Seven Notes on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

It wasn't long into the pilot episode of Agents of SHIELD last night that I realized something unflattering about myself: loving Joss Whedon was so much more fun and pride-inducing when it was a subculture and not the culture. If you loved Buffy The Vampire Slayer AS IT WAS AIRING you were, in point of fact, a very awesome person. Everyone loves Buffy now so loving it is expected and the only reasonable thing to do. Yelling "first", which is stupid trolling when it happens virtually on the internet, is actually deeply pleasurable when rooted in real life. So writing about SHIELD now feels a bit lame since I know everyone will be doing the same. "It doesn't need your opinion!" you try to reason with yourself to prevent the babbling, knowing that talking about something that literally everyone is talking about is roughly the same ROI as talking about something that literally no one is talking about. In both scenarios no one notices in the din/silence. (But then you end up having one (opinion!) anyway because you always do. And it's Joss Whedon and you can't help yourself.)

Seven notes on the pilot after the jump...

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Emmy Predictions. Who Are You Rooting For This Weekend?

Giant all caps disclaimer coming at'cha: I AM NOT A TELEVISION PUNDIT. I have never claimed to know what I'm doing with predicting Emmys though occassionally I try. I watch way more TV than I did a decade ago mostly due to the invention of the DVR and also probably because TV got more cinematic and thus better. I am not a TV pundit but I like to watch and you know I like to opine. It's an action verb. 

Herewith my poorly informed predictions regarding Sunday nights award's. Plus a few comments and trivia notes.

DRAMA
The Nominees: Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homeland, House of Cards, and Mad Men
I'm Rooting For: Mad Men. Always. It's literally the only show I've ever watched as it aired that I'd hand the best series prize to for each and every one of its seasons (thus far). For example: I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer like life but I would've handed the top prize to a couple of different things and different times during its 7 year run.
Prediction: Given Emmy's prospensity/habit to repeat winners, you have to consider Homeland a threat for a second consecutive win even though you'd be hard pressed to find one person alive who thinks the second season measures up to the first. Downward sloping quality both true (Downton Abbey) and perceived (Mad Men isn't as "enjoyable" as it once was but it's still challenging meaty triumphant television) rules them out as well. Which leaves us with House of Cards and Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, the latter of which I think is winning the internet the Emmy for the first time.

comedy series and 8 acting categories after the jump...

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Creative Arts Emmys: Lily & Melissa & Liberace

The Emmys have 5 bajillion categories so they can't announce them all on their PrimeTime ceremony (next Sunday! We'll live blog or something?) so last night they did their 'not ready for primetime' prizes for shows on... uh... primetime

And the winners are...

Guest Actress, Comedy: Melissa Leo as "Laurie" on Louie
Guest Actress, Drama: Carrie Preston as "Elsbeth Tascioni" on The Good Wife
Guest Actor, Comedy: Bob Newhart as "Arthur Jeffries/Professor Proton" on The Big Bang Theory
Guest Actor, Drama: Dan Bucatinsky as "James Movack" on Scandal
Voice Over: Lily Tomlin, An Apology to Elephants (HBO) 

File it under "if only it were a triple crown". Before 30 Rock popularized the notion of the "EGOT", the only multi-prize haul that the general public cared about by nickname was "The Triple Crown" (Oscar, Tony, Emmy) which still makes more sense as an aspirational haul for celebrities. Anyway, Lily Tomlin adds another Emmy to her trophy haul which includes 2 Tonys and a Grammy so the only thing preventing her EGOT is that she lost the Oscar for Nashville... (sniffle).

The LEOgend, Liberace, and more more more after the jump

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Twenty Years A Sculder

JA from MNPP here - typing this now I'm realizing I actually have no idea what Nathaniel's stance is on The X-Files, but today's the 20th anniversary of the very first episode if you can believe it, so I figured I'd check in with you guys, see if we have an fans up in The Film Experience. I can never quite believe that I came as late to the show as I did - it was firmly up my alley even back then, but it wasn't until well into the show's fifth season that I started watching. I think that maybe corresponded with the first movie? Anyway I was hooked just in time for the quality to take a nose-dive (hello Annabeth Gish), but I stuck with it straight to the muddied end. There's been talk ever since the second movie in 2008 of a third film, wrapping it all up - do you want to see it come back? Or should Mulder and Scully stay off in the sunset? 

And how freaking fabulous does Gillian Anderson look these days (she is divine on Hannibal) anyway? Sound off on your favorite X-Files moments in the comments!

Interview: Brie Larson Does Not Want Her Own Reality Show

Short Term 12 opens in 9 more cities this Friday and 30+ more the following week. Time to talk to its star Brie Larson.

This is not going to be one of those interviews where I describe what the actress is wearing. This is not going to be one of those interviews where I talk about what the actress was eating. This is not the kind of interview that The Film Experience does which is just fine with Brie Larson. As it turns out we're completely sympatico on the subject of actresses and fame. She loves the work and prefers retaining her mystery to indulging in her celebrity. Or as she puts it.

I enjoy being confusing."

But here's the catch. When you do consistently great work as an actor as Brie Larson has done in roles large (United States of Tara) medium (21 Jump Street, The Spectacular Now) and small (Scott Pilgrim, Rampart), and then you hit a new peak with a revelatory personal best (Short Term 12) celebrity will often follow.

Brie frames this rising stardom predicament more memorably than I could while munching on a very green salad in a very blue dress (oops) in a day full of interviews. Morning Joe and Sirius XM were also on the docket that day:

I think with my age and gender --  it gets very easy for the conversation to go in the direction of 'What is your summer salad?’ It doesn’t matter. It’s not important. If we’re going to talk about stuff, let’s talk about stuff."

Which is exactly what we did from her Short Term 12 triumph to the chameleon wonders of United States of Tara to her feelings about Best Actress Oscar buzz. We'll skip ahead past my incoherent gushing about how Short Term 12 is the besty-best to the rest of the interview after the jump.

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