10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2016 Emmy Nominations

1)  I completely understand that in Peak TV, the Emmy voters are going to leave off some obvious choices just because there’s not enough hours in the day to see everything that’s great. But at the same time, now is the perfect time to jump ship on the old shows floundering and let the new ones roll over you like a calm, sunny day. Shows like Homeland, House of Cards, and Downton Abbey are well past their prime, yet are beloved by the Emmy voters. Every year Emmy voters vote on what they did before and not necessarily on the quality of the individual season in front of them, and every year we get upset. I don’t know why we do this to ourselves.

2) Unfortunately, little room for newcomers meant a shut out for an incredible show like The Leftovers. Justin Theroux was always a dark horse to get a Best Lead Actor nomination, which was always a shame, but there was also no love for Carrie Coon, Regina King, or Kevin Carrol. And even though the show was clearly one of the 7 best dramas according to all TV critics, the show couldn’t beat out other shows about old British people and a CIA agent with a mental disorder.

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2015 Academy Awards

1)      Birdman tied The Grand Budapest Hotel in terms of total Oscar wins with four. Birdman took home the big three (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay) and well as Best Cinematography (which any cinephile knows is also another huge accomplishment, but we’ll get to that in another bullet point). After its SAG, DGA, and PGA win, Birdman and its director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu became the favorite to win the biggies and considering how creative and unique Birdman is, it’s not hard to see how these wins aren’t well-deserved. I personally did not like Birdman, but I respected the hell out of it and I’m not terribly bummed that it won.

2)      Inarritu's (and others) win for Birdman’s screenplay will be considered an upset by many as the general notion was that Wes Anderson and The Grand Budapest Hotel was going to take the category. However, if you followed me and my advice, this Birdman win should have been expected. Since the film was projected to win Best Picture, it was the favorite (by me) to win Best Original Screenplay as it’s tough to claim a film is the very best without its screenplay also being the very best. If only people listened to me more.

3)      As mentioned earlier, The Grand Budapest Hotel also won four Oscars (Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Make Up and Hairstyling, and Best Score). While all technical awards, Wes Anderson films, especially Hotel, tend to be grand productions so it’s not surprising it won so many technical awards. Again, this is another film I didn’t care for (I actually hated it), but the sets were remarkable, the costumes really were outstanding, and they did such a great job making Tilda Swinton look like a completely different person that I didn’t know she was in the film until much later.

4)      Alexandre Desplat was nominated twice in the Best Score category (for his work on Hotel and The Imitation Game) but since voters only see the name of the movie when they vote, many people thought (including yours truly) that Johann Johannsson would win Best Score for his work on The Theory of Everything. This was one of the few upsets of the night, but an overall well-deserved win by a talented composer. 

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2015 Academy Award Nominations

1) The fact that Jake Gyllenhaal wasn't nominated this morning is a damn travesty. He not only gave the best acting performance of the year but he gave the best acting performance ever since Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. He was so freaking good.

What's even worse is that there was a very good chance that he was going to get a Best Actor nomination. According to the statistic expert at the Huffington Post- there was an 87.7% chance Gyllenhaal was going to get a nomination- tied for the third highest chance. Grantland's Oscar Expert Mark Harris stated that there really only seemed like there was enough room for one of two "nutcases" in this category; Gyllenhaal or Steve Carell for his work in Foxcatcher. In turns out the Old Fogie group that is the Academy voting committee went with the movie that fell in their category as opposed to the better film (and one meant for Millennials and Generation X) as Carell earned his first Oscar nomination and Gyllenhaal was left snubbed.

2) Speaking of snubs, The Lego Movie failed to earn a Best Animated Feature nomination- which seems absolutely insane. Almost everybody thought The Lego Movie was the frontrunner to win, so to be completely shut out is mind boggling. However, as a strong proponent that How To Train Your Dragon 2 is infinitely better than The Lego Movie, I'm secretly happy as that means HTTYD2 is now the heavy favorite to win.

3) The last snub that "broke" Twitter was that Jennifer Aniston failed to earn a Best Actress nomination for her work in Cake as her "spot" seemingly went to Marion Cotilliard for her work in Two Days, One Night. Not only was Jennifer Aniston's nomination by far and away the least secured out of the five predicted nominees, but from everything I've heard, Cotilliard actually gave the better performance. I'd bet you that anyone who claims Aniston was snubbed has either a) never seen Cake, b) never seen Two Days, One Night, or both.

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2014 Primetime Emmy Nominations

1) Modern Family

Holy cow, I don't think anyone saw this coming as Modern Family took a huge blow this year (or at least a huge blow according to its expectations). Again, two-time winner Eric Stonestreet fails to earn a nomination, but Sophia Vergara and Ed O'Neill join him. Only Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Julie Bowen earn a main acting nomination for their work on the show. The show also only earned one Outstanding Direction nomination (see, high standards, it normally gets at least two), and failed to earn any writing nominations. While the show itself was still nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, it lost a lot of nominations in 2014, and I suspect Modern Family is going to come up lame come award time.

2) Game of Thrones

While Modern Family is trending downwards, Game of Thrones is trending upwards. For those who said the Emmy's hate Game of Thrones is just absurd, considering the show had three Outstanding Drama Series nominations and Peter Dinklage is a former winner from the show. Not only does the show itself and Peter Dinklage earn another nomination this year, but this time they're joined by Lena Headly. Last year, Emilia Clarke earned a nomination in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category, and this time it's Headley. It's nice to see other actors other than Dinklage get rewarded for their work on the show. Game of Thrones also earned an Outstanding Direction nomination for Neil Marshall for his work on the penultimate episode "The Watchers on the Wall" (although I would have preferred if it went to Alex Graves) and creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss earned a writing nomination for their work on the finale "The Children" (although I suspect it's for their work on the show as a whole).

10 Quick Reactions To The 2014 Emmy Nomination Ballot

Throughout the entire month of May, I wrote many Emmy Questions pieces regarding many of the shows eligible and likely to be nominated for an Emmy in 2014 including House of Cards, Mad Men, Modern Family, Breaking Bad and many, many others. You can check out all of my articles here. A lot of the questions for these particular shows were regarding which categories certain actors would be nominated in. The Emmy's helped answer those questions today as they released every single show and person eligible in every single Primetime Emmy category. Here are 10 "Quick" Reaction to the 2014 Emmy Nomination Ballot that was released today.

1) True Detective

Click Here For Our True Detective Emmy Questions Post

The biggest question of all during this "Emmy pre-season" is what category would Woody Harrelson throw his hat into. HBO isn't ashamed to do what they can in order to maximize nominations and prestige, especially considering True Detective is a mini-series yet it's nominated in the Drama Series categories. Matthew McConaughey is a lock to earn a nomination, and is probably the favorite to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, so it was unclear whether Woody Harrelson would also be considered a Lead Actor as opposed to a Supporting Actor. The lead actor category is already crowded, and adding Woody Harrelson into the mix makes it almost impossible for anyone to get a nomination!

However, Woody Harrelson was clearly a co-lead with McConaughey and is eligible as such. Even though HBO probably could have maximized its nominations by submitting Harrelson as a supporting actor, the network seems so confident in the show, that Harrelson was submitted as a lead.

I was correct that Cary Joji Fukunaga submitted "Who Goes There" with its excellent oner at the end of the episode for Outstanding Directing, but I was incorrect as to what episode Nick Pizzolatto would submit in the writing category. I thought it would be the show's pilot, but it turned out to be Episode 5, "The Secret Fate of All Life." Since both Fukunaga and Pizzolatto directed and wrote, respectively, all eight episodes by themselves, they're only eligible for one nomination each.

10 Questions For Season 2 Of Orange Is The New Black

Every episode of Season 2 of Orange Is The New Black gets released on Netflix on June 6th. I just re-watched Season 1 (again) in preparation for the upcoming season, which is only 10 days away. The first season got me psyched up for more episodes. It also purposefully left a lot of things open-ended in preparation for its second season. Here are 10 Questions For Season 2 of Orange Is The New Black:

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2014 Academy Award Winners

1) Gravity was the big winner at last night's Academy Awards. It walked away with the most awards- seven, including: Best Director (Alfonso Cuarson). The vast majority of the Oscars are technical awards; it's why The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Titanic were able to walk away with a bajillion awards. Therefore, it should be no surprise that the biggest technical achievement of the year took home so many Golden Statutes. As a good friend of mine stated for his Oscar pool, "when it doubt, just pick Gravity" It also won Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, and Best Score.

2) 12 Years A Slave won Best Picture (thus giving director Steve McQueen and Brad Pitt Oscar wins). The film won 2 other awards including Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley) and Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o) I don't have an inherent problem with the latter two, but I strongly disliked the movie 12 Years A Slave as a whole. Just from a film making perspective, it was just "eh". If you didn't fall asleep in the middle of the film and constantly look at your phone, then you're lying. If it was truly between Gravity and 12 Years A Slave, it's Gravity for the win for me.

10 "Quick" Reactions to the 2014 Academy Award Nominations

1) My absolute favorite movie of 2013 was This Is The End. But there was no way in hell it was going to get any Oscar nominations. My second favorite movie of the year was The Wolf of Wall Street. It earned many nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Hill), and Best Adapted Screenplay. While Wolf was getting some Oscar buzz, many predicted it was going to be the last man standing in many categories (like the 2 acting ones and Best Director). I can confidently say I was not one of those people.

2) Tough day for Tom Hanks. He seemed like a lock to get a Best Actor nomination for Captain Phillips and had a decent shot of Best Supporting Actor for his work in Saving Mr. Banks. Not only does Hanks not get any Oscar nominations this year, neither did Saving Mr. Banks (OK, technically they got one for Best Score, but really, that doesn't count). Serves Disney right for Disney-fying a story where they screw an author out of her original work.

I know many people are going to claim that Tom Hanks is a true snub for Captain Phillips but a) let's be honest, Hanks was good, but not great in the movie, b) does Tom Hanks really need any more Oscar nods?, and c) between Christian Bale's performance in American Hustle and Hanks's performance, I choose Bale every day of the week.

10 Quick Reactions To The 2012 Pro Bowl Roster

1) I have to start with my Chicago Bears. There is only one Bear that legitimately deserved to go (and start) and that was Brandon Marshall. Luckily, the fans were smart enough to vote him in and he starts opposite of Megatron. The other Chicago Bear that would could have made a rational argument for going was Charles "Peanut" Tillman because the dude was a monster during the first half of the season. In fact, Bill Barnwell made the argument that Peanut was a Pro Bowler, so that selection was justified. However, the other three Chicago Bear selections were iffy at best, and this is coming from a die hard Chicago Bears fan. Tillman's teammate who plays opposite of him, Tim Jennings, was also selected making both Bears corners starters. I understand Jennings leads the NFL in interceptions but this looks more like the DeAngelo Hall effect + teams not wanting to throw to Tillman more than Jennings being a top 2 CB in the NFC. Defensive lineman Henry Melton is a starter. To be honest I have no idea if this is a good selection or not because who really cares about defensive tackles? Lastly, Julius Peppers is a Pro Bowler which is an absolute travesty. He has not shown up for virtually all season and the reason the Bears defense has struggled in the second half is because Peppers is essentially non existent.

2) The other NFC cornerback selected besides the two Chicago guys was Arizona's Patrick Peterson. This is a great selection as he was the best corner in the league according to Advanced NFL Stats. However, I can't believe no corner from Seattle was selected. I would take Seattle's Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner over both Bears corners and really over almost any corners in the league right now.

3) Speaking of Seattle, either the Seahawks or the 49ers have the best offensive line in football. This was even more evident as both teams each had two O-lineman selected to go to the Pro Bowl.

4) Arian Foster is NOT a Pro Bowler. I understand he leads all running backs in touchdowns but the man is barely running at four yards per carry. In fact, during the very, very end of Pro Bowl voting, Foster was UNDER 4.0 YPC. That's not just terrible, that's straight up atrocious. C.J. Spiller, who has been running at an incredible 6.5 YPC, absolutely deserved Foster's spot.

5) Matt Schaub was selected as the 3rd AFC quarterback behind Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. At first I was outraged by this because Schaub is good but he's not THAT good. But then I went through the other AFC teams and realized there really was no one better. The only other two selections I could think of that maybe deserved the last spot were Andrew Luck and Andy Dalton and neither made a convincing case that they DESERVED the spot over Schaub.

6) I hate Matt Ryan. He has done nothing personally to me and has never affected anything I have ever done in fantasy football but there's something about him that I don't like when he plays. He was selected as Aaron Rodgers first back up which would have been fine except Matt Ryan IS a Pro Bowler and Drew Brees is NOT. That's just ridiculous. Hell, I'd take Russell Wilson over Matt Ryan.

7) A terrible, 37 year old Jeff Saturday who controls a terrible offensive line in Green Bay is not a Pro Bowler. In fact, Saturday was playing so poorly that he was demoted in Week 16 for a rookie. This is another example of people not actually knowing how offensive lineman actually play and a player getting selected solely because people know his name.

8) Julio Jones and Victor Cruz were selected as the back up wide outs in the NFC. One of those spots should have been guaranteed to Vincent Jackson and the last one should have gone to either Roddy White, Dez Bryant, or Randall Cobb. My personal selection would be Cobb.

9) The wide receiver starters for the AFC are Andre Johnson and A.J. Green. No argument from me on that one. The backs ups are Reggie Wayne and Wes Welker. Wayne is easily a Pro Bowler but Welker has not been good this season- even despite the way he plays the position. He's had too many drops to really deserve a Pro Bowl berth this year and just does not look like the same guy we saw for the past few years. Welker's spot probably should have gone to either Demaryius Thomas or his teammate Eric Decker.

10) The Kansas City Chiefs have more Pro Bowlers (5) than wins (2). I understand each player is (probably) deserving per their position but really the selection should just be Jamaal Charles and nobody else. Hey, that's just like their real team!

Overall, this was a pretty good year for Pro Bowl selections. Not a whole lot of objections or things to get super worked up about. Great job fans and all those who select Pro Bowlers for not being completely and utterly incompetent like normal!
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Ten Quick Reactions to the 2013 Golden Globe Nominations (Movie Edition)

To see the full list of Golden Globe Nominees: click here

1) After The Master only received one SAG nomination (Philip Seymour Hoffman) yesterday, it came back with 3 nominations today including one for Joaquin Pheonix, one for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and one for Amy Adams. Smart move Emmy's. I think all three are locks to get (well-deserved) Oscar nominations. Also, I'm happy The Master only earned those three acting nominations and did not earn nominations for Best Screenplay, Best Director, or Best Movie. While the movie is great, it is long and boring and extremely pretentious.

 2) Because the Emmy's are smart and actually have a comedy category along with a drama category for movies (you hear that Academy!) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen comes up big with three nominations including Best Actress (Emily Blunt), Best Actor (Ewan McGregor), and Best Movie (Comedy/Musical). Don't expect any Oscar nominations though.

 3) Speaking of having a Comedy category, Indie and Hollywood darling Moonrise Kingdom garners only one nomination (Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical) while The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earns two: Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench) and Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical. TBEMH has a slim chance to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Moonrise Kingdom does not.

 4) Nicole Kidman is making her push for another Oscar nomination for her work in The Paperboy. She received a SAG nomination yesterday and a Golden Globe nomination today. An Oscar nomination seems likely at this point.

 5) After being completely shunned from the SAG awards, Django Unchained comes up huge this morning. It has received 5 nominations including nominations for Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor), Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Supporting Actor), Best Director (Quentin Tarantino), Best Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), and Best Motion Picture (Drama). As I wrote yesterday after Django's SAG snubbing- the people shouldn't worry. Thank you Golden Globes for correcting SAG's mistake.

 6) Here is a list of the five nominations for Best Director: Ben Affleck, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Katheryn Bigelow, and Steven Spielberg. Three of them have an Oscar for Best Director (Lee, Bigelow, Spielberg), one more has multiple Oscar nominations for Best Director (Tarantino), and the last one is the front runner to win the Oscar this year for Best Director (Affleck). Super deep class.

 7) Richard Gere earns a Best Actor nomination for his role in the suspenseful thriller "Arbitrage". However, don't expect him to get any love from the Academy because he's Richard Gere. If the man couldn't even get nominated for his work in "Chicago" then he'll never get one.

 8) I saw Bernie last night and Jack Black was amazing in it. He earns a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the Comedy/Musical division. As of right now, Black is in my top 5 for Best Male Acting Performances of the year. Sadly, I think he'll also go the way of Richard Gere and not earn an Oscar nod. I'll keep up my wishful thinking though.

 9) I just want to say how disappointed I am in how xenophobic and and discriminatory Hollywood (especially during award season) can be. Life Of Pi was excellent. Ang Lee and his staff did an incredible job. But essentially the movie is Suraj Sharma (who plays Pi Patel) alone on a boat with a CGI tiger. That's it. I don't understand how you can claim this movie is one of the five best movies of the year and not give Sharma any accolades. The movie doesn't work if you don't care about Pi on that boat and Sharma acts the hell out of that movie. When Tom Hanks did the essentially the same thing as Sharma in Cast Away he was a borderline Oscar winner but when an Indian does it we don't even consider him for ANY awards. Hollywood did the same thing a few years back with Slumdog Millionaire (although a better case could be made for snubbing the actors in that movie because of the big cast and plethora of time spent with the main characters as children). However, there is no excuse this time around.

10) Mandatory Silver Linings Playbook update: Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence each get nominations for their work in the film (with the help of the fact that they were in the easier Comedy/Musical category, although I think they both get nominations anyways). I think Lawrence is a stone cold lock to get another Oscar nomination and I think Cooper's Oscar nomination is relatively safe as well (especially if he is able to defeat Hugh Jackman from Les Mis.). But in a shocking upset Robert De Niro doesn't get nominated (It seems Christoph Waltz took his spot instead). SLP also earned a nomination for Best Screenplay (David O Russell) as well as Best Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical. Like Cooper over Jackman, if Silver Linings' Playbook can defeat Les Miserables for Best Movie- Comedy/Musical then it could possibly have a snowball effect and win Best Motion Picture at the Oscars. I still think the front runner (and very well should be) is still Argo though.

BONUS!

 11) There was talk that Matthew McConaughey would get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal in the super boring and dull Magic Mike. However, after getting being left of the ballot by both the SAG and the Golden Globes, there is no way in hell he is getting an Oscar nomination. I'm OK with that. McConaughey was fine in Magic Mike but I never understood the hype he was getting.

 12) Quvenzhane Wallis was five years old when she filmed Beasts of the Southern Wild. She (and the movie as a whole) was ineligible from garnering any SAG nominations but the movie seemed like a shoe-in to sweep every other award. It received a whopping ZERO nomination from the Golden Globes. Good. Not only is the movie extremely boring and over hyped but let's not get too excited nominating a five year old for Best Actress.

13) Crap, I need to see The Sessions. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt earn nominations for their performance in the film. Both seem likely to earn Golden Globe and Oscar nomination as well.
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Ten Quick Reactions to the 2013 SAG Award Nominations

To see the full list of SAG Award Nominees: click here

1) Joaquin Phoenix doesn't get nominated for his brilliant performance in The Master. Neither does Amy Adams. Philip Seymour Hoffman does. As boring and long as The Master is, it features the best acting performances of the year. If I had to choose the best performance of the year I would choose Phoenix's performance from The Master. He better get a Golden Globe AND an Oscar nod.

2a) I was worried Bradley Cooper wouldn't get a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Silver Linings' Playbook was released at the perfect time to steamroll and snowball it's away through award season. Cooper's SAG nod is a great stepping stone towards getting an Oscar nomination.

2b) SLP also earned a nomination for Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), and Best Cast in a Movie. I don't know how Argo will do at the Golden Globes or with other the other Guilds, but SLP might be the new front runner for Best Picture. However, this may be putting the cart in front of the horse because with the all strengths Argo has (mainly with how well directed it is, how well written it is, and how good of a movie it is as a whole), acting is not per se one of them. Plus, Argo also earned a nomination for Best Cast In A Movie.

3) Javier Bardem earns a nomination for his great performance in Skyfall. Bardem won an Oscar for playing an amazing villain in No Country For Old Men and I think he deserves another one for playing one of (if not THE) best Bond villain ever. With little to no award buzz surrounding the Skyfall actors, I'm glad to see Bardem gets recognized here.

4) No nominations for anyone from Django Unchained. I'm confident this had more to do with the film's Christmas release date than anything else. I hope the late release date for the film doesn't hurt its Oscar chances (although I am also assuming it will be an amazing film. I mean, how can it not be?!)

5a) Surprising nominations for The Best Exoctic Marigold Hotel. Maggie Smith earns a nomination for her performance in the film (although that came as no surprise as 1) She's Maggie freaking Smith and 2) As always, this is a weak year for female nominations). However, what was surprising was that the film also earned a nomination for Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Major Motion Picture. Can this be the fuel the movie needs to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture?

5b) Maggie Smith earned another SAG nomination for her role on Downton Abbey. While that was not surprising, what was surprising was that it was in the Best Actress category and not in the Best Supporting Actress category.

6) The choices of women to choose from for female side of the acting categories always seems to be weak. That leaves the door open for Nicole Kidman to possibly get an Oscar nomination as she earns a SAG nomination for her work in Lee Daniels' (Precious) flick The Paperboy.

7) Crap, I need to see The Sessions. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt earn nominations for their performance in the film. Both seem very likely to earn Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well.

8) Les Mis rolls. It earned four including nominations Best Actor (Hugh Jackman), Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), and Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Major Motion Picture.

9) Jeff Daniels earned a nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Newsroom. Beat out Emmy nominees Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Michael C Hall (Dexter), and anyone from Downton Abbey. I just think that's interesting and probably well deserved. I wouldn't be surprised if Daniels + The Newsrooms earns Golden Globe nominations and we see The Newsroom run up big for the 2013 Emmys.

10) Game of Thrones has a huge cast full of amazing actors and its second season was great. That being said, it missed the cut for Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Television Drama Series. Although with a group like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Homeland, and Downton Abbey its a tough group to crack.
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