Link Night

EW first pick of Jude Law as the baddie in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017).
Interview talks to Viggo Mortensen (audio interview)
The Playlist translates a controversial interview with Director John McTiernan in which he trashes Mad Max Fury Road and Captain America movies an discusses a potential upcoming project 
MTV Teo on how musicals got their groove back 
Variety Emmy breakdown by studio. HBO is still dominating the Emmys but not by the margins they use to.  
Playbill Live Musicals did well at the Emmys with Grease: Live and The Wiz Live! scoring big 

My New Plaid Pants new photos from Man Down starring Shia Labeouf & Jai Courtney 
EW TV's best comedies are... tearjerkers!
/Film the terribleness of Batman v Superman is not stopping excitement for Suicide Squad which is tracking for a spectacular August opening weekend
MNPP on the poster for Disorder (which is taking forever to hit movie theaters) 
Pajiba Ranking the men of Jane Austen by Swoon Factor from Sam Riley in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on up
Towleroad a gay version of The Bachelor is currently in production because making a mockery of commitment and true love shouldn't just be for straight people! 
New York Times interviews the new lead of Hamilton, Javier Muñoz
Pajiba recommends five crime thrillers from Korea including The Yellow Sea and Memories of Murder 

Revivals & Remakes
iTunes Trailers Howards End, one of the greatest films of the 1990s is coming back to theaters in a new restoration. It really should've won Best Picture, I tell ya.
EW Power Rangers release character posters. Very attractive cast which is useless since they have those face covering costumes
The Film Stage wonderful choice - Colin Farrell in talks for the male lead of The Beguiled remake
OMGBLOG John Waters Multiple Maniacs has been restored by the Criterion Collection, coming in August 
i09 China might not screen Ghostbusters but their name for it is wondrous 
Towleroad Paul Feig blames the studio for keeping Kate McKinnon's Ghostbusters character closeted. (SPOILER: But once you've seen the movie, you'll see that McKinnon comes through loud and proud and clear, anyway.)  

Oscar Chart Updates: Picture, Director, Screenplay

It's time to overhaul those April Fool's Oscar Predictions. Release dates have shifted around a bit with Miss Sloane (starring Jessica Chastain) and The Founder (starring Michael Keaton) moving to a very crowded December. Same as it ever was. Quite strangely every Oscar hopeful wants to open opposite Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, so those that have firmly planted their flags in October and November like Birth of a Nation, Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk, and Loving are looking extra smart since that's where Best Picture winners come from for a whole decade now. So why do studios keep banking on December? The answer is twofold. IF you don't get buried in the glut (that's the risk) you can make a lot of money during the holidays and get a higher nomination count than you probably could have managed had you opened in October since you're so fresh in the memory. That's what happened to The Big Short, Carol, Star Wars, and The Revenant last year though half of those did not manage Best Picture honors, even with the benefit of being fresh despite a plentiful stack of nominations.

Will the screenplay branch be appreciative of The Lobster's eccentric originality?

Sadly it doesn't look like we have a major summer player this year like we did last year with Mad Max Fury Road. Though we can hold out hope that The Lobster, Love & Friendship, The Witch and some other goodies from the year's first half will get a second wind later in the season. Anyway, the updates!

BEST PICTURE | BEST DIRECTOR
Faith is increasing in Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk and Loving and La La Land (though they were already doing well in our charts). Faith has decreased in Fences -- they sure rushed that one, didn't they, since they're already done filming and The Zookeeper's Wife has moved to 2017. (Surely a few more titles will also exit and wait it out)

BEST SCREENPLAYS
We'll assume Loving is an Original Screenplay for now, though there's a documentary and other writings on that topic. Since Oscar is weird about nominating musicals for Screenplay this is one category where La La Land is not predicted. But we've thrown Miss Sloane onto the chart to see how it feels. In Adapted Screenplay we're banking on Love & Friendship being the early bird that sticks around since it became such an arthouse hit and it's so delightful and so much was made in profiles and reviews and interviews of Whit Stillman's Jane Austen connection. 

