More Thoughts on "The White Lotus: Sicily"

SPOILER ALERT:  DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE VIEWED ALL SEVEN EPISODES.

by Eric Blume 

One of the things that separates The White Lotus from many other TV programs, which are usually divided amongst several writers and directors, is that the show has a very, very specific point-of-view.  Even though other great television series (Succession, Severance, etc.) have a unified tone and the individual episodes are kept in harmony by the showrunner, it’s a different thing to have the same person actually writing and directing every episode.  Mike White views the universe and views characters comically.  He sees the world as an outsider does, with an arched eye towards human behavior, and he sees people as funny and full of contradictions.  He also lends to White Lotus a truly gay sensibility, in terms of the way he frames his actors, the way he films male and female bodies, and the way his empathy shifts between characters in a roundelay of surprising reveals, each character granted grace notes, psychology, and humanity... 

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The Joys and Struggles of Making "The Woman King"

by Patrick Ball

Gina Prince-Bythewood in conversation with Kasi Lemmons. Photo: Patrick Ball

This week Sony Pictures held a Downtown Manhattan screening for their awards contender The Woman King, at the Roxy Cinema. With its handsome below-the-line offerings and the true actor/producer star wattage of Viola Davis behind it, The Woman King looks to be one of Sony’s top contenders as we head into the intense first phase of Award Season. With the critics groups beginning to announce, and many major awards bodies entering their voting periods ahead of nominations, now is the time to grab the metaphorical crown, as it were...

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FYC Emmy Main Title Design

by Nathaniel R

The opening titles for "Voir" are gorgeous, aren't they?

The "Skip Intro" / "Skip Credits" button on various streaming services is why we can't have nice things. The art of credit sequences can really set the tone for a series and skipping it is impatient at best and rude at worst. The website "Art of the Title", which extolls the virtues of such things, is not technically shuttered (we reached out to see!) but it hasn't had any new articles in 11 months. All of which leads us to hope sincerely that Emmy voters choose well enough that at least a few people here and there are reminded of wonderful this tiny niche sidebar of entertainment can be. Emmy voters always have plenty of worthy options in this category. This year there are 162 programs vying for 7 nomination slots if we counted correctly.

Here are six programs off the top of our heads that we hope they're considering with voting ending today...

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Emmy FYC ~ Supporting Actresses

by Nathaniel R

Parker Posey in "The Staircase", Natasha Rothwell in "The White Lotus", Sydney Sweeney in "Euphoria", and Sheryl Lee Ralph in "Abbott Elementary"

Have you ever actually gazed at those gargantuan Emmy ballots?  No matter how much TV you're watching you will know, looking at the options, that you won't be able to give every acclaimed performance a fair shake. Some shows you may not have even heard of. This is why Emmys definitely need rounds of voting or juries or some winnowing process to help voters (and by extension the public) to discover great work beyond just listing all the names from the shows they do watch each year, whether or not the actor had a good season. Imagine the Oscars if there weren't all those critics awards all over the place, multiple precursors, and top ten lists and the like pointing people to performances and the result was regulary 3-5 actors from 2-3 films taking up most of the 20 slots.

We know that that happens consistently at the Emmys. For example, just last year The Handmaid's Tale filled literally half the ballot in Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and three years back Game of Thrones made up  more than half of the nominated shortlist...

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FYC: 20 People Who'd Make Great Honorary Oscar Recipients!

by Nathaniel R

Over the years The Film Experience has provided the Academy with brilliant ideas for Honorary Oscars that they've ignored until it was too late and the worthy recipient died. We're talking luminaries like movie stars Max Von Sydow, Albert Finney, and Doris Day, cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and voice artist Marni Nixon. (At least they heard us on Maureen O'Hara, Harry Belafonte, Liv Ullman, David Lynch, and Angela Lansbury in time!). So here we are again trying to sway them. They make such strange decisions. Why did Sophia Loren who was already a (deserving) Oscar winner, need an Honorary when she was only in her fifties? Why did they refuse to honor Doris Day because (the rumor is) they knew she wouldn't show but then went ahead and honored Jean Luc Godard who they also knew would never show? 

For our suggestions we're limiting ourselves to people over 70... though you could make valid cases for several late 50something or 60somethings if you wanted to like Michelle Pfeiffer, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Hugh Grant, directors Sam Raimi and Todd Haynes, producer Christine Vachon, or craftspeople like costume designer Sharen Davis or composer Marc Shaiman.

20 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE HONORARY OSCAR...

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