OVP: Supporting Actress (2022)

OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2022)

The Nominees Were...

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Hong Chau, The Whale

Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

My Thoughts: The internet is kind of an ugly place.  It has corners of wonder, information at your fingertips, friendships develop there (I'm literally typing this at the apartment of a friend I met on the internet), and you can make community with people oceans away.  But it's also a place of extremes, where for some reason everything, even something as simple as an Oscar race, becomes about hatred & ragging on a longtime character actress getting her moment in the sun.

This is all to say, that I, unlike every person on the internet, am in the middle on Jamie Lee Curtis's win for Everything Everywhere All at Once.  I think Curtis is the fourth best performance in the film, but that's not an insult, it's just a well-acted movie.  She's a longtime trouper who knows how to land every comic line reading here, making a character that doesn't read as memorable in the script last in your brain throughout the movie (which is critical to land some of the film's best visual humor in the back-half).  Curtis is charming, and may have won in part because everyone likes her & she was in a major Best Picture winner (she would not be the first person to get an Oscar by playing that card), but she's also someone who has deserved at least a couple of nominations by now, and who lands most of her (short) role.  I'm fine with it, particularly given what we'll discuss later this week in Best Actor.

On the same side, while I do think her costar Stephanie Hsu is better than her, it's not a crime that she didn't win an Oscar (go to certain corners of Twitter, and people will disagree on that front).  Hsu has the trickiest part in the movie, playing dual roles that need to be connected without it feeling like we're belaboring the metaphor, but she does it, stealing scenes from actors with decades more experience, and giving us an overlapping resolution with her mother, Michelle Yeoh.  Like most of the actors in the film, I think the swirling end of the movie might undercut some of the points her performance is trying to make, but this is such a promising start to her career.

Angela Bassett is getting an Honorary Oscar later this year, which, honestly, is too soon (I didn't get to talk about this on the blog because time got away from me, but I think she's too young to get a "we're never going to give you a win" statue, particularly after she nearly won in 2022).  Bassett is a brilliant performer, but this role is not good enough to give her a statue.  She gets one great soliloquy, used to maximum effect in the trailers & her Oscar clip, but it's not enough-the movie feels aimless, and needs her character to have more grounding to underline the tragic nature of this movie (particularly given the real-life death that necessitated its melancholy approach).  Good actress, forgettable performance.

Hong Chau is in a similar situation.  Unlike Bassett, Chau is hampered by a terrible movie (Black Panther 2 is fine).  She's the best part of it, and the way that she channels frustration onto the door-to-door missionary who keeps visiting Brendan Fraser's dying Charlie is good.  But it's lost in a movie that has no logic.  Her part feels so alien, this put-upon friend who clearly has not had any in-depth conversations with Charlie because she'd understand how messed-up he has become psychologically in the years that followed his partner's death, and Chau's natural ability to relate to the material can't work in a movie where the script is this bad.  Getting nominated for her scene-stealing work in The Menu would've been a better option.

Our final nominee is Kerry Condon, the "only woman in a cast of men" nomination that happens frequently with Supporting Actress, but here, she's given more to do than just reflect the male actors around her.  Condon's work is kind of spectacular.  In a film where so many around Padraic are trying to find their dreams (which unbeknownst to him, they've been giving up for his happiness), she's the one who understands that it might be worth at least trying.  Her final scenes, when she has to balance the joy of breathing for the first time in years and the heartbreaking guilt of potentially abandoning her brother to the life of loneliness she's escaping is haunting, and the culmination of a movie-long side performance.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes went with Bassett, besting Condon, Curtis, Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness), and Carey Mulligan (She Said), while BAFTA picked Condon against Bassett, Chau, Curtis, de Leon, & Mulligan.  SAG copied Oscar's lineup exactly, including the winner, which does beg the question of who was in sixth place.  I called this lineup exactly and this was less something I was proud of and more something where I was predicting the five frontrunners.  De Leon's film doing well otherwise might mean it's her, and she's the safest supporting actress, but honestly-a crazy nomination like Jean Smart for Babylon was clearly an option here (as would be some of the plethora of supporting actresses in Women Talking).  I will take theories in the comments.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: Given that both Glass Onion and Women Talking had multiple performances that deserved inclusion in this lineup, it's weird women in neither of these movies got any love.

