Oscar Month, UCB & Valentine's Day

February is Oscars month - and it's time now for me to vote for my favorite films of the year.  Most of the nominated films are wonderful - although for me, some of the "top" films aren't particularly exciting.  I guess it's kind of a bland year.  But I want to spotlight two films that I felt should have received more publicity, and perhaps even Best Picture nominations.

The first one, which I've written about before, is "Mortal Engines", a wonderful sci-fi super fantastic film from New Zealand, written and produced by the great Peter Jackson and his wife, Fran Walsh.  This amazing film was directed by Christian Rivers.  The story takes place in a dystopian world where cities are movable warrior states - it's very cool and should have been a bigger hit, if you ask me.

My other favorite film was "Destroyer", starring Nicole Kidman.  This film totally blew me away. Again, it didn't get much press or distribution, perhaps because it was so dark and mean - but boy, the script was just terrific and the acting by Nicole was relevatory.  Credit also to the director, Karyn Kusama - it's about a loner cop who holds a grudge for years and becomes a rogue cop, waiting for her revenge.  It's unforgettable.

Two nights ago, I made an appearance at New York's Upright Citizen's Brigade on 44th St.  This gig was very fun and novel - they had me tell some stories from my life and then the crew of 8 improv comedians did an hour of gags and improv based on my pathetic stories.  But the cool thing was, I was able to create drawings on stage, illustrating the wacky stories.  The audience seemed to like it, and so did I.  So, if you get a chance, please check out the UCB in your neighborhood.

with the cast of ASSSSCAT at the Upright Citizens Brigade, which included Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts, Balls of Fury)

Now, since it's almost Valentine's Day, I'm including a Valentine-themed piece of art from Sandrine:

And since Valentine's Day falls on a Throwback Thursday, here's some art from my short film "Horn Dog", too:

Also, I'm including my newest Trump cartoon -

Wow, what a blog!  Tell your friends, and see you next week -

--Bill P.