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The National Board of Review Names Licorice Pizza The Best of 2021

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The National Board of Review just announced their picks for the best of 2021 and, while many thought they might go with West Side Story or The Power of the Dog, the NBR instead announced that their pick for Best Picture was Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza!

In fact, Power of the Dog went curiously unmentioned by the National Board of Review.  I wouldn’t read too much into that, though.  While the NBR is one of the more prominent of the precursors, they’re also not one of the most reliable.  If the Guilds ignore a film that was considered to be contender, that’s when you might want to start changing your predictions.

Anyway, here are the NBR winners:

Best Film: LICORICE PIZZA
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA
Best Actor: Will Smith, KING RICHARD
Best Actress: Rachel Zegler, WEST SIDE STORY
Best Supporting Actor: Ciarán Hinds, BELFAST
Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis, KING RICHARD
Best Original Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, A HERO
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
Breakthrough Performance: Alana Haim & Cooper Hoffman, LICORICE PIZZA
Best Directorial Debut: Michael Sarnoski, PIG
Best Animated Feature: ENCANTO
Best Foreign Language Film: A HERO
Best Documentary: SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)
​Best Ensemble: THE HARDER THEY FALL
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: FLEE

Top Films (in alphabetical order)
Belfast
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
The Last Duel
Nightmare Alley
Red Rocket
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order)
Benedetta
Lamb
Lingui, The Sacred Bonds
Titane
The Worst Person in the World

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)
Ascension
Attica
Flee
The Rescue
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)
The Card Counter
C’mon C’mon
CODA
The Green Knight
Holler
Jockey
Old Henry
Pig
Shiva Baby
The Souvenir Part II

Here Are The 2021 Satellite Nominations!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The International Press Academy announced the nominees for the 2021 Satellite Awards earlier today!  You can find the film nominees below.

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Mary Pickford Award – TBA
Tesla Award – Joan Collins
Auteur Award – Lin-Manuel Miranda
Best First Feature – Halle Berry – Bruised
Stunt Performance Award – The Suicide Squad
Humanitarian Award – Val Kilmer
Ensemble: Motion Picture – The Power of the Dog
Ensemble: Television – Succession

Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
Lady Gaga – House of Gucci
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz – Parallel Mothers

Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Clifton Collins Jr. – Jockey
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Joaquin Phoenix – C’mon C’mon
Tom Skerritt – East of Mountains
Will Smith – King Richard

Actress in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Alana Haim – Licorice Pizza
Jennifer Hudson – Respect
Melissa Barrera – In The Heights
Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World

Actor in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick… Boom!
Anthony Ramos – In The Heights
Peter Dinklage – Cyrano

Actress in a Supporting Role
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
Caitriona Balfe – Belfast
Judi Dench – Belfast
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
Marlee Matlin – CODA
Ruth Negga – Passing

Actor in a Supporting Role
Ciarán Hinds – Belfast
J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos
Jamie Dornan – Belfast
Jared Leto – House of Gucci
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
Robin de Jesús – tick, tick… Boom!

Motion Picture, Drama
Belfast – Focus Features
CODA – Apple Original Films
Dune – Warner Bros.
East of Mountains – Quiver Distribution
King Richard – Warner Bros.
Spencer – Neon
The Lost Daughter – Netflix
The Power of the Dog – Netflix

Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Cyrano – United Artists Releasing
In The Heights – Warner Bros.
Licorice Pizza – MGM
Respect – MGM/UA
The French Dispatch – Searchlight Pictures
tick, tick… Boom! – Netflix

Motion Picture, International
Iran – A Hero
Finland – Compartment No. 6
Japan – Drive My Car
Denmark – Flee
Mexico – Prayers for the Stolen
Spain – The Good Boss
Italy – The Hand of God
Norway – The Worst Person in the World
France – Titane

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Encanto – Walt Disney
Flee – Neon
Luca – Pixar
The Mitchells vs the Machines – Netflix
Vivo – Netflix

Motion Picture, Documentary
Ascension – MTV Documentary Films
Brian Willson: Long Promised Road – Screen Media Films
Flee – Neon
Introducing Selma Blair – Strand Releasing
Julia – Sony Pictures Classics
Procession – Netflix
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – Searchlight Pictures
The Rescue – National Geographic
The Velvet Underground – Apple Original Films
Val – Amazon Studios

