Top Ten: Emmy Wishes For Sunday Night

I wish...

10 ...for Martha Plimpton and Jane Krakowski, who weren't nominated for the awards on the big night this year, to get a moment on stage somehow. Love them. While we're at it maybe Jane could win on a write in vote for arguably her best 30 Rock season yet!

09 ... for Homeland to win Best Drama Series if it can't be Mad Men again.

08 ...for at least one La Pfeiffer reaction shot even though David E. Kelley isn't the Emmy powerhouse he used to be. I mean there has to be some silver lining to that wasted Best Actress nomination for Kathy Bates on his bland Harry's Law show. Love the Bates and hope she gets well soon but that show is not her finest hour! And to think of the person they had to snub to include her (Madeleine Stowe in Revenge!)

click for Dexter Action Figure07 ...for someone to mistakenly say "And the Emmy goes to Claire Danes for Temple Grandin" when she wins for Homeland because there's only a .00000001% chance that she won't. Just for the absurd showbiz hilarity of it all. Another prize for Temple!

06 ... for Benedict Cumberbatch to publicy amusingly air his grievances with the new network Sherlock Holmes show.

05 ... for the industry to make a surprise announcement that all shows that are but shadows of their former selves are immediately cancelled and no further episodes will air. Good riddance: Dexter, American Idol, Survivor, all Law & Order and CSI spinoffs, etcetera.

Modern Family may stay but it shall be barred from any further Best Comedy Series wins until it deserves them again.

04 ...for Amy Poehler to win Best Actress in a Comedy for Parks and Recreation. I realize this is never going to happen (Lena Dunham has this in the bag I think) but I've seen the competition and Poehler has created one of the most singular fascinating comic leads in sitcom history and, even better, she fine tunes it every year rather than coasting on auto-pilot (which many people do at this point in a series run)

03 ...speaking of singular performances. Merrit Wever for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Can I get an amen? "Zoe" is such a funny inventive creation and she helps keep the comedy in the series even when it veers towards heavy drama. This season was particularly great for her with that frozen new expression Dr. Cruz caused, her hunt for a roommate "Wanted", her kimonos in the kitchen and her romantic confusion.

02 ...for Mad Men to finally win an acting Emmy.

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Five years in and it's still the best show on television and the actors have nothing to do with that? Please! (I realize wishing for another Drama Series win is foolish at this point with Downton Abbey, Homeland and Game of Thrones all very real threats for a win.)

01 ...to watch Julianne Moore finally win something on a massive glitzy awards show (Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries, for Game Change... here's my full write-up). That one televised prize (Best Actress Far From Heaven, at the Spirit Awards) is an embarrassingly meager haul for an actor of her caliber.

Which of my wishes do you co-sign? errr... co-wish? Feel free to add your own as well. We'll live blog Sunday night. 

TIFF: Oscar Talking Points and Personal Favourites

Amir here, wrapping up my coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival.

I have to apologize for my absence yesterday on TIFF's closing weekend. A broken laptop charger prevented me any access to the internet. As you already know, David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook snatched the coveted People's Choice Award. In keeping with my tradition of not watching films with set public release dates at the festival, I passed on the film in my original planning. And yesterday, when people lined up for the film’s honorary additional screening, I was in a different theatre watching my favourite actress Julianne Moore playing a rock star in What Maisie Knew. 

More including Oscar buzz and a Festival jury of one after the jump...

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It's Happening... Again.

Hello Lovely Readers!

Beau here, and holy God, it’s happening. 

Yeah, yeah, I knew Carrie was in production, but it’s one of those films you know is being made but you don’t truly believe it until you see a still in front of you.  And lucky for us, we have two.

Initial Thoughts:

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Searching for Treasures at TIFF: A Top Dozen List

Hey Everyone. Amir here to preview the Toronto International Film Festival. There's less than a month to go before opening night. Those of you who follow the festival’s news regularly probably know that yesterday marked the completion of most of the festival’s strands, so we can officially start salivating all over the program book. Making a “Most Anticipated Films” list is a fool’s errand; TIFF’s lineup is so vast that the list would basically equate to everything that’s left to be screened in 2012 and then some. Titles like The Master, Anna Karenina, Argo (the latter of which I'm anticipating and dreading) and Cloud Atlas will feature on everyone’s list. There are also Cannes leftovers such as Rust & Bone, Reality, No and The Paperboy to be excited for, but I’m dedicating this list, to the pleasure of discovery which is the lifeblood of festivals.

