Emmy Review: Limited Series

by Juan Carlos

"And the Emmy goes to Watchmen."

Truth be told, it is hard to see a scenario where any other nominee overtakes HBO's series, which is the most nominated this year. The second-most nominated limited series Hollywood (with 11 nominations) was not even nominated in this, the top category. All of the other shows have a crucial nomination missing. Watchmen’s nomination haul demonstrates overwhelming support. Interesting to note that all of the nominees in this category are female-driven stories. Here is one last take on the contenders for limited series…..

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Vintage '38

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1938 arrives on Monday (and the voting is close) so get your votes in by Sunday morning! Before we get there it's time for more context of that year in history. The minimum wage was 40¢ an hour, the economy was in recession, and Howard Hughes was busy breaking aviation records. In sports Seabiscuit was the fastest horse, and Joe Louis was the Heavyweight champion of boxing. Meanwhile there was great unease in Europe with Hitler on the march and already claiming Austria and Czechoslovakia for Germany (the US turned a blind eye and European leaders were still trying to appease the madman).

Things were happy at the movies, though, where screwball comedies and adventure films were all the rage. If there's a link on a title, we've already written about the movie. Ready?  

When do you think "hung" changed its meaning in the popular vernacular?

Great Big Box Office Hits:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and In Old Chicago, both of which competed for the 1937 Oscars, weren't actually available to general audiences until 1938 and both became huge hits...

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The Furniture: Of Tesla and TED Talks

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Does genius have an aesthetic? And what would it look like? Tesla poses this question in a big way, tossing out the visual parameters of a typical period piece in the process. Director Michael Almereyda has said that he was inspired by “Derek Jarman, Henry James and certain episodes of Drunk History,” which absolutely comes through - and is a good thing. But, to be honest, Tesla also reminded me of a major component of the 21st century tech aesthetic: the TED Talk.

It’s in the script, too. The first thing we hear is a tale of the title inventor’s childhood, told by our narrator Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson). The young Tesla once noticed static electricity on a cat, a little memory that will be woven into an origin story for genius. This is immediately followed by a scene in which Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan) waxes poetic about his own memories, which include an early boat ride on Lake Ontario and witnessing a friend drown shortly thereafter.

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New Oscars Rules for Representation / Inclusion

AMPAS has been busy these past ten years or so dealing with rapid cultural changes and political pressure as well as, let's be honest, fallout from their own various blindspots. Though I know I pissed off many people back in the day when I argued that the Academy was taking more of the blame for #OscarsSoWhite than they perhaps deserved (in that they can only vote on the movies that are made), people who pushed back had a solid point: the Academy is the face and reputation of the American film industry. So even though the Academy isn't an organization that makes movies, their success as the symbolic representation of THE MOVIE INDUSTRY means they are culpable. Starting with the smart diversity initiatives set in place by Cheryl Boone Isaacs's terms as AMPAS president, they've made significant strides at being more inclusive. Today the Academy took a much more specific step forward. They've set up rules of representation and inclusion in order to be Oscar eligible in the first place starting with the 96th Oscars (2023 film year / 2024 ceremony).

You can read the whole press release at their official site but it boils down to this...

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"My Little Sister" and Switzerland at the Oscars

by Nathaniel R

We have our second contender for Best International Feature at the forthcoming Oscars. Poland was first to announce but now we also know which film Switzerland will send. They're going with My Little Sister which stars two familiar German greats Nina Hoss (Phoenix, Barbara, A Most Wanted Man) and Lars Eidinger (Never Look Away, Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria). Hoss and Eidinger are only six months apart in age in real life and early reviews of their performances are strong so we can't wait to see them as twins. The movie is directed by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond, a directing duo that Switzerland submitted once before in 2010 for The Little Bedroom...

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