Sicario: Day of the Soldado Review

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is the sequel to 2015's masterful Sicario.  It was one of my favorite movies from that year.  But it's also not exactly a movie you would think would/should have a sequel.  It did, after all, seem to tell a single, stand alone story.  But then Taylor Sheridan, the screenwriter of both films (he also wrote 2016's Hell or High Water and wrote and directed Wind River from last year) came out said that he had actually envisioned this as a trilogy.  So now we get this movie.  While it was nice to know that Sheridan, who wrote both films, and two out of the three main actors (both Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin reprise their roles while Emily Blunt whose character had a clear arc that seemed to have come to a conclusion) are back, there was a pause for concern.  Besides Blunt not coming, the other reason why the first movie was as masterful as it was arguably was because of director Denis Villenueve's sure hand at the helm.  Also not coming back was cinematographer Roger Deakins, though his absence isn't as detrimental.  Fortunately, any concerns proved largely unwarranted. Though Sicario: Day of the Soldado is not nearly as masterful or powerful as the first one and the movie clearly has it's flaws, it's a solid enough entry on it's own.

The plot of the movie revolves around a plot to kidnap the 16 year old daughter of a Mexican drug cartel kingpin and make it look like a rival cartel did it so that it encites a war between cartels near the border.  Why and to what end? To be honest, I'm not really sure.  It all has to do with a couple of terrorist suicide bombings in the US from terrorists believed to have been smuggled in by the cartel through the Mexican/US border.  After the bombings, Matt Graver, Josh Brolin's character, is tasked with starting a war between the cartels and he brings along his asset from the first movie, Alajandro, played by Benicio Del Toro, since the girl they are to kidnap is the daughter of the kingpin who had Alejandro's family killed a while back.  That's the extent of what I'll say of the plot though if you've seen the trailer for the movie, it actually gives away more.  In fact, it gives away too much.  But I suppose that is typical of trailers these days.

Though Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a solid, well made, well acted movie with some tense moments, you realize just how invaluable both Emily Blunt and Denis Villenueve were to making that first movie so special. Though Stefano Sollima, filling in for Villenueve, does a good job with keeping the movie moving at a good pace and with the action scenes, he lacks Villenueve's ability to generate and maintain a real foreboding sense of dread.  And without a character like Emily Blunt's from the first one, there is no conduit into this dark world for the audience.  There isn't really any characters to latch onto.  There isn't anyone really to root for. I suppose there is the kidnapped girl, Isabela, that we are meant to root for, but her character isn't sufficiently developed and that is disappointing because there are hints that she may not be entirely innocent herself because of her first scene and the fact that there are hints that she's aware of who her father is and what he's done. And I'm not saying that Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Matt (Josh Brolin) aren't interesting characters, though Alejandro was more interesting in the first one when his character was largely seeped in mystery until it's shockingly revealed just how far he's willing to go at the end of the moviewhen his character becomes brutal, ruthless, pretty much without a conscious.  This movie tries to humanize him and Matt and it made them feel like different characters than the ones we saw in the first one. 

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about this movie was Taylor Sheridan's screenplay.  The first one made the wise decision to make Emily Blunt the central character and her character had a complete arc that helped made that such a memorable movie.  Here, character development is almost nil.  Though I suppose Matt's character is developed somewhat.  And as far as Alejandro, the biggest reveal we learn in this movie compared to the first one is that his daughter was deaf.  Also, there's a sub plot involving a kid who is recruited into a cartel that takes away too much screen time and whose only real purpose is to set up the next, theoretically, final chapter of this trilogy (if Sheridan gets his way).

Despite these flaws though, Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a well made, gripping yarn.  It could have been better.  The characters and situations should have fleshed out more.  Alejandro winds up as a protector to Isabela and I wish the movie would have developed that more.  We never find out why Alejandro becomes so attached to Isabela when we know from the first one that he's capable of monstrous actions.  I guess we are suppose to sumise that she reminds him of his daughter, but the movie never develops that relationship enough.  Likewise, Matt makes some decisions late in the movie that also doesn't really gel with what we see from him in the first movie.  But I was still engrossed and even, occasionally gripped by the movie.  And I do look forward to the third one should this make enough money to justify it to be made.

