The Washington D.C. Critics Are Mad About Max!

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

One good thing about Mad Max: Fury Road doing so well during award seasion is that it gives me an excuse to say that “So-and-so Is Mad About Max!” Thank you, film critics, for making my job a lot easier.

Anyway, yesterday, the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics announced their nominees for the best of 2015! And, once again, a lot of love was shown to Fury Road. However, I am even happier to see that they also gave some attention to one of my favorite films of the year, Ex Machina.

Here are the nominees!

Best Film:
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Sicario
Spotlight

Best Director:
Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
Todd Haynes (Carol)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant)
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Ridley Scott (The Martian)

Best Actor:
Matt Damon (The Martian)
Johnny Depp (Black Mass)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (Carol)
Brie Larson (Room)
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Sarah Silverman (I Smile Back)
Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Supporting Actor:
Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)
Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)
Tom Hardy (The Revenant)
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)
Rooney Mara (Carol)
Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)
Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)

Best Acting Ensemble:
The Big Short
The Hateful Eight
Spotlight
Steve Jobs
Straight Outta Compton

Best Youth Performance:
Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation)
Raffey Cassidy (Tomorrowland)
Oona Laurence (Southpaw)
Güneş Şensoy (Mustang)
Jacob Tremblay (Room)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Nick Hornby (Brooklyn)
Phyllis Nagy (Carol)
Drew Goddard (The Martian)
Emma Donoghue (Room)
Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs)

Best Original Screenplay:
Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (Bridge of Spies)
Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley (Original Story by Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen) (Inside Out)
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (Spotlight)
Amy Schumer (Trainwreck)

The Boston Online Film Critics Are Mad for Max!!!!

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Boston Online Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2015 earlier today and once again, my expectations have been defied! I figured that since Spotlight is a Boston-story, it would be an easy pick for the Boston critics.

But no! The Boston Online Critics went for … MAD MAX: FURY ROAD! According to Awards Circuit, Creed was the runner-up. (Though, to be clear, the Boston Online Critics definitely did like Spotlight, naming it the 5th best film of 2015 and giving it awards for screenplay and ensemble.) Now again, that doesn’t mean that either Fury Road or Creed is going to be Oscar-nominated. But, every bit helps. With each victory, the idea of a Fury Road best picture nomination becomes just a little more plausible.

Here’s my question — one month ago, would you have believed that the early critics awards would be dominated by Mad Max, Sylvester Stallone, and Kristen Stewart?

Here are the winners!

BEST PICTURE:
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST DIRECTOR:
George Miller, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST ACTOR:
Michael B. Jordan, CREED

BEST ACTRESS:
Saoirse Ronan, BROOKLYN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Sylvester Stallone, CREED

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Kristen Stewart, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

BEST ENSEMBLE:
SPOTLIGHT

BEST SCREENPLAY:
Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer, SPOTLIGHT

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
SON OF SAUL

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
AMY

BEST ANIMATED FILM:

INSIDE OUT

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
John Seale, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST EDITING:
Margaret Sixel, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Junkie XL, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:

#LateNightMovie review: “The Creeping Terror”

Posted on December 4, 2015 by paddiesthoughts

This week for #LateNightMovie we watched ‘The Creeping Terror’ and there are several things I want to say about this movie, but I will get to those soon!

220px-Creepingterror
From the start tho, Tammy, this was a great movie for us! Awesome pick! I never doubt the movies you pick for us, and this was another amazingly (horrible) one! 😉

Director:

Vic Savage (as A.J. Nelson)

Writers:

Vic Savage, Robert Sillphant*

Stars:

Vic Savage as Martin Gordon

Shannon O’Neil as Brett Gordon

Plot:

After escaping from a crashed space ship, a snail like creature terrorizes all humanity! And all humanity snail squishing follows.

Review:

Okay, many of us retro sci-fi geeks regard this as one of the worst films ever (as pointed out by the quips below). And there have been many reviews done about how bad this movie is. So I won’t take my review in that direction. What I will do is point out all of the nepotism in the movie.

First, Vic Savage! Let’s just all giggle and get over that, AJ!

