Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings.
A large part of why I started this blog, as opposed to continuing at the site I was perviously, was that I wanted to control my content and also if I should choose to be publishing daily I wanted to not necessarily constrain my focus to a particular region or breaking news.
Yes, having access to information is great, and I partook in the internet explosion that occurred when Jurassic Park IV added itself to next summer’s calendar, but I want to focus mostly on things I have seen rather than will see. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and the new Universal/Blumhouse production of Mercy, which starts rolling today, is an exception.
Background
Mercy is based on a short story by Stephen King. The original story was entitled “Gramma” and was first read by most in his short story collection The Skeleton Crew.
When I heard the news the name of the story didn’t immediately ring a bell. As the casting announcements started coming I decided to revisit it. This time I read it not just to be refreshed on the story but to look at it as an adaptation. I can still mostly keep prose in mind as pure prose (Hitchcock reached a point where he could no longer read for pleasure because he read everything with an eye for adaptation), unless I am consciously adapting it like I did with Suffer the Little Children.
So, how are the elements being prepared for the screen? How good do they look? For the most part they reinforce my positive outlook.
The Story
Now, as is the case with a lot of prose (particularly King’s), a certain amount of externalization will need to take place. Much of the tale takes place in a single location and chronicles the protagonist’s reaction, through inner monologue, to the predicament he finds himself within.
It’s a highly effective narrative, which has potential for great visuals, interesting construction and a lot of tension. In fact, it was brought to the small screen during the short-lived return of The Twilight Zone.
The Screenwriter
Brought in to adapt the story into a screenplay was Matt Greenberg whose previous credits include Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, The Prophecy 2 and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later as his franchise prolonging starting points, then Reign of Fire; an intriguing installment of Masters of Horror called The Fair-Haired Child, then most importantly 1408, based on King and the upcoming Pet Sematary remake. King projects have been botched enough that track record and pedigree matters; Darabont and Garris usually means a good visual treatment of the tales; Greenberg may as well, if his previous works are any indication.
Director
Peter Cornwell has genre experience in a film I happened to like quite a bit, A Haunting in Connecticut. That does lead me to the next point…
Marketing
Based on the narrative of the story itself this film should be a PG-13 horror movie. I believe a faithful adaptation would make it so. You’d need to amp things up to get it to an R-Rating. I don’t have an issue with that in and of itself, it’s just something I predict.
Casting
Stephen King, the story and the team (including Blumhouse the production company helming who have had much genre success lately, namely Sinister and the Paranormal Activity series) are enough to make this a movie to anticipate, however, then you get to the cast.
Dylan McDermott is first billed. In recent years he’s not only had a return to prominence, but I’m sure gained many new fans with his very successful forays into the horror genre. Most notably on American Horror Story. I know my appreciation of his work has grown exponentially.
The lead as per King’s text is George, the younger of two brothers, who I presume will be played by Chandler Riggs. Playing Carl Grimes in The Walking Dead is no small feat. You know this to be true whether you’re a fan of the show, graphic novels or both. I read a lot of the books before trying the show and Riggs gives a much more well-rounded interpretation of Carl than I had imagined.
If we are to presume McDermott and O’Connor are the parents and Riggs is the younger sibling, then naturally Joel Courtney (Super 8) would be Buddy, the older brother. If this is to be the case then it would be an interesting change of pace from Courtney‘s appearances thus far. In Super 8 and his guest spot on The Haunting Hour he’s been a dreamer, a bit of nerd, and all-around good kid. However, Buddy, as written from George’s perspective, is your typical older brother maybe a little meaner, a little more antagonistic than most.
Last, but certainly not least when the source material is called “Gramma,” is the grandmother who will be played by Shirley Knight, which is another great choice. It’ll be great to see her in a film like this as opposed to Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
Conclusion
I don’t want to wander into potential spoilerdom. The story, which should give you an idea what the film will sort of be (but don’t judge it on that!), is out there if interested. I also needn’t go into each production department and discuss where else awesomeness can happen, but the potential exists elsewhere also! The more I got into the story and examined in cinematic terms the more exciting a prospect it became. I am definitely looking forward to this one.
This is perhaps the most crucial category to the filmmaking process that was absent from these awards for a large period of time. However, until one edits, learns to edit both in theory and in practice it is very difficult to start to interpret the edit of a film. The editing choice ultimately is always an aesthetic choice because the technical aspects, what was removed, how scenes were improved due to judicious cuts or how the whole was bettered by losing a scene or a shot can only truly be evaluated if one has seen all the footage. Nevertheless, it’s here and here to stay. The decision in this category is very difficult year after year. Here are the films that have shown themselves to be the most impressive thus far.
Below you will find the posters for the winners of the Best Score award at the BAMs. I considered looking for YouTube clips to accompany them but obsessively uploading anything and everything is a new phenomenon and some were hard to find so rather than post some but not all I decided to forgo it. Secondly, the only thing that really needs to be noted, as you can see for yourself the multiple winners, is that somehow in 2008 (when I already posted winners online) I omitted the category. I have no excuse for this but I won’t try to retroactively fix it, it is what it is. It’s things like that which have me more vigilantly listing my considerations.
I will not purport to be a sound guy, which us quite different than knowing something about it. I did learn it and study it. I have my tastes and know some rules of the game and tricks of the trade. However, I did not include a sound category before I had studied it. It was originally called merely Best Sound Design. If you pay attention at the Oscars you’ll note that Mixing and Editing will usually go to the same film. They are separate and distinct skills and prizes but there is a definite link. I will not pretend that I can split the hairs necessary to sub-divide the category so I will keep it as one. This past year (2010) was when the slash was added to the prize.
2024Dave Whitehead, Chris Terhune, Jeff Sawyer, Matt Stutter, Michael Babcock, Lee Gilmore, et al. Dune: Part Two
2023 Natsuko Inoue, Yoshihito Yokoi Godzilla Minus One
Firstly, the parentheses in the headline are meant to indicate that the winner has not always been a song written specifically for the film. Therefore in some years the word “original” has dropped out of the category heading. However, the qualification is still virtually the same: the song must appear in a film and under a new orchestration. I define orchestration rather loosely meaning someone doing a cover can qualify.
