Last Gawk at the Hunks of the Year

Year in Review continues...

We're attacking 2016 from multiple angles (with a few more categories to go so yes, we never quite fit it all into the right calendar year. Sigh). For today's topic, showbiz men and their gratuitous hunkiness. Who won our, um, "hearts" this year?

Herewith a semi-random collection of hotness.

Not Quite There but Still Sexy
We'd love to embrace Deadpool's pansexuality wholeheartedly but it's been wildly overstated by its creators and Deadpool himself Ryan Reynolds. In truth the character is a straight superhero (like all the others) only with a flirtatious teasing sexual vulgarity. This is easy to spot in the otherwise funny and raunchy "holiday f***" montage when the movie reminds us that Deadpool is no catcher (gross!), ONLY a pitcher... and his girlfriend is a lot happier to experiment than he is. 

Would you take his measurements?

The Youngest Hemsworth
It was hard to even mind that the casting of The Dressmaker decided it didn't matter that Liam Hemsworth was 15 years younger than Kate Winslet though they were supposed to be the same age in the story.  What mattered was the fantasy of Tilly's perfect comeback which includes winning the most eligible or at least most delicious bachelor in town. Pity about that 3rd act twist, though. Why can't we have nice things?

Click to read more ...

"Main Titles" - An Emmy Curiousity

American Horror Story is one of the only series eligible every year in this category. It was nominated for Murder House, Asylum, and Freakshow onlyA good title sequence is a godsend to any series. The best of them convey the tone and spirit of the show but in a creative rewatchable way (my favorite of the past few years: Marvel's Daredevil). Series are only eligible for this Emmy award in their first year on television. The exception is of course anthology series which tend to change their opening credits each year. For example American Horror Story has had three nominations in this category for Murder House, Asylum, and Freakshow but was passed over for Coven and Hotel. On the odd occasion that a non-anthology totally changes their main titles they can submit again. This limitation makes the category, by default, my pet favorite. After all it's the only one that voters are forced to rethink anew each year. They can still be lazy with their votes, of course, but they can't be lazy in the exact same way that they were the year before. Progress!

Do the nominees this year make you want to watch the show? Do you think these were worthy choices or did you have subsitutes in mind? All the nominees are after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Links in the Shell

Apartment Therapy Nancy Meyers movie kitchens ranked (somehow The Intern only makes it to 5th. I just saw that and it was surprisingly warm and adorable... and yes still filled with real estate porn)
The New Yorker looks back at the Cassavates classic Faces (1968)
/Film Ghost in the Shell producers are finally responding to whitewashing casting controversies. They promise they've been 'very very careful' with the beloved material even though they cast a white actress (Scarlett Johansson) in the iconic Japanese role. We love Scarlett so so much but this type of thing continues to be a huge problem.

 

/Film There's going to be an actual Captain America statue in Brooklyn's Prospect Park
Cinematic Corner celebrates Margot Robbie (there will be a lot of that going around soon)
Variety Animation Awards for Europe soon -- their version of the Annies
Screen Crush Thor: Ragnarok officially began production in Australia yesterday
Awards Daily Why not give Roger Deakins the Oscar he has long deserved this year for Hail Caesar! 

Off Cinema
Theater Mania Lin-Manuel Miranda and JLo are collaborating on a song to benefit the victims of the recent Orlando shooting
EW American Horror Story Season 6 has a new logo (which looks like a devilish 6) a premiere date (9/14) and most of the cast from Hotel will be back though Lady Gaga is rumored to have a supporting role this time around which begs the question of who the lead will be? Let's hope it's Sarah Paulson. Why keep searching for new leads when your MVP is right there all the time.
AV Club CW seasons will now be available  just 8 days after their season finale on Netflix
Towleroad new behind the scenes photos from season 2 of Sense8
MNPP on the broken promise of Rick Yune's nude scene in Marco Polo Season 2
Comics Alliance the Harvey Award nominees for comics in 2016.  Valiant Entertainment thoroughly dominated the nominations. Here's one category you can investigate if you're interested

• BEST ONLINE COMICS
• Albert the Alien Trevor Mueller & Gabriel Bautista
• Battlepug Mike Norton
• Bloom County 2015 Berkeley Breathed
• Oh Joy Sex Toy *NSFW* Erika Moen & Matthew Nolan
• Zombie Boy Mark Stokes

Two Controversial Pieces on Actresses
Variety's Owen Gleiberman is looking forward to Bridget Jones's baby, sort of, in the piece "Renée Zellweger: If She No Longer Looks Like Herself, Has She Become a Different Actress?." It's prompted lots of calls of sexism but it's an interesting article that wonders what we're supposed to do when actors who play characters we love who no longer look like the characters they created (not from aging... though people who are offended by the article keep saying that. Sorry people but Colin Firth still totally looks like D'Arcy. Just an older D'Arcy). I myself always wish actresses wouldn't mess with their faces (if they must, temporary measures are best since the effects wear off if they don't look right!). Their faces are their brand and actors are famous partially because they're so beautiful just as they are. Why mess with perfection? I don't think it's true -- and I keep reading it -- that if actresses don't mess with their faces they don't get work. From what I've seen actresses who mess with their faces in any noticeable permanent way actually STOP getting much work. It distracts audiences too much. Note how Kate Winslet, Annette Bening, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, and so on keep aging and keep working. 

Wesley Morris' piece for the New York Times "How I Learned to Tolerate Blake Lively" is ostensibly about her performance in The Shallows and Hollywood's ever rotating it girls. People are offended by this one too - partially due to the interchangeability notion of blonde actresses. But it's also interesting because it gets at something that I think anyone can relate to: the experience of loving an actor that Hollywood has moved on from. 'Wait, I wasn't done with _____! " that Wesley says this about Kate Hudson is bizarre but to each their own.

Best of '15: The TV Experience

Dancin' Dan here to take a look at 2015 on the small screen. When I moved to NYC late last year I thought that I would be going to the movies all the time. After all, so many more movies play here than my previous home in the middle of Connecticut! But the sheer glut of movies to see, both old and new, caused a lot of second-guessing and a bit of paralysis, leading to a less robust slate than I had imagined.

But the plentiful offerings of television were there for me in my indecisive, paralyzed state. I didn't watch everything, but I did watch a lot. And these are...

15 Favorite Things About TV in '15
after the jump... 

Click to read more ...

08/08 Sense 8 08:08

Happy birthday to the Sensates. Netflix renewed Sense8 for a second season today (the actors seem very happy). To celebrate let's all masturbate simultaneously all over the world at 8:08 PM tonight. 

[If you missed our coverage, Nathaniel talked about the NSFW radical sexuality and Tim reviewed the whole season.]