Oklahoma Film Critics Circle

Article: Meet Tulsa's Only Midnight Movie Man

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:22:36 -0500

They Live…

Joe O'Shansky Reviews: Haywire/The Artist

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:27:03 -0600

3-D Isn’t The Only Gimmick

If A Cursor Falls On A Link And There’s No One There To Hear It…

Joe O'Shansky's Top 10 Films of 2011

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:12:00 -0600

Next year I’m doing a Top 11. Unless the Mayans were right.

Click here for the (last?) list…

Michael Smith's Best 10 films of 2011

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 08:08:00 -0600

After seeing about 200 movies in 2011, I decided that there was no definitively great movie of 2011. I can’t imagine people talking about any of these movies in 20 years as having been “all-time classics.”

If last year’s “The Social Network,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Black Swan,” “True Grit” or “Inception” had been released this year, any one of them would have topped the list for this year.

That said, I felt as though 2011 was a year in which many genre films - in categories including comic-book and science-fiction - were better than in the past. A couple were even pretty great.

The result is a 10-best list for 2011 that is, as always, something more like my 10 favorites for the year.

Click here for the list …

Phil Bacharach's Top 10 Films of 2011

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 08:02:24 -0600

Not one of the better years for movies, 2011 ultimately might wind up best remembered as the year everyone finally got a collective migraine from 3-D. Still, there were some outstanding films here and there:

Click here to see the list …

Rod Lott's Top 10 Films of 2011

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:53:18 -0600

With even fewer great movies in 2011 than 2010, I was unsure whether I’d be able to find enough to fill the standard 10 slots. (Oddly, Tom Cruise to the rescue!) I’m also unsure what it says about me that I know general audiences would not be able to handle four of these films, starting with the top three.

Click here to see the list ….

Oklahoma Film Critics Circle names "The Artist" best film of 2011

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:41:00 -0600

Oklahoma City, Dec. 23 — The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, the statewide group of professional film critics, has announced its sixth annual list of awards for achievement in cinema, giving top honors to the “The Artist,” a black-and-white, silent film that speaks volumes about movies and the people who make and watch them.

It also earned two additional wins for Michel Hazanavicius in the categories of Best Director and Best Screenplay, Original.

Set in the early days of Hollywood’s motion picture industry, “The Artist” celebrates the wonders of film as it explores the hazards of celebrity in the structure of a charming love story. Like another of the group’s Top 10 films of the year, Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” it pays tribute to the creative force behind filmmaking while also focusing on the impact the business has on the creative process and product.

“This was a close year in our voting,” OFCC President Rod Lott said. “’Drive,’ a film that in many ways is the polar opposite of ‘The Artist,’ came in a close second for best film of 2011. We had to have a tie-breaker vote, our first, for two categories: Best Screenplay, Adaptation and Best Supporting Actress.”

Rounding out the Oklahoma critics’ list of 10 best films of 2011 list are “Drive,” “The Descendants,” “Hugo,” “Shame,” “Moneyball,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Melancholia,” “The Tree of Life” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Best Actor honors went to George Clooney in “The Descendants.” His subtle portrayal of a man struggling with core issues of being a good father, husband and steward of a large area of pristine wilderness in Hawaii is funny and moving.

Best Actress honors went to Michelle Williams for her stunning portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in “My Week with Marilyn.”

Octavia Spencer earned the Best Supporting Actress for her role as a maid who finds a new kind of freedom in telling the truth about her life in “The Help,” while Albert Brooks, in a role far different from his usual comedic persona, won Best Supporting Actor for his role as a gangster in “Drive.”

“These performances surprised and impressed,” Lott said. ”While the Clooney, Spencer and Brooks films were major studio releases, Williams won for her big role in a small film. One of our goals is to call attention to those films without large distribution patterns or budgets.”

While 2011 was a year of intelligent and surprising films in all genres, it also was a year of some failures. OFCC members selected “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” as their Obviously Worst Film of the Year. Their nod to the sequel “The Hangover Part II” as the Not-So-Obviously Worst Film of the Year suggests that, sometimes, once is enough.

“As professional moviegoers, we see many more unsuccessful films than successful ones,” Lott said. “The Not-So-Obviously Worst Film category contains films that may have great talent behind them, but somehow add up to less than the sum of their parts.”

A new category was added this year, Best Guilty Pleasure, which was won by the “Fright Night” remake.

