Links: Daredevil Casting, Cage Laughing, Maleficent Building, X-Men Griping
Wednesday, May 28, 2014 at 2:26PM Today's Picture To Gawk At
This one goes out to my podcast pals via Theater Mania because we know you've always wanted to see a photo of Julianne Moore with Sophie Okonedo!
Juli with the cast of the 2 millionth revival of "Raisin in the Sun"
Linkages
New York Times Maya Angelou, the famous author and poet, sometime actress, and one time director (Down in the Delta, 1998) has died
Pajiba Charlie Cox, who killed my beloved Pfeiffer in Stardust will be the new Daredevil for 2015's Netflix series. I haven't seen him in act in like seven years (no really)... so I have no idea what to say about this. Kept a low profile he has as a once rising star. Thoughts?
Playbill Best Picture winner The Sting (1973) will become a musical on Broadway. (That's mandatory now for famous movies)
AV Club HBO going further back with its gay content and planning a 1960s based gay telefilm Open City about gays and the mafia... not to be confused with the modern term "the gay mafia"
i09 talks to production designer turned director Robert Stromberg about his world-building on movies and Maleficent
YouTube every time Nicolas Cage laughs in a movie. This is so funny and disturbing
Variety Gross! Clueless's Stacey Dash (Dionne) is a Republican and has just joined Fox News
Variety Golden Trailer Awards getting more popular each year
Would Be Emmy Precursors
Finally, The Broadcast Television Critics Nominations were announced today. I don't belong to this kid brother organization of the BFCA (which I do belong to) that is still very new... but I can't say that I'm pleased with them for the Mad Men shutouts in their drama nominations or that they're so conversative in their taste when it comes to some of Emmy's issues. (The Big Bang Theory, really? and no RuPaul's Drag Race in Reality Competition despite the media always complaining about how dumb the Emmys are to not see its subversive brilliance?) But if you're curious you can take a look. Things That Are Awesome: Lauren Weedman for Guest Actress for Looking on HBO. Lots of nominations for Masters of Sex and Orange is the New Black; Things That Are Stupid: Mad Men shut out; Things That Are Interesting: Joe Morton who plays Kerry Washington's father and Bellamy Young, who plays the perpetually defeated unloved First Lady are the only members of Scandal to get acting nominations. The lack of interest in Girls on HBO (only nominated for Andrew Rannels in Guest Performer). Two acting nods for Shameless as a Comedy (it's new campaign tactic) even though it's more of a Drama than it used to be.
art by Jason MetcalfX-Men. Emphasis on the Men.
Dim the House Lights has an excellent piece expanding on my frustrations with X-Men Days of Future Past and the X-franchise's unwillingness to care about its female characters. This article goes one step further and argues that their agency has been completely erased. Compellingly argued, too.
Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men in my readings about the X-Men movies I chanced upon this great funny podcast that attempts to explain the X-Men's very convoluted history, right from the beginning in the 1960s. If you care about comic books, the X-Men, or want to just marvel at how professional some podcasts sound (seriously, what equipment do people use that their voices are always so shiny, clear and untarnished by sound debris?) [all the episodes on iTunes]
Reader Comments (24)
Refresh my memory on how and why Sophie Okonedo is a joke?
Seriously...the shameless category fraud for "Shameless" is a little ridiculous. I barely conceded when they decided that "Desperate Housewives" would be categorized as a comedy a decade ago, but come on...this is silly. To the people making these decisions, what made you laugh more this season? Was it Fiona going to jail and hitting rock bottom? The discovery that one of the brothers is bi-polar? Or when the baby brother ingested crack and almost died? I love the show. I want it to win awards too, but...there are lots of great shows past and present that never garnered major awards attention. I would make the argument that the politics behind television awards are even more twisted and less beholden to actual quality than that of film awards. "The Wire" only garnering two Emmy nominations over the course of its run in no way diminishes its place in history. Conversely, the roster of winners for the Best Comedy Series and Best Drama Series of various television awards, if you go back through the years, is a veritable who's who of culturally irrelevant shows that have not really stood the test of time, even as interesting markers for their own time. Rant over.
Nathaniel-
The critics awards nominated RuPaul as best Reality Series Host!!!
OMG Finally some recognition! Stupid Emmy's need to take note!
:-)
/3rtful - she's not a joke. we just like to throw her name about playfully in appropriate places likes she's a much bigger star. i have no idea why it came to pass. it just did.
David -- in a way that's even worse. So they're aware enough of the show to throw Ru a bone but won't acknowledge the show as among the best things on television?
Charlie Cox was excellent (and HOT) on Boardwalk Empire.