Second, most likely, Robert didn’t write this movie; His brothers Allan and Sterling did. From all the records, it looks like Robert had very little to do with the writing, but is credited anyway.

It is not consequential how the movie got made, but better the fact that we had a great movie to watch!

And obviously the #LateNightMovie gang had fun!

kellythul:
In Spirographvision

We all had our goggles on for that, Kelly!
WarrenPeas64:
This movie is exquisitely excrementlike, but I adore it

TRDowden:
SFX Guy: Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You grab that part of the creature from the last movie we did, and I’ll just sew a couple of rugs on the back of it

JesCoolbaugh:
Nothing this big???? Poor dear…

Sadly, yep! 😦

PinkyGuerrero:
like no one had driven on the road before them

Janeen_FluffyJ:
special unit last night was much better

Wait for the comments, Jinni!

Philo1000:
Is this a Japanese movie?

JesCoolbaugh:
That narrator is so handy. Saves so much time having to write pesky dialogue and stuff…

ekym:
we should DUB our own dialogue into one of these for fun

I thought that is what we did each week at LNM, Myke! LOL

PinkyGuerrero:
never pick the baby up, children are toxic

TRDowden:
It’s the IKEA carpet that ate Cleveland

PinkyGuerrero:
the monster isn’t attracted to hootenannies

WarrenPeas64
So these people are 1) incredibly stupid 2) deaf and 3) have NO peripheral vision

LisaMarieBowman:
But at the end of filming, they rolled up the carpet, lit it on fire, and got really high so there was that.

PinkyGuerrero:
this is like a pre-roomba, everything getting swept under the rug
kellythul:
no words

Well you did have words Kelly, And I will give you to them!

Kelly said it best!

kellythul:
REPORT: Identified human weaknesses: 1) They stand still when frightened. 2) They stand still when their dancing is interrupted 3) Some are SUPER fat 4) They can easily be tricked into crawling

If you want to see what all the LNM fun is about, here is a link to The Creeping Terror!

Thank you Warren, Pinky, Phil, Lisa, Myrna, Kapt Kurt, Kelly, Jes, Jinni, Holly, Myke and Ambie for watching #LateNightMovie with me!

Carol Wins In New York!

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier today, the New York Film Critics Circle announced their picks for the best films and performer of the year! And the big winner was … Carol!

Best Picture
Carol

Best Director
Todd Haynes, Carol

Best Screenplay
Carol

Best Actor
Michael Keaton, Spotlight

Best Actress
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Best Supporting Actress
Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria

Best Animated Film
Inside Out

Best Foreign Film
Timbuktu

Best Non-Fiction Film
In Jackson Heights

Best Cinematographer
Ed Lachman, Carol

Best First Film
Son of Saul

SPECIAL AWARD #1: Posthumous Award honoring the legacy of William Becker and Janus Films

SPECIAL AWARD #2: Ennio Morricone, Composer

For Whatever They’re Worth, Here are The Satellite Awards Nominees!

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The International Press Academy has announced the nominees for the Satellite Awards! Who are the International Press Academy? They’re kind of like an even less credible version of the Golden Globes. They’re also the same people who, last year, nominated The Wolf of Wall Street for five awards, despite having not seen the film. I would suggest viewing these nominations more as a guide to conventional wisdom than anything else.

Motion Picture
Spotlight, Open Road
Sicario, Lionsgate
Room, A24
The Revenant, 20th Century Fox
The Martian, 20th Century Fox
Carol, The Weinstein Co.
Brooklyn, Fox Searchlight
Bridge of Spies, DreamWorks
Black Mass, Warner Bros.
The Big Short, Paramount

Director
Tom Hooper, The Danish Girl
Thomas McCarthy, Spotlight
Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies
Ridley Scott, The Martian
Lenny Abrahamson, Room
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant

Actress in a Motion Picture
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Carey Mulligan, Suffragette
Brie Larson, Room
Blythe Danner, I’ll See You in My Dreams

