Connect with us

Entertainment

'Anora' wins at an emotionally charged Spirit Awards

Published

on

'Anora' wins at an emotionally charged Spirit Awards

Continuing to build momentum as award season nears its conclusion, “Anora” won three prizes at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon, including best feature. The movie was also recognized for director Sean Baker and lead performance for Mikey Madison.

Kieran Culkin won for supporting performance for “A Real Pain,” while Jesse Eisenberg won for the film’s screenplay.

The winner of the Spirit Award for best feature has gone on to win the Oscar for best picture in four of the last 10 years. And in 2023 and 2024, the two years since the Spirit Awards switched to gender-neutral acting categories with 10 nominees each, the winner for supporting performance has gone on to win the Oscar, while the winner of the lead performance award has been nominated for an Oscar but lost.

In the television categories, “Shōgun” won best new scripted series, while “Baby Reindeer” swept the performing prizes with three wins.

In her opening monologue, host Aidy Bryant referred to the event as “Hollywood’s third or fourth biggest night,” capturing the relaxed, low-pressure atmosphere befitting an afternoon ceremony held in an oversize tent near the beach in Santa Monica.

Advertisement

With a number of awards shows postponed in the aftermath of the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles last month, there have often been awkward moments at events, as presenters and hosts struggle to find the right tone that still allows for a sense of celebration.

“I do want to acknowledge that I know it feels a little silly to have an awards show now, but your films are important to people,” said Bryant. “Independent film is passionate people working together to build something better. And who better to help rebuild the city of Los Angeles than our community?”

She noted a fund for people to make donations to help filmmakers affected by the recent wildfires.

“Film is what this city was built on,” added Bryant. “And who built it? A bunch of annoying dorks like us.”

A rousing speech from ‘Anora’s’ Sean Baker

In accepting the award for best director, Baker gave the evening’s most rousing speech. Setting his statue down and pulling pages from his pocket, he began to read an impassioned plea on what he called the “current state of indie film.”

Advertisement

“I’m an indie-film lifer,” Baker said, noting that he doesn’t make movies to be calling cards for larger studio projects. “Some of us want to make personal films that are intended for theatrical release with subject matter that would never be greenlit by the big studios.”

But the state of indie film was precarious, he warned.

“The system has to change because this is simply unsustainable,” Baker continued, detailing in depth the average time needed to make an indie film and the personal costs involved for directors. “We are creating product that creates jobs and revenue for the entire industry. We shouldn’t be barely getting by.”

Calling for higher upfront fees, Baker said, “Let’s demand what we’re worth. I know that if you’re in this room, you’ve proven you’re worth it. So let’s not undervalue ourselves any longer.”

As the audience erupted in cheers and a standing ovation, Baker pleaded for filmmakers, financiers, sales companies and distributors to work together “to make indie films sustainable for creatives and keep indie film alive. This is for all the indie-film lifers who are holding on and fighting the good fight.”

Advertisement

How to face ‘dark times’

Last year’s Spirit Awards were disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters using a loudspeaker outside the tent to amplify their message. Though the overall atmosphere this year was not as stridently political, the outside world still found its way into the tent.

What could have been the event’s most charged political moment — when the film “No Other Land,” made by a collective of Israeli and Palestinian directors, won the documentary award — ended up slightly muted. No one from the film was in attendance and no speech was given.

But the policies of the new U.S. administration have already had an impact on some of those in the room Saturday. Hunter Schafer, the trans performer nominated for her lead performance in “Cuckoo,” revealed this week that her newly issued passport misgenders her. Schafer made no mention of the incident as she took to the stage to co-present an award that went to trans actor Nava Mau for “Baby Reindeer.”

In her speech, Mau said, “We don’t know what is going to happen, but we do know our power. We do know that we get to decide who we work with. We get to decide what we work on. Even if it doesn’t feel that way, we do have all the power. Because we are the people and our labor is everything. So please, please — let’s stick together. We can do this. We’re going to get through it.”

In accepting the John Cassavetes Award for a film made for under $1 million, “Girls Will Be Girls” filmmaker Shuchi Telati acknowledged, “Honestly, these are dark times and we’re culture makers. And thank you to all the people who support this work, who support stories of quiet rebellion.”

Advertisement

The prize for ensemble in a scripted series went to “How to Die Alone,” which was recently canceled by Hulu. In accepting the award, the show’s star and creator Natasha Rothwell noted she was not going to cry because she took beta blockers, but, choking up regardless, said, “beta blockers need to do more beta blocking.”

