Movies I've Seen,Awards Season..Still...
*With the Golden Globes and SAG Awards nominations out the way it is down to the BAFTAs and Oscars to get down to the nitty gritty of awards season.
Until then other film associations are putting their nominees forward like
The Women Film Critics Circle Nominations
BEST FEMALE ACTION HERO NOMINEE:
The Women Of “Free State Of Jones”**dawnybee: OR as they’re named Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Kerri Russell. Seriously there’s two women in the film.
BEST MOVIE ABOUT WOMEN
“Certain Women”
“Christine”
“Hidden Figures”
“20th Century Women”
BEST MOVIE BY A WOMAN
“Certain Women”
“Queen Of Katwe”
“The Dressmaker”
“13TH” **A documentary shouldn’t compete with a narrative film. I’m old-fashioned that way.
BEST WOMAN STORYTELLER [Screenwriting Award]
“Certain Women,” Kelly Reichardt
“Equity,” Amy Fox
“Maggie’s Plan,” Rebecca Miller
“13TH,” Ava Duvernay
BEST ACTRESS
Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
Taraji P. Henson, “Hidden Figures”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, “Manchester By The Sea”
Joel Edgerton, “Loving”
Matthew McConaughey, “Free State Of Jones” **dawnybee: Someone in the organization loved this movie.
Christopher Plummer, “Remember”
BEST YOUNG ACTRESS
Sasha Lane, “American Honey”
Roylaty Hightower, “The Fits”
Madina Nalwanga, “Queen Of Katwe” **I really hope she wins. She carried that film.
Hailee Steinfeld, “The Edge Of Seventeen”
BEST COMEDIC ACTRESS
Judy Davis, “The Dressmaker”
Greta Gerwig, “Maggie’s Plan”
Kate McKinnon, “Ghostbusters”
Sally Field, “Hello My Name is Doris” **dawnybee: Haven’t seen it but many people I know rave about it and feel it’s unfortunate that Field has been all but ignored this season.
BEST FOREIGN FILM BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
“Julieta”
“The Handmaiden”
“Things To Come”
“Toni Erdmann” **This film cleaned up at other ceremonies so put this on your Oscar ballot as the Best Foreign Film win.
BEST DOCUMENTARY BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
“Audrie & Daisy”
“Miss Sharon Jones” **dawnybee: It would be lovely for Ms Jones to get a posthumous honor.
“The Eagle Huntress”
“13TH”
BEST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Certain Women”
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Queen Of Katwe”
“Elle”
“Neighbors 2”
“Nocturnal Animals” [The obese naked women dancing]
“Zoolander 2”
***Wait…I don’t get it. Is this like Best Worst or just chastising them?
BEST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Free State Of Jones”
“Loving”
“Paterson”
“Snowden”
WORST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Dirty Grandpa”
“Frank & Lola”
“Weiner” **He wins hands down. He was so delusional. He lacks complete self-awareness.
“Zoolander 2”
WOMEN’S WORK/BEST ENSEMBLE
“Ghostbusters”
“Hidden Figures”
“The Dressmaker”
“20th Century Women”
SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS
COURAGE IN FILMMAKING
Ava Duvernay, “13TH”
Janet Grillo, “Jack Of The Red Hearts”
Meera Menon, “Equity”
Kelly Reichardt, “Certain Women”
COURAGE IN ACTING [Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen]
Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”
Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
Zoe Saldana, “Nina”
ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women
“American Honey”
“Audrie & Daisy”
“Colonia”
“The Uncondemned”
JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD: For best expressing the woman of color experience in America
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Moonlight”
“Nina”
KAREN MORLEY AWARD: For best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity**I love this category’s mission statement. This should be standard.
“Christine”
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Things To Come”
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AWARD: [Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored]
Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”
Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
The women of “Hidden Figures”
Theresa Saldana, “Nina”**Okay, Theresa Saldana was the female actor assaulted by a fan and she’s been dead for a few years now, but I get it…they mean Zoe.
BEST SCREEN COUPLE
“Allied”
“Loving”
“Paterson”
“Snowden”
BEST FEMALE ACTION HERO
Emma Watson, “Colonia”
The women of “Free State Of Jones”
The women of “Ghostbusters”
Wonder Woman: Gal Gadot in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
MOMMIE DEAREST WORST SCREEN MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Laura Linney, “Nocturnal Animals”
Emma Thompson, “Barney Thomson”
Renée Zellweger, “The Whole Truth”
Mila Kunis, “Bad Moms” **I take offense at this. The point of the film was that some women put too much pressure on themselves in a strive for perfection. Nothing she did made her a bad mother or person.
