), cementing himself as an icon. On his 64th birthday, I invite you to celebrate this fight scene from his legendary performance in OLDBOY!

Happy Birthday, Choi Min-sik!

Sinners Dominates The Oscar Nominations


Here are the Oscar nominations!  Sinners received a record-setting 16 nominations but will that be enough to overcome the fashionable radical chic on One Battle After Another?

I’m happy that F1 and Train Dreams were nominated.  I’m less happy that I’m going to have to sit through another Yorgos Lanthimos film.  I haven’t seen Song Sung Blue but I like Kate Hudson and I love her mom and stepfather.

Wicked: For Good was pretty much shut out.  Not even Ariana Grande made the list and I’m okay with that.  Avatar: Fire and Ash received a few technical nominations and not much else so I guess the tyranny of Avatar at the Oscars is now finished.

Best Picture
“Bugonia”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another“
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson – “One Battle After Another“
Ryan Coogler – “Sinners“
Josh Safdie – “Marty Supreme“
Joachim Trier – “Sentimental Value”
Chloé Zhao – “Hamnet”

Best Actress
Jessie Buckley – “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne – “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Kate Hudson – “Song Sung Blue”
Renate Reinsve – “Sentimental Value”
Emma Stone – “Bugonia”

Best Actor
Timothée 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
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan – “Weapons”
Wunmi Mosaku – “Sinners“
Teyana Taylor – “One Battle After Another”
Elle Fanning – “Sentimental Value”

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 Adapted Screenplay
“Bugonia” – Will Tracy
“Frankenstein” – Guillermo Del Toro
“Hamnet” – Maggie O’Farrell & Chloe Zhao
“One Battle After Another” – Paul Thomas Anderson
“Train Dreams” – Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Best Original Screenplay
“Blue Moon” – Robert Kaplow
“It Was Just an Accident” – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar, Shadmehr Rastin & Mehdi Mahmoudian
“Marty Supreme” – Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
“Sentimental Value” – Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
“Sinners” – Ryan Coogler

Best Animated Feature
“Arco”
“Elio”
“KPop Demon Hunters”
“Little Amélie or The Character of Rain”
“Zootopia 2”

Best Documentary Feature
“The Alabama Solution”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Cutting Through Rocks”
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
“The Perfect Neighbor”

Best International Feature Film
“It Was Just an Accident” – France
“The Secret Agent” – Brazil
“Sentimental Value” – Norway
“Sirāt” – Spain
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” – Tunisia

Best Casting
Gabriel Domingues – “The Secret Agent”
Nina Gold – “Hamnet”
Cassandra Kulukundis – “One Battle After Another”
Francine Maisler – “Sinners”
Jennifer Venditti – “Marty Supreme”

Best Cinematography
“Frankenstein”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”

Best Costume Design
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme“
“Sinners”

Best Film Editing
“F1”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”

Best Make-Up & Hairstyling
“Frankenstein”
“Kokuho“
“Sinners”
“The Smashing Machine”
“The Ugly Stepsister”

Best Production Design
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”

Best Original Score
“Bugonia”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”

Best Original Song
“Dear Me” – “Diane Warren: Relentless”
“Golden” – “KPop Demon Hunters”
“I Lied to You” – “Sinners”
“Sweet Dreams of Joy” – “Viva Verdi!”
“Train Dreams” – “Train Dreams”

Best Sound
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Sirāt“

Best Visual Effects
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“F1”
“Jurassic World: Rebirth”
“The Lost Bus”
“Sinners”

Best Animated Short Film
“Butterfly”
“Forevergreen”
“The Girl Who Cried Pearls”
“Retirement Plan”
“The Three Sisters”

Best Documentary Short Film
“All the Empty Rooms”
“Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
“Children No More: ‘Were and are Gone’”
“The Devil is Busy”
“Perfectly a Strangeness”

Live Action Short Film
“Butcher’s Stain“
“A Friend of Dorothy”
“Jane Austen’s Period Drama”
“The Singers”
“Two People Exchanging Saliva”

4 Shots From 4 Films: The Telly Savalas Edition! Happy Birthday, Telly!!


Telly Savalas would have been 104 years old today. He’s been in many of my favorite movies so I’m glad to celebrate him today with 4 Shots from 4 of my favorites!

Who loves ya, baby? (Telly Savalas as Kojak!)
With Charles Bronson in THE DIRTY DOZEN!
With Clint Eastwood & Donald Sutherland in KELLY’S HEROES!
With Charles Bronson in VIOLENT CITY!

8 Shots From 8 David Lynch Films


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, on what would have been his birthday, we take the time to pay tribute to one of our favorite directors.  Needless to say, when it comes to David Lynch, there’s an embarrassment of riches.

Here are….

8 Shots From 8 David Lynch Films

Eraserhead (1977, dir by David Lynch, DP: Frederick Elmes, Herbert Cardwell)

The Elephant Man (1980, dir by David Lynch, DP: Freddie Francis)

Blue Velvet (1986, dir by David Lynch, DP: Frederick Elmes)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992, dir by David Lynch, DP: Ron Garcia)

Lost Highway (1997, dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

The Straight Story (1999, dir by David Lynch, DP: Freddie Francis)

Mulholland Drive (2001, dir by David Lynch, DP: Peter Deming)

Inland Empire (2006, dir by David Lynch, DP: David Lynch)

Join #MondayMania For My Sister’s Deadly Secret!


Hi, everyone!  Tonight, on twitter, I will be hosting one of my favorite films for #MondayMania!  Join us for 2019’s My Sister’s Deadly Secret!

You can find the movie on Prime and Tubi and then you can join us on twitter at 9 pm central time!  (That’s 10 pm for you folks on the East Coast.)  See you then!

Scenes That I Love: The Pendulum Starts To Swing From The Pit and The Pendulum


Today’s scene that I love is from the 1961 Roger Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe adaptation, The Pit and The Pendulum!

Not only is that pendulum nightmarish as Hell but check out that set design!  One can see that Corman definitely took some inspiration from the work being done in the UK by Hammer.  Watching this scene, it is easy to see why Corman devoted so much of the early 60s to directing Vincent Price in various Edgar Allan Poe adaptations.

Enjoy!

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Edgar Allan Poe Edition


by Paul Green

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.

217 years ago today, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  From his humble beginnings as the son of two struggling actors, Poe would go on to become one of the first great American writers.  (It’s been said that, when Charles Dickens first traveled to the United States in 1842, he specifically wanted to meet Edgar Allan Poe.  Unfortunately, it appears that popular story my not be true but it’s still a good story.)  Poe was controversial in life and even his death generated more questions than answers but no one can deny his strength as a poet and as a prose writer.  Both the detective and the horror genres owe a huge debt to Edgar Allan Poe.

Today, in honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s legacy, TSL presents 4 shots from 4 films that were inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe!

4 Shots From 4 Films

House of Usher (1960, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Floyd Crosby)

Pit and the Pendulum (1961, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Floyd Crosby)

The Raven (1963, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Floyd Crosby)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964, dir by Roger Corman, DP: Nicolas Roeg)

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Tripfall!


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 2000’s Tripfall! I picked it so you know it’ll be good.

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, find the movie on YouTube, Tubi, or Prime hit play at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!  The  watch party community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.   

See you soon!