Secondly, I saw a lot of chatter on Twitter during the Oscars indicating that this category should be dropped. Whether or not the Oscars will I don’t know. I doubt it. The Academy has too much tradition and potential production value invested in this category. As for me I’m only really interested in aesthetics and don’t have a show to put on I see no reason to scratch it. I’ve heard no valid argument against its inclusion, many say “Not every film has one” but not every film uses visual effects heavily or is animated or foreign but the categories remain. The ubiquity of an element is helpful but unnecessary. All the songs below are memorable, catchy and capture the essence of the film in which they are contained. And, yes, there is an art to either selecting, placing, orchestrating and/or writing that song so the category will remain.
It’s more prevalent here than elsewhere so I will state it now: TV movies are not excluded from inclusion in the BAMs as a rule so you will find one in here amidst the eclectic mix.
This is another category that is one of the newer generation. It also took a break in 2008 when lack of notes and laziness lead to a temporary pairing down of awarded categories. At the Academy Awards this category almost invariably goes to a period piece. I tend to try and award either combination fashions or outright fantasy. When the proclivity for period is acknowledged by a winner who uncouthly also adds she’s not giving up her award voting and nomination practices should be re-examined. The bottom line is that Costume Design is so much more than historical accuracy, as every film needs its cast dressed and all choices reflect plot and character.
Firstly, welcome to the first short film Saturday of the new year. I wanted to have a new one up last weekend, but amongst other things having all my BAM posts needing to go up, and my Best of the Year in general and horror took out much of my screening time.
Frosty Man and the BMX Kid is a very quick, quirky, funny tale featuring some heavy Kiwi accents (so listen close) and a mysterious stranger. This was a finalist in the Your Big Break Competitions run by New Zealand Tourism.
This award is one I will present annually to the actor, writer, director or any combination thereof who has in my estimation the best year. The only real criteria is that they have multiple credits. The credits can be two responsibilities on the same film or more than one film. The idea came to me based on Robert Downey, Jr.’s incredible 2008. He was the first winner and the name stuck.
The cast of It continues to go places. Aside from all the movies I saw Jaeden in this year, one of which was a delayed viewing of Knives Out, he was also in Defending Jacob on AppleTV+. His films also ran the gamut of genre and were seen throughout the year.
Holland’s appearances as Spider-Man continue to be stellar. One of the litmus tests of my Entertainer of the Year Award are appearances through the year. Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home took care of the spring and summer appearances. At Christmas he leant his impressive voice talent to Spies in Disguise. What about the fall? Well, when it appeared Spider-Man was doomed to cinematic limbo outside the MCU after Disney and Sony couldn’t come to an agreement, he stepped in behind the scenes and helped remedy that situation. It was the kind of movie news needed this year.
Being nominated twice in the same year does not guarantee you the award as the transcendent performer of the year by default. Being as magnetic, wonderful, and bookending the year with A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns made it a cinch.
If you’ve been to my site over the years it’s not secret that I am a huge fan of Stephen King, and I have sought almost any opportunity I could find to write about him.
However, in the BAM Awards as entertainer of the year was not something I foresaw.
Throughout the year I made mental notes of actors and directors who had multiple credits to their name who made their mark through a large swath of the calendar year. I usually like these awards to be like revelations rather than conscious decisions. Once I tried resisting choosing King, I knew he was the only choice.
And I only resisted because picking the creator of source material would be a new frontier, but it is worthy of inclusion. I always cite the author of source material in my nominations on equal footing with the screenwriters.
With it seeming, based on early looks, that King was going to have a very good year, many retrospectives came but the new work showed there are people working now who want to work with his material, and know how to mold it for film.
And it was a very good year for Stephen King, and the BAM Awards were no exception. Films based on his works garnered 30 nominations; including three of five Best Adapted Screenplay nominations.
He also saw two more of his works turned into TV shows Mr. Mercedes and The Mist.
He and his son Owen released the timely novel Sleeping Beauties, and he has a new novel due out this spring; so it’s clear he’s still kicking but his impact on me and many has been long-lasting and will continue, but 2017 cinematically was a standout for highlighting his work, and it’s why he’s the recipient of this prize.
To say that I never expected when he was making a name for himself in the WWE that I’d one day award Dwayne Johnson anything would be an understatement.
However, with the second season of the HBO show Ballers, Central Intelligence, and one of the bigger Gray Area films of the year, Moana.
Johnson has come a long way, but has always seemed a parallel on a higher plain than another honoree on this page.
It was a great year for him, he has three big 2017 films and has become one of the more enjoyable personalities onscreen and one of the few movie stars.
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 22: Actor/activist Leonardo DiCaprio speaks during the Paris Agreement For Climate Change Signing at United Nations on April 22, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Sometimes it’s next to impossible to pick this award and not confuse it with a Lifetime Achievement award. Though the main difference is, even though this is also a body-of-work trophy it’s awarded for a year’s work irrespective of the accomplishments made in prior years.
Yes, Will Ferrell has been at it longer than many of us care to realize right now and I’ve been a fan for quite some time and think he has had very few misses along the way. However, this year there was a lot of stuff, all throughout the year, and it was all hilarious; at least his involvement was.
I like to be inclusive of comedy, and horror, and any other genres the awards generally disregard, so those are just some reasons this funny man is honored this year. Now, for some more specifics about his 2015….
First, there was Get Hard, as with any projects he does with Adam McKay behind the scenes there is silliness and farce in equal measure. There’s much topical humor about the world of high finance aside from broad generalizations and stereotypes exploited for comedic value.