Director
Denis Villeneuve – Dune
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Lin-Manuel Miranda – tick, tick… Boom!
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Reinaldo Marcus Green – King Richard

Screenplay, Original
Asghar Farhadi – A Hero
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Mike Mills – C’mon C’mon
Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Pedro Almodóvar – Parallel Mothers
Zach Baylin – King Richard

Screenplay, Adapted
Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth & Jon Spaihts – Dune
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Joel Coen – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall & Nella Larsen – Passing
Sian Heder – CODA

Original Score
Alberto Iglesias – Parallel Mothers
Alexandre Desplat – The French Dispatch
Hans Zimmer – Dune
Harry Gregson-Williams – The Last Duel
Jeymes Samuel – The Harder They Fall
Jonny Greenwood – Spencer
Jonny Greenwood – The Power of the Dog

Original Song
“Be Alive“ by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & Dixson – King Richard
“Beyond the Shore”by Nicholai Baxter, Matt Dahan, Siân Heder & Marius de Vries – CODA
“Colombia, Mi Encanto”by Lin-Manuel Miranda – Encanto
“Down to Joy” by Van Morrison – Belfast
“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)” by Jamie Alexander Hartman, Jennifer Hudson & Carole King – Respect
“No Time to Die” by Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell – No Time to Die

Cinematography
Alice Brookstick – tick, tick… Boom!
Ari Wegner – The Power of the Dog
Bruno Delbonnel – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Greig Fraser – Dune
Haris Zambarloukos – Belfast
Robbie Ryan – C’mon C’mon

Film Editing
Andy Jurgensen – Licorice Pizza
Joe Walker – Dune
Myron Kerstein & Andrew Weisblum – tick, tick… Boom!
Pamela Martin – King Richard
Peter Sciberras – The Power of the Dog
Úna Ní Dhonghaíle – Belfast

Sound (Editing and Mixing)
Simon Chase, James Mather, Denise Yarde & Niv Adiri – Belfast
Mac Ruth, Mark A. Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill & Ron Bartlett – Dune
Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett, Clint Bennett, Anthony Ortiz & Richard King – The Harder They Fall
Oliver Tarney, Paul Massey, David Giammarco, William Miller, Daniel Birch & Stéphane Bucher – The Last Duel
Robert Mackenzie, Richard Flynn, Leah Katz, Tara Webb & Dave Whitehead – The Power of the Dog
Paul Hsu & Todd A. Maitland – tick, tick… Boom!

Visual Effects
Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor & Gerd Nefzer – Dune
Eternals
Adam Wingard, Kevin Smith, Dave Clayton & Kevin Sherwood – Godzilla vs. Kong
Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Walker & Dan Oliver – Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Kelvin McIlwain, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner & Dan Sudick – The Suicide Squad
James E. Price – The Tomorrow War

Art Direction and Production Design
Jim Clay & Claire Nia Richards – Belfast
Patrice Vermette, Richard Roberts & Zsuzsanna Sipos – Dune
Guy Hendrix Dyas & Yesim Zolan – Spencer
Adam Stockhausen & Rena DeAngelo – The French Dispatch
Grant Major & Amber Richards – The Power of the Dog
Stefan Dechant – The Tragedy of Macbeth

Costume Design
Charlotte Walter – Belfast
Jacqueline Durran – Spencer
Jacqueline West – Dune
Kirsty Cameron – The Power of the Dog
Massimo Cantini Parrini – Cyrano
Ruth E. Carter – Coming 2 America

Lisa Marie’s Oscar Predictions for November

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for my monthly Oscar predictions!  Awards Season is going to begin in just another two days and the Oscar picture has become a lot more clearer.  

Last month, I was ready to write off West Side Story as a contender.  However, following both the film’s recent screening and the death of Stephen Sondheim, it’s now once again very much a contender.  If nothing else, Rita Moreno seems like the clear front runner for Supporting Actress.  This would be her first nomination since she won an Oscar for appearing in the original West Side Story.  Who can resist that narrative?

I’ve also added Licorice Pizza back to my list of nominees.  At first, I thought it sounded too slight to be a contender but the enthusiasm that I’m seeing for the film would seem to indicate that I was incorrect.

As always, keep in mind that I don’t claim to be an expert.  The picture is a bit clearer but I don’t claim to have any inside information or anything like that.  These are just my guesses, for better or worse.  To see how my thinking has evolved,  check out my predictions for March and April and May and June and July and August and September and October!

