![\"Ensemble](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-27-at-12.39.19\u202fPM-e1738027582519.png\")
<\/a>Ensemble nominees for the SAGs.<\/p><\/div>\n
So, despite all of our invitations to the many Screen Actors Guild screenings, we had been missing-out on every new real<\/em> movie this season.\u00a0 Since we have to vote on those SAG Awards by February 21st, we\u2019re trying hard to catch-up on all those films now.<\/p>\n And just so you know, all\u00a0<\/em>of the major awards-giving entities, (the Oscars, Golden Globes, SAGs, Critics Choice, and the ones from the individual guilds,) have different nominees. Many overlap, but not all.<\/p>\n By the way\u2014no one is ever \u201csnubbed.\u201d Others just get more votes. Period.\u00a0 I covered the topic here: itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/karens-rantskarens-lessons-does-no-one-in-hollywood-know-the-meaning-of-the-word-snubbed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, as for the SAGS, we have seventeen movies to see. (My guild\u2019s awards are all for only acting<\/em>\u2014duh, we\u2019re actors<\/em>!\u2014with an extra one for stunts; I feel it\u2019s awful that the other awards shows don\u2019t\u00a0<\/em>honor those hardest workers in the biz!) So I\u2019ll do mini reviews of a few of them at a time in the next month. Believe me, I\u2019m scrambling to see them all in these next short, uber-busy\u00a0three and a half weeks. I\u2019m one of the very few who rightly feel that, in order to vote fairly, we all need to see every<\/em>\u00a0nominee in the time allotted.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the first batch, in the order that Mr. X and I viewed them:<\/p>\n A major stunt in The Fall Guy.<\/p><\/div>\n The Fall Guy<\/em><\/strong>\u2014We decided to begin our run of movie-watching for the year with the only one we assumed would not<\/em> be painful, except for the incredible stunt men doing most of the heavy-lifting! And I was correct. Ryan Gosling is his usual darling, low-key-fun self, Emily Blunt is very amusing, (which I\u2019m not sure I knew about her before,) and the stunts are spectacular. The only problems with this movie are that the story is a bit stupid and it\u2019s waaay too long, (ostensibly just to get more, and the biggest, stunts in.)<\/p>\n Karen Salkin, on the left, (of course!,) getting knocked down on The Fall Guy TV show with two other actors.<\/p><\/div>\n By the way, despite the title, theme song, and same moniker of the lead character, (Colt Seaver,) this movie really has nothing to do with the old TV show of the same name, on which there was once an interesting guest star\u2014yours truly!\u00a0 It was one of my first TV acting jobs, after I had been doing my show, Karen\u2019s Restaurant Revue<\/em>, for a year or two. The Fall Guy<\/em> often featured themes<\/em> for the guest star bookings, and I was so honored because the theme for this<\/em>\u00a0episode was comedians. And I was the only female they thought was funny enough to include!!! I loved it. On top of that, I got to play the trophy wife of a rich, famous actor. And I even had my own stuntwoman!<\/p>\n Conclave<\/em><\/strong>\u2014Even though this Jewish girl didn\u2019t understand a lot of the goings-on in this story of the world\u2019s Cardinals choosing a new Pope, (and truth be told, even Mr. X, a Catholic school boy through college<\/em>, didn\u2019t get some of it,) I found it to be quietly fascinating. I even stayed up that entire night researching it all\u2014the movie, the book it\u2019s based on, and all the catholic terms and ceremonies.<\/p>\n A stunning image from Conclave.<\/p><\/div>\n But how in heck did Isabella Rossellini get any<\/em>\u00a0nominations for her performance in this one, let alone for an Oscar??? Or, actually worse<\/em>\u2014because the nods are from actors\u00a0who should know better\u2014a SAG??? She\u2019s as good as any actress should<\/em> be in the role, but nothing special, at all.<\/p>\n Conversely, Conclave<\/em> should have definitely been nominated for an Oscar for Cinematography, but was not. I don\u2019t get that. It\u2019s gorgeous\u2014some of the shots literally took my breath away.<\/p>\n My favorite\u00a0image from Conclave.<\/p><\/div>\n I do have to admit that I figured-out pretty early who the new Pope would be, along with the twist. But I was still pretty riveted, nonetheless, perhaps to see if I was correct.<\/p>\n A Real Pain<\/em><\/strong>\u2014Now we\u2019re on to a story involving my<\/em>\u00a0ethnicity! The only thing I didn\u2019t understand about it is how does Kieran Culkin qualify as a supporting<\/em>\u00a0actor? He and Jesse Eisenberg are totally equal co-stars<\/em>!!! I do think that Culkin is really good, but Jesse, who has received no<\/em> nominations anywhere, is even better. He has one scene near the end that is perfection. (But he did<\/em> get an Oscars nod for writing the screenplay.)<\/p>\n Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain.<\/p><\/div>\n The guys play cousins on a tour in Poland to see where their grandmother grew up. And, of course, semi-comic drama ensues.<\/p>\n By the way\u2014I believe that my own<\/em>\u00a0grandmother was perhaps born in Poland or maybe Russia, although she always denied it. She and her siblings were raised in New England, and had the high-class accents to prove it, so her real heritage didn\u2019t come up often.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>