Posted on March 18, 2021 at 2:43 pm
It is always fun to talk to Arch Campbell and Jen Chaney on their At the Movies podcast. In this very special 80th episode, we talked about the Oscars and the problems at the Golden Globes, about the Grammy show and new releases “The Father” and “The Courier.” Hope to be back on again soon.
Posted on March 17, 2021 at 2:53 pm
The Golden Globes is known for three things: (1) A tiny, secret group of LA-based “foreign press” only known for giving out awards, (2) A big, glittery show with lots of awards to both TV and movies with double categories for comedy/musical and drama, improving the chances to people and productions to win, and (3) A history of secrecy and allegations of corruption and lack of diversity. This year that last category gained even more prominence with revelations that members are paid as much as $25,000 through NBC, which broadcasts the show and the nomination of “Emily in Paris,” following a cushy junket where HFPA members were put up in a $1200 a night hotel in Paris.
The publicists representing Hollywood’s top talent have demanded major changes:
“We call on the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. to swiftly manifest profound and lasting change to eradicate the longstanding exclusionary ethos and pervasive practice of discriminatory behavior, unprofessionalism, ethical impropriety and alleged financial corruption endemic to the HFPA, funded by Dick Clark Productions, MRC, NBCUniversal and Comcast,” the publicists wrote in a letter sent to the group Monday afternoon.
Posted on March 15, 2021 at 6:03 pm
I’m quoted in an NBC story about today’s Oscar nominations. While, as always, some of my favorites were overlooked, I am delighted by seeing so many deserving filmmakers recognized.
“I let out a little yelp when I saw the nominees,” said Nell Minow, a film critic and corporate governance expert, pointing to strong showings by low-key, thoughtful dramas such as Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” and Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.”
“We’re seeing a lot more diversity partly because the normative, white male blockbusters had to step aside last year,” Minow said, referring to the various movies that were postponed amid the pandemic.
Posted on March 15, 2021 at 7:58 am
Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)
Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”)
Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”)
Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Maria Bakalova (‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”)
Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”)
Olivia Colman (“The Father”)
Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”)
Youn Yuh-jung (“Minari”)
Best Costume Design“Emma,” Alexandra Byrne
“Mank,” Trish Summerville
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Ann Roth
“Mulan,” Bina Daigeler
“Pinocchio”
“Da 5 Bloods,” Terence Blanchard
“Mank,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
“Minari,” Emile Mosseri
“News of the World,” James Newton Howard
“Soul,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
“Burrow” (Disney Plus/Pixar)
“Genius Loci” (Kazak Productions)
“If Anything Happens I Love You” (Netflix)
“Opera” (Beasts and Natives Alike)
“Yes-People” (CAOZ hf. Hólamói)
“Feeling Through”
“The Letter Room”
“The Present”
“Two Distant Strangers”
“White Eye”
“Greyhound,” Odin Benitez, Jason King, Christian P. Minkler, Michael Minkler, Jeff Sawyer
“Mank,” Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, Drew Kunin
“News of the World,” John Pritchett, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, Oliver Tarney, Michael Fentum
“Soul,” Coya Elliott, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Vince Caro
“Sound of Metal,” Phillip Bladh, Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés, Carolina Santana
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Nina Pedrad, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Swimer
“The Father,” Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
“Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao
“One Night in Miami,” Kemp Powers
“The White Tiger,” Ramin Bahrani
“Judas and the Black Messiah,” Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas, Kenneth Lucas
“Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung
“Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell
“Sound of Metal,” Abraham Marder, Darius Marder, Derek Cianfrance
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin
Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”)
Gary Oldman (“Mank”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)
Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Andra Day (“The United States v. Billie Holiday”)
Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”)
Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)
Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)
“Onward” (Pixar)
“Over the Moon” (Netflix)
“Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” (Netflix)
“Soul” (Pixar)
“Wolfwalkers” (Apple TV Plus/GKIDS)
“Judas and the Black Messiah,” Sean Bobbitt
“Mank,” Erik Messerschmidt
“News of the World,” Dariusz Wolski
“Nomadland,” Joshua James Richards
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Phedon Papamichael
Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”)
David Fincher (“Mank”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
“Collective” (Magnolia Pictures and Participant)
“Crip Camp” (Netflix)
“The Mole Agent” (Gravitas Ventures)
“My Octopus Teacher” (Netflix)
“Time” (Amazon Studios)
“Colette” (Time Travel Unlimited)
“A Concerto Is a Conversation” (Breakwater Studios)
“Do Not Split” (Field of Vision)
“Hunger Ward” (MTV Documentary Films)
“A Love Song for Latasha” (Netflix)
“The Father,” Yorgos Lamprinos
“Nomadland,” Chloé Zhao
“Promising Young Woman,” Frédéric Thoraval
“Sound of Metal,” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
“The Trial of the Chicago 7,” Alan Baumgarten
“Another Round” (Denmark)
“Better Days” (Hong Kong)
“Collective” (Romania)
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” (Tunisia)
“Quo Vadis, Aida?”(Bosnia and Herzegovina)
“Emma,” Marese Langan
“Hillbilly Elegy,” Eryn Krueger Mekash, Patricia Dehaney, Matthew Mungle
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Matiki Anoff, Mia Neal, Larry M. Cherry
“Mank,” Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams
“Pinocchio,” Dalia Colli, Anna Kieber, Sebastian Lochmann, Stephen Murphy
“Fight for You,” (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
“Hear My Voice,” (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)
“Húsavík,” (“Eurovision Song Contest”)
“Io Si (Seen),” (“The Life Ahead”)
“Speak Now,” (“One Night in Miami”)
“The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros.)
