The Las Vegas Film Critics Society Honors Oppenheimer!

Posted on December 13, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society announced their picks for the best of 2023! The winners are listed in bold.

Best Picture
Barbie
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer

Best Actor
Nicolas Cage – Dream Scenario
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction

Best Actress
Annette Bening – Nyad
Emma Stone – Poor Things
Greta Lee – Past Lives
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Natalie Portman – May December

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Glenn Howerton – BlackBerry
Charles Melton – May December
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Rachel McAdams – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Julianne Moore – May December
Rosamund Pike – Saltburn

Best Director
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Greta Gerwig – Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Celine Song – Past Lives

Best Original Screenplay
Air
Barbie
Maestro
May December
Past Lives

Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Cinematography
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Saltburn

Best Film Editing
Air
Barbie
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Score
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Society of the Snow
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Best Song
I’m Just Ken – Barbie
What Was I Made For? – Barbie
Road to Freedom – Rustin
Peaches – The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Better Place – Trolls Band Together

Best Documentary
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
Kokomo City
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Animated Film
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best International Movie
Anatomy of a Fall
Godzilla Minus One
Society of the Snow
When Evil Lurks
The Zone of Interest

Best Costumes
Barbie
The Color Purple
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Art Direction
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Visual Effects
The Creator
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Godzilla Minus One
Oppenheimer
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Best Action Movie
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
John Wick: Chapter 4
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Best Comedy
American Fiction
Barbie
Dumb Money
Joy Ride
No Hard Feelings

Best Horror/Sci-FI Movie
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Talk To Me
Thanksgiving
When Evil Lurks

Best Family Film
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Barbie
Elemental
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best Ensemble
Barbie
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Saltburn

Breakout Filmmaker
Cord Jefferson – American Fiction
Adele Lim – Joy Ride
Celine Song – Past Lives
Nida Manzoor – Polite Society
Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman – Theater Camp

Best Stunts
John Wick: Chapter 4
The Killer
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Polite Society
Silent Night

Youth In Film (Male)
Milo Machado Graner – Anatomy of a Fall
Jake Ryan – Asteroid City
Christian Convery – Cocaine Bear
Jude Hill – A Haunting in Venice
Chase Dillion – Haunted Mansion

Youth in Film (Female)
Abby Ryder Fortson – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Elle Graham – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Ariana Greenblatt – Barbie
Iman Vellani – The Marvels
Violet McGraw – M3GAN

The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award
Nicolas Cage
Paul Giamatti
Hayao Miyazaki
Julianne Moore
Rodrigo Prieto

Here Are The 2023 Nominations of the Las Vegas Film Critics Society

Posted on December 10, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society announced their nominations for the best of 2023 on December 8th. While a lot of the usual suspects make an appearance on the list, there are still a few interesting nominations, like David Fincher’s The Killer for Best Picture and Nicolas Cage for Best Actor in Dream Scenario.

The winners will be announced on December 13th!

Best Picture
Barbie
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer

Best Actor
Nicolas Cage – Dream Scenario
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction

Best Actress
Annette Bening – Nyad
Emma Stone – Poor Things
Greta Lee – Past Lives
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Natalie Portman – May December

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Glenn Howerton – BlackBerry
Charles Melton – May December
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Rachel McAdams – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Julianne Moore – May December
Rosamund Pike – Saltburn

Best Director
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Greta Gerwig – Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Celine Song – Past Lives

Best Original Screenplay
Air
Barbie
Maestro
May December
Past Lives

Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Cinematography
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Saltburn

Best Film Editing
Air
Barbie
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Score
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Society of the Snow
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Best Song
I’m Just Ken – Barbie
What Was I Made For? – Barbie
Road to Freedom – Rustin
Peaches – The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Better Place – Trolls Band Together

Best Documentary
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
Kokomo City
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Animated Film
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best International Movie
Anatomy of a Fall
Godzilla Minus One
Society of the Snow
When Evil Lurks
The Zone of Interest