Grade: B

My Emmy Nomination Predictions

Emmy nominations are just hours away from being announced.  Here's my quick predictions.

BEST DRAMA SERIES

Breaking Bad

Game of Thrones

The Good Wife

House of Cards

Mad Men

True Detective

Other possibilities: Downton Abbey, Homeland, The Americans, Masters of Sex, Ray Donovan, Boardwalk Empire and The Blacklist.

Shows I would love to see nominated but won't: Justified, Person of Interest, Arrow.

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA:

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Woody Harrelson, True Detective

Matthew McConaughey, True Detective

Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

James Spader, The Blacklist

Other possibilities: Matthew Rhys for The Americans, Hugh Bonneville for Downton Abbey, Michael Sheen for Masters of Sex, Liev Schreiber for Ray Donovan, Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire and Jeff Daniels for The Newsroom.

Performances I would see nominated but won't: Timothy Olyphant for Justified, Stephen Amell for Arrow and Andrew Lincoln for The Walking Dead.

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA:

Claire Danes, Homeland

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

Kerry Washington, Scandal

Robin Wright, House of Cards

Other possibilities: Lizzy Caplan for Masters of Sex, Vera Farmiga for Bates Motel, Michelle Dockery for Downton Abbey and Keri Russell for The Americans.

Performances I would love to see nominated but won't: Emily Van Camp for Revenge, Madeline Stowe for Revenge.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - DRAMA:

Josh Charles, The Good Wife

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Dean Norris, Breaking Bad

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Jeffrey Wright, Boardwalk Empire

Other possibilities: Noah Emmerich for The Americans, Jim Carter for Downton Abbey

Performances I would love to see nominated but won't: Walton Goggins for Justified, David Morrisey for The Walking Dead, Manu Bennett for Arrow, James Purefoy for The Following and Henry Czerny for Revenge.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - DRAMA:

Christine Baranski, The Good Wife

Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad

Lena Headey, Game of Thrones

Michelle Monaghan, True Detective

Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

Bellamy Young, Scandal

Other possibilities: Emilia Clarke for Game of Thrones, Christina Hendricks for Mad Men, Monica Potter for Parenthood, Betsy Brandt for Breaking Bad, Archie Panjabi for The Good Wife.

Performances I would love to see nominated but won't: Melissa McBride for The Walking Dead, Morgan Saylor for Homeland, Joelle Carter for Justified, Taraji P. Henson for Person of Interest, Amy Acker for Person of Interest and Susanna Thompson for Arrow.

BEST COMEDY SERIES:

The Big Bang Theory

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Louie

Modern Family

Orange is the New Black

Veep

Other possibilities: Girls, Parks and Recreation, Silicon Valley, Mom, Shameless.

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY:

Don Cheadle, House of Lies

Louis C.K., Louie

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

William H. Macy, Shameless

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY:

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Anna Faris, Mom

Julia Louise-Dreyfuss, Veep

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Emmy Rossum, Shameless

Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - COMEDY:

Ty Burrell, Modern Family

Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Tony Hale, Veep

Ed O'Neill, Modern Family

Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - COMEDY:

Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory

Julie Bowen, Modern Family

Allison Janney, Mom

Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie

I'll skip the other awards (miniseries, tv movie, variety series, reality competition, etc.)

Who Will/Should Win Tonight at The Academy Awards

In this post, I'll post my predictions on who I think will win as well as who I think should win.  Unfortunately, there are still several movies I need to catch up on.  Dallas Buyers Club, Philomena, Nebraska, Blue Jasmine are but a few of the movies that I have yet to see.  Also, I have seen none of the films nominated for Animated feature and Short, Documentary feature and short and live action short.