Rothwell added, “At its core, ‘How to Die Alone’ is a show about the need to feel seen, to be valued just as you are. And for Black stories, visibility isn’t a privilege, it is a necessity. We deserve to take up space.”

Rothwell finished her speech by saying, “To the trans community that is under attack right now, know that you are not alone. I see you. We see you. We all see you. We stand with you.”

Accepting the award for new non-scripted or documentary series for “Hollywood Black,” executive producer Justin Simien said, “I did not expect this, so I’m going to say what’s on my heart here. If you really are serious about stopping the white nationalist coup taking over the country — have you heard of it? — if you’re serious about stopping this, how about amplifying Black history? Because Black people, we’ve been in a fascist country this whole time.”

Josh Welsh remembered

The acting president of Film Independent, Brenda Robinson, gave a speech in the middle of the ceremony in which she mentioned Josh Welsh, the organization’s longtime leader who died on New Year’s Eve after battling colon cancer for five years. At the mention of Welsh’s name the room burst into applause and an emotional standing ovation.

Advertisement

Before leading the audience in a second standing ovation, Robinson said, “Josh is a visionary of the type that comes along once in a lifetime. We want his work and impact to continue on, because he is a great leader. He is a person of exceptional character. I speak about him very deliberately in the present tense, because he is still here. He’s here. We will feel his spirit in the programs he created and the lives of filmmakers who he impacted, always and in all ways. Josh is only absent in the body, but the spirit of who Josh is and what he means to this community — that is forever.”

In accepting the Robert Altman Award for “His Three Daughters,” filmmaker Azazel Jacobs acknowledged “the spirit of Josh Welsh,” saying, “I’m one of the people whose kindness and encouragement he deeply touched and I’m grateful for him.”

In his speech for winning the feature prize for “Anora,” Baker also noted, “I know we are all thinking about Josh Welsh tonight, a true champion of independent voices and a wonderful, kind human being. We’ll miss you, Josh. We’ll miss you. Long live independent cinema.”

A complete list of today’s Spirit winners

FILM CATEGORIES

Best Feature
“Anora”
Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

Advertisement

Director
Sean Baker, “Anora”

Screenplay
Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”

First Feature
“Dìdi”
Director: Sean Wang
Producers: Valerie Bush, Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters

First Screenplay
Sean Wang, “Dìdi”

John Cassavetes Award
(for best feature made under $1,000,000)
“Girls Will Be Girls”
Writer-Director-Producer: Shuchi Talati
Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne

Advertisement

Breakthrough Performance
Maisy Stella, “My Old Ass”

Supporting Performance
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain” (Searchlight Pictures)

Lead Performance
Mikey Madison, “Anora”

Robert Altman Award
“His Three Daughters”
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Casting Director: Nicole Arbusto
Ensemble Cast: Jovan Adepo, Jasmine Bracey, Carrie Coon, Jose Febus, Rudy Galvan, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Randy Ramos Jr., Jay O. Sanders

Cinematography
Jomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”

Advertisement

Editing
Hansjörg Weissbrich, “September 5”

International Film
“Flow”
Director: Gints Zilbalodis

Documentary
“No Other Land”
Directors: Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
Producer: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning

Someone to Watch Award
Sarah Friedland, “Familiar Touch”

Truer Than Fiction Award
Rachel Elizabeth Seed, “A Photographic Memory”

Advertisement

Producers Award
Sarah Winshall

TELEVISION CATEGORIES

Best New Scripted Series
“Shōgun”
Creators/Executive Producers: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks
Executive Producers: Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, Michael Clavell
Co-Executive Producers: Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Jamie Vega Wheeler

Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series
“Hollywood Black”
Executive Producers: Shayla Harris, Dave Sirulnick, Stacey Reiss, Jon Kamen, Justin Simien, Kyle Laursen, Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jeffrey Schwarz, Amy Goodman Kass, Michael Wright, Jill Burkhard
Co-Executive Producers: David C. Brown, Laurens Grant

Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series
Nava Mau, “Baby Reindeer”

Advertisement

Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series
Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”

Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series
Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”

Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series
“How to Die Alone”
Ensemble Cast: Melissa DuPrey, Jaylee Hamidi, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Arkie Kandola, Elle Lorraine, Michelle McLeod, Chris “CP” Powell, Conrad Ricamora, Natasha Rothwell, Jocko Sims

Advertisement

Movie Reviews

Roll On 18 Wheeler: Errol Sack’s ‘TRUCKER’ (2026) – Movie Review – PopHorror

Published

on

Roll On 18 Wheeler: Errol Sack’s ‘TRUCKER’ (2026) – Movie Review – PopHorror

I am a sucker for all those straight-to-video slasher movies from the 90’s; there was just a certain point where you knew the acting was terrible, however, it made you fall in love. I can definitely remember scanning the video store sections for all the different horror movies I could. All those movies had laughable names and boom mics accidentally getting in the frame. Trucker seems like a child of all those old dreams, because it is.

