74th Cannes. Spike Lee's Jury

by Nathaniel R

We've known for well over a year that Spike Lee would be presiding over the competition jury. And last week he became the first Jury President (that we know of) to ever be the poster star of the festival in the year he was jurying. How about that? People will also be excited to hear that the competition jury is majority women but that's not a first. It's actually the third time. Isabelle Huppert led a majority female jury in 2009 (White Ribbon won the Palme that year) and Jane Campion led a majority female jury in 2014 (Winter Sleep won).

LET'S MEET THE JURY...

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The Honorary Oscars are back with a worthy quartet!

by Nathaniel R

After a year off from the Honorary Oscars, thanks to COVID-19, we deserved an awesome list this year and the Academy has provided. This is exactly the type of list we need each year wherein the Academy honors people who haven't already won Oscars but contributed indelibly to film culture. At the next Governor's Awards, which will be on January 15th, 2022 (instead of in its usual November spot) the Honorary Oscar will be given to actors Samuel L Jackson (one previous nomination, Pulp Fiction) and Liv Ullmann (two previous nominations, The Emigrants and Face to Face), and the actress/director/screenwriter Elaine May (two previous nominations for writing for Primary Colors and Heaven Can Wait). If you count honorary prizes this means 89 year old Elaine May will just be an Emmy short of EGOTing since she's already won a Tony (The Waverly Gallery) and a Grammy (An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May)...

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Emmys Watch: The Embarrassment of Riches in Outstanding Limited Series

Our team is breaking down the top contenders in all the major Emmy races and highlighting some of our favorites over the next few weeks. Today, we’re looking at Outstanding Limited Series.

Will recent hit "Mare of Easttown" be able to dethrone Emmy favorite "The Queen's Gambit?"

By Christopher James

The Outstanding Limited Series category is perhaps the most competitive category of the year. Shows like The Queen’s Gambit, Mare of Easttown and WandaVision commanded the most (virtual) water cooler chatter of the past year. Even with all this abundance of quality, only five shows can make the cut, compared to eight nominees in the series categories. Prestige TV, streaming sensations and genre favorites all combine in the limited series category. This isn’t the first time that Limited Series has been more competitive than the ongoing series categories. The past decade has seen a modern renaissance of the form, with American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, Big Little Lies and When They See Us as recent examples of incredible and incredibly popular TV. Big stars have also been swayed to this form, primarily because of the rich stories told combined with the less stringent time commitment. This year is no different.

Read on to see what shows are in contention this year... 

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Gay Best Friend: Michael in "Camp" (2003)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

I wish I looked as good as Michael (Robin de Jesús) at my prom.Back in 2003 there weren’t many places where a gay kid wouldn’t be the “other” person. That’s why the “gay best friend” trope became so prevalent. Film would always show us the “token” gay person in a non-threatening supporting role, reinforcing that they were “different” than the norm. Camp flips this on its head. The comedy takes place at Camp Ovation, a musical theater camp outside of New York. It’s one of the few places where the gays outnumber the straight men.

This dichotomy between being “othered” and being welcomed is established in the first scene, with the song “How Shall I See You Through My Tears” from The Gospel of Colonus. This performance is intercut with the entrance of Michael (Robin de Jesús), as he arrives at prom in drag...

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Emmy Watch: Outstanding TV Movie

by Juan Carlos Ojano

In a year when most categories saw the number of their submissions drop, the Outstanding TV Movie category stands out as one of the few that actually had an increase in submissions (41 submissions from last year’s 28). On the flipside, this year saw even less high-profile contenders, adding to the growing indifference towards this category. Perhaps last year’s winner Bad Education set a high bar in how a “TV movie” can be received critically, faring well even in traditional film awards. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to blur what is considered a film and television, with streaming services now arbitrarily pushing some for Oscars and some for Emmys.

This year, let’s take a look at the field of contenders that we have (per platform)...

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