A Deadly Adoption really should have sealed it any, but these awards are ones that kind of occur to me rather than being ones that I consciously plot more often than not. First, this film was a secret project. It was then a surprise announcement as a Lifetime Movie mocking Lifetime Movies, mysteriously pulled from its premiere then rescheduled. It then received a drubbing from those not prepared for the film’s tongue-so-firmly-planted-in-cheek. Will McKinley’s take on it echoes my sentiments on it perfectly. It’s very effective, funny when the absurdity hits you with its subtlety and marks the 2nd straight year a TV film has been included in the BAM Awards.
Ferrell Takes the Field is Ferrell taking his love of baseball to a hilarious extreme to help a charity, create a documentary and promote the MLB by making appearances at 10 positions in real Spring Training games. It aired on HBO and is well worth your time if you like him or baseball or both.
Shortly after that I discovered that perhaps his most hilariously insane character Orson Welles caricature (my reading) Eric Jonrosh had The Spoils Before Dying on IFC. I was able to stream the first two so far. It doesn’t start as strongly as The Spoils of Babylon but he’s as funny as ever.
Then came Daddy’s Home, a re-teaming with Mark Wahlberg and a return to more family-friendly fare where he’s more successful than most comedians.
The cherry on top of his 2015 was his unannounced return to SNL in a recent cold open as Dubya.
Clearly it was a great year for him, and one thing Wahlberg said in his junket/circuit interviews was true, to paraphrase he said “His comedy doesn’t come from a dark place, he just genuinely wants to me make people laugh,” and in 2015 he made me laugh quite a lot.
One of the awards in the universe of them that has always particularly bothered me are handed out at the ShoWest Convention. They are the Male and Female Star of Tomorrow. What bothers me is that usually when I see these winner announcements there is very little that the recipient has done to earn it. Seeing as how it is labeled as a “tomorrow” prize I can allow that to slide, but it gets my hackles up and gets me feeling like going on a good Dennis Green-style tirade. Even the BAFTA Rising Star Award to contrast usually has nominees who are a bit more accomplished. This roundabout lead-in is to explain the fact that at 25 years of age, yes, Brenton Thwaites is young but he had a breakout year unlike too many I’ve seen and I’ve missed one of his credited titles.
Early in 2014 he was one of four actors to give an absolutely tremendous performance in Oculus. Horror movies are both notoriously overlooked in terms of performance but also typically don’t even seem to care if there are good ones being turned in. His work as a young man who has just been released from psychiatric observation for a traumatic experience that lead to his conviction for the murder of his father is a tremendous part of the success of this film.
Then there is the small, yet significant role, that seems to need to factor into this award on an annual basis. He plays Prince Phillip in Maleficent. Now, one of the things that Maleficent did get right it is that the film was about Maleficent and Briar Rose almost exclusively, and similar to Sleeping Beauty (and other Disney tales) the prince is almost incidental, but he is cast well and carries himself quite regally.
Also in the summertime he was the face, the centerpiece of Jeff Bridges’ longtime-coming labor of love The Giver. Being the memorykeeper of his dystopian futuristic society he has to come off as the dreamer and a hero and does so in both calls to duty. He shares the screen with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep among others and does amazingly well in a film I thought to be highly underrated.
Lastly, there’s The Signal, which is far more than an “indie cred” project but a twist-heavy sci-fi tale that continuously wanders down the rabbit hole. Confused by his circumstances Thwaites’ character here is like a cross of his two other performances on the year and he has not only much dialogue to handle, but plenty of solo time in the early stages of act two where he excels.
It’s rare for a performer in one year to go from unknown to the reason to see a movie, but Thwaites certainly did that in 2014 in my estimation. If I were to place a bet on his future I would think it’s a sure thing but this award, unlike those others, is solely about the year you just had. Whereas, I had cause to nominate some actors twice like Tom Hardy, Thwaites certainly did threaten to earn individual nods, had a great year and established a cinematic presence one that I believe will both grow and linger for quite some time.
In what ended up being a prescient post I was assigned James Franco in a Facebook Actor Game. Basically I was assigned him by a friend and asked to categorize movies he’d been in. Here were my observations, both general and on one of his films of this year. In general:
In my first time playing I was assigned James Franco, which is a pretty interesting choice, and not just because he’s already in the running for Entertainer of the Year this year. So I figured I’d share my thoughts in something slightly larger than a Facebook post here. Also, if you’re so inclined you can like The Movie Rat’s Facebook page here.
It’s too early to tell if this film really is a game-changer, however, what can be said is that it’s a fantastically executed concept and uproariously funny. Crass and immature, yes, but funny too.
As it turns out it was a bit of a game-changer for James Franco, as opposed to a comedy trend (as of yet), because I saw a few other titles with him since then that sealed the deal.
Oz the Great and Powerful is no great shakes, but it wasn’t in my estimation a poor or disconnected Franco but rather a fairly flat film that he made a little more interesting and a less-than-admirable character.
As for more specifics about his participation in This is the End, if it was the last film I’d seen him in this past year, I’m likely picking someone else as a winner. However, the fact that in the middle of the performances of his I saw is a hilarious send-up of how he’s perceived (being perhaps overly-intellectual and perhaps pretentious) while shouting down Danny McBride’s masturbatory habits is the jewel in the crown, for lack of a more humorous term.
Following that I saw Homefront. In Homefront he plays a character named Gator in what is essentially one of the more ideal Jason Statham vehicles yet devised. And while I’d fall short of calling his antagonistic turn there multi-faceted it is a bit more dimensional than most characters of that ilk are given the leeway to be. Franco’s handling of the character and the way he operates surely make Gator stand out more than he likely wold have in the hands of most other actors.
Lastly, at least based on what I saw, there was Spring Breakers, now you’ll note I didn’t particularly care for that film. However, make no mistake about it that there are things about it that I appreciated, and had it not been for Franco as Alien I may not have even have had the desire to complete it because after a certain point he was all that tethered me to the narrative.
That just takes into account what I could see. Many other things Franco was involved in hit Netflix later in the year, or didn’t even get there by year’s end, and they are things I do want to see, like: Interior. Leather Bar., Lovelace, As I Lay Dying, Palo Alto and Child of God.
