Not exactly what I was expecting, and also all in at the same time.
Making a note to self to make sure I’m back on HBO to start 2019…
Tag Archive: True Detective
CHRIS: And here to present the next two awards, here is Academy Award nominee Emma Stone, and the Associate Producer of ‘Trojan War,’ Malik Aziz!
(audience applause as they take the stage)
EMMA: An outlaw trying to survive in a room of seven Hateful men. A woman supporting and coming to grips with her husband’s changing sexual identity. A partner trying to reel in one of the greatest creative minds of the last century. A few of the great performances from this year.
MALIK: That’s right! And you know what else they all have in common?
EMMA: (awkwardly fidgeting) Um…what?
MALIK: They’re all nominated tonight for Best Supporting Actress!
EMMA: (relieved) Yes. Yes!
MALIK: Wait, what did you think I was going to say?
EMMA: Nothing. Nothing.
Here are the nominees for Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
Alicia Viklander – the Danish Girl
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Who Should Win: Probably Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Who Will Win: One of this year’s ‘It Girls: Viklander
Who I’m Cheering For: A small chance based on the movie that McAdams wins, and she’s pretty solid in everything (including last year’s True Detective).
Here are the nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone – Creed
Who Should Win: Hmmm. I could make a case for Ruffalo. I could make a case for Rocky.
Who Will Win: Everything’s lined up for Sly, and if Mike and Ryan are happy for him then I am too (I guess).
Who I’m Cheering For:
Alright, now that our time with Dick Whitman has ended let’s update the list. As always, just one man’s opinion:
1. The Wire – And still the Champion of the World!!!!! Time has made Season 4 (the kids) even more impressive and Season 5 (tying up character arcs, but…the newspaper?) more of an albatross. As a whole though, still the most impressive. The city of Baltimore was the central character and the story was basically how the system is rigged, and for some reason, feels like I can turn on the TV and still see something very similar to that in the real world…
2. Breaking Bad – Actor bias here, but only a little I think. As a character study of how one person changes and the ripple effects, it was close to perfect still. We knew it ‘in the moment’, but time has justifably made the respect for the writing and long term planning of Gilligan (and the details!) that much stronger.
3. Mad Men – And here we are. Again, hard for me to put into words. Still processing obviously. I don’t know, something about the story of a man with rural roots, who takes on a new name and identity and cleans himself up, parlays his style and natural looks into access to beautiful women and an upscale life, but his unstable youth makes him a terrible husband and an absent father in spite of his best intentions, but in middle age he becomes a quasi-Buddhist in California and the implication is his biggest million dollar idea is still in front of him…
(woo, hold on, got something in my eye…)
(Editor’s Note: Malik stared at himself in a mirror and cried for three and a half hours before finishing this post.)
Sorry about that, what was I saying? Oh yes, I loved ‘Mad Men!’ Good show!
4. The Sopranos – The student surpassed the Master! Still the show that spawned so many of the others, but time is not doing this show that many favors. If anything, the last shot of that show has made every ‘great’ showrunner since say ‘This is my baby and how the story ends, but I have to end this in a way that makes my loyal audience angry and confused.’ So there’s that.
5. Gotham – I keed! I keed!
But seriously, there should be at least one comedy right? Is ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ too old school now? Was ‘Parks and Recreation’ too small? Do we count ‘the Office’ even though most of us stopped caring as soon as Michael Scott left? Maybe it’s ’30 Rock’? (By the way, ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ is a worthy successor in its own way.) At the moment, ‘True Detective’ still has a chance. Maybe it’s ‘Friday Night Lights’ if we all throw out that one disastrous storyline in season 2.
Lot of good TV we’ve gotten the past 10 years plus. But tonight is for Don Draper. I’ll be having a Coke tomorrow.
Cheers!
The family and friends don’t get to see the millions of middle steps in between ‘here’ and ‘There’ so today and tomorrow’s posts are for you…
Here’s the ‘why’: NBC and the American Black Film Festival run a competition called ‘the Star Project’ where the non movie stars among us can audition for the network as an opportunity to get to ‘There’. Seven monologues to pick from, you (should) pick the two that you have the most connection to.
Now I will take a page out of Denzel’s book and say I’m not really inclined to go over everything I research to go from being myself to whoever I’m trying to be ‘in the moment’. But for entertainment’s sake as much as anything else, here’s a little backstory to give you some context of what you’re watching:
True Detective Season 3: Set in Chicago, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the pretty boy womanizer with a bad attitude who always gets his man (even if it’s not always by the book.). I step out of my comfort zone to play Detective Cole Langston: a philosophical, outside the box thinking, always calm type who’s hard to categorize. The woman in between us is my on again off again girlfriend played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, because she’s a great actress…
Yep, that’s the only reason…
Anyway, a simple, gang related homicide on the South Side should be open and shut. But, because we’re a little too good at our jobs, me and HitRecordJoe uncover a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the mayor of Chicago (played by character actor extraordinaire John Doman). The Mayor calls in a favor to his buddy the Chief of Police (Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons) to shut down the case, but of course we don’t play by the rules.
So in the last episode, we find the last body, we ‘catch’ the killer and solve the case (in theory, the lawyers have to figure out what holds up in court). And after everything we’ve been through, HitRecordJoe is waiting for me to say something. Am I angry? Devastated? Has my spirit been broken?
And I hit him with this before the final credits roll.
Enjoy!
Here are the nominees for Lead Actress:
Amy Adams
Cate Blanchett
Sandra Bullock
Judi Dench
Meryl Streep
Who Should Win
MALIK: It’s the freshest performance in my mind, but I think the most filled out performance was Judi Dench in Philomena. Don’t think she’ll win though.
ART: I agree. Judi Dench is pretty great. But, Cate Blacnhett is fierce. Been a fan for years. Just one of those actresses where anything she does, you gotta take notice.
Who Will Win
MALIK: Probably Cate Blanchett, though I will always argue it’s way too much Blanche Dubois for my personal taste.
ART: You may be right, but she does a great Blanche. Sandra Bullock did an underrated turn in Gravity and I wish she received more recognition, but Cate will take this category.
Who We Want to Win
MALIK: I’d like to see Dame Judi honestly. Not saying I hope she retires, but it would be a nice capper to an impressive career.
ART: Whoever Malik wants to win, who is… kidding. I’m a fan of each actress in this category. But, Cate had the showiest role, with the least controversy. Certainly, Amy Adams is on the fast track to being a frontrunner, but the film, Blue Jasmine completely lives or dies based on Cate’s performances and it would not have the attention it has without her effort. She should take this.
And here are the nominees for Lead Actor:
Christian Bale
Bruce Dern
Leonardo DiCaprio
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Matthew McConaughey
Who Should Win
MALIK: McConaughey is on an absolute tear right now, but he’s earned it.
ART: I agree. He may pull a Bo Jackson in acting and win in an Oscar for his movie work and an Emmy for his TV work, because his acting in Showtime’s True Detective has been just as stellar. I’m not sure what happened, but it’s like somebody sat him down and was like, “Yo, people mostly know you for the mellow California accent and taking your shirt off, what you gonna do about that?” He’s on a roll.
Who Will Win
MALIK: Alright alright alright…
ART: Christian Bale already has an Oscar and Leo is Leo. Bruce Dern may be the sentimental favorite and dark horse and Chiwetel will be lauded for simply getting a nomination. Matthew McConaughey, the guy wasn’t taken seriously even three years ago, will take this. Oscar loves a great comeback story.
Who We Want to Win
MALIK: Even though I’ll probably lose every dramatic role I want for the rest of my life to him and David Oyelowo, it’d be nice if Chewie won.
ART: I really, really want to say Chiwetel, for obvious reasons. May still say it… His turn was the only one that nearly moved me to tears, especially within the last ten minutes of the film. But, Matthew McConaughey really went all out with his portrayal. That dude earned it this year.
Last post of the week will break down one of the most unpredictable Best Picture races in a few years…