Best Picture

The nominees are:

American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Philomena
Nebraska
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Who Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
Who Should Win: Her


Best Director

The nominees are

Alfonso Cauron, Gravity
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Who Will Win: Alfonso Cauron
Who Should Win: Alfonso Cauron


Best Actor

The nominees are

Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo Dicaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Who Will Win: Matthew McConaughey
Who Should Win: Chiwetel Ejiofor (since I haven't seen Dallas Buyers Club)


Best Actress

The nominees are


Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Who Will Win: Cate Blanchett
Who Should Win: Sandra Bullock (haven't seen Blue Jasmine though)


Best Supporting Actor

The nominees are

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Who Will Win: Jared Leto
Who Should Win: Bradley Cooper (haven't seen Dallas Buyers Club)


Best Supporting Actress

The nominees are

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska

Who Will Win: Lupita Nyong'o
Who Should Win: Lupita Nyong'o


Best Original Screenplay

The nominees are

American Hustle
Blue Jasmine
Dallas Buyers Club
Her
Nebraska


Who Will Win: Her
Who Should Win: Her


Best Adapted Screenplay

The nominees are

Before Midnight
Captain Phillips
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Who Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
Who Should Win: The Wolf of Wall Street


My Predictions for the rest of the categories

Animated Feature: Frozen
Documentary Feature: The Act of Killing
Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty
Film Editing: Gravity
Production Design: Gravity
Cinematography: Gravity
Costume Design: American Hustle
Makeup and Hairstyle: Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa
Original Score: Gravity
Original Song: The Moon Song from Her
Visual Effects: Gravity
Sound Editing: Gravity
Sound Mixing: Gravity

I won't bother with the live action short, and documentary and animated short categories.

Anyway those are my predictions.  Tomorrow, I'll be back with my thoughts on the winners and my final thoughts on the show itself.  And next weekend I'll be back with Year in review where I'll give my top 10 Movies and Television of 2013 and my Bottom 5 (or 10 depending) as well as list my favorite performances of the year.

My Probably Way Off Oscar Nomination Predictions

Oscar nominations are just hours away.  Here are my predictions for this year's nominations.  I've decided not to play it safe with certain nominations and make a few out there predictions.  I'm probably wrong, but there's always a surprise or two and what fun would it be if I played it safe all the way and not make a few out there predictions?

Here they are:


My final predictions:

BEST PICTURE:
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Her
The Wolf of Wall Street
Nebraska
Dallas Buyers Club
Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Director
Alfonso Cauron, Gravity
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best Actor
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chewetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Robert Redford, All is Lost

Best Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Will Forte, Nebraska

Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyongo, 12 Years a Slave
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
June Squibb, Nebraska
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Lea Seydoux, Blue is the Warmest Color

Best Adapted Screenplay
12 Years a Slave
Blue is the Warmest Color
Before Midnight
The Wolf of Wall Street
Philomena

Best Original Screenplay
Her
American Hustle
Nebraska
Blue Jasmine
Inside Llywen Davis

Best Animated Feature
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Best Foreign Language Film
The Hunt
The Great Beauty
The Grandmaster
The Broken Circle Breakdown
Omar

Best Documentary Feature
Blackfish
20 Feet From Stardom
The Act of Killing
Stories We Tell
Cutie and the Boxer

Best Production Design
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Oz the Great and Powerful
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
American Hustle

Best Cinematography
Gravity
12 Years a Slave
Nebraska
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Captain Phillips

Best Costume Design
American Hustle
12 Years a Slave
The Great Gatsby
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Rush

Best Editing
Gravity
Captain Phillips
Rush
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle

Best Makeup and Hair
American Hustle
Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents' Bad Grandpa

Best Original Score
All is Lost
Gravity
12 Years a Slave
The Book Thief
Philomena

Best Original Song
Amen from All is Lost
Let it Go from Frozen
Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Atlas from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
My Lord Sunshine from 12 Years a Slave

Best Sound Editing
Gravity
Captain Phillips
Rush
Pacific Rim
All is Lost

Best Sound Mixing
All is Lost
Gravity
Rush
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips

Best Visual Effects
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smuag
Pacific Rim
Star Trek Into Darkness
Iron Man 3

Not going to guess the short (animated/live action/documentary) categories.

Tomorrow I'll do a follow up to see how my predictions stack up (probably not well, they never do) as well as my over all thoughts on the nominees in general.