And that’s just film work. With Franco going to adapt classic works of literature like The Sound and the Fury, I’m more than a little curious about his fiction. All that and he’ll be back perhaps a bit more inspired of all this for the continuation of the Apes prequels. One way in which this award can be viewed as in a career-path altering one, at least in terms of perception. My first selection, the namesake, was a comeback; next a multiple hat-wearer; next a breakout star; next an established star with a varied year; here it’s more an established name elevating his standing in my eyes based on an incredible run, may it keep going.
I think I did start to list potential candidates for this but then thought it’d take some of the drama out of it. Also, if you have to think too much about a body-of-work award like this one, it’s nearly invalidated.
So first there are honorable mentions…
I admit to being woefully ignorant about the oeuvre Joss Whedon before this year. I was not one of the legion following his TV series’. However, with the anticipation building towards The Avengers I saw Dr. Horrible and previously fell in love with The Cabin in the Woods.
Late in the year when this topic was bandied about Matthew McConaughey’s name was getting a lot of traction for roles in Magic Mike, Killer Joe, The Paperboy and Bernie. Also, Mud did well on the festival circuit and is an anticipated 2013 film for me. McConaughey’s year was astoundingly good.
So why not those two? Whedon lacked the spontaneity of some of my past choices. I know of him but not his work and was looking forward to the releases based on premise/buzz. McConaughey’s accolades though mostly genuine almost seem like mea culpas. For whatever reason, he’s got a bad rap. I’ve always liked his work. He hasn’t always been put in the best situations casting-wise (I like Contact but that comes to mind) but if anyone sees Frailty they’d be willing to give him a permanent seal of approval. I’d argue he’s always been underrated and never phoned anything in unlike some who reach tongue-in-cheek cult status, and this year he found dynamite parts and knocked them out of the park. Always felt he could, but was a closeted fan.
However, owing to the fact that last year’s winner had four roles of note and set sort of a precedent and also appeared in films I saw at different stages of the year, those things are some of, but not the only reasons, I choose Samuel L. Jackson.
Jackson, of course, is part of the phenomenon that is The Avengers. To an extent Jackson’s work as Nick Fury is akin to Alan Rickman’s in the Harry Potter series. Jackson has been establishing Fury as the Marvel Universe built itself up on film. The culmination of the effort is the first Avengers film.
However, before and after that film in the year there were two indies that when combined with Django Unchained make him the clear choice.
Now, Meeting Evil and The Samaritan may not be the most universally embraceable films but I enjoyed both and he seemed to also. Sam Jackson has been quoted as saying that he sometimes bases decisions on roles by deciphering if he would’ve wanted to see these films when he was a kid. I think all his choices for 2012 pass that test with ease.
Last, but unquestionably not least, is his performance in Django Unchained. What he does there is nothing short of astounding especially when you consider his screen time. He plays older than he is, adopts new physicality, puts a slightly different spin on his usual tough-guy persona, and then, with impeccable timing and brilliant results, sends up the sidekick subservience that far too many African-American actors of the the past had to settle for.
However, when hearkening to the past in a different way, Jackson also took part in two films that could be classified as neo-noir and played both sides of the equation (protagonist and antagonist).
Smauel L. Jackson is the kind of actor who upon being involved in a project elevates it and has the potential to do something extraordinarily special. He did so in 2012 four times over. If that’s not entertainer of the year, I don’t know what is.
Now, I know what you’re thinking but believe it or not this has very little to do with The Rise of the Planet of the Apes though I will get to that at some point.
Andy Serkis was the lead in the first qualified movie of 2011 an indie film called Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll where he played Ian Drury a punk rock frontman and icon. The film covered a lot of time chronologically and he had a lot of character to play and was nearly honored by the BAM Awards with an acting nomination. It’s a film that makes some interesting creative decisions that is worth seeking out.
Next I saw him playing a completely different type of character entirely, as is par for the course it seems. He played Colleone in the British crime film Brighton Rock and every scene he had in it was just entrancing, he’s flamboyant and pure evil in it and it’s great to watch.
Not I will get to Planet of the Apes. I recognize and get a lot of the positive commentary Serkis received for that film. Whether or not motion capture work can and should be award fodder is a discussion for another time. He emotes for Caesar and makes him a character. In a film that could’ve used a bit more from the human cast he humanized the apes well.
What really seals it though is the fourth Serkis title I saw. When I went to see The Adventures of Tintin I saw his name in the credits and didn’t expect it. So I played a little game wherein I tried to figure out who he was. I had a guess but it wasn’t based on the fact that I knew it was him. It’s more like I know how versatile and impeccable he is.
The man truly is a chameleon and an entertainer to the core and more than deserves this honor.
A few years ago Robert Downey, Jr. was hot on the comeback trail and he could do no wrong. He made Iron Man much cooler than we ever thought it could be and he was side-splittingly funny in Tropic Thunder. Conversely I had been considering creating an Entertainer of the Year award for the BAMs. When those events converged I decided to both name the award after him and have him be the first recipient.
The only real qualification is that you need to have at least two participations (meaning they can be either two films in which you played the same function actor, writer, director, etc. or two functions in one film in which you excelled). Last year’s winner was Michael Keaton for starring in and directing The Merry Gentleman.
This year’s winner is a young lady who has burst on to the scene with three very memorable performances in three disparate films and is now one of the most sought after actors in film.
Chloë Grace Moretz I first saw as a girl who is literally too cool for school in Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She is the kind of character who while somewhat jaded doesn’t waste time trying to be someone she isn’t or impressing people who don’t matter.
Then, of course, there is her performance as Hit Girl. A turn that only just slightly missed multiple nominations. She literally is the whole reason Kick-Ass works, she floats through a bloodbath of her own creation with ease unlike we’ve seen since the Kill Bill series.
