Steve Ormosi

Interview with Lee Esposito, director of Lillith

Please welcome Lee Esposito of Ritterhaus Productions, director of the award winning indie horror flick, Lillith (Check out the trailer here)! We got to chat with Lee a bit last week about his path to becoming a filmmaker, taking inspiration from other films, and his directorial debut among other fun stuff. So turn up and tune in.

Film & TV: The Lives of Others

We continue our journey through foreign language films with a review of The Lives of Others, a movie about life in state-controlled East Germany shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. [Aggregate score: 9.6]

The 2019 Errant Indication Awards

Hello one and all, and welcome to the inaugural Errant Indication…ies where, along with your help, we pick the best movies of the year because the Academy has no idea what they’re doing. If your interested on our thoughts on that, we did just put out a couple of episodes — The Morganaissance: A Conversation with Morgan Goldin and The MOTScars: Our Annual pre-Oscars Roundup

And now, without further adieu, here are your 2019 Errant Indication winners:

Best Narrative Structure:

The Nominees:

One of our two bigger categories, there were some real heavy weights in the Narrative Structure category this year, but only one reigned supreme. And the winner is:

BlacKkKlansman


Strongest Themes:

The Nominees:

In a year of some incredibly poignant films, there were many and varied powerful themes. However, according to our poll, one film (that the Academy didn’t even deign to nominate for a single award, ahem) went above and beyond. And the winner is:

Sorry to Bother You

Most Antagonizing Element or Character

The Nominees:

I wouldn’t want to go up against any of these formidable foes, but you voted that the only intangible nominee in this list was the worst. And the votes went to:

Institutionalized Racism (“If Beale Street Could Talk”)

Best Protagonist

The Nominees:

The ladies cleaned up this year in our poll, and for good reason. So many incredible performances, and you couldn’t decide on just one. With our first tie of the night are:

Cleo played by Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”) || Queen Anne played by Olivia Coleman (“The Favourite”)

Favorite Supporting Character

The Nominees:

This category started as a landslide and ended with the ultimate winner just edging out the runner up. And the winner is:

Shuri played by Letitia Wright (“Black Panther”)

Best Dialogue

The Nominees:


In an incredibly strong category this year, people could not decide which film’s dialogue was the best. We ended up with a four-way tie! And the FOUR winners are:

The Favourite (screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara) ||
If Beale Street Could Talk (based on the book by James Baldwin, adapted for the screen by Barry Jenkins) ||
Eighth Grade (screenplay by Bo Burnham) ||
Sorry to Bother You (screenplay by Boots Riley)

Most Impressive Style

The Nominees:

There were some truly beautiful films this year, even ones that were left off this list, but as for what the people voted on, it was one more tie, and it goes to:

“Black Panther” dir. by Ryan Coogler ||
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” dir. by Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey (no TLS review yet)

Highest Recommendation

The Nominees:

We always like to leave off with our recommendation. What was your favorite film of the year? For the majority of voters in our poll, it was:

BlacKkKlansman!

A few final thoughts:
– Looking back on these choices, this list was bad in terms of female directed films and we could have included some great ones such as Can You Ever Forgive Me, Leave No Trace, and You Were Never Really Here, among others. Something I absolutely need to keep in mind next year.
– How the hell did the Oscars snub If Beale Street Could Talk? It was pretty easily one of the best movies of 2018 and I’m glad it took a couple of categories here.
– I think Spike Lee would’ve been alright with this one.


We’d like to thank you, the fan(s), for playing. It’s been a rush. We’ll see you next year!

Film & TV: 2019 Academy Awards Rundown with Morgan Goldin or: The Morganaissance

Another year, another Oscars discussion with returning friend of the show, Morgan Goldin. We go in depth about the nominees, what we liked, what bugged us, and what films we thought were snubbed.

Morgan is a filmmaker himself and his work can be found at www.morgangoldin.com.
He also does an annual supercut rundown of his favorite films from the year before. Here is his 2018 video.

Film & TV: A Star is Born

The Lost Signals recently watched and reviewed this year’s Oscars darling, a story about the facade of celebrity. It’s A Star is Born. [Aggregate Score: 9.25]

Film & TV: Green Book

We sat down to discuss Green Book and the conversation got a little bit heated. Join us for our take on this feel good, buddy road trip movie. [Aggregate score: 8.6]

 

Fallout 76 Round Table (Crossover Episode!)

On this bonus episode Matt and Jesse of the American Slacker Podcast sit down with Steve and Scott of The Lost Signals and discuss the soon to release Bethesda production, Fallout 76. The guys dive into the Fallout timeline, what to expect and much more!

Check out more stuff from the Slackers at the book facetweedzler, or by searching American Slacker Podcast wherever dem ‘casts are found. Enjoy!

Literature: The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens

Less Dickensian and more Poe-esque, The Signal-Man is a story of ghastly foreshadowing and we’re just the Signals to review it. [Aggregate Score: 7.33]

Literature: Spider the Artist by Nnedi Okorafor

We’re reviewing the delightful near future short story about a woman, a guitar, and a spider…type…thing. You know what, just read the story and tune into our newest episode below. [Aggregate Score: 10]

 

AFI Top 100 #078: Modern Times

TLS bumbles through Modern Times with Charlie Chaplin in his final film as his lovable, but unlucky character, the Tramp. Check out our review and why we think this movie still rings true today. [Aggregate Score: 9]