The Emmy Awards: Who Will Win and Who Should Win

The Emmy Awards on are tonight.  I've decided this year that I'm not going to play it safe and will make some crazy predictions. AKA, I'm probably going to be completely wrong this year.  But, hey, what's the fun in guessing these things if you don't take some risk, eh?

Without further ado, my picks for who I think will win the Emmy's and who I think should win.


BEST DRAMA SERIES, the nominees are:

Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
House of Cards
Mad Men

Who Will Win: Breaking Bad
Who Should Win: Homeland

I won't be disappointed if Breaking Bad wins, seeing how it's been on a great run last year (and even better currently in it's final 8 episodes) but Homeland is definitely the best show on television, in my opinion.


BEST COMEDY SERIES, the nominees are:

30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Girls
Louie
Modern Family
Veep

Who Will Win: 30 Rock
Who Should Win: ???

It's probably going to go to Modern Family, if not then Louie, but I'm predicting it'll go to 30 Rock as a going away present for the show.  As for who should win, well that's impossible for me to say.  I've seen a couple of episodes of 30 Rock this season and it's pretty funny still.  But it's been a long time since I last saw Modern Family.  Nothing from this season and I need to give the other shows a chance.  It's too bad though that the real best sitcom on television wasn't nominated, the wonderful Parks and Recreation.


BEST ACTOR in a DRAMA SERIES:

Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards


Who Will Win: Kevin Spacey
Who Should Win: Damian Lewis


Tough category to pick.  I think most people seem to think it's a tight race between last year's Lewis and returning heavyweight Cranston, but don't count out either movie stars (Spacey and Daniels).  And if Emmy voters wish to award House of Cards something, this is probably their best and only real shot at giving it something.  Of course Daniels had that amazing speech in the pilot, the episode he submitted, but what's going against him is the fact that his show, The Newsroom, just doesn't have the buzz it use to have.  As for who should win?  Well, despite a strong turn from the always terrific Cranston, the performance that stayed with me the most, without a doubt, was Lewis's.  It's truly a riveting performance.


BEST ACTOR in a COMEDY SERIES:

Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock
Jason Bateman in Arrested Development
Don Cheadle in House of Lies
Louise CK in Louie
Matt LeBlanc in Episodes
Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory


Who Will Win: Louis CK
Who Should Win: ???

Again, I'm not sure who should win in this category because 30 Rock is the only one I saw a little bit of.  I will eventually catch some of the others.  As for who will win, I think it's a 3 way toss up between Louis CK, Jim Parsons or Alec Baldwin.  Baldwin could get it as a goodbye, but I think they are gonna go for Louis CK.


BEST ACTRESS in a DRAMA SERIES:

Connie Britton in Nashville
Claire Danes in Homeland
Michelle Dockery in Downton Abbey
Vera Farmiga in Bates Motel
Elisabeth Moss in Mad Men
Kerry Washington in Scandal
Robin Wright in House of Cards

Who Will Win: Claire Danes
Who Should Win: Claire Danes

Easiest category to call.  While I suppose there is a slight chance that either Washington or Farmiga could prove to be a spoiler, but I doubt it.  I'm pretty sure that Danes has this in the bag, and she should too.  It's an amazing performance.


BEST ACTRESS in a COMEDY SERIES:

Laura Dern in Enlightened
Julia Louise Dreyfuss in Veep
Lena Dunham in Girls
Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey in 30 Rock
Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation


Who Will Win: Amy Poehler
Who Should Win: Amy Poehler


This might be just wishful thinking on my part, but I do believe that this is finally Poehler's year to win.  Of last year's winner, Dreyfuss, could prove to ruin that.  And if Emmy voters are wishing to give 30 Rock one last hurrah in it's final season, Fey could take it as well.  But, as much as I love both of those ladies, I've got my fingers crossed for Poehler.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR in a DRAMA SERIES:

Jonathan Banks in Breaking Bad
Bobby Cannavale in Boardwalk Empire
Jim Carter in Downton Abbey
Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones
Mandy Patinkin in Homeland
Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad

Who Will Win: Aaron Paul
Who Should Win: Jonathan Banks or Mandy Patinkin


Emmy voters sure do love Paul in Breaking Bad, which is why I think he's going to make history tonight and be the first actor ever to win 3 times in this category.  Normally, I would agree, Paul is awesome, but I personally felt like he was kind of underused in season 5.1 or 5a or whatever you want to call it.  I don't usually do ties, I normally find them to be a cop out, but I honestly can't choose between Banks or Patinkin.  Patinkin's work is so subtle that I fear he may be in danger of being overlooked and that would be a shame.  But Banks was also just incredible.  He's also a very subtle actor, similarly to Patinkin, but I think he had a little more to do than Patinkin did.  Still, a win by either would be fine by me.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR in a COMEDY SERIES:

Ty Burrell in Modern Family
Adam Driver in Girls
Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Modern Family
Bill Hader in Saturday Night Live
Tony Hale in Veep
Ed O'Neill in Modern Family

Who Will Win: Ed O'Neill

I think the Emmy's will go with O'Neill since he's a veteran who has never won.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS in a DRAMA SERIES:

Morena Baccarin in Homeland
Christine Baranski in The Good Wife
Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones
Anna Gunn in Breaking Bad
Christina Hendricks in Mad Men
Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey

Who Will Win: Anna Gunn
Who Should Win: Anna Gunn

Maggie Smith could be a potential spoiler but hopefully not.  I think Smith is Gunn's only real competition although I also personally love Baccarin, but even I will go with Gunn, who was incredible in Breaking Bad in season 5.1


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS in a COMEDY SERIES:

Mayim Bialik in The Big Bang Theory
Julie Bowen in Modern Family
Anna Chlumsky in Veep
Jane Krakowski in 30 Rock
Jane Lynch in Glee
Sofia Vergara in Modern Family
Merritt Wever in Nurse Jackie


Who Will Win: Jane Krakowski

Krakowski was pretty damn funny in her episode she submitted, which was the series finale.  I think she'll win but it wouldn't surprise me either if they went with either Modern Family women.  In fact, Bowen keeps winning this.  Will she win again?  We'll find out tonight.  But I'm going with Krakowski.

Emmy Nominations Predictions

The Emmy nominations are less than 2 hours away.  So real quick, here are my predictions.  Some are bound to be right, but are bound to be way off.

Best Drama Series:

The Americans
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Mad Men

Best Actor - Drama:

Damien Lewis in Homeland
Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad
Timothy Olyphant in Justified
Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom
Matthew Rhys in The Americans
Kevin Spacey in House of Cards

Best Actress - Drama:

Clair Danes in Homeland
Julianna Margulies in The Good Wife
Kerri Russell in The Americans
Kerry Washington in Scandal
Robin Wright in House of Cards
Vera Farmiga in Bates Motel

Best Supporting Actor - Drama:

Mandy Patinkin in Homeland
Walton Goggins in Justified
Jonathan Banks in Breaking Bad
Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad
Noah Emmerich in The Americans
Corey Stoll in House of Cards

Best Supporting Actress - Drama:

Anna Gun in Breaking Bad
Joelle Carter in Justified
Morena Baccarin in Homeland
Monica Potter in Parenthood
Christine Baranski in The Good Wife
Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey

Comedy Series:

30 Rock
Louie
Veep
Arrested Development
The Big Bang Theory
Modern Family

Best Actor - Comedy:

Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock
Louis C.K. in Louie
Jason Bateman in Arrested Development
Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory
Jake Johnson in New Girl
Matt Leblanc in Episodes

Best Actress - Comedy:

Tina Fey in 30 Rock
Zoey Deschanel in New Girl
Julie Louise Dreyfuss in Veep
Lena Dunham in Girls
Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie
Melissa McCarthy in Mike and Molly

Best Supporting Actor - Comedy:

Max Greenfield in New Girl
Jeffrey Tambor in Arrested Development
Will Arnett in Arrested Development
Ty Burrell in Modern Family
Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet in Modern Family

Best Supporting Actress - Comedy:

Julie Bowen in Modern Family
Sofia Vergara in Modern Family
Jessica Walter in Arrested Development
Alison Williams in Girls
Jane Krakowski in 30 Rock
Kelly Cuoco in The Big Bang Theory

Later today, I'll have my official reactions to the nominees.  But these are my guesses though a few of them (Olyphant, Goggins, Carter and, to a lesser extent, Banks) are simply wishful thinking on my part.  Actually, if I REALLY wanted to put wishful thinking I'd have Fringe up for best drama series, Walking Dead for best drama series and Andrew Lincoln for best actor in a drama series.  But of course all of those, are most definitely NOT going to happen!

2013 Mid Year Review

June has ended and July has begun, which means we are officially into the second half of the year.  So how was 2013's first half?  To say the least, it's been a disappointing year.  No 4 stars movies yet, which in and of itself, is not uncommon.  But the most distressing thing about the year so far?  Only 3 3.5 star movies.  By this time, we usually have at least half a dozen or so.

To be fair, there are  still several independent films that I have yet to see.  I have yet to see the eco terrorist thriller, The East, which was given to us by the same writing/directing team that gave Another Earth a few years ago and I loved that movie.  It's on my top 10 of that year.  Another promising title I have yet to see is Upstream Color, which is from the writing/directing team of 2004's somewhat confusing but still clever and cool Primer.  Disconnect also looked promising.  Terrance Malick is always a wild card.  I like most of his stuff, but I wasn't much of a fan of The New World.  And while I thought Tree of Life was, for the most part, a terrific movie, it got off to a rough start.  This year, Malick had out what may be his most divisive film yet with To the Wonder.  I want to say that I'm looking forward to it, but I hear most of the dialog is told in voice over narration.  That does dampen my excitement for the movie.  A big Hollywood movie that I, unfortunately, missed out in theaters was Bazz Lurhman's latest, The Great Gatsby.  Reviews for that one were all over the place, but that's pretty much true of almost any of Lurhman's movies.  I was particularly sad to miss out on that one since it seemed like a movie that should have been seen on the big screen.  I also have yet to see Before Midnight.  I haven't even seen Before Sunset yet and I want to see that one before I see Midnight.  One of the year's most critically acclaimed movies was the Matthew McConaughey film, Mud.  That comes to us from the director of the excellent Take Shelter.  I hope to see that one soon.  A few other promising movies I missed include Stoker, The Company You Keep, The Kings of Summer, Trance, Spring Breakers and 42 among others.  I also will be seeing Sofia Coppola's latest, The Bling Ring, sometime in the next day or so.  So, yes.  2013 has been a weak year so far, certainly for big Hollywood studio efforts (several disappointments too, some of which I'll talk about in the worst of the year list), but the year might be saved by independent movies.  We shall see.

Without further do, here are my top 10 of 2013 so far:

10. The Last Stand - Arnold Schwarzenegger was back and he remains in solid form.  The Last Stand is aided immeasurably by Kim Jee-Woon's very stylish direction.  There are some great car chases in the movie, my favorite being one near the end through a corn field.  The supporting cast is surprisingly strong, particularly, and perhaps surprisingly, Johnny Knoxville, playing a guy who loves his gun.  He's a hoot to watch.  And so is the movie.

9. The Internship - In a year that has had it's fair share of disappointments, The Internship came as a pleasant surprise.  Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are almost as good here as they were together in Wedding Crashers.  There is nothing remotely original about this movie.  It's definitely a very formulaic film.  But it's an immensely likeable effort and frequently funny and even, surprisingly, a little touching at times.  Also loved the chemistry between Owen Wilson and the lovely Rose Byrn.  Any movie is made better by her presence.  I just wish she had more to do here.

8. Now You See Me - A clever and mostly well written movie, that begins as an usual heist movie, but by the end, morphs into kind of a revenge film.  To say anymore though should be a crime.  This is a movie best left for you to watch it unravel before your eyes.  It's a well cast movie, with Mark Ruffalo being especially good.  The only downside to the movie is that the chase scenes are filmed shaky cam style.

7. World War Z - With reports of production woes and reshoots, there was every reason to expect a complete disaster with this movie.  But surprise, surprise.  It's actually quite good.  Taut, fast paced and extremely well directed by the always reliable Marc Forster, World War Z zips along at a good pace from one great set piece to the next.  The first twenty minutes are especially dazzlingly and horrifyingly well done.  With other great scenes set in Israel, an airplane and North Wales, it all comes to an immensely satisfying conclusion.  A nice surprise.

6.  Fast and Furious 6 - No, I did not do this on purpose.  Easily my favorite of the franchise, surpassing Fast & Furious (the 4th film) and Fast Five.  It's got a cool story involving Letty's reappearance after long being thought dead.  And some great action set pieces involving a tank and the terrific climax set on an airplane trying to leave a runaway.  Great stuff.

5. White House Down/Olympus Has Fallen - The two "Die Hard in the White House" movies that came out this year.  I can't really pick one from another.  I enjoyed both of them about equally.  The sad part is that both of these movies are easily then the actual Die Hard movie that came out.  Sigh.

4. Dead Man Down - Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace are both excellent, playing characters who have been wounded on the inside and both looking for revenge.  It's a taut, moody, atmospheric, wonderfully acted revenge thriller.  Bonus: it was shot here, in Philly.

3. Jack the Giant Slayer - The year's best surprise.  The trailers and commercials failed to grab my attention, consequently, I went in with low expectations.  I never should have doubted Bryan Singer, the director.  He hasn't given me any reason to doubt him before, he is after all the guy behind The Usual Suspects, X-Men 1 & 2, Superman Returns and Valkyrie.  I'll never doubt him again.  The leads are appealing, the supporting cast, especially Ewan McGregory, are wonderful.  The special effects and battle scenes are astonishing.  And I loved how it ended.  I loved every minute of this LOTR's type epic retelling of the popular fairy tale.

2. Iron Man 3 - The only big Hollywood epic this summer that was actually great.  Shane Black is a better director filmmaker than Jon Favreau and he definitely does a better job of directing action sequences than Favreau.  One of the best scenes of the movie, which is also one of the best scenes of any movie I have seen this year, is a scene where Air Force One is attacked, and Iron Man has to rescue 13 people who are falling to their deaths from the plane.  It's a fantastic sequence.

1. Side Effects - Supposedly, this will be Steven Soderbergh's final theatrical released film.  I somehow doubt that will be the case, but if does end up being true, then at least Soderbergh will have gone out on a high note.  I won't even bother with saying anything about the plot.  This is a movie that is best going in and watching knowing NOTHING about it.  It's got so many twists and turns.  It's wonderfully unpredictable.  I loved every minute of this movie.  Great performances from top to bottom with special mention going to Rooney Mara in a very tricky role and Jude Law, whose character goes through a real tailspin and Law never misses a beat.


That's the best and now here are the year's worst.

My Bottom 5 of the year:

5. Broken City - A crime/morality thriller that lacks any interesting characters and a story that's dull and too much that goes too much into been there/done that territory.

4. Oblivion - A dull, plodding movie.  Movie looks great, the production design is stunning.  And there are individual moments that work, movie actually gets off to a promising start.  But the movie takes itself so seriously, it's just not fun, and quite frankly it's boring.

3. A Good Day to Die Hard - The year's biggest disappointment.  I was probably more harsh on the movie than I needed to be.  Truth be told, if this was just another generic action movie, I probably would have given it 2 stars, rather than 1.5.  But since they are trying to pass this off as a Die Hard movie and since they call the Bruce Willis character John McClane, it just made me all the more angry.  A soul crushing experience.

2. Lords of Salem - It's a Rob Zombie movie.  Nuff said.

1. Scary Movie V - About as unwatchable as movies get.  The Scary Movie films were never great, but even the dreadful first film, wasn't this bad.  This is so bad that you'd be forgiven for thinking it was from the same guys who gave us Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, etc.


That's the first half of 2013.  Here's hoping for a better second half.

Next off: a list of movies I'm looking forward to for the fall movie season, Emmy nomination coverage including shows and names that I would like to see get nominations (but most of them, if not all of them likely won't).  I'll also do my predictions.  And some movie reviews and some television reviews, including the end of Breaking Bad next month.