Sunday, September 20, 2015

'Game of Thrones,' 'Olive Kitteridge' Biggest Winners at Historic Primetime Emmys


Where to begin for an Emmy Awards steeped in so many historic moments?

"Game of Thrones" is now the most winning series in a year at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Even before it won for outstanding drama series, the HBO show picked up 11 awards (eight of which came from the Creative Arts Emmys the weekend prior), beating the record of nine held by the first season of "The West Wing" from 2000.

Writing and directing wins at the 67th annual telecast were just enough to push "Game of Thrones" into historic territory. Quickly after that, Peter Dinklage won the supporting actor race giving the show a tally of 11. This is Dinklage's second win in this category following a previous win for the show's first season.

The outstanding drama series win awarded "Game of Thrones" 12 wins from 24 nominations.

Since its first season, "Game of Thrones" has won 26 Emmys, tying it with "Hill Street Blues" and "The West Wing" for most cumulative wins for a drama series. It could break that record as soon as next year if it wins just one more.

The drama acting field was significant for its winning ladies. Viola Davis became the first African-American to win the lead drama actress award for "How to Get Away with Murder". Supporting winner Uzo Aduba, "Orange is the New Black", became the first woman to win acting awards for the same character in two different genres. Aduba won the comedy guest actress prize for her portrayal of prison inmate Crazy Eyes. The Television Academy ruled "Orange" to be a drama this year, and Aduba was bumped up to the supporting race.

Jon Hamm finally won as drama actor for "Mad Men's" final season after seven previous losses.

Another big winner of the evening was another HBO product: "Olive Kitteridge".

The miniseries dominated the limited series/movie categories winning six of the broadcasted seven categories: outstanding limited series; lead actor (Richard Jenkins); lead actress (Frances McDormand); supporting actor (Bill Murray); directing; and writing. In addition to its six primetime wins, "Olive Kitteridge" won Creative Arts Emmys for limited series/movie casting and single-camera picture editing for a limited series/movie.

Regina King broke a complete "Olive Kitteridge" domination with her supporting actress win for "American Crime".

"Veep" and "Transparent" were the big comedy winners at the Emmy awards, winning five each.

Political satire "Veep" took the top prize for comedy series. Also nominated for its first three seasons, this is the first time the show won after consecutive losses to "Modern Family". "Veep" also won comedy writing for the first time. Julia-Louis Dreyfus won her fourth consecutive lead actress Emmy as the titular character Selina Meyer, with Tony Hale winning a second supporting actor gong for his role as Selina's bag man, Gary. "Veep" also won for comedy casting at the creative arts show.

Freshman laffer "Transparent" won lead actor for Jeffrey Tambor and directing for Jill Soloway for Amazon's freshman series about a transgender woman. The show won three Creative Arts Emmys beforehand- comedy guest actress, costumes and main title them music.

Allison Janney rounded wins in the comedy categories, repeating for her supporting turn on "Mom".

HBO picked up 14 of 26 televised awards. Overall, it took the most program awards this year- comedy series, drama series, limited series, TV movie, nonfiction special and nonfiction series. 

In the variety categories, Jon Stewart got a resounding Emmy sendoff for his show's final season. "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" winning the newly created variety talk series Emmy. It previously won the catch-all variety series Emmy 10 consecutive years from 2003-2012. "The Daily Show" won the variety series writing award for the ninth time and also the directing for a variety series.

"Inside Amy Schumer" picked up the variety sketch series award.

"Bessie" was previously announced as outstanding made-for-TV-movie, along with three other wins at the Creative Arts Emmys.