As if that wasn’t enough Miss Moretz also took on the role of the vampire in Let Me In, an American rendition of the neo-classic Swedish film Let the Right One In. While the script and director dictate a different direction for her character than previously indicated she still brings to the role incredible vulnerability, menace and a certain disarming innocence, which help make the film great.
For all those reasons she is Entertainer of the Year.
Due to Robert Downey, Jr.’s incredibly entertaining performances in 2008 I decided to name an Entertainer of the Year Award in his honor. Naturally, he was the first winner. This year, at first, qualifiers for that award were few as qualification was stringent to be in keeping with the award’s namesake, meaning that a candidate needed two magnificent parts in films that both equally deserve recognition. Then upon further thought the “Entertainer of the Year” portion of the award’s title came to the forefront and the criteria changed slightly to two participations of equally great entertainment value and thus the award could be easily handed to Michael Keaton for his performance and his direction in The Merry Gentleman, for few had two acting roles that merited recognition on that level.
Keaton not only confidently directs a very adept cast but tells a tale visually with great cinematography. It is also a very different kind of tale which, consistently defies expectations. Unlike some actors-turned-directors the part he plays is not very large in terms of dialogue or very glamorous but it is a great part and he plays it astoundingly well. It is a departure from his usual affable persona. Also, unlike many actors-turned-directors he is unafraid to tell his story in pictures.
In an interview with Guardian he said “It’s great to make your own choices, but there’s a price to pay.” While more mainstream films and appeal have alluded him he found a film here he connected with on many levels. He has crafted a film onscreen and off it that is an embodiment of his statement that “You don’t want to lose your status, but I was never willing to preserve it by doing things I didn’t want to do.” Keaton may not be the name he once was in terms of box office figures but as an artist he has grown in leaps and bounds and this project is a testament to that and this critic hopes there are more on the way.
What else can you say about a man who actually inspires an award to come into being? He literally could’ve swept the male acting categories in 2008 and there wasn’t much that he did that wasn’t awesome and he’s been on a pretty good streak since as well. The award is something that needed to happen and he gave it the push necessary.
This is one of the final two categories and it’s left to be last because it’s one of my two least favorite. The BAM Awards were created as a reaction and this and the Worst Picture have always been included. I wish one year I’d have to caveat both but I have yet to. The fact of the matter is my awards were born in a reactionary fashion and as much as I like to heap praise and nominations on those I like these two categories are a necessary counterbalance. Furthermore, there will be performers of all disciplines that I like in this category and the next, it’s just unfortunate. This is sort of like my equivalent to Gordon Ramsay saying “What a shame” when he eats a dish because he wants it to be good and it misses.
With the overrated moniker keep in mind this does not necessarily mean I dislike the films listed but just that they are rated too highly by fans, critics and the like. This year I may have a more scientific means of selecting nominees. If you want to know my opinion of a film just ask, it may not be negative just not as overwhelmingly positive as many. This is where you’ll see bigger names on my worst list there will be some more obscure titles but more on that when I get there.
The most overrated films have been…
2012 This award has been discontinued. Please follow the link for an explanation as to why. This post will remain up for archival purposes.
Below you will find not only the few winners of my lifetime achievement award but the writeups I did for each, when they were awarded. You will find some redundancy in them as in each I give you a bit behind the genesis of said award. In the first year of this award there was no accompanying text so I have added a slight amount now.
This award is named after Bergman because when I was set to establish an award of its type his last film blew me away and was nominated for many awards. The idea then is that it’s not a parting shot but rather recognition of someone still very much at the top after many, many years.
2020 Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Tom Hanks, Goldie Hawn, and Kurt Russell
Rather than overthinking this one I chose a handful of actors I’ve loved for a long time.
George Lucas’s credentials need hardly be listed here. He was the architect of the Star Wars franchise and one the architects of the Indiana Jones franchise. And, of course, there are his tech innovations with THX, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. Normally, I want my honoree of this award to have a credit in the year of his/her honoring. Lucas does and his contribution is unconventional: of course, he’s credited with “Based on characters created by” but he also helped shape the ending which I loved.
Picking Švankmajer for this award was the first decision I made for these awards. I have featured his work on the site several times, including his cracking one of my film discoveries lists and a feature in one of my earliest posts, when I backed a crowdfunding campaign for his final film, in Bermanesque fashion, it did not disappoint and earned several nominations.
When I posted my BAM Award honorees, it was another long day and I claimed I’d post special awards the following day. The delay in posting any and all of these honorary awards has been due in large part to wrapping a long first draft of a piece of fiction and the fact that a record keeping mistake almost led me to pick the same Lifetime Achievement recipient as last year. Not that John Williams hasn’t done enough for multiple lifetimes, but let’s spread the wealth.
As such I will instead post at least one honoree a day to balance this blog with my other works.
As I deliberated picking people who aren’t exceptionally old as other awards do, I wasn’t inspired by many of my options until I looked at the history of my own awards and how in recent years I had seen the reemergence of some of my favorites into the nominated list. So, that seemed like the perfect reason to celebrate all of their works as I also like to select people who are still making an impact.
Best Supporting Actress winner in 1996 (Mulholland Falls) Best Supporting Actress nominee 1997 (Lolita) Best Actress nominee in 1999 (Shadow of Doubt) Best Actress winner in 2001 (Cecil B. Demented) Best Cast nominee in 2001 (Cecil B. Demented) Best Cast Nominee in 2017 (The Disaster Artist).
Even before the era wherein the BAM Awards were a part of my life Melanie Griffith had already made an impression on me, and in retrospect I went on to view many of her films.
Prior to her most well-known work (Working Girl) she had already made a splash with two films that would end up standing the test of time (Body Double and Something Wild).
While the string of films she was in following Working Girl had varying degrees of success commercially, critically, I enjoy most and like her work in them even more (Pacific Heights, Bonfire of the Vanities, Paradise, Shining Through, Born Yesterday, Milk Money, Nobody’s Fool, Buffalo Girls, Celebrity, Another Day in Paradise, Crazy in Alabama and RKO 281 among those not yet mentioned).
