Sorry if I stopped posting again, but I was in Lisbon with my friends and therefore I didn't get the chance to see any movie. I'll soon post my review of Sylvia Miles' performance, until then I'll briefly write here my thoughts on this year's Emmy nominations (granted I've yet to see quite a lot of series, such as Westworld).
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| My two favorite performances of this year in television. So different, yet equally powerful. |
Pros
- I already reviewed Big Little Lies, and those who've read my review will know what I thought of it and its cast. To sum up, I'm just thrilled by its various nominations: Reese Witherspoon gave her best performance since Election, Nicole Kidman delivered an unforgettable and heartbreaking masterclass in subtlety, Laura Dern brought a sharp comedic edge and a surprising complexity to her role, Shailene Woodley excelled in perhaps her most challenging part to date and Alexander Skarsgard managed to find a frightening realism and humanity in his potentially stock role.
- I already expressed my feelings towards Feud as well (in the comments below Big Little Lies' review) and again I couldn't be happier for all of its nominations. Susan Sarandon' portrayal of Bette Davis was captivating, funny and tragic all at once, and Jessica Lange was groundbreaking as Joan Crawford, with her performance in the final episode being so utterly devastating. The supporting nominations are deserved as well: Alfred Molina was terrific, Stanley Tucci was extremely fun, Judy Davis was delightfully bitchy and Jackie Hoffman as Mamacita was the beating heart of the show. I was extremely happy for Hoffman's nomination as I thought she was the MVP of the supporting cast, and thank god they did not nominate Catherine Zeta-Jones for her often awkward portrayal of Olivia De Havilland.
- Glad to see Ellie Kemper and Titus Burgess being nominated again for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Kemper keeps being so endearing and genuinely funny in the lead role (which is a far more challenging one than it might seem) and Burgess is absolutely hilarious in every single episode, with each of his line-deliveries and facial reactions being gold, but he also brings a surprising emotional power to the role. His final scene in the series' 2nd episode was surprisingly heartbreaking.
- The 3rd season of Fargo was perhaps a little less perfect of the 2nd, but it was still a great, compelling experience from start to finish. Its three nominations for the acting are completely deserved: Ewan McGregor is astounding in his two roles, Carrie Coon is fantastic as the moral and emotional crux of the series and David Thewlis is an unforgettable villain, hilarious in a second and bone-chilling in the next.
- Uzo Aduba was completely deserving of her nomination for the fourth season of Orange is the New Black: as usual, she was absolutely terrific in the tricky role of Crazy Eyes, nailing both the comedy and the drama of the role. She has a few brilliant moments especially towards the end of the season. And Laverne Cox was richly deserving of her nomination in the Guest Actress category as well: in her limited screen-time, she gave a powerful portrayal of her character's physical and mental decay as she struggles to get out of the solitary confinement.
- I am obviously immensely thrilled for Millie Bobby Brown's nomination for her amazing and iconic performance as Eleven in Stranger Things. I was not expecting David Harbour's nomination but he completely deserved it as his performance was marvelous.
Cons
- How could they not nominate Mary Elizabeth Winstead for her amazing performance in Fargo? She was absolutely first-rate in her role and I think she actually would have been a worthy winner for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie. Frankly, I thought she was the standout of an already amazing cast. Also, Michael Stuhlbarg would have been an extremely worthy nominee.
- As much as Aduba deserved the nomination, there were other cast members in the fourth season of Orange is the New Black which were just as good as her, maybe even better. Danielle Brooks was as usual a hoot, but what made her performance in the fourth season so unforgettable is the emotional power she brings to the last few episodes: her last scene in the episode 12 is devastating. Lori Petty was brilliant as Lolly, portraying so endearingly her character's quirks while breaking our hearts with her depiction of her character's mental instability: her last scene left me completely shaken and heartbroken. Laura Prepon gave perhaps her best performance in the entire series as an unusually fragile and guilt-stricken Alex and both Kate Mulgrew and Natasha Lyonne shone in their respective characters (as they do every season). Samira Wiley was terrific too and she would have been worthy of getting in, but she was nominated for The Handmaiden's Tale instead.
- Jane Krakowski and Carol Kane, just like last year, were unjustly snubbed for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. They were both hilarious while also bringing just the right touch of depth at the exact right times. A shame.
- Winona Ryder's snub was really surprising to me. I know some people don't care about her performance, but I thought she was heartbreaking in Stranger Things. The kids were also amazing, particularly Gaten Matarazzo, but Ryder's snub was especially surprising.
I haven't seen many other series I can comment on. I've seen 13 Reasons Why and I'm overall quite indifferent towards it as a whole (it has both its strengths and its weaknesses) so I'm not upset nor glad about its lack of nomination (if you want me to talk more about my thoughts on the series, feel free to ask).
I was happy with the Emmy overall; I really liked both the Feud and Big Little Lies love.
RispondiEliminaI recommend you to watch This is Us, it's a terrific series and all the cast is very good and natural, but i kinda hated Mandy Moore.
I loved the third season of Fargo, but the Winsted snub is terrible, she was my MVP of the season; i would have also nominated Stuhlbarg and Wise in Guest Actor.
I'm also glad to see some love for The Night Of, everyone from the cast was excellent, And I would also nominated Jeannie Berlin.
Another main snub is from the main title design of Big Little Lies, i love it, both the sequence and My Cold Little Heart.
I was very interested in This is Us and I'll try to watch it soon.
EliminaWinstead was absolutely brilliant in Fargo, an easy 5 from me and I'd agree she's MVP. Stuhlbarg was excellent as well and now that I think of it Wise was rather effective as well.
I can't wait to see The Night Of, the people I know who've seen it loved it.
I agree about the title design of Big Little Lies, it was very good.
Your thoughts on the third and the second season of Fargo, and how would you rank the cast? I just finished to see the second season and wow i totally loved it.
EliminaGiueseppe: Thoughts on 13 Reasons Why, and its cast.
RispondiEliminaI thought 13 Reasons Why was overall a fine series and I certainly did not mind watching it but I thought it was severely flawed as well. My main problem is the writing: some characters are underwritten and even the more developed ones are somewhat uneven, with their actions not being always entirely consistent or believable. Another huge problem for me was the pace: it's way too slow in the first half of the season, frustratingly so more often than not. On a more technical level, I found the editing to be occasionally quite poor and, even if in the end I thought they worked well enough, the choices in the cinematography were a bit too unsubtle for my personal taste. Still, the cast is mostly good with a few remarkable standouts and I can't deny that the latter half of the season left quite a huge impact, with the last two episodes being extremely realistic, brutal and haunting. Overall I'd say the series is okay, it certainly has the heart in the right place and it deals with its important topics rather well, but there are definitely some big flaws.
EliminaMinnette - 4 (A character that is made sometimes frustrating by the writing but I would say Minnette does a strong job with it. He carries the series rather well and I appreciate the fact that it makes his character stand out when it could have been quite one note. He's effective in his portrayal of his character's grief and I'd say his performance manages to be quite compelling even when the series is not. It's mostly a rather subtle performance and Minnette makes every reaction count while nailing each of his few outbursts and most importantly portraying an actual development of the character. I think he would have thrived in Logan Lerman's role in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, on a side note)
Langford - 4.5 (I would say the writing behind her character is sometimes a bit problematic as well, but I felt Langford to be quite excellent actually. She makes Hannah a strong, haunting presence throughout the whole seasons, to the point that even if she's not on screen you can feel her there. She is very moving in her portrayal of her character's growing depression but what I love the most is that for a great deal of the series she brings a luminous, optimistic and radiant quality to Hannah. When the situation grows progressively worse, Langford is quite striking in portraying how Hannah loses that optimism and falls more and more into despair. She is quite amazing in the few last episodes, bringing a visceral quality to all of her scenes particularly the suicide which is a particularly harrowing sequence)
Navarro - 4 (He pulls off his tricky character quite well, as he manages to be properly mysterious while never coming off as malevolent or menacing, which is clearly not the nature of the character. Navarro effectively presents Tony as a genuinely good person while still making him quite a fascinating enigma until more about him is revealed)
EliminaBoe - 3 (A performance I'm torn about, though overall I'm definitely positive about her. She has a few iffy moments, and others in which while she's not bad she does not truly leave an impression either. That said, she becomes more and more effective as the series progresses and I thought she was pretty strong in the last few episodes in her portrayal of her character's trauma)
Flynn - 4.5 (Very difficult role which he pulls off very effectively I'd say. On one hand, he's completely believable as the popular guy of sort as he brings both the needed charm and arrogance to the part. He also succeeds completely in his portrayal of his character's less than honourable qualities, bringing the needed viciousness to certain moments in his performance. At the same time though, while never indulging on his character's flaws, I felt Flynn managed to create just the right amount of sympathy to the character giving a realistic and moving portrayal of his character's background while also showing a certain honesty and poignancy in his scenes with Boe. He also does well in realizing his character's arc particularly Justin's disillusionement over Bryce)
Prentice - 3.5 (Perhaps the role allowed for more, but I felt Prentice did a solid job with it. His performance is particularly interesting when opposed to Flynn's: whereas Flynn had a certain arrogance to his character while showing a more decent person beneath, Prentice is effective in showing far more devious qualities behind his apparent arrogance. He's properly despicable in the role and makes his scenes in the last few episodes really quite harrowing)
Heizer - 4 (Really liked his performance as I felt he gave a realistic and moving portrayal of his character's guilt. He gives a powerful depiction of his character's tormented state and even if it's technically one-note for the most part I thought Heizer did a really strong job with it)
Butler - 2.5 (A completely decent performance and he plays his character more than adequately. I never felt he stood out much, though admittedly he didn't have as much to do as the others)
Druid - 2.5 (Didn't care much for his performance. I thought he was fine but I felt he never managed to create sympathy for the character which was a key element for the success of his performance. Again, not a bad performance but I never felt for him like I should have. Still, as the creepy outsider of sorts he did just fine)
Hargreaves - 3 (She's fine in the role as the worried mother, though she never left that much of an impression in my opinion)
Luke - 3 (I think the role allowed for far more than what he did. He is very effective in the last episode, but before that he failed to made me very interested in his character. He's never bad, he's consistently fine and leaves an impression at the end, but for the most part I felt his work was nothing too remarkable)
EliminaWalsh - 4 (She occasionally goes a bit overboard but for the most part I thought she was great. She's extremely effective in the flashbacks in her portrayal of a loving mother while still showing well her concern regarding her family's financial status. In the present scenes, she's heartbreaking in her portrayal of her character's desperation as she attempts to find out the motives of her daughter's decision. It's a very moving performance and I thought she was particularly devastating in the scene just after the suicide)
James - 4 (He had less to do than Walsh, but I felt he was very effective too. Like Walsh, he's effective in the flashbacks at showing his character in a much happier state and in the present days scenes he too is very moving in his portrayal of his character's grief, even if it's a far more reserved one than Walsh's)
Hamilton - 2.5 (Fine but pretty much forgettable)
Ang - 3 (A fine performance as I felt she was properly unlikeable in the role showing her character's manipulative nature quite well, while still creating at least an understanding for her actions as questionable as they might be)
Silver - 2.5 (He's quite good at portraying his character's manipulative nature behind his polite façade, though I never felt he ever made that much of an impact)
Alexus - 3 (I thought she was actually very charming in the role and as the series progressed I thought she was effective in her portrayal of her character's own guilt. She wasn't in the series much, but I liked her and actually wouldn't have minded to see more of her)
Dorfman - 2.5 (He's properly smug and arrogant in the role although I never felt he left a huge impact)
Bacon - 3 (Both underwritten and underused, but I felt she did a moving job at portraying her character's painful state behind her distant behavior)
Larracuente - 3 (He had next to nothing to do, but I think he's worth the rating due to how much he managed to make me care about his character despite the limited writing and screen-time. He is just a rather loveable presence whenever he appears)
Westworld is an acting masterclass, I'm sure you'll dig it. As I said in Louis' blog, I think it's unfortunate that MEW was snubbed, since I thought she was stronger than any other member of the cast of Fargo (I personally didn't find McGregor as compelling as the leads of the two previous seasons in spite of the dual role), but you can't expect these awards to get everything right.
RispondiEliminaAlex i agree with you on Fargo, i was not that impressed by McGregor, he was good though; but i preferred everyone else of the main cast, from Thewlis to Winstead.
EliminaHe had some very good moments, but Winstead had a way more complex task IMO, switching between femme fatale to vulnerable heroine, and she pulled it off impressively.
Eliminafrom*
EliminaI can't wait to see Westworld, really, as I've been meaning to watch it for a long time.
EliminaI'd agree Winstead is Fargo's MVP this season, but I loved McGregor as well and he would be a 5 from me.
Also, in terms of the Emmys, there's quite a few things I'm disappointed about:-
RispondiElimina-Thomas Middleditch not getting in for Silicon Valley
-Rami Malek not even being nominated in the category he won last year. Again, Mr Robot season 2 wasn't nearly as terrific as season 1, but Malek was still outstanding in it.
-No love for Winona Ryder (I grew to love her performance)
But, I'm quite amused by the fact that Shannon Purser's online acclaim got her an Emmy nomination =)
I have not seen either Silicon Valley or Mr Robot so I can't comment on them yet.
EliminaI'm sad too about Winona Ryder as I felt she was heartbreakingly good. As for Purser... she was endearing in her brief screen-time, but nomination is far too much.
There were really only 2 snubs I was truly miffed about.
RispondiElimina-The first was Ryder. I'm glad both Brown and Harbour got nominated as they were both more than deserving but Ryder's snub is both surprising and frustrating as she was easily a 5 for me (though I prefer Brown).
-The second is Jared Harris's absence from the Guest Actor-Drama category for The Crown. Inexcusable.
I completely agree with you about Ryder. She was absoluely excellent and a 5 for me as well (even if I prefer Brown too).
EliminaI've yet to see The Crown but I'm eager to.