BEST LINE IN A MOVIE:
“I believe the characters we read on the page become more real than the men who stand beside us.” - “Jackie” **These categories are just getting random now
WFCC Hall Of Shame
Women Dating Their Rapists In Movies:
“Elle”
“Frank & Lola”
“Sunset Song”
ACTING AND ACTIVISM AWARD:
Gena Davis: She has put in many decades of political service to feminist causes and has never held back even when speaking out could potentially harm her career. Her screen roles reinforce her beliefs. The Geena Davis Institute does research and advocacy.
Jane Fonda: For a lifetime of activism both on screen and off.
Emma Watson: UN Goodwill Ambassador, tells the UN General Assembly that universities need to be a safe space against campus sexual and racial assault, for women and people of color.
Shailene Woodley: For standing with the Water Protectors at Standing Rock and jailed for her activism there. **dawnybee: Hard choice. I’m pulled between Emma and Geena’s endeavors.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Julia Andrews
Annette Bening
Martha Coolidge
Viola Davis
BEST EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
“Allied”
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Paterson”
BEST ANIMATED FEMALE
“Finding Dory”
“Moana”
“The BFG”
“Your Name”
BEST FAMILY FILM
“Hidden Figures”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
“Queen Of Katwe”
I am now in the “Game of Thrones” hiatus hell mode where I’ve moved from histories and lores videos to Reddit speculation threads.
This is a very long hiatus, indeed.
One theory thread I’m reading is “what is Jon Snow’s real name”. The general consensus is that Lyanna gave him a Targaryen name. Some think it would be a good symmetry if he was named Aemon as that would make Jon’s connection to Maester Aemon even more special, but many think it’s Jaehaerys (third of his name, bringer of man tears, broody faces and great hair). That Ned piggybacked off of the J name and renamed him Jon which would fly with Catelyn and Benjen, et al he could explain that he named his “son” after his surrogate father Jon Arryn.
Maybe his name is Jon Snow, star fcuker.
Stop hanging around Zach Braff of all people, dude
Zach, all of your boyfriends are ruining your bromance with Donald Faison.
Zach and another “Scrubs” alum, Sarah Chalke
Which kicks off..
Reunited and It Feels So Good-ish
Former “Psyche” costars James Roday and Timothy Omundson
”High School Musical” alums Zac Efron, Cobin Bleu and Lucas Gabreel
*Fans thought Zac turned his back on his “High School Musical” days when he didn’t participate in the reunion that aired on Disney last year. But Zac posted a throwback photo earlier this year and people could see that he was fond of those days.
They could literally see it-they zoomed in on the photo and could see his reflection in the upper corner of the pic
Keifer Sutherland and his “Touch” costar David Mazouz
Now
Then
”The Doom Generation” cast
*Director Gregg Araki with stars James Duval, Rose McGowen and Johnathan Schaech
Then
Partial “The Tomorrow People” reunion
* Madeleine Mantock, Aaron Yoo, Peyton List and Aaron’s wife at Robbie Amell’s wedding.
*The Game of Thrones hiatus is hell for me but not the cast members who were still living it up on location.
Jorah, Thormund and Benjen walk into a bar…
Casey Affleck and Nicole Kidman reunited after 23 years to interview each other for Variety’s roundtable
Then: “If Looks Could Kill
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, “Friday Night Lights” costars Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler
::Law and Order sting:: Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay
”Taxi Driver” revisted
West Wing-ers
*Dule Hill, Bradley Whitford,Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Joshua Malina, Mary McCormack and Richard Schiff stumping for Hillary Clinton.
“Community”s Yvette Nicole Brown and Danny Pudi
Sitting pretty with the “Ugly Betty” cast
* Judith Light, Vanessa Williams, America Ferrera, Eric Mabius, Ana Oritz, Ashley Jensen and Tony Plana.
The superior Trekkies: The “Star Trek the Next Generation” cast
*Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirkis, Levar Burton, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner.
She’s All That but he’s looking rough, “She’s All That” costars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook
My favorite Vampire, Ghost and Werewolf. “Being Humans” human beings
*Aidan Turner, Lenora Crichlow and Russell Tovey
Oh, Aidan and Lenora, you were my OTP at one time
As you wish. “Princess Bride”s Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin
In between impressing me on ABC’s “The Family” and writing travelogues, Andrew McCarthy reunited with James Spader to direct an episode of “The Blacklist”
You didn’t ask for it, but you may get a “Will & Grace” revival
*Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullaley and Sean P. Hayes
SNL Alums: Chris Rock, Dana Carvey and David Spade
Madonna “Truth or Dare” dancers reunited for a documentary “Strike a Pose”
*As someone has fond memories of spending time with my godparents I find these pictures of Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris with her godfather Macauley Culkin pretty sweet.
