So I know generally I do movie reviews, but for those of you who are TV lovers, here are some quick reactions, snubs, surprises, and so forth from last week's Emmy Award Nominations. I'll go by the categories that matter in my mind.
Outstanding Drama Series:
I like what they have here, though I don't know how I feel about an online series only (House of Cards) showing up here. While that is a great show, it seems odd to see it here. It has a total of 9 nominations on the night. Two shows I think deserved to be in this list are The Newsroom and The Walking Dead, though I have no offer of what it should be in place of. I do like that Dexter finally is not on this list as it has gone down hill the last couple years.
Outstanding Lead Actor, Drama:
I love the picks here from top to bottom for the most part even though I am not as high on Damian Lewis from Homeland as awards people are. I would love to have seen Andrew Lincoln get a nod here for his work on Walking Dead Season 3 which was just tremendous. I love that Jeff Daniels got a nod for his sensational work on The Newsroom, the best show to premier in 2012, period. The one major snub here though is Kevin Bacon from The Following, which I believe should qualify for this year based on release date. He was tremendous, and that show got no love at all.
Outstanding Lead Actress, Drama:
I have no real complaints here. The obvious snub is former winner Julianna Marguiles for her work in The Good Wife. I don't know where you lose anyone here though, outside of maybe Connie Britton. I'm not surprised to see her here though since the Emmy's have loved her ever since Friday Night Lights (one of my picks for the 10 best drama series of all time). Also, again no love for The Newsroom and it's leading lady Emily Mortimer who was great.
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama:
I absolutely love that Aaron Paul, Jonathan Banks and Mandy Patinkin (the greatest actor working in TV today) all got nominations. Also not shocked to see a repeat nod to Peter Dinklage here. He is great in Game of Thrones. Before Dexter ends, I wouldn't mind seeing a little love for James Remar who is great as Harry Morgan. I also wouldn't be mad with nods to David Zayas or C.S. Lee who provide the comic relief for what is otherwise one of the darkest shows on television. Now on to my major snub: WHERE THE HECK IS JAMES PUREFOY IN THIS LIST! Oh my gosh. He has the best performance as a bad guy on TV this side of Tony Soprano as the leader of a serial killer cult in The Following and you can't give him an Emmy nomination. What is wrong with the nominating committee. Plus (SPOILER ALERT!) they kill him at the end of season 1 so his chance of getting nominated is done.
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama:
Morena Baccarin is on this list? Seriously? How is that possible. I understand that awards shows are in love with Homeland, and rightfully so. It is a tremendous show. But Morena Baccarin is not worthy of a nomination for this show. I think Alison Pill wouldn't have been a bad choice here for her work in The Newsroom. She was great. A nod to Jennifer Carpenter would have been nice for her work in Dexter. Her character this past season was one of the most complicated on all of television and we can't give her the love she deserves for that?
Outstanding Comedy Series:
Great to see my favorite comedy in The Big Bang Theory is still going strong. I still can't believe that we are nominating shows that aren't funny in VEEP and 30 Rock for best comedy show though. I have never been a fan of either of those shows. Girls is a good show, but I don't know how well it works as a comedy per se. The big problem here is that there aren't a lot of great comedies left on TV. The Office in its final season as well as a nod to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia wouldn't have been bad choices either.
Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy:
Good to see the funniest man on television, Jim Parsons, still getting nominated for his amazing work as Sheldon Cooper on Big Bang Theory, far and away the funniest show on television. Should anyone else win this, it is a travesty. This is a tough one to nominate as well since everyone in Modern Family, the second funniest show on TV, will only make themselves eligible for Supporting nods. And can we please stop nominating Alec Baldwin for an Emmy for not being funny? Thank you. Max Greenfield deserves Baldwin's spot for his work in New Girl for sure.
Oustanding Lead Actress, Comedy:
The fact that Big Bang Theory has no true lead outside Kaley Cuoco who is funny but not nomination worthy means that this list will always include a very sad grouping. There are two very obvious snubs here: Zooey Deschanel and Mindy Kaling for their work in Fox's sensational comedies New Girl and The Mindy Project. Such funny shows, but somehow we are giving nominations to Edie Falco for a show she even admits isn't a comedy.
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Comedy:
While it's cool that the Modern Family characters all go for this category it means they are taking up three spots, and one of them is not Eric Stonestreet, the funniest character on the show? Explain that one to me. Also, before it ends, Simon Helberg, Johnny Galecki, and/or Kunal Nayyar need nominations for their work as Howard Wolowitz, Leonard Hofstadter, or Rajesh Koothrapali in the Big Bang Theory. Simon Helberg is probably the most deserving, but any of them would be good choices, especially over a Modern Family character or Tony Hale from VEEP.
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy:
So glad to see Mayim Bialik get nominated here for her work as the female version of Jim Parsons' character on the Big Bang Theory, Amy Farrah Fowler. I wouldn't mind seeing Melissa Rauch on this list for her work on the Big Bang Theory as well. Her and Simon Helberg make that show, at least these last few seasons. I definitely agree with both Julie Bowen and Sophia Vegara as well for their work in Modern Family.
So there that is. Those are my reactions from the nominations. Let me know what other thoughts you might have, especially snubs or surprise nominations you can think of that I might have missed.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Red 2 Review
This is a sequel that, going into the summer, I was very excited about. The first Red was smart, funny, action packed fun that had enough plot to keep me interested. The sequel however, left a lot to be desired.
In the first film, we have a group of ex-CIA agents, along with one old MI6 agent teamed up to figure out who has put a hit out on them. They find and break up a conspiracy that goes as high as the Vice President and save the world. In the second film, the US Government again wants to kill these people because of a past mission that they may or may not have been a part of and they have to save the world.
Bruce Willis does a good job here again as Frank Moses. He is actually believable as an ex-CIA agent that has been labelled Retired: Extremely Dangerous (RED - hence the name). It helps that Bruce Willis is John McClane and has saved the world on probably 50 different occasions in films past. He can still do it as an action star. Mary-Louise Parker comes back as Sarah, Frank's love interest. I will be honest. For the most part I hated her in the first movie, and in this movie I really hate her character. She is whiny, stupid, poorly written, and acted even worse. It is sad to see a supremely talented actress like Parker, who gave us one of the three or four best female television characters of all time in Nancy Botwin from Showtime's Weeds, get ruined by such a dopey roll.
The supporting work for the most part isn't great. The bright spot is John Malkovich who is supremely funny in his returning role of Marvin, another CIA agent who works with Willis' Moses. Byung-hun Lee is an assassin sent to kill all three of our heroes, and he is bland and flat through this entire film. Then again Lee isn't much of an actor as much as he is a stunt man they give lines to. If you don't believe me, watch either of the G.I. Joe films. I much preferred the role Karl Urban played in the first Red movie, which Lee's role is essentially replacing. At least that character had some depth and had a good actor behind it as well. Catherine Zeta-Jones gives a Razzie worthy performance as a Russian spy. Her character isn't great to start with and Zeta-Jones just ruins it with a lifeless, flat, and altogether terrible performance.
The plot in this film is flat. There isn't much suspense or intrigue in it as there was in the first movie. The only real plot twist is one that was basically given away in the preview so the entire movie I was waiting for it to come to fruition. There are some good action sequences, many of which are over the top, but that is not unlike the first movie. The entire feel of this movie was just a bit off for me. There were some great laughs and some fun action sequences, but there were long droughts where I felt like this movie dragged and I kept checking my watch wondering when it was going to be over. If you didn't see the first Red movie, you might enjoy this, but if you, like me, are a fan of the first, you will more than likely be royally disappointed. I give this movie a D+.
In the first film, we have a group of ex-CIA agents, along with one old MI6 agent teamed up to figure out who has put a hit out on them. They find and break up a conspiracy that goes as high as the Vice President and save the world. In the second film, the US Government again wants to kill these people because of a past mission that they may or may not have been a part of and they have to save the world.
Bruce Willis does a good job here again as Frank Moses. He is actually believable as an ex-CIA agent that has been labelled Retired: Extremely Dangerous (RED - hence the name). It helps that Bruce Willis is John McClane and has saved the world on probably 50 different occasions in films past. He can still do it as an action star. Mary-Louise Parker comes back as Sarah, Frank's love interest. I will be honest. For the most part I hated her in the first movie, and in this movie I really hate her character. She is whiny, stupid, poorly written, and acted even worse. It is sad to see a supremely talented actress like Parker, who gave us one of the three or four best female television characters of all time in Nancy Botwin from Showtime's Weeds, get ruined by such a dopey roll.
The supporting work for the most part isn't great. The bright spot is John Malkovich who is supremely funny in his returning role of Marvin, another CIA agent who works with Willis' Moses. Byung-hun Lee is an assassin sent to kill all three of our heroes, and he is bland and flat through this entire film. Then again Lee isn't much of an actor as much as he is a stunt man they give lines to. If you don't believe me, watch either of the G.I. Joe films. I much preferred the role Karl Urban played in the first Red movie, which Lee's role is essentially replacing. At least that character had some depth and had a good actor behind it as well. Catherine Zeta-Jones gives a Razzie worthy performance as a Russian spy. Her character isn't great to start with and Zeta-Jones just ruins it with a lifeless, flat, and altogether terrible performance.
The plot in this film is flat. There isn't much suspense or intrigue in it as there was in the first movie. The only real plot twist is one that was basically given away in the preview so the entire movie I was waiting for it to come to fruition. There are some good action sequences, many of which are over the top, but that is not unlike the first movie. The entire feel of this movie was just a bit off for me. There were some great laughs and some fun action sequences, but there were long droughts where I felt like this movie dragged and I kept checking my watch wondering when it was going to be over. If you didn't see the first Red movie, you might enjoy this, but if you, like me, are a fan of the first, you will more than likely be royally disappointed. I give this movie a D+.
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