OFCC members are Oklahoma-based movie critics who write for print, broadcast and online outlets that publish or post reviews of current film releases. Among the media outlets represented are Oklahoma Gazette, The Oklahoman, Tulsa World, Edmond Life & Leisure, This Land Press and Urban Tulsa. Also represented are television station KOKH FOX 25; radio station KJYO/Clear Channel; and the websites 411mania.com, ionOKmag.com, crosswalk.com, u-out.net and shadowcabaret.com.

Film buffs can find the complete list of awards on the OFCC website, ofccircle.org, as well as frequent postings on film-related items and links to individual reviews.

Not all the films named as award winners opened in Oklahoma before voting took place; studios arranged press screenings and provided DVDs of many of their films so OFCC members could assess and consider them for year-end awards.

“We honor achievements in motion pictures each year both to celebrate film and to continue to draw attention to Oklahoma as a place with a sophisticated audience of people who appreciate movies that challenge and entertain,” Lott said.

OFCC promotes film in Oklahoma and strives to increase the visibility of the state’s film-viewing and filmmaking communities.

Complete List of OFCC 2011 Film Awards

Top 10 Films

1. “The Artist”

2. “Drive”

3. “The Descendants”

4. “Hugo”

5. “Shame”

6. “Moneyball”

7. “Midnight in Paris”

8. “Melancholia”

9. “Tree of Life”

10.“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

Best Film

“The Artist”

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”

Best First Feature

Sean Durkin, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Best Actress

Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Actor

George Clooney, “The Descendants”

Best Supporting Actress

Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best Supporting Actor

Albert Brooks, “Drive”

Best Screenplay, Adaptation

“Moneyball,” Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin

Best Screenplay, Original

“The Artist,” Michel Hazanavicius

Best Documentary Film

“Page One: Inside The New York Times”

Best Foreign Language Film

“The Skin I Live In”

Best Animated Film

“The Adventures of Tintin”

Obviously Worst Film

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

Not-So-Obviously-Worst Film

“The Hangover Part II”

Best Guilty Pleasure

“Fright Night”

Jeffrey Huston's Review: The Descendants

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:28:17 -0600

While the quirky, satirical and even provocative sensibilities of Payne’s previous efforts emerge here, The Descendants is his most tender film to date.

Click here to read the full review…

Joe O'Shansky Reviews: These Amazing Shadows/Immortals

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:45:03 -0600

Apparently, even my editors think Ted Turner is an asshole. Meanwhile, Tarsem should just make the world’s awesomest looking commercials. They take less time.

Click: It’s Not Just an Adam Sandler Movie…

Jeffrey Huston Review: Tower Heist

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:43:09 -0600

This movie is a lot of fun and, in the era of Occupy Wall Street, ends up being a perfectly-timed wish-fulfillment caper for the 99%.

Click here to read the full review…

Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Honors Sterlin Harjo With Award for Achievement in Film

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:44:00 -0600

The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle has honored filmmaker Sterlin Harjo with the 2011 Tilghman Award celebrating achievement in cinema in the state.

The OFCC presented Harjo with the Tilghman Award Friday, Nov. 5, after a screening of several of his most recent works, documentary shorts for Tulsa’s This Land Press. The event was at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

Harjo, a 31-year-old member of the Seminole and Creek Nations, has earned international acclaim for films examining contemporary life of Native people. His feature-length narratives – “Four Sheets to the Wind” in 2007 and “Barking Water” in 2009 – are emotionally rich motion pictures populated by complex characters.

“Sterlin’s films are invested with a humanity and depth of emotion that eludes many of his older, more experienced peers,” says OFCC President Rod Lott. “In a short period of time, Sterlin has really raised the bar for Oklahoma filmmakers. He more than deserves the Tilghman for his commitment to his art.”

Sterlin Harjo receives the Tilghman Award from OFCC president Rod Lott

OFCC’s 19 member critics choose as recipients of the award those individuals who have made significant contributions to film, advanced awareness of film in Oklahoma or highlighted Oklahoma as the home of talented and productive filmmakers, actors and others in the industry.

Raised in Holdenville and now living in Tulsa, Harjo began his filmmaking career while he was an art student at the University of Oklahoma. He credits a film class of Misha Nedeljkovich there with introducing him to the motion pictures of John Cassavetes and other independent-minded directors.