Last year Nathaniel made a similar list of sixteen potential gems in advance of the festival. Some of those were films I would not have watched had he not suggested them, and I’m glad to say that one of them ended up not only as my top film of the festival, but the best film I saw all year. Here’s hoping we can strike gold again with any of these:

The Suicide Shop

12. A Liar’s Biography/The Suicide Shop

Yes, I hate "ties" as much as you when it comes to list-making but I wanted to round things out with an animated film and couldn’t decide between them. We've got a 3D fictionalized telling of Graham Chapman’s life through the perspective of the Monty Python gang or a Patrice Leconte musical about a family who help people take their own lives. Can you blame me for the indecision ?!?

12. The ABCs of Death

The Midnight Madness program is the one I’ve attended the least over the years, mostly because I see too many films in a day to have the energy at midnight. Yet this omnibus film seems like the perfect campy end to a festival day. Twenty-six directors from all over the world (including Ti West and Ben Wheatley) give us twenty-six alphabet inspired ways to die in a horror film.

10. Barbara

Barbara already screened at Berlinale to terrific reactions, but given that it has no Canadian distributor I’m watching. Director Christian Petzold netted a Silver Bear in Berlin and Nina Hoss, terrific in his last two films, returns to star in a third consecutive. The 80s-set story concerns a scientist forced to stay in a rural hospital as punishment by the East German government.

Isabelle Huppert, Terrence Malick, and Seven (or more) Pyschopaths after the jump.

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Links: Vocal Mimicry, Fearless Reprises, and Kick Lines

Web Slinging hear Tom Hiddleston's impressions of Samuel L Jackson, Owen Wilson and Chris Evans. He's a talented mimic. And funny, too.
My New Plaid Pants gratuitous Byung-hun Lee
Pajiba acknowledging the nameless lineless secretaries on Mad Men. Hey, at least they get to wear the insanely great costumes of Janie Bryant.
LoveFilm asks which Brad Pitt film haircut is the most iconic? How to choose? Surely the best male follicles in Hollywood.

Monkey See on long term investments in TV shows and whether or not they pay off (via New Girl and Smash) 
Boy Culture has the rumored set list for Madonna's MDNA tour. Sad I'm not going but it'll be fun to read about and see clips from
Rope of Silicon Care to see a sneak peak of The Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man? I'm avoiding spoilers which is frankly silly since we're in reboot territory but whatevs. I love Spider-Man, easily my favorite superhero film franchise. Though I'm still not excited about this one. 
Daily Musto The Avengers when they were young
Cinema Blend release date shuffling strikes. No Gravity in 2012. Sniffle. Guess I have to update my Oscar charts asap 

Playbill Yes, Julianne Moore accepted the Piper Laurie "Margaret White" part in the new film version of Carrie. She's brave that one, but stepping into another actor's iconic shoes (slippers in this case?) is tough work. See also Julianne Moore in Hannibal. I'm not sure she shoulda done it but now I have to see the movie. Damn you Juli, you fearless minx!
The Film Experience <--- yes, we already discussed this.
 Movie|Line has a candid interview with 90s teen star Devon Sawa... hadn't heard that name in awhile
The Incredible Suit 'is it just me or...' (seeing double) 
Empire Channing Tatum may star in Roland Emmerich's next noisy action picture (oh dear) White House Down 
The Wrap Hollywood learned nothing about Taylor Lautner's lack of film-carrying talent from Abduction (oy) and he's getting another action picture called  Tracers.
The Film Experience <--- yes, I actually wrote about Abduction. I am a masochist. 

Finally via SuperPunch, which always finds neat things to share, a supercut of just the kicking from Jean Claude Van Damme's Kickboxer...