Emmy’s recap

I live in the UK, which unfortunately means that I have to spend hours trying to find a good stream to watch the live show. I was excited when I finally found the live stream. This was my first Emmy’s and I must say that I was hypnotized by the glitz and the glamour. As I reflect on the night, I can’t help but feel somewhat disappointed by the nominees who didn’t gain an Emmy.

These are my Emmy winners:

Outstanding supporting actress drama series– Emilia Clarke. The episode , “And Now His Watch Is Ended” showed Emilia’s strength as a Targaryen Princess; commanding not only The Sullied Army but the audience who were watching from their screens. It made the whole social network scream DAMN. 

 

Outstanding Lead actress in drama series:Kerry Washington. Kerry Washington was robbed!!! I’m sorry Claire Danes, you’ve won previous years, this Emmy belonged to Kerry and you know it. Yes she would have been the first black Emmy winner, but that’s besides the point; her interaction with Tony Goldwyn as President Fitzgerald is worthy of award show itself.

Outstanding Lead actor in drama series: Kevin Spacey. House of Cards surprised us all when it was nominated. Why? Because it came from Netflix ( the unstoppable machine, might I add).  Kevin Spacey as the conniving, manipulative, killer politician Frank Underwood reminded us that politicians will do anything for power.  How he lost out on this award, I don’t know must have pissed off people in power.

Actors who should have been nomiated:

Jeff Perry as Cyrus in Scandal

Michelle Fairley. Episode : The Rains of Castamere”

 The list of real Emmy winners:

Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie on Showtime) for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy.

—Tina Fey and Tracey Wigfield (30 Rock on NBC) for outstanding writing for a comedy.

—Tony Hale (Veep on HBO) for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy.

—Gail Mancuso (Modern Family on ABC) for directing a comedy.

—Laura Linney (The Big C: Hereafter on Showtime) for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie.

—Henry Bromell (Homeland on Showtime) for outstanding writing for a drama.

—Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire on HBO) for outstanding supporting actor in a drama.

—Don Roy King (Saturday Night Live on NBC) for outstanding directing for a variety series.

—Abi Morgan (The Hour on BBC America) for outstanding writing for a movie or miniseries or dramatic special.

—James Cromwell (American Horror Story: Asylum on FX) for outstanding supporting actor in a miniseries or movie.

—Ellen Burstyn (Political Animals on USA) for outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or movie.

– See more at: http://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/65th-primetime-emmys-wrap#sthash.BZzTuLYt.dpuf

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

No offence to the James Bond Franchise, but this is what you call a spy film.

• No flashy cars
• No beautiful women
• No sex

Just Pure spydom ( yes I’m aware that, that’s not a word but if G.O.T can make up the Dothraki  language, then surely I can make up a word; this is after all creative writing at its best ).

Based on the 1974 novel by John Le Carre, Tinkor Tailor Soldier Spy (TTSS) follows the story of George Smiley (Gary Oldman) and his hunt to discover the double agent within the British secret service.

Fun Fact: This was the first time Gary Oldman had been nominated for an Academy Award, despite being in the business for 32 years

Before watching the film, I had read the script first. TTSS is one of those scripts that once you start reading it you can’t stop. The rest of the world is dead to you. The action, suspense and drama DEMANDS your attention. In fact it was the script by  Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan (The Men who stare at goats), not Gary Oldman and the rest of the British cast who persuaded me to watch the film.

Despite my pleasure in reading the script, I found myself disappointed with the film. Yes the action and the suspense was still there but I believe that they (and I say they because I don’t know who to hold responsible) should have stuck to the script. One of the few problems that I had with the film, were the scenes; it was jumbled and it created a sense of rush to tell the story. Furthermore I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) relationship with his partner.

There’s a lesson here: STICK TO THE SCRIPT

You can find the script here:

http://focusawards2011.com/workspace/ttss-screenplay.pdf

JACK NICHOLSON

I’m going to keep this short: Jack Nicholson has not retired yet. Until he has a press conference or releases a statement I will not buy in to these hurtful rumors. The man is a legend and thus we should give him the respect of addressing us personally.

 

Don Jon

 

This is definitely a must watch. If not for the concept then for the talent that is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This is his directorial debut and the film has already garnered positive reviews at the Sundance Festival.

 

The Help

‘You’re A Godless woman. Ain’t you tired Mrs Hilly? Ain’t you tired?’

Written by Tate Taylor and based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett, The Help, is a film about the relationship between the black maids (of Mississippi Jackson,) and their white female bosses.

The plot of this film could have been stronger, but the actresses deliverance were powerful enough to ignore the stale scenes. I would like to pinpoint  Mrs Viola Davis, as the stereotyped Aibileen Clark. When she cried, I cried, when she laughed I laughed. Her performance was solid, the way she delivered her lines were emotional;  you could feel her strength blazing from her eyes. Her performance was worthy of an Oscar (and I’m a Meryl Streep fan), as well as any other accolades. I doubt that the film would have been successful without her; It would have missed the racial undertones and would have just been a comedy.

I do acknowledge the talent that Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer displayed.Octavia brought the comedy as the unruly pie of shit maid,Minny Jackson. Yet despite providing the comedy, I really can not say any more on her performance. It was suppressed by Jessica’s perception, as naive Celia Foote. I admit that her bubbly personality made me wish Octavia’s character to shove her through the door, but as the film progressed we learn that it’s a sham. Jessica’s character had hidden something deep inside; she’s had multiple miscarriages and all she wants  in life is to be accepted in the society, where the women hide from her. It’s a sad moment, which makes you want to yell at the screen ‘I’LL BE YOUR FRIEND.’  In my opinion, it’s also the moment when you realise that Jessica’s performance, outshone Octaiva’s who won the Oscar for Best supporting actress.

No wonder this film gained the praise it did. I am however disappointed that Bryce Dallas Howard did not receive a Best supporting Actress nomination . To say that she played the role as the films antagonist Hilly Holbrook well, would be an understatement, and I too would have to eat the pie of shit. She represented the type of society that we see now; you know the ones that say they are not racists, because they give money to Africa only for their own gain.

There were no major fault with this film. However cheesy the ending was, it left me satisfied.  However it did leave me with some thoughts…

I could not  help but think that this was the type of story that Hollywood liked for black Americans. The type of slave/ poor background (or underdog per se) stories. For example, Precious and Roots would fit into this category, because it sees black people in their lowest form and watch them rise slowly to a point, but not beyond their social status,whereas films like Red Tails, which showed black Americans fighting for their country in World War II, simply does not gain any recognition at all. This film failed to gain major studio interests because it had an all black cast, to which  Lucas was forced to put up his own money, to get it made. The film only grossed  $49,876,377, less than its $58 million budget.

Hollywood vs writers

According to Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), the film industry is killing business for feature film writers. This is of course due to major Film studios using all their resources for summer blockbusters, such as The Dark Knight and The Amazing Spiderman, because they generate a lot of money. The studios decision has effected low budget films too. How you ask?

Hollywood resources +big budget films= more turnover > low budget films
Confused? I am too, simply because for the past couple of years Low budget films such as The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Either way the conclusion remains the same; Hollywood is killing their writers careers.

For more on this story click the link

Peggy sue got married

Urgh….

…The first thought that came to my head, another film that deals with time travelling and lost of life,purpose,love, but oh how I was wrong; This film went against the boring norm. Within 20mins I found myself cheering for Charlie and Peggy to resolve their issues and get back together, which certainly caught me by surprise simply because I never thought I would cheer for a woman to take back her cheating husband, who divorced her for a younger woman. Though I gather the writers (Jerry Leichtiling and Arlene Sarner) made Charlie’s character too lovable, oh and maybe the fact that Charlie had a silly voice that reminded me of Droopy dog from Looney toons.

Either way this was a truly enjoyable film to watch, if not for entertainment, then for true love.

Wuthering Heights or Withering away

Before I begin, I must  congratulate the filmmakers on finally portraying Heathcliff as he is described in the book. You have truely brought to life Emily Bronte’e vision…However with that said let’s move on.

They should rename the title Withering Heights!!! What a waste of time and the worst part of it is, I haven’t even finished the bloody film yet.

I found the film to be more focused on the scenery then the relationship between the dynamic duo, Catherine and Heathcliff. In fact believe it or not the film lacked dialogue.Dialogue can you believe it. The one thing that this story relies on and yet the filmmakers refused to have the characters  interact with each other through words, instead they used the tumultuous weather and the environment.I guess the point to it was to symbolize the duo’s relationship, however it’s these moments in the film that i wanted to sleep through. What a waste of time.

The film only went on to bank £156,931 compared to Jane Eyre which banked £19,876,868.

Two cars, one night

At first I did not enjoy this film, because the scene never seemed to transgress, which made it boring. However what I did like about this film is the two characters.
I liked how the characters interacted with each other; they began the conversation innocently, and it progressed into something else. The writer is introducing an adult situation, to children.

Election Night

This film was hilarious, not only did the writer make a strong statement, which was racism and stereotypes but the writer  wrote an unexpected ending.