Oscar’s Choice: The EEAAO sweep and one of the most impressive awards campaigns I've ever seen got Jamie Lee Curtis the win over Angela Bassett & Kerry Condon.

My Choice: My victor is Condon-her work is the best fit for her film, and has the best-constructed arch.  Behind her (in order) are Hsu, Curtis, Bassett, & Chau.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Do you want to stay with the Final Girl getting her statue, or do you have time for the stage actress making good on the big screen?  Do we think it was Condon or Bassett who was in second place (history will write it was Bassett, but I kind of think it was Condon giving that film's strength overall)?  And who was our sixth place?  Share your thoughts below!

Also in 2022: Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, International Feature Film, Animated Feature, Sound, Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2022

Past Best Supporting Actress Contests: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

The Good, the Bad, the Undecided, & the Complicated of the 95th Oscars

And there we have it folks, the 95th Academy Awards are in the books.  We have spent more time discussing this Oscar race than the last couple for reasons I'm not entirely certain why (I've been more vested in this race unexpectedly), and we weirdly are not going to leave it behind for long.  I always pick the next OVP contest we profile based on whichever one we finish last, and unless something really strange happens in the next 24 hours, 2022 is going to bizarrely be the next movie to hit that milestone (I've never finished a year this quickly), so we could be into it as early as a month from now.  But as is our tradition here, let's close out the initial run with a peak at the good, bad, and the complicated of last night's Oscars.

The Good

I'm going to start with the good both because it makes sense and also because the internet seems incapable of celebrating anything these days, and I want to recognize-the Oscars did a good job last night.  Putting on an Oscar ceremony is hard...there's an expectation that you have to do something different, that you will have to strive for new viewers & create an ambience or world that's at once respecting tradition but in the process completely unique (i.e. impossible expectations).  In the process, the Oscars oftentimes have felt the need to emulate the Tonys, the Grammys, or in the last couple of years, something truly unforgivable like Jimmy Fallon.  So Jimmy Kimmel was smart to go back to what made the last Oscars heyday (the 1990's and early 2000's) so good.  He delivered a crisp, gimmick-free monologue, one with some solid jokes (maybe a little heavy on the slap jokes, but you can forgive him on that one given that it was inevitable), and stayed relatively safe.  Even the edgier jokes (like the ones about the recently deceased Robert Blake) were at least funny.  Kimmel has been my favorite host since at least Ellen Degeneres, maybe even since the Steve/Billy/Whoopi years, and I'd be happy if he got the same number of opportunities as Whoopi or Billy did before his Oscar career is finished.

In terms of wins, my favorite (by far) was Sarah Polley because at that point, based on the All Quiet on the Western Front stampede (more on that in a second), I was worried she'd go down in a sweep, but thankfully Oscar gave one of our most innovative filmmakers a statue for a wonderful movie.  And while it was not my favorite movie of the year, it's hard to begrudge the Everyone Everywhere All at Once crowd their trophies.  Yeoh & Quan were excellent in their films, and while Jamie Lee Curtis has been better, it's hard to begrudge her this.  She should be on her third or fourth nomination by now, and the reason she isn't is because her best work (Halloween, A Fish Called Wanda, True Lies, Freaky Friday) is in genres like action, comedy, & horror that Oscar shies away from...if you're going to give a career trophy, give it to someone who is severely under-rewarded.  Plus, like, she's good in the movie even if she's not as good as some of her costars...this is a win that will age perfectly well.

The Indifferent

In the past couple of years, to try and stabilize my mood & not constantly drown in worry or negativity, I have given myself permission to not have opinions on some things.  I'm going to highlight three spots that the internet was mad about (or at least passionate about) that I honestly...don't really care one way or the other.

The first was The Little Mermaid trailer.  Did I think it was a little tacky that ABC (owned by Disney) gave the Mouse House's single most important property of 2023 an in-ceremony plug?  Yes.  Does the cinematography & visual effects in the trailer look actively bad to the point where it looks like the movie is not finished yet?  Yes.  Do I understand that in order to get viewers, you do need to entice clicks on the internet, and arguably one of the most on-theme ways to do that would be to highlight movies viewers at home are super excited to see as we embark on the next year of movies?  Yes, yes I do.  I think if we make this a thing there might be less tacky ways to do it, but I'm not opposed to major releases for the next year (hopefully not just for Disney if we do this again) getting incorporated into the show if that means more conversation online and more people buying movie tickets.