*There may be photographic evidence of a reunion between the “Lord of the Rings” cast as Viggo Mortensen said in a recent interview that the weekend of the Golden Globes will be a busy one as the kid actors who play his children in “Captain Fantastic” want to spend the day with him but he has already planned a day with his “Lord of the Rings” castmates.
Orli is keeping the fellowship alive by posting throwback pics
Viggo resides in Spain so he rarely sees the cast unless it’s something like Cannes where he reunited with Orlando in May
*A tragic cause for a reunion-the death of Alan Thicke.
Most of his “Growing Pains” castmates got together at his memorial service.
Tracey Gold, Joanna Kerns, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirk Cameron and Jeremy Miller
Leo memorialized Thicke on Facebook
Patriots Day
This year’s AFI closing night film. It seemed pretty complete, despite not having credits yet so I believe it was the final version screened.
“Deepwater Horizon”, “Lone Survivor” and now “Patriots Day”. There is no real-life story Peter Berg won’t tell with Marky Mark Wahlberg as his lead actor.
The film leads audiences on the day of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the ensuing manhunt for domestic terrorists Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Boston Police Sgt. Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) starts his shift at the finish line at the Boston Marathon with no thoughts other than how he was stuck with the duty, until he is called into action when bombs are set off killing several and wounding more.
Careful to not categorize the attack as terrorism due to a fear of anti-Muslim backlash or being declared that they are racially profiling, FBI agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) goes back and forth with local Boston police commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman) on how to begin the investigation and find out who the bombers are. To do that DesLauriers calls in Saunders for his knowledge of the area.
With the search afoot the bombers Tamerian (Themo Melikidze, “24: Legacy”) and Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff, “The Naked Bros. Band”)
being their journey to do another attack, this time in New York, before the cops can zero in on them.
Like “Deepwater Horizon” and “Lone Survivor” Berg treats these real life events like action films and I’m not 100% on-board with the Michael Bay-ing of real events with real tragic consequences. A lot of the film is based on Saunders’ book about the attack so who knows if he’s taking more credit than deserves, but Wahlberg is always in his form as the tough-but-sensitive Average Joe.
He spoke of his desire to make sure that Berg really get the people of Boston down since he is a proud Bostonian (and this former rabid New Kid on the Block fan knew that before the movie. He’s from Dorchester, dontcha know?). To that end Berg assembled actors like J.K Simmons as Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese, and other actors and some real life officers to reflect that Boston Strong pride.
Seeing that I only knew the broad strokes of the bombings it was really interesting to see what the investigation entailed and though I’m sure it is all fictional the way they depict the Tsarnaev brothers, especially Dzhokhar is oddly entertaining. The film does push that Dzhokhar was radicalized but moreso that he’s just your typical dude-bro. It’s bad enough he’s a terrorist-that’s awful, but damn, they show him as the irritating little brother/4-Chan/Gamergate tool and Wolff does laconic youth so well.
You’ve come a long way, kiddo
*Nat and Alex<
Nat, Alex and parents Polly Draper and Michael Wolff
The film also stars Michelle Monaghan (“The Path”) as Saunders ‘ wife, Carol; Michael Beach (“Pitch”) as Massachusetts Mayor Deval Patrick, Melissa Bemoist (“Supergirl”) as Tamerlian’s wife and a fantastic appearance by Khandi Alexander (“Scandal”) as a police interrogato brought in to suss out her involvement. She was in one scene but she was killer in it.
The thing that made the film better than “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is also the only downside to an otherwise great film. Being a standalone, one-and-done film “Rogue One” doesn’t waste time building up the film’s core characters and that lack of development left me not very invested in anyone and by the time I began having a sense of their motivations the film was over.
But a small quibble for an otherwise entertaining film that had to establish itself in the hearts of fans as a “Star Wars” movie but set its own ground.
Written by Chris Weitz (“American Pie”, “About a Boy”) and Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”, “The Bourne Legacy”-the studio claimed that Gilroy only came in to do small rewrites which wouldn’t garner him a credit but it was revealed a few weeks ago that he had to substantially rework the script), “Rogue One” takes place before “Star Wars: A New Hope” aka the 1st one and introduces us to Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) who has been a wanted woman all of her life.
