tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-317719702024-03-16T13:52:14.651-05:00The Moving Picture BlogRandom musings on all things cinematical, and otherwise, by Joe Leydon.Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.comBlogger2445125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-33589920285858336282024-01-22T19:08:00.000-06:002024-01-22T19:08:19.902-06:00Poor Things Named Best Picture of 2023 by Houston Film Critics Society<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95VPCVNZKnsaivyPqE4gA50f9vrsDWho3y8GEAgN14RPz_6pCZtrjnBwW7ttJIOW4cwzWwI6ISi8FX0tWwtBMMFTtX82TZ9aowrH0_dIFZfnO_BYp8vZ-ITbK_Sx5EomKLXN-90cxZKQ69Vcneq8a38zmBzDM0uzTA1eGyTyCcvhB5FgXng/s3576/Poor%20Things.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="2158" data-original-width="3576" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj95VPCVNZKnsaivyPqE4gA50f9vrsDWho3y8GEAgN14RPz_6pCZtrjnBwW7ttJIOW4cwzWwI6ISi8FX0tWwtBMMFTtX82TZ9aowrH0_dIFZfnO_BYp8vZ-ITbK_Sx5EomKLXN-90cxZKQ69Vcneq8a38zmBzDM0uzTA1eGyTyCcvhB5FgXng/s400/Poor%20Things.jpg"/></a></div>
<div class="x1e56ztr" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";">The Houston Film Critics
Society has given <i>Poor Things</i>, Yorgos Lanthimos’ flamboyant fable about
a scientifically revivified woman’s search for her identity, top honors in the organization’s
17<sup>th</sup> annual awards.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";">In addition to choosing the
critically acclaimed film as Best Picture of 2023, HFCS also named Emma Stone
the year’s Best Actress, and honored the movie’s visual effects</span><i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">.\<br />
<br />
</span></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">“In a year full of established directors making
new works at a time when audiences rediscovered the joy of going to a cinema,” says
Travis Leamons, president of the organization, “our critics favored the weird
above all others.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";">The
Holdovers </span></i><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">garnered two awards for acting — one for Paul Giamatti as a
teacher examining the impact of isolation, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph as a voice
of truth during the instructor’s search</span><i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. </span></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Christopher Nolan was named Best Director for the
epic biography </span><i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Oppenheimer, </span></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">which also was cited for its cinematography.</span></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Claiming the award for Best Ensemble Cast: The
actors in </span><i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Killers of the Flower Moon </span></i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">– including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily
Gladstone. <i>Chocolate Lizards</i></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, a look at a failed actor in <i>Buffalo Gap</i>, won the
Texas Independent Film Award for the best movie made in the Lone Star State.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic";">Here's a complete list of </span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">2023
Houston Film Critics Society Award Winners.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Picture:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Poor Things</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Director:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Christopher
Nolan, <i>Oppenheimer</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Actor,</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <b>Leading Role:</b> Paul
Giamatti, <i>The Holdovers</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Actress,</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <b>Leading Role:</b> Emma
Stone, <i>Poor Things</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Actor,</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><b> Supporting Role:</b> Ryan
Gosling, <i>Barbie</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Actress,</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <b>Supporting Role:</b>
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, <i>The Holdovers</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Screenplay: </span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Cord Jefferson, <i>American
Fiction</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Animated Feature:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Spider-Man:
Across the Spider-Verse</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Cinematography:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Hoyte Van
Hoytema, <i>Oppenheimer</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Documentary Feature:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Still: A
Michael J. Fox Movie</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Foreign Language Feature:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>The
Zone of Interest</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Original Score:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Robbie Robertson, <i>Killers
of the Flower Moon</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Original Song: </span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“I’m Just Ken,” <i>Barbie</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Visual Effects:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Poor Things</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Stunt Coordination Team:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>John
Wick: Chapter 4</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Best Ensemble Cast:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Killers of the
Flower Moon</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Texas Independent Film Award:</span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <i>Chocolate
Lizards<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(In the interest of full disclosure: I am a founding and
voting member of The Houston Film Critics Society. And while I don’t always
agree with my colleagues, I cannot say I am not proud of their willingness to swim
against the tide in many categories.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-49766660029840590392024-01-09T16:12:00.000-06:002024-01-09T16:12:56.599-06:00Barbie and Oppenheimer Lead Nominees for Houston Film Critics Society Awards.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZ0otnyl6xq7bAwQ6jUYwR75ummpae_-c-hg4qVDq8FvMj155gINzt7T27NmAt1fF0MOqt3-MxXheDIBUTWsbj-yidTV3VhcS9jr-SG9tZ4VKz1qMgXxDml4W900aFJUcwAmxVFMkmwA0sDxUoC0NL7FJXrdOQGEiJe8wCaLZUsAkENolEg/s1200/Barbie-Movie-2023.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZ0otnyl6xq7bAwQ6jUYwR75ummpae_-c-hg4qVDq8FvMj155gINzt7T27NmAt1fF0MOqt3-MxXheDIBUTWsbj-yidTV3VhcS9jr-SG9tZ4VKz1qMgXxDml4W900aFJUcwAmxVFMkmwA0sDxUoC0NL7FJXrdOQGEiJe8wCaLZUsAkENolEg/s400/Barbie-Movie-2023.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The double-barrel cultural phenomenon known as<i> Barbenheimer —</i>
Greta Gerwin’s <i>Barbie</i> and Christopher Nolan’s <i>Oppenheimer</i> — loomed
large in the list of nominees announced Tuesday for the 17<sup>th</sup> annual
awards from the Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS). </span><b><span style="color: #717a80; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Greta Gerwig’s comic fantasy leads all films with 10
nominations, followed closely with nine nominations for Nolan’s epic biography
of the physicist who changed the world. </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Killers of the Flower
Moon, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Martin Scorsese’s exploration of the Osage County murders,
and </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Poor Things, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Yorgos Lanthimos’ outrageous look at a
woman’s search for identity – each received eight nominations. All four are
nominated for Best Picture of 2023.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Other films competing for the top prize include </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">American
Fiction, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">a seriocomic examination of Black literature and identity; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Are You
There God? It’s Me, Margaret, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">a girl’s journey adjusting to a new
community; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">The Color Purple, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">the film adaptation of the
Broadway musical from Alice Walker’s novel; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Godzilla Minus One, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">an
homage to traditions of sci-fi thrillers; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">The Holdovers, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">a
touching visit to personal and academic challenges in the 1970s; and </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Past
Lives, </i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">a heartbreaking celebration of a distant friendship.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">“In a year where audiences rediscovered the magic of
returning to theaters, filmmakers were more than happy to deliver some
incredible cinema that will be hard to top next year,” says HFCS president Travis
Leamons. “For 2023, the films and talent we recognize as a collective
organization remind us why while the business of movies have changed, the magic
of cinema still charms.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">(In the interest of full disclosure: Yours truly is a
founding and voting member of the Houston Film Critics Society.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Contenders for the Texas Independent Film Award, honoring
the best of film made in the Lone Star State, are </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Bolivar,</i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;"> a
young woman’s journey to recover from her mother’s death; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Breaking the
Code,</i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;"> the work and life of artist Vernon Fisher of Fort Worth; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Chocolate
Lizards,</i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;"> a failed actor’s next steps in Buffalo Gap; </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">I’ll Be
There,</i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;"> people searching for connection in the midst of chaos;
and </span><i style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">A Town Called Victoria,</i><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;"> citizens confronting how they
learn to hate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Winners of the 2023 Houston Film Critics Society awards
will be announced Jan. 22.</span><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">Here is a
complete list of nominees.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Picture</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">American Fiction</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Are You There God? It's
Me, Margaret.</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Barbie</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Color Purple</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Godzilla Minus One</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Holdovers</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Killers of the Flower Moon</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Oppenheimer</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Past Lives</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Poor Things</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Director</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Greta Gerwig, <i>Barbie</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Yorgos Lanthimos, <i>Poor Things</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Christopher Nolan, <i>Oppenheimer</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Alexander Payne, <i>The Holdovers</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Martin Scorsese, <i>Killers of
the Flower Moon</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Actor – Leading Role</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Leonardo DiCaprio, <i>Killers of
the Flower Moon</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Paul Giamatti, <i>The Holdovers</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Cillian Murphy, <i>Oppenheimer</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Andrew Scott, <i>All of Us
Strangers</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Jeffrey Wright, <i>American
Fiction</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Actress – Leading Role</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Fantasia Barrino, <i>The Color
Purple</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Lily Gladstone, <i>Killers of the
Flower Moon</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Greta Lee, <i>Past Lives</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Margot Robbie, <i>Barbie</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Emma Stone, <i>Poor Things</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Actor – Supporting Role</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Robert De Niro, <i>Killers of the
Flower Moon</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Robert Downey Jr., <i>Oppenheimer</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Ryan Gosling, <i>Barbie</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mark Ruffalo, <i>Poor Things</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Dominic Sessa, <i>The Holdovers</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Actress – Supporting Role</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Emily Blunt, <i>Oppenheimer</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Danielle Brooks, <i>The Color
Purple</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Rachel McAdams, <i>Are You There
God? It's Me, Margaret.</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Rosamund Pike, <i>Saltburn</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Da'Vine Joy Randolph, <i>The
Holdovers</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Screenplay</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">American Fiction,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Cord
Jefferson</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Barbie,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Greta
Gerwig and Noah Baumbach</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Holdovers,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> David
Hemingson</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Oppenheimer,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Christopher
Nolan</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Past Lives,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Celine
Song</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Poor Things,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Tony
McNamara</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Animated Film</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Boy and the Heron</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Nimona</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Robot Dreams</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Spider-Man: Across the
Spider-Verse</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles: Mutant Mayhem</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Cinematography</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Barbie,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Rodrigo
Prieto</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Killers of the Flower
Moon,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Rodrigo Prieto</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Oppenheimer,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Hoyte
Van Hoytema</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Poor Things,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Robbie
Ryan</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Saltburn,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Linus
Sandgren</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Documentary Feature</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">American Symphony</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Beyond Utopia</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Eternal Memory</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Still: A Michael J. Fox
Movie</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">20 Days in Mariupol</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Foreign Language Feature</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Anatomy of a Fall</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Godzilla Minus One</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Perfect Days</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Society of the Snow</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Zone of Interest</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Original Score</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Boy and the Heron,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Joe
Hisaishi</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Killers of the Flower
Moon,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Robbie Robertson</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Oppenheimer,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Ludwig
Göransson</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Poor Things,</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Jerskin
Fendrix</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Spider-Man, Across the
Spider-Verse</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">: Daniel Pemberton</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Original Song</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“Dance the Night” from <i>Barbie</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“I'm Just Ken” from <i>Barbie</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“Keep It Movin'” from <i>The
Color Purple</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“Meet in the Middle” from <i>Flora
and Son</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“What Was I Made For?” from <i>Barbie</i></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #2d3133; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Visual Effects</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Creator</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Godzilla Minus One</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mission: Impossible - Dead
Reckoning Part One</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Poor Things</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Stunt Coordination Team</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Iron Claw</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">John Wick: Chapter 4</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mission: Impossible - Dead