“It really opened my eyes to foreign films and independent films,” Harjo says. “He (Nedeljkovich) introduced me to all these different filmmakers and … the fact that you could make your own kind of film and it didn’t have to be like the stuff you see coming out of Hollywood.”

After launching into film, Harjo was selected to the Sundance Institute Filmmaker Lab. There he met producer Chad Burris, a Weatherford native, and the pair collaborated on a short film, “Goodnight Irene,” before tackling a larger project based on Harjo’s screenplay.

That resulting work, “Four Sheets to the Wind,” premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story of a young man named Cufe Smallhill (Cody Lightning) who goes to live with his troubled sister after the death of their father. The movie drew strong critical acclaim and earned a Sundance Special Jury Prize for Tamara Podemski, who portrayed Cufe’s sister. The actress later earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance.

In 2009, Harjo wrote and directed “Barking Water,” a haunting road film about a dying man and his ex-lover traveling across Oklahoma to visit the man’s estranged son. The movie also premiered at Sundance and has been screened around the world.

“I just don’t see myself making films about any other place,” Harjo says. “I mainly tell stories about contemporary Native people from specific tribes — usually Seminole and Creek — and the history of those tribes are that they were displaced from their homeland and put in Oklahoma. There’s a whole dynamic there that’s already created; it’s already complex, and it’s already going to influence my storytelling.”

Previous Tilghman Award recipients are documentary filmmaker Bradley Beeseley, Oklahoma City Museum of Art film curator Brian Hearn and Circle Cinema Foundation president Clark Wiens.

The Tilghman Award is named for William Matthew “Bill” Tilghman, widely credited with being the first individual to make a feature-length movie in what is now Oklahoma. He served as a deputy U.S. marshal and police chief in Oklahoma City, among other law-related positions. Tilghman also served as a state senator. In 1908, he made “A Bank Robbery,” which starred real-life bank robber Al Jennings recreating one of his crimes.

It was the first of several films Tilghman set in the state. In 1915, the lawman-turned-filmmaker made “Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws,” again starring actual criminals and the good guys who chased them. He is known for his attempts to deglamorize the outlaw villain and for striving to prove there are no outlaw heroes.

Joe O'Shansky Reviews: In Time/The Rum Diary

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:12:56 -0500

Plagiarizer! Andrew Niccol that is.

Click here for Original Thoughts…

Jeffrey Huston Reviews: The Ides of March

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:22:40 -0500

A polished but undistinguished Oscar hopeful, one where the execution of the material is first-rate but the script itself—while fine—plays like a “Greatest Hits of Political Parables.” It’s done well, but we’ve seen all this before.

Click here to read the full review…

Joe O'Shansky Feature: Reel Progress

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 04:07:00 -0500

Wherein Tulsa Gets An International Film Festival!

Let Your Finger Do The Clicking…

Jeffrey Huston Reviews: Moneyball

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:30:00 -0500

For people who’ve never been that interested in baseball, Moneyball may very well provoke a fascination with the game in a way that no traditional inspiring sports movie ever could.

Click here to read the full review…

Joe O'Shansky Review: Beats, Rhymes and Life/Project Nim

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 04:22:27 -0500

I’m loving documentaries because they are awesome. And I didn’t see Contagion.

Click here if you are actually reading this…

Joe O'Shansky: The Ten Best and Five Worst Films of the Summer

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:19:00 -0500

2011 Edition!

Click here for Love and Hate…Then watch Do the Right Thing!

Joe O'Shansky Reviews: Conan the Barbarian/Fright Night

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:02:00 -0500

Conan the Conqueror. It could happen. Arnie’s the right age and out of work. John Milius isn’t dead yet. Keep hope alive! Meanwhile, Fright Night is awful.

Click here to find out why, unsurprisingly, these movies sucked…

Joe O'Shansky Reviews: Crazy, Stupid, Love/The Trip

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:31:57 -0500

Two dissimilar romantic comedies for the price of one.

”Shay whus own-lay fef-teen yaz owld!”…

Phil Bacharach Review: Cowboys & Aliens

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:48:24 -0500

“Cowboys & Aliens” sounds like one of those high-concept flicks for which you might expect the idea went no further than the jokey title. Think “Snakes on a Plane.”

But in one of the pleasant surprises of the summer-movie season, this genre mash-up is lean, handsomely crafted entertainment. It works precisely because it acts as if there’s no joke. You’ve got cowboys, and you’ve got aliens. ’Nuff said.
Click here to read the rest of the review …