Smaller independent works intervened between her last BAM nomination and The Disaster Artist, but I’d not happened to come across them or gone out of my way to see them, though I should have. The Disaster Artist was a tremendous jolt, a reminder that I’ve not tracked down enough of her works as she was one of the first actors or directors I made a point of seeing.
“Do you even want to be an actor?” her character, an acting instructor, says to Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) in The Disaster Artist. He responds in the affirmative. “Well, you hide it well,” she retorts, and in a film about the making of a cult film, and in many ways the cruelty of Hollywood and entertainment in general; Melanie’s part, and Sharon Stone, as an objectifying talent agent, seems a very conscious and shrewd commentary: these are talented, professional women deserving of respect and recognition.
The delay in posting any and all of these honorary awards has been due in large part to wrapping a long first draft of a piece of fiction and the fact that a record keeping mistake almost led me to pick the same Lifetime Achievement recipient as last year. Not that John Williams hasn’t done enough for multiple lifetimes but let’s spread the wealth.
As such I will post at least one honoree a day to balance this blog with my other works.
As I deliberated picking people who aren’t exceptionally old as other awards do, I wasn’t inspired by many of my options until I looked at the history of my own awards and how in recent years I had seen the reemergence of some of my favorites into the nominated list. So, that seemed like the perfect reason to celebrate all of their works as I also like to select people who are still making an impact.
Best Actress nominee in 1997 (A Thousand Acres) Best Actress nominee in 1998 (Hush) Best Actress winner in 1999 (Cousin Bette) Best Actress winner in 2000 (Titus) Best Cast nominee in 2000 (Titus) Best Supporting Actress winner in 2014 (In Secret)
In the early days of these awards when I was prone to revisionism and trying to create credible nominees from 1981. I was compelled to go back and watch as many things as I could by my favorite directors and actors. Jessica Lange was among these actresses.
Even scrapping those provisional, untrue awards she made more than enough of a mark. Her nominations as Best Actress in four consecutive years was a feat I didn’t notice until I started composing this piece (I like to compose these award without being conscious of things like how many nominations a film is racking up or if so-and-so made it in the year before).
I believe I first knew of Jessica Lange when in a high school cinema class we screened the 1976 King Kong. That allowed me then to seek out and watch many of her films in approximate chronological order. Eventually she became an actress I made a point of going out to the movies to see.
Like many other admirers, I was thrilled when American Horror Story acted as a renaissance for her career. When In Secret was released I rushed out to see it, and I thought for a Zola novel I did not know much about it portrayed a story of that vintage in as modern a way as possible without reinventing it, and Lange stole the entire film, and she was not only nominated again but won her third BAM Award.
In 2015 it was time for her to move on from AHS, but recently she made another tour-de-force appearance on a television series Feud: Bette and Joan, which bears mentioning here as she played Joan Crawford and was dealing with the struggle of being a woman of a certain age in Hollywood, and contrary to her trajectory playing an actress whose talents were never fully appreciated. That role showed that she by no means is done, as I prefer these honorees to be.
If there was one thing that 2016 showed the world, it’s that there should not be a limitation on appreciation. While my lifetime awards want to try to award those “not on their deathbed” it’s become even clearer to all that there are not guarantees and being too premature awarding in a category like this is not the end of the world.
In that spirit I picked two this year, and may find a way to squeeze in three for 2017. Here they are:
50 Academy Award Nominations.
5 Oscars.
Nearly all of Spielberg’s credits.
The basis upon which the scoring of Star Wars and Harry Potter scores are built by others.
Movie stardom is a rare commodity now it seems, and Schwarzenegger definitely has always had that kind of magnetism.
However, after serving two terms as the governor of California, in 2011, as Arnold Schwarzenegger started to appear on the big screen again, I realized something: I’d missed him on-screen. 2016 was an off-year in as much as most of what he’s worked on lately will be out in 2017 and beyond, which is part of the tradition I like to follow (to have things forthcoming of note like (Triplets, The Legend of Conan, Journey to China: Mystery of the Iron Mask, Aftermath, Why We’re Killing Gunther and more) but he still managed to make people take notice:
But while that brought entertainment value to his now-too-rare, sane conservatism this is not a political trophy. Since 2011 he has returned to the Terminator franchise (in which he was far superior to the narrative of the most recent film), delivered perhaps his best performance in Maggie, not only cemented his action legacy but muscled his way into Liam Neeson’s action niche, and, of course, we all know what he was to action in the ’80s.
I like these awards to come around almost by osmosis. I considered another way for Bergman-connected people: like Liv Ullmann, unfortunately I did not see her most recent film (as director).
It seemed like a stretch to pick Max von Sydow, as someone active this year only in the very beginning of the new Star Wars, but as I thought about it it started making more and more sense. He’s been considered before and was part of a BAM-nominated cast this year.
In the future, he will be the human embodiment of Bran’s raven on Game of Thrones.
He has connections with other liftetime winners: He co-Starred with Werner Herzog in What Dreams May Come, was in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters, 14 feature films with Ingmar Bergman himself and Best Intentions based on Bergman’s novel, Sleepless with Dario Argento, and Minority Report with Steven Spielberg.
In a year with another sub-par Bond, it made me long for old Bond films and von Sydow was Blofeld in Never Say Never Again.
Considering that Robin Williams passed well before his time, and the seemingly-immortal Christopher Lee did as well, it’s not too late but about time to honor Max von Sydow. He clearly has well-earned longevity of his career on his side with credits in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s; in other words consecutive decades. He’s 86 years old, and debuted at 22 in Miss Julie (1951).
He was Oscar nominated in 1989 and 2012 (most recently for Extremely loud and Incredibly Close), Golden Globes in 1967 and 1974, Emmy in 1990.
Yet more impressive are his list of credits I’ve not even mentioned yet.
He went from something like Winter Light to playing Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told to being Father Merrin in The Exorcist.
His credits are multi-lingual.