Actor in a Motion Picture
Will Smith, Concussion
Tom Hardy, Legend
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Johnny Depp, Black Mass
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Actress in a Supporting Role
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Jane Fonda, Youth
Elizabeth Banks, Love & Mercy
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Actor in a Supporting Role
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
Michael Keaton, Spotlight
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Motion Picture, International Film
South Korea, The Throne
Brazil, The Second Mother
Croatia, The High Sun
Belgium, The Brand New Testament
Taiwan, The Assassin
Hungary, Son of Saul
France, Mustang
Germany, Labyrinth of Lies
Austria, Goodnight Mommy
Sweden, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
The Prophet
The Peanuts Movie
The Good Dinosaur
Shaun The Sheep Movie
Inside Out
Anomalisa

Motion Picture, Documentary
Where to Invade Next
The Look of Silence
The Hunting Ground
He Named Me Malala
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead:The Story of the National Lampoon
Cartel Land
Best of Enemies
Becoming Bulletproof
Amy

Screenplay, Original
Josh Singer, Thomas McCarthy, Spotlight
Michael A. Lerner, Oren Moverman, Love & Mercy
Josh Cooley, Meg LeFauve, Pete Docter, Inside Out
Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, Straight Outta Compton
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Matt Charman, Bridge of Spies
Abi Morgan, Suffragette

Screenplay, Adapted
Jez Butterworth, Mark Mallouk, Black Mass
Lucinda Coxon, The Danish Girl
Emma Donoghue, Room
Drew Goddard, The Martian
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mark L. Smith, The Revenant
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs

Original Score
Thomas Newman, Spectre
Michael Giacchino, Inside Out
Howard Shore, Spotlight
Harry Gregson-Williams, The Martian
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexander Desplat, The Danish Girl

Original Song
“Writing’s On The Wall”, Spectre
“Till It Happens To You”, The Hunting Ground
“See You Again”, Furious 7
“One Kind Of Love”, Love & Mercy
“Love Me Like You Do”, Fifty Shades of Grey
“Cold One”, Ricki and the Flash

Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Sicario
John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Spectre
Dariuz Wolski, The Martian
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant

Visual Effects
Spectre
The Walk
The Martian
Mad Max: Fury Road
Jurassic World
Everest

Film Editing
Pietro Scalia, The Martian
Joe Walker, Sicario
Michael Kahn, Bridge of Spies
Lee Smith, Spectre
Elliot Graham, Steve Jobs
Affonso Goncalves, Carol

Sound (Editing and Mixing)
The Martian
Spectre
Sicario
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
Jurassic World

Art Direction and Production Design
Fiona Crombie, Macbeth
Eve Stewart, The Danish Girl
Dennis Gassner, Spectre
Dante Ferretti, Cinderella
Colin Gibson, Mad Max: Fury Road,
Adam Stockhausen, Bridge of Spies

Costume Design
Wen-Ying Huang, The Assassin
Shim Hyun-seob, The Throne
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Janet Patterson, Far From the Madding Crowd
Jacqueline Durran, Macbeth

Ensemble: Motion Picture
Spotlight

At least these nominations gave me an excuse to drag out some Sicaro-related media.

Inside Out and Anomalisa Get Some Love From Annie!

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The nominations for the Annie Awards were announced today! The Annie Awards honor the best in animation. Looking over the list of nominees, my initial thought is, “Wow, that’s a really long list!” So, I’m just going to post the nominations for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Achievement For Voice Acting In A Feature Film. You can view the complete list over at my favorite site for Oscar news, Awards Circuit!

(FYI: I love Awards Watch as well. For those of you still clinging onto Awards Daily, it’s time to jump ship.)

Anyway, here are (some of) the Annie nominations!

Best Animated Feature

Anomalisa – Paramount Pictures
Inside Out – Pixar Animation Studios
Shaun the Sheep The Movie – Aardman Animations
The Good Dinosaur – Pixar Animation Studios
The Peanuts Movie – Blue Sky Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Animation

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Anomalisa – Paramount Pictures – Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh Character: Lisa Hesselman
Inside Out – Pixar Animation Studios – Cast: Amy Poehler Character: Joy
Inside Out – Pixar Animation Studios – Cast: Phyllis Smith Character: Sadness
Minions – Illumination Entertainment – Cast: Pierre Coffin Character: The Minions
Minions – Illumination Entertainment – Cast: Jon Hamm Character: Herb Overkill
The Peanuts Movie – Blue Sky Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Animation – Linus: Alex Garfin Character: Linus
The Peanuts Movie – Blue Sky Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Animation – Lucy: Hadley Belle Miller Character: Lucy
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paramount Animation – Cast: Tom Kenny Character: SpongeBob

Here’s the 15 Films That Made The Best Documentary Shortlist!