Best Picture

Being the Ricardos

Belfast

Dune

House of Gucci

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

The Lost Daughter

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

West Side Story

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson for Licorice Pizza

Kenneth Branagh for Belfast

Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog

Guillermo del Toro for Nightmare Alley

Steven Spielberg for West Side Story

Best Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog

Peter Dinklage in Cyrano

Jude Hill in Belfast

Will Smith in King Richard

Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of MacBeth

Best Actress

Lady Gaga in House of Gucci

Jennifer Hudson in Respect

Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos

Kristen Stewart in Spencer

Rachel Zegler in West Side Story

Best Supporting Actor

Ben Affleck in The Tender Bar

Bradley Cooper in Licorice Pizza

Ciaran Hinds in Belfast

Jared Leto in House of Gucci

Kodi Smit-McPhee in The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress

Ann Dowd in Mass

Kirsten Dunst in The Power of the Dog

Aunjanue Ellis in King Richard

Marlee Matlin in CODA

Rita Moreno in West Side Story

 

Here Are The Gotham Winners!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Gotham Awards were held last night and the big winners were CODA and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter.  The Gothams aren’t exactly the biggest or most influential of the Oscar precursors but they were are one of the first so a victory can only help!

The winners are listed in bold:

Best Feature
“The Green Knight”
“The Lost Daughter”
“Passing”
“Pig”
“Test Pattern”

Best Documentary Feature
“Ascension”
“Faya Dayi”
“Flee”
“President”
“Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”

Best International Feature
“Azor”
“Drive My Car”
“The Souvenir Part II”
“Titane”
“What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?”
“The Worst Person In The World”

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Maggie Gyllenhaal for “The Lost Daughter”
Edson Oda for “Nine Days”
Rebecca Hall for “Passing”
Emma Seligman for “Shiva Baby”
Shatara Michelle Ford for “Test Pattern”

Best Screenplay
“The Card Counter,” Paul Schrader
“El Planeta,” Amalia Ulman
“The Green Knight,” David Lowery
“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal
“Passing,” Rebecca Hall
“Red Rocket,” Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch

Outstanding Lead Performance
Olivia Colman in “The Lost Daughter”
Frankie Faison in “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain”
Michael Greyeyes in “Wild Indian”
Brittany S. Hall in “Test Pattern”
Oscar Isaac in “The Card Counter”
Taylour Paige in “Zola”
Joaquin Phoenix in “C’mon C’mon”
Simon Rex in “Red Rocket”
Lili Taylor in “Paper Spiders”
Tessa Thompson in “Passing”

Outstanding Supporting Performance
Reed Birney in “Mass”
Jessie Buckley in “The Lost Daughter”
Colman Domingo in “Zola”
Gaby Hoffmann in “C’mon C’mon”
Troy Kotsur in “CODA”
Marlee Matlin in “CODA”
Ruth Negga in “Passing”

Breakthrough Performer
Emilia Jones in “CODA”
Natalie Morales in “Language Lessons”
Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby”
Suzanna Son in “Red Rocket”
Amalia Ulman in “El Planeta”

Breakthrough Series – Long Format (over 40 minutes)
“The Good Lord Bird”
“It’s A Sin”
“Small Axe”
“Squid Game”
“The Underground Railroad”
“The White Lotus”

Breakthrough Series – Short Format (under 40 minutes)
“Blindspotting”
“Hacks”
“Reservation Dogs”
“Run the World”
“We Are Lady Parts”

Breakthrough Nonfiction Series
“City So Real”
“Exterminate All the Brutes”
“How To with John Wilson”
“Philly D.A.”
“Pride”

Outstanding Performance in a New Series
Jennifer Coolidge in “The White Lotus”
Michael Greyeyes in “Rutherford Falls”
Ethan Hawke in “The Good Lord Bird”
Devery Jacobs in “Reservation Dogs”
Lee Jung-jae in “Squid Game”
Thuso Mbedu in “The Underground Railroad”
Jean Smart in “Hacks”
Omar Sy in “Lupin”
Anya Taylor-Joy in “The Queen’s Gambit”
Anjana Vasan in “We Are Lady Parts”

(Incidentally, I’m probably the only person not involved with the show to have noticed the victory for Philly D.A.  I’m just going to be honest and say that is one of my least favorite results ever.  Philly D.A. was a pure propaganda, nothing more.)