“Mank” (Netflix)
“Minari” (A24)
“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
“Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
“Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
“The Father,” Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Mark Ricker, Karen O’Hara, Diana Stoughton
“Mank,” Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale
“News of the World,” David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan
“Tenet,” Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas
“Love and Monsters”
“The Midnight Sky,” Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, Dave Watkins, Max Solomon
“Mulan,” Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury, Steve Ingram
“The One and Only Ivan,” Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones, Santiago Colomo Martinez
“Tenet,” Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley, Scott R. Fisher, Mike Chambers
Posted on March 7, 2021 at 5:50 pm
I admit I’m biased. But my favorite awards show is the Critics Choice, and not because I vote in it. It is because these are the awards selected by people whose job is to see as many movies as possible with an objective critics eye. Here’s what the organization has to say about tonight’s show on the CW, hosted by Taye Diggs.
We have always respected and admired the Golden Globes for hosting the Party of the Year, if not for the HFPA’s restrictive membership policies. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the HFPA from throwing that party this year and the resulting Golden Globes telecast on Sunday was ill-conceived and poorly received.
This Sunday it will be our turn. And I promise you, the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards show will be quite different than the Globes – just as our Critics Choice Association differs from the HFPA. We proudly show our membership roster on our website, with photos, clearly demonstrating our diversity. There are Black and Asian and Latinx names and faces – men and women, young and old – representing virtually every state and major city in the US and Canada and some small towns, too.
Our far flung membership results in a very diverse slate of nominees. Among the important movies and series that we nominated for Critics Choice Awards – and were largely overlooked by the HFPA – are “I May Destroy You,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami.”
Like the Globes, we will have virtually all our nominated performers participating virtually in our show on Sunday night. Our lineup of Presenters is even better than the Globes, including Kevin Bacon, Angela Bassett, Mayim Bialik, Phoebe Dynevor, Morgan Freeman, Gal Gadot, Jim Gaffigan, Chris Hemsworth, Jameela Jamil, Eva Longoria, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jared Padalecki, Kyra Sedgwick, Yara Shahidi, Courtney B. Vance, John David Washington, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But once the Critics Choice winner is announced and all the nominees have reacted, we will focus full-screen on the live acceptance speech, without awkwardly returning to the other nominees. And we will offer generous clips showcasing our nominated performances, a treat for audiences who may be inspired to discover movies and series they want to catch up on, without any cringe-worthy pledges from our executives to correct embarrassing organizational flaws.
Hosted for the third year in a row by Taye Diggs and with our special See Her Award going to Zendaya, we hope and expect that our 26th annual Critics Choice Awards show will be our best ever. And as the world starts to return to normal in the coming months, we will continue to shine our light on the best the creative community has to offer at our Critics Choice Real TV Awards, Critics Choice Documentary Awards, and Critics Choice Super Awards. Last month, we brought our 3rd annual Celebration of Black Cinema to a national audience for the first time, reinforcing our commitment to championing the broadest spectrum of popular entertainment.
This is the consensus of 400+ people who cover film and television every day for a living. The Critics Choice Awards show is culturally significant – and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