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, that Academy announced the 15 semi-finalists for the Best Documentary Feature award. I’m sad to say that I haven’t seen as many of these as I should have. However, I am happy to see that both Amy and Going Clear made the shortlist.

(I’m actually a bit surprised to see Going Clear made the cut, considering it’s subject matter. If Going Clear is nominated, will there be a mass boycott of the Awards by Hollywood Scientologists? Will this be an Oscar ceremony without Tom Cruise?)

Five of these films will be nominated for Best Documentary in January.

“Amy,” On the Corner Films and Universal Music

“Best of Enemies,” Sandbar

“Cartel Land,” Our Time Projects and The Documentary Group

“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Jigsaw Productions

“He Named Me Malala,” Parkes-MacDonald and Little Room

“Heart of a Dog,” Canal Street Communications

“The Hunting Ground,” Chain Camera Pictures

“Listen to Me Marlon,” Passion Pictures

“The Look of Silence,” Final Cut for Real

“Meru,” Little Monster Films

“3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” The Filmmaker Fund, Motto Pictures, Lakehouse Films, Actual Films, JustFilms, MacArthur Foundation and Bertha BRITDOC

“We Come as Friends,” Adelante Films

“What Happened, Miss Simone?,” RadicalMedia and Moxie Firecracker

“Where to Invade Next,” Dog Eat Dog Productions

“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” Pray for Ukraine Productions

What a Lovely Day! The National Board of Review Honors Mad Max: Fury Road!

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

OH MY GOD!

So, like a lot of people, I was expecting the National Board of Review to name Spotlight as best picture of the year. I haven’t seen Spotlight yet but I have to admit that I’m already kind of bored of hearing about how it’s the Oscar front-runner. I mean, for all I know, Spotlight could be the best film ever made but I like it when my awards season is interesting. It’s boring when one film — like The Social Network a few years ago — keeps winning every single award.

So, with all that in mind, I was really happy to hear that the National Board of Review picked Mad Max: Fury Road for best picture. I was happy because not only is Fury Road a really great movie that deserves the love but also because it was just so unexpected! Way to go, NBR!

(The only thing that would have made things better would have been if the Guitar Guy had won Best Supporting Actor.)

Now, I’d caution anyone about getting too excited. Just because a film wins one of the precursor awards, that does not mean that it’s going to be nominated come Oscar time. Last year, for instance, the NBR picked A Most Violent Year for best picture. However, at the same time, it can be argued that the momentum that led to Her being nominated in 2014 began with its victory at the NBR.

So, who knows?

Anyway, here are the NBR winners!

Best Film: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Director: Ridley Scott – The Martian

Best Actor: Matt Damon – The Martian

Best Actress: Brie Larson – Room

Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone – Creed

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight

Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight

Best Adapted Screenplay: Drew Goddard – The Martian

Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
Breakthrough Performance: Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation & Jacob Tremblay – Room

Best Directorial Debut: Jonas Carpignano – Mediterranea

Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul

Best Documentary: Amy

William K. Everson Film History Award: Cecilia De Mille Presley

Best Ensemble: The Big Short

Spotlight Award: Sicario for Outstanding Collaborative Vision

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Beasts of No Nation & Mustang

Top Films

Top 5 Foreign Language Films

Goodnight Mommy
Mediterranea
Phoenix
The Second Mother
The Tribe

Top 5 Documentaries

Best of Enemies
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Diplomat
Listen to Me Marlon
The Look of Silence

Top 10 Independent Films

‘71
45 Years
Cop Car
Ex Machina
Grandma
It Follows
James White
Mississippi Grind
Welcome to Me
While We’re Young

Down and Dangerous review

Posted on November 28, 2015 by paddiesthoughts

Down and Dangerous review. (2013)

Writer and Director: Zak Forsman

Stars:

John T. Woods as Paul Boxer

Paulie Redding (Credited as Paulie Rojas) as Olivia Ivarra

Judd Nelson as Charles

Plot:

Paul Boxer (JTW) A less-than-gun wielding smuggler has to confront his past and future in one single moment. Having to bring several kilos of cocaine over the border, he is confronted with his nemesis…..or villainess! Many decisions insue, right or wrong! Hooded and on his knees…..BANG!! …Jobs done, you take it from here….And I won’t spoil the rest of it for you! But a bigger choice comes.

Review:

From a small Kickstarter campaign in 2011, Zak Forsman pulled off an amazing movie! I got to give it up that I love Indie movies, and when one is done this well!…*tips hat* To Zak Forsman! John T. Woods was great! I do have a couple minor complaints, but minor, and I will never let those get in the way of me seeing a great movie!

You can see the trailer here!

If you don’t have the time to watch the movie; recount the amount of time you have! This is a great Indie movie!

Lisa’s Editorial Corner: Thank You

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hi, everyone! It’s Thanksgiving! Well, actually, it’s the final hours of Thanksgiving. In fact, it’s 10:03 as I start this and it’s totally possible that I won’t be ready to post it until midnight so, by the time you read this, Thanksgiving will probably be over and you’ll be in a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/None of the Above type of mood. Well, no matter…

So, every year, I make out a list of what I’m thankful for and I post it on this site. Today, as I relaxed at my uncle’s house and I listened to all my cousins talking about football, I realized that I wasn’t really quite sure what I was specifically going to mention.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot that I am thankful for. I’m thankful to be alive. I’m thankful that I have people in my life who love me and I’m thankful that there are people who I love. I’m thankful that my sprained foot is much, much better. I’m thankful that it rained today so I would have an excuse not to lay out in the sun and pretend like I’m actually capable of getting a tan. Seriously, I’m a redhead. We don’t tan, we just burn.

And, because this is an entertainment-related site, this would be a good time to mention that I’m thankful that 2015 has been a pretty good year for film. Mad Max, Ex Machina, Sicario, 88, Inside Out…I’m not even beginning to scratch the surface of how many good films have been released this year. As for the bad films — well, The Fantastic Four, Ted 2, and Vacation were all terrible but you know what? None of them did a bit of good at the box office so at least the movie going public is not adding insult to injury.

It’s been a good year and, as a lover of the Oscars, I’m especially excited by the fact that there is no clear front runner. Oscar season is going to be exciting! Sure, it would appear that The Martian and Spotlight appear to be early favorites but neither has dominated. Seriously, this is going to be fun.

So, there’s a lot that I am thankful for but you know what I’m really thankful for? I’m thankful that I have thoughts to share and I am even more thankful that are people out there who are actually interested in learning them. There is nothing more wonderful than the freedom to say whatever the Hell you want. That, along with so many other things, is what I’m thankful for in 2015.

So, instead of coming up with a big list and trying to show off how witty I am, I’m just going to use this holiday to say “Thank you.” Thank you to all of the writers and reviewers at the Shattered Lens. Thank you to Arleigh Sandoc for asking me, 5 years ago, if I would be interested in contributing to an entertainment blog that he had just started. Thank you to all of the writers who were here before me and thank you to everyone who joined after me. Thank you for keeping this site alive. Thank you for keeping this site interesting. Thank you for keeping things lively. Thank you to all of you. Thank you for everything.

Even more importantly, thank you to all of our readers. They you to everyone who subscribes to this site. Thank you to everyone who has ever left a comment. Thank you to everyone who has ever clicked the like button. Whether you’re a regular reader or if you just found us through a google search, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Whether today was Thanksgiving or just another Thursday, I hope it was a wonderful one for you!

All my love — Lisa.

P.S. Wow, it’s 10:26 and I’m already ready to post. Happy Thanksgiving!

P.P.S. By the way, since it’s Thanksgiving, here’s the NSFW trailer for Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving. Hurry up and get this movie done, Eli!