Black Panther Dominates The Black Reel Nominations

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Black Reel Nominations were announced today, with Black Panther picking up a record 17 nominations! Coming in second was If Beale Street Could Talk, which received 14 nominations while Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman received 11 nominations.

Here’s a full list of the nominees:

Outstanding Motion Picture
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Green Book
If Beale Street Could Talk
Widows

Outstanding Screenplay
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sorry to Bother You
Widows

Outstanding Ensemble
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sorry to Bother You
Widows

Outstanding Documentary
Amazing Grace
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Minding the Gap
Quincy
Whitney

Outstanding Foreign Language/ World Cinema Motion Picture
Green Days by the River (Trinidad & Tobago)
Lionheart (Nigeria)
Rafiki (Kenya)
Vaya (South Africa)
Where Hands Touch (UK)

Outstanding Voice Performance
Mahershala Ali | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Taraji P. Henson | Ralph Breaks the Internet
Brian Tyree Henry | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Samuel L. Jackson | Incredibles 2
Shamiek Moore | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Outstanding Score
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Creed II
The Hate U Give
If Beale Street Could Talk

Outstanding Original Song
“All the Stars” (Black Panther) | Kendrick Lamar & SZA
“I’ll Fight” (RBG) | Jennifer Hudson
“Love Lies” (Love, Simon) | Khalid & Normani
“Pray For Me” (Black Panther) | The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar
“We Won’t Move” (The Hate U Give) | Arlissa

Outstanding Independent Feature
A Boy. A Girl. A Dream.
Jinn
Monsters and Men
Roxanne Roxanne
Yardie

Outstanding Independent Documentary
Basquiat: Rage to Riches
Lorainne Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/ Feeling
Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me

Outstanding First Screenplay
Blindspotting
Jinn
Monsters and Men
Roxanne Roxanne
Sorry to Bother You

Outstanding Cinematography
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Widows
A Wrinkle In Time

Outstanding Costume Design
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
If Beale Street Could Talk
Sorry to Bother You
A Wrinkle In Time

Outstanding Production Design
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Green Book
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Wrinkle In Time

Playing Catch Up With The Films of 2016: Race (dir by Stephen Hopkins)

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Do you remember Race?

It came out in February of this year and it was kind of a big deal for a week. I think everyone was expecting it to be a big hit, just because there’s never much competition in February. Race is a biopic of Jesse Owens, the African-American runner who sets world records and won gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, defeating a legion of Aryan athletes while Adolf Hitler watched from the stands. Not only is that a compelling story but 2016 was also an Olympic year. Eddie The Eagle had already been a success due to the Olympic connection. Add to that, Focus Features promoted the Hell out of this film. In they weeks leading up to its release, I saw commercials for it on a nearly hourly basis. The reviews, when the came, were mixed but generally positive.

I’m not really sure how Race did at the box office. According to Wikipedia, on its opening weekend, it was sixth at the box office. Apparently, the film only had a budget of five million and ultimately made a profit of $20,000,0000. I guess that would make it a success. All I know is that it seems like, for all the hype, Race just kind of came and went.

In fact, I didn’t see Race until about two months ago. It’s one of those films that’s not really great but it’s certainly not bad. It’s pretty much the epitome of being adequate. It was well-made and generally well-acted. Director Stephen Hopkins occasionally struggled to maintain a consistent pace (Race is over 2 hours long and feels longer) but he still did a good job filming the scenes of Owens of running and competing. In the role of Jesse Owens, Stephan James was well-cast. You not only believed him in the dramatic scenes but he was also believable as a record-setting athlete. He had some great scenes with Jason Sudekis, who was surprisingly believable in the role of Jesse’s coach.

With all that in mind, why didn’t Race make more of an impression? I think that, too often, Hopkins allowed the film’s focus to wander away from Jesse and the inner conflict he felt as he won medals for a country where he was treated like a second-class citizen. There were too many random scenes of Jeremy Irons and William Hurt, playing Olympic officials and debating whether or not to boycott Hitler’s Olympics. During the second half of the film, Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) showed up and we got a few scenes of her trying to film Jesse’s triumph at the Olympics despite the interference of Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbles (Barnaby Metschurat). All of these extra scenes are supposed to set Jesse’s struggle in a historic context but they’re unnecessary and distracting. All the context that the film needs can be found in the fact that Jesse was a black man living in America in the 1930s.

For the most part, Race is uneven but occasionally the film delivers a powerful scene or two. One of the most powerful parts of the film comes when Jesse, after setting world records and being proclaimed as a hero across the world, is informed that he still can’t enter a New York club through the front door. As well, the scenes depicting Jesse’s friendship with German jump Luz Long (David Kross) are poignant. In fact, they’re so poignant that I initially assumed that they were fictionalized for the film but actually, Jesse and Luz Long did become good friends during the 1936 Olympics.

Race is uneven but it’s not bad. Stephan James gives a good performance as Jesse and, if nothing else, the film provides a worthy history lesson.

Here Are the 48th Annual NAACP Image Award Nominations!

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

You can see the film nomination below. For a full list of all the Image nominations, including the television nominees, click here.

Outstanding Motion Picture
•   “Fences” (Paramount Pictures)
•   “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox)
•   “Loving” (Focus Features/Big Beach)
•   “Moonlight” (A24)
•   “The Birth of a Nation” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture – (Film)
•   Anthony Russo, Joe Russo – “Captain America: Civil War” (Marvel Studios)
•   Barry Jenkins – “Moonlight” (A24)
•   Garth Davis – “Lion” (See-Saw Films)
•   Mira Nair – “Queen of Katwe” (Walt Disney Studios)
•   Nate Parker – “The Birth of a Nation” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Film)
•   Adam Mansbach “Barry” (Black Bear Pictures and Cinetic Media)
•   Barry Jenkins “Moonlight” (A24)
•   Jeff Nichols “Loving” (Focus Features/Big Beach)
•   Nate Parker “The Birth of a Nation” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
•   Richard Tanne “Southside With You” (Roadside Attractions)

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
•   Denzel Washington – “Fences” (Paramount Pictures)
•   Don Cheadle – “Miles Ahead” (Sony Pictures Classics)
•   Nate Parker – “The Birth of a Nation” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
•   Stephan James – “Race” (Focus Features/The Luminary Group A Solofilms/Trinidad/Trinity/Trinity Race Production)
•   Will Smith – “Collateral Beauty” (Warner Bros. Pictures/New Line Cinema)

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
•   Angela Bassett – “London Has Fallen” (Focus Features/Millennium Films/G-Base Production)
•   Madina Nalwanga – “Queen of Katwe” (Walt Disney Studios)
•   Ruth Negga – “Loving” (Focus Features/Big Beach)
•   Taraji P. Henson – “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox)
•   Tika Sumpter – “Southside With You” (Roadside Attractions)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
•   Alano Miller – “Loving” (Focus Features/Big Beach)
•   Chadwick Boseman – “Captain America: Civil War” (Marvel Studios)
•   David Oyelowo – “Queen of Katwe” (Walt Disney Studios)
•   Mahershala Ali – “Moonlight” (A24)
•   Trevante Rhodes – “Moonlight” (A24)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
•   Aja Naomi King – “The Birth of a Nation” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
•   Lupita Nyong’o – “Queen of Katwe” (Walt Disney Studios)
•   Mo’ Nique – “Almost Christmas” (Universal Pictures)
•   Octavia Spencer – “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox)
•   Viola Davis – “Fences” (Paramount Pictures)

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
•   “Lion” (See-Saw Films)
•   “Loving” (Focus Features/Big Beach)
•   “Miles Ahead” (Sony Pictures Classics)
•   “Moonlight” (A24)
•   “The Birth of a Nation” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Documentary – (Film)
•   “13th” (Netflix)
•   “I Am Not Your Negro” (Velvet Film)
•   “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” (The People’s Poet LLC)
•   “Miss Sharon Jones!” (Cabin Creek Films)
•   “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice” (Coffee Bluff Pictures)