As the daughter of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) one of the chief researchers working on the Death Star, she was wanted by the Imperial Military in the form of Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn)
and his sweet, sweet cape
in order to secure her father’s commitment to their mission, raised by her father’s friend Saw Guerrera (Forrest Whitaker),
as an adult she’s taken by the intelligence officer for the Rebels, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in hopes that she could lead them to Galen in order to learn the secrets of the Death Star in order to neutralize it.
Much like “Star Wars: The New Hope” and “The Wizard of Oz”, along the way Jyn Cassian and his drool, disapproving droid K-2S0 (voiced by Alan Tudyk)
gather a ragtag team to help them achieve their mission including Bodhi (Riz Ahmed) a former Imperial pilot who is working with the Rebels, Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) a blind follower of the Force and his best friend (something more?) the Rebel Baze (Jiang Wen).
If you have knowledge of the “Star Wars” universe (including the animated “The Clone Wars”) it is obviously a better viewing experience. I’ve seen four (“Rogue One” makes it five) of the eight “Star Wars” films but I am nowhere near a fan or an expert so when the audience cheered at characters’ names or when people took the screen I had no clue why.
There was nothing as iconic as this, though. Kinda sorta
As this is a film that takes place right before “A New Hope” there is some CGI finagling in order to bring old favorites to life. It’s an entertaining money grab with a great cast.
Like Mr. Ahmed
And Ben Mendelsohn who is gearing up to play his 120th role as a dirtbag as he’s joining “Robin Hood” with Taron Egerton, Eve Hewson, Jamie Foxx and Jamie Denton as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The filmmaking gods have decided that Chris Pratt is a “thing” now so they’re forcing him down the collective throats of audiences like a parent forcing medicine down throat of a sick child. He brought his same wisescracking Average Joe schtick to “Magnificent Seven” to this film. The only difference is that the director Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”) forced two shots of Pratt’s ass on us. That’s a crime!
Bland, boring, illogical and at times, plain offensive, “Passengers” could perhaps be saved if there were two different leads, as Pratt and Lawrence have zero chemistry and I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lawrence took a huge downgrade in quality in film compared to the work she’s been doing lately.
With Earth overcrowded and too expensive to live, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is one of 5,000 people aboard a spacecraft on a 120 year journey to a colonized planet to live. When the ship hits space debris, a malfunction awakens Jim from his pod ninety years before the ship is due to land.
After a spoiler-y event, another passenger awakens: writer Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence).
Alone on the ship together with the exception of robot/bartender Arthur (Michael Sheen)
Aurora and Jim realize that malfunction that awakened them is destabilizing the ship. The pair have to figure out how to save themselves and the lives of the other sleeping passengers.
Eye-rolling nonsense that made me long for the actual good sci-fi films I’ve seen like “Sunshine” or “Moon”. I’ve read that the script was originally really excellent so I don’t know what went wrong. It’s a rom-com set in space down to all of the stupid tropes where a sensible woman makes poor choices for a loser.
Maybe it’s good that Michael Sheen is taking on less acting roles in order to fight fascism so he can reflect on the scripts he accepts. He and Kate Beckinsale’s daughter got accepted into college so I’m sure Kate with her “Underworld” coinage has the tuition sorted.
Pictures outside the premiere
director Morten Tyldumand his cast
*The film is so low-wattage that even the guests were low wattage. Joey Fatone (who goes to an opening of an email), Imagine Dragons who did the end credits song (which is terrible) and then Suzanne Sommers!
The Weinstein Company has four films they are pushing for awards consideration this year: Golden Globe nominated “Lion” and “Sing Street” and the ignored “The Founder” and “Gold” (which gets a qualifying release in L.A and New York before the end of the year, and opens wide in late January). Since “Lion” and “Sing Street” aren’t nominated in Best Picture categories, it’s a moot point for TWC…they have no film to crow about.
Inspired by a true story, “Gold” tells the story of Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey), the son of a gold hunter who acquires his father’s (Craig T. Nelson) business and runs it into the ground when none of his prospects pan out. A dreamer who shuns regular work as his girlfriend, Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard)
asks of him, he follows a dream that signals he should reach out to geologist Michael Acosta (the fetching Edgar Ramirez) to start a gold dig in the jungles of Borneo.
When Kenny and Michael’s dig is a success, Kenny goes from being a pariah to prince when bankers (Corey Stoll) and businessmen
Bruce Greenwood) wants a piece of his venture. But as his profile rises, so does suspicion about the gold claim which brings the FBI (Toby Kebbell) knocking at Kenny’s door.
It’s very similar to “American Hustle” in tone and it’s enjoyable: McConaughey playing a shuckster seems second nature to him (during the Q&A he talked about his father being a hustler and taking young Matthew with him to collect money from people who owed him because he would tell them they were taking money out of his kids’ mouths. Other times he would use force.) and McConaughey and Ramirez play off each other well, Howard doesn’t have much to do other than fret and be the supportive girlfriend but she shines as that. But overall the effort comes in bronze.