Reckoning Part One</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Polite Society</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Best
Ensemble Cast</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Barbie</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Holdovers</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Iron Claw</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Killers of the Flower Moon</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Oppenheimer</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;">Texas
Independent Film</span></b><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Bolivar</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Breaking the Code</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Chocolate Lizards</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I’ll Be There</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A Town Called Victoria</span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #717a80; font-size: 18pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-65692753680329620822023-08-05T00:41:00.010-05:002023-08-05T15:51:02.659-05:00The Dead is my favorite John Huston movie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsU2O_c3jvjAboZyQub-UK3Z1imdlesHcWY1eJlXrqLvLsdRc_U3r6X8KmEYTVnSDnoaa6p8k_iIBpTg_YcINrPgSlG7ocI3S1RYWiX9Kusmakmub-h2NEWyIwCw6NafDkYU/s1600/TheDeadFeaturedImage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsU2O_c3jvjAboZyQub-UK3Z1imdlesHcWY1eJlXrqLvLsdRc_U3r6X8KmEYTVnSDnoaa6p8k_iIBpTg_YcINrPgSlG7ocI3S1RYWiX9Kusmakmub-h2NEWyIwCw6NafDkYU/s640/TheDeadFeaturedImage.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why is <i>The Dead</i> my favorite John Huston film? Well, I could direct you to <a href="https://www.movingpictureshow.com/?p=8846" target="_blank">my original review</a> of Huston's adaptation of the <a href="https://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/958/" target="_blank">classic James Joyce story</a>. Or I could just show you the final scene. Back in the day: I cried so hard at the end of this movie, two colleagues had to help me out of the theater. No kidding.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NRD_UNGE4Zs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>
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Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-56661382700762914922023-04-09T18:00:00.009-05:002023-04-09T18:28:34.221-05:00Celebrating Ward Bond’s birthday with... Hitler — Dead or Alive <center>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wULh5c2UD5M" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On this date in 1903, actor Ward Bond was born in Benkelman, Nebraska. And I think it would be a nifty idea to celebrate the occasion by watching <i><a href="https://youtu.be/wULh5c2UD5M">Hitler — Dead or Alive</a></i>, an ultra-low-budget 1942 B-movie starring Bond as an ex-con who tries to collect a bounty on Adolf Hitler. No, I'm not making that up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Back when I taught a college course focused on war movies, I often screened the final minutes of this obscure oddity, to give students an inkling of American attitudes during the early days of US involvement in World War II. Because even though the movie was an unabashedly cheesy Poverty Row production -- it dared to be a <i>fantasy-fulfilling</i> slice of cheese: At the end of the flick, Hitler is shot by Nazis who don't recognize him after Bond and his buddies shave off Der Führer's mustache. Again: I'm not making that up. Start looking around the 1:04 point in <a href="https://youtu.be/wULh5c2UD5M" target="_blank">this video</a>, and you'll see what I mean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I saw Quentin Tarantino's <i>Inglourious Basterds</i>, and marveled at the movie's climactic killing of Der Führer, I couldn't help thinking of <i>Hitler -- Dead or Alive</i>. But I swear: I didn't know Tarantino actually was a fan the '42 film until he spilled the beans to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131202085702/http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/interview-quentin-tarantino">Playboy in a 2003 interview</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>When it came to <i>Inglourious Basterds</i>, there was a movie done in 1942, <i>Hitler —Dead or Alive</i>. It was just as America had entered the war. A rich guy offers a million-dollar bounty on Hitler’s life. Three gangsters come up with a plan to kill Hitler. They parachute into Berlin and work their way to where Hitler is. It’s a wacky movie that goes from being serious to very funny. The gangsters get Hitler, and when they start beating the fuck out of him, it is just so enjoyable. They shave his mustache off, cut off that lock of hair and take his shit off so he looks like a regular guy. The Nazis show up, and Hitler, who doesn’t look like Hitler anymore, is like, “Hey, it’s me!” And they beat the shit out of him. I thought, Wow, this is fucking hysterical.</b>
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Yes, it is. Who would have guessed that a hardline conservative like Ward Bond actually was Antifa? </span>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-79118153684195485522023-01-18T20:25:00.003-06:002023-01-18T20:49:55.268-06:00Flashback: Ethan Hawke and Me at 2011 Houston Cinema Arts Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1py69nQiT14brKvYuLhIYmlo5pdcOOCBbtd2KdahHWoA9cMULb2qLn8I1oM1LADUzcRB4WxfRE17_TBYIHdKTve_dRdEzawUkbzL0Ai9_Ntzifrk8SMagmDQ3S_WqS6m3yKCRTDmJDAry69_cvyGnJl_Y9K6azlwEtTSs115KUDa__4/s864/CaptureEthanHawke.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="864" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1py69nQiT14brKvYuLhIYmlo5pdcOOCBbtd2KdahHWoA9cMULb2qLn8I1oM1LADUzcRB4WxfRE17_TBYIHdKTve_dRdEzawUkbzL0Ai9_Ntzifrk8SMagmDQ3S_WqS6m3yKCRTDmJDAry69_cvyGnJl_Y9K6azlwEtTSs115KUDa__4/s400/CaptureEthanHawke.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">I honest to God did not know until just a few minutes ago that <a href="https://vimeo.com/291165315">a complete version of this</a> existed on video: My 2011 Q&A with Ethan Hawke</span><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at the <a href="https://vimeo.com/291165315">Houston Cinema Arts Festival</a>, where he received a lifetime achievement award. At first, Hawke is introduced by R</span><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">ichard Linklater</span><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and graciously accepts the prize, in concert with a screening of "The Woman in the Fifth." We start chatting around the 11:25 mark. He's very funny, and very forthcoming. And I have a lot more hair than I do now. (Sorry: You will have to click the <a href="https://vimeo.com/291165315">link</a>, because I am unable to embed.)</span></span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><br /><div class="yj6qo" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></div></div><div><br /></div>
<center><br /><p><br /></p></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-78971398978297314392023-01-08T14:10:00.001-06:002023-01-08T14:10:44.208-06:00Let the Revels Begin: Houston Film Critics Society Announces Nominations for Annual Awards<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijsrBBlPL0j0YQe5e-MbmmAAONDGcYCJ92Kg1wfUIUm8xXpiD0ZfQwlTrlK0DhOJFmQcas6nW1YKnIqb_57nMBHqN7FBVKykoQIEYBG5WoUD9PO2ugOW9yNEYABmLIeChGTY25FZq_4xG8-u3G0IK3OWalLvN-TN1gC4coZPfQ0tzBMCA/s1400/new-rrr.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijsrBBlPL0j0YQe5e-MbmmAAONDGcYCJ92Kg1wfUIUm8xXpiD0ZfQwlTrlK0DhOJFmQcas6nW1YKnIqb_57nMBHqN7FBVKykoQIEYBG5WoUD9PO2ugOW9yNEYABmLIeChGTY25FZq_4xG8-u3G0IK3OWalLvN-TN1gC4coZPfQ0tzBMCA/s400/new-rrr.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://houstonfilmcritics.com/" target="_blank">The Houston Film Critics Society</a> — of which I am a
founding/voting member — has released the list of nominations for the annual
HFCS Awards. Winners will be announced </span><span style="background: white; color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Feb. 18 at the <a href="https://matchouston.org/" target="_blank">Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston
(MATCH)</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background: white; color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> A</o:p></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2d3133; font-size: 14pt;">nd
yes: I am <i>very</i> happy to see so many
nominations for <i><a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/reviews/rrr-review-1235221965/" target="_blank">RRR</a></i>. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Picture<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Banshees of Inisherin<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elvis<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything Everywhere All at Once<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fabelmans<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RRR<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tár<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Till<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Top Gun: Maverick<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women Talking<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Director<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Banshees of Inisherin<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elvis<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything Everywhere All at Once<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fabelmans<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tár<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women Talking<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Actor – Leading Role<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Austin
Butler, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elvis<b><o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom
Cruise, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top Gun: Maverick</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Colin
Farrell, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Banshees of Inisherin</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brendan
Fraser, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Whale</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeremy
Pope, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Inspection</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Actress – Leading Role<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cate
Blanchett, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tár</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Viola
Davis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Woman King</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Danielle
Deadwyler, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Till</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Emma
Thompson, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Good Luck to You, Leo Grande</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michelle
Yeoh, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everything Everywhere All at Once</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Actor – Supporting Role<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Brendan
Gleeson, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Banshees of Inisherin</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Barry
Keoghan, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Banshees of Inisherin</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ke
Huy Quan, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everything Everywhere All at
Once</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mark
Rylance, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bones and All</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ben
Whishaw, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Women Talking</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Actress – Supporting Role<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesse
Buckley, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Women Talking</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kerry
Condon, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Banshees of Inisherin</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jamie
Lee Curtis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everything Everywhere All at Once</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stephanie
Hsu, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everything Everywhere All at Once<b><o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Janelle
Monáe, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Screenplay<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Banshees of Inisherin<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything Everywhere All at Once<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fabelmans<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tár<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women Talking<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Animated Feature<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marcel the Shell with Shoes On<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Puss in Boots: The Last Wish<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Turning Red<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Cinematography<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Avatar: The Way of Water<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Babylon<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nope<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fabelmans<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Top Gun: Maverick<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Documentary<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All the Beauty and the Bloodshed<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bad Axe<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fire of Love<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Good Night Oppy<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Navalny<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Foreign Language Feature<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All Quiet on the Western Front<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Argentina, 1985<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Close<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Decision to Leave<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RRR<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Original Score<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Babylon<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Banshees of Inisherin<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Empire of Light<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fabelmans<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women Talking<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Original Song<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Black Panther: Wakanda Forever</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “Lift Me Up”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “Ciao Papa”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RRR</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “Naatu Naatu”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Till</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “Stand Up”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Top Gun: Maverick</span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, “Hold My Hand”<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Visual Effects<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Avatar: The Way of Water<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Batman<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Black Panther: Wakanda Forever<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RRR<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Top Gun: Maverick<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Stunt Coordination Team<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Batman<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything Everywhere All at Once<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">RRR<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Top Gun: Maverick<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Woman King<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Best
Ensemble Cast<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Banshees of Inisherin<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything Everywhere All at Once<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Fabelmans<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Women Talking<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Texas
Independent Film Award<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acid Test<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Conception<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife
Story<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Facing Nolan<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-13188624275847501012022-09-13T22:56:00.000-05:002022-09-13T22:56:16.347-05:00Jean-Luc Godard? Jack Palance wasn’t impressed.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHiEjP1BvGEW73XljuHzaHBkRuC6r1rFfKbsomUQC_9z8Vi4LgPJKAPYti0ZLvqa7xsFwg8ZKvVsKg_Up-BNDnNdDzUGFfBXyjtlxpQr68DbNa6TTq8EnhD5lG2asxduD4G8P-Wf-a52gm7AfB9Zt4N7_lJRyP1iixdcmd6xVfRrDJzO8/s1600/Contempt-380771578-large.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHiEjP1BvGEW73XljuHzaHBkRuC6r1rFfKbsomUQC_9z8Vi4LgPJKAPYti0ZLvqa7xsFwg8ZKvVsKg_Up-BNDnNdDzUGFfBXyjtlxpQr68DbNa6TTq8EnhD5lG2asxduD4G8P-Wf-a52gm7AfB9Zt4N7_lJRyP1iixdcmd6xVfRrDJzO8/s400/Contempt-380771578-large.jpg"/></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So there I was in my hometown of New Orleans in 1991, attending
the junket for <i>City Slickers</i> and seated at a table with Jack Palance. I
wanted to ask a question I figured that he hadn’t been asked a zillion times
before, so I tossed him this one: What was it like to work with Jean-Luc Godard
in the 1963 international co-production <i>Contempt</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">?</span></span><span style="color: #1d2228; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Palance
smiled at me — indeed, almost winked at me — and replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16pt;">“Godard, I thought, was a good filmmaker, but he was so… Well,
I remember, we had a question about a scene that we were doing, and I
thought maybe there was something I should be doing, and he said, blatantly,
‘You know, of course, that I am considered one of the great filmmakers
today.’ And I said, ‘No, I didn’t know that. Why don’t you tell me about
it?’ And so he goes on like this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> “He was one of those guys, one of those directors — I’ve
worked with a few of them, and my God, they’re infuriating! Because suddenly he’s
walking out there, and he’s </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">throwing</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">
things, saying, ‘And then you will do this! And then you will do that!’