Lifetime Film Review: Abduction Runs In The Family (dir by Jeff Hare)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

If abduction runs in you family, it might be time to get a new family.

Or it might just be time to make sure that you’re really, really good at it because, if abduction is the family business, you don’t want to be embarrassed at the next family reunion.

Abduction Runs In The Family in not only an ominous way to describe your relations but it’s also the title of a Lifetime movie.  It stars Jessica Morris as Alyssa.  When she was a child, Alyssa was abducted by a man named Miles (James Hyde).  Miles did not abuse or deliberately harm Alyssa.  Instead, he wanted a replacement for his daughter, Sophie and, when he abducted her, he treated her as if she was his own daughter.  Alyssa was eventually rescued and Miles was sent to prison.  Now, years later, Alyssa has become famous as a result of talking and writing about how she was not only kidnapped but how she also eventually forgave Miles for what he did.  As the movie begins, Miles is about to get out of prison and Alyssa has a book coming out about her experience.  Finally, life is providing a chance for both of them to get on with their lives.  Miles, of course, has been given a restraining order as a condition of his parole.  He’s not to go anywhere near Alyssa or her daughter, Emma.

But then …. Emma disappears!

Emma’s been abducted and Miles is Alyssa’s number one suspect.  However, Miles has an alibi for the entire afternoon and he insists that he did not kidnap Emma.  If Miles didn’t do it, who did?  Can Alyssa rescue Emma with the help of the man who abducted Alyssa so many years ago?

Abduction Runs In The Family is an interesting Lifetime film, largely because it takes an unexpected approach to the relationship between Alyssa and Miles.  Alyssa insists that, after kidnapping her, Miles only treated her with kindness and fatherly love and the film keeps you guessing as to whether Alyssa’s memories are correct or if she’s still suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.  Miles is creepy, largely due to his past, and yet he still seems to be sincere in his desire to move on from his previous actions.  It leads to an interesting dynamic between the two characters, who are both well-played by Morris and Hyde.

Unfortunately, the solution to the mystery itself isn’t particularly satisfying.  This is one of those Lifetime mysteries where the film overall would have benefitted from a few more suspects because once you eliminate one them, there’s pretty much only one other person left.  And, unfortunately, a good deal of the film’s conclusion rests on the guilty party leaving a very obvious clue out in the open for everyone to see.

All that said, this is still a compelling Lifetime film, one that takes its story in some unexpected directions.  The final scene between Morris and Hyde is nicely acted and written.  This is definitely a Lifetime film to keep an eye out for.

Lifetime Film Review: V.C. Andrews’ Pearl in the Mist (dir by David Bercovici-Artieda)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since I kind of enjoyed watching Ruby earlier today, I decided to watch the second film in Lifetime’s Landry family saga, V.C. Andrews’ Pearl In the Mist.

Pearl in the Mist picks up where the first film ended.  The year is 1962 and aspiring artist Ruby (Raechelle Banno) is living in New Orleans and still thinking about the life that she left behind in the Bayou.  Her father (Gil Bellows) is still married to her bitchy stepmother (Lauralee Bell).  Ruby’s twin sister, Giselle (Karina Banno), is still using a wheelchair as a result of a car accident and she’s still angry that Ruby stole away Giselle’s boyfriend, Beau (Ty Wood).  Ruby’s half-brother, Paul (Sam Duke), is still living in the Bayou and is still in love with Ruby, despite the fact that any physical relationship between them would be incestuous.

However, it’s time for Ruby and Giselle to get out of New Orleans.  They’ve been enrolled in a prestigious boarding school.  Giselle is not happy about having to leave home.  Ruby is excited because, goddammit, Ruby’s excited about everything.  At the boarding school, Ruby deals with all sorts of drama.  She befriends a girl who is passing as white.  She inspires a blind pianist.  She flirts with a hunky groundskeeper.  She continues to paint under the tutelage of Miss Stevens (Meaghan Hewitt McDonald).  She does all of this despite the fact that the school’s headmistress (Marilu Henner) hates her because Ruby is from the Bayou and no one trusts “swamp people.”  As the same time, Ruby has to deal with her wicked stepmother and her bitter sister.