Best Costumes
Barbie
The Color Purple
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Art Direction
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Best Visual Effects
The Creator
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Godzilla Minus One
Oppenheimer
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Best Action Movie
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
John Wick: Chapter 4
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Best Comedy
American Fiction
Barbie
Dumb Money
Joy Ride
No Hard Feelings

Best Horror/Sci-FI Movie
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Talk To Me
Thanksgiving
When Evil Lurks

Best Family Film
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Barbie
Elemental
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best Ensemble
Barbie
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Saltburn

Breakout Filmmaker
Cord Jefferson – American Fiction
Adele Lim – Joy Ride
Celine Song – Past Lives
Nida Manzoor – Polite Society
Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman – Theater Camp

Best Stunts
John Wick: Chapter 4
The Killer
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Polite Society
Silent Night

Youth In Film (Male)
Milo Machado Graner – Anatomy of a Fall
Jake Ryan – Asteroid City
Christian Convery – Cocaine Bear
Jude Hill – A Haunting in Venice
Chase Dillion – Haunted Mansion

Youth in Film (Female)
Abby Ryder Fortson – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Elle Graham – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Ariana Greenblatt – Barbie
Iman Vellani – The Marvels
Violet McGraw – M3GAN

The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award
Nicolas Cage
Paul Giamatti
Hayao Miyazaki
Julianne Moore
Rodrigo Prieto

October True Crime: The Frozen Ground (dir by Scott Walker)

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the early 80s, Robert Hansen was a respected businessman in Anchorage, Alaska. He owned a restaurant. He was known for being a family man. He held several local hunting records. Almost everyone who met him described him as being friendly and good-natured. In those days before the Internet, it wasn’t as if someone could do a Google search and discover that Hansen had a long criminal record in both Iowa and Alaska. There was no way to know that Hansen had been a teenage arsonist and that had been arrested and charged with rape in the early 70s. (The charges were ultimately plea bargained down to assault.) Even those who did know about his background felt that Hansen had turned his life around and was now an upstanding member of society.

At the same time that Hansen was a respected member of the Anchorage community, he was abducting young women and, after holding them prisoner and raping him at his cabin, flying them into the Alaskan wilderness where he would then hunt them in his own version of The Most Dangerous Game. It’s known, for sure, that Hansen murdered at least 18 women. It’s felt that the number is much higher. Along with his own good reputation, Hansen was protected by the fact that many of his victims were transients and sex workers. Their disappearances were rarely reported to the police and, when they were, the police didn’t go out of their way to find them. Much as happened with the Green River Killer in Washington State, Hansen was able to get away with his crimes for over 20 years not because he was particularly clever but because his victims were considered to be on the fringes of society.

The 2011 film, The Frozen Ground, is a fictionalized account of the investigation that led to Hansen’s arrest. John Cusack plays Robert Hansen. Nicolas Cage plays Jack Holcombe, a weary Alaskan state trooper who has to deal with uncooperative witnesses and beaurocratic indifference while investigating Hansen’s crimes. Vanessa Hudgens plays Cindy Paulson, a 17 year-old sex worker who survives her encounter with Hansen but whose story is originally ignored by the police because of what Cindy does for a living. Both Jack and Hansen comes to realize that Cindy is the only person who can positively identify the killer but Cindy has disappeared into the Anchorage underworld, working as a stripper and being manipulated by her pimp, Clate Johnson (50 Cent).

Taking full of advantage of the chilly atmosphere and the isolation of the Alaskan wilderness, The Frozen Ground is an effective journey into the heart of darkness, featuring excellent performances from Nicolas Cage and John Cusack. Cusack smoothly alternates between being the arrogant hunter and the desperate prey while Cage’s weary expression captures the psychological toll of investigating the crimes of someone like Robert Hansen. Of course, when the film came out, it received a lot of attention for featuring Vanessa Hudgens in a dramatic role. Hudgens’s performance here continues the tradition of former Disney (and Nickelodeon) actresses trying to prove their range by playing an edgy role. Though there’s a few scenes where she does seem to be trying too hard to make sure that we all know she’s capable of more than High School Musical, Hudgens is convincing for the most part.