And you stop and say, ‘Hey! I'm not going to do what you’re showing me anyway.
So don’t show me!’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“See, he was doing that with all the actors. Like, ‘And now, I
think if you touch the glass on the table…’ And you </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">know</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> you’re not going to touch the glass after he’s shown you
something like that.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">And yet, for all that, Palance said </span><i style="font-size: 16pt;">Contempt</i><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> had its funny moments. Sort of.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“I think one of the most memorable things for me in that film was
doing a scene with Brigitte Bardot. We were in that red car, a little red
car, and we had a scene where she and I just drive away. We’re going off
to something. No dialogue. And we’re set up somewhere in Italy, and Godard’s
got his camera way over there. He’s sitting on a box, hunched over, and he wore
a hat, looking like a very, very artistic picture of a director.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“And so, we start to drive. We drove by, and we could hear his
voice saying, ‘All right, we will do an encore. We will do it again,
please.’ So you come back — there’s no explanation of what went wrong — and you
do it again. And then you do it again. And do it seven, eight times — just
driving by the camera, nothing else. And nobody says, ‘Faster,’ or ‘You're
looking at the wrong direction,’ or some goddamn thing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“So, as we got back this time, I said to Bridget, ‘Look, if
he says we’re going to do it again, you and I are going to lunch.’ And as we
drove by, we heard the voice saying, ‘Tell them we will do it again’ —
well, we just kept driving.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“It’s true. We went off into the mountains, had a nice lunch, came
back — and so help me God, he had not moved! He was sitting there, and as
we approached, he said, ‘Tell them we will do it again!’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">“And that was Jean-Luc Godard…”</span></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-46759871462763842662022-07-20T12:25:00.002-05:002022-07-20T12:25:28.662-05:00Must-See TV for Me: Netflix’s Clusterf**k: Woodstock ‘99<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDakPnYlX2BQpy1miC81Qp4ncthUgn3bol95WYdmEZNwdZGvjPekTUfbFQmLTyLQ4g3BPlp0TcDb829h3CdH_sxOS0gRxI_3kswhrY6OrHuKCH5MDbFdkXbefaVg4wWLf7DfhfFCxZCXEiDfGLFnGX6YxO7UvzxfRVaeRKa9irUAgJnMQ/s1350/ENUS_CWoodstock99S1_4x5_PRE_V2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1080" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDakPnYlX2BQpy1miC81Qp4ncthUgn3bol95WYdmEZNwdZGvjPekTUfbFQmLTyLQ4g3BPlp0TcDb829h3CdH_sxOS0gRxI_3kswhrY6OrHuKCH5MDbFdkXbefaVg4wWLf7DfhfFCxZCXEiDfGLFnGX6YxO7UvzxfRVaeRKa9irUAgJnMQ/s600/ENUS_CWoodstock99S1_4x5_PRE_V2.jpg" /></a></div>
<p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Yes, I will be watching
when Netflix premieres the docuseries <i><a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81280924">Clusterf**k: Woodstock ’99</a></i> on Aug. 3. My son probably
will be watching, too. Because, well, back in 1999, <a href="http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2019/07/the-last-night-of-woodstock-99-was.html" target="_blank">we were there</a>. And on the final
evening, I was very sacred. <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>
<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tm5uUzbUwR4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-53294267100584219162022-05-03T22:54:00.000-05:002022-05-03T22:54:51.626-05:00Something about abortion<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I have posted this before, and if you don't care to read it again, I won't be offended if you scroll by.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">While I was in college, a girl I was dating told me she was pregnant — and that I had to be the father. This was in the early 1970s, the pre-Roe era, when abortion was illegal in most places – especially in New Orleans, one of the most Catholic cities in America, where we were living at the time. Still, with relatively little difficulty, we found out about a legit doctor in town who routinely performed abortions for $200. I borrowed the money, and the problem was solved. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Years later, I discovered, well, there’s no lead in my pencil, and I could not have been the father. I should have suspected something was amiss when the girl more or less vanished from my life soon after the procedure. But I never blamed the girl, because at the time I was so traumatized by the episode that the campus shrink wrote me a letter to bring to my draft board, saying I should never be in the military. (Believe it or not: I actually got my draft notice the day of the abortion.) I would joke afterwards that I probably was the only person you’d ever meet who beat the draft by fucking. But a gay friend corrected me: “Well, by fucking a WOMAN, maybe.” LOL. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Now I look back, however, and I suspect — no, make that, I KNOW — that no Supreme Court ruling, no law passed by a state legislature, will ever completely end abortions, or prevent doctors from performing them. All you have to do is know the right people, and have enough money. If you don’t, however, you really are fucked. And that shouldn't happen to anyone.</div></div>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-66564028346958226792022-04-20T13:30:00.000-05:002022-04-20T13:30:17.499-05:00First Look: Alex Winter’s The YouTube Effect<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_BnKwU9Pnqo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In his other life, actor Alex Winter
of <i>Bill and Ted</i> fame is an accomplished documentarian. Among his
credits: <i><a href="https://alexwinter.com/projects/downloaded/" target="_blank">Downloaded</a></i> (2013), a fascinating study of Napster and the filesharing
revolution; <i><a href="https://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/film-review-deep-web-1201509033/" target="_blank">Deep Web</a></i> (2015), an illuminating overview of the Internet’s
non-indexed substratum, with special attention paid to the (alleged) Silk Road
mastermind Ross Ulbricht; and <i><a href="https://www.thezappamovie.com/" target="_blank">Zappa</a></i> (2020), the definitive cinematic
biography of maverick musician and Mothers of Invention founder Frank Zappa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And now Winter has a new one: <i>The
YouTube Effect</i>, which will have its world premiere June 11 at New York’s
prestigious <a href="https://tribecafilm.com/" target="_blank">Tribeca Film Festival</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What’s it all about? According to the PR
announcement:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“The feature documentary
takes viewers on a timely and gripping journey inside the cloistered world of
YouTube and its parent company Google; investigating YouTube's rise from humble
beginnings in the attic of a pizzeria to its explosion onto the world stage,
becoming the largest media platform in history and sparking a cultural
revolution, while creating massive controversy in the age of
disinformation. In the fourth quarter of 2021 alone, YouTube brought in
8.6 billion dollars in advertising revenue, a 25 percent increase in its year
to year results. While traditional media is struggling, YouTube is thriving.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“</span><i style="font-size: 14pt;">The You Tube Effect</i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> examines
how the platform has become a lightning rod for online radicalization,
surveillance, algorithmic capitalism, the proliferation of misinformation, and
of course, influencers and cat videos.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">“The feature doc is
thrilling, shocking and hilarious, but always highly compelling, and above all,
entertaining. YouTube is a world populated by some of the most brilliant minds
in tech, business, media and politics, as well as pranksters, trolls and conspiracy
theorists. </span><i style="font-size: 14pt;">The YouTube Effect </i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">gives viewers exclusive access
to all of the key players.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And speaking of cat videos
on YouTube:</span> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vVb5OmoIkQg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-57553723441418000402022-03-28T00:01:00.003-05:002022-03-28T00:08:31.020-05:00Chris Rock: “That was the greatest night in the history of television.”<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-rghZhTEbXRiglE7rzttHTDjoDn78ugxkwFowqHcNWaagQ-5kp5MuJ6mfgYIgkDkb-yfiI_9xjZ0ZpQ73EHAeLagG1ZZRWhVRDuurCfglwWgkxvOQDe_x5fPEkbvUaC-pvErxUDxABDBSMCviJYKvwrZdYLnlHAEZsniZXqZimxn7aU/s1238/CaptureRockSmith.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="1238" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-rghZhTEbXRiglE7rzttHTDjoDn78ugxkwFowqHcNWaagQ-5kp5MuJ6mfgYIgkDkb-yfiI_9xjZ0ZpQ73EHAeLagG1ZZRWhVRDuurCfglwWgkxvOQDe_x5fPEkbvUaC-pvErxUDxABDBSMCviJYKvwrZdYLnlHAEZsniZXqZimxn7aU/w543-h294/CaptureRockSmith.JPG" width="543" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 22.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 22.5pt;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "FuturaPT",serif; font-size: 13pt;">Well, certainly in the Top Ten.<o:p></o:p></span></p><center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/myjEoDypUD8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7ILYkvDGLGKSPoRXfXiZmq_HZp3j7bd2Hhram26mrtgCOJpn9CuAuoU9DmPkqE9KIzzTH9OJjc4-K23X6kgLEjgrTtG44yfVZXPRRuRfIXuZgJWk7Ev6LBjj_yiC_5kxUh1o0Xrkagv5py6F2N3jYw7Eo7Llea0MNp3fUE_hdaIWfSY/s1650/Smack.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1650" data-original-width="1475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7ILYkvDGLGKSPoRXfXiZmq_HZp3j7bd2Hhram26mrtgCOJpn9CuAuoU9DmPkqE9KIzzTH9OJjc4-K23X6kgLEjgrTtG44yfVZXPRRuRfIXuZgJWk7Ev6LBjj_yiC_5kxUh1o0Xrkagv5py6F2N3jYw7Eo7Llea0MNp3fUE_hdaIWfSY/s600/Smack.jpg"/></a></div>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-51573931596095161812022-01-19T16:49:00.007-06:002022-01-20T10:45:54.647-06:00The Power of the Dog Takes a Big Bite Out of the Houston Film Critics Awards<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEic1P4VzW1JHCx25H81N1GYB38C3bI1uGVs-VhzecrqMEwV5LdToPrvXZBqOZp1t5C24Y4ZfFz9E-IosJqs2Uk458ivWL4BvmhyC_fARxQ_nMWA8fz6YYubgPZ2YsEA2iOo5x6KyGAaXTHCKOAbk59xQoo-L_-1ScTAlaIT7qJEQI-PAdc=s5168" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="3448" data-original-width="5168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEic1P4VzW1JHCx25H81N1GYB38C3bI1uGVs-VhzecrqMEwV5LdToPrvXZBqOZp1t5C24Y4ZfFz9E-IosJqs2Uk458ivWL4BvmhyC_fARxQ_nMWA8fz6YYubgPZ2YsEA2iOo5x6KyGAaXTHCKOAbk59xQoo-L_-1ScTAlaIT7qJEQI-PAdc=s400" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">