But boy, did they push Matthew McConaughey for this film
*Okay, I didn’t manage to take a picture of Matthew because I was too fixated on Edgar Ramirez.
Oooh, Edgar
*Director Stephen Gaghan took great pains to praise Matthew with nary a word about Edgar or Bryce which was so embarrassing.
Not my pic.
Surprised and disappointed that Denzel Washington hasn’t been at the head of Oscar or Golden Globe talk. It’s pretty much a done deal that Casey Affleck will win everything he’s nominated for this year. And while Affleck gave a good performance in “Manchester by the Sea”, Washington gave a very brave and bold performance that filled up every space.
Reuniting virtually the entire cast of his Broadway run, Washington directs the late August Wilson’s play.
The Broadway cast
*Chris Chalk. SaCha Stewart-Coleman. Viola Davis, Denzel Washinton, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Mykelti Williamson and Russel Hornsby.
The film’s cast
*Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Washington, Saniyya Sidney, Davis, Williamson and Hornsby.
Set in the 50’s, trash collector Troy Maxson (Washington) is a man filled with righteous anger and frustration at his lot in life. A great baseball player, by his own admission, he watched as his less skilled, white counterparts were signed to the majors; as a trash collector he’s frustrated that he hasn’t been given the opportunity to be a driver. He rails against the system to his best friend and coworker Jim Bono (Henderson) and his wife, Rose (Davis) who is supportive but doesn’t hesitate to call him out on his negativity and his revisionist history.
They’ve carved a life for themselves with their family which includes their teenage son Cory (Adepo), Troy’s oldest son Lyon (Hornsby)
and Troy’s WWII veteran brother Gabe (Williamson) whose war injury has left him mentally impaired.
A hard man who has a rigid viewpoint about parenthood, Troy routinely butts head with sons Cory and Lyon. Lyon because he’s a shirk-a-day who just wants to play jazz and chase his own happiness, and Cory who has dreams of accomplishing more than his father has. As the film progress we see the destructive nature of past pains and how it perpetuates and poisons the present.
Powerful production that serves Wilson’s words so well. His words have a rhythm and a cadence to it that is smooth, yet hard-hitting and you can see the joy Washington has in being able to recite them. A leading man, Washington really has chances to give a performance like this. I would say the closest was his character in “Training Day”. Troy is not a nice man, but it’s understandable to see being drawn into his web. And being that this character is such a hard, unyielding man it would be very easy to hate him but I ended up feeling sorry for him as someone who doesn’t have the emotional vocabulary to do better by his family and himself.
It’s easy to see why Davis is being touted for an Oscar. While her Rose is the standard David strong-willed, woman, she does get two scenes that allows her to work her power and just like Michelle Williams’ standout scene in “Manchester by the Sea” her moment was staggering.
Davis and Washington on set
Davis and Washington on Broadway, 2010
Tommen did it better!
It’s another bad video game adaptation. The End.
But if you must know more, “Assassin's Creed” reunites “Hamlet” helmer Justin Kurzel with his “Hamlet” actors Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotilliard in this video game adaptation that was years in the making and should have stayed on the shelf.
Callum Lynch (Fassbender) is schedule for execution but is rescued by Abstergo Industries
which is fronted by Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons)
and his scientist daughter Sophia (Cotilliard).
The Rikkins freed Callum because he is a direct descendent of Aguilar de Nerha, an Assassin who was part of the Assasssin’s Creed,
an order that fought against the Templar Order. Aguilar and his fellow assassins stole the McGuffin Apple of Eden is the key to the end of violence. Lost to history, Sophia needs Callum to link to their Animus machine so that he can link to the memories of Aguilar so he can trace Aguilar’s steps to find out where the Apple of Eden is.
Each trip into the Animus bleeds Aguilar’s future with Callum’s present day and he realizes that the Assassins and Templar feud still exists and that Abstergo may have nefarious reasons for wanting the apple.
I will say one good thing about this film: it’s a slim and trim 90 minutes
as trim as Fassbender
So by the time my eyes began to drift shut and I began eying the exit, the film ends.
Also stars Charlotte Rampling playing a Charlotte Rampling type (scolding, cold as a Fridgidaire and foreboding) and Brendan Gleeson as someone with insight on Callum’s past.
Gleeson’s son Brian (pronounced Bree-en) plays a young Brendan
Fassbender preparing for “Alien Covenant” to suck big time