If Orange Is the New Black is a comedy, then so is Scandal.
And:
BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A COMEDY SERIES
• James Earl Jones, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
What?!?
The Big Bang Theory is a great and funnt show!
God what's with all the hatred for it?
Jean Grey was a major figure in the original trilogy and Mystique is a major figure in these recent films. I don't see it.
If Looking was going to get a Guest Actress nom, I think I'd have preferred it to go to Julia Duffy.
Also, yay for Chris Messina!
tony -- i'd read the article then. They have totally lost their agency. they are always used merely to as pawns of the men or crutches of the men's emotional journeys. This is super obvious in the original movie trilogy with Jean Grey. In the comic books, Jean Grey's principla relationship with Cyclops is much more fleshed out and her story is not at all based on how in love with her Logan is (that's a sidebar at most)
The Big Bang Theory won several Critics' Choice Awards last year. Duck Dynasty won one, too. Not sure how "choice" these awards are...
Paul Outlaw is absolutely right. Charlie Cox was the best/sexiest thing of Boardwalk Empire for a couple of seasons, way better than Cannavale who got the Emmy.
Shameless had their most dramatic season ever, that's true, but I still consider it a dark comedy. Same thing with Desperate Housewives. Anyway, those nominations are joke. Allison Janney a guest performer in Masters of Sex and a supporting one in Mom? C'mon!
I hold Mr. Davis responsible for the constant mockery. I would gladly squeeze his bollocks until he apologizes.
/dead feat. slayed!! If you guys excuse me, I have to collect the pieces of my brain from the floor. My head exploded with that epic picture of Julianne Moore w/ Sophie Okonedo. Even the folks on the picture know of its historical importance! Anika Noni Rose's smile just says "you bitches be tripping now, huh?", and that I am, sister, I am!
haha Nic Cage is so weird.
/ Paul Outlaw re: "If Orange Is the New Black is a comedy, then so is Scandal." Truest thing I've heard all day.
I do think that Young & Morton are the most deserving of the Scandal cast, partly because they have best resisted being dragged down by the weight of ponderous and ridiculous writing, but mostly because they're the only ones who seem to consistently get what tone/genre the show is going for.
I'm also thrilled to see little Albert Tsai nominated for the underseen Trophy Wife. Truly gifted comic actor, and because of his age and the show's low profile unlikely to get much attention anywhere else.
I may not agree with some of the CCA nominees, but I love just how many programs are recognized here. There are a lot of shows that received single nominations, which means they're voting for actors they really care about, not just filling up their ballot with the entire cast of Modern Family.
I still have not seen the new X-Men, but I have heard its good from my friends. Now you made me dig into some more information on other blogs and it sees utterly stupid and made more available for the typical consumer. This comes with no surprise. Look at the last Captain America, movie that can be considered another low for the filming industry. Even the comic fans are growing and they want more polished and ambigual behavior from their heroes, not just the same large-scale action they are famous for.
Margaret-They've already canned Trophy Wife which is a damn shame; one of the best new comedies in a while. Had ABC aired it following Modern Family, the audience would have been huge! Michaela Watkins and Albert Tsai are genius!
@ John B: You do realize you're in the minority on CA: WS, right? I'm not saying you're wrong for disliking it but the movie scored strong reviews, a strong fan reception and a pretty health box office. Again, this is not to say that you're wrong for disliking it or that those things absolutely prove that the film is good. However, it does prove that you are wrong about how other people are perceiving it. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on the other hand...
I saw A Raisin in the Sun a couple weeks ago and, yes, I think it's the best version so far. I'm not sure Denzel bests Sidney, but he gives him a run for his money. The female ensemble is stellar. It's only too bad the three of them haven't had the same showcases on film. Alas, the plight of the black actress. Well worth the time & money.
And Anika even took a selfie with me and a friend outside the theater. By take I mean she held the camera up above our heads and snapped two photos to be sure it was in focus. Lovely and talented!
I haven't mentioned Sophie Okonedo in a while; the joke was never about her but about the misconception that an Oscar nom leads to household-name status and a major Hollywood career; and I paid to see Skin, Okonedo's only headlining film I can think of, during the three seconds it was in theaters. I think my Okonedo credentials are in order, and I understood the jokes were being heard in a way I didn't intend, so I cooled it. She's a great actress, even if I didn't quite get the Hotel Rwanda nod. I will move on to Mischa Auer and Grayson Hall jokes, just to vary the field.
Nick, Mercedes Ruehl is the best possible Oscar punching bag. Hollywood had absolutely nothing for after The Fisher King, which is essentially a consolation prize for having the brief run she had in the movies during the late eighties and peaking exactly in 1991.