WGTC Radio continues as "The Weekly Stuff Podcast" - Episode #76: 2014 Year in Preview!

As you may have heard, I recently chose to step away from the entertainment website We Got This Covered, but that does not mean the podcast I had co-hosted there for two years – WGTC Radio – would be ending. Indeed, today marks the re-launch of the series with its 76^th episode, now rechristened as The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman.

Why ‘The Weekly Stuff?’ Two reasons: First, an earlier version of the podcast Sean and I hosted was called ‘The Monthly Stuff,’ and we always liked that as a name. Second, our only agenda is to talk about whatever interests us in the world of film, gaming, and television, and so we have always been a fairly wide-reaching show – which makes ‘The Weekly Stuff’ an accurate description of the podcast’s content.

In any case, we are back, continuing on as we did before. Only the name has changed, and you will not need to re-subscribe in iTunes – if you haven’t already, do so here - or go anywhere else to find new episodes. WGTC Radio has become ‘The Weekly Stuff,’ and we look forward to continuing under this new moniker for as long as we can.

Continue reading after the jump for Episode #76...

2013 Denver Film Critics Society Award Winners Announced - "Gravity" Takes Top Prize

Today, the Denver Film Critics Society, of which I am a voting member, announced the winners for its awards in the best of 2013 cinema. The nominations were released last week – read them here – and overall, I find myself pleased with the winners. Very pleased, actually, in some cases – my only major regret at this point is that we don’t, as of yet, give awards for Cinematography and other technical categories, which I think is a fairly large oversight (especially in a year so rich with technical accomplishments). Oh well.

Below is the press release as sent out by the DFCS, and after the jump, you can read about the award winners, with my own personal commentary included. 

Denver, Colo. - The Denver Film Critics Society honored director Alfonso Cuaron’s space-based saga “Gravity” as 2013‘s best movie.

The film snared the coveted Best Picture award as well as honors for Best Director, Best Sci-Fi/Horror Film and Best Score.

"Even critics who thought other films were more deserving of Best Picture status saw how ‘Gravity’ will influence a generation of filmmakers on how to fuse storytelling with special effects," said DFCS co-director Christian Toto.

“Dallas Buyers Club," the true story of an AIDS patient who refused to stop looking for a cure, earned two key actors’ awards for Matthew McConaughey (Best Actor) and Jared Leto (Best Supporting Actor).

The group’s two new categories - Best Comedy and Best Sci-Fi/Horror Film - gave overdue praise to genres often overlooked during awards season, while the crowd-pleasing “Frozen” earned Best Animated Film and Best Song honors.

The Denver Film Critics Society includes members from across Colorado working for print, radio and web outlets. Final voting was conducted from Jan. 9-12, 2014.

Continue reading after the jump...

Announcing my departure from We Got This Covered, and looking toward the future at www.jonathanlack.com

A screenshot from We Got This Covered on the day I started writing there

As you may have already heard on Twitter earlier this week, I have made the decision to leave my post at the entertainment website We Got This Covered, where I have served as Associate Editor and film critic since May of 2012.

Nothing sinister is going on here – this was a completely amicable departure I made on my terms, for my own reasons, and without any malice towards the site or its staff. I had a fine time at We Got This Covered. I remember fondly the day its Editor-in-Chief, Matt Joseph, asked me to come on board, and I am extremely grateful to him for the many, many opportunities I was afforded by writing for his publication. I cannot say the entire experience was perfect, from beginning to end, but I can say that, on the whole, it was an extremely satisfying stretch of my career, one that I will always cherish.

But now it is time for me to move on, mostly for personal reasons, and I want to fill my readers in on at least some of those reasons right now, as well as explain my plans for the future – most of which are centered around this very blog, and many of which I think are rather exciting.

Continue reading after the jump...

2013 Denver Film Critics Society Awards Nominations Announced

Today, the Denver Film Critics Society – of which I am a voting member – announced its nominees for the best of 2013, with 12 Years a Slave earning the most nominations. Close behind that film were American Hustle and Gravity – each with six apiece – while Captain Phillips came in third with five nominations.

It is a nice set of nominees overall, though I think my colleagues are a bit too in love with American Hustle. They’re not alone, of course, as the film has been picking up nominations left and right, and while Hustle made my Top 30 for the year, I think it has for the most part been vastly overrated in a year that offered so many deeper, richer films. But that’s just me – some of my pet nominees made it in (others didn’t – despite putting it up in every category I could, The World’s End got only a single nod), and there are very few places where I would take real issue with any of these nominees. 

Continue reading after the jump to read the full list of 2013 DFCS award nominees, with commentary...