Emmy Nominations 2020

By Abe Fried-Tanzer

William Jackson Harper is finally nominated for The Good Place. The show received 6 nominations including 4 for acting.

Every year when Emmy nominations are announced, there are at least a few surprise snubs and inclusions. One or two inconsistencies are expected, but usually, when a series does well, it brings along its most talented performers with it. This year, it feels like that isn’t true in so many different cases in what may well be the messiest list of nominees we’ve ever seen. But let’s start with the good.

From this truly baffling announcement, there are a few very positive takeaways. Every single acting category listed below includes at least one person of color, and there’s a real diversity to the nominees. Underdogs like Yvonne Orji (Insecure) and William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) made the cut for the fourth seasons of their shows, which is wonderful (and not common). Unorthodox managed eight nominations, including for Best Limited Series and lead actress Shira Haas. Though it didn’t crack its top category, Normal People did score a nomination for Paul Mescal and for writing (we cheered on Nathaniel’s behalf). A lot of people were surely ecstatic that Zendaya (Euphoria) managed a nomination in an insanely crowded field, too.

Unfortunately, that’s about the extent of the entirely positive...

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The New Classics: The New World

Michael Cusumano here, kicking off our intermittent 2005 coverage for the next few weeks. This episode of The New Classics can be subtitled "Confessions of a Former Malick Agnostic."

Scene: Reunion in England
For most of my life, Terrence Malick films have been like going to church in that I respect the showmanship while being privately unmoved as, all around me, believers are moved to heights of ecstasy. Like any good lapsed Catholic, I felt tremendously guilty about this. If only I wasn’t so spiritually deficient, so hung up on traditional plot structure, then I wouldn’t be a Philistine who preferred Private Ryan to Thin Red Line (twenty lashes for being basic). True, I adored Badlands but that only increased my shame. Of course I would go for his most accessible one. What, is "Creep" my favorite Radiohead song, too?

My first viewing of The New World followed the usual script...

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Almost There: Olivia de Havilland in "My Cousin Rachel"

by Cláudio Alves

As you know, Olivia de Havilland passed away on Saturday. She leaves behind a filmography full of immortal classics as well as a legacy that still shapes the American film industry. At first glance, de Havilland might seem like an odd choice for this series. Her most acclaimed roles did nab Oscar nominations and she won twice. Still, there was, at least, one occasion when the great Olivia could have considered herself snubbed by AMPAS. It happened in 1952 when the actress returned to the screen after a short period dedicated to the stage. Surely a wise move since The Heiress (1949) was undoubtedly a tough act to follow.

Her next feature after the break was a Daphne du Maurier adaptation that's noteworthy for at least two reasons: one, it  launched the career of Richard Burton in Hollywood and two, it went on to score four Oscar nominations. We're talking about My Cousin Rachel…

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Review: Rosamund Pike in "Radioactive"

Please welcome new contributor Juan Carlos Ojano, who you may know from the podcast "One Inch Barrier" - Editor

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Biopics are tricky.  Inasmuch as making them are good bets for filmmakers to get awards consideration, they are also prone to falling to overused clichés. One overworn formula persistently plagues this genre: the all-encompassing chronicle of the major events in a real person’s life. Such is the case with Marjane Satrapi’s Radioactive, an unabashed ode to the legacy of Marie Curie and her contributions to science, that's now streaming on Amazon Prime.

While this biopic harbors a lot of distinct aesthetic choices, they are but distracting compensation for formulaic storytelling...

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Babs as director

by Cláudio Alves

Barbra Streisand is a powerhouse in every sense of the word. Her long career has encompassed many facets of show business, from night club singer to Broadway sensation, from Oscar-winning actress to successful producer, and so on. Considering we've been discussing 1991 for the past couple of weeks, it seems appropriate to consider Streisand's legacy, not as a music or movie star, but as a director. That was the year that she released one of her dream projects, The Prince of Tides, which was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. Streisand, however, was left out of the directing lineup despite an aggressive campaign and much publicity. The snub stung and robbed Streisand of the honor of becoming the second woman to be nominated for that award, after Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s. 

Still, while it's difficult not to see AMPAS' decision as a blatant rebuke of Streisand as a director, one has to wonder if she'd have deserved the nod. After all, 1991 had a stellar, and historic, Best Director lineup...

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