As for the real-life Robert Hansen, he was sentenced to spend 461 years in prison for his crimes. (Alaska has no death penalty.) In 2014, three years after the release of this film, the 75 year-old Hansen died of natural causes while still incarcerated.

Here’s The Trailer for Dream Scenario

Posted on September 19, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, I shared the trailer for Butcher’s Crossing, a Nicolas Cage western.

Today, I’m sharing a trailer for another Nicolas Cage film. Dream Scenario made quite an impression on the critics when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, with several critics saying that it was the best film to feature Cage since Pig. The film features Cage as a professor who becomes famous when he starts showing up in people’s dreams and it is being distributed by A24, who triumphed at this year’s Oscar ceremony with Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Dream Scenario is set to be released in November. Here’s the trailer!

Here’s The Trailer For Butcher’s Crossing

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Really? We’ve got a second Nicolas Cage western coming out this year?

Actually, Butcher’s Crossing has been on the festival circuit since last year and, critically, it’s been slightly better received than The Old Way. Based on a 1960 novel, it features Cage as a buffalo hunter who becomes a mentor of sorts to a young Harvard grad who has decided to experience the old west for himself. None other than Cormac McCarthy cited the novel as being a favorite of his. This could be an intriguing role for Cage.

Here’s the trailer!

Film Review: The Old Way (dir by Brett Donowho)

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Oh my God! A Nicolas Cage western!? This is going to be great!”

That was my initial reaction when I heard about The Old Way, a film in which Nicolas Cage plays a former gunslinger who returns to his old ways while seeking revenge for the murder of his wife. Who knew which Nicolas Cage would show up for The Old Way? Would we get the wild, unpredictable Cage? Would we get the soulful and haunted Cage? Would this be one of the films that Cage cared about or would this be one of the films that Cage clearly just made for the money? Hearing that Nicolas Cage walked off the set because of an accident with one of the guns did not fill me with confidence. (The armorer who worked on The Old Way was the same one who went on to work on Rust and again, that did not exactly fill me with confidence.) Still, I was definitely curious to see The Old Way for myself.

Unfortunately, The Old Way is neither Cage at his best nor Cage at his most eccentric. Instead, Cage gives a quiet and emotionally restrained performance as Colton Briggs. When Briggs is first seen, he’s taking part in an extrajudicial execution and then coldly killing a man who first shoots him in the back. Jump forward 20 years and, much like Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, Colton Briggs is now a married man and a somewhat uptight shop owner who rarely shows a hint of emotion. His 10 year-old daughter (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) is as rebellious as Colton once was and she has no idea about Colton’s past. However, when the nephew of the man that Colton killed at the start of the film, murders Colton’s wife, Colton sets out for revenge. His daughter follows him, along with Marshal Jarret (Nick Searcy, giving the film’s best performance). Jarret is a former friend of Colton’s but both men make it clear that they will kill the other if they have to. That’s the old way.

It’s a typical western and, on a purely technical level, it’s not a bad one. The cinematography is frequently gorgeous and the members of the rival gang are made up of memorable character actors like Clint Howard and Abraham Benrubi. Obviously, a certain amount of care went into recreating the old west. As I said before, Nick Searcy is ideally cast as Marshal Jarret and he gives a performance that will keep you guessing as to whether or not Jarret should be trusted. Nicolas Cage is adequate in the lead role, even if he’s never quite as eccentric as most of his fans would probably prefer him to be. When he first shows up, he’s wearing an obviously fake mustache but that’s about as odd as his performance gets.

But, in the end, The Old Way just isn’t a particularly memorable film. It’s one of those films that you watch with the hope that it will suddenly spring an unexpected detail or a bizarre moment on the audience but it never happens. The Old Way is way too formulaic for its own good, borrowing liberally from True Grit and Unforgiven without ever really establishing its own identity.

Scenes That I Love: The Airport Chase and Shootout From John Woo’s Face/Off

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 77th birthday to director John Woo, the man who did the most to popularize the idea of the slo mo of doom!