Let’s get into the review.

Synopsis

When a group of reckless teens cause an accident swroe to never speak of it.  The father is reescued by a strange man. from the wreckage and nursed back to health by a mysterious old man. When the group agrees to visit the accident scene, they meet their match from a strange masked trucker and all his toys with revenge on his mind.

Roll on 18 Wheleer

Trucker is what you would imagine: a movie about a psychotic trucker chasing you. We have seen it many, many times. What makes the film so different is its homage to bad movies but good ideas. I don’t mean in a negative way. When you think of a slasher movie, it’s not very complicated; as a matter of fact, it takes five minutes to piece the film together. This is so simple and childlike, and I absolutely love it. Trucker gave us something a little different, not too gory, bad CGI fire, I mean, this is all we old schlock horror fans want. Trucker is the type of film that you expect from a Tubi Original, on speed. However, I would take this over any Tubi Original.

I found some parts that were definitely a shout-out to the slasher humor from all those movies. Another good point that made the film shine was the sets. I guess what I can say is the film is everything Joy Ride should have been. While most modern slashers are trying to recreate the 1980s, the film stands out with its love for those unloved 1990’s horror films. While most see Joyride, you are extremely mistaken, my friend; you will enjoy this film much more.

Advertisement

In The End

In the end, I enjoyed the entire film. At first, I saw it listed as an action thriller; I was pleasantly surprised, and Trucker pulled at my heart strings, enveloping me in its comfort from a long-forgotten time in horror. It’s a nostalgic blast for me, thinking back to that time, my friends, my youth, and finding my new home. Horror fans are split down the middle: from serial-killer clowns (my side) to elevated horror, where an artist paints a forty-thousand-year-old demon that chases them around an upper-class studio apartment. I say that a lot, but it’s the best way to describe some things.

The entire movie had me cheering while all the people I hated suffered dire consequences for their actions. It’s the same old story done in a way that we rabid fans could drool over, and it worked. In all the bad in the world today, and my only hope for the future is the soon-to-end Terrifier franchise. However, the direction was a recipe to succeed with 40+ year old horror fans like me. I see the film as a hope for tomorrow, leading us into a new era.

Trucker is set to release on March 10th, 2026

 

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

Review: In ‘American Classic,’ Kevin Kline and Laura Linney deliver a love letter to theater

Published

on

Review: In ‘American Classic,’ Kevin Kline and Laura Linney deliver a love letter to theater

The lovely, funny “American Classic,” premiering Sunday on MGM+, is a love letter to theater, community and community theater. Kevin Kline plays Richard Bean, a narcissistic stage actor. He’s famous enough to be opening on Broadway in “King Lear,” but he has to be pushed onstage and is forgetting lines. After he drunkenly assails a hostile New York Times critic — caught on video, of course — he’s suspended from the play, and his agent (Tony Shalhoub) advises him to get out of town and lay low until the heat’s off, as they used to say in the gangster movies.

Learning that his mother (Jane Alexander, acting royalty, in film clips) has died, Richard heads back to his small Pennsylvania hometown, where his family — all actors, like the Barrymores, but no longer acting — owns a once-celebrated theater. To Richard’s horror, it has, for want of income, become a dinner theater, hosting touring productions of “Nunsense” and “Forever Plaid” instead of the great stage works on which he cut his teeth.

Brother Jon (Jon Tenney), running the kitchen at the theater, is married to Kristen (Laura Linney), Richard’s onetime acting partner, who dated him before her marriage; now she’s the mayor. Their teenage daughter, Miranda (Nell Verlaque) — a name from Shakespeare — does want to act and move to New York, as her mother had before her, but is afraid to tell her parents. Richard’s father, Linus (Len Cariou), is suffering from dementia, though not to the point he won’t actively contribute to the action; every day he comes out again as gay.

Across the eight-episode series, things move from the ridiculous to the sublime. Richard’s attempt to stage his mother’s funeral, with her coffin being lowered from the ceiling, while “Also sprach Zarathustra” plays and smoke billows toward the audience, fortunately comes to naught; but he announces at the ceremony that he’ll direct a production of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play “Our Town” at the theater, to “restore the soul of this town.” (His big idea is to ignore Wilder’s stage directions, which ask for no curtain, no set and few props, with a “realistic version,” featuring a working soda fountain, rain effects and a horse.) Fate will have other plans for this, and not to give away what in any case should be obvious, the title of the play will also become its ethos, with a cast of amateurs, including Miranda’s jealous boyfriend, Randall (Ajay Friese), and ordinary people standing in for the ordinary people of Wilder’s Grover’s Corners.