The musical performances I was also a bit blasé about (with one exception-more in a second).  I liked Rihanna & RRR's performances, and found enough camp in the David Byrne & Diane Warren performances to not hate them even if I'm not a fan of those songs.  But I don't understand why they never seem to maximize the stage & production numbers in the same way that the Tonys or Grammys always seem to pull off.  I'm not mad about it because I don't really tune into the Oscars for the musical numbers (though as a Rihanna stan, I was thrilled to see her singing anything after such a long absence), but it flummoxes me why the world's most talented visual artists don't know how to stage a production number.

The final one I don't care that much about-the In Memoriam.  I have to come to terms that people will ALWAYS be mad about this one, and while there are performers on occasion who probably warrant this sort of exclusion (this year, I think Anne Heche getting skipped was a bad look, and Tom Sizemore was a weird miss), the internet naming people like Leslie Jordan and Cindy Williams, both of whom were FAR more important on television, as a grave sin the show committed, shows that no one will ever be satisfied on this.  And the beautiful, sad ode a crying John Travolta made to Olivia Newton-John was incredibly memorable.  I think the answer here has always been to only feature Academy members, as well as former nominees & winners, but until then, I'm just kind of tapping out on this one.

The Bad

I talked up front about how Jimmy Kimmel did well, but the rest of the presenters were a bust.  Hugh Grant & Julia Louis-Dreyfus aside (I liked both of their jokes), none of the presenters were very funny.  I get that with someone like Harrison Ford (who was clearly thrown off having to read what was obviously a script intended for he & Glenn Close, the far more natural stage actor of the two, were going to run through for Best Picture before she dropped out due to Covid), but what about Melissa McCarthy?  You make her go out there and sell The Little Mermaid and you couldn't have one of the most gifted comediennes in the movies do at least a little bit of banter with Halle Bailey?  Come on now.

The one musical performance I'm not letting slide is Lady Gaga's.  If you read this blog a lot, you'll probably be aware I have a complicated fandom with Gaga, but I'd like to remind you that I am generally into her music (or at least enough of it that I would consider myself a fan of her music) even if I don't like her acting.  But that performance was ill-advised & poorly-constructed.  It's clear that the rumors that she wasn't able to show up were, in fact, the truth and not a publicity stunt, given how horribly that was shot by the cameraman, and how badly that intro was planned.  What was with this deeply emotional start (for the end credits song to an action film sequel?), and what was with the choice for a stripped down, Nirvana-esque performance from someone who was in full glamour mode just moments before, to the point where you could tell she'd just had her makeup hurriedly wiped off backstage?  I'm not above a stunt, and Gaga does them better than most, but this one did not play well, and only the most ardent (or oblivious) of stans could say this was a win for her.  Kudos, though, for at least showing up when Tom Cruise & James Cameron (who both were nominated and made an abject fortune off of moviegoers this past year) wouldn't (I loved Kimmel taking them to task for not being there).

The biggest misses, though, came in two films that won major statues.  I try not to get too hung up on who did or didn't win (I can count on one hand how many of the films that won were the nominees that I personally would've chosen), but these movies were actively bad, and won at the expense of a LOT of better movies.  The first was The Whale, winning Best Makeup for an unrealistic fat suit (we really are not past this Hollywood?) and for Brendan Fraser's performance in it.  Fraser seems like a nice guy, but it has to be said before the season ends-he's not good in this movie, in fact he's bordering on awful, and he's not a competent enough actor otherwise (at least from what he's shown us in films) to get the benefit of the doubt here.  Truly-his best work remains light action-adventure or comedy films like The Mummy and George of the Jungle, which isn't great acting so much as charismatic (and certainly nowhere near good enough for an Oscar citation).  His work in The Whale was the worst performance nominated this year, in the worst film I saw in 2022.  Given he's a straight actor in a body suit playing a gay, obese man who is treated like a leper his whole movie for no other reason than he's fat...this will age like milk, and Fraser's victory deserves to be named alongside George Arliss & Rami Malek's as one of the worst, most offensive wins in the history of Best Actor.