This just in: <i>The Power of the Dog</i>, Jane Campion’s sweeping study of family dynamics set against a background of the American West, has swept the top honors given this year by the <a href="https://houstonfilmcritics.com/">Houston Film Critics Society</a>. (Full disclosure: I am a founding — and voting — member of this group.) </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In addition naming <i>Dog</i> the Best Picture of 2021, HFCS has honored Campion for Best Director and Screenplay; Benedict Cumberbatch as Best Actor; and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Best Supporting Actor.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">But wait, there’s more: In the Original Score category, Jonny Greenwood’s score for Campion’s drama tied with Hans Zimmer’s score for <i>Dune</i>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">“As a year of uncertainty in movies concludes,” HFCS president Doug Harris said while announcing winners of the organization’s 15th annual awards, “one sure thing is how quality and creativity create screen magic at any time. No matter how we savor film, creative movies that portray people confronting challenge and change will continue to find an audience that appreciates them.”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Among the other winners: Jessica Chastain was voted Best Actress for recreating Tammy Faye Baker in <i>The Eyes of Tammy Faye</i>, while Ann Dowd was rewarded with the Best Supporting Actress prize for her heart-wrenching portrayal of a grieving mother in <i>Mass</i>. That film also received the first HFCS award for Best Ensemble Cast.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The winner of the Texas Independent Film Award – for the best film made in Texas – is Sean Baker’s <i>Red Rocket</i>, which was filmed in and around Texas City, Kemah, and Galveston. The HFC’s Cinematic Achievement Award, given to the person, enterprise, or Texas-based operation that the group feels has contributed the most to film culture in Texas, goes to Well Go USA. Releases in 2021 by this Plano-based company included <i>Escape from Mogadishu</i> and <i>Raging Fire</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> “Each year,” Harris said, “the Society presents our awards after thoroughly reviewing the year’s films. We select our nominees in December before casting final votes early in the new year. As professional journalists who believe in the power of film, we are thrilled with the range and substance of this year’s winners.”</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Here is a full list of winners for the 15th annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Picture:</b> <i>The Power of the Dog.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Director:</b> Jane Campion, <i>The Power of the Dog.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Actor:</b> Benedict Cumberbatch, <i>The Power of the Dog.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Actress:</b> Jessica Chastain, <i>The Eyes of Tammy Faye.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Supporting Actor:</b> Kodi Smit-McPhee, <i>The Power of the Dog.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Supporting Actress:</b> Ann Dowd, <i>Mass.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Screenplay:</b> Jane Campion, <i>The Power of the Dog.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>
Cinematography:</b> Greig Fraser, <i>Dune.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Animated Feature:</b> <i>The Mitchells vs. the Machines.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Original Score:</b> (tie) Hans Zimmer, <i>Dune</i>; Jonny Greenwood, <i>The Power of the Dog. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Original Song:</b> “Wherever I Fall – Part I,” <i>Cyrano</i>: music by Bryce Dessner and Asron Dessner; lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser .</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Foreign Language Film:</b> <i>Drive My Car. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Documentary Feature:</b> <i>Summer of Soul. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Texas Independent Film Award:</b> <i>Red Rocket.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Visual Effects:</b> <i>Dune</i>: Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Stunt Coordination Team:</b> <i>No Time to Die.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Ensemble Cast:</b> <i>Mass</i>: Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton; Breeda Wool, Michelle N. Carter, Campbell Spoor, Kagen Albright, Michael White.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b> Cinematic Achievement Award</b>: Well Go USA.</span></div>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-13811332794208628902021-12-31T20:38:00.002-06:002021-12-31T20:40:09.829-06:00Ten Reasons Why I Won't Miss 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0sDmq7lnQlSNbQhmi_0A47dFOj7ZLxhUabFELk6TbsU-uKmUKlaFNa-uJZ_iztvghEtYrD9D5Wnmn1gxI3qWLLGK6F__2KGXc1W3Rb3EUWNa2vpthSZATkO68AVNkSAC3Ufs7oaAJXFcT1JPrLF8rXotKAzecJqAEwQfpT52zaIw3dEg=s630" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="630" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0sDmq7lnQlSNbQhmi_0A47dFOj7ZLxhUabFELk6TbsU-uKmUKlaFNa-uJZ_iztvghEtYrD9D5Wnmn1gxI3qWLLGK6F__2KGXc1W3Rb3EUWNa2vpthSZATkO68AVNkSAC3Ufs7oaAJXFcT1JPrLF8rXotKAzecJqAEwQfpT52zaIw3dEg=s400" width="400" /></a></div></div>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Why I won’t miss 2021:</span></p><p><b id="docs-internal-guid-c8c51725-7fff-0569-29bb-b1069deba919" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Had to battle prostate cancer again.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Dealt with
a month-plus scare when it looked like I might also have lung cancer.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Pipes froze
and burst in my attic during February Freeze, causing water damage throughout
my house.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Spent over
two months living alone in Extended Stay while waiting for insurance adjuster's
estimate, searching for a contractor, and getting repair work done. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Anne stayed
with our son and his girlfriend with our cat; I needed to stay where I had
reliable WiFi for writing, Zoom interviewing, and long-distance teaching.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Needed to
have my doctor up the dosage of my antidepressants.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 15pt;">Even with
the drugs, I had anxiety attacks -- many, but far from all, </span><span style="font-size: 20px;">attributable</span><span style="font-size: 15pt;"> to the ongoing COVID pandemic -- that caused me to bust multiple deadlines and
sorely test the patience of my incredibly patient editors.</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">While at
Extended Stay, I tripped one night on my way back from the bathroom. Wrenched
my arm while breaking my fall, but it could have been worse: One inch or so
further to the right, and I would have banged my head on a dresser and likely
killed myself. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Had to
comfort my son when his and his girlfriend’s dog died of old age while his
girlfriend was out of town.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0in; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 15pt;">Never
forgot for a moment during ANY of this the hard lesson I learned during my
formative years as a welfare worker: There were MANY people who were having a
MUCH worse time than me. God bless and keep them – and me – during a
(hopefully) better and COVID-free 2022.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-85825955470650544102021-10-16T20:12:00.000-05:002021-10-16T20:12:42.960-05:00In Response to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Bush League Shenanigans<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiytfLBGMgQTicr_X_VnEs6tlA6BKK3pQFRRKGPl4z5bGTM-yU7GWNCXdhNi8zxwOiW1pH9dQzQ-inFCqN-4kM7D2COOtD9JQljLQrPrwVibTZ0S-xmBQmEv9MyCUsBrLotZs/s2048/Razz.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiytfLBGMgQTicr_X_VnEs6tlA6BKK3pQFRRKGPl4z5bGTM-yU7GWNCXdhNi8zxwOiW1pH9dQzQ-inFCqN-4kM7D2COOtD9JQljLQrPrwVibTZ0S-xmBQmEv9MyCUsBrLotZs/s600/Razz.JPG"/></a></div>
<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In the interest of full disclosure: I am a member of the
Critics Choice Association, so I cannot claim to be at all objective in this
matter. However, since I share the sentiments of CCA CEO Joey Berlin — and have
his permission to reprint this message sent to me and other members of the
organization today — here goes.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And by the way: Views expressed are not necessarily those
of any other publication or organization with which I am affiliated.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Also: Go to hell, Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Go directly to hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect any TV network money.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background: white; border-collapse: collapse; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-left: left; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%px;">
<tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="padding: 0in 13.5pt 6.75pt 13.5pt;" valign="top">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly;"><span style="color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To the Membership,<br />
<br />
Perhaps you saw the Friday afternoon news dump from the scandal-ridden
Hollywood Foreign Press Association announcing that it plans to present
Golden Globe awards on the very day that we will be presenting the 27th
annual Critics Choice Awards at the historic Fairmont Century Plaza.
This comes despite the fact that we announced the date of our show back in
May — and the fact that we had been presenting our awards on the second
Sunday in January for several years running (not counting last year, when
COVID pushed everyone back a couple of months).<br />
<br />
The purpose of this memo is to reassure every CCA member that our 27th annual
Critics Choice Awards show is going to be our biggest and best yet and can
only be helped by this hostile announcement from the new leadership of this
other group. If it is appropriate, I encourage you to share the gist of
this message with your viewers, listeners, readers and followers, the louder
the better. Our friends in the industry understand all of the above,
but it would be wonderful if the greater public did, too.<br />
<br />
I believe this desperate move by the HFPA to try and undercut the Critics
Choice Awards and the tremendous support we are receiving from all the major
studios, networks and streamers is...really good for us! For years
we’ve been trying to draw the comparison between the tainted HFPA and the
legitimate Critics Choice Association — which has five times as many members
and no stink. Our awards are the considered judgment of almost 500
active critics and entertainment reporters who cover film and television and
collectively reach virtually every entertainment consumer in the US and
Canada every day. While the CCA proudly lists and displays pictures of
all its members on our website, the HFPA has long hidden its tiny membership.
