Here Are The 2024 Nominations for the Black Reel Awards

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2024 nominations for the Black Reel Awards were announced on December 19th. The winners will be announced on February 10th.

OUTSTANDING FILM
“Challengers” | Luca Guadagnino, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal & Zendaya, producers
“Exhibiting Forgiveness” | Stephanie Allain, Derek Cianfrance, Sean Cotton, Titus Kaphar & Jamie Patricof, producers
“Nickel Boys” | Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner & David Levin, producers
“The Piano Lesson” | Todd Black & Denzel Washington, producers
“Sing Sing” | Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar & Monique Walton, producers

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY (awarded to the director)
“Dahomey” | Mati Diop, director
“Daughters” | Angela Patton & Natalie Rae, directors
“Luther: Never Too Much” | Dawn Porter, director
“Piece by Piece” | Morgan Neville, director
“Seeking Mavis Beacon” | Jazmin Renée Jones, director

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE (awarded to the casting director)
“Exhibiting Forgiveness” | Kim Coleman, casting director
“Hard Truths” | Nina Gold, casting director
“Nickel Boys” | Victoria Thomas, casting director
“The Piano Lesson” | Lindsay Graham & Mary Vernieu, casting directors
“Sing Sing” | Greg Kwedar, casting director

OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT FILM (awarded to the director)
“Albany Road” | Christine Swanson, director
“Blink Twice” | Zoë Kravitz, director
“Hard Truths” | Mike Leigh, director
“I Saw the TV Glow” | Jane Schoenbrun, director
“We Grown Now” | Minhal Baig, director

OUTSTANDING SHORT FILM (awarded to the director)
“Chocolate With Sprinkles” | Huriyyah Muhammad, director
“Mosiah” | Jirard, director
“On a Sunday at Eleven” | Alicia K. Harris, director
“Self” | Searit Kahsay Huluf, director
“Will I See You Again?” | Michael Perez-Lindsey, director

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG (awarded to the performers & writers)
“Bricks” from “Exhibiting Forgiveness” | Andra Day, performer; Andra Day & Jherek Bischoff, writers
“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez” | Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón & Camille, performers; Clément Ducol, Camille & Jacques Audiard, writers
“The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight” | H.E.R., performer; Dianne Warren, writer
“Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing” | Adrian Quesada & Abraham Alexander, performers; Adrian Quesada, Abraham Alexander & Brandon Marcel, writers
“Piece by Piece” from “Piece by Piece” | Pharrell Williams and Princess Anne High School Fabulous Marching Cavaliers, performers; Pharrell Williams, writer

OUTSTANDING SOUNDTRACK
“Bob Marley: One Love” – Tuff Gong / Island
“Mufasa: The Lion King” – Walt Disney Records
“Piece by Piece” – Columbia / I AM Other
“Wicked” – Republic / Verve
“The Wild Robot” – Black Lot Music

OUTSTANDING FIRST SCREENPLAY (awarded for the debut screenplay by a first-time writer)
“Blink Twice” | Zoë Kravitz
“Exhibiting Forgiveness” | Titus Kaphar
“Nickel Boys” | RaMell Moss
“Parallel” | Aldis & Edwin Hodge
“The Piano Lesson” | Malcolm Washington

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” | Wolfgang Held & Moses Tau, cinematographers
“Luther: Never Too Much” | Bryan Gentry, cinematographer
“Nickel Boys” | Jomo Fray, cinematographer
“Rez Ball” | Kira Kelly, cinematographer
“Suncoast” | Bruce Francis Cole, cinematographer

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
“The Book of Clarence” | Antoinette Messam, costume designer
“The Piano Lesson” | Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, costume designer
“Shirley” | Megan Coates, costume designer
“We Grown Now” | Courtney Wheeler, costume designer
“Wicked” | Paul Tazewell, costume designer

OUTSTANDING EDITING
“Daughters” | Adelina Bichis & Troy Lewis, editors
“Hard Truths” | Tania Reddin, editor
“Seeking Mavis Beacon” | Yeelen Nelson Cohen, Jon Fine & Jazmin Renée Jones, editors
“Twisters” | Terilyn A. Shropshire, editor
“We Grown Now” | Stephanie Filo, editor

OUTSTANDING HAIRSTYLING & MAKEUP
“Bob Marley: One Love” | Nadia Stacy & Carla Farmer
“The Book of Clarence” | Allison Lacour, Wayne Jolla Jr. & Yolanda Mercadel
“Nickel Boys” | Iganica Soto-Aguilar & Shandrea Williams
“The Piano Lesson” | Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman & Para Shardé Malden
“Shirley” | Nakoya Yancey & Debi Young