"Modern Family" and "Mad Men" were looking to win the most series prizes this year for outstanding comedy and drama, but were denied, respectively, for a sixth and fifth victories

"American Horror Story: Freak Show" won five Creative Arts Emmys the weekend before, but failed to show during the primetime telecast with eight nominations.
Comedy Series: "Veep"
Comedy Actor: Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent"
Comedy Actress: Julia-Louis Dreyfus, "Veep"
Comedy Supporting Actor: Tony Hale, "Veep"
Comedy Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, "Mom"
Comedy Directing: Jill Soloway, "Transparent"
Comedy Writing: Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche, "Veep" 

Drama Series: "Game of Thrones"
Drama Actor: Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Drama Actress: Viola Davis, "How to Get Away with Murder"
Drama Supporting Actor: Peter Dinklage, "Game of Thrones"
Drama Supporting Actress: Uzo Aduba, "Orange is the New Black"
Drama Directing: David Nutter, "Game of Thrones"
Drama Writing: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, "Game of Thrones"

Limited Series: "Olive Kitteridge"
Limited Series/Movie Actor: Richard Jenkins, "Olive Kitteridge"
Limited Series/Movie Actress: Frances McDormand, "Olive Kitteridge"
Limited Series/Movie Supporting Actor: Bill Murray, "Olive Kitteridge"
Limited Series/Movie Supporting Actress: Regina King, "American Crime"
Limited Series/Movie Directing: Lisa Cholodenko, "Olive Kitteridge"
Limited Series/Movie Writing: Jane Anderson, "Olive Kitteridge"

Reality Competition Program: "The Voice"

Variety Talk Series: "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
Variety Sketch Series: "Inside Amy Schumer"
Directing for a Variety Series: "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" 
Writing for a Variety Series: "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"




Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Creative Arts Emmy Winners


"Game of Thrones" and "American Horror Story: Freak Show" killed their competition at the Creative Arts Emmys on Sept. 12 by picking up over a dozen statues between the two programs.

"Game of Thrones" made Emmy history by picking up eight Emmys from its 17 creative arts nominations during the yet-to-be-broadcast ceremony, the most wins for any series before the Primetime Emmy Awards (telecast on Sept. 20 this year). The HBO fantasy show picked up awards for picture editing for a one-hour series, production design for a contemporary, fantasy one-hour series, sound editing for a series, sound mixing for a one-hour series, non-prosthetic makeup for a single-camera series, special visual effects, stunt coordination for a drama series, and casting for a drama series. 

Spread out over 13 categories, "Game of Thrones" lost its four bids for cinematography, costumes, guest drama actress, hairstyling and prosthetic makeup. "Game of Thrones" won one of its two nominations for picture editing.

With 24 overall Emmy nominations this years, "Game of Thrones" could tie or break the record for most wins by a series in a single year (9) during the Primetime telecast. The record was set by "The West Wing's" debut season in 2000. In addition to best drama series, it contends for writing, directing (x2), supporting actor and supporting actress (x2).

FX's  anthology series "American Horror Story" picked up its most wins in a year to date with its circus-centric fourth outing called "Freak Show".

The horror series picked up wins for the period/fantasy costumes, hairstyling for a limited series or movie, non-prosthetic makeup for a limited series or movie, prosthetic makeup and supporting visual effects.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift lead 2015 MTV VMA nominations


Some "Bad Blood" equals a plethora of nominations for Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar at the MTV Video Music Awards 32nd kudos fest honoring music videos.
The hit collaboration earned seven nominations for the iconic Moonman statute, including video of the year and best collaboration. "Bad Blood" also earned five professional nominations- best art direction, cinematography, direction, editing and visual effects.
Lamar was the biggest nominee of the year, tying Lady Gaga's 2010 record for most nominations in a single year with 13. In addition to "Bad Blood", his solo effort "Alright" will also contend for video of the year. This is the first time, again, since Lady Gaga in 2010, that one artist had two videos contend for the top award.
"Alright" is also up for male video, hip-hop video and direction. His collaboration with Flying Lotus on "Never Catch Me" was nominated for choreography and cinematography.
Swift comes up with the second most nominations this year with nine. The aforementioned seven for "Bad Blood" and best female video and pop video for "Blank Space". 
This marks the highest number of nominations for either Swift or Lamar in a given year, garnering respective total  career nominations of 15 and 16. 
The other video of the year nominees are Beyonce's "7/11" and Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars for "Uptown Funk," both of which have five nominations a piece
Rounding out the top category is "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran. The video earned four nominations for Sheeran, who earned two more for his "Don't" video in below the belt categories.
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards air live on August 30 with last year's video of the year winner, Miley Cyrus, hosting.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Beyoncé – “7/11”
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
BEST MALE VIDEO
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
The Weeknd – “Earned It”
Nick Jonas – “Chains”
BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Beyoncé – “7/11”
Taylor Swift – “Blank Space”
Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
Sia – “Elastic Heart”
Ellie Goulding – “Love Me Like You Do”

Monday, July 13, 2015

TV Review: 'Delco Proper' Not Proper, But Funny

Anyone who's anyone from the Southeast area of Pennsylvania known as Delco - short for Delaware County - will tell you we are our own breed. We're horrible drivers, we're abrasive and the bar known as Barns (Barnaby's) is the hot drinking spot for a true Delconian.

Delco is so cool that the Oscar-winning film "Silver Linings Playbook" was shot in part in some of its communities. We didn't get to see the attitude that is definitive of the area, but it definitely put us on the map.

Now we have the Comedy Central web series called "Delco Proper", a series of short scenarios that could seem aberrant to those not familiar with this wonderful pocket of the state, but is not at all shocking to those who call Delco home.





In the first episode, Tommy, Izzy and John attend a high school classmate's funeral, or as Tommy refers to as, a "high school reunion".

"It's a funeral, Tommy," says John.

"OK, a sad high school reunion," Tommy assuredly responds.

In Delco, one seems to stick around longer than they mean to, and when an impromptu high school "reunion" isn't happening at a local watering hole, a funeral will suffice. Anytime you see more than one of your classmates in public, it can almost always be a "sad" high school reunion, funeral not needed.

It's part of our charm.

In Delco, we don't ask ourselves why we haven't left yet, we ask why everyone else is still here.

Meanwhile, Izzy wants to kick funeral-goer Donny's ass and hopefully throw him through a stained-glass window. Why? Who knows, it's Delco. Who says we need a legit reason to fight someone?

What transpires in the six-minute episode is, I guess you could say, Delco proper: arguing at a funeral; trying to get laid at said funeral; cursing during a eulogy. It's not to say that these are inappropriate events, they are, but not so inappropriate to us in Delco. There's nothing so shocking that could happen here that would make us say, "that would never happen here!", it's usually always, "only in Delco".

A shock to the pride of Delconians is that aside from the show's name, you wouldn't even know it was set in Delco. There are no defining landmarks that screams Delco - give us a Wawa or something! The characters and situations are typical of our people, you could easily see that if you've lived here long enough, but there's no way to say it's about us if it weren't for the show name. If you took Delco out of the title this would seem like the workings of any other show about foul-mouthed guys pushing themselves in unnecessarily comical situations, or one that exploits a certain event to benefit their own selfish means (which is typical in Delco).

That said, "Delco Proper" is a pop of laughs for its short runtime. It borrows heavily from the film "Clerks" where dialogue is a profanity-laced look at life yet is comforting in that it sounds authentic and true to life, and the characters mirror that film's Dante and Randall (who, also, cause trouble at a funeral). The situations the characters get involved in combine the craziness of the aforementioned with the workings of a "Seinfeld" episode

I'm not saying I didn't laugh, but there is nothing about Delco in this series, so far, whose physical identity resembles the name.

Rating: B-




Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Oscar-winning Steadicam Inventor Garrett Brown Speaks about 'Rocky', 'Bound For Glory' in Newtown

Garrett Brown may have revolutionized the way motion pictures are filmed with his invention of the Steadicam - a device created in the 1970s that mounts a stabilized camera on a person to allow for free-reign movement of the operator to get clear, non-shaky shots – but he admits that being an inventor is not what he intended with life, let alone change how movies are made.

“Although (my father) talked up inventing ardently,” Brown said, “I wasn’t enthralled with the idea of professionally inventing.”

With over 50 patents established for his devices, notably for his camera stabilization equipment that have in turn earned him an Academy Award, an Emmy, and numerous other accolades, it certainly proved to be a fruitful career path for him.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine among 322 asked to join The Academy


LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 322 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.  Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2015.