Only now is it attempting to come clean after having been very publicly
disgraced for its prejudice, its crassness, and it's highly questionable
business practices. So, yes, let's make those comparisons!<br />
<br />
In fact, in their desperate search for new legitimate members, some of you
have been approached about joining them. From their perspective, that
makes sense. After all, CCA members are already vetted and proved to be
respected working critics and journalists.<br />
<br />
From our perspective, we do feel bad for those HFPA members who are
legitimate members of the foreign press and are suffering from the fact that
so many companies have chosen to stop working with them. We are even
more sympathetic with the many members of the foreign press who have been unwelcome
in the HFPA for decades, despite the fact that their collective reach is
probably greater than the 80-some odd members of the HFPA who blackballed
them when they sought membership. This is why the CCA created its new
International Branch, to accredit important and influential members of the
foreign entertainment press who had been unable to join HFPA.<br />
<br />
And please note that while that other group is entirely about their one big
television show (and dispensing the riches it has generated), the CCA has
long been a diverse and inclusive organization that is true to our mission
all year long - to help audiences find the good stuff, and to help the people
who make the good stuff find their audiences. That's why we are
presenting the Critics Choice Documentary Awards on November 14, and why we
are hosting the Celebration of Black Cinema & Television on December 6
and the Celebration of Latino Cinema on December 9, as well as our other
Critics Choice events.<br />
<br />
<br />
Onward and upward!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly;"><span style="color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly;"><span style="color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joey Berlin<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly;"><span style="background: white; color: #757575; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">CEO
CCA</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-846845647643632362021-10-08T22:24:00.003-05:002021-10-09T18:28:49.169-05:00Zooming with Mye Hoang — Director of the A-Meow-Sing Documentary Cat Daddies<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghapjTSjcL3uB3INhYRhVZcUEGILTT_VhY6UAQosonaqWzDg1YKlgfhp5e700nwQf4my5rH7-pcsO6EuebS3sEe-vj7K3VGDWqF1AFo-31ncsJGgXDaIsEUMG8J0VXAJMdjrE/s1645/CaptureZoomCat.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="1645" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghapjTSjcL3uB3INhYRhVZcUEGILTT_VhY6UAQosonaqWzDg1YKlgfhp5e700nwQf4my5rH7-pcsO6EuebS3sEe-vj7K3VGDWqF1AFo-31ncsJGgXDaIsEUMG8J0VXAJMdjrE/s400/CaptureZoomCat.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<p><br /></p><p><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Call it</span><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Kedi — American Style</em><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">, and you won’t be far off the mark.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><a href="https://www.catdaddiesmovie.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 0.26s cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.8, 0.25, 1) 0s;" target="_blank"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Cat Daddies</em></a>, Mye Hoang’s irresistibly appealing documentary, is so insightfully observed, beautifully crafted and warmly empathetic that even normally feline-averse viewers will want to sing its praises and hold it close to their hearts.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">Not unlike <a href="https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/kedi-review-1201890566/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 0.26s cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.8, 0.25, 1) 0s;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Kedi</em></a>, Ceyda Torun’s splendidly graceful 2016 film about the multifaceted feline population of Istanbul, <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Cat Daddies</em> will be pure catnip for anyone who can’t get their fill of their favorite four-legged friends on YouTube and Instagram. In sharp contrast to <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Kedi</em>, however, Hoang’s documentary is less about the fiercely independent critters themselves than the bonds that form between men (and, sometimes, the women in their lives) and the cats who deign to be their comrades.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">Hoang, a Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based producer and director, turns her camera on a diverse array of guys, ranging from a cross-country trucker to a homeless New Yorker to a movie stuntman whose romance with a stuntwoman is sparked by their shared love of cats. Much of the movie is light, even celebratory, as it pushes back against stereotypes of various sorts, and shows how companionship with cats can be therapeutic, inspirational — and in at least one case, high remunerable.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">However: <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Cat Daddies </em>was filmed largely over the course of 2020, a year when COVID-19, California wildfires, and other disasters amped stress levels, all of which Hoang duly acknowledges — sometimes as as subtle allusions, sometimes as front-and-center threats — in many of the multiple narratives she interweaves throughout her film. It’s a tricky balancing act, but she pulls it off with wit, intelligence, and compassion.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">As Hoang says in her director’s statement:</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">“We all know the stereotype of the crazy cat lady. And many of us have that friend, the one with the Instagram feed dedicated exclusively to cats. Self-described ‘Crazy Cat People’ are a force to be reckoned with — a community that’s here to stay and has only grown stronger in the age of social media.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">“I watched over the course of a few years as my husband [filmmaker Dave Boyle] transformed into a bona fide crazy cat person after we adopted our first cat. However, something else changed inside him — something deeper. He seemed to grow into a softer, more patient and compassionate person. This inspired me to find more men who had undergone a similar transformation, and document their stories.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">“As I dug deeper on ‘Cat Instagram,’ I discovered dozens of men who seemed to be living their best life with their feline companions. Their stories ran the gamut — from firefighters in South Carolina who unapologetically dote on their ‘fire cat,’ to an unhoused immigrant on the streets of New York who always puts the needs of his cat above his own. Many of the subjects are the very embodiment of the traditional definition of ‘manliness’ — the aforementioned firemen, a stuntman, a truck driver. All of them unapologetically dote on their beloved pets in a way that I found very touching.</p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;">“I see <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Cat Daddies</em> as both a collective portrait as well as a time capsule, documenting a challenging year in which people desperately needed hope, relief, and companionship. It may not convert everyone to love cats, but I hope seeing images of men caring for these little creatures wins over a few skeptics and becomes a catalyst for compassionate change.”</p>
<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lgwMXhgbqeg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>
<div><br /></div><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Cat Daddies</em><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> will premiere this weekend at the </span><a href="https://dallasfilm.org/film/cat-daddies" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 0.26s cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.8, 0.25, 1) 0s;">Dallas International Film Festiva</a><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">l, followed by screenings at the </span><a href="https://www.catdaddiesmovie.com/screenings/newportbeach" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 0.26s cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.8, 0.25, 1) 0s;">Newport Film Festival</a><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> and the </span><a href="https://www.catdaddiesmovie.com/screenings/tallgrass" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 0.26s cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.8, 0.25, 1) 0s;">Tallgrass Film Festival</a><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">. Here is my Zoom interview with </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2115541/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 0.26s cubic-bezier(0.25, 0.8, 0.25, 1) 0s;">Mye Hoang</a><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">.</span><div><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vVb5OmoIkQg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-72500957901045673912021-10-06T15:36:00.001-05:002021-10-06T16:02:22.806-05:00The Harder They Fall is a wild, wild Western<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUJb9GdkKxfPdeRLUjbnd5qVA_TObVJ6gFbauKkNeoN95GWwHWPP-6ltKrTTKs-sTnBPUBvwK6YQjXlh0dCVNg50oradrjMuEj5KxYWmhOGE7NViEfzpsKMVQ0pbh2mPzNGo/s2048/HarderTheyFallShowdown.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQUJb9GdkKxfPdeRLUjbnd5qVA_TObVJ6gFbauKkNeoN95GWwHWPP-6ltKrTTKs-sTnBPUBvwK6YQjXlh0dCVNg50oradrjMuEj5KxYWmhOGE7NViEfzpsKMVQ0pbh2mPzNGo/s400/HarderTheyFallShowdown.jpg"/></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Harder They Fall</span></i><span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> puts the wild back into
the Wild West. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 14pt;">Imagine a dream team
collaboration of Sergio Leone, John Woo and Spike Lee, and you’re ready for director
Jeymes Samuel’s audaciously stylized and brazenly entertaining western, an
exhilarating mashup of New School hip-hop swagger, Old West revenge melodrama,
heist-movie double- and triple-crossing, and Spaghetti Western visual and
narrative tropes. After its Wednesday premiere as the opening night
presentation of the prestigious BFI London Film Festival, this sensational
shoot-‘em-up will be available Oct. 22 in select theaters — arguably the ideal
place to fully savor and enthusiastically share such a rock-the-house concoction
— and Nov. 3 on Netflix. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 14pt;">You can read the rest of my rave over at the <a href="https://www.cowboysindians.com/2021/10/review-the-harder-they-fall/" target="_blank"><i>Cowboys & Indians</i> website</a>. </span><span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #26282a; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-26166361314190889572021-09-06T11:13:00.000-05:002021-09-06T11:13:05.469-05:00Remembering Jean-Paul Belmondo in Les Miserables<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihz6JJ6difNhQdkVt8WMfLjM_0-fdNbuYfK0On03EpLBQlJWgoFa5Ov72JRzIrgsrVvfVfgbP6UoRm9_kelrR7xGGHxY8FLrKtfo5SB-4tZjKwQlzTdNJZ6AqlKbgVSah0KQk/s490/les-miserables-1995.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihz6JJ6difNhQdkVt8WMfLjM_0-fdNbuYfK0On03EpLBQlJWgoFa5Ov72JRzIrgsrVvfVfgbP6UoRm9_kelrR7xGGHxY8FLrKtfo5SB-4tZjKwQlzTdNJZ6AqlKbgVSah0KQk/s400/les-miserables-1995.jpg"/></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">In the wake of the great Jean-Paul
Belmondo’s death at age 88, most tributes, I am sure, will emphasize — justly —
his iconic performances in Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave landmark <i>Breathless</i>
(1960), Philippe De Broca’s seriocomic adventure <i>That Man from Rio</i>
(1964), Jacques Deray’s stylish gangster drama Borsalino (1960), and several
other classics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">But the Belmondo performance
I treasure most is the one in my favorite Belmondo movie: Claude Lelouch’s 1995
masterpiece <i>Les Miserables</i>. As I wrote decades ago: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">“Claude Lelouch's audacious
and exciting epic is neither a film version of the long-running musical nor a
traditional adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. Rather, it is a sweeping
and sensationally passionate drama that succeeds brilliantly on its own merits
as a celebration of storytelling (and, of course, moviemaking) as inspiration
and illumination. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">“A magnificently ravaged Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Henri
Fortin, an ordinary man whose life spans an extraordinary period in French
history: Born at the turn of the century, he lives long enough to endure the
cruelties of the Nazi occupation. Rootless and illiterate, he is introduced to <i>Les
Miserables</i> at an early age — in a silent movie! — and embraces Jean Valjean
as his hero, mentor and alter ego. So much so, in fact, that Henri agrees to
help a Jewish family escape from Paris, setting into motion a fateful series of
betrayals, reconciliations, reversals of fortune and triumphs of the spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">“There are images in <i>Les
Miserables</i> that are as hauntingly beautiful as any in the history of
cinema. And there are entire sequences that are nothing short of astonishing.
