Links: Emmys, Normans, Books, Critics

Flavorwire has 20 film books for film lovers to own. Christmas list ideas?
Slant Kurt interviews the great Alison Janney who has a 'special knack for spurring films to life'
Arts Beat Adele records song for the new James Bond film Skyfall. Can't wait to hear it
Slate another perceptive review of Bachelorette
Deadline Adorable little Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) is no longer adorable. He's grown up to become a young Norman Bates in that Psycho prequel TV series "Bates Motel". 

HitFix interviews Chris Evans about his Captain America break, puking gym sessions, and the indie flick Iceman which just played at TIFF
IndieWire polled critics about the best films and performances at TIFF -- The Master nearly tops every poll its eligible for but fails to win "Most Disappointing" (edged out by To the Wonder)
The Advocate a new celebrity photographry book compiling Jack Robinson's 70s portraits. Clint Eastwood somehow looks like Hugh Jackman and Warren Beatty is all in leather
Playbill congrats to Leslye Headland again. Her play Assistance (about showbiz assistants) will be developed for a television series
Broadway Blog Cheyenne Jackson (yay!) to star in a new Broadway romantic comedy about adult film performers. Alicia Silverstone and Ari Graynor co-star!
MNPP attends a star-packed Q&A for 10 Years
Towleroad My latest column finds me blathering on about a handful of future Oscar players

Congratulations to Joshua Bergasse for his Best Choreography Win for "SMASH". It's the first time a TV series has claimed the prize in 17 years

Emmy Time - yes, I'll live blog on Sunday
Playbill Smash wins Joshua Bergasse an Emmy for Best Choreography for "Wolf" "National Pasttime" and The Film Experience's all-time favorite Smash number "Let's Be Bad". 
LA Times & Deadline HBO leads the Emmys so far with 17 wins including several for Game of Thrones. And, yes, Mad Men lost costume design AGAIN. It will go down as one of the great awards injustices that that series never wins costume design. Just shameful! Guest Acting Emmys: Kathy Bates (Two and Half Men), Martha Plimpton (The Good Wife), Jeremy Davies (Justified), and Jimmy Fallon (SNL)

Best Moments: "True Blood" Season 5

Jose here. Are you all getting excited about the True Blood season finale? This season got off to a very slow start but episode after episode it escalated towards the campy, outrageousness we have come to know and love in Alan Ball's show. After seeming like it would deal more with vampire politics and religious fanatics (something that became eerily prescient of what was to come in American politics) the show didn't forget to throw in a couple of truly batshit crazy elements (an ifrit! Salome! Bloody Lilith!) fortunately during the past couple of episodes all the insane peripherical stories have been solved and we come down once again to Sookie being the only one who can fix everyone. To prepare for tonight's episode, let's take a look at some of the best moments of this past season.

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Smash Season 2 Now Filming

If it were January instead of July we'd be tuning in to Season 2 of Smash right this second. Mondays at 10:00 PM on NBC, don'cha know. Only six months to go. Ugh!

Here is Katharine McPhee as "Karen" (who won the Marilyn Monroe role on Season 1) bowing down to Jack Davenport as "Derek" her director. As well she should since Davenport runs circles around her as an actor and convincingly sells us on his Karen-fixation which goes at least a little bit of the way towards understanding Karen's otherwise invisible charms as a leading lady.

I kid. I kid.

About the bowing down part (I meant everything else). I have no idea what McPhee is doing in this photo?Adjusting her marks maybe -- but doesn't she have people for that?

I am so excited for Season 2 of Smash and I have no idea why since there might be less Megan Hilty (the MVP) since she didn't get the Marilyn part. But a new show runner, new song writers (for a competing musical in the Season 2 plotline), and new cast members including Jennifer Judson in a multiple episode arc (a la Emmy nominated Uma Thurman last year), and rising stage star Jeremy Jordan of Broadway's Bonnie & Clyde and Newsies (and the Dolly/Latifah musical Joyful Noise) could mean a better show but it could also mean a lot of change for the sake of change and that's not always helpful either.  

Right about now or 5 minutes ago, you're like "Why is Nathaniel talking about Smash in July?". It's only because I'm suffering withdrawal and seeking solace in my Smash-patch (i.e. playlists. I recommend listening to Hilty tearing into "Let's Be Bad" at least once a week to stave off the cold sweats and palpitations).

Smash was the target of much internet and media ire last season (musicals always have big bullseyes on their chests just visible underneath the sequins) so I was happy to read recently in Variety that its fate wasn't as dire as armchair and professional TV pundits originally suggested which could bode well for a Season 3 unless Season 2 is disastrous. Apparently Smash commands a very high CPM for an in house drama and it's also popular in high income households which is a big deal to massive corporations like NBC. 

Are you hopeful or un about Smash S2? Will you join us on Tuesdays in the winter for weekly recaps like we did this year?

Kiki's Melancholia (& Other Saturn Triumphs)

Though I haven't yet seen any photographs of the Saturn Award event, held in Burbank this week and the last of the 2011 Film Awards -- arriving even later than the MTV Awards each year  -- we must rush to congratulate the one and only Kiki for her Best Actress win for Lars von Trier's apocalyptic arthouse amazement Melancholia. You may recall we also honored her right here in our Best Actress list. The Saturn Awards don't have anything like a prestigious reputation (often a problem with awards organizations voted on by fans) but they do have a long history (38 years!) which counts for something and you have to hand it to them this year that they're the only large non-critics awards group to honor Kirsten Dunst for her indelible embodiment of Planet Sized Depression though she did win the top Actress prize at a few film festivals (including the very definition of Prestige Reputation: the Cannes Film Festival) and was also honored by two critics orgs one minor and one major: Kansas Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics. 

A complete list of winners after the jump but if you're too lazy to click, please note that they seemed to love Super 8 best even though it didn't win any of their four Best Picture prizes. Wins and commentary if you...

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Links

Comic Convos an animated summary of Michael Fassbender's role in Prometheus. Hee
Trespass Our friend Glenn reviews The Dark Knight Rises 
Slate's Tanner Colby gives HBO a free drama series pitch, a bridge between the America of Mad Men and the America of The Wire if you will... 
Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces of Independent Film 
Cinema Blend 5 Batman villains they wish Chris Nolan had used in his trilogy. But, you know, you can only use so many and Batman does have the best rogues gallery.
Hollywood.com the latest hiccup for The Wolverine. Jessica Biel is not on board after all. So much pre-production trouble with this movie.  Now the role may go to Tinker Tailor's Svetlana Khodchenkova

Today's Video Must See
Here is Annette Bening and Warren Beatty's eldest child Stephen who was born Kathlyn.

He doesn't speak about his parents at all in this video but the internet is saying that this is Stephen Ira Beatty so I believe (everything on the Internet is true, right?). Stephen makes a joke about staring at us uncomfortably to end the video but the only thing uncomfortable about this charming motor mouthed super smart kid staring at me is a) how hideous the walls in this room are and b) freaking out over how much he EXACTLY looks like a cross between his parents. Especially when he smiles. Well, more Beatty than Bening but still...  Right?

Finally, you should know that Park Chan-Wook's first English language film Stoker, featuring a dreamy triangular cast of Mia Wasikowska as a lonely girl, Matthew Goode as her shady Uncle and Nicole Kidman as her unstable mother is no longer the 2012 release we were hoping for. It will open on March 1st, 2013 in limited release. Don't be sad. We still have more Nicole Kidman coming in 2012 with The Paperboy. Next year: Stoker and Oscar Bait The Railway Man.