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.
Thankfully this year I spared myself the stress of forgetting that Special Jury Awards were an option until it was too late and I thought of two worthy recipients for very specific reasons which don’t fit into existing award pigeonholes.
Tom Cruise
While the most recent installment of the Mission Impossible franchise didn’t bring people to movie theaters in droves as Top Gun: Maverick did, it was key in illustrating Tom Hanks’ insistence on constantly topping himself in terms of his over-the-top stunt work and it’s precisely this kind of unique achievement these awards are designed for.
Wish and Spider-Man:Into the Spider-Verse
One thing I wanted to give these films very specialized kudos for was for being mainstream animated films that took unique visual approaches. Both Wish and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse exploited the medium of animation brilliantly to create worlds that were simultaneously outré yet also like book pages in many forms. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse many disparate universes are accompanied by disparate visual styles that share the same DNA, a textured look that both emulates old-school comic book pages but feels alive and kinetic, especially in 3-D. In Wish’s case animators took an old-school Disney trope of opening on a literal story book and turned that into the visual signature of the whole film.
Apologies for posting this blank earlier today. Am updating it now.
I will be live blogging during the Academy Awards tonight as I have been for a few years.
Red Carpet
Started watching red carpet coverage starting at 4. It’s been a long time since I watched it this early.
Liking Laverne Cox on the carpet and Christian Siriano’s panel.
Ceremony
This year’s plan to bring out former winners to announce nominees is really great.
It’s spectacular to see Mary Steenburgen and Rita Moreno there.
Da’Vine Joy-Randolph’s award was most well deserved indeed and that speech was spectacular.
All the animated shorts should be viewed. War is Over won for messaging and love of the Beatles, but it wasn’t the best film by any means.
Jimmy Kimmel is in full dad-joke mode this year.
ANATOMY OF A FALL!!! Hell, yeah!
Cord Jefferson’s speech is espousing what I’ve wanted from the studios for twenty years.
I was thinking earlier today how awesome it is that John Cena seems up for anything based on his new Amazon movie and now he does the naked bit on the Oscars. 🤣😂😅😂🤣🤣😅🤣
Gonna be hard to top Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling’s patter before the stunt montage.
RDJ’s speeches this season have been great.
I haven’t seen Michael Keaton’s reprise of Batman but the Oscars might have provided something better.
The Last Repair Shop is a lovely and moving documentary that is streaming on Disney+. Watch it.
20 Days in Mariupol is next on my tough-watch must-see documentary list.
If Bert Sugar is your thing it’s on Netflix. It’s very much not mine, I suggest you seek out the other nominees.
Unusual for a non-action movie to get a Best Sound award but I don’t dislike it. It should happen more often.
OK, “I’m Just Ken” was worth the wait.
Billie Eilish and company sneaking by the Academy president is one of the better moments of the night.
Conclusion
Posts were admittedly a bit light this year because of a small viewing party I had. Thought it was a good show overall.
There actually was some drama because while Oppenheimer winning was not a surprise, the trajectory of the winners didn’t make that seem like an entirely sure thing.
The moment was a bit deflating due to Al Pacino’s slight fumble on the reading of the envelope, though.
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.
Ayo Adebiri
It’s rare for me to see two animated films one after another wonder who voiced a particular character and find the same answer, those films being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Now, perhaps, if The Bear wasn’t a TV blindspot of mine I would have recognized her voice, but I’m not always great at picking out celebrities doing voice work. Regardless, her characterization in both films is outstanding and jumped out to me as a strong point in both film which is a rare feat now even with all the quality animated films going around. Yet, beyond that Adebiri was one of the standouts of the ensemble cast in Theater Camp playing an important part as a staffer whose story remains unknown throughout most of the film. Those performance were impressive enough to earn her this honor even though her most widely viewed live-action performance on film in 2023, Bottoms, was one I happened to miss seeing.
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.
Christopher Lloyd
During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA I continued going to the movies, there were many reasons for this. Most notably was the fact that as studios hoarded, postponed, and canceled releases movie theaters needed attendees to whatever they could screen to stay afloat. The strike also meant that films from smaller production companies and distributors landed on more screens. One such release, Camp Hideout, landed on many multiplex screens this summer including one near me that allowed me see yet another fine performance by Christopher Lloyd where I otherwise would’ve had to rent or otherwise stream it.
Christopher Lloyd has had roles large and small that would’ve made legends of any actor had those been his only roles such as his turn as Taber in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (a film whose ensemble cast is far too often under-appreciated because of the magnetism and prowess of its leads), Dr. Brown in the Back to the Future series, and the singular Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Uncle Fester in the original cinematic incarnation of The Addams Family.
He’s found his home on screen playing offbeat, disparate supporting characters onscreen while also continuing a lengthy and accomplished career on stage. His output has never slowed, and through the years he’s shown himself to have the rare ability of making anything he’s in better and adds gravitas to the given film. He’s also had some excellent turns in smaller, less well-known projects as of late such as The Tender Bar and I am not a Serial Killer.
More evidence of the continued prolific nature of his output can be see in the upcoming tab on his IMDb page which lists eight credits as of this writing. Lloyd represents a breed of highly skilled character actor that is becoming far too rare a thing and deserves recognition for that reason.
Harrison Ford
I had just finalized my selections for these lifetime achievement awards this year when I watched discovered, unbeknownst to me, that Harrison Ford was receiving the same honor at the Critics Choice Awards that I was watching, which to me sealed this decision as something that was fated.
The feeling that we as a moviegoing public owe thanks has been growing amongst many, myself included. While some might cynically you could call his recent appearances a farewell tour of his most memorable roles, he’s not phoned it in by any means, but rather delivered time and time again as he always has. In these films he’s brought new dimension to characters he’d played several times over like Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Deckard the latter in Blade Runner 2049 was impactful far beyond his fleeting moments on screen.
Even before reprising characters he made household names, Ford earned BAM Award nominations as Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Ender’s Game (he was also nominated for Best Cast in the same film) for bringing the steel, single-mindedness, intimidation required of Colonel Graff.
Aside from originating and defining iconic characters on celluloid he’s also played Jack Ryan on two occasions, a role that like Bond has been passed from actor to actor. And it’s not as if he only has been memorable in franchises as James Mangold pointed out in his introductory speech listing many of the films he’s been in evokes him Witness, Presumed Innocent, Air Force One, Regarding Henry, The Fugitive even Working Girl to an extent though it’s a film very much not about his character but part of its success if having him as a presence in the story.
And it’s not as if he’s slowing down or averse to taking on new things, he’s recently branched out into prestige television with Apple’s Shrinking and Paramount+’s 1923 and he will be the latest living legend to join the MCU in the next in the next Captain America film. I hope he’ll continue lending his considerable talent and touch of Old Hollywood star-power to more and varied projects for years to come.
A neutron star is one that glows more brightly after it “death,” similarly these filmmakers and actors do. It’s a counterpart to the Lifetime Achievement Award which is intended for filmmakers and actors who are very much alive and kicking.
Ub Iwerks
Iwerks was a name I knew as an animation-obsessed kid. He of course directed for both Disney and Looney Toons under Leon Schlesinger’s banner. He was my most viewed director of 2023 per Letterboxd due to the fact that in tracking down the King of Cartoons’ selections on Pee Wee’s Playhouse following the passing of Paul Reubens, he directed a vast majority of those selections either for his own production company or Screen Gems.
When I posted an update in January of last year hinting at the eventual installment of the BAM Awards I figured I would post all the winners, including the special awards written up in separate posts, at the same time. Because that’s how I’d come to do it lately. Though I didn’t expressly stated, I thought I would do so again…
…but as I got to drafting some of these posts, I realized I didn’t want to have any of the honorees lost in the shuffle of a barrage of new posts all on the same day, so starting tomorrow (March 6th, 2024) I will post one of the special category winners daily. I will pause on Sunday and more than likely live blog the Oscars, then release the remaining BAM Award results on March 11, 2024 as previously planned.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
On the Internet I’m sure you’ve seen memes pop up on dates featured in popular movies. Some notable versions of the idea of a movie holiday are Mean Girls day, Back to the Futureday, and Breakfast Clubday. However, the dates that get viral or are pushed by social media teams aren’t the only ones worth noting.
While I have seen it popping up some already on the interwebs today, it deserved to be amplified, Happy Hot Fuzz day!
So enjoy Hot Fuzz today, or a drink (if you’re of legal age where you live), and laugh. Cheers!
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