Even the blind spots I have with him are well-regarded:
Tudors
Dune
Dreamscape
Ice Pirates
Three Days of the Condor
Steppenwolf
New Land
Emigrants
His voice has even featured in games like Skyrim and Ghostbusters.
When I discovered he was going to be on Game of Thrones my reaction was simply “Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow,” which was frequently how I reacted to his performances.
In what is usually something I like to consider a norm, Meryl had quite a year in this one where I decided the time had come to honor her so. Back in January the nationwide release of August: Osage County hit theaters and I went to see that and her performance there nearly earned her a second BAM Award nomination this very year. Then, of course, there is her BAM Award nominated turn in Into the Woods. These three roles broke a long string in her filmography which for one reason or another did not compel me to watch them.
However, what Meryl Streep having a year such as this does remind you of is the many years and many roles prior that stood out for so long.
Manhattan, Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, Silkwood, Falling in Love, Heartburn, A Cry in the Dark, Postcards from the Edge, Defending Your Life, Bridges of Madison County, Before and After, Marvin’s Room, …First Do No Harm, Dancing at Lughansa, Music of the Heart, Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (Yes, she is in that, too! Look it up!), Adaptation., The Hours, The Manchurian Candidate, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and many more.
One thing I’ve had occasion to discuss both this year and in the past is my interludes of revisionism. That impulse is not one I feel any longer, however, this is the one chance at anything like it. Clearly one musn’t sit about feeling the need to award Meryl Streep, but it is the very award culture that at times obscures the nearly unparalleled accomplishments some have made. So take a moment and reminisce on these titles, on the scenes, and wonderful little moments therein, and that should bring on more sincere gratitude. This award, as it is meant to be, is not a salvo. I’m quite sure we’ll see much more of her and for that we should all be thankful.
I saw a tweet over the summer, leading up to the release of Blue Jasmine, that asked something to the effect of: I wonder why now is the time that many publications have chosen to do a career retrospective on Woody Allen? Logically speaking, I can’t answer that. He hasn’t necessarily slowed down and like all of us he’s not getting any younger. My theory though is that it took the film-loving community by surprise that shortly after Midnight in Paris he returned with another widely acclaimed film so soon. Due to that fact it caused many to want to start looking back over his career.
I must say it hit me the same way. I caught Blue Jasmine a little later than many but I was quite blown away by it, and even with his recent triumph surprised by it. Woody Allen was one of the earliest writer/directors I gravitated to by name. He’s also one I came back around to, at least once, after I became obsessed by Bergman, seeing as how Allen is a fellow disciple.
It’s a virtual prerequisite that I’ve seen most of the works if not all of the works of the winning director. However, I know there are some of his I’ve not yet checked out (many recent) and I also have a volume of his short stories to check out. It’s a retrospective I’d be glad to take in.
Especially considering that one of the most overlooked aspects of Allen’s repertoire is his ease of going back and forth between comedy and drama, and even mixing them. In my family Allen’s name has long been synonymous with greatness, in writing especially, if not also directing; and I’ve certainly taken the ball and run with it in terms of tracking down his works.
While Allen has had his share of off-screen production-related drama lately he seems to have found a new home at Sony Pictures Classics and has adopted a late-career globetrotting aesthetic that is making returns to New York, even for a scene, a breath of fresh air as well. And, as always, these awards are a recognition of onscreen accomplishment, and Allen’s works have been with me a long time already and I hope to many more years of enjoying his films.
In my 2005 BAM Awards wrap-up, I wrote how I was considering creating a Lifetime Achievement Award and giving it to Ingmar Bergman. The idea was to award him upon completion of his swan song that proved unnecessary when I saw Saraband and it was one of my favorite films of that year and he won Best Director.
It seems this prize has now come full circle as another great director has made what he claims (and right now I believe him) is his last film and it is a great one. This year’s recipient is Bela Tarr.
Tarr is a director I’ve come to know well. However, when I first learned of him and what many consider to be his masterpiece (Satantango) I knew nothing save for the plot of the movie, that it was very long and I had to see it. I went in fairly cold and there was a sort of kinship there. I connected and I got it. That connection extended through much of Hungarian cinema, but it started with Tarr and it started instinctually.
I’ve since come to learn about him, read writings on his work – perhaps what is most fascinating about him is he went from stark cinéma vérité to an aesthetic all his own of long takes, moving cameras, black-and-white minimalist existentialism that is unique in all the world.
I’ve tackled Satantango a number of times, I agree it’s a film that could be viewed annually but I haven’t in a few years and its time to change that. I’ve, of course, seen as many of his films as possible.
It’s one I want to watch all over again. For one thing that is certain is that he proves that auteurism is indeed a live and well. He’s a rare breed, and is also giving back to the cinema fostering artists and striving for aesthetic excellence first and foremost.
The one thing that in my experience I’ve found Tarr has in common with Bergman is this brilliant final bow, his being The Turin Horse.
Tarr’s cinema is one that has evolved and is as exacting as Bergman’s, though not as prolific.
A great filmography is one where many films stand out and apart; Tarr has that:
Hotel Magnezit Family Nest The Outsider Prefab People Macbeth Almanac of Fall Damnation Satantango Journey on the Plain Werckmeister Harmonies The Man From London The Turin Horse
I’ve come to know Hungarian cinema in part because of Bela Tarr and admire it. I admire this man, his work and his vision. This admiration grows leaps and bounds when you add the fact that he’s trying to help ensure the future of the artform in his home country, and around the world.
A great filmmaker’s films will last forever, even greater is the man whose trying to ensure cinema itself lasts forever.
Steven Spielberg has been quotes as saying about Ingmar Bergman “I have always admired him, and I wish I could be a equally good filmaker as he is, but it will never happen. His love for the cinema almost gives me a guilty conscience.” So it seems fitting that someone as talented as he is, who aspires to be the master Bergman is should get this award.
Going into the year I knew the kind of year Steven Spielberg was likely to have. I knew there were many projects coming out that he had some kind of involvement with so the odds ere good he’d be in the running for one of these honorary awards.
Amazingly Steven Spielberg has already won this kind of Award before. The Irving G. Thalberg Award awarded by the Academy is for “Creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production” and Spielberg won this in 1987.
I pick Steven Spielberg this year because he had turned 65 and because 2011 saw one of his most resounding single-year résumés: Spielberg released this year two films he directed War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin, both of which are excellent as one might expect from a director with his track record but Steven Spielberg is also a talented and prolific producer and 2011 saw many titles he produced come out and do great things most notably were Super 8 and Real Steel.
There were a few other box office titans along the way too. The year had a Spielberg project to talk about from beginning to end. Even on television there was Terra Nova and perhaps the most talked about not picked up pilot of Joe Hill’s Locke and Key. And that’s just this year.
While young for a man who has had a career as long and successful as Spielberg has he has been making great movies for a long time. He has made movies that have marked the lives of generations. His great works we all know. The above is just a year in the life. It’s been 40 years since he made Duel and what has transpired since then is one of the most amazing careers in the annals of cinema and it just keeps going. What’s best is that most people when asked will likely have a different favorite. If you ask me, and you have the time, I will tell you why Artificial Intelligence: A.I. is his greatest work. But I won’t argue if you say your favorite is E.T. or Indiana Jones or The Color Purple or Empire of the Sun or Schindler’s List any of them really.
I’ve tried to pick years in in which these artists had a release or two so I could honor them. This year Spielberg has a slew and he’s due. Many of us who love film know he’s great but it’s good to stop and recognize it. Thanks for the memories you given use so far Steven and here’s to many, many more.
The Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement was sort of born because I was set to award my first ever Lifetime Achievement award to Mr. Bergman in light of the US release of Saraband, his last film. In typical Bergman fashion, however, it was one of the best films of the year and no honorary trophy was necessary.
When I decided to finally award one it was perfectly fitting to name it after him. The criteria are somewhat vague but a few things are obvious: a long and distinguished career with many good movies in it and no posthumous/deathbed honorees, which is to try to avoid the slightly uncomfortable Academy Award standard of waiting far too long to prize those who deserve it.
The recipient of this year’s Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement Award is Dario Argento.
Even before he started to make a name for himself as a director in 1970 Argento already had major writing credits, namely Once Upon a Time in the West. However, once he stepped behind the camera and became an auteur he started to leave an indelible mark.
Immediately he started making his presence known by virtually creating a new subgenre, Giallo, single-handedly. His first three films are variations on this theme and due to their titles and motifs are called The Animal Trilogy.
Upon its release The Bird with the Crystal Plumage was an international sensation, which earned him his first of many comparisons to Hitchcock, eventually even Hitch himself would comment that “This young Italian guy is starting to worry me.”
The trilogy closed with The Cat O’ Nine Tails starring Karl Malden. The fame and recognition he received from these film prompted RAI (an Italian television network) to give him a virtual carte blanche for a series of short films sort of like his version of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called La Porta sul buio or Doorway to Darkness.
He followed that up with perhaps the best one-two punch any director in the horror genre ever had with Deep Red and Suspiria. You could argue for days on end about which is better but the latter still gets cited to this day as one of the finest horror films ever crafted.
Suspiria also marked the beginning of a new trilogy called The Mother of Tears Trilogy, which continues with the 1980 release of Inferno. Despite only being completed in 2007, the third installment, Mother of Tears, is brilliant and was quite literally one shot away from being awarded Best Picture.
His three other releases in the 1980s, while in my opinion varied in quality, all have their moments but are cited by many as films that impacted them. First, there is Tenebre, the only one of his films to be set in the future based on the release date and year in the story. Then there is Phenomena, which definitely has its highlights like Donald Pleasence and one of the creepiest kids you’ve ever seen. Then comes another masterpiece called Opera, which is in hindsight somewhat similar to and much better than Black Swan.
The 90s were another mixed bag with the highlight most definitely being The Stendhal Syndrome, which stars his talented daughter Asia Argento.
Yet though some may contend he is fading he still has had some very strong recent turns. For example: Do You Like Hitchcock? a tale wherein film obsession plays a big role; Jenifer, perhaps the most frightening girl you’ve ever seen; Pelts, a genuinely disturbing tale that has a bloody, gruesome frame, the aforementioned Mother of Tears and despite the issues its faced getting distributed, Giallo, a rare film which he didn’t write but still has some very strong parts.
One can only hope that there is much more coming from Mr. Argento as some of his canon is now gaining classic status and is starting to be remade hopefully his films live on and he gives us new material to love.
At the bottom of the BAM Nominee list, this critic’s personal awards for year’s best, there is mention of two honorary awards and who those recipients are. Here is where you will learn more details as to what the those prizes are and why the indicated person won each award.
First listed is The Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement Award, named after the late legendary filmmaker of countless masterpieces. Bergman was initially going to be named the first winner of the prize but instead with his final film Saraband earned him the award as Best Director of 2005 and the film was one of the best of the decade, so the award was named in his honor instead. The previous winner was Clint Eastwood.
In a concerted effort not only to recognize greatness but also to not wait too long to recognize it this year’s recipient is Werner Herzog. Herzog is a man who never makes one film exactly like another. He writes and directs narrative films but is also an accomplished and renowned documentarian. This year alone he released Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans; My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done and a 4-minute version of La Bohème which combines the song “O Soave Fanciulla” with images of Africa. Not only that but he announced the opening of his Rogue Film School in January in Los Angeles. Always pushing the envelope the time for Herzog’s recognition has come.
It’s hardly necessary to go on a lengthy diatribe about the accomplishments of Clint Eastwood as an actor, director and composer. Needless to say he seems to be getting more prolific and better with age. He has had several acclaimed releases since he was given this award and will likely have several more. Rather than give you a laundry list let it suffice to say that Eastwood is awe-inspiring.
The Movie Rat 