Lelouch is one of the few contemporary filmmakers who remains capable of the
grand romantic gestures that made many of us fall in love with movies in the
first place.</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">Unfortunately, the last time
I checked, Lelouch’s </span><i style="color: #0f1111;">Les Miserables </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">is not currently available on DVD or
Blu-Ray in the United States. (I have a Laserdisc, gifted by a colleague.) Don’t
know if this is the result of rights issues, or what. But as another tribute to
Jean-Paul Belmondo, maybe someone could rectify that situation?</span> </span></p>
<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DvP_b_0pcI0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-55222223344296533722021-08-25T19:28:00.007-05:002021-08-25T19:28:58.909-05:00Flashback: Virginia Madsen on Candyman<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNnFyql6Per-6H7n36ho30gm-5QUxbGM47DqGcIqCoRlE7PqglAQVhS5eSRcebLqea71PkEvgFmyK9byrKdqEmFKP1y2sdrQBTyT_OCTK-r9vZof-tfxeg3C00JZugXH8B6A/s1400/Helen-Lyle-Virginia-Madsen-Candyman-1992.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNnFyql6Per-6H7n36ho30gm-5QUxbGM47DqGcIqCoRlE7PqglAQVhS5eSRcebLqea71PkEvgFmyK9byrKdqEmFKP1y2sdrQBTyT_OCTK-r9vZof-tfxeg3C00JZugXH8B6A/s400/Helen-Lyle-Virginia-Madsen-Candyman-1992.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i>From the archives of <a href="https://www.movingpictureshow.com/?p=9402" target="_blank">The Moving Picture Show</a>. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><strong>October 26, 1992 | </strong> The good news is, Virginia Madsen got to go back to her native Chicago to shoot scenes for her new movie, <a href="https://www.movingpictureshow.com/?p=9399&preview=true"><em>Candyman</em></a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The bad news was, those scenes were shot in and around Cabrini-Green, a housing project once known to locals as “Little Hell.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“When they told me that’s where we’d be working,” Madsen said a few days ago in a telephone interview, “that scared me more than knowing I would do a scene with live bees all over me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“And I'm allergic to bee venom, so that should tell you something.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Just a few days ago, USA Today ran a front-page story on Cabrini-Green, graphically describing the urban blight as “arguably the nation’s most notorious public housing project… a 70-acre, 7,000-person ‘city’ of isolation and despair.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The “rubble-strewn, graffiti-covered war zone” is just a few blocks “from the some of the richest downtown real estate in the USA.” But as far as most Chicagoans are concerned, Madsen said, the place might as well be on another planet, or in some lower circle of hell.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“They have other notorious housing projects there,” said Madsen, a 31-year-old actress whose credits include <em>The Hot Spot</em>, <em>Slamdance</em> and <em>Highlander II</em>. “But Cabrini is staring everyone in the face, because it’s literally three blocks from the Gold Coast. And it never should have been built, it’s way too big, it looks like a prison. And there’s never been anything done to make life better there. So it’s just got a terrible history — and a terrible present day as well.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“While I was growing up there, I never went near the place. And the dialogue you hear in the film — like, 'Yeah, I don't even want to drive by there!' – that’s all very true.’</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">All of which enhanced the scariness of the fiction that is <em>Candyman</em>, a high-voltage shocker based on a short story by horror master Clive Barker (<em>Hellraiser</em>). Writer-director Bernard Rose (<em>Paperhouse</em>) took Baker’s story, “The Forbidden,” and transported the plot from Liverpool to Chicago. But he preserved Barker’s basic premise: The Bogeyman is alive and well and willing to make personal appearances.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Madsen gives her finest screen performance to date as Helen Lyle, a University of Chicago doctoral candidate in search of “modern urban folklore.” Unfortunately, she finds just what she's looking for in Candyman (Tony Todd), a legendary hook-handed killer who’s claiming a very real body count in Cabrini-Green.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Who is Candyman? The vengeful spirit of a handsome black artist who was killed by a mob of racist white thugs in 1890. He pops up whenever anyone, black or white, is foolish enough to say his name aloud five times while looking in a mirror.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Helen inadvertently summons him during her research. Candyman takes one look at the beautiful blond academic, and offers to make their relationship a permanent one.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And that, Madsen said, is why she thinks of Candyman as “a gothic love story,” not a mad-slasher movie.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“I think it would be different if Tony Todd’s character were a monster. But he’s not a monster — he’s a phantom. He is like Dracula, a romantic phantom. He’s beautiful, he's seductive, he wants you to join him in immortality.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Laughing, she added: “Yes, he does have this thing where he likes to disembowel people. But all lovers have some little annoying thing about them, some bad habit — don't they?”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The <em>Candyman</em> crew spent a week filming in Cabrini-Green. (The rest of the picture was shot on L.A. soundstages.) Not a very long location shoot, to be sure, but long enough for Madsen to realize there are far more frightening things in this life than movie monsters.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“The most frightening thing about a place like Cabrini-Green is the bleakness,” she said. “It makes you feel so terribly ignorant, that you know absolutely nothing about these people. And you couldn’t even begin to understand what it's like for a kid to grow up there.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“And since we were there in winter, it gets dark very early, around 4 o'clock. Well, let me tell you: After 3:30, people disappear. They stay inside. And you can feel the vibes starting.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Still, even in the midst of such despair, you can sometimes find hope. While doing research for <em>Candyman</em>, writer-director Rose met Henrietta Thompson, a Cabrini-Green resident who offered her services as consultant. She quickly became the real-life model for one of Rose’s characters, Anne-Marie McCoy (played by actress Vanessa Williams), a single mother struggling against the odds to be a good provider and an upright citizen.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“A character like Anne-Marie is a really important character,” Madsen said, “because that’s what 90 percent of the people who live there are like. It’s a very small percentage of people that really rule that place. There are three different gangs that rule various territories. And the middle, neutral ground is the only free zone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“You know, we’re not doing the right thing by these people. And you can make all the speeches in the world about, ‘Well, why don't they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps?’ But, you know, a lot of them, that’s exactly what they are doing. That's why they’re still alive. They’ve been pulling themselves up by their bootstraps all their lives.” </span></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-43051081380691952502021-08-25T18:37:00.003-05:002021-08-25T18:37:56.915-05:00Flashback Review: Candyman (1992) <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJO68mV-F8dqltMsByEkk9D6cILiQLFhHhNBkfGpKg3-e_dLKsTqSvr_7l61xIUZvyTbbIVZK4SUjPgHUQBWTsPnLkn-SpqV43SFON5SsgXSEzAFjeIxiWNEnKX13rXdvA_8I/s1280/candyman.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJO68mV-F8dqltMsByEkk9D6cILiQLFhHhNBkfGpKg3-e_dLKsTqSvr_7l61xIUZvyTbbIVZK4SUjPgHUQBWTsPnLkn-SpqV43SFON5SsgXSEzAFjeIxiWNEnKX13rXdvA_8I/s400/candyman.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="entry-content si-entry" itemprop="text" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-top: 40px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1.25em; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;"><i>From the archives of <a href="https://www.movingpictureshow.com/?p=9399" target="_blank">The Moving Picture Show</a>.</i></span></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1.25em; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">October 16, 1992 | </span><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Candyman</em> is unique among mad-slasher monster melodramas, in that it has a brain in its head as well as blood on its hands. There’s enough full-bore gore to satisfy genre fans, but not so much that it obliterates the movie’s flashes of savage wit and crafty intelligence.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Written and directed by British filmmaker Bernard Rose, who offered subtler, scarier thrills in <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Paperhouse</em>, <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Candyman</em> is based on ”The Forbidden,” a short story by horror master Clive Barker. The setting has been changed from Liverpool to Chicago, but the story’s basic premise — the bogeyman is alive and well — has been retained.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Virginia Madsen, an actress heretofore best known for playing <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">femmes fatale</em> and assorted other hot babes, gives her most impressive screen performance to date as Helen Lyle, a doctoral candidate in search of “modern urban folklore.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The good news is, she finds exactly what she’s looking for in the Cabrini Green public housing projects, where a legendary hook-handed killer is claiming a very real body count. The bad news is, Candyman, as the dread fellow is known, wants to add Helen to his hit list.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">One of the more pleasant surprises in <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Candyman</em> is that, unlike many far more prestigious movies, it is up-front and evenhanded in its approach to inner-city racial tensions. Not all of the low-income black residents of Cabrini Green are gang members or drug dealers. Indeed, most of them are honest, hardworking people trying to get by despite the presence of gangs, dealers and a hook-handed killer in their midst.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Candyman himself, played with lordly malevolence by Tony Todd, is an educated black man who became a monster only after his violent death at the hands of a racist mob.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The movie is a bit fuzzy, to put it politely, when it comes to explaining exactly how this transformation occurred. For that matter, it’s never made very clear just why Candyman appears each time anyone, black or white, says his name aloud five times while looking in a mirror. But, hey, this is a monster movie based on a Clive Barker story, not a docudrama based on Helen Lyle’s thesis.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 1.25em; margin: 1.25em auto 0px; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Candyman</em> becomes increasingly less logical and much bloodier as it races toward its climax. But the scary stuff is very scary, and Philip Glass’ high-toned gloom-and-doom musical score makes it all the more spooky.</span></p></div><div class="entry-footer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; align-items: center; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 2.5rem; max-width: 700px;"><span class="screen-reader-text" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: -10000em; width: 1px; word-break: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Tags:</span></span><div class="post-tags" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-right: auto; padding-right: 20px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span class="cat-links" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block;"></span></span></div></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-91812683170352478022021-08-25T16:14:00.000-05:002021-08-25T16:14:31.365-05:00Flashback Review: Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D5cXAX28H9R3w8-3ca_MtQKxWSpFG0S8mTi_YjX8dnzhsCpbGPe_dQuCvYlMVKgjg4O3l6FPbpCSxH2zlOjkOFA-3yIlWtxemgRePrHvoRgna6uZzXnrBlxy-ni53J5C0Gs/s1440/joe-versus-the-volcano-2.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D5cXAX28H9R3w8-3ca_MtQKxWSpFG0S8mTi_YjX8dnzhsCpbGPe_dQuCvYlMVKgjg4O3l6FPbpCSxH2zlOjkOFA-3yIlWtxemgRePrHvoRgna6uZzXnrBlxy-ni53J5C0Gs/s400/joe-versus-the-volcano-2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="entry-content si-entry" itemprop="text" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 50px; margin-top: 40px;"><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1.25em; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>From the archives of <a href="https://www.movingpictureshow.com/?p=9390" target="_blank">The Moving Picture Show</a>. </i></span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1.25em; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 600;">March 9, 1990 | </span> If, as the poet noted, most men lead lives of quiet desperation, then Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) truly is an exceptional fellow: His desperately unhappy life is as noisy and dirty as it is oppressively, soul-killingly bleak.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joe works as an assistant catalogue clerk for American Panascope, a company that claims hundreds of thousands of “satisfied customers” for its chief product, petroleum jelly. In his grim, gray office in the factory headquarters, the fluorescent lighting is relentlessly irritating, the air circulation is stiflingly poor, and the coffee is unspeakable sludge. His boss is a stony-faced despot who gruffly dismisses Joe’s complaints of poor health: “After childhood, nobody feels good. It’s a fact of life.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">One day, when his shakes and headaches are even worse than usual, Joe visits a doctor. And that’s when he gets some good and bad news. The good news is, none of Joe’s varied symptoms is a sign of serious illness. The bad news is, an intense examination reveals Joe has something called a “brain cloud,” a malady entirely unforeseen and inevitably fatal.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Joe, ashen-faced and amazed, tries to make sense of the diagnosis: “I’m not sick, except for this terminal disease.” The doctor, played with just the slightest shading of lunacy by a straight-faced Robert Stack, nods sagely. “Your brain will fail,” he tells Joe, “followed shortly by your body.”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Most men would be hopelessly distraught, maybe even suicidal, after hearing such news. But, once again, Joe is an exceptional fellow: He accepts the diagnostic death sentence as the start of his personal liberation. And that liberation in turn is the propelling force behind <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Joe Versus The Volcano</em>, an epic comedy of goofiness triumphant and nuttiness unbound.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This fine madness is the masterwork of John Patrick Shanley, the esteemed playwright (<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Danny and the Deep Blue Sea</em>) and Oscar-winning scriptwriter (<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Moonstruck</em>) who makes his film directing debut with the first great movie comedy of the ‘90s.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are hints of <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Metropolis</em> to the Germanic expressionism of the early scenes, and touches of Joseph Campbell to the extended myth-spinning that leads Joe on a quest to live like a king before he dies like a man. And here, there and everywhere, there are bits and pieces of <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Arthur</em>, <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">The Odyssey </em>and <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">The Wizard</em> <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">of Oz</em>.