“It’s gratifying to acknowledge the extraordinary range of talent in our industry,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.  “This year, our branches have recognized a more diverse and inclusive list of filmmakers and artists than ever before, and we look forward to adding their creativity, ideas and experience to our organization.”
The 2015 invitees are:

Actors
Elizabeth Banks – “Love & Mercy,” “The Hunger Games”
Choi Min-sik– “Lucy,” “Oldboy”
Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Imitation Game,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Martin Freeman – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Hot Fuzz”
Heather Graham – “The Hangover,” “Boogie Nights”
Tom Hardy – “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inception”
Kevin Hart – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Ride Along”
Felicity Jones – “The Theory of Everything,” “Like Crazy”
Stephen Lang – “Avatar,” “The Men Who Stare at Goats”
Jodi Long – “A Picture of You,” “Beginners”
John Carroll Lynch – “Shutter Island,” “Zodiac”
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Beyond the Lights,” “Belle”
Denis O’Hare – “Milk,” “Michael Clayton”
Michael O’Neill – “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Transformers”
David Oyelowo – “Selma,” “A Most Violent Year”
Dev Patel – “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Slumdog Millionaire”
Rosamund Pike – “Gone Girl,” “Pride & Prejudice”
Chris Pine – “Into the Woods,” “Star Trek”
Daniel Radcliffe – “Kill Your Darlings,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
Eddie Redmayne – “The Theory of Everything,” “Les Misérables”
Jason Segel – “The Five-Year Engagement,” “The Muppets”
J.K. Simmons – “Whiplash,” “Juno”
Sonny Skyhawk – “Geronimo: An American Legend,” “Young Guns II”
Song Kang-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “The Host”
Emma Stone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Help”

Casting Directors
Lucy Bevan – “Cinderella,” “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
Victoria Burrows – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “King Kong”
Aisha Coley – “Selma,” “Beyond the Lights”
Patricia DiCerto – “Blue Jasmine,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Mary Hidalgo – “The Lego Movie,” “The Incredibles”
Roger Mussenden – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Get Smart”
Lucie Robitaille – “Incendies,” “The Barbarian Invasions”
Luis San Narciso – “The Skin I Live In,” “The Sea Inside”
April Webster – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek”
Tricia Wood – “Woman in Gold,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”

Cinematographers
Christopher Blauvelt – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Bling Ring”
Adriano Goldman – “August: Osage County,” “Jane Eyre”
Ben Kasulke – “Laggies,” “Safety Not Guaranteed”
Ryszard Lenczewski – “Ida,” “Margaret”
Jody Lee Lipes – “Ballet 422,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Sharone Meir – “Whiplash,” “Mean Creek”
Rachel Morrison – “Cake,” “Fruitvale Station”
Tristan Oliver – “ParaNorman,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Hoyte Van Hoytema – “Interstellar,” “Her”
Roman Vasyanov – “Fury,” “End of Watch”
Łukasz Żal – “Ida,” “Joanna”

Costume Designers
Kasia Walicka Maimone – “Foxcatcher,” “Moonrise Kingdom”
Francesca Livia Sartori – “Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy,” “When the Night”
Jany Temime – “Gravity,” “Skyfall”

Designers
Ramsey Avery – “Tomorrowland,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”
Gae Buckley – “The Book of Eli,” “He’s Just Not That into You”
Keith Brian Burns – “The Best Man Holiday,” “2 Fast 2 Furious”
Lester W. Cohen – “Fading Gigolo,” “Cop Land”
Suzie Davies – “Mr. Turner,” “The Children”
John F. Fenner – “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
Darren Gilford – “Oblivion,” “Tron: Legacy”
Derek R. Hill – “Southpaw,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”
Bryn Imagire – “Cars 2,” “Up”
Dina Lipton – “Baggage Claim,” “Love Hurts”
Tatiana Macdonald – “The Imitation Game,” “The Invisible Woman”
Dominic Masters – “Woman in Gold,” “Casino Royale”
Doug Meerdink – “Jurassic World,” “Ocean’s Thirteen”
Chris Spellman – “Paper Towns,” “This Is the End”
Patrick Tatopoulos – “300: Rise of an Empire,” “Total Recall”
Charlotte Watts – “Mr. Holmes,” “Mr. Turner”

