Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 6:59PM Parker Posey teaches Emmy Acceptance Speeches. There's still time to enroll before the big night! Only $899.
Acceptance Speeches, Emmy, Parker Posey, comedy, short films Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 2:45PM I wish...
10 ...for Martha Plimpton and Jane Krakowski, who weren't nominated for the awards on the big night this year, to get a moment on stage somehow. Love them. While we're at it maybe Jane could win on a write in vote for arguably her best 30 Rock season yet!
09 ... for Homeland to win Best Drama Series if it can't be Mad Men again.
08 ...for at least one La Pfeiffer reaction shot even though David E. Kelley isn't the Emmy powerhouse he used to be. I mean there has to be some silver lining to that wasted Best Actress nomination for Kathy Bates on his bland Harry's Law show. Love the Bates and hope she gets well soon but that show is not her finest hour! And to think of the person they had to snub to include her (Madeleine Stowe in Revenge!)
click for Dexter Action Figure07 ...for someone to mistakenly say "And the Emmy goes to Claire Danes for Temple Grandin" when she wins for Homeland because there's only a .00000001% chance that she won't. Just for the absurd showbiz hilarity of it all. Another prize for Temple!
06 ... for Benedict Cumberbatch to publicy amusingly air his grievances with the new network Sherlock Holmes show.
05 ... for the industry to make a surprise announcement that all shows that are but shadows of their former selves are immediately cancelled and no further episodes will air. Good riddance: Dexter, American Idol, Survivor, all Law & Order and CSI spinoffs, etcetera.
Modern Family may stay but it shall be barred from any further Best Comedy Series wins until it deserves them again.
04 ...for Amy Poehler to win Best Actress in a Comedy for Parks and Recreation. I realize this is never going to happen (Lena Dunham has this in the bag I think) but I've seen the competition and Poehler has created one of the most singular fascinating comic leads in sitcom history and, even better, she fine tunes it every year rather than coasting on auto-pilot (which many people do at this point in a series run)
03 ...speaking of singular performances. Merrit Wever for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Can I get an amen? "Zoe" is such a funny inventive creation and she helps keep the comedy in the series even when it veers towards heavy drama. This season was particularly great for her with that frozen new expression Dr. Cruz caused, her hunt for a roommate "Wanted", her kimonos in the kitchen and her romantic confusion.
02 ...for Mad Men to finally win an acting Emmy.
click on image for gif source
Five years in and it's still the best show on television and the actors have nothing to do with that? Please! (I realize wishing for another Drama Series win is foolish at this point with Downton Abbey, Homeland and Game of Thrones all very real threats for a win.)
01 ...to watch Julianne Moore finally win something on a massive glitzy awards show (Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries, for Game Change... here's my full write-up). That one televised prize (Best Actress Far From Heaven, at the Spirit Awards) is an embarrassingly meager haul for an actor of her caliber.
Which of my wishes do you co-sign? errr... co-wish? Feel free to add your own as well. We'll live blog Sunday night.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 12:00PM With France's official announcement that the blockbuster The Intouchables will be their Official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Film, is the race already over? Its global tally currently rests at an astounding $364 million dollars, most of that from overseas bank. The film hasn't been ignored in American arthouse theaters exactly but it's $9 million gross and mainstream appeal (it's even in the IMDb top 100) qualifies it as a major arthouse hit but no crossover slam dunk; roughly speaking it's a hit the way last year's foreign film winner, the instant classic A Separation, was or the way Beasts of the Southern Wild is.
French cinema has had a complex intermittently passionate long-distance relationship with Hollywood since cinema began and that is reflected in their Oscar success over the years both in this category and others. France leads all countries in most Foreign Film nominations by a wide margin (36 nominees to Italy's 26) but surprisingly they have not won since the Catherine Deneuve drama Indochine rocked US arthouses twenty years ago. Will this Gallic sort-of variation on Driving Miss Daisy (is that too dismissive?) be a lock for Oscar love or will last year's swerve towards critically prestigious international cinema signal a sea change to new glory days for the category? (Yes, I still have impromptu ecstatic flashbacks to A Separation's win)
OFFICIAL SUBMISSION CHARTS 2012 -- everything in one place as we do: posters, trailers, info. Pass it on.
Current Predictions - Australia, Austria, Denmark, France and Romania
Albania through Iran - 15 official submissions (thus far... updates in progress)
Italy through Venezuala - 16 official submissions (thus far... updates in progress)
Amelie netflix illustration by Tim Hodge (click for original source)A collection of France's biggest Oscar hits if you'd like to catch up with a movie marathon at home... after the jump
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 9:00AM Alexa here. I've been on a bit of a redecorating jag lately, most likely because I'm pregnant and somehow that comes with the territory. In my searches for some upgraded artwork I came upon these vintage posters from 1968 designed by Elaine Hanelock. I've had trouble finding any information on the artist, but her work looks to be a part of, or at the very least influenced by, the San Francisco poster art scene of the time (exemplified by artists like Bonnie Maclean). While this type of style is usually in the service of a gig poster, I love that these instead celebrate Golden Age film stars. If mod is your thing you can find some of Elaine's original prints for sale on ebay and etsy at a reasonable price. Here's a sampling.
Charlie Chaplin
Jean Harlow and Clara Bow
Curio, celebrity portraiture Monday, September 17, 2012 at 8:40PM A brief situational history: last year at a very crowded luncheon for the eventual Best Picture winner The Artist, I spotted the actress Carol Kane in the crowd. I'm not, as it happens, terribly shy about approaching actresses I admire at these things; they're there to mingle. But Oscargeek guilt and actressexual self-admonishment settled in before I could. "You've never seen Hester Street. Until you have, you may not speak with the Carol Kane!"
Our recent collective viewing of Dog Day Afternoon, reminded me of how much I love her face. The main attraction is, of course, those huge deer in headlight eyes. The small features around it are mere accessories and the whole doll-like delicacy is framed by a tangled mess of curly blond hair.
the first shot of Kane in "Hester Street", an immigrant just off the boat in Ellis Island
[More on Hester Street and Oscar '75 after the jump]
