Stage Door - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Dancin’ Dan here with a quick run through one of the Tony front-runners in preparation for this weekend’s festivities! As a big fan of Mark Haddon’s 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I was… concerned when it was announced that there was a stage adaptation in the works. Some books just don’t feel like they would translate to the stage, and this, with its singular first-person narration, certainly felt like one.

I was wrong about that...

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A Portrait of Everyone Trying To Decide What To Write About "Dick Tracy" For HMWYBS

Perfect right? Thanks Kathy!

I totally forgot that Kathy Bates was in this movie. And that she's amusingly mystified when asked to transcribe Mumbles confession. Or maybe she's distracted thinking 'Misery comes out in 5½ months and then you'll see what I can do!'

I'm currently mulling over 23 screengrabs for Dick Tracy (1990) trying to choose just 1 for its 25th anniversary. This movie is so good looking, in a super-saturated drunk on the color wheel way. So if you're also struggling or forgot that Best Shot was returning today after hiatus (I know several people did) I'll extend the BEST SHOT deadline to tomorrow night.

But in the meantime cue up Madonna's "I'm Breathless" CD and remember how good those Stephen Sondheim songs are as you check out these entries from blogs that finished in time! (Consider it appetizer and main course and tomorrow night dessert for any latecomers to our weekly Visual Party.)

Coco Hits NY - selects a clever moment of cartoon logic
The Entertainment Junkie - on converging visual elements
Film Actually - loves the film noir long shots
Dancin' Dan - goes understated for a loud movie 
Antagony & Ecstasy - admires the graphic storytelling
Paul Outlaw- wants to reverse Madonna & Beatty's positions in this potent frame 

And don't forget that next Wednesday night June 10th is Amadeus (1984) and there won't be any extension of that deadline because the film leaves Netflix Instant Watch very soon and it's three hours long (but oh so good) so you might want to get a headstart on your selection for that one. Yours truly hasn't seen it since the 80s and is so excited to revisit it.  

The Toughest Emmy Quandary: Supporting Actress in a Drama Series?

We begin an Emmy FYC series tomorrow (Daily at Noon) since voting commences this month for nominations for the 67th Annual Emmy Awards. Emmy rules allow for 6 acting nominees per category. Though I shudder when any pundit suggests expanding lineups in any awards show -- it reduces the meaning if it's easy to get nominated -- if there were ever a convincing argument against honoring twice as many actors as usual, isn't it the 2015 Supporting Actress in a Drama Series field? 

THE FACTS
For the past three years the category has been almost exclusively dominated by five women. The 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons saw a nominated shortlist that always included Christine Baranski (5 nominations for The Good Wife, 7 previous nominations with 1 win), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men, 5 nominations), Maggie Smith (4 nominations and 2 wins for Downton Abbey, 4 previous nominations with another win) and Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad, 3 nominations and 2 wins). Joanna Froggatt (Downton Abbey, 2 nominations) was usually in the lineup as well leaving very little wiggle room for other fine actresses. Essentially voters had one free spot each year that they were then quite fickle with. All but one of these five women are still eligible (Breaking Bad is finally off the air) which begs the question of how Emmy will deal with so many new and valuable players from freshman series or players who've been coalescing fans and momentum towards nominations without quite breaking in for other series.

Unless Emmy is willing to ditch one of their four beloveds (and it better not be Hendricks who had such a great sendoff in Mad Men and has been robbed in the past) there's only room for two newbies or returning players and there are a couple dozen of them (at least) to consider after the jump...

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HBO’s LGBT History: Citizen Cohn (1992)

Manuel is working his way through all the LGBT-themed films & miniseries produced and distributed by HBO.

Last week we looked at one of the greatest documentaries on the AIDS crisis ever committed to film, Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1988), and discussed HBO’s remarkably solid Oscar track record. This week, we enter the 1990s, a time when HBO’s clout when it came to made-for-TV movies was on the rise and when its stronghold on the respective Emmy category would begin: did you know that HBO has won the Emmy for Best TV Movie all but two times since 1993? It’s clearly poised to keep the streak going with yet another LGBT property, Bessie (reviewed).

Citizen Cohn (1992) [Watch here]
Directed by: Frank Pierson
Written by: David Franzoni
Starring: James Woods, Joe Don Baker, Joseph Bologna, Ed Flanders and Lee Grant

If you look at the early HBO TV movies you notice they favored (much like Lifetime does nowadays) real-life stories that were provocative in subject matter yet packaged in rather unremarkably-shot films. While the sophistication of historical retellings like John Addams, Recount and Game Change have become banner examples of what HBO Films can produce, its earlier iterations looked more like Citizen Cohn. The film does its homework and relentlessly shows Roy Cohn for the petty, petulant bully he was, both as a member of the McCarthy committee on investigations on Communist activity and as a divorce lawyer in New York. [More...]

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YNMS: Suffragette

Every day since Cannes wrapped it's become clear that the Oscar charts must be updated. We were already banking on Focus Feature's Suffragette for a Best Picture nomination but when we update we might get even more bullish after this new trailer and that prime October real estate (October has been very kind to Best Pictures of late - December is so passe). Anyway, let's not get distracted with Best Picture talk.

Suffragette stars Carey Mulligan as Maud, a working wife and mother who is recruited to join the growing movement and becomes a fierce activist. Mulligan, having a great year with Far From The Madding Crowd's success and a Tony nomination, will likely reap Oscar traction if people like the film but she's backed up by quite the ensemble of talented ladies. Meryl Streep is apt to get all the glory, as she does, for her small role as Emmeline Pankhurst, a catalyst for the story and an icon of Suffragette history, but I'll be interested to see which other members of the supporting cast can win any attention or praise (if any) for strong characterizations or memorable scenes once people start seeing the whole film. Suffragette will premiere at the London Film Festival. 

The trailer and our Yes No Maybe So breakdown -- which we'll do a little differently this time -- after the jump...

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