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">More often than anything else, however, there is the imprint of John Patrick Shanley, a writer with a perfect-pitch ear for comically off-kilter dialogue, and an indefatigable gift for inventing full-bodied, vitally contradictory characters.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Shanley’s last effort as a scriptwriter, <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">The January Man</em>, was a shaggy-dog story posing, unsuccessfully, as a cops-and-killer thriller, though the comic elements almost redeemed it. <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Joe Versus The Volcano</em> wisely avoids all genre conventions and restrictions — it doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is. And what that is, is so exhilaratingly absurd, so outrageously inspired, it is a tonic guaranteed to lift even the most crestfallen spirits. Even Joe might have laughed at it after a particularly lousy day at the office.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Joe, Tom Hanks gives a beautifully precise and grandly funny reactive performance, responding to the eccentrics and oddities around him with equal measures of excitement, amusement and anxious befuddlement. Hanks is an extremely generous actor throughout, instinctively withdrawing to his corner of the screen whenever a co-star or a cameo player has a moment of glory.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not long after Joe has his fateful medical exam, he’s approached by an overwhelmingly vivacious businessman, Graynamore, played with delightfully crackpot zest by Lloyd Bridges. Graynamore has a meticulously logical, financially alluring and altogether ridiculous proposition: Since Joe is going to die anyway, why doesn’t he do Graynamore a favor, and help the superstitious natives of a remote South Seas island, by jumping into an active volcano?</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But wait, here’s the beauty part: Graynamore will pay all of Joe’s expenses, give Joe unrestricted use of gold-plated credit cards, offer Joe first-class travel and accommodations until he reaches the island of Waponi Woo. (“The name means ‘Little island with a big volcano.’”) Once he arrives, the Waponi tribesmen will treat Joe like visiting royalty — and be really, really grateful that Joe, and not one of them, will make the big leap to appease the angry, lava-spouting god.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Graynamore, who figures to gain mineral rights to the island by providing a human sacrifice, makes a splendidly energetic pitch. Joe considers it for a few seconds, and says, in the matter-of-fact tone of someone agreeing to accompany friends to a ballgame, “Aw right, I’ll do it.” Hanks is generous, yes indeed, but he can swipe back an entire scene with a single line.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Shanley is every bit as generous, spreading the funny stuff around to everyone in the cast. Meg Ryan gets more than her fair share, but that’s because she plays three different roles: DeDe, a mousy secretary who briefly basks in the glow of Joe’s new-found verve; Angelica, Graynamore’s glossily affected daughter, a would-be artist and half-hearted libertine; and Patricia, Angelica’s disapproving half-sister, the heroine who eventually tries to woo Joe away from his date with the volcano.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ryan artfully rearranges the equation of sexiness, silliness and sensibility for each woman, so that each adds up to a very specific characterization. If <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">When Harry Met Sally. . .</em> made her a star, then <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Joe Versus</em> <em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">The Volcano</em> will keep Ryan in orbit.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to Stack and Bridges, the wonderful supporting cast includes Ossie Davis as a chauffeur who’s reluctant to offer educated guesses about the meaning of life; Dan Hedaya as Joe’s preternaturally sour boss; and Barry McGovern, an Irish stage actor, as an intensely solicitous salesman who says luggage “is the central preoccupation of my life.” A good thing, too, since the trunks he recommends to Joe come in very handy.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Joe Versus The Volcano</em> is a fairy tale in the old-fashioned Hollywood tradition, informed by a subversively absurdist sensibility. Shanley and production designer Bo Welch (<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Beetlejuice</em>) have created their strange new worlds on studio sound stages, so that everything — shipwrecks, tropical islands, a glorious moonrise at sea — is flagrantly artificial, and altogether magical.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.25em auto; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Waponi Woo natives are among Shanley’s most inspired inventions: Tribesmen who guzzle orange soda, count Hebrews, Druids and Polynesians among their mixed ancestors, and greet visitors to their island with a hearty rendition of “Havah Nagila!”</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 1.25em; margin: 1.25em auto 0px; max-width: 700px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit;">Joe Versus The Volcano</em> is so audacious in its daffiness, you may have to see it twice. The first time, you might not believe anything could possibly be that funny.</span></p></div><div class="entry-footer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; align-items: center; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 2.5rem; max-width: 700px;"><span class="screen-reader-text" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: -10000em; width: 1px; word-break: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tags:</span></span><div><br /></div><div class="post-tags" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-right: auto; padding-right: 20px;"><span class="cat-links" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block;"></span></div></div>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-84778460192660620942021-08-25T15:39:00.000-05:002021-08-25T15:39:45.496-05:00Review: Lily Topples the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWI08mp7Vtq91KIvn1ttvpSxYH5QceQwOPUauNnR1IPPN4T4BmT1a6cWew2z8Pyv_oTCrevlzsBi7g-G7iGBcrjClnUwJI-kEugBulldNv3ee2RCm8Vm47-6CyVS_zBDGKBW8/s2048/LilyTopplesTheWorld_LilyHevesh_Photographer_MonicaHudson_DSC07137.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWI08mp7Vtq91KIvn1ttvpSxYH5QceQwOPUauNnR1IPPN4T4BmT1a6cWew2z8Pyv_oTCrevlzsBi7g-G7iGBcrjClnUwJI-kEugBulldNv3ee2RCm8Vm47-6CyVS_zBDGKBW8/s400/LilyTopplesTheWorld_LilyHevesh_Photographer_MonicaHudson_DSC07137.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">If we could all agree on a
working definition of the term “nice” — one that implies bemused appreciation
more than condescending disparagement — it could easily apply to <i>Lily Topples
the World</i>, Jeremy Workman’s cheery documentary about a celebrity “domino
artist” whose infectious enthusiasm and ingratiating can-do spirit are almost
enough to make you forget, or willingly ignore, that the film makes little attempt
to sustain dramatic tension or even indicate troublesome obstacles while
following its subject on her path to success. Almost.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Of course, if Workman’s
film truly is an honest portrait and not an authorized biography, it’s
difficult to blame him for not manufacturing cruel doubts or crushing defeats
like someone trying to hyperbolize an inspirational docudrama. Based on the
what we see here, life appears to have been (so far, at least) an unbroken
string of triumphs for Lily Hevesh, a 20-year-old Chinese adoptee raised in
small-town New Hampshire who has written her own version of the American
Success Story by becoming a world-famous domino toppler and, not incidentally,
the only significant female in her field.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">If Lily were any less
unaffectedly charming — if she didn’t comes across as, well, so </span><i style="font-size: 14pt;">nice</i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> —
it wouldn’t be nearly so pleasant to
watch her evolution from obsessed hobbyist to Internet superstar (recording more
than more than 1 billion YouTube views for her domino videos) to a role model
who routinely attracts hordes of awestruck admirers at public appearances. (Her
eagerness to put nervous strangers at ease and encourage their own domino
endeavors is, to use another hard-to-define term, quite sweet.) And when Workman
offers extravagant examples of her artistry — thousands of intricately designed
strings of meticulously positioned, multicolored plastic rectangles that, when
push comes to shove, become chain-reaction spectacles of slow-motion,
rainbow-hued visual fireworks — it’s well-nigh impossible not to empathize with
her obvious sense of accomplishment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">(Of course, if you feel
one display of domino toppling is pretty much like another, your mileage may
vary.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Workman generates a
surprising amount of suspense as Lily carefully navigates about her
creations-in-progress, displaying a dancer’s grace in her stockinged feet while
lithely stepping over and around lines of dominos, always just one
miscalculated move away from disaster. On the other hand, Lily’s indefatigable
determination is such that, when one project does accidentally collapse during
set-up, she registers disappointment for maybe five seconds, tops — and then
immediately starts to rebuild. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So what makes Lily tick?
The film fleetingly hints at childhood feelings of insecurity and abandonment
after being placed in an orphanage as an infant — a result of China’s One Child
Policy — which Catherine Hevesh, her adoptive mother, movingly describes when
she recalls the time when Lily, then barely a toddler, tearfully begged her mom
not to let anyone “take me away.” There are references to her “outsider” status
while growing up in community with few if any other Asians. And it’s
more-than-casually mentioned that, during her early string of YouTube videos,
she remained unseen and identified only as Hevesh5, suggesting not only shyness
but also a keen awareness that sexism might impede her seemingly irresistible
rise. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And yet, these revelations
— which really aren’t explored as possible motivations — are practically the
only dark clouds to ever appear on the blue skies as Workman’s relentlessly upbeat
documentary, filmed over a period of three years, charts Lily’s tightly focused (but somehow
never off-putting) campaign to invent herself as an Internet influencer and
savvy businesswoman while pursuing her art.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">That art has enabled Lily
to hang with the likes of Will Smith (at 17, she created the domino sequences
for his film <i>Collateral Beauty</i>) and Jimmy Fallon (for whom she designed an
especially ambitious display to mark his reaching his 20-millionth YouTube
subscriber), and empowered her to negotiate with toy manufacturers to produce
her very own brand-name product — H5 Domino Creations. It should be noted that
Lily conducts deal-making meetings while accompanied by Mark Hevesh, her
proudly supportive dad. It should also be noted that there’s no doubt at any
point about whether father or daughter has the final word on career-building
decisions. By the end of Workman’s film, it’s clear Lily has earned it.</span> </p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-17426353787871307282021-08-22T00:13:00.001-05:002021-08-22T02:28:16.325-05:00Some thoughts on turning 69 (With Musical Accompaniment by Lyle Lovett)<center>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>On this, my 69th birthday, I cannot help recalling William Holden’s line – well, OK, Paddy Chaveysky’s line, but Holden said it – in <i>Network</i>: “All of a sudden, it’s closer to the end than it is to the beginning, and death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me – with definable features.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In other words, I can no longer consider myself middle-aged. Unless, of course, I plan on making it to 140. To put it another way: I am now 17 years older than Francois Truffaut when he died, 12 years older than Humphrey Bogart when he died, 11 years older than George Harrison when he died, 10 years older than Clark Gable when he died, 6 years older than Lee Marvin when he died – and, not incidentally, 6 years older when William Holden died. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And yes: 33 years older than my mother when she passed away.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Every time a major holiday rolls around, I find myself thinking: How many more Christmases will I get to see? How many more Thanksgivings? How many more Independence Days?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And, perhaps more important: How many more film festivals do I get to scam someone, anyone, into picking up my tab so I can attend? (Priorities, people!) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand: I have already fought cancer, and <a href="http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2011/12/i-fought-cancer-cancer-lost.html">cancer lost</a>. And if the SOB wants a rematch, hey, I’m ready, even if <a href="https://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-culture/2014/07/roger-and-me-july-2014" target="_blank">my friend Roger Ebert</a> is no longer around to be in my corner. I remain reasonably sentient and, despite arthritic knees, ambulatory. I am still paid to do two things I love to do – writing and teaching – even though it doesn’t look like I’ll ever make the grade as full-time college faculty, and I gave up on winning a Pulitzer Prize way back when The Houston Post shut down. I can’t really think of retiring, because I owe too many people too much money. So I will press on, like those damn boats that F. Scott Fitzgerald describes at the end of <i>The Great Gatsby</i>, and continue to enjoy the ride whenever possible, as much as possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Besides: Not only do I still get paid to go to the movies, I get paid to talk about movies (to students, who have to listen). And thanks to my status as senior writer for <i>Cowboys & Indians</i> magazine, I still get to interview notables like <a href="https://www.cowboysindians.com/2020/07/lane-costner-let-him-go/" target="_blank">Kevin Costner</a>, <a href="https://www.cowboysindians.com/2020/08/our-facebook-chat-with-diane-lane/" target="_blank">Diane Lane</a>, <a href="https://www.cowboysindians.com/2021/04/matthew-mcconaughey/" target="_blank">Matthew McConaughey</a> and <a href="https://www.cowboysindians.com/2015/12/the-dastardly-bruce-dern/" target="_blank">Bruce Dern</a>. Truly, as <a href="http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2006/08/michael-leydon-1923-2006-rip.html">my immigrant father</a> recognized, this is the land of opportunity.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Looking ahead, I see books yet to write (and/or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leydons-Guide-Essential-Movies-Must/dp/B007HWJSSE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345654807&sr=8-1&keywords=Joe+Leydon">revise</a>), movies yet to see (and review), students yet to teach, people yet to meet and interview, and places yet to go. (But no friends to mourn – only lives to celebrate.) I once wrote that, if I had any choice in the matter, I would like to shuffle off this mortal coil <a href="http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2010/06/rip-peter-brunette.html">while in the line of duty</a> – preferably at a film festival, after seeing something absolutely terrific, or at least really, really entertaining. On the other hand, if I wind up being shot by a jealous husband at age 90, well, that wouldn’t be too shabby, either.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There’s another bit of movie dialogue I’m remembering today. From <i><a href="http://youtu.be/ET2j5oowGaY">Citizen Kane</a></i>: “Old age. It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll drink to that.