Directors
Michael Binder – “Black or White,” “Reign over Me”
Bong Joon-ho – “Snowpiercer,” “Mother”
Niki Caro – “North Country,” “Whale Rider”
Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
Simon Curtis – “Woman in Gold,” “My Week with Marilyn”
François Girard – “Silk,” “The Red Violin”
F. Gary Gray – “The Italian Job,” “Friday”
James Gunn – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Super”
Im Kwon-taek – “Chi-Hwa-Seon (Painted Fire),” “Chunhyang”
Stan Lathan – “Beat Street,” “Amazing Grace”
Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
Justin Lin – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Better Luck Tomorrow”
François Ozon – “Young & Beautiful,” “Swimming Pool”
Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
Kelly Reichardt – “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Wendy and Lucy”
Ira Sachs – “Love Is Strange,” “Keep the Lights On”
Lynn Shelton – “Laggies,” “Your Sister’s Sister”
Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
Fernando Trueba – “Chico & Rita,” “Belle Epoque”
Morten Tyldum – “The Imitation Game,” “Headhunters”
Zaza Urushadze – “Tangerines,” “The Guardian”
Wayne Wang – “Anywhere but Here,” “The Joy Luck Club”
Edgar Wright – “The World’s End,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
Joe Wright – “Anna Karenina,” “Atonement”
Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”

Documentary
Richard Berge – “The Island President,” “The Rape of Europa”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “The Invisibles”
Emad Burnat – “5 Broken Cameras”
Guy Davidi – “5 Broken Cameras,” “Interrupted Streams”
Geralyn Dreyfous – “The Square,” “The Invisible War”
Lewis Erskine – “Free Angela: And All Political Prisoners,” “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple”
Shana Hagan – “Misconception,” “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”
Tony Hardmon – “Detropia,” “Semper Fi: Always Faithful”
Leonard Retel Helmrich – “Position among the Stars,” “Shape of the Moon”
Pirjo Honkasalo – “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia,” “Atman”
Judy Irving – “Pelican Dreams,” “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”
Robert Kenner – “Merchants of Doubt,” “Food, Inc.”
Marc Levin – “Mr. Untouchable,” “The Last Party”
Jesse Moss – “The Overnighters,” “Full Battle Rattle”
Pratibha Parmar – “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth,” “A Place of Rage”
Paula DuPre’ Pesmen – “Keep On Keepin’ On,” “The Cove”
Gordon Quinn – “Life Itself,” “Hoop Dreams”
Kim Roberts – “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” “Lost Boys of Sudan”
Richard Rowley – “Dirty Wars,” “The Fourth World War”
João Moreira Salles – “Santiago,” “Entreatos (Intermissions)”
Ondi Timoner – “We Live in Public,” “Dig!”

Executives
Carolyn Blackwood
Robbie Brenner
Lia Buman
Steve Burke
David Fenkel
Mellody Hobson
Brian Keane
Steven Paul O’Dell
Jim Orr
Mark Rachesky
Ted Sarandos
Jeff Shell

Film Editors
Craig Alpert – “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Pineapple Express”
Mick Audsley – “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Dirty Pretty Things”
Pablo Barbieri – “Wild Tales,” “La Antena (The Aerial)”
Nadia Ben Rachid – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Kristina Boden – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “Cake”
Mathilde Bonnefoy* – “CitizenFour,” “Run Lola Run”
Julian Clarke – “Chappie,” “District 9”
Douglas Crise – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Babel”
Tom Cross – “Whiplash,” “Any Day Now”
Jinx Godfrey – “The Theory of Everything,” “Man on Wire”
Robert Grahamjones – “Brave,” “Ratatouille”
Masahiro Hirakubo – “Virunga,” “The Duchess”
Jarosław Kamiński – “Ida,” “Aftermath (Pokłosie)”
William Kerr – “Bridesmaids,” “I Love You, Man”
Nico Leunen – “Lost River,” “The Broken Circle Breakdown”
Mike McCusker – “Get On Up,” “3:10 to Yuma”
Tim Mertens – “Big Hero 6,” “Wreck-It Ralph”
Barney Pilling – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “An Education”
David Rennie – “22 Jump Street,” “Office Space”
Gary D. Roach – “American Sniper,” “Prisoners”
Michael L. Sale – “We’re the Millers,” “Bridesmaids”
Stephen Schaffer – “Cars 2,” “WALL-E”
Job ter Burg – “Borgman,” “Winter in Wartime”
Peter Teschner – “St. Vincent,” “Horrible Bosses”
Tara Timpone – “Friends with Kids,” “Bad Teacher”
Makeup Artists and Hairstylists
Frida S. Aradottir – “August: Osage County,” “A Serious Man”
Victoria Down – “Big Eyes,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Frances Hannon – “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The King’s Speech”
Todd Kleitsch – “Run All Night,” “Black Swan”
Dennis Liddiard – “Foxcatcher,” “Jobs”
Jerry Popolis – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Noah”
Janine Rath-Thompson – “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Bridesmaids”
Johnny Villanueva – “The Gambler,” “The Fighter”
David White – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “La Vie en Rose”
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “An Education”

Members-at-Large
Andy Armstrong
Wayne Billheimer
Kevin Brownlow
Simon Crane
Debbie Denise
Jeff Habberstad
Andy Hendrickson
Elissa M. Rashkin Loparco
Guido Quaroni
Nicole Scalise
Steven J. Scott
Leon D. Silverman
Gregg Smrz
Lynda Ellenshaw Thompson
Steve Venezia

Music
Tyler Bates – “John Wick,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Alex Gibson – “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight”
Jonny Greenwood – “Inherent Vice,” “The Master”
Dave Grusin – “Skating to New York,” “The Firm”
Alex Heffes – “Love and Honor,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Lisa Jaime – “Annie,” “Rock of Ages”
Jóhann Jóhannsson – “The Theory of Everything,” “Prisoners”
Laura Karpman – “States of Grace,” “Black Nativity”
Christopher Lennertz – “The Wedding Ringer,” “Horrible Bosses”
Lonnie Lynn – “Selma,” “Freedom Writers”
Chris McGeary – “Jersey Boys,” “RoboCop”
Sergio Mendes – “Rio 2,” “Rio”
Daniel Pinder – “Big Hero 6,” “Captain Phillips”
Trent Reznor – “Gone Girl,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Atticus Ross – “Love & Mercy,” “The Social Network”
John Stephens – “Selma,” “Django Unchained”
Marc Streitenfeld – “Poltergeist,” “Prometheus”
Erica Weis – “Spy,” “The Heat”
Gary Yershon – “Mr. Turner,” “Another Year”

Producers
Caroline Baron – “Capote,” “Monsoon Wedding”
Effie T. Brown – “Dear White People,” “Real Women Have Curves”
Terence Chang – “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” “Face/Off”
Wyck Godfrey – “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Twilight”
Jeremy Kleiner – “Selma,” “12 Years a Slave”
Pamela Koffler – “Still Alice,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”
Gina Kwon – “Camp X-Ray,” “Me and You and Everyone We Know”
Dan Lin – “The Lego Movie,” “Sherlock Holmes”
Eric Newman – “RoboCop,” “Children of Men”
Bruna Papandrea – “Wild,” “All Good Things”
Lydia Dean Pilcher – “Cutie and the Boxer,” “The Darjeeling Limited”
Rebecca Yeldham – “On the Road,” “The Kite Runner”

Public Relations
Jennifer Allen
Asad Ayaz
Dawn Baillie
Andrew Bernstein
Liz Biber
Mara Buxbaum
Lee Ginsberg
R. Jeff Hill
Michelle Hooper
Chris Libby
Susan Norget
Lewis Oberlander
Gordon Paddison
Elias Plishner
David Pollick
Weiman Seid
LeeAnne Stables
Ryan Stankevich
Bonnie Voland

Short Films and Feature Animation
Alan Barillaro – “Brave,” “WALL-E”
Kristine Belson – “The Croods,” “How to Train Your Dragon”
Darlie Brewster – “Curious George,” “The Prince of Egypt”
Roy Conli – “Big Hero 6,” “Tangled”
Ronnie Del Carmen – “Up,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”
Paul A. Felix – “Big Hero 6,” “Lilo & Stitch”
Michael Fukushima – “Me and My Moulton,” “Dimanche/Sunday”
Don Hall – “Big Hero 6,” “Winnie the Pooh”
Talkhon Hamzavi – “Parvaneh,” “Taub”
Hu Wei – “Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak),” “Le Propriétaire”
Jin Kim – “Big Hero 6,” “Bolt”
Mat Kirkby – “The Phone Call,” “Hard to Swallow”
David Kneupper – “Alex and Sylvia,” “The Civil War in 4 Minutes”
Michael Lennox – “Boogaloo and Graham,” “The Back of Beyond”
Fabio Lignini – “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Puss in Boots”
James Lucas – “The Phone Call”
Patrick Osborne – “Feast,” “Paperman”
Jerome Ranft – “Toy Story 3,” “Ratatouille”
Jim Reardon – “Wreck-It Ralph,” “WALL-E”
Kristina Reed – “Feast,” “Paperman”
Jason Reisig – “Home,” “Shrek Forever After”
Nicolas Schmerkin – “Habana,” “Logorama”
Anthony Stacchi – “The Boxtrolls,” “Open Season”
Isao Takahata – “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,” “Grave of the Fireflies”
Michael Thurmeier – “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” “No Time for Nuts”
Marlon West – “Frozen,” “The Princess and the Frog”

Sound
Ray Beckett – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Hurt Locker”
Odin Benitez – “Frozen,” “Silver Linings Playbook”
Ron Bochar – “Mortdecai,” “Moneyball”
Jason Canovas – “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” “World War Z”
Thomas Curley – “Whiplash,” “The Spectacular Now”
Michael Dressel – “American Sniper,” “Interstellar”
Mary H. Ellis – “Vacation,” “Prisoners”
Stephanie Flack – “Jupiter Ascending,” “Ender’s Game”
Martín Hernández – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Dean Humphreys – “Taken 3,” “The Pianist”
William Johnston – Vice President of Engineering, Formosa Group
Shawn Jones – “Iron Man 3,” “Drive”
Daniel Laurie – “Inside Out,” “Big Hero 6”
David Lee – “Unbroken,” “The Matrix”
Craig Mann – “Dope,” “Whiplash”
Kyrsten Mate – “Tomorrowland,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Shannon J. Mills – “Inside Out,” “Big Hero 6”
Bryan K. Pennington – “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Promised Land”
Juan P. Peralta – “Tomorrowland,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
John Ross – “Danny Collins,” “American Hustle”
Peter Staubli – “San Andreas,” “Skyfall”
Mark Taylor – “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Captain Phillips”
Addison Teague – “Big Hero 6,” “The Amazing Spider-Man”
Jon Title – “San Andreas,” “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”
Thomas Varga – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “The Immigrant”
Ben Wilkins – “Whiplash,” “Star Trek”

Visual Effects
Nicolas Aithadi – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “X-Men: First Class”
Daniel Barrett – “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
Stephane Ceretti – “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Cloud Atlas”
Paul Corbould – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Tim Crosbie – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “The Wolverine”
Dan DeLeeuw – “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Iron Man 3”
Sean Faden – “Fast & Furious 6,” “Let Me In”
Joe Farrell – “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Hereafter”
Scott R. Fisher – “Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight Rises”
Chris Harvey – “Chappie,” “Fast & Furious 6”
Alex Jaeger – “Tomorrowland,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”
Matt Kutcher – “Focus,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
Andrew Lockley – “Interstellar,” “Inception”
Gray Marshall – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Carl Miller – “Jurassic World,” “Elysium”
David Nakabayashi – “Tomorrowland,” “Avatar”
Rocco Passionino – “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Spider-Man 2”
Lou Pecora – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Cary Phillips – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Ellen Poon – “Frozen,” “Inception”
Edwin Rivera – “22 Jump Street,” “Moneyball”
Cameron Waldbauer – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Elysium”
Erik Winquist – “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Avatar”

Writers
Armando Bo – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Damien Chazelle* – “Whiplash,” “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”
Álex de la Iglesia – “El Crimen Perfecto,” “The Day of the Beast”
Rick Famuyiwa – “Dope,” “The Wood”
Maya Forbes – “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Monsters vs Aliens”
E. Max Frye – “Foxcatcher,” “Something Wild”
Nicolás Giacobone – “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “Biutiful”
Dan Gilroy – “Nightcrawler,” “The Bourne Legacy”
Jorge Guerricaechevarría – “Cell 211,” “The Day of the Beast”
Rita Hsiao – “Toy Story 2,” “Mulan”
Simon Kinberg – “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Sherlock Holmes”
Malcolm D. Lee* – “The Best Man Holiday,” “The Best Man”
Christopher Markus – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Stephen McFeely – “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Graham Moore – “The Imitation Game”
Paweł Pawlikowski* – “Ida,” “My Summer of Love”
Abderrahmane Sissako* – “Timbuktu,” “Bamako”
Damián Szifron* – “Wild Tales,” “On Probation”
Kessen Tall – “Timbuktu”
Tyger Williams – “The Perfect Guy,” “Menace II Society”
Andrey Zvyagintsev* – “Leviathan,” “Elena”

Associates
Victoria Belfrage
Josh Braun
Wayne Fitterman
Sharon Jackson
Patricia Keighley
Cliff Roberts
Elyse Scherz
James Toth
Bart Walker

Seven individuals (noted above by an asterisk) have been invited to join the Academy by multiple branches.  These individuals must select one branch upon accepting membership.
Each year, each Academy member may sponsor one candidate for membership within their branch.  New member application reviews take place in the spring.  Applications for the coming year must be received byMarch 24, 2016.
New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception in September.
# # #

Friday, June 12, 2015

On Netflix: Same Old Routine on 'Orange is the New Black'

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After a powerful and manipulative tornado named Vee ripped through Litchfield in season two of Netflix's hit dramedy series "Orange is the New Black",  things have come back to normal, or even the monotonous, in the follow-up season that premiered a few hours earlier of its June 12 release.

The season starts off quite soft with a Mother's Day celebration at the clink which was a nice breather after everything that had happened at Litchfield in the last season. This allowed us to get reacquainted with a few of our favorites: Red is out of the infirmary; Daya is still pregnant; Poussey, Taystee and Black Cindy are doing whatever they do; and everyone else is everyone else.

Taking a turn for the worse, Alex is "magically" back at Litchfield, continuing a tireless plotline of Piper and her (former) lover still crossing paths at what seems to be the only women's prison in the country - or one of two, after another was temporarily featured at the start of season two.

As the show slowly gets its footing. We find out Litchfield maybe closing, Alex and Piper are angrily in love with each other, and Bennett and Daya are engaged, yet the baby drama doesn't end when Pornstache's mother gets entangled in a shakedown scheme to adopt the baby.

This appears to be the main driving points of the season this year, and with the regular order of 13 episodes it's going to be a long one, and one that will focus strongly on the show's most uninteresting character: its lead, Piper.

It's hard to have a show about any lead character when they're not interesting after the first season. Seeing Piper struggle adjusting to prison life was great, but with all of the time after that focusing more and more on Alex it becomes a drawn-out exercise of whining and a never-ending carousel of emotions that doesn't stop in every episode.

Seeing that season three will, once again, focus on that on-again, off-again relationship, Piper and Alex's only plot on the show has already been played out, but how to compensate for that?

Sure, there are a bunch of funny, endearing and colorful cast members in this diverse ensemble, but nothing they bring to the table can bring the show back up to it's great second season with Lorraine Toussaint's scene-stealing performance as Vee. No subplots or actions are leaving me with an urgency to keep going to the next episode. I keep watching because it feels like a chore: you may want to hold it off until later, but you half-ass getting through it just to be done.

The show is as masterfully created as it ever and the cast is flawless as always, but nothing at Litchfield seems to be going on. The characters are routine and the biggest plot points are ones not even being built up to amount to much by season's end.

Rating: C