I have to admit that, at first, I didn’t think I was going to like Pearl in the Mist, if just because Ruby herself was so perfect that she was kind of annoying.  She never had a bad thought.  She never said a bad word.  She was also so extremely naïve and so endlessly enthusiastic that I could understand why Giselle was so sick of having to deal with her.  Ruby’s innocence made sense in the first film, because Ruby was still adjusting to life in the city.  But, by the time Pearl in the Mist rolls around, there’s really no excuse for Ruby to be so clueless about …. well, everything.

Fortunately, about halfway through, the film started to get interesting.  Bizarre incidents started to pile up.  Characters started to snap at each other in dialogue that was so overwritten and pulpy that it was kind of impossible not to love the sound of it.  The film embraced the melodrama, as I like to say.  It all eventually led to a plot twist involving Giselle that was so insane and so out there that it redeemed the entire film.  Karina Banno appeared to be having a lot of fun being bad as Giselle and it was fun to watch her.  If you’re going to be in a film like this, you always want to play the bad girl.  They always get the best lines.

In the end, Pearl in the Mist was so over-the-top and cheerfully silly that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.  All trips to the Bayou should be as fun.

Lifetime Film Review: V.C. Andrews’ Ruby (dir by Gail Harvey)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This time is the 1950s and the place is Louisiana.  Ruby Landry (Raechelle Banno) is a teenage girl who lives in a shack out on the Bayou.  She’s never known her mother.  She’s never known her father.  She does know her Grandmere, Catherine (Naomi Judd), who is a Bayou witch.  

Ruby might not know much but she knows how to paint.  One day, the owner of a New Orleans art gallery just happened to be driving by when he spots Catherine selling Ruby’s paintings on the side of the road.  He’s impressed, even though the paintings aren’t really that impressive.  He buys the paintings and then hangs them in his gallery.  Ruby can’t wait until she graduates high school so that she can move to New Orleans with her boyfriend, Paul Tate (Sam Duke).  Except … uh-oh!  Grandmere explains to Ruby that Paul is actually her half-brother so no, they can’t run off together.  That’s incest and that might be okay for the Ozarks but folks in the Bayous got standards.

As long as secrets are being shared, Grandmere also explains that Ruby’s father is a wealthy man named Pierre Dumas (Gil Bellow) and that Ruby actually has a twin sister, who we later learn is named Gisselle (and who is played by Karina Banno, the twin sister of Raechelle Banno).  Having dropped a lot of information on Ruby, Grandmere promptly dies.

Ruby inherits Grandmere’s shack and she still has the money that she made off of her paintings, which means that Ruby is now one of the richest people in the Bayou.  However, her alcoholic grandfather still wants to sell her to a local businessman so Ruby flees the Bayous, heads to New Orleans, and decides to live with Pierre!

Pierre is ecstatic to discover that he has another daughter.  Pierre’s wife (Lauralee Bell) is a bit less excited about it.  And Gisselle claims that she could hardly care less about her Bayou sister.  In fact, it seems like Ruby’s only ally is the housekeeper who, it turns out, knows all of the best voodoo priestesses in New Orleans….

Now, believe it or not, all of that happens within the first 30 minutes of Ruby.  Ruby is not a boring film.  In fact, one could claim that there’s almost too much going on.  No sooner has Ruby moved into the house than she’s hearing mysterious weeping coming from one of the bedrooms.  No sooner has Ruby started high school in New Orleans than she’s being set up for humiliation by her twin sister.  As soon as Ruby draws one of her classmates naked, you know that she’s going to end up in an asylum where a doctor will demand to know if she’s familiar with the term nymphomania.  Ruby is a big and messy film, one that embraces the melodrama with so much enthusiasm that it’s easy to overlook that the film really doesn’t make much sense and that a lot of the plot is dependent upon people not being particularly smart.

Ruby is one of the many recent Lifetime films to be adapted from a V.C. Andrews novel.  Now, of course, V.C. Andrews didn’t have anything to do with writing Ruby.  She died long before the book was written.  Instead, Ruby was written by ghost writer, pretending to be Andrews.  The plot ticks off all of the usual V.C. Andrews tropes with such precision that it’s hard not to be both impressed and amused.  White trash?  Yep.  Incest?  Yep.  Rich relatives?  Yep.  More incest?  Yep.  Big house?  Yep.  Twins?  Yep.  If you made use of a random V.C. Andrews plot generation, it would probably give you something similar to Ruby.

Ruby is silly fun.  It doesn’t reach the heights of Flowers in the Attic films but it’s still better than the films that Lifetime made about the Casteel family.  It was also the first of four films about Ruby and her family.  I’ve got the other three on the DVR and I’ll be watching and hopefully reviewing them before the month ends.