And to <a href="http://youtu.be/K_mNJkYlP9A">this</a>. Take it away, Lyle Lovett:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">In the darkest hour, in the dead of night, </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">As the storm clouds gather, and the lightning strikes,</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">And the thunder rolls, and the cold rain blows,</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">The future it holds, what God only knows.</span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">And I will rise up, and I will rise up, </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Though I be a dead man, I said yes and amen. </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">And I will stand tall, and I will stand tall, </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Until I meet my end, until I meet my end. </span></i></b><br />
<br />
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</div>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-64610845567199413122021-07-17T01:39:00.000-05:002021-07-17T01:39:16.829-05:00Hear me! See me! Feel me!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gC2-e6m3JtSM4Mh9EcBbVOlkOoaNYGk01LCkYpsgB2wGEucuaO7lN6zkCVuONsLtNYEztLqjjXL2RLftVCMyW-7JnINT6qELUzDn3bOXQyQkMYSZcSQyHnlXAPzSofiWUe8/s2048/CMA2015Legends+014.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gC2-e6m3JtSM4Mh9EcBbVOlkOoaNYGk01LCkYpsgB2wGEucuaO7lN6zkCVuONsLtNYEztLqjjXL2RLftVCMyW-7JnINT6qELUzDn3bOXQyQkMYSZcSQyHnlXAPzSofiWUe8/s600/CMA2015Legends+014.JPG" /></a></div>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Chalk this
up as my multi-media week.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was a
guest on the highly addictive podcast <i>How the West Was Cast</i>, talking
about the newly updated “100 Greatest Westerns” list I helped prepare for <i>Cowboys
& Indians Magazine. </i>You can listen to it <a href="https://westernpodcast.buzzsprout.com/884218/8871025i" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">But wait,
there’s more: I was invited by the folks at the HCC-TV series <i>Up to the
Minute</i> to talk about film distribution during the Age of Covid and awards
bestowed by the Houston Film Critics Society. You can see my segment <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Vw88qwtB8" target="_blank">here</a>,
starting around the 13:44 mark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span>You</span></span><span>’d almost think I know what I</span><span>’m doing.</span></span></p>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-78548103403190581682021-07-09T11:57:00.000-05:002021-07-09T11:57:04.088-05:00Preview: Michael Caine IS Fagin in a new Twist on Oliver Twist<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNn7ujkGc893s4MqJyvG6YGv97DizjyHITR-qX0M1VVMc4bhGibTwAYP8-C8NYdNj_cCua5oa37d4-yDIWwgGViEjt_zbX2gTyy7WHuoUE5GRC48oBoTwrrp8mooGwfhxDno/s813/Twist.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="813" data-original-width="549" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidNn7ujkGc893s4MqJyvG6YGv97DizjyHITR-qX0M1VVMc4bhGibTwAYP8-C8NYdNj_cCua5oa37d4-yDIWwgGViEjt_zbX2gTyy7WHuoUE5GRC48oBoTwrrp8mooGwfhxDno/s400/Twist.jpg" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Not going to lie: I am seriously geeked to see this one. As
I have noted elsewhere: Michael Caine has received name-above-the-title billing
in movies spanning seven decades. How many other actors can claim that?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">What’s it all about? According to Lionsgate: “<span style="background: white; color: #1d2228;">Inspired by Charles Dickens’s iconic
novel <i>Oliver Twist</i>, this action-fueled crime-thriller set in
contemporary London follows the journey of Twist (Raff Law), a gifted graffiti
artist trying to find his way after the loss of his mother. Lured into a street
gang headed by the paternal Fagin (Michael Caine), Twist is attracted to the
lifestyle — and to Red (Sophie Simnett), an alluring member of Fagin’s crew.
But when an art theft goes wrong, Twist’s moral code is tested as he’s caught
between Fagin, the police, and a loose-cannon enforcer (Lena Headey).</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">And remember: Caine did
pretty well for himself the last time <a href="http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2011/12/michael-caine-is-ebeneezer-scrooge-in.html" target="_blank">he played a character created by Charles Dickens</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Look
for <i>Twist</i> in theaters, on digital, and On Demand July 30.</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p></p>
<center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/um2cHkssIsc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31771970.post-83075962615692105232021-07-05T16:53:00.002-05:002021-07-05T16:54:24.009-05:00My Memory of Richard Donner<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xZO7FYsTnbE6mT43-ye4PmdwGDGXEpejpZ7ER52L2xvMMi5DjzrrcJOhKEcLa31-eDTOppQ1g7xJw8Vv6aKIxv10IIlmk6HQmonnSCLA7KINZnLbdppY3Gx1byJJwWtS4AA/s800/Richard+Donner.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8xZO7FYsTnbE6mT43-ye4PmdwGDGXEpejpZ7ER52L2xvMMi5DjzrrcJOhKEcLa31-eDTOppQ1g7xJw8Vv6aKIxv10IIlmk6HQmonnSCLA7KINZnLbdppY3Gx1byJJwWtS4AA/s400/Richard+Donner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I am feeling
more than a little melancholy as I process the sad news that producer-director
Richard Donner has passed away at age 91. Not just because of his many movies
that I have enjoyed — ranging from the Swinging London spy-spoofery of <i>Salt
and Pepper</i> (1968) to the slam-bang buddy-cop excess of the <i>Lethal Weapon</i>
franchise — and his early television work that left a lasting impact on me.
(Not only did he direct the classic “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode of <i>The
Twilight Zone</i> — he also helmed two episodes of my all-time favorite TV
series, <i>The Fugitive</i>.) My fondest memory of Donner involves one of his
lesser-known films: <i>Inside Moves</i>, a criminally under-rated dramedy showcasing
career-highlight performances by John Savage, David Morse, and the
Oscar-nominated Diana Scarwid. (You can read Dr. Richard Jahnke<span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">’s entertaining and informative 2009 interview with Donner about it <a href="https://thedigitalbits.com/featured/interviews/inside-man-richard-donner-on-inside-moves" target="_blank">here</a>.)</span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Back in
1980, when I was an entertainment writer and second-string critic for The Dallas
Morning News, <i>Inside Moves</i> opened at a local theater in an early test engagement.
I reviewed it, very favorably, and was pleased when it wound up drawing a respectably
large audience for such a small-scale, semi-indie feature. So large, in fact,
that Richard Donner came to Dallas on a promotional tour just before the movie’s
wide release.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">When the
local publicist asked if I wanted to interview Donner, I jumped at the chance.
But I was initially rattled when, as she escorted me to his table in the lobby
bar at the posh hotel where he was staying, Donner leapt to his feet and
shouted while I was still several feet away: “I’m sorry, Joe! I’m sorry!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">What the hell?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Almost
sheepishly, Donner pointed to the new poster for <i>Inside Moves</i>, one
festooned with blurbs of favorable reviews. And there, right below quotes from
Judith Crist and Pat Dowell of The Washington Star, was a snippet from my
notice: “<i>Inside Moves</i> is a truly enjoyable little sleeper… so don’t let
it slip by.” And was duly attributed to Dallas Morning News writer… <b>Joe
Layton</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I had to
laugh out loud. And when I did, evidently, Donner thought it was OK to laugh as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">We had a
nice conversation — truth to tell, I think he was amused that anyone remembered
<i>Salt and Pepper</i> — before I headed back to the paper. It was a Wednesday,
the day we put the Sunday A&E section together, and I knew that, as usual,
I would be working late. Indeed, this schedule was so routine that I was mildly
surprised when my wife called around 9 pm to ask when I would be home. But she
quickly explained her query: “Someone delivered a case of champagne for you. I
saw it at the front door when I got home from work.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Again: What
the hell?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">So I laughed
and told Anne: “Well, open it up, put a bottle in the refrigerator, and we can
drink up when I get home.” Somehow, I knew — I just knew — it was from Richard
Donner. And sure enough, when I got home, I read the note that had been
attached to the case: “Joe: Thanks again. Sorry again. Richard Donner.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Postscript:
I got to personally thank Donner for the bubbly years later during the junket
for <i>Conspiracy Theory</i> (1997). He remembered. And we both had another
laugh together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<center><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMirw7zqNFT6tzsKW8GOguqsogMoVgcgrA-8XY4lsWhDkptegsH1-zCI_6B1dJNXkcZxY75Ih5FKzGlfW3PxdOvV84lTnoviBvgeMqSJ_1PhTPd2ip0IRtkGtfVPV0LEGfKw/s1556/Inside+Moves.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1556" data-original-width="975" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMirw7zqNFT6tzsKW8GOguqsogMoVgcgrA-8XY4lsWhDkptegsH1-zCI_6B1dJNXkcZxY75Ih5FKzGlfW3PxdOvV84lTnoviBvgeMqSJ_1PhTPd2ip0IRtkGtfVPV0LEGfKw/s600/Inside+Moves.jpg" /></a></div></center>
<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mLtWKGqQxUA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Joe Leydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16480093833915945352noreply@blogger.com0