It's Time for the "Darkest Hour"

Chris here. Remember a few short years ago when Gary Oldman, after decades of brilliance, was finally an Oscar nominee for Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy? Well, it looks like he could be prepping another go of awards season, but this time it might be for a performance that finds the actor on the unrecognizable side of his chameleonic abilities. The last time he had this level of makeup on we got his delicious and underrated Dracula, but now Oldman is donning some impressive prosthetics to play Winston Churchill in Joe Wright's period piece Darkest Hour.

Though Joe Wright's previous period work like Atonement and Anna Karenina have sparked with some inventive presentation, for the trailer this looks like a little bit more of the familiar. No matter, considering Oldman is firing on all cylinders for some juicy dramatics as the Prime Minister - the actor is definitely the show here. Also a good sign considering some of the not-so-beloved recent performances we've had from great actors take on playing Churchill.

The film also features a strong ensemble around Oldman, including Kristen Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily James, and Stephen Dillane. Expect to see this pop up on the fall festival circuit before it opens at Thanksgiving.

Emmy Reactions: Why Wasn't This Nominated?!

Now that we have had a little bit of time for the Emmy nominations to sink in, the afterglow of our favorite nominees has faded enough to reflect on what missed out. This year had quite a few stings for what we expected to be a more open playing field. Recurrent outsiders like The Leftovers and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend have long been on our lips here at The Film Experience as criminally ignored by awards bodies, and this year was no different! Here's what missed out this morning that has us lamenting:

JORGE - Rita Moreno is destined to win an EGOT twice and they just delayed it. Truly upset about her snub for One Day at a Time.

DENNY - It's clear the voting body watched Black Mirror: San Junipero. So why wasn't Bryce Dallas Howard nominated for her tremendous, go-for-broke performance in Nosedive? The arc the episode traces for her character (desperately trying to boost her favorability rating to attend a wedding) is hilarious, terrifying, and all too relatable, and Howard's mad commitment is key to the episode working as well as it does. For my money, she probably should have WON the trophy.

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Emmy Reactions: Our Favorite Nominations!

Since the Emmy nominations announced today, some celebration is in order! We polled our lively Team Experience for their thoughts on today's results, starting with their favorite nominees across any of Emmy's umpteen categories. Before we bemoan what got left out, let's pop a cork and spend some time on the many exciting nominees that made the cut:

What nomination made you the happiest?

JASON - LAURA DERN, OBVIOUSLY. I mean what am I, an animal?

LYNN - B.D. Wong as Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Mr. Robot). While Emmy voters cooled on Mr. Robot this year - a shame, since I maintain the second season was actually stronger than the first - I'm happy to see they did recognize one of its standout turns: B.D. Wong as the enigmatic White Rose.  Whether appearing as the female leader of the Dark Army or the male Chinese Minister of State Security, he was always absolutely mesmerizing to watch, offering glimmers of insight but never full access to the character's agenda and putting a slyly subversive spin on the old trope of the "inscrutable Oriental."

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It's Too Darn Hot!

It's almost 90 degrees in NYC today. How do you stay cool on a day like this? 

The Emmy Nominations!!

The 69th Emmy nominations have been announced! HBO need not worry that Game of Thrones wasn't eligible this year, as they landed the most nominated drama anyway with Westworld. The early-in-the-season genre hit tied Saturday Night Live for 22 nominations each, followed by Stranger Things and Feud tying for second place at 18 each.

Most of the nominations follow Emmy's expected players despite the openings left by departed perennials like Thrones, though this year isn't without surprises or fresh faces. The major breakthroughs this year were Hulu (finally in the major races thanks to the success of The Handmaid's Tale) and our beloved RuPaul's Drag Race (scoring 7 nominations, plus one for Untucked).

The team will be sharing their favorite nominations and frustrations on what missed the cut later today, but our dream ballot should give you a hint of our thoughts. Here are the nominees in the top categories:

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