The series has a comfortable, cushiony feeling; it’s the sort of show that could have been made as a film in the 1990s, and in which Kline could have starred as easily in his 40s as in his 70s; it has the same relation to reality as “Dave,” in which he played a good-hearted ordinary Joe who takes the place of a lookalike U.S. president. The town is essentially a sunny place, full of mostly sunny people, to all appearances, a typical comedy hamlet. But we’re told it’s distressed, and Mayor Kristen is in transactional cahoots with developer Connor Boyle (Billy Carter), who wants clearance to build a casino on the site of a landmark hotel. (Much of the plot is driven by money — needing it, trading for it, leaving it, losing it.) He also wants his heavily accented, bombshell Russian girlfriend, Nadia (Elise Kibler), to have a part in “Our Town.”

Advertisement

As in the great Canadian comedy “Slings & Arrows,” set at a Shakespeare Festival outside of Toronto, themes and moments and speeches from the play being performed are echoed in the lives of the performers, while the viewer experiences the double magic of watching a fine actor playing an actor playing a part. Kline, of course, is himself an American classic, with a long stage and screen career that encompasses classical drama, romantic and musical comedy and cartoon voiceovers; the series makes room for Richard to perform soliloquies from “Hamlet” and “Henry V,” parts Klein has played onstage. He brings out the sweetness latent in Richard. Linney, who played against her sweetheart image in “Ozark,” is happily back on less deadly ground (though she’s tense and drinks a little). Tenney, who was sweet and funny on “The Closer,” and who we don’t see enough of these days, is sweeter and funnier here, and gets to sing. (All the Beans will sing, except for Linus.)

As a comedy, it is often predicable — you know that things will work out, and some major plot points are as good as inevitable — but it’s the good sort of predictability, where you get what you came for, where you hear the words you want to hear, ones you could never have written yourself. “American Classic” is not out to challenge your world view in any way but wants only to confirm your feelings and in doing so amplify them. Shock effects are fine in their place — and to be sure there are major twists in the plot — but there is a certain release when the thing you’re ready to have happen, happens, whether it brings laughter or tears. Either is welcome.

Continue Reading

Movie Reviews

‘Scream 7’ Review: Ghostface Trades His Metallic Knife for Plastic in Bloody Embarrassing Slasher Sequel

Published

on

‘Scream 7’ Review: Ghostface Trades His Metallic Knife for Plastic in Bloody Embarrassing Slasher Sequel

It’s funny how this film is marketed as the first Scream movie in IMAX, yet it’s their sloppiest work to date. Williamson accomplishes two decent kills. My praise goes to the prosthetic team and gore above anything else. The filmmaking is amateurish, lacking any of the tension build and innovation in set pieces like the Radio Silence or Craven entries. Many slasher sequences consist of terribly spliced editing and incomprehensible camera movement. There was a person at my screening asking if one of the Ghostfaces was killed. I responded, “Yeah, they were shot in the head; you just couldn’t see it because the filmmaking is so damn unintelligible.” 

Really, Spyglass? This is the best you can do to “damage control” your series that was perfectly fine?

I’m getting comments from morons right now telling me that I’m biased for speaking “politically” about this movie. Fuck you! This poorly made, bland, and franchise-worst entry is a byproduct of political cowardice.

The production company was so adamant about silencing their outspoken star, who simply stated that she’s against the killing of Palestinian people by an evil totalitarian regime, that they deliberately fired her, conflating her comments to “anti-semintism,” when, and if you read what she said exactly, it wasn’t. Only to reconstruct the buildup made in her arc and settle on a nonsensical, manufactured, nostalgia-based slop fest to appeal to fans who lack genuine film taste in big 2026. To add insult to injury, this movie actively takes potshots at those predecessors, perhaps out of pettiness that Williamson didn’t pen them or a mean-spirited middle finger to the star the studio fired. Truly, fuck you. Take the Barrera aspect out of this, which is still impossible, and Scream 7 is a lazy, sloppy, ill-conceived, no-vision, enshittification of Scream and a bloody embarrassment to the franchise. It took a real, morally upright actress to make Ghostface’s knife go from metal to plastic. 

FINAL STATEMENT

You either die a Scream or live long enough to see yourself become a Stab.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending