End of Year 2017

Today is the last day of 2017, thank God.  This has been an absolute shitshow of a year and I will be happy to put it in my rearview.

Thanks to various commitments, I was only able to watch 19 new movies this year.  Overall, I saw less than 150 films, which is the second fewest annual number since I started this blog.  I'd like to think that I only spent my precious free time on movies worth seeing, however, and it was surprisingly difficult to rank this year's favorites.  Let's start at the bottom and work our way up.

10.  The LEGO Batman Movie - My one animated film for this year.

9.  Star Wars Episode VIII:  The Last Jedi - This was a great addition to the franchise.  I don't care how many petitions people sign.

8.  Annabelle:  Creation - I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this.  It was so much better than it had any right to be.

7.  Spider-Man:  Homecoming - I really didn't think we needed another Spider-Man movie but this won me over.

6.  Wonder Woman - This would have been much higher on the list if it hadn't been so reminiscent of Captain America.

5.  Atomic Blonde - This movie was so badass.

4.  Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - Now that some time has passed, the Ego storyline just leaves me kind of bleh.

3.  John Wick 2 - I strongly debated with myself over whether or not this deserved the first or second spot but I just couldn't displace the ones I already decided.

2.  Thor:  Ragnarok - For sheer fun, this was the greatest experience I had at the movies this year.

1.  Logan - Honestly, could it have been anything else?  This movie ripped my heart out and left me to die in the woods.

I don't rank TV shows but if you haven't seen American Gods or Legion, you're depriving yourself.

Now we can safely put 2017  behind us and look ahead to movies coming out in 2018.  All dates are subject to change.

Proud Mary - January 12 - January is traditionally a dumping ground for movies studios have little to no faith in, but this one stars Taraji P. Hensen as an assassin so I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

Mary and the Witch's Flower - January 18 - This is made by the spiritual successor to Studio Ghibli so I'm interested.

Black Panther - February 16 - Aw yiss.  Just in time for Valentine's Day.

Annihilation - February 23 - This looks really cool and it's by the same guy that wrote Ex Machina so it'll probably be terrifying.

Red Sparrow - March 2 - Jennifer Lawrence stars as a ballerina-turned-spy for Russia in what could have easily been the Black Widow origin story.

A Wrinkle in Time - March 9 - This is getting a lot of marketing already.  It's been so long since I read the book, though, I don't know if I want to see it.

Tomb Raider - March 16 - I'm torn.  Video game adaptations almost always suck but Alicia Vikander is awesome.

Pacific Rim Uprising - March 23 - Apparently, people really hated the original Pacific Rim.  I thought it was fun and I'm hoping the sequel is also fun.

Isle of Dogs - March 23 - This is another stop-motion animation from Wes Anderson, like The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Some of his shit is a little too quirky but I have high hopes for this one.

Ready Player One - March 30 - I'm not totally on board with this but I feel like it might be too big to miss out on.  It's a Spielberg.

The New Mutants - April 13 - Oh hell yes.  Give me some mutant horror.

Overboard - April 20 - It actually hurt my soul to hear they were remaking this movie but I'm hoping it will be different enough to not ruin my memories.

Avengers:  Infinity War - May 4 - I feel sorry for any other movie trying to compete on the same weekend.

Slender Man - May 18 - Is this a thing?!  Really?  And in blockbuster season, not the dead days of winter?  Huh.

Solo:  A Star Wars Story - May 25 - Honestly, I don't know how this could possibly be good.

Deadpool 2 - June 1 - Just take my money, already.

Ocean's 8 - June 8 - Maybe this will be good?  I'm not holding my breath.

Incredibles 2 - June 15 - I have waited so long for this movie.  Damn.

Jurassic World:  Fallen Kingdom - June 22 - Okay.  Sure.  I'm down for this.

Ant-Man and the Wasp - July 6 - Marvel's back at it again.  This is the third entry this year, though, and I'm worried that by now people will be superheroed out.

