It was all glitzy glamour and sparkling moments despite the rain this past weekend at GBK Brand Bar’s famed annual Pre-Oscars Celebrity Luxury Lounge at the Kimpton La Peer Hotel in West Hollywood.
This was a brunch that offered more than all you can drink mimosas. At the annual “Influencers Brunch” enlightenment was served with a side of power.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is hosting the beloved Oscar Week events.
Oscar Wilde restaurant in New York City rolled out the red carpet for guests on Sunday, April 27 for their annual “Oscars Live Viewing Party” in honor of Hollywood’s biggest night, the 94th Academy Awards.
At Oscar Wilde’s black-tie event, hosted in their Victorian establishment, attendees were able to watch the award show – hosted by Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes – and choose from 8 exclusive Oscars-inspired cocktails, along with their Prix Fixe Menu inspired by the special night.
The Knockturnal exclusively interviewed the restaurant’s beverage director, Kris Baljak, for an inside scoop of the “Oscars Live Viewing Party” event.
“It’s all about the majesty of Oscar night, and to translate that to Oscar Wilde, who was a very majestic person himself…who was way ahead of his time. We try to take these sort of events and try to go crazy…we’re ready to party,” Baljak expressed.
Oscars 2022 was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Congratulations to all the 94th Academy Award winners and nominees:
The full list of winners and nominees is below:
Best Picture
“CODA” — Winner
“Belfast”
“Don’t Look Up”
“Drive My Car”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“Licorice Pizza”
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
“West Side Story”
Actor in a Leading Role
Will Smith, “King Richard” — Winner
Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”
Andrew Garfield, “tick, tick…BOOM!”
Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” — Winner
Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”
Penélope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”
Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”
Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”
Animated Feature Film
“Encanto” — Winner
“Flee”
“Luca”
“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”
“Raya and the Last Dragon”
Cinematography
“Dune,” Greig Fraser — Winner
“Nightmare Alley,” Dan Laustsen
“The Power of the Dog,” Ari Wegner
“The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Bruno Delbonnel
“West Side Story,” Janusz Kaminski
Directing
Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog” — Winner
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”
Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”
Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”
Documentary Feature
“Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” — Winner
“Ascension”
“Attica”
“Flee”
“Writing with Fire”
Documentary Short Subject
“The Queen of Basketball” — Winner
“Audible”
“Lead Me Home”
“Three Songs for Benazir”
“When We Were Bullies”
International Feature Film
“Drive My Car” (Japan) — Winner
“Flee” (Denmark)
“The Hand of God” (Italy)
“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” (Bhutan)
“The Worst Person in the World” (Norway)
Original Song
“No Time To Die” from “No Time to Die,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell — Winner
“Be Alive” from “King Richard,” music and lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
“Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto,” music and lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down To Joy” from “Belfast,” music and lyric by Van Morrison
“Somehow You Do” from “Four Good Days,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Production Design
“Dune,” Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos — Winner
“Nightmare Alley,” Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
“The Power of the Dog,” Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards
“The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
“West Side Story,” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo
Visual Effects
“Dune,” Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer — Winner
“Free Guy,” Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick
“No Time to Die,” Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick
Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh — Winner
“Coming 2 America,” Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer
“Cruella,” Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon
“Dune,” Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
“House of Gucci,” Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras
Film Editing
“Dune,” Joe Walker — Winner
“Don’t Look Up,” Hank Corwin
“King Richard,” Pamela Martin
“The Power of the Dog,” Peter Sciberras
“tick, tick…BOOM!” Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
Actor in a Supporting Role
Troy Kotsur, “CODA” — Winner
Ciarán Hinds, “Belfast”
Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”
J.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos”
Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story” — Winner
Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”
Judi Dench, “Belfast”
Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”
Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”
Live Action Short Film
“The Long Goodbye” — Winner
“Ala Kachuu – Take and Run”
“The Dress”
“On My Mind”
“Please Hold”
Animated Short Film
“The Windshield Wiper” — Winner
“Affairs of the Art”
“Bestia”
“Boxballet”
“Robin Robin”
Original Screenplay
“Belfast” (Kenneth Branagh) — Winner
“Don’t Look Up” (Screenplay by Adam McKay and story by Adam McKay and David Sirota)
“King Richard” (Zach Baylin)
“Licorice Pizza” (Paul Thomas Anderson)
“The Worst Person in the World” (Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier)
Adapted Screenplay
Siân Heder, “CODA” — Winner
Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter”
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, “Drive My Car”
Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve, “Dune”
Original Score
“Dune,” Hans Zimmer — Winner
“Don’t Look Up,” Nicholas Britell
“Encanto,” Germaine Franco
“Parallel Mothers,” Alberto Iglesias
“The Power of the Dog,” Jonny Greenwood
Sound
“Dune,” Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett — Winner
“Belfast,” Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri
“No Time to Die,” Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor
“The Power of the Dog,” Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb
“West Side Story,” Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy
Costume Design
“Cruella,” Jenny Beavan — Winner
“Cyrano,” Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
“Dune,” Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
“Nightmare Alley,” Luis Sequeira
“West Side Story,” Paul Tazewell
Easily the worst thing I’ve seen all year
Not all films work for everyone. There are in fact people who did not enjoy commercial successes like Titanic or critically acclaimed films like Citizen Kane. By and large, however, people did find something to love and adore in these films. I mention that because when I saw Lamb I was rather puzzled. So much so in fact, that I decided to chat up several of the other reviewers and writers afterwards only to find more of the same reaction.
The film opens on a couple who are seemingly devoid of joy in their lives and spend their days tending their flock sheep. That is until an ominous and mysterious visitor comes and leaves ‘a gift’ on Christmas Eve, so to speak. At this point during the onset of the film, I was genuinely intrigued to see where this was going. There were hints of Kierkegaard and a divine connection, a teasing of the subtle take on a narrative structure that would continue throughout, and most curiously a very unsettling discovery of events. But all of these threads either led nowhere or to a payoff that simply isn’t worth it.
From the opening scenes to the inciting incident, the film takes its time in dreary fashion. I’m always willing to give a filmmaker the time to tell his story, however, from those opening minutes, the film continues to meander for another entire hour. To better describe what that looks like, it’s reminiscent of a silent film of the pre-code era. The majority of the film, especially the first two acts, are just framed shots of mundane activities, not unlike b-roll you would find in passing at the MoMA. To be fair, these scenes are beautiful to see and are brilliantly shot, but film has progressed to be more than just moving images during the past century. The only breaks during this monotony are the first climaxes of the first and second act and the midpoint. And to clarify, I’d give more details as to what these moments were, if they didn’t completely ruin the film for any poor soul that would subject themselves through this film.
Despite all that, there is some credit to give. This is Valdimar Jóhannsson’s feature debut and I do admire the fact that he tried to take a daring approach to tell a story. There were numerous creative liberties he took with telling a narrative story that made this film even remotely watchable. Specifically, the way he went about discovery of information – through the use of mise en scène and strategic timing – was particularly good and unique. However, that’s the only positive I can give this director or this film. The sad fact of the matter is that the underlying story itself is so tragically underwhelming and unsuitable for the format of a feature that it inevitably reflects poorly on him. At the end of the day, the plot is a paper thin story that’s been told hundreds of times during the past century to much greater success. Here we have something I’ve seen common in many European films of the past decade: a few good twists and tricks, but no actual substance. And that to me is rather damning considering the current state of American cinema as well. Additionally, and I always repeat these in my reviews, not all stories need to be told in two hours. If this story was told through a ten-minute short, it still wouldn’t be good, but, it would be at the very least digestible. It’s far easier to endure ten minutes than the torturous ninety-seven I sat through.
Performances were great all around. Needless to say Noomi Rapace breathed much needed life into the film. That’s not to say she was alone in that, as Hilmir Snær Guðnasan and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson rather perfectly filled their roles. They were understated when needed and dynamic when the moment called for it. It’s also another credit I want to give to Jóhannsson as great performances are also due in large part to solid direction.
All in all, this film was very much like a train that’s run out of tracks – it went nowhere. In fact, it’s definitely one of the worst films I’ve ever seen and after getting initial reactions from others, I’m not alone in that opinion. It doesn’t even make sense to discuss the thematic message of man’s relationship with nature as it’s a touch trite in this day and age and it doesn’t come across very clearly in the film. Despite that, I genuinely believe that Jóhannsson has got what it takes to be a great director and should get more projects in the future. Lamb releases on October 8th, and unless you plan on making a drinking game out of the film or exploring experimental storytelling, I don’t recommend you see it.
INVITE ONLY – The 15th Annual EcoLuxe Lounge, produced by Debbie Durkin, proudly returns to The Beverly Hilton Hotel with a revamped safe, and fun “Drive-Thru” luxury experience.
After a day of reading reviews and backlash over the 93rd Academy Awards, one thing remains true. This was a night of honor despite it all.
Serbia officially submits “Dara of Jasenovac” directed by Predag Peter Antonijević for consideration in the 2020-2021 Academy Awards.
While there are always some surprise winners Oscar night — it’s never a surprise when Doris Bergman’s Lounge is one of the most sought-after events of the season.
Debbie Durkin was back doing what she loves at her 13th Annual EcoLuxe Lounge, in celebration of the Oscars. Held on February 7th at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, the star-studded event honored film award nominees, directors, producers, other VIP talent and more!
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