What did you watch over the weekend?

This weekend, in a fit of extreme laziness and desire to stay right next to the air conditioner, I turned into one of those people who binge-watches a whole season of TV. (I'm not judging, it's just not how I personally do television). The show was Amazon's scifi comedy and socioeconomic satire Upload. It's quite uneven in its laughs and execution -- a giant suspension of disbelief is necessary for its premise of life after death via technological upload, but the 'rules' within the show's universe were ridiculously inconsistent -- but overall I found it endearing and loved the female lead, Cameroonian-American actress Andy Allo. Have any of you watched?  

What have you been watching? Please say "1991's Oscar nominees". The Smackdown is on Sunday!

The Donald Sutherland essentials

by Cláudio Alves

I don't know about you, but I love to find which people share the same birthday as me. That's especially true of artists who I admire. It's not like sharing a birthday means a whole lot, but it's nice to know that there's something in common between you and one of your idols. In my case, birthday twins include the cinematic genius Wong Kar-Wai, the fabulously talented Diahann Carroll, the eternal gangster James Cagney, Weekend star Tom Cullen, Best Supporting Actress nominee Barbara O'Neil, Sibyl director Justine Triet, and, of course, this piece's focus, the great Donald Sutherland. Our special day was just yesterday. 

Despite never having been nominated for a competitive Oscar (he received an honorary in 2018), Donald Sutherland can be counted among Hollywood's most respected thespians. With a career spanning from the 1960s to now, full of memorable hits and influential classics, complex performances, and scene-stealing turns, Sutherland is an actorly institution all by himself. In honor of his 85th birthday yesterday, here goes a list of some of the movies anyone must watch if they're fans of the actor… 

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Almost There: Liv Ullmann in "Scenes from a Marriage"

by Cláudio Alves

I confess that, when I first came up with the idea for this week's Almost There write-up, I didn't expect its subject to be so weirdly topical. First up, there's the actual raison d'être for the piece, which is the Criterion Channel's new "Marriage Stories" collection, in which Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage is featured. Then there's the whole Hamilton kerfuffle, which caused controversy over the Academy's definition of what is and isn't cinema or what should and shouldn't be eligible for the Oscars (two importantly different questions). This is relevant because the ineligibility of Bergman's film caused a major ruckus back in 1974 and even prompted a couple of notorious open letters (another topical subject, unfortunately). Finally, we have the recent news that the television cut of Scenes from a Marriage is going to be remade by HBO with Michelle Williams and Oscar Isaac in the leading roles. 

We'll return to some of those matters later on, but, for now, let's concentrate on Liv Ullmann's masterful performance as Marianne in Scenes from a Marriage…

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TCA obsesses over "Watchmen" and "Mrs America"

by Nathaniel R

We have mixed, even contradictory, feelings about the Television Critics Association. On the one hand they've exhibited good taste over the years. Their limited categories mean that their awards are focused and precise and uniquely theirs (always a good thing to have your own voice). As a bonus history shows that they value female actors more than male actors. Same, TCA, same.

On the other their narrow focus can also feel like a curse, or even sometimes read as misanthropic stinginess. Consider that not only do they only have two acting categories but they don't divvy up between female and male actors. This means that even in the Golden Age of Television (are we still calling it that?) only 13 actors get name-checked. 13 from hundreds and hundreds of shows (and dozens of them reportedly great)...

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20 Underrated Actresses as Emmy Contenders

By Abe Fried-Tanzer

There are over 1,200 actresses on the Emmy ballots across all of the various categories. More contenders mean more deserving potential nominees, and I want to spotlight some of the best female performances I saw this past season. We’ll assume that, though a nomination isn’t by any means guaranteed for any of them, moderately high-profile names like Shira Haas (Unorthodox), Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Morning Show) don’t need the boost even though they should certainly have their work honored. Here are 20 performances you may not have noticed (and where to watch them) that are absolutely worthy of thinking about while filling out those Emmy ballots...

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