The Nun - July 13 - This is another entry into the Conjuring-verse.  Now I just don't know what to think, after I was so pleasantly surprised by Annabelle 2.

Mission:  Impossible: 6 - July 27 - Yeah, I'm going to see it.  I kind of hate myself a little, though.

The Happytime Murders - August 17 - This looks fucked up and hilarious.

Robin Hood - September 21 - Do we really need another origin story?  Seriously?

Venom - October 5 - It's a Spider-Man villain without Spider-Man but with Tom Hardy.  I'm on the fence.

X-Men:  Dark Phoenix - November 2 - Dark Phoenix was my favorite storyline.  I really hope they don't fuck it up.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms - November 2 - I don't even know why this movie exists.  Who needed a backstory on The Nutcracker?  It better be fucking gorgeous.

Mary, Queen of Scots - November 2 - This looks like a prestige film but it's got such a good cast that I'm interested.

The Grinch - November 9 - Are you shitting me?!

Fantastic Beasts:  The Crimes of Grindlewald - November 16 - I'm not big on Harry Potter but I quite enjoyed Fantastic Beasts.

Wreck-It Ralph 2:  Ralph Breaks the Internet - November 21 - I hope this doesn't suck.

Mortal Engines - December 14 - This looks kind of gonzo but it's written by and produced by Peter Jackson.  Could be a hot mess, could be brilliant.

Aquaman - December 21 - DC's only entry for the year.  Here's hoping it's a Wonder Woman, not a Justice League.

Bohemian Rhapsody - December 25 - Biopic of Freddie Mercury.  Yes.

Mary Poppins Returns - December 25 - I'm a little terrified, a little curious, and a little infuriated.

Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)

  I wanted to make sure this got in before my year-end review, which is coming later today.

The Barden Bellas have all graduated and gotten jobs out in the real world but they don't find it as satisfying as the time they spent with each other.  So when Legacy Bella Emily (Hailee Steinfield) calls for a reunion, the girls are super excited, only to find that Emily misspoke and was really just inviting them to watch the undergrad New Bellas perform.  Despondent, the old Bellas commiserate around the bar until Aubrey (Anna Camp) announces that she can pull strings with her father and get the Bellas on the annual USO tour, this year hosted by DJ Khalid (himself).  There, they must compete against bands that play actual instruments to get DJ Khalid's attention if they want to win the coveted opening slot for him on the last day of the tour.  Meanwhile, Fat Amy's (Rebel Wilson) estranged father (John Lithgow) tracks her down with the hope of reconnecting.

I wish I could say that this movie blew me away, but truthfully, it's just all right.  It's still hilarious, the music is still great, and it wraps up the Bellas' storylines but it feels like it's still chasing the magic of the original.  The original worked so well because it was such a surprise.  2 and 3 are not surprises.  They've become old hat.

Let's get real, though.  I've already bought the soundtrack.  I'm going to buy the movie.  I am a fan.  But even as a fan, I know that this should absolutely be the end of the road for this franchise.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

  I can't believe I spent time on my Christmas Day to watch this movie.  As you may have already guessed, this is a Christy pick.  The one for July, to be specific.  God, I'm so far behind.  But we can't dwell on that!  Let's just get through this piece of shit movie.

Chuck (Adam Sandler) and Larry (Kevin James) are Brooklyn fire fighters and best friends.  Larry, a widower, is facing a tough decision -how to make sure his children get his benefits if anything should happen to him- and comes up with a plan.  He and Chuck will pretend to be gay so they can register as a domestic partnership.  Chuck, a womanizer, reluctantly agrees, but neither man foresees how this deception will impact their work or their lives.

This film is offensive on so many levels it's almost impressive.  It relies exclusively on stereotypes about men, women, gays, straights, and Asians for "humor" while attempting to pass itself off as progressive.  An example of its progress:  the main character smugly informs a courtroom that, having lived as gay for roughly two months, he realized that using the word "faggot" was a pejorative.

If this movie had been made in 1986 or even 1996, you could maybe pass it off as simply a product of a more ignorant time with regard to LGBT culture.  That would still not excuse it of its blatant misogyny or inexplicable decision to put Rob Schneider in yellowface, complete with coke-bottle glasses, an incomprehensible accent, and a bowl cut.

You want to know how out of touch this movie really is?  Do you remember MySpace fame-whore Tila Tequila?  Yeah, she got a cameo here as one of a group of Hooters girls fawning over Adam Sandler's schlubby fireman.  Jamie Chung, who has gone on to do much better things, is an extra in the same scene.

The real crime here is how this movie wastes decent actors like Jessica Biel, Dan Ackroyd, and Ving Rhames on parts so far beneath them, I'm a little worried they were blackmailed.

Avoid at all costs.

Annabelle: Creation (2017)

  Merry Christmas!  Here's a movie about a demonically-possessed doll! Show it to your kids if they complain about Santa not bringing them enough.

(Please don't actually do this.)

I did not have high expectations for this movie, considering that it's a prequel to a prequel that was itself unnecessary, but they really pulled it out.

After losing their daughter to a tragic accident, Samuel and Esther Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto) open their home to a handful of orphan girls, presided over by Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman).  Janice (Talitha Bateman) is recovering from polio so she can't join in playing with the other girls.  She explores the house and comes across Bee's (Samara Lee) old room, and the doll locked away in a closet papered with pages from the Bible.  Soon, Janice has changed and her best friend, Linda (Lulu Wilson) is worried.  An ancient evil thought to be contained has reawakened.

The first Annabelle movie was really a let-down for the franchise and I was frankly surprised they were going to give it another go.  This is miles away better, however.  It is genuinely creepy, helped by the power of suggestion.  You never really see the monster/demon/evil full-out, which is great because then your own brain supplies the details to make it even more horrible and it's budget-friendly.  There's a sense of escalation throughout the film, leading to the finale which ties in to the first film pretty nicely.  They didn't have to show as much as they did there, but I guess the filmmakers wanted to show how a cute blond child becomes a brunette/auburn adult.  There's also a couple of nice tie-ins to the next expansion of the Conjuring-verse, The Nun.  Which is another story I'm not sure needs to be told, but if it's as good as this one, bring it on.

The Shape of Water (2017)

  Merry Christmas Eve!  Here a movie about fish people!

Eliza (Sally Hawkins) is a mute cleaning lady working at a government research lab.  Her life is routine but enjoyable.  Then a new asset, a humanoid amphibian (Doug Jones) captured in the Amazon, is brought in to be studied for secrets that could help the U.S. get a man on the moon before those pesky Russkies.  Eliza feels a strange affinity for the captive creature and starts befriending him.  This fascinates the lead researcher Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlberg), but brings Eliza straight into the crosshairs of Strickland (Michael Shannon), the head of security.  When Strickland decides that the creature needs to be destroyed, Eliza embarks on a desperate plan to rescue him.

This has been described as Guillermo Del Toro's vision of a fairy tale and there are a lot of shades of Pan's Labyrinth here.  It is very much a romance, but it's also a love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood and a sharp criticism of political and religious hypocrisy.  It shouldn't work but it does.

Hawkins is excellent here and no one plays a fish-man like Doug Jones.  This is a top-notch cast working with solid material.  I didn't full-out love it but I feel like this is a film meant to be seen over and over.

But for the love of God, don't go see this with your mom unless you know she is totally okay with a lady getting down with a fish-dude.  I felt so bad for the dude next to me who took his mom out for a nice Christmas Eve bonding at the movies and had to deal with some light bestiality instead.  Nothing explicit, but way more than just implied.  That's gotta be awkward.  The old couple to my left was pretty traumatized.  But they were also annoying so fuck 'em.  The future is now!  And it contains mer-sex!

The Greatest Showman (2017)

  Normally, I like to wait about 24 hours before I post something so I can really think about what I've watched but not this time.  I have just got home from watching The Greatest Showman and I want to get this out there.  This is probably going to be lengthier than usual, so strap in, kiddies.

Phineas T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) is the poor son of a tailor with huge dreams.  His wife Charity (Michelle Williams) is beautiful, gracious, and loves him unconditionally, but Barnum wants more.  He opens a museum of oddities in New York City, openly courts controversy, and along the way meets extraordinary people.  But Barnum's ambitions only ever expand higher.  Not content with the everyday masses, he courts opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson) away from Europe to be his new star in order to receive the approbation of the social elites.  This new focus, however, causes him to lose sight of everything he cared for.

First, the good.  The cast in this film is tremendous.  Jackman is a firecracker, Williams is luminous, Zac Efron and Zendaya are magnificent, and Ferguson is an ice cold queen.  But the real standout for me was Keala Settle.  She is a relative newcomer with only a couple of credits to her name on IMDb but holy fuckballs, she stole this whole show as Lettie Lutz.

It is a full-out musical and all the songs are fab.  I immediately bought the soundtrack and will be listening to it non-stop for the conceivable future.

Now the bad.  It's not really a great movie.  It is trying so so hard to be but it's just not.  First of all, it is so unbelievably sappy you might get a toothache.  It doesn't feel genuine.  And it only barely includes anything in the way of actual facts about P.T. Barnum's life.  It damn sure doesn't come close to his actual personality.  This is P.T. Barnum by way of Pollyanna.

Honestly, though, I think old Phineas would approve.  The man was a born huckster and this is a beautiful con job through and through.  Barnum may have said "The noblest art is that of making others happy" but he also said "There's a sucker born every minute."  Not that I think these are mutually exclusive concepts.  You can have a great time at this film.  Just know that you're being sold paste and being told it's diamonds.

Personal story time:  I had it pretty rough going into high school.  I didn't fit in, I got bullied, and was generally ostracized.  I didn't really know how to handle it.  My parents didn't understand, couldn't.  My mom was one of the popular kids who made my life miserable and my dad is so easy-going I don't know if anyone's ever said an unkind word to him.  All my friends were also being bullied the same or worse than I was, so it's not like I could go to them for help.  We were on our own.  Then I found Very Special People by Frederick Drimmer.  It's a collection of biographies of human oddities, many of whom are portrayed in The Greatest Showman.

I don't know if I can adequately express how much that book -those people- meant to me.  They gave me hope and showed me how truly insignificant my problems were.  How could I complain about my life or how I was treated when I was healthy, had the advantage of all my limbs and faculties, and could freely move about society.  Yes, I was made fun of but nobody threw rocks at me or told me to stay away from pregnant women for fear that I would frighten them so much their babies would be born deformed.  How dare I feel sorry for myself when Cesar Ducornet was born without arms and went on to become an extremely successful painter.  We are limited only by the restrictions of our own minds and that was the greatest lesson this book taught me.

So it was wonderful to see them represented in this film.  They don't all get lines, or backstories but I knew them all the same.  JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy.  Francisco Lentini, the three-legged man.  Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins.  Tom Thumb.  Lettie Lutz was probably invented for the movie, but Madame Clofula and Annie Jones were both real bearded women who worked for Barnum and either could have served as inspiration.  These were real people and they deserve to be celebrated and remembered.

Okay, emotional appeal time is over.  Now it's Rant time to cleanse the palate of all these feelings.

