'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Wins at Gotham Awards

Ke Huy Quan poses with the Outstanding Supporting Performance at the 2022 Gotham Awards in Manhattan, New York City, New York, US, November 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Ke Huy Quan poses with the Outstanding Supporting Performance at the 2022 Gotham Awards in Manhattan, New York City, New York, US, November 28, 2022. (Reuters)
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'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Wins at Gotham Awards

Ke Huy Quan poses with the Outstanding Supporting Performance at the 2022 Gotham Awards in Manhattan, New York City, New York, US, November 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Ke Huy Quan poses with the Outstanding Supporting Performance at the 2022 Gotham Awards in Manhattan, New York City, New York, US, November 28, 2022. (Reuters)

“Everything Everywhere All at Once" won best feature at the 32nd Gotham Awards on Monday, taking one of the first major prizes of Hollywood's awards season and boosting the Oscar hopes of the anarchic indie hit of the year.

Also taking an award for his work on the film was Ke Huy Quan, the “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” child star who made a lauded comeback in “Everything Everywhere All at Once" and won for best supporting actor.

“This time last year, all I was hoping for was a job,” said an emotional Quan who had nearly given up acting before landing his role in the film. “For the first time in a very long time, I was given a second chance.”

The Gotham Awards, held annually at Cipriani Wall Street, serve as a downtown celebration of independent film and an unofficial kickoff of the long marathon of ceremonies, parties and campaigning that lead up to the Academy Awards in March. Presented by the Gotham Film & Media Institute, the Gothams last year heaped awards on Maggie Gyllenhaal's “The Lost Daughter” while also, with an award for Troy Kotsur, starting “CODA” on its way to best picture.

But aside from any possible influence, the Gothams are also just a star-studded party that gets the industry back into the awards-season swing. Last year's ceremony was the first fully in-person award show for many after a largely virtual 2020-2021 pandemic-marred season.

This year, the Gothams were held amid mounting concern over the tepid box-office results for many of the top awards contenders. Though moviegoing has recovered much of the ground it lost during the pandemic, adult audiences have inconsistently materialized in theaters this fall.

But in feting “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the metaverse-skipping action adventure directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheiner, the filmmaking duo known as “the Daniels,” the Gothams selected an unlikely runaway success.

Released in March, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” made more than $100 million worldwide against a $14 million budget, making it A24's highest grossing film. The warm affection for the absurdist film now has it poised to potentially play underdog at the Oscars. The film also recently led nominations to the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

“This movie has been celebrated by the Asian American community, by the immigrant community, by people with weird brains, people who are overwhelmed or sad,” said Scheiner accepting the award with his filmmaking partner. “This award is for you guys. Your stories matter. You matter.”

While the Gothams are known for exalting the hardscrabble pursuit of lower budget filmmaking, one of its many tribute awards went to another box-office force in Adam Sandler. The 56-year-old actor-comedian, who this year starred in the well-received Netflix basketball drama-comedy “Hustle,” provided the night's most raucous speech, after an introduction by “Uncut Gems” filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie.

Sandler, explaining that he had been too busy to prepare remarks, claimed his speech was written by his two daughters. His career, as he read, was launched with two guiding principles: “People in prison need movies, too," and: “TBS needs content.”

The Gotham award, Sandler read, “means a lot to him seeing as most of the awards on his trophy shelf are shaped like popcorn buckets, blimps or fake mini Oscars that say Father of the Year which he sadly purchased himself while wondering in a self-pitying fog through the head shops of Time’s Square.”

The Gothams give gender neutral acting awards, which meant that some awards favorites this year that wouldn't normally be head-to-head, like Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) and Cate Blanchett (“Tár”), were up against each other. Todd Fields’ “Tár,” starring Blanchett as a renowned conductor, came into the Gothams with a leading five nominations and went home with an award for Fields' screenplay.

But “Till” star Danielle Deadwyler ultimately prevailed in the crowded lead acting category. Deadwyler, who plays Mamie Till-Bradley in the piercing drama, wasn't able to attend the ceremony. “Till” director Chinonye Chukwu accepted on her behalf.

Deadwyler's win should add momentum to her Oscar chances, as should the award for Quan, who is best known as the child star of “The Goonies” and “Temple of Doom."

The breakthrough director award went to Charlotte Wells for “Aftersun,” the Scottish filmmaker's tender, devastating debut about a father (Paul Mescal) and daughter (Frankie Corio) on vacation. “Aftersun” also earned a shoutout from Daniel Kwan who said “Aftersun” should have won best feature, not “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Steven Spielberg had been scheduled to introduce a tribute award for Michelle Williams, star of Spielberg's “The Fabelmans.” Filling in was Williams' co-star Paul Dano, who said Spielberg tested positive for COVID-19. Williams spent much of her speech reflecting on how instrumental “Dawson's Creek” co-star Mary Beth Peil was to her as a young actor. Williams was also visibly stunned by a standing ovation.

“What is happening?” said a wide-eyed Williams. “I shouldn’t even be out of the house. I just had a baby.”

Other winners included Audrey Diwan's “Happening” for best international feature. The French abortion drama, set in 1963 France, took on added relevance after the repeal in the United States of Roe v. Wade. “All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen's film about a New Delhi bird hospital, took best documentary.

Tribute honorees also included Focus Features' Peter Kujawski and Jason Cassidy, and a thunderous tribute to the late Sidney Poitier by Jonathan Majors, who announced a new initiative in Poitier's name to help young filmmakers. “Bravo, Mr. Poitier,” Majors said. “We got your back.”

Gina Prince-Bythewood, “The Woman King” filmmaker, was also honored after being introduced by Katheryn Bigelow. Prince-Bythewood said the “Hurt Locker” filmmaker inspired her to believe she could be a director. “Kathryn was my possible,” said Prince-Bythewood.

"When you see the trailer to ‘The Woman King,’ do you see incredible women or do you see other? Do you see incredible women to be inspired by or do you see other?” said Prince-Bythewood. “I want you to see yourself in my characters the same way I see myself in yours.”



Movie Review: A Weird ‘Superman’ Is Better than a Boring One

 Cast member David Corenswet attends a premiere for the film "Superman" at the TCL Chinese theater in Los Angeles, California, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Cast member David Corenswet attends a premiere for the film "Superman" at the TCL Chinese theater in Los Angeles, California, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Movie Review: A Weird ‘Superman’ Is Better than a Boring One

 Cast member David Corenswet attends a premiere for the film "Superman" at the TCL Chinese theater in Los Angeles, California, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Cast member David Corenswet attends a premiere for the film "Superman" at the TCL Chinese theater in Los Angeles, California, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a ... a purple and orange shape-shifting chemical compound?

Writer-director James Gunn’s “Superman” was always going to be a strange chemistry of filmmaker and material. Gunn, the mind behind “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Suicide Squad,” has reliably drifted toward a B-movie superhero realm populated (usually over-populated) with the lesser-known freaks, oddities and grotesquerie of back-issue comics.

But you don’t get more mainstream than Superman. And let’s face it, unless Christopher Reeve is in the suit, the rock-jawed Man of Steel can be a bit of a bore. Much of the fun and frustration of Gunn’s movie is seeing how he stretches and strains to make Superman, you know, interesting.

In the latest revamp for the archetypal superhero, Gunn does a lot to give Superman (played with an easy charm by David Corenswet) a lift. He scraps the origin story. He gives Superman a dog. And he ropes in not just expected regulars like Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) but some less conventional choices — none more so than that colorful jumble of elements, Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan).

Metamorpho, a melancholy, mutilated man whose powers were born out of tragedy, is just one of many side shows in “Superman.” But he’s the most representative of what Gunn is going for. Gunn might favor a traditional-looking hero at the center, like Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” And Corenswet, complete with hair curl, looks the part, too. But Gunn’s heart is with the weirdos who soldier on.

The heavy lift of “Superman” is making the case that the perfect superhuman being with “S” on his chest is strange, too. He’s a do-gooder at a time when no one does good anymore.

Not everything works in “Superman.” For those who like their Superman classically drawn, Gunn’s film will probably seem too irreverent and messy. But for anyone who found Zack Snyder’s previous administration painfully ponderous, this “Superman,” at least, has a pulse.

It would be hard to find a more drastic 180 in franchise stewardship. Where Snyder’s films were super-serious mythical clashes of colossuses, Gunn’s “Superman” is lightly earthbound, quirky and sentimental. When this Superman flies, he even keeps his arms back, like an Olympic skeleton rider.

We begin not on Krypton or Kansas but in Antarctica, near the Fortress of Solitude. The opening titles set-up the medias res beginning. Three centuries ago, metahumans first appeared on Earth. Three minutes ago, Superman lost a battle for the first time. Lying bloodied in the snow, he whistles and his faithful super dog, Krypto, comes running.

Like some of Gunn’s other novelty gags (I’m looking at you Groot), Krypto is both a highlight and overused gag throughout. Superman is in the midst of a battle by proxy with Luthor. From atop his Luthor Corp. skyscraper headquarters, Luther gives instructions to a team sitting before computer screens while, on a headset, barking out coded battle directions to drone-assisted henchmen. “13-B!” he shouts, like a Bingo caller.

Whether this is an ideal localizing of main characters in conflict is a debate that recedes a bit when, back in Metropolis, Clark Kent returns to the Daily Planet. There’s Wendell Pierce as the editor-in-chief, Perry White, and Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen. But the character of real interest here is, of course, Lois.

She and Kent are already an item in “Superman.” When alone, Lois chides him over the journalistic ethics of interviewing himself after some daring do, and questions his flying into countries without their leaders’ approval. Brosnahan slides so comfortably into the role that I wonder if “Superman” ought to have been “Lois,” instead. Her scenes with Corenswet are the best in the film, and the movie loses its snap when she’s not around.

That’s unfortunately for a substantial amount of time. Luthor traps Superman in a pocket universe (enter Metamorpho, among others) and the eccentric members of the Justice Gang — Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern, Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl — are called upon to lend a hand. They come begrudgingly. But if there’s anyone else that comes close to stealing the movie, it’s Gathegi, who meets increasingly absurd cataclysm with wry deadpan.

The fate of the world, naturally, again turns iffy. There’s a rift in the universe, not to mention some vaguely defined trouble in Boravia and Jarhanpur. In such scenes, Gunn's juggling act is especially uneasy and you can feel the movie lurching from one thing to another. Usually, that's Krypto's cue to fly back into the movie and run amok.

Gunn, who now presides over DC Studios with producer Peter Safran, is better with internal strife than he is international politics. Superman is often called “the Kryptonian” or “the alien" by humans, and Gunn leans into his outsider status. Not for the first time, Superman’s opponents try to paint him as an untrustworthy foreigner. With a modicum of timeliness, “Superman” is an immigrant story.

Mileage will inevitably vary when it comes to Gunn’s idiosyncratic touch. He can be outlandish and sweet, often at once. In a conversation between metahumans, he will insert a donut into the scene for no real reason, and cut from a body falling through the air to an Alka-Seltzer tablet dropping into a glass. Some might call such moments glib, a not-unfair label for Gunn. But I’d say they make this pleasantly imperfect “Superman” something quite rare in the assembly line-style of superhero moviemaking today: human.