Words cannot express how ridiculous this Fall's crop of movies is going to be. Whether you want horror, sci-fi, comedy or drama, this fall has it. I predict, even a few months out, the closest Oscars race in many years. So now without further ado, my Fall movie Preview. Unlike my TV preview, these aren't ranked by how much I want to see them but rather listed by release date (because I can't possible rank how much I want to see these movies).
October 16th
Beasts of No Nation: This movie is directed by the mind that brought us the True Detective drug raid scene (youtube it). It stars Ildris Elba and should be gritty, dark and super good. Bonus! It's premiering on Netflix so you don't have to spend money on this one!
Crimson Peak: I don't necessarily go for these kind of movies, but everything about this has me intrigued. The cast (Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain) is top-notch for horror-fantasy movies and the director, Guillermo Del Torro, knows a thing or two about these kind of movies.
Bridge of Spies: I would have almost no interest in this movie EXCEPT that it stars Tom Hanks directed by Steven Spielberg. The fact that it's a WWII story (Spielberg's best period) is icing on the cake. NOTE: All three of these movies come out the same day, but then there isn't much for a while, so you can space them out.
Suffragette, Oct. 23: I'm not really excited for this movie so much as I think it will be really good and helpful for people to see. I expect a really good drama, but I doubt it to make many Oscar waves (except Meryl Streep for Best Supporting Actress seems like a good possibility).
Spectre, Nov. 6: I only recently watched the recent James Bond story arc, and boy was I missing out. Skyfall was excellent by any movie standard you wish to apply descending the "spy" genre with its greatness. All signs point to Spectre delivering just as much. Plus Christophe Waltz as the main villain.
Legend, Nov. 20: Tom Hardy plays twin brother gangsters in 1960s London. I love crime thrillers and Tom Hardy so I'm on board.
November 25th
The Good Dinosaur: My excitement for this movie crashed dramatically when I learned that Bob Peterson was no longer the director. Still, it's Pixar so it should be good, but don't expect it to come anywhere near Inside Out.
The Night Before: I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogan and I really like 50/50 which had both of them and the same director as this movie. That's enough for me to think this might be a surprisingly good comedy (or at least surprising to the rest of the world).
The Danish Girl, Nov. 27: This movie tells the story of a transgender artist long before that was close to being an acceptable thing. The cast is strong including Oscar Winner Eddie Redmayne (many people's pick to repeat this year) and director Tom Hooper (of King's Speech and Les Mis fame). In my mind this movie is probably one of four really big Oscar contenders.
December 18th
Sisters: I think there's about a 100 percent chance that this movie will be really funny...and not be talked about at all when it comes out. It stars Amy Poehler and Tine Fey who are very funny people. See it sometime in the week after it opens because...
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens: It finally arrives! I'm no where near as excited for this movie as about 100 million Americans, but I am excited all the same. I'm especially curious to see Adam Driver take on a big villain role and wonder if the story might center on him. One can only hope.
December 25th
The Hateful 8: I'm WAY more excited for this movie than for Christmas. Everything I've seen makes it look like Django Unchained level of great, and that's pretty stinking great. Tarrantino might have a long-shot at Best Director with this one.
Joy: I'm also really excited for this movie, reuniting Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and director David O'Russell. That group made two really awesome movies (Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle). I don't really even care what it's about, I think it should be great.
The Revenant, January: Last but not least (like really REALLY not least) The Revenant. Leonardo DiCaprio. Tom Hardy. The director of Birdman. Do I need to go on? If you insist. It's also a frontier story of survival. I predict major Oscar wins for this one including an Oscar (finally) for Leo. The only caveat to that being the performance of Eddie Redmayne. At this point The Revenant is my pic for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actor, as well as some editing categories. I don't care when it comes out in January, I'll be there.
I hope this gets you as excited about watching movies this fall as it does me! I'm super excited for all these movies and the stories they'll generate. Rest up for October 16th!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Fall TV Preview!
I've been trying to write this post for weeks, but I've just been so busy. This last week many, many shows had their fall premieres, so I figured if I didn't get this preview out quickly there would be no reason to do it at all. And that wasn't an option. There is so much potentially great TV coming out this fall that I had to limit the list to 15. The shows are ranked by how much I want to watch that show. With some shows I've seen one or two episodes already, and that will factor into the rankings, though, so far, the shows I've seen have been good, so it won't factor in too much. Now without further ado my ultimate Fall TV Preview (including new and returning shows)!
TV Shows
15. Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris. The only reason I have any interest in this in NPH. The reviews so far have been mixed. I haven't seen it yet.
14. Into the Badlands. I don't know much about this show, but I think AMC is due for a hit. This miniseries probably wont be that, but it might get them back on the right track.
13. Better Call Saul. I rank this so lowly because I don't expect it to come out till early 2016 (and if I include early 2016 titles then I have to put Westworld top of this list). So since it's kind of cheating to have it here at all, I rank it lowly.
12. Blind Spot. Like AMC, NBC is due for a hit. I wonder if this twisty thriller will be it (I'm skeptical and probably wont get around to watching this one for a while).
11. Late Night with Stephen Colbert. I watched the episode with Donald Trump and Stephen seems to still be in top form. I'll be interested to see if he can establish a youtube identity like Fallon. Time will tell, but I'm glad he's back on TV.
10. A.K.A. Jessica Jones. My excitement for this is based on three factors: Netflix, Kristen Ritter and David Tennant. I love all these people/things and am excited to see what this show will be. I really like that virtually no one knows anything about it to this point, so we will see. I'm excited to see how this will do launching full-on into the female superhero canon of TV.
9. Supergirl. And that leads us to the other show that I think will do good things for Superhero TV. When I watched Whiplash a few months ago I said, "That Melissa Benoist girl is going places." And here she is in a staring superhero vehicle. CBS makes good TV. This whole show is a really interesting experiment in the future of superhero TV. Let's hope it goes well.
8. Doctor Who. All the trailers and the first episode have this poised to be one of the best seasons yet. I'm excited to see it all come together, though the apparent rise of 2-part episodes has me worried.
7. American Horror Story: Hotel. I was pretty turned off to the AHS brand after the very lack luster final episodes of last season. BUT I think the introduction of Lady Gaga and the setting of a hotel will provide a much needed surge. The fifth season is a make-or-break season in TV shows (more on that some other time); AHS needs to come on strong this year.
6. Sherlock. I've heard so little talk of Sherlock's return that it's easy to almost forget that it's happening. BUT IT'S HAPPENING SO GET EXCITED!!
5. Scream Queens. Mixed review have done little to assuage my excitement for this show. I'm excited to see how the AHS team do at tampering done the horror factor a little for broadcast TV. The cast is beyond outstanding, so I predict good things.
4. The Muppets. I watched the pilot and was actually surprised at how well they captured the essential-ness of the Muppets while also pointing them in new directions. I'm excited to see how this show progresses this season.
3. Master of None. Aziz Ansari is making his own show on Netflix. That's really all you need to know. I love Aziz and I love Netflix. I'm hoping this show is like Louie except that it's actually funny.
2. South Park. Two weeks ago I probably would have ranked this 4th or 5th but that was before two nearly perfect episodes to start the season brilliantly skewering the PC culture of the summer, Tom Brady and the current election landscape. Also I love how they're following in last season's stead tying the season together with themes and jokes. It's better than ever (except the revered season 7).
1. Fargo. I STILL know almost nothing about this season even after watching all the cryptic trailers and such. My excitement is almost unmeasurable for this new season. It's been something of a down year for anthology shows, but that's about to change.
That's it for TV. Tune in next time for my movie preview!
TV Shows
15. Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris. The only reason I have any interest in this in NPH. The reviews so far have been mixed. I haven't seen it yet.
14. Into the Badlands. I don't know much about this show, but I think AMC is due for a hit. This miniseries probably wont be that, but it might get them back on the right track.