Why in the living fuck can people not shut the fuck up during a movie?  Jesus Hopscotch Christ.  I'm over here trying to eat my Twizzlers and watch Wolverine sing to the Joker's widow and some old couple just will. NOT.  SHUT.  THE. FUCK. UP next to me.  I shushed them.  They ignored me.  I passive aggressively sighed and glared daggers.  They didn't notice.  This now makes more times than not this year that I have gone to a theater and had people fucking ruin the experience because they just can't keep their dickholders shut.  I was so irritated, I had to listen to the dulcet tones of Andy Williams on the way home to remember it IS the most wonderful time of the year and I SHOULDN'T hope that couple reenacts the end of "The Little Match Girl" by freezing to death alone and unmourned.

So, yeah, The Greatest Showman.  Buy the soundtrack.  Wait for Netflix on the movie.

Krampus (2015)

Tis the season, bitches!  I am in no way ready for Christmas this year, thanks to school and work, but by God am I going to celebrate.  I broke this out last night to show Tyler, because he needs this in his life.  Of course he loved it.  Who wouldn't?  It's the best holiday schadenfreude.  You should see it too.  Embrace the darkness.  Originally published 11 Sep 2016.    This might be my new favorite Christmas movie.  I saw it when I was down visiting Christy for Labor Day weekend and instantly fell in love.  It's such a throwback to old-school horror comedies like Gremlins or Trick 'r Treat but with a whole host of new, disgusting creatures to love through the terror.

Max (Emjay Anthony) is a young boy who really wants to believe in the spirit of Christmas but his family is not making it easy.  If it's not his gun-nut Uncle Howard (David Koechner) or his loud Great-Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell) making everyone miserable, it's the constant stress between his dad (Adam Scott) and mom (Toni Collette) of trying to make Christmas appear perfect.  In a fit of anger, Max wishes that his family would just disappear, unknowingly sending out a summons for Santa's silent partner, Krampus.

See, in a lot of places, if you end up on the Naughty list you get a lump of coal in your stocking.  In other places, you get Krampus who sends horrible minions to your house to eat you or drag you screaming into the bowels of the Earth.  Ho ho ho.

Holiday season is right around the corner so if you want to get in some reasons to be jolly or just want to pretend it's your relatives being attacked by elves, this is the movie for you.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)

I missed my posting schedule last week entirely.  I don't really have a good excuse.  Getting through the semester and trying to make up time at work have really sucked the life out of me.  It's hard enough to get home, watch maybe an episode of TV while I shovel in dinner, and then pass out.  I'm trying to do better for you guys.  Fortunately, the weekend is here and I managed to get in to the hottest ticket in town.  So here is my SPOILER-FREE review of The Last Jedi.
  Don't worry, nerds.  This movie was totally amazing.  And beautifully shot.  Holy shit.

The rebels are on the run from First Order troops still.  General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) is tired of the constant loss of life, lives she feels responsible for, but knows she cannot stop this fight.  Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is convinced that if they can just lead one more attack, one more run, victory will be at hand.  Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) has searched for and found Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the hope of the resistance, only to discover that he is a tired, bitter man burdened by his failures.  He has no interest in teaching another pupil after what happened to his nephew, Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).  Rey and Kylo have also found themselves linked through the Force after their battle in the woods.  Rey is convinced there is good in him still, even if no one can see it but her.  Meanwhile, meanwhile, Finn (John Boyega) and his new friend Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) are on a super secret mission to a casino world.

First, the good.  Great giant fuckballs, this movie was gorgeous.  We had to see it in 3D, ugh, I know, but it wasn't intrusive or murky at all.  It was also way funnier than I thought it would be.  Most of Star Wars has its own little humor but it tends to happen in the downbeats.  This was much lighter and snappier throughout, without (take note, DC Extended Universe) sacrificing the pathos or tension.  And there are plenty of both in this film.

Now, the bad.  People are the absolute worst.  We were in a packed theater, as you can imagine, and the crowd was mostly great.  Except Tyler, who was wasted and super loud.  There was a moment in the film which I can't describe because MAJOR SPOILER but it was so fucking beautiful and awe-inspiring.  This is the shit that wins Oscars.  And some fucking teenager screamed and ruined the entire goddamn thing.  Just sucked the magic out.  And his idiot friends started laughing at him and talking, in that nervous way you do after you've been really tense, and I could have just killed all of them but they were on the other side of the theater.  Little bastards.

Anyway, you should definitely go see this.  Critics have started comparing it favorably to The Empire Strikes Back, and it is definitely a callback, but Rian Johnson manages to subvert those direct nods into a more unique take.  It is absolutely worth the money, even for 3D.

75th Golden Globe Awards Nominations

This past weekend I was writing papers for my classes and didn't watch, read, or post anything.  I am so far behind the curve, I didn't even know the nominations came out yesterday so you're getting a special late post. 

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Call Me by Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I have seen none of these.  Absolutely none.  Some of them haven't even come out yet, though.

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

The Disaster Artist
Get Out
The Greatest Showman
I, Tonya
Lady Bird

Again, seen precisely zero of these.  I bought Get Out; I just haven't watched it yet. And The Greatest Showman doesn't come out until this weekend, maybe?  I definitely want to see I, Tonya.  Don't even ask me about The Disaster Artist.  You know how I feel about James Franco.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Timothee Chalomet - Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
Tom Hanks - The Post
Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington - Roman J. Israel, Esq.

This is a tough category.  Look at those names.  Holy shit.  I'm going to be honest, though, based on the trailer Phantom Thread looks boring as fuck.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Jessica Chastain - Molly's Game
Sally Hawkins - The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Meryl Streep - The Post
Michelle Williams - All the Money in the World

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Steve Carrell - Battle of the Sexes
Ansel Elgort - Baby Driver
James Franco - The Disaster Artist
Hugh Jackman - The Greatest Showman
Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out

Based on the marketing, I didn't think Battle of the Sexes was supposed to be a comedy.  Of course, neither is Get Out but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association doesn't give a fuck.  They are above your labels!

Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Judi Dench - Victoria and Abdul
Helen Mirren - The Leisure Seeker
Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan -  Lady Bird
Emma Stone - Battle of the Sexes

I've never even heard of Helen Mirren's new movie.  Must be one of those indie jobs.

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
Armie Hammer - Call Me by Your Name
Richard Jenkins - The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer - All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I'm pretty sure they nominated Christopher Plummer for NOT being Kevin Spacey.  Which I am okay with.

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Mary J. Blige - Mudbound
Hong Chau - Downsizing
Allison Janney - I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer - The Shape of Water

Best Director

Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
Ridley Scott - All the Money in the World
Steven Spielberg - The Post

Yikes.  Again, that is a lot of established talent right there.

Best Screenplay

The Shape of Water
Lady Bird
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Molly's Game

Best Original Score

Carter Burwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Alexandre Desplat - The Shape of Water
Jonny Greenwood - Phantom Thread
John Williams - The Post
Hans Zimmer - Dunkirk

Best Original Song

"Remember Me" - Coco
"This is Me" - The Greatest Showman
"Home" - Ferdinand
"Mighty River" - Mudbound
"The Star" - The Star

I really want to see Coco.  The Star looks pretty terrible, tbh, but I'm also not super religious so maybe it's just a demographic thing.

Best Animated Film

The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

Zero interest in The Boss Baby.  Never heard of The Breadwinner.  Loving Vincent is supposed to be utterly gorgeous, though.

Best Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman
First They Killed My Father
In the Fade
Loveless
The Square

Best TV Series - Drama

The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid's Tale
Stranger Things
This is Us

I am either not caught up on or haven't started any of these shows.

Best TV Series - Comedy or Musical

Black-ish
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Master of None
SMILF
Will & Grace

Best TV Actor - Drama

Jason Bateman - Ozark
Sterling K. Brown - This is Us
Freddie Highmore - The Good Doctor
Bob Odenkirk - Better Call Saul
Liev Schrieber - Ray Donovan

Better Call Saul is the only one of these that I am caught up on.

Best TV Actress - Drama

Catriona Balfe - Outlander
Claire Foy - The Crown
Maggie Gyllenhaal - The Deuce
Katherine Langford - 13 Reasons Why
Elisabeth Moss - The Handmaid's Tale

Best TV Actor - Comedy or Musical

Anthony Anderson - Black-ish
Aziz Ansari - Master of None
Kevin Bacon - I Love Dick
William H. Macy - Shameless
Eric McCormack - Will & Grace

Best TV Actress - Comedy or Musical

Pamela Adlon - Better Things
Alison Brie - GLOW
Rachel Brosnahan - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Issa Rae - Insecure
Frankie Shaw - SMILF

Best Actor in a Limited Series or Made for TV Movie

Robert DeNiro - The Wizard of Lies
Jude Law - The Young Pope
Kyle MacLachlan - Twin Peaks
Ewan McGregor - Fargo
Geoffrey Rush - Genius

Best Actress in a Limited Series or Made for TV Movie

Jessica Biel - The Sinner
Nicole Kidman - Big Little Lies
Jessica Lange - Feud: Bette and Joan
Susan Sarandon - Feud:  Bette and Joan
Reese Witherspoon - Big Little Lies

Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Made for TV Movie

David Harbour - Stranger Things
Alfred Molina - Feud: Bette and Joan
Alexander Skarsgard - Big Little Lies
Christian Slater - Mr. Robot
David Thewlis - Fargo

Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Made for TV Movie

Laura Dern - Big Little Lies
Ann Dowd - The Handmaid's Tale
Chrissy Metz - This is Us
Michelle Pfeiffer - The Wizard of Lies
Shailene Woodley - Big Little Lies

Best Limited Series or Made for TV Movie

Big Little Lies
Fargo
Feud: Bette and Joan
The Sinner
Top of the Lake: China Girl

Wow.  There's a LOT on here that I haven't seen.  That sucks because it's going to take me forever to get to it all.  Unless it gets nominated for an Oscar.  Then I'll make more of an effort, as usual.  Out of the TV shows, I'm probably only going to add Bette and Joan.  Times are tough and sacrifices must be made.  I'm not even close to getting the nominations from two years ago on my queue, it's so overstuffed.  The Golden Globe awards are Jan 7, 2018.  Let's hope things have calmed down somewhat by then.

Some TV and Anime

I haven't had a chance to watch any movies this week.  I've been trying to catch up on some of my TV shows.

  I finally finished watching Trigun.  It's not bad but it didn't blow me away, either.  If you want a space Western anime, watch Cowboy Bebop.

Two insurance agents attempt to track down a gunman named Vash the Stampede as he travels from town to town and end up getting caught in his high-stakes world of good vs evil.

  I was sick with a cold a couple of weeks ago and binged season 1 of RuPaul's Drag Race.  It's officially amazing.  Fair warning:  I watched it through Kodi and the quality was shit so I don't know that it's ever been legitimately released on video or streaming.

  Tyler and I finally finished watching season two of Preacher.   Maybe because it took over four months to watch, I thought it lacked the momentum of the first season.  I'm going to have to buy it and rewatch it all at once to be sure though.

Jesse (Dominic Cooper), Tulip (Ruth Negga), and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) are searching for God in every jazz bar in New Orleans.  Along the way, they meet gangsters, a cowboy who can't die (Graham McTavish), an angel who wants to (Tom Brooke), a corporation that extracts souls (really, don't they all?), operatives from the mysterious Grail Corporation, and an actual descendent of Jesus (Tyson Ritter).  Oh, and Eugene (Ian Colletti) meets and befriends Hitler (Noah Taylor) while unfairly imprisoned in Hell.

  I gave Marvel's Inhumans a chance, even with the overwhelmingly negative reviews and it turned out to be mostly watchable.  It helped that it was only eight episodes.  I think a full 22- or even 13-episode run would have been a disaster.  Serinda Swan was a series highlight for me.  I thought she was going to be awful but she was the glue that held the whole thing together.  In fact, all the ladies (except Isabelle Cornish, but I think that was more the character and not the actress.  She worked with what she had.) were kind of amazing.

The Inhumans have been living in a secret city on the moon ever since they were forced off Earth.  They have very limited resources and a strict caste system based on the powers received after terragenesis.  Maximus (Iwan Rheon), the younger brother of King Black Bolt (Anson Mount), has been scheming and plotting to overthrow his sibling and take control of the kingdom.  He stages a sneak attack and manages to destroy Queen Medusa's (Serinda Swan) psionically-controlled hair but her sister Crystal (Isabelle Cornish) rescues her and the other members of the inner circle with the help of her teleporting giant dog.  That is actually a thing.  They all end up on Oahu, separated because dogs aren't great with geography, and must manage to stay alive, find each other, and figure out how to get their throne back.  And maybe consider some social reforms.

  Tyler has really enjoyed The Orville.  It's definitely his favorite new show of the season.  I like it well enough on an episode by episode basis.  I don't know how it would work to try and watch all together though.  I don't think there's enough continuity for that.

Captain Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane) leads the crew of the Union Federation space ship Orville through various missions and interactions with life forms of all kinds.  As always, the real drama is the interaction of the crew, which includes Ed's ex-wife and first officer (Adrianne Padalicki), an untried chief of security (Halston Sage), a goof-off pilot (Scott Grimes), an expressionless third officer (Peter Macon), and the steadily reassuring doctor (Penny Johnson Jerald).

  I tried to watch Ghosted but I'm done.  There's too many shows that I'm actually interested in to waste space on my DVR with this middling comedy.

Max (Adam Scott) and Leroy (Craig Robinson) are recruited into the Bureau Underground, a semi-official government agency that hunts monsters, aliens, and all the other weirdness of the world.  Like The X-Files or Men in Black if they were awful and dumb.

  The Gifted is a much better use of my time.  It's not as good as Legion but really, there was no way it could have been.  I'm not caught up to current but I've liked what I've seen so far.

After his children are revealed to be mutants, Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) reaches out to the Mutant Underground to get them to safety before Sentinel Services can lock them away or worse.

  I'm almost caught up to present on Riverdale season two.  A new episode dropped this week but otherwise I'm good.  I have to say, I'm not loving the serial killer plot line but this show is soapy and amazing in a fucked up teen drama way and I love it. So I'll stick with it to the end.  I'm just hoping a third season can turn this dive around.

  Speaking of garbage but fun, Blindspot is back for a third season of barely plausible intrigue.

In a jump of several years forward in time, Jane (Jamie Alexander) and Kurt (Sullivan Stapleton) are married but have been separated after a Sandstorm sympathizer put a $10M bounty on Jane's head.  Kurt has to track her down after the rest of their team -having scattered to the four winds- is kidnapped.  Jane and Kurt soon discover that Roman (Luke Mitchell) has again covered Jane in head-to-toe tattoos (this time they are blacklight activated) that intersect with her original set in order to force the team to decipher them and prevent a whole new set of catastrophes.

 And finally, we come to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency season two.  I'm only a couple of episodes in, but I love love LOVE this show.

Dirk (Samuel Barnett), Todd (Elijah Wood), and Farah (Jade Eshete) are pulled into another case involving a missing boy, an alternate dimension, and real honest-to-God magic.  Todd is also trying to find his sister Amanda (Hannah Marks), who has been traveling with the fourth member of the Rowdy 3 (Osric Chau) and trying to understand the visions she's been seeing.  Meanwhile, the disintegrating Blackwing organization has called in its chief fixer, Mr. Priest (Alan Tudyk) to hunt down Dirk and all the other superpowered people.