More updates to come!

Review: The Infiltrator

Manuel here with a review of The Infiltrator which opened yesterday nationwide.

Fact: Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic is one of the most influential films of the 21st century. That’s not a qualitative assessment but an increasingly common thought that’s rankled in my brain. Can you believe Soderbergh actually struggled to get his film financed because Hollywood execs didn’t think audiences would want to watch an entire film about the drug trade?

Fast-forward to summer 2016 when USA is premiering Queen of the South, Netflix will bring us season 2 of Narcos, two competing El Chapo TV series are in development, and Bryan Cranston’s The Infiltrator joins an ever-growing list of films about the war on drugs that range from the sublime (Sicario) to the pedestrian (Blow) with everything in between (Savages, anyone?).

In Brad Furman’s The Infiltrator, the Breaking Bad actor plays U.S. Customs Service special agent Robert Mazur who, as is par for the course in certain genres, decides to take on one last job to go undercover as “Bob Musella.”...

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Emmy Noms 2016: Drama / MiniSeries, First Impressions

Emmy Awards will be held on Sept 20th this yearPreviously: The Comedy Nominations
Related: Snubs & Perplexities

On the Outs: The big news emerging from this Emmy nomination morning is that Orange is the New Black's 3rd season did not go over well with Emmy voters falling from all the major categories but it did receive a casting nomination. The Good Wife also didn't get a particularly warm nomination send off in its final season with only a handful of minor nominations.

Suddenly In: After years of pressuring the Academy, television critics finally got their beloved "The Americans" in the running in most of the big categories. Perhaps it was the title? Everything "American" did well... "The Americans", "American Crime", American Crime Story" etcetera.

Still In: Most everything they previously loved but particularly Game of Thrones which I believe is now the most nominated show in the history of the Emmys with 106 nominations from its six seasons. It's won 26 Emmys already. 

Still Out: The Leftovers was snubbed again. Two brilliant, challenging, original, and very different seasons and not a single nomination even in technical categories in either year. For shame, Emmy voters, for shame.

The nominees with brief commentary... 

DRAMA

Outstanding Drama Series
"Americans" (1st nomination. 4th season)
"Better Call Saul" (2nd season. 2nd nomination)
"Downton Abbey" (6th season. 6th nomination... though the first was in another category)
"Game of Thrones" (6th season. 6th nomination)
"Homeland" (5th season. 4th nomination)
"House of Cards" (4th season. 4th nomination)
"Mr Robot" (1st season. 1st nomination)

Similarity to Last Year: 5/7 They had to make one change with Mad Men gone so in goes Mr Robot, the most buzzed about freshman series. But the other change was voluntary: they dumped Orange is the New Black (3rd season) for The Americans (4th season). It's wonderful to see The Americans finally get its due but why couldn't it have dumped one of the long in the tooth shows that really don't deserve automatic placement each year?

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Emmy Noms 2016: Comedy, First Impressions

Related: Drama Nominations
Related: Snubs & Perplexities 

The 68th annual Emmy nominations have been announced. As usual the Academy of Television couldn't bring themselves to switch it up much, only making changes in categories where they were forced to do so (like Comedy Actress). 

COMEDY NOMINATIONS

Kimmy Schmidt was nominated again but without two of its funniest players: Anna Camp (Guest) and Jane Krakowski (Supporting)

Outstanding Comedy Series
"Black•ish" (1st nom, 2nd season)
"Master of None" (1st nom, 1st season)
"Modern Family" (7th season, 7th nom - 5 previous wins) 
"Silicon Valley" (2nd season, 2nd nom)
"Transparent" (2nd season, 2nd nom)
"Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (2nd season, 2nd nom)
"Veep" (5th season, 5th nom, 1 previous win)

Similarities to last year:  4/6 With both Louie and Parks & Recreation ineligible this year, Emmy voters were forced to make two changes to their series lineup. That's all they made...

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