13. Better Call Saul. I rank this so lowly because I don't expect it to come out till early 2016 (and if I include early 2016 titles then I have to put Westworld top of this list). So since it's kind of cheating to have it here at all, I rank it lowly.
12. Blind Spot. Like AMC, NBC is due for a hit. I wonder if this twisty thriller will be it (I'm skeptical and probably wont get around to watching this one for a while).
11. Late Night with Stephen Colbert. I watched the episode with Donald Trump and Stephen seems to still be in top form. I'll be interested to see if he can establish a youtube identity like Fallon. Time will tell, but I'm glad he's back on TV.
10. A.K.A. Jessica Jones. My excitement for this is based on three factors: Netflix, Kristen Ritter and David Tennant. I love all these people/things and am excited to see what this show will be. I really like that virtually no one knows anything about it to this point, so we will see. I'm excited to see how this will do launching full-on into the female superhero canon of TV.
9. Supergirl. And that leads us to the other show that I think will do good things for Superhero TV. When I watched Whiplash a few months ago I said, "That Melissa Benoist girl is going places." And here she is in a staring superhero vehicle. CBS makes good TV. This whole show is a really interesting experiment in the future of superhero TV. Let's hope it goes well.
8. Doctor Who. All the trailers and the first episode have this poised to be one of the best seasons yet. I'm excited to see it all come together, though the apparent rise of 2-part episodes has me worried.
7. American Horror Story: Hotel. I was pretty turned off to the AHS brand after the very lack luster final episodes of last season. BUT I think the introduction of Lady Gaga and the setting of a hotel will provide a much needed surge. The fifth season is a make-or-break season in TV shows (more on that some other time); AHS needs to come on strong this year.
6. Sherlock. I've heard so little talk of Sherlock's return that it's easy to almost forget that it's happening. BUT IT'S HAPPENING SO GET EXCITED!!
5. Scream Queens. Mixed review have done little to assuage my excitement for this show. I'm excited to see how the AHS team do at tampering done the horror factor a little for broadcast TV. The cast is beyond outstanding, so I predict good things.
4. The Muppets. I watched the pilot and was actually surprised at how well they captured the essential-ness of the Muppets while also pointing them in new directions. I'm excited to see how this show progresses this season.
3. Master of None. Aziz Ansari is making his own show on Netflix. That's really all you need to know. I love Aziz and I love Netflix. I'm hoping this show is like Louie except that it's actually funny.
2. South Park. Two weeks ago I probably would have ranked this 4th or 5th but that was before two nearly perfect episodes to start the season brilliantly skewering the PC culture of the summer, Tom Brady and the current election landscape. Also I love how they're following in last season's stead tying the season together with themes and jokes. It's better than ever (except the revered season 7).
1. Fargo. I STILL know almost nothing about this season even after watching all the cryptic trailers and such. My excitement is almost unmeasurable for this new season. It's been something of a down year for anthology shows, but that's about to change.
That's it for TV. Tune in next time for my movie preview!
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Emmy Predictions
I have a really substantial Fall movie and TV show preview I'm working on, but today it occurred to me that the Emmys are this weekend, so this post takes precedent. I write this post as a simple prediction of ALL the Emmy winners, regardless of whether I have any clue what I'm talking about or not. I can only hope to do any where near as well as I did at the Oscars getting about 20 out of 25 correct (and I totally out-thought a couple of them too). Whether you think that's impressive or not, I assure you, I could have made a lot of money betting on the Oscars if I'd done that well. But this is about the Emmys, so here we go. (These are in the order I find them on the Emmys website).
Best Actor in a Miniseries: David Oyelowo. My reasoning here is simple: he didn't win the Oscar. I have no clue about any of these movies and shows so my guess is as good as yours.
Best Actress in Miniseries: Emma Thompson. I'm going away from the AHS norm on this category, because the nominations went away from the AHS norm. It'd be cool to see Sweeney Todd win.
Best Actor in a Comedy: Jeffery Tambor. The popular pick is Louie C.K, but from what I've heard, he's lost some steam. Tambor did really well earlier this year and I think his hot-button transgender performance will get him the win.
Best Actor in a Drama: Jon Hamm. I want very badly for Jeff Daniels to win this one, but I suspect they'll give it to Hamm as the Mad Men hold over. If I picked the award, I'd probably go Kyle Chandler. Seriously, this category is tight.
Best Actress in a Comedy: Amy Poehler. Tough call between new comers (Amy Shumer) and holdovers, but since I picked Hamm, I might as well pick his similar-situation female counterpart.
Best Actress in a Drama:Robin Wright. I don't know, but she's won before.
Best Production Design: The Oscars. Who really even understands this category? I mean, really.
Best Children's Program: Girl Meets World.
Choreography: I'm not stooping so low as to pick one dance episode over another. I have standards.
Best Cinematography in Miniseries: Houdini
Best Comedy: Silicon Valley. This is a long shot, but I think the reign of Veep has to end sometime. I want it to be Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, but I doubt it.
Best Writing for Comedy: Veep. It only seems normal that they would win something.
Best Writing for Variety: Last Week Tonight by John Oliver. What? Did I just pick NOT John Stewart? Yes, I did, because John Oliver has hit another level of relevance as of late (and seriously it is just the best show).
Best Commercial: I don't care.
Best Directing for Comedy: Silicon Valley.
Best Directing for Variety: Colbert Finale (or I assume it was the finale).
Best Directing for Drama: Game of Thrones (one of them, probably Mother's Mercy). I still can't believe Hardhome wasn't nominated.
Best Directing for Miniseries: AHS.
Best Directing for Variety Special: SNL 40th.
Best Documentary: The Jinx
Best Drama: Better Call Saul. I just don't believe in House of Cards. I'm sorry, but I don't. I think the recognition of Odenkirk as Best Actor nomination gives them a real shot at this upset. Lets not forget how beloved Breaking Bad was (even last year against True Detective).
Best Technical Direction: Letterman. How am I supposed to know? No one predicts these categories.
Best TV Movie: Nightingale.
Best Composition for Miniseries: AHS. But what an eclectic group of nominees.
Best Composition for Drama: House of Cards.
Best Original Music and Lyrics: The Oscars.
Best Variety Special: SNL 40th.
Best Supporting Actor in Comedy: Tituss Burgess. This should be a landslide, but who knows.
Best Supporting Actor in Drama: Jonathan Banks. Ben or Peter would also be good picks.
Best Supporting Actress in Comedy: Allison Janney. I think she won last year so...yeah.
Best Supporting Actress in Drama: Uzo Aduba.
Best Sound Editing: Game of Thrones: Hardhome. Seriously, this had BETTER win. Also there are a LOT of Emmys.
Best Writing for Drama: Mad Men: Person to Person. It was the finale.
Best Writing for Variety Special: SNL 40th. I don't like Louie, so I pick him.
Best Documentary: Citizenfour
Best Sound Mixing for Non fiction: Going Clear.
Animation Achievement: Over the Garden Wall.
Best Casting for Miniseries: AHS.
Best Costumes for Special: I didn't know that was a thing.
Sound Editing: Houdini.
Title Design: AHS. Also, I'm glad that award exists.
Hairstyling: AHS.
Main Title Music: Penny Dreadful. Surprised GoT isn't there.
Music Direction: Oscars.
Documentary: Going Clear.
Cinematography for Doc.: The Jinx. (They'll win the other ones too, I guess.)
Best Special Effects: Game of Thrones.
Best Animated Program: Over the Garden Wall
Best Casting for Comedy: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Best Casting for Drama: Orange is New Black
Okay. I'm saying enough is enough. That's almost 50 predictions, so way more than you'll find from anyone else on the internet. That's all I've got. Have fun watching the Emmys!!
Best Actor in a Miniseries: David Oyelowo. My reasoning here is simple: he didn't win the Oscar. I have no clue about any of these movies and shows so my guess is as good as yours.
Best Actress in Miniseries: Emma Thompson. I'm going away from the AHS norm on this category, because the nominations went away from the AHS norm. It'd be cool to see Sweeney Todd win.
Best Actor in a Comedy: Jeffery Tambor. The popular pick is Louie C.K, but from what I've heard, he's lost some steam. Tambor did really well earlier this year and I think his hot-button transgender performance will get him the win.
Best Actor in a Drama: Jon Hamm. I want very badly for Jeff Daniels to win this one, but I suspect they'll give it to Hamm as the Mad Men hold over. If I picked the award, I'd probably go Kyle Chandler. Seriously, this category is tight.
Best Actress in a Comedy: Amy Poehler. Tough call between new comers (Amy Shumer) and holdovers, but since I picked Hamm, I might as well pick his similar-situation female counterpart.
Best Actress in a Drama:Robin Wright. I don't know, but she's won before.
Best Production Design: The Oscars. Who really even understands this category? I mean, really.
Best Children's Program: Girl Meets World.
Choreography: I'm not stooping so low as to pick one dance episode over another. I have standards.
Best Cinematography in Miniseries: Houdini
Best Comedy: Silicon Valley. This is a long shot, but I think the reign of Veep has to end sometime. I want it to be Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, but I doubt it.
Best Writing for Comedy: Veep. It only seems normal that they would win something.
Best Writing for Variety: Last Week Tonight by John Oliver. What? Did I just pick NOT John Stewart? Yes, I did, because John Oliver has hit another level of relevance as of late (and seriously it is just the best show).
Best Commercial: I don't care.
Best Directing for Comedy: Silicon Valley.
Best Directing for Variety: Colbert Finale (or I assume it was the finale).
Best Directing for Drama: Game of Thrones (one of them, probably Mother's Mercy). I still can't believe Hardhome wasn't nominated.
Best Directing for Miniseries: AHS.
Best Directing for Variety Special: SNL 40th.
Best Documentary: The Jinx
Best Drama: Better Call Saul. I just don't believe in House of Cards. I'm sorry, but I don't. I think the recognition of Odenkirk as Best Actor nomination gives them a real shot at this upset. Lets not forget how beloved Breaking Bad was (even last year against True Detective).
Best Technical Direction: Letterman. How am I supposed to know? No one predicts these categories.
Best TV Movie: Nightingale.
Best Composition for Miniseries: AHS. But what an eclectic group of nominees.
Best Composition for Drama: House of Cards.
Best Original Music and Lyrics: The Oscars.
Best Variety Special: SNL 40th.
Best Supporting Actor in Comedy: Tituss Burgess. This should be a landslide, but who knows.
Best Supporting Actor in Drama: Jonathan Banks. Ben or Peter would also be good picks.
Best Supporting Actress in Comedy: Allison Janney. I think she won last year so...yeah.
Best Supporting Actress in Drama: Uzo Aduba.
Best Sound Editing: Game of Thrones: Hardhome. Seriously, this had BETTER win. Also there are a LOT of Emmys.
Best Writing for Drama: Mad Men: Person to Person. It was the finale.
Best Writing for Variety Special: SNL 40th. I don't like Louie, so I pick him.
Best Documentary: Citizenfour
Best Sound Mixing for Non fiction: Going Clear.
Animation Achievement: Over the Garden Wall.
Best Casting for Miniseries: AHS.
Best Costumes for Special: I didn't know that was a thing.
Sound Editing: Houdini.
Title Design: AHS. Also, I'm glad that award exists.
Hairstyling: AHS.
Main Title Music: Penny Dreadful. Surprised GoT isn't there.
Music Direction: Oscars.
Documentary: Going Clear.
Cinematography for Doc.: The Jinx. (They'll win the other ones too, I guess.)
Best Special Effects: Game of Thrones.
Best Animated Program: Over the Garden Wall
Best Casting for Comedy: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Best Casting for Drama: Orange is New Black
Okay. I'm saying enough is enough. That's almost 50 predictions, so way more than you'll find from anyone else on the internet. That's all I've got. Have fun watching the Emmys!!
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