Today’s scene that I love comes from Woo’s 1997 film, Face/Off. In this scene, John Travolta pursues Nicolas Cage by both car and helicopter. While Cage’s criminal has the time of his life, Travolta’s no-nonsense federal agent reveals just how obsessed he is with capturing his prey. No one has switched faces yet but the action is already wonderfully over-the-top. Cage and Travolta both do what they do best in this scene and so does John Woo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6ywTyB4O04

Here’s The Trailer for Renfield

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The trailer for Renfield has been getting a lot of attention today. Due to be released on April 14th, Renfield stars Nicholas Hoult as the title character, who was Dracula’s unfortunate servant. However, most of the attention generated by the trailer has been directed towards Nicolas Cage playing the role that many feel he was born to play.

Check out the trailer:

This could be good, despite the fact that I usually have my doubts about films that come out in April. I like Nicholas Hoult. I love Nic Cage. So, we’ll see hop for the best and we shall see what happens!

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us For Heatseeker and Face/Off!

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1995’s Heatseeker! Selected and hosted by @BunnyHero, Heatseeker was directed by the later Albert Pyun and yes, it does feature a cyborg! The movie starts at 8 pm et and it is available on YouTube.

Following #MondayActionMovie, Brad and Sierra will be hosting the #MondayMuggers live tweet. Tonight’s movie, starting at 10 pm et, will be 1997’s Face/Off, the John Woo classic starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as rivals who switch faces! Face/Off can be found on Prime!

It should make for a night of intense viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto twitter, start Heatseeker at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag! Then, at 10 pm et, switch over to prime, start Face/Off and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag! The live tweet community is a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy. And reviews of these films will probably end up on this site at some point over the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

Lisa Marie’s Oscar Predictions for January

Posted on January 31, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, here we are. Another awards season is wrapping up. Almost all of the regional critic groups have announced their picks for the best of 2021. The Guilds have spoken. The front runners have emerged. Both Don’t Look Up and Being the Ricardos have weathered bad reviews and become probable Oscar nominees. If nothing else, I’ll have something to complain about for the next three or four months. At the same time, Power of the Dog has emerged as the critical favorite. Belfast seems to be the populist favorite. West Side Story is the big production that has to be nominated, even though no one seems to feel particularly strongly about it one way or the other. Dune is the blockbuster that the Academy is hoping will cause people to tune into the ceremony, especially now that it appears that the Spider-Man Oscar campaign has fizzled. Don’t Look Up is the “Let’s piss off the cons” nominee. Being the Ricardos is this year’s “Wow, our industry really is the best” nominee. Personally, I’m going to view tick, tick….Boom! as being the most likely dark horse to pull off an upset.

So, with all that in mind, here’s my last set of 2021 Oscar predictions.

Looking at the list below, I have to say that we certainly have a good race this year. It’s interesting that, this year, only films that were released between March and the end of December were eligible for the Oscars. 2021 was a very good year for movies! Not only do we have the nominees below but we also had films like The Father and Judas and the Black Messiah, both of which are 2021 films as far as I’m concerned.

(Consider this. If the Oscars had kept the eligibility window the same last year instead of extending it to accommodate films delayed by the pandemic, Anthony Hopkins would probably be the Best Actor front runner right now and the Academy probably would have given Chadwick Boseman a posthumous Best Actor award last April. I also imagine that Jesse Plemons would have a better chance of picking up a supporting actor nomination if the members of the Academy were currently screening both The Power of the Dog and Judas and the Black Messiah at the same time.)

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 and November and December!

The Oscar nominations will be announced on February 8th. Below are my predictions!

Best Picture

Being The Ricardos
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
The Power Of The Dog
Tick, Tick….Boom!
West Side Story

Best Director

Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog

Adam McKay for Don’t Look Up

Lin-Manuel Miranda for tick, tick …. Boom!

Steven Spielberg for West Side Story

Denis Villeneuve for Dune

Best Actor

Nicolas Cage in Pig

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog