2017 Emmy Dream Nominations

The official Emmy Award nominations are due tonight. The announcement happens in a couple weeks. Looking over the very long ballot, these would be my dream nominations for the upcoming Emmys. Many of these are long shots but its fun to dream.

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

·         Sterling K Brown as Randall Pearson [This Is Us]

·         Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz [Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD]

·         Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn [Homeland]

·         Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates [Bates Motel]

·         Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill [Better Call Saul]

·         Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood [House of Cards]

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

·         Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II [The Crown]

·         Elizabeth Henstridge as Simmons [Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD]

·         Rose McIver as Olivia Moore [iZombie]

·         Elisabeth Moss as Offred [The Handmaid’s Tale]

·         Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings [The Americans]

·         Robin Wright as Claire Underwood [House of Cards]

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

·         Aziz Ansari as Dev [Master of None]

·         Wyatt Cenac as Ozzie Graham [People of Earth]

·         Ted Danson as Michael [The Good Place]

·         Donald Glover as Earn Marks [Atlanta]

·         Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendricks [Silicon Valley]

·         Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta [Brooklyn Nine-Nine]

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

·         Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop [The Good Place]

·         Zooey Dechanel as Jess Day [New Girl]

·         Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke [Powerless]

·         Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer [Veep]

·         Leighton Meester as Deborah [Making History]

Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

·         Riz Ahmed as Nasir Khan [The Night Of]

·         Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes Sherlock

·         Alex Lawther as Kenny [Black Mirror: Shut Up & Dance]

·         Ewan McGregor as Ray/Emmit Stussy [Fargo]

·         John Turturro as John Stone [The Night Of]

Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

·         Carrie Coon as Gloria Burgle [Fargo]

·         Bryce Dallas Howard as Lacie Pound [Black Mirror: Nosedive]

·         Nicole Kidman as Celeste Wright [Big Little Lies]

·         Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford [Feud: Bette and Joan]

·         Resse Witherspoon as Madeline MacKenzie [Big Little Lies]

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

·         Asia Kate Dillon as Taylor Mason [Billions]

·         Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper [House of Cards]

·         John Lithgow as Winston Churchill [The Crown]

·         Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson [Stranger Things]

·         Michael McKean as Chuck McGill [Better Call Saul]

·         Chris Sullivan as Toby Damon [This Is Us]

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

·         Carly Chaikin as Darlene [Mr. Robot]

·         Aubrey Plaza as Lenny Busker [Legion]

·         Maggie Q as Hannah Wells [Designated Survivor]

·         Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers [Stranger Things]

·         Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler [Better Call Saul]

·         Samira Wiley as Poussey Washington [Orange is the New Black]

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

·         Ken Hall as Jeff the Grey [People of Earth]

·         Manny Jacinto as Jianyu/Jason [The Good Place]

·         Jake Johnson as Nick Miller [New Girl]

·         Kumail Nanjianai as Dinesh Chugtai [Silicon Valley]

·         Sam Richardson as Richard Splett [Veep]

·         Eric Wareheim as Arnold [Master of None]

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

·         Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz [Brooklyn Nine-Nine]

·         Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler [The Big Bang Theory]

·         Aidy Bryant as Various Characters [SNL]

·         Melissa Fumero as Amy Santiago [Brooklyn Nine-Nine]

·         Kate McKinnon as Various Characters [SNL]

·         Cecily Strong as Various Characters [SNL]

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

·         Bill Camp as Dennis Box [The Night Of]

·         Martin Freeman as John Watson [Sherlock]

·         Alfred Molina as Robert Aldrich [Feud: Bette and Joan]

·         Adam Scott as Ed MacKenzie [Big Little Lies]

·         Stanley Tucci as Jack Warner [Feud: Bette and Joan]

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

·         Mackenzie Davis as Yorkie [Black Mirror – San Junipero]

·         Jackie Hoffmann as Mamacita [Feud: Bette and Joan]

·         Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Kelly [Black Mirror – San Junipero]

·         Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Nikki Swango [Fargo]

·         Shailene Woodley as Jane Chapman [Big Little Lies]

Writing for a Drama Series

·         Chicanery [Better Call Saul]

·         Assassins [The Crown]

·         Pilot [Designated Survivor]

·         R for Romeo [Homeland]

·         eps2.4_m4ster-s1ave.aes [Mr. Robot]

·         The Animals [Orange is the New Black]

Writing for a Comedy Series

·         Streets on Lock [Atlanta]

·         Moo Moo [Brooklyn Nine-Nine]

·         Everything is Fine [The Good Place]

·         New York, I Love You [Master of None]

·         Five Minutes [Modern Family]

·         Groundbreaking [Veep]

Writing for a Limited Series

·         Big Little Lies

·         The Law of Vacant Places [Fargo]

·         And the Winner Is…(The Oscars of 1963) [Feud: Bette and Joan]

·         The Call of the Wild [The Night Of]

·         Sherlock: The Lying Detective

Drama Series

·         Better Call Saul

·         The Crown

·         House of Cards

·         Marvels’ Agent of SHIELD

·         Stranger Things

·         This Is Us

Comedy Series

·         Atlanta

·         Brooklyn Nine-Nine

·         The Good Place

·         Master of None

·         People of Earth

·         Silicon Valley

Limited Series

·         Big Little Lies

·         Fargo

·         Feud: Bette and Joan

·         The Night Of

The nominations are announced on July 13^th.

Film: Wonder Woman

GENRE: Action, Adventrue

RATING: PG-13 for action violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 21 minutes

STARRING: Gal Gadot (Keeping Up with the Joneses, Fast Five)

Chris Pine (Star Trek), Danny Huston (Clash of the Titans)

DIRECTOR: Patty Jenkins (Monster. The Killing pilot)

WRITER: Allan Heinberg (The OC, Grey’s Anatomy, The Catch)

PLOT: Origin story showing how Diana helped a WWI pilot then ended the war and became Wonder Woman.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Didn’t know much about the backstory.

STORY STUFF: A very entertaining movie. I really enjoyed the fish out of water aspects of the story. The island of women section dragged a bit but has a pretty awesome fight sequence near the end of it. I also felt the crew helping out Diana and Steve Trevor could have used a little more fleshing out. But the majority of the film was a sweet thrill ride. I thought it was better put together than Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.

ACTING STUFF: Gadot is awesome as Diana. She has intelligence, power, sass, humour and is pretty hot. Pine is adorable, fun and often exasperated. Huston always plays an entertaining bad guy. Robin Wright (House of Cards) unfortunately doesn’t have as big a role as I suspected. She rocks. Great stuff all around.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Some amazing fight sequence and special effects. There are a couple of times though that effects look so digitally CG’d it was almost laughable (Steve Trevor taking off in a plane early on is one of them). Having just come back from London, it was nice seeing it on screen.     

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like action, superheroes, and Gal Gadot.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Mummy

Film: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

GENRE: Action, Sci-Fi

RATING: PG-13 for action violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 16 minutes

STARRING: Chris Pratt (Passengers, Jurassic World, Parks & Rec)

Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek), Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead)

DIRECTOR: James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither)

WRITER: James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Scooby Doo)

PLOT: Peter Quill finds his father while on the run for stealing some unneeded batteries.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Loved the first one.

STORY STUFF: What a fun ride. There is plenty of great action sequences and awesome one-liners. The middle portion goes on a bit long with the father-son story but they easily make up for it shortly after.

ACTING STUFF: Every actor brings their ‘A’ game. All the characters build on their introductions from the last film. Pratt and Saldana get a little more schmaltzy which is fine. The MVP is Dave Bautista who gets all the fun lines as Drax. Baby Groot is also adorable when he’s dancing or trying to retrieve things. There are some fun cameos but Stallone didn’t impress me much.

ARTISTIC STUFF: There are lots of explosions and such. I found the soundtrack not as fun as the first film. Like the ELO and Fleetwood Mac but not much else. There are five post credit sequences, not all of them are worth it.    

VERDICT: Four and half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: Liked the first one and are ready for more fun

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Baywatch, Pirates of the Caribbean 5

Film: The Circle

GENRE: Drama, ‘Thriller’

RATING: PG-13 for brief language and a sexual situation
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 50 minutes

STARRING: Emma Watson (Harry Potter, Beauty and the Beast)

Tom Hanks (Sully, Captain Phillips), Karen Gillan (Dr. Who)

DIRECTOR: James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now)

WRITERS: Posoldt (Smashed), Dave Eggers (Away We Go)

PLOT: A woman gets a job at a tech company that has too much control.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Rotten Tomatoes diminished my hopes.

STORY STUFF: Imagine a much, much tamer version of Black Mirror. The trailer and interviews gave the impression that this was a thriller with some great twists at the end. If the twist was a boring, mediocre ending with a deus ex machine resolution then mission accomplished. Watch Black Mirror instead (start with Season 3, Episode 1 on Netflix).  

ACTING STUFF: It was a great cast. Unfortunately, no one really wowed. The lines were so cliché that they didn’t get much to work with.

ARTISTIC STUFF: If they wanted me to think this was thriller, Danny Elfman (Batman) should have added more thriller-type music. The pop-up messages constantly filling the screen were fun to read at times.   

VERDICT: Two stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You are paranoid that your microwave is watching you

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2

Film: CHiPs

GENRE: Comedy

RATING: R for nudity, language, and violence
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 40 minutes

STARRING: Michael Pena (End of Watch, Ant-Man, Crash, Tower Heist)

Dax Shepard (Parenthood), Vincent D’Onofrio (Daredevil, The Cell, MiB)

DIRECTOR: Dax Shepard (Hit & Run)

WRITER: Dax Shepard (Hit & Run)

PLOT: A flimsy remake of the TV show with a rookie highway patrolman paired with an undercover Fed.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Often watched the show but wasn’t a superfan.

STORY STUFF: Not much of a story for this movie. The plot meanders a lot as we try to figure out who the crooked cops may be. I was not really invested with what happened. A couple laughs here and there but mostly juvenile in nature.

ACTING STUFF: Pena and Shepard are fine with some decent chemistry. I did not find myself caring about what happened to them. They were really just caricatures.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Nothing much to talk about. Enjoyed some of the songs used for the soundtrack. During the credits, I was surprised with the number of stunt people used in the film. Wowsers.     

VERDICT: One star out of five

SEE IT IF: Want to see explosions, boobs and chuckle a couple times.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Circle

Film: Beauty and the Beast

GENRE: Fantasy Musical

RATING: PG for action violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 9 minutes

STARRING: Emma Watson (Harry Potter, Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, Legion), Luke Evans (Dracula Untold)

DIRECTOR: Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Twilight: Breaking Dawn)

WRITERS: Stephen Chbosky (Perks of Being a Wallflower),

Evan Spiliotopoulos (Hercules-2014, lots of Disney straight to video sequels)

PLOT: Real life adaptation of the Disney cartoon about a woman who falls in love with a monstrous looking prince.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Not my favourite Disney cartoon. Haven’t seen the Broadway musical either.

STORY STUFF: They do an awesome job adapting the animated version of the film while throwing in (less-catchy) songs from the Broadway musical and other fun things. I was surprised how much Belle’s dad was featured in the story; maybe it was because Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda) was playing him. As a side note, he didn’t really have a good reason for not telling his daughter what happened to her mother. Also, the prince gets a pretty big curse, Gaston gets nothing.

ACTING STUFF: Great work all around. Watson plays Belle perfectly. The voice acting for the artifacts are spot on. My highlights though would have to be Evans as Gaston and Josh Gad (Frozen) as La Fou. They are a treat to watch. It helps that I love both of their songs as well.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Beautifully shot. The cinematography and production design are gorgeous. Of course, they are matching the animated film most of the time, but still. Some of the CG was a tad overdone but it didn’t bother me too much. We saw it in 3D and while there were a couple of times it is used well, I still prefer to see it in 2D.    

VERDICT: Four out of five stars

SEE IT IF: You are a Disney fan, even if the cartoon is not your favourite.
UPCOMING REVIEWS: CHiPs

Film: Logan

GENRE: Action, Drama

RATING: R for strong violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hour and 17 minutes

STARRING: Hugh Jackman (X-Men, The Wolverine, Les Miserables)

Patrick Stewart (X-Men, Star Trek: NG), Dafne Keen (newcomer)

DIRECTOR: James Mangold (Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Wolverine)

WRITERS: Scott Frank (Minority Report, Get Shorty, Dead Again),

Michael Green (American Gods-TV), Mangold (Walk the Line, Copland)

PLOT: A tired Logan helps an ailing Charles Xavier and a young girl with mutant powers.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Expecting this to be the best Wolverine film.

STORY STUFF: A great way to end the story of Wolverine. This film is well crafted and powerful at times. There are great scenes that touch on aging and family. I do think that the film goes on a bit long but I can forgive it as this is Wolverine’s swan song.

ACTING STUFF: Jackman & Stewart age their roles well as they fight to hold on. With the R rating, Professor X has gained more of a potty mouth, which I guess could be excused on his age. Keen, as new mutant Laura, is wonderful even though she doesn’t talk much. Her facial expressions and fighting skills are a treat. I also liked Stephen Merchant (Extras, Hello Ladies) as Caliban but I would have liked more background on him. Unfortunately, the bad guys were too cookie-cutter for my liking. I would have enjoyed more depth to their part.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Well shot action throughout. Because of the R rating, it is pretty violent. Even beheadings.  

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like the character Wolverine, even a little.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Beauty and the Beast