The Fog 🏴‍☠️ + Award nominations

Happy Thursday! What a beautiful week it has been. Today I’m resurfacing (you’ll appreciate this pun in a minute) a past recommendation of an all-time favorite film of mine since it’s now streaming on a mainstream platform.

🍿 Today’s movie: The Fog is the perfect fireside ghost story

Today’s movie is John Carpenter’s woefully underrated horror The Fog (1986). The film was a follow-up to his magnum opus Halloween and starred mother/daughter duo Jamie Lee Curtis and legend Janet Leigh (Psycho). Here’s what it’s about:

On the eve of its 100th anniversary, a small town and its inhabitants begin to experience strange paranormal occurrences. Soon, a dense fog rolls in to bring upon a century-old curse leaving the townsfolk (including Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, and Janet Leigh) fighting for survival. [Trailer // 89 mins]

▶︎ Streaming on Prime Video

Why you should watch it: Although John Carpenter has directed more than one of my favorite movies of all time, I always find myself coming back to The Fog. The movie opens on a campfire surrounded by a group of engrossed kids and an old maritime storyteller regaling them with the tale of a shipwreck on the shores of the town.

With the cold open, which wasn’t in the original cut of the film, Carpenter sets an eerie, indelible atmosphere for the rest of the runtime. The Fog feels like a ghost story being told around a fire. The kind where you lean in slightly, put your chin on your hands and find yourself lost in the tale. It is also the first of two times Jamie Lee Curtis and her iconic mother Janet Leigh (Psycho) starred in a film together. Talk about scream queens. [Full review]

📺 Also available to buy or rent

And the nominees are…

Sorry, not the Oscar nominations. Those will be announced sometime in March. For now, I’m sharing the 2020 year-end award nominations for the critics’ group I’m a member of. The winners will be announced on January 25th!

*Was on my ballot
The nominee I’m voting for is in bold

Best Picture

• Da 5 Bloods

• First Cow*

• I’m Thinking of Ending Things*

• Minari*

• Never Rarely Sometimes Always*

• Nomadland*

• Promising Young Woman

• Soul

• Sound of Metal

• The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Director

• Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman*

• Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods

• Kelly Reichardt – First Cow*

• Chloé Zhao – Nomadland*

Best Actor

• Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal*

• Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom*

• Anthony Hopkins – The Father

• Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods*

• Steven Yeun – Minari*

Best Actress

• Jessie Buckley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things*

• Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom*

• Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Frances McDormand – Nomadland

• Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman*

Best Supporting Actor

• Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7

• Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods

• Bill Murray – On the Rocks

• Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami

• Paul Raci – Sound of Metal*

Best Supporting Actress

• Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

• Olivia Colman – The Father

• Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always*

• Amanda Seyfried – Mank

• Youn Yuh-jung – Minari*

Have a beautiful weekend.

See you next week —
Karl

📽 P.S. You can see every movie I’ve ever recommended right here.

🍅 I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes! You can find new movie reviews here.