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Nickel Boys” | Nora Mendis (production designer), Elizabeth Herberg (art director) & Monique Champagne (set decorator)
“Nine” | Gilbert Ekow Ampah (production designer) & Edmund Johnson (set decorator)
“The Piano Lesson” | David J. Bomba (production designer), Chardae Adams (art director) & Patrick Cassidy (set decorator)

The Oscars: The Visual Effects SemiFinalists

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Visual Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scienes (yes, you can say it five times fast but can you say it five times fast while eating a pop tart — I think not!) has released a list of the 15 semifinalists for the 2010 Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

And here they are:

Alice in Wonderland
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Clash of the Titans
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2
The Last Airbender
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Shutter Island
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
TRON: Legacy
Unstoppable

This list will be narrowed down again to 7 semifinalists and then in February, the actual nominees will be announced.

Looking over this list, there’s a few bright spots. I don’t think anyone’s surprised that Inception made the cut but it’s still good to see it there. I’m also happy to see that there’s at least a chance that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World might get some love. Same thing with Shutter Island.

As for the rest of the list — well, it’s pretty much what you would expect to see, isn’t it? Clash of the Titans? Really? I have to admit that I don’t remember the film all that well but didn’t the special effects kinda look like …. well, crap? I can only assume that the voters were overwhelmed by the raw charisma of Sam Worthington. Prince of Persia was a little better but still, for the most part, the effects were routine, dull, and predictable. Hereafter featured an impressive tsunami but otherwise, the visual effects were pretty much limited to making the afterlife resemble a poorly lit office of the DMV.

As usual, I guess what’s really interesting about this list isn’t what’s listed as much as what’s not. I would happily replace both Clash of the Titans and Price of Persia with Splice and Skyline, two mediocre films that were distinguished by impressive f/x work.

For that matter, even the Social Network featured Armie Hammer acting opposite himself.

I’m also disappointed to see that Black Swan was left off the list. In typical Darren Aronofsky fashion, they did indeed come close to going over the top. The fact that they didn’t is exactly why they deserve to be honored.

(I found this list of semifinalists on AwardsDaily.com but I’m not including a link because the site is run by an elitist dumbfug who apparently thinks that she’s the end-all/be-all of Oscar commentators. Yes, she’s a commentator and not just some grubby little blogger like the rest of us. Or, as she once put it — “I know the game. Hell, I am the game…” When I call someone a toadsucker, that’s the type of person I’m talking about.)

A Quickie With Lisa Marie: Unstoppable (dir. by Tony Scott)

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This is going to be a quick review because Unstoppable is a quick movie. That’s not meant to be an insult because Unstoppable is one of those, race-against-time type films that has to move quickly to be succesful.

Unstoppable’s plot is amazingly simple. There’s a runaway train that could derail at any seconds. Since the train is being used to transport dangerous and toxic chemicals, this could potentially lead to the destruction of a small portion of Pennsylvania. However, there’s another train on the tracks. The train is being steered by Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. Washington’s a grizzled veteran type. Pine’s a callow, headstrong youth type. Can they put aside their difference and work together to save Pennsylvania? Does the sun rise in the … wait, which side of the Earth does the sun rise on?

I have to admit that I was prepared to dislike Unstoppable. For one thing, its set in Pennsylvania and right now, I’ve got some issues with that state. For several years, I liked Pennsylvania because I associated the state with The Office. But then a few months ago, that damn Levi’s Jeans commercial started up with that “Heigh Ho” song playing over grainy black-and-white images of Braddock, Pennsylvania and John Fetterman (the town’s mayor, who looks like a serial rapist) saying something about half the town being in a landfill. And those commercials made me dislike Pennsylvania because, seriously, Fetterman, you’re not fooling anyone.

(Quick disclaimer: Fetterman, to my knowledge, has never been accused, arrested, indicted, or convincted of rape. Also, Braddock has a really inspiring story that all you rich kids who know nothing about poverty can go swoon over.)

But anyway, back to Unstoppable. It’s actually a fairly entertaining movie. Scott’s direction keeps the action pretty tight and both Washington and Pine give pretty good performances even if they are playing stereotypes. Both of them have to deliver a lot of technical, “train” dialogue and they both deliver it with such confidence that it really didn’t matter that I couldn’t figure out what they were talking about most of the time.

The real star of the film, obviously, is that runway train and — roaring across the tracks and shattering through various barrier — the train does not disappoint. Give it the Oscar for Best Supporting Performance By A Machine.

In the end, watching Unstoppable is kinda like wrapping yourself up in your favorite blanket. It’s warm and familiar and it serves its purpose.