Finally, there's All Quiet on the Western Front, which got four Oscar statues.  Unlike The Whale, because it won below-the-line categories, it's probably going to age fine (or at least fade into oblivion).  But I have to say, this is a boring, lifeless movie that reads as almost a photo copy of the previous iterations of the story, except they added blood.  Particularly given the opportunity to give a final statue to John Williams in Best Score or honor the first female cinematographer in Best Cinematography...it'd be one thing if All Quiet actually was good enough to win any of these statues, but since it wasn't, I'm bummed that Oscar didn't give us better television.

The Complicated

Two things stand out to me as complicated, and they are things that people are talking about on social media that I do have an opinion on, but probably one too nuanced for 280 characters.  The first is the sweep.  This is weird for younger Oscar viewers, who haven't really experienced a sweep in recent years because honestly the last proper one was in 2008 for Slumdog Millionaire.  Everything Everywhere All at Once won more Oscars than any film since they expanded the Best Picture field.  I kind of like a sweep-I think it's shorthand for Oscar putting its stamp truly on a year (it means they're really investing in it, for good or bad, as part of their legacy), but I'm also aware that this means that brilliant movies like Tar, The Banshees of Inisherin, and The Fabelmans go home empty-handed.  I personally think a sweep on occasion is a good thing-it provides easy talking points to viewers, and it also underscores that there's another option to "spread the wealth."  But I'm also bummed movies that I liked better didn't get more love.

The second one is the internet being angry about Jamie Lee Curtis beating Angela Bassett.  I feel like what gets lost in this conversation is that Curtis, as we mentioned above, has spent her career largely being ignored by critical bodies despite being a very consistent actor.  She is, surface-level, the daughter of Hollywood royalty (her parents are Golden Age icons and Oscar nominees themselves Janet Leigh & Tony Curtis), and yes, she got in the room in a way that Angela Bassett, the daughter of a single mother & social worker from St. Petersburg, Florida, could not.  But calling this an easy victory for Curtis is negated by the fact that she's spent most of her career fighting to be treated seriously as a truly talented actor and not just with being a yogurt spokesmodel.

What is easier to be angry about with Bassett, though, is what her loss and career has meant.  On the surface, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying either of these are GREAT performances (both of these women have been worse, both have been better, but without Oscar giving his stamp I doubt these movies would've been the headlines in these women's epitaph's).  But Bassett losing underscores that, unlike Curtis who spent her career being one of the best performers in genres Oscar ignored (in very good movies), Bassett largely attempted to work in serious dramas & biopics that are Oscar's bread-and-butter.  Films like Music of the Heart, Waiting to Exhale, and Akeelah and the Bee are the types of movies that Oscar sometimes pays attention to, but didn't give Bassett the time of day in them (and except for Exhale, aren't remembered in the same way that Curtis's work in something like Halloween or True Lies is).  It also shows that Bassett, who coming out of What's Love Got to Do With It, should have had more roles like those bestowed upon women like Holly Hunter, Susan Sarandon, & Jodie Foster who were in major films at that time, did not get a career like that, primarily because of the color of her skin.  Bassett joins a long list of Black women like Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, & Cicely Tyson who were clearly talented, but Hollywood wasn't willing to give a once-in-a-generation talent the kind of career she'd have been given as a white actress. Viola Davis is really the first Black actress to get the kind of career that women like Hunter, Sarandon, & Foster ended up with, and at 64, while Bassett could be back to the Dolby, her fans are aware that this could be it for an actress who had the talent to be the next Meryl Streep or Glenn Close...but not a Hollywood that was ready to let her prove it.

OVP: Soul (2020)

Film: Soul (2020)

Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett

Director: Pete Docter

Oscar History: 3 nominations/2 wins (Best Animated Feature Film*, Sound, Score*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Pixar has had an ebb-and-flow when it comes to making films for children versus for their parents.  Even from its feature-film beginnings with Toy Story, that film might have had flashy cowboys & astronauts for children, but the parents in the room understood that this was about getting older, and could look at their little Andy's & understand that they only got to be in this stage for so long.  Occasionally they went totally for kids (the Cars franchise), and in some cases it feels like it leaned more heavily onto the adults with only a few hints for the kids (Up had the dog & the boy scout child, but otherwise was about two old men battling it out as they aged).  Soul, though, takes Pixar to a new direction-while the colors are playful & occasionally the baby souls might feel like a way for children to latch on, this is a film entirely for grownups; this is the first Pixar, and perhaps first Disney animated, film where children are the afterthought.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Joe (Foxx), a middle school music teacher whose passion is not in education but in the gigs he plays at jazz venues & nightclubs, where he is an excellent pianist but never got his big break.  When he finally does get a chance to jam with legendary musician Dorothea Williams (Bassett), he's so excited he doesn't realize there's a manhole in front of him, and he, well, falls through and dies.  This brings him to the "Great Beyond," essentially his afterlife, but Joe isn't ready to die, and attempts to escape from this place, but does so with 22 (Fey), a soul that has refused to leave the Great Beyond and start an actual life on Earth.  When the two go to Earth, they switch bodies, and slowly 22 learns about life (realizing it's worth living), and Joe understands that aspects of his life have been ignored & even run selfishly (he has had more impact than he knew).  This results in 22 getting the same "imprint" of hobbies as Joe, even though she's different, and so Joe (after jamming with Dorothea & realizing it wasn't as grand as he expected it), goes back to save her, and give her a chance at a true, unique life on earth.  In doing so, he is given a reprieve to return to his life from the Great Beyond, and he does, but with a renewed perspective to live life to its fullest.

Soul tries to do a lot, and that doesn't always work even in strong movies.  The third act is convoluted-the mythology of the Great Beyond is a bit too convoluted for a movie that's only 100 minutes long, and it does feel like we could've trimmed a bit of the body-swapping aspects as it wears out its welcome pretty quickly.  The film also borrows too much from previous Pixar messages, specifically Inside Out, and so it doesn't feel as special as it might've ten years ago.

That said, Soul is occasionally really wonderful.  The color scheme (so much purple and white) is a treasure (Pixar continues to just reach for the stars aesthetically), and the score is a dream.  It also has the gaul to not just make a film for adults, but a complicated one.  The conversations about not letting your dreams control your destiny is one that we all have to do.  Most of us don't get to have the job we had when we're ten, and we work in day jobs that pay the bills, but aren't what inspires us.  Soul challenges its viewers to ignore the voice in our head that says that we "failed" as a result, and instead to appreciate the dreams & the gifts that we have made for ourselves, and not let us be defined just by our careers in a world where that's what most of us feel defined by.  It's a good message, and an important one after a year of many of us losing our jobs (or more) or having an undue amount of stress that has us appreciating life more.  The film ends on a note of ambiguity but of realness.  Joe has hopes that he will take this experience and not fall back into the same rut, into the same shell of underwhelmed expectations-it's the hope we all carry as we move forward past trauma & close calls (like our collective 2020).  That Pixar is brave enough to admit that this is harder than it seems, and that it doesn't show the next chapter of his life is smart, and yet another sign that this movie is made for the adult-who-still-dreams.

Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Film: Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Stars: Jordan Fry, Wesley Singerman, Steve Anderson, Nicole Sullivan, Tom Selleck, Angela Bassett, Laurie Metcalf, Adam West
Director: Stephen Anderson
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

You know what, in these coronavirus times, it's important to keep distracting ourselves, so I lied this morning-we will have a few more animated films coming down-the-pike in terms of reviews over the next few days, as one of the projects that I'm doing (I'm always doing at least a dozen film-watching projects) is trying to see all of the official Walt Disney Animated Studio films (the 58 films we most commonly associate with "Disney" rather than subsidiary like Pixar or ImageMovers) and with the coronavirus being really depressing, Disney films feel like a good anecdote.  With one exception (Winnie the Pooh), the films I'm missing fall entirely under two time periods: the post-Bambi/pre-Cinderella era where Disney was often making movies that were more a series of shorts than a long-tale narrative, and the post-Tarzan/pre-Princess and the Frog era where Disney was seeing its crown threatened by inter-company rival Pixar.  The latter group has been where I have been focusing my attention with recent viewings of Treasure Planet and Home on the Range, and it's where we're continuing today with one of the least-discussed films of that era, Meet the Robinsons.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film focuses on Lewis (Fry), a brilliant young inventor whose mother abandoned him as a boy at an orphanage.  Lewis, because he's constantly trying to impress with his inventions, never seems to make a connection with parents trying to adopt a child, and thus lives a solitary life, frequently to the chