January 2022 – Below the Line

W. Kamau Bell Needs to Talk About Bill Cosby — and His Docuseries About the Disgraced Comic

January 31, 2022 Jeff Sneider Comments Off

As soon as I finished watching Showtime’s new Bill Cosby docuseries, I knew I needed to talk to W. Kamau Bell, the insightful comedian who directed We Need to Talk About Cosby. Bell’s four-hour documentary or “cultural anthropology,” as he calls it, examines the sordid allegations against Cosby, who went to prison for drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women. His conviction marked rock bottom for the disgraced comic, who appears to have left […]

Nanny Review: Sundance Winner Examines Horrors of the Modern Immigrant Experience

January 31, 2022 J. Don Birnam Comments Off

Motherhood was certainly a theme of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, from the lighthearted abortion drama Call Jane starring Elizabeth Banks to the suspense thriller Resurrection starring Rebecca Hall. Titans actress Anna Diop isn’t nearly as well known in comparison, and yet it was her new Sundance movie, Nanny, that outshined the others in terms of its thematic exploration of motherhood. Produced on a shoestring budget by indie production companies, Nanny presents as a small, unambitious movie, but […]

Candyman Composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe on Bringing His Signature Style to Sequel’s Score

January 31, 2022 J. Don Birnam Comments Off

Last year’s Candyman sequel, which hailed from director Nia DaCosta and her co-writer Jordan Peele, was one of the quiet hits of last fall, hooking nearly $80 million worldwide in the middle of the pandemic. The horror film was a direct follow-up to Bernard Rose‘s now-classic 1992 slasher movie, which told the urban legend of Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd), aka “Candyman,” the ghost of an artist and the son of a slave who was murdered in […]

Clean Director Paul Solet on His New Crime Movie Starring Adrien Brody and a Huge Gun

January 28, 2022 Jeff Sneider Comments Off

The gripping documentary Tread made my Top 10 list of 2020 and marked director Paul Solet as one to watch, so when I was offered the chance to check out his latest movie, Clean, I jumped at it. Solet co-wrote the gritty crime movie with its Oscar-winning star Adrien Brody, who plays against type as a garbageman with a violent past whose deadly instincts are triggered when he and a […]

God’s Country DP Andrew Wheeler on Shooting the Sundance Film in Montana — Twice

January 28, 2022 Jeff Sneider Comments Off

One of the most visually arresting films I saw at Sundance this year was Julian Higgins’ promising directorial debut God’s Country, which was shot by Higgins’ longtime DP Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler has been working with Higgins since their days at AFI together, and their 2011 short film Thief won a Student Academy Award. He also shot Winter Light, the Higgins-directed short film on which God’s Country is based. Though the story […]

Resurrection Review: Marvelous Rebecca Hall Can’t Save Sundance Thriller From Self-Inflicted Wounds

January 27, 2022 J. Don Birnam Comments Off

A good murder mystery asks the question of “who done it?” but the psychological version of a whodunit asks whether “it” was done at all. Resurrection isn’t a murder mystery at all, but it is one of those movies where you’re not quite sure whether the protagonist is suffering from some kind of mental illness or not, or if their memory is to be trusted. Though confusingly marketed as a horror […]

DGA Awards Nominees Include Steven Spielberg and Lin-Manuel Miranda

January 27, 2022 Jeff Sneider Comments Off

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has announced the nominees for the 74th Annual DGA Awards for Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2021. The biggest difference between the DGA nominees and this year’s Golden Globe nominees is that Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza) was nominated instead of Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter), though Gyllenhaal was nominated among a crop of promising first-team filmmakers, including fellow actress Rebecca Hall, whose Passing was […]

Writers Guild Unveils Nominees for WGA Awards, Including CODA and Licorice Pizza

January 27, 2022 Jeff Sneider Comments Off

The Writers Guild of America has announced its motion picture nominees for the 74th Annual Writers Guild Awards, which will take place on Sunday, March 20. Apple’s CODA continued its hot streak on Thursday, adding an Adapted Screenplay nomination to the PGA Award nod it received earlier in the day. The original screenplay category boasts several heavy hitters, including Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch), Adam McKay (Don’t […]

ACE Eddie Awards Announce 2022 Nominees, Including King Richard and Cruella

January 27, 2022 Jeff Sneider Comments Off

The American Cinema Editors (ACE) has announced the nominees for its 72nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards, which recognize outstanding editing in film, television and documentaries. Winners will be announced on March 5 at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. The half-capacity show originally was set for Feb. 26. As previously announced, the Sundance Institute will receive the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award, while film editors Lillian E. Benson and Richard […]

Producers Guild Announces Nominees for 2022 PGA Awards

January 27, 2022 Staff Comments Off

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced the nominations in its Motion Pictures and Television categories for the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards, which will take place on March 19 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California. The nominated producers in the Theatrical Motion Picture, Animated Theatrical Motion Picture, Television Series/Special, Limited Series Television, Televised or Streamed Motion Picture and Documentary Motion Picture are: Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer […]