Emmy Review: Best Actress, Limited Series or Movie

We've been reviewing Emmy categories. Voting concludes next Monday with the ceremony on September 17th.

by Eric Blume

Entertainment writers have been crowing for a while about this category, claiming that it looks more like a Best Actress Oscar list than it does an Emmy list.  And it’s true, this year’s six nominees include four women who have already won that Oscar, along with two of television’s biggest names.  It’s an embarrassment of riches: six interesting, surprising, deep performances from six formidable actors...

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Doc Corner: The Awe and Wonder of 'The Farthest'

by Glenn Dunks

There is a reason that filmmakers keep going back to space. The very concept of an ever-expansive mass of significant nothingness can inspire the mind in infinite ways. But whereas for many, the immediate idea is to resort to fireballs, aliens and standard hero versus villain storylines, I find myself far more attracted to those who turn towards the stars with a sense of wonder and awe. It is perhaps why I respond so well to documentaries like Roman Kroitor and Colin Low’s Universe (the short that inspired Kubrick’s 2001), Al Reinert’s For All Mankind, and now Emer Reynolds’ The Farthest, one of the year's finest.

Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of NASA’s 1977 mission to send two Voyager satellites into space, this Irish documentary is a work of stunning beauty. A film that grapples with the concept of not just what this giant science experiment is, but what it means to us, to the Earth, and to the very idea of humanity. It’s also just a whole lot of wide-eyed fun, a scintillating journey through the galaxy that is as illuminating as it is exciting...

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would you rather...?

Time for another silly 'let's fantasize about hanging out with celebrities' game. Would you rather...

• visit South Africa with two of its most famous exports Charlize Theron and Trevor Noah?
• cheer Ashley Judd's cat on as it fully recovers from a near fatal attack?
• do goat yoga (there are so many kinds of yoga!) with Marisa Tomei?
• watch the eclipse with Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda, and Mary Steenburgen?
• bask in the afterglow with Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally?
• mother kittens with Kristin Bauer?
• hang in Brooklyn in your pjs with Anna Kendrick?
• wish John Stamos a happy birthday suit?

pictures after the jump to help you decide.

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Emmy Actors - Who Would You Vote For?

Though we've been reviewing various Emmy categories our team isn't nearly big enough to cover everything and who should suffer. Why the men of course since they just aren't as exciting as the actresses. But let's not just ignore them all together. That would be rude!

Who would you vote for in the male drama acting categories? Make a case for them in the comments. Let's discuss after the jump...

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No More Mara "Magdalene" This Year

Chris here. We've been dying to see Rooney Mara in Garth Davis's Lion follow-up Mary Magdalene ever since those set photos emerged of her smoking in costume. But unfortunately the wait is about to be longer: the Weinstein Co. just pushed the film off this year's release calendar. We suspected this news might be coming when the film wasn't showing up in any festival lineups, but now the news in confirmed.

However, this doesn't mean that Mary Magdalene is headed towards the same fate as their delayed-into-oblivion titles Suite Francaise and Tulip Fever (which will finally open wide Sept. 1 - allegedly). Weinstein Co. has simply pushed the film back to March 30, which will be appropriately timed for Easter weekend. Perhaps opening on the holiday will be a smart cash grab given the relevancy with the subject.

But the Weinstein's aren't giving up that prime November release date after the same timing worked out so well for them last year with Lion. They have now moved up the Edison/Westinghouse electricity race film The Current War to Magdalene's former November 24 date. That film plays right into the Academy's biopic sweet spot and boasts a nomination-ready ensemble that includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, and Tom Holland. The financial struggles of the Weinstein Co. would likely have not been able to support the awards hopes for both, so maybe this is the best scenario for both films. Even if it means we'll have to smoke another pack with Mara Magdalene while we wait.