lights, camera...party!

Houston's toughest critics invite movie fans and cinema snobs to fab film fête and awards show

Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin

The Banshees of Inisherin leads nominees for Best Picture.

Photo by Jonathan Hession / courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Houston's film critics are set to hand out awards for the best movies of the year, and all local movie fans and film geeks are invited.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once lead nominees for the Houston Film Critics Society’s 16th annual awards, to be held at 7 pm Saturday, February 18 at the Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH). Tickets are available here and start at $10.

Both films are nominated for nine honors, including Best Picture. Other films competing for the top award are Elvis, The Fabelmans, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, RRR, Tár, Till, Top Gun: Maverick, and Women Talking.

“As the industry continues to debate how we should experience the magic of film, moviemakers continue to imagine creative stories about compelling people,” says Doug Harris, HFCS president. “This year, the films we honor showcase a community daring to rethink, refresh and reinvent.”

Nominated as the year’s Best Actors are Austin Butler (Elvis), Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), and Jeremy Pope (The Inspection). Competing for Best Actress are Cate Blanchett (Tár), Viola Davis (The Woman King), Danielle Deadwyler (Till), Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), and Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once).

“The range of performances this year illustrate what actor and creator can deliver when they free themselves to imagine,” says Travis Leamons, HFCS secretary. “It’s difficult to remember a year where each performance could capture the final awards. The nominees are especially strong in 2022.”

An annual highlight of the ceremony will be the presentation of the Texas Independent Film Award, honoring the best of film made in the Lone Star State. This year’s nominees explore the choices of youth in Acid Test, a fascination with outer space in Apollo 10-1/2: A Space Age Childhood, the hopes of would-be parents in Conception, the natural beauty of the Lone Star State in Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story, and the extraordinary life of a legendary athlete in Facing Nolan.

Here is the official rundown of nominees:

Best Picture

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

RRR

Tár

Till

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

Best Director

The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh

Elvis, Baz Luhrmann

Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg

Tár, Todd Field

Women Talking, Sarah Polley

Best Actor – Leading Role

Austin Butler, Elvis

Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick

Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

Best Actress – Leading Role

Cate Blanchett, Tár

Viola Davis, The Woman King

Danielle Deadwyler, Till

Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Actor – Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin

Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Mark Rylance, Bones and All

Ben Whishaw, Women Talking

Best Actress – Supporting Role

Jessie Buckley, Women Talking

Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Screenplay

The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh

Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner

Tár, Todd Field

Women Talking, Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews

Best Animated Feature

Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Turning Red

Best Cinematography

Avatar: The Way of Water, Russell Carpenter

Babylon, Linus Sandgren

Nope, Hoyte Van Hoytema

The Fabelmans, Janusz Kamiński

Top Gun: Maverick, Claudio Miranda

Best Documentary

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Bad Axe

Fire of Love

Good Night Oppy

Navalny

Best Foreign Language Feature

All Quiet on the Western Front

Argentina, 1985

Close

Decision to Leave

RRR

Best Original Score

Babylon, Justin Hurwitz

The Banshees of Inisherin, Carter Burwell

Empire of Light, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

The Fabelmans, John Williams

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Alexandre Desplat

Women Talking, Hildur Guðnadóttir

Best Original Song

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, “Lift Me Up,” Ludwig Göransson, Tems, Rihanna

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, “Ciao Papa,” Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro, and Roeban Katz

RRR, “Naatu Naatu,” Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, and Rahul Sipligunj

Till, “Stand Up,” Jazmine Sullivan and Dermset “D’Mile” Emile II

Top Gun: Maverick, “Hold My Hand,” Lady Gaga, BloodPop, and Benjamin Rice

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

RRR

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Stunt Coordination Team

The Batman

Everything Everywhere All at Once

RRR

Top Gun: Maverick

The Woman King

Best Ensemble Cast

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Women Talking

Texas Independent Film Award

Acid Test

Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

Conception

Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story

Facing Nolan

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(Full disclosure: Craig D. Lindsey is a member of the Houston Film Critics Society.)

Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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Houston's toughest critics invite movie fans and cinema snobs to fab film fête and awards show

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