Lifetime Film Review: A Professor’s Vengeance (dir by Danny J. Boyle)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When aspiring writer Nicole Atkins (Lindsey Dresbach) returns to graduate school, she assumes that she’ll take a few creative writing courses and that will be it.  Unfortunately, her creative writing professor has come down with a case of mono and his replacement is Daniel Hudson (Ross Jirgl), an arrogant academic with whom Nicole previously had a torrid affair.  At time, of course, Nicole didn’t know that Daniel was married to a veterinarian named Valerie (Crystal Day).

It’s an awkward situation but Nicole hopes that her previous relationship with Daniel won’t be a factor in the grades that he gives her.  Daniel, meanwhile, seems to be perturbed by the fact that Nicole is getting close to another student, Brandon (Byran Bachman).  When one of Nicole’s papers gets an F, Daniel explains that he actually gave her an A.  Maybe, Daniel suggests, Brandon hacked into the system and changed her grade, all in an effort to make Daniel look bad.

Meanwhile, students are dying.  The police think that the deaths are due to accidental drug overdoses but the viewer knows that there’s a murderer stalking the campus and anyone who has ever had any sort of relationship with Daniel is a potential target!

If this was one of Lifetime’s “Wrong” films, A Professor’s Vengeance would have concluded with Vivica A. Fox showing up at the end and saying, “Looks like you slept with the Wrong Professor” or “You picked the Wrong Major.”  However, it’s not a part of the Wrong series, even if it does have a plot that feels like it would have been perfect for the particular franchise.  Also, like the majority of the Wrong films, A Professor’s Vengeance is a thoroughly fun and enjoyable Lifetime melodrama, full of lies, sex, death, and a smug man who you just can’t wait to see get his comeuppance.  It also has a twist ending and a nicely done dream sequence!  Seriously, what more could you ask for from a film like this?

Ross Jirgl is wonderfully hissable as the smug professor but the film is truly stolen by Crystal Day, playing the professor’s wife.  Day perfectly captures the fury of a woman who is smart enough to know better than to trust her husband and her building anger as it becomes obvious that he’s cheated on her is one of the best parts of the film.  Lindsey Dresbach is a likable heroine and, just as importantly, she’s also believable as someone who could write a short story that someone would actually want to publish.  Meanwhile, Bryan Bachman is very sweet and sympathetic as her well-meaning classmate.  Of course, it’s not a Lifetime film without a skeptical police detective and, in this film, that role is well-played by Kate Dailey.  If I ever committed a crime, I would not want to be questioned by Kate Dailey’s detective.  I would probably start naming names as soon as she shot me that first glare.

I very much enjoyed A Professor’s Vengeance.  It’s exactly the type of film that made me fall in love with Lifetime in the first place.

Lifetime Film Review: A Predator Returns: Stalker’s Prey 3 (dir by Colin Theys)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bruce is back!

Played by Houston Stevenson, Bruce is the character at the center of Lifetime’s Stalker’s Prey trilogy.  Bruce is a handsome, charming young man who loves studying the ocean and who, even more importantly, loves studying sharks.  In fact, sharks tend to follow Bruce wherever he goes.  You have to understand that Bruce is one of those people who has to move around a lot.  He has a bad habit of becoming obsessed with teenage girls and then feeding his romantic rivals to his shark.  Poor Bruce.  If only he had more confidence in himself!  Anyway, you can usually find Bruce hanging out in the marina or near the bay.  Usually, he’ll be using an assumed name but you can always tell that it’s Bruce because he’s the guy who won’t stop talking about how much he loves the water.

A Predator Returns finds Bruce calling himself David and telling everyone that he’s an oceanography students.  He’s living in a deserted lighthouse and seems to be content to spend all of his time feeding his sharks.  However, when he spots a group of teenagers swimming near the lighthouse, everything pretty much goes downhill from there.  After he rescues the teenagers from his sharks, Bruce quickly becomes obsessed with Courtney (Leigha Sinotti).  Courtney is having trouble at home, largely because of her demanding mother and her overprotective father.  Soon, she’s running around with Bruce and staying out until five in the morning.  Courtney’s father takes an automatic dislike to Bruce.  Uh-oh, looks like someone’s about to become shark bait.

Bruce and Courtney’s relationship gets pretty serious.  How serious?  At one point, Bruce shouts, “BRUCE IS GOING TO BE A DADDY!”  Of course, by the time Bruce finds out about that, Courtney has already dumped him because he’s such an obvious psycho.  Bruce is determined to get Courtney back, even if it means framing her for murder.

Especially when compared to Stalker’s Prey and A Predator’s Obsession, there isn’t much shark action in A Predator Returns.  The shark’s do much an appearance, of course and they do eat a few unfortunate victims.  But, compared to the previous films, they still don’t play a huge role in the story.  That was a bit disappointing, as the sharks really were the main attractions in the previous two Stalker’s Prey films.  You really can’t introduce sharks and then just kind of push them to the side.  It’s the rule of Chekhov’s Shark.  If you introduce a shark during act one, it’s going to have to eat at least a dozen people by the end of act three.

That said, Huston Stevenson really dug into the role of crazy Bruce and he was well-matched by Leigha Sinotti as Courtney.  The film was full of winking references to Jaws and a host of other horror films and it’s impossible not to enjoy a film that’s so clearly in on the joke.  Director Colin Theys keeps the action moving quickly and the movie ends a nicely ambiguous note, one that suggests that the story may not be quite over.  If there’s anything that I’ve learned from watching these films, it’s that sharks have 9 lives and, for that matter, so does Bruce!

Lifetime Film Review: A Mother’s Lie (dir by Stefan Brogren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Even the best of families have secrets.

Unfortunately, the family at the center of A Mother’s Lie is hardly one of the best.  Sure, they’re wealthy.  And sure, they’ve got several very nice and very big homes.  But matriarch Joyce (Sonja Smits) is a little bit …. well, unhinged.  She was shocked when her teenage daughter, Katherine (Alex Paxton-Beesley) got pregnant.  Joyce demanded that Katherine not tell her boyfriend, Chuck (Gabriel Venneri).  Instead, Katherine went into hiding for 9 months.  When Katherine gave birth, Joyce told her that the baby was stillborn.

Now, 20 years later, Katherine and Chuck are married and they’re raising a daughter, Haley ( Zoe Sarantakis). Katherine has never told Chuck about their first child and Katherine feels guilty about that.  When Haley is diagnosed with leukemia and her parents are told that she’ll die without a bone marrow transplant, Katherine can’t help but wish that their first daughter had lived.  After all, she would be the perfect donor!

Well, it turns out that Joyce wasn’t being honest when she said that the first baby was stillborn.  The baby was born alive and was put up for adoption, without Katherine’s knowledge.  Libby (Madelyn Keys) was adopted by a poor but good family.  She’s now attending college and dreaming of going to medical school.  But how will she be able to pay for it!?

One day, Libby receives an offer from a mysterious benefactor.  All Libby has to do is agree to donate some bone marrow to a young girl and Libby will receive more than enough money to pay for medical school!  She’ll even be allowed to recuperate in an isolated and mysterious mansion!  The only condition is that Libby has to remain anonymous and she can’t have contact with the girl’s family.  Of course, Libby agrees!

Yay!  Haley’ going to live!  Libby’s going to be rich!  And the family secrets are going to remain hidden!  Except …. well, as I said, Joyce is a little bit unhinged, to the extent that she’s willing to kill anyone who might reveal the secret of what happened the night that Katherine gave birth to Libby.  It quickly becomes obvious that Libby is going to be lucky to escape from the mansion with her life….

A Mother’s Lie is an enjoyably gothic Lifetime film, the movie equivalent of one of those old paperback books that always featured a nervous-looking woman standing in front of a shadowy mansion.  It even features a sinister housekeeper (played well by Louise Kerr), who will do anything to help Joyce keep her secrets!  It’s all appropriately melodramatic and the film is made with enough self-awareness that it never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously.  It’s an entertaining Lifetime film, pure and simple.

It’s also a very Canadian film.  From the minute I saw Libby casually walking down a snow-covered path on her way to class, I knew that this was a film that made north of the border.  That’s not a complaint, of course.  Many of the best Lifetime film were made in Canada and I always enjoy spotting former Degrassi actors.  And while this film’s cast may not have featured any Degrassi grads, A Mother’s Life was directed by Stefan Brogren, who played Mr. Simpson on that venerable show.  He does a good job of keeping the action moving and maintaining a properly gothic atmosphere.  It’s an enjoyable 90 minutes.