Emmy Watch: Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

Like its counterpart lead actress race, the supporting actress in a miniseries category has seen several programs receive multiple nominations over the past decade. In fact, on three occasions, three women from the same miniseries have all been cited. This year, there’s one series that may well shatter that record, with more possible contenders than there are slots in the category! That, of course, is Hulu’s Mrs. America…

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Early Dolan: Cinema of Restless Youth

by Cláudio Alves

Like many others, I've been missing the experience of going to the movies quite terribly. Lately, I find myself thinking about films I had planned on watching before the COVID-19 pandemic annihilated any sense of normalcy. There was a picture scheduled to open in Portuguese theaters in the middle of March that I was particularly sad to see affected by this crisis. Matthias et Maxime is Xavier Dolan's latest film and, according to many critics, represents a return to form by the Canadian director after some less than ideal productions. As someone who once called himself a fan of Xavier Dolan, I'm eager to see him return to the glory of his earlier work…

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Models + Trivia + Movies!

by Nathaniel R

"The Trinity" - Christy, Naomi, and Linda

Happy half-century birthday today to the one and only Naomi Campbell. For those of you who were born in the 1990s or later you might have missed what a huge supernova deal models were to pop-culture in the late 1980s to late 1990s. Household name models had existed for some time before of course (Twiggy in the 60s / Paulina in the 80s, etcetera) but it was in the 1990s when the term "supermodel" was coined and when the models who could legitimately be called household names began to truly multiply. "Supermodels" infiltrated rock and roll (via a constant presence in music videos) and tranferred to movies and tv by becoming their own brands and trying their hand at acting... or merely playing themselves (often superbly) in fashion-related movies or documentaries.

MODEL/MOVIE TRIVIA AFTER THE JUMP... HOW MANY CAN YOU GUESS IN 10 MINUTES?

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May Retrospective: “Ishtar” (1987)

by Cláudio Alves

As we've seen in our analysis of Elaine May's first three pictures as a director, she was a consummate auteur. It's true that a farce about marital homicide followed by a cruel comedy of adultery which, in turn, is followed by a New York-set character study may suggest a somewhat chaotic filmography. However, her themes were consistent, her work with actors always inspired, and her cinematic language showed a through-line of bizarre human behavior anchored by material realism.

This is never more evident than when autopsying the carcass of May's final picture, Ishtar, where all these threads coalesce and reach their apotheosis in the form of a mainstream flop of epic proportions. Tales of a troubled production had made headlines long before the movie reached theaters and, when its box-office results proved catastrophic, Elaine May's career as a director went down the drain…

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Brief Notes on the Daytime Emmy Nominations

We want to thank Abe Fried-Tanzer for doing so much Emmy contender coverage for us this year. The Primetime Emmy Awards are, of course, the "draw" but it occurred to us recently that "primetime" and "daytime" have surely lost their meaning in our current streaming era. That is to say but for the vestigial meaning they carry, who actually thinks of TV based on its airtime sanymore? People now watch whatever shows they watch whenever they want to watch them. Even live events aren't always screened as they air but often piecemeal through clips on the following day(s).

Eastsiders, up for 8 Emmy Awards in its final season

So herewith 5 brief notes on the Daytime Emmy Nominations just announced...

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