Beauty vs Beast: Happy 65, Bill Murray

Jason from MNPP here nursing a slight Emmys hangover - my headache might be real but for once it's not from the terrible choices the Television Academy made; I for one was happy (or at least passably fine) with a lot of their picks! I mean yes Lisa Kudrow gave the best performance on television last year bar none so watching her go home empty-handed stung, but I can't really feel all that bad seeing one of the other best comediennes of all time get a little over-rewarded either.

But the brightest spot was all the love for my second-favorite 2014 Television Event (after The Comeback), the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge, which snatched up six worthy trophies... including one for birthday boy Bill Murray (typically a no-show at the ceremony), who's turning 65 today!

And this was totally the long way around but that brings me to this week's "Beauty vs Beast" which I'm devoting to his best performance (says me) in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, even though it doesn't entirely make sense for this series -- him & Scarlett are more of a duo that you're rooting for the whole time than much in the way of antagonists. But I'm gonna make you choose anyway because I love this movie more than silly logic.

PREVIOUSLY We headed to Bodega Bay last week where two gals pined for one hunky Momma's Boy amid a rain of seagulls from the sky - but unlike Mitch we tossed the Hitchcock Blonde right into that bay and went with doomed schoolteacher Annie (Suzanne Pleshette) instead. Said brookesboy:

"Pleshette plays my favorite character in this film. With everyone else teetering on the edge of hysteria, she conveys a calm, measured presence that is a consequence of a crushing sadness. Almost as if not even a force of nature--a flurry of birds--can lift away."

Triple (Poster) Threat

Manuel here with posters for three upcoming films we’ve been surprisingly quiet about here at TFE even though I know we're excited about (some of) them.

First up, Pan. I am vaguely curious about this Hugh Jackman/Joe Wright film but is it just me or has the marketing team been not really been doing their job on this film? It’s like that Rooney Mara Telluride Tribute was for naught! I mean, sure it was mostly for Carol, but you’d think they’d want to capitalize on her buzz!

Next, The Intern. Is this the film that will win Hathaway’s fans back (most of us never left!) or will it just fuel the fire? On a side-note, did you all read this fantastic interview with Nancy Meyers for New York Magazine? It’s worth a read in its entirety but my favorite line, obviously, was:

“Women can direct dinosaurs. Believe me.”

I am now imagining a Jurassic Park film directed by Nancy Meyers (imagine that raptor scene in a Meyers kitchen!) and boy would that be more enjoyable than the Trevorrow flick I finally caught up with this weekend.

And last but certainly not least, we have this bizarre poster for Steve Jobs (I do so love its main one), We at TFE will be catching this one soon at NYFF and will have plenty to say then, I’m sure. But for now, I’m going to obsess over Kate’s glasses and icy stare.

Which of these films are you most excited about?

Best Emmy Night Tweets

Too exhausted from travel for the typical live blog so we'll just share the best tweets from celebrities, friends and awesome people for the night. So refresh on occasion... 

But first of all here's "Taystee" herself Danielle Brooks. TWIRL, GIRL! 

more after the jump

Click to read more ...

Emmy Winners, 2015

Which of the prizes warmed the cockles of your heart? Which caused a blind rage? And which caused you to make these Amy Poehler or Lena Headey faces? 

Comedy Series, Comedy Veep (1st win in this category)
Lead Actress, Comedy Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (6th win, 4th consecutive from this series, from 20 nominations from 3 series) which means that two iconic characters Lisa Kudrow's "Valerie Cherish" and Amy Poehler's "Leslie Knope" were never rewarded for their genius
Lead Actor, Comedy Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (1st win for this role, 7 total nominations from 3 series)
Supporting Actress, Comedy Alison Janney, Mom (6th win, 2nd consecutive for this role, 10 total nominations from 3 series)
Supporting Actor, Comedy Tony Hale, Veep (2nd win for this role from 3 nominations) 
Writing, Comedy Veep (1st writing win for this series from 2 nominations)
Director, Comedy Jil Soloway, Transparent (1st directing win for this series)

Drama Series Game of Thrones (1st win in this category)
Lead Actress, Drama Viola Davis How To Get Away With Murder (1st win, also the 1st woman of color to win in this category
Lead Actor, Drama Jon Hamm, Mad Men (1st win in this category)
Supporting Actress, Drama Uzo Aduba Orange is the New Black (2nd consecutive win for this character)
Supporting Actor, Drama Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (2nd win this category)
Writing/Directing Game of Thrones 

Limited Series / Movie Olive Kitteridge
Lead Actress Limited Series/Movie Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge (1st win)
Lead Actor Limited Series / Movie Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge (1st win)
Supporting Actress Limited Series/Movie Regina King, American Crime (1st win)
Supporting Actor Limited Series/Movie Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge (1st win)
Director, Limited Series/Movie Lisa Cholodenko, Olive Kitteridge (1st win)
Writer, MiniSeries/Movie Olive Kitteridge 

Reality Competition The Voice
Variety Talk Show Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Sketch Show Inside Amy Schumer 

"Room" is the People's Choice

Great News: Room won the People's Choice award at TIFF! 
It couldn't have happened to a more deserving film and I mean that literally since it was the best of the 29 films I caught there. Confession: I really thought that Spotlight would take it since festival goers wouldn't shut up about that one. In the past twenty years the People's Choice Award has been a very solid indicator of a future Best Picture nomination. In fact, with one exception only (Hotel Rwanda) if the winner was from the States or the UK, it was nominated at the Oscars. Canadian winners (Eastern Promises and The Hanging Garden) as well as most of the non-English language winners weren't so lucky. A Best Picture nomination would be a very big deal for A24 as a young distributor but they've already released so many fine and daring films they've earned one, don't you think? 

How high would you rank the film now in your predictions? 

Winners List
People's Choice Room (Lenny Abramson)
    1st Runner Up: Angry Indian Goddesses (Pan Nalin)
    2nd Runner Up: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)

FIPRESCI Discovery: Eva Nová (Marko Skop) 
FIPRESCI Special Presentation: Desierto (Jonás Cuarón) 
NETPAC Asian Cinema Award: Whispering Star (Sion Sono) 
Toronto Platform Award: HURT (Alan Zweig) 
    Honorable Mention: Neon Bull, The Promised Land, The Clan
Best Short Maman(s) (Maïmouna Doucouré)
     Honorable Mention: Rate Me (Fyzal Boulifa) 

Best Canadian Feature Closet Monster (Stephen Dunn)
    Honorable Mention: My Internship in Canada (Philippe Falardeau)
Best Canadian First Feature Film Sleeping Giant (Andrew Cividino)
Best Canadian Short Overpass (Patrice Laliberté)
    Honorable Mention: Bacon & God's Wrath (Sol Friedman)

The odd thing about the Canadian prizes is that Closet Monster, my favorite LGBT movie from the fest, which won the "Canada Goose" for Best Canadian Film is also a First Feature; there's another prize for that that it did not win! Of the other award winners, I only managed to catch Spotlight, Room, and the Toronto Platform Honorable Mention The Clan. It's a gut-wrenching true crime drama about a notorious family in Argentina who kidnapped members of other upper class families, some of whom they knew personally, for ransom money. I suspect it will be Argentina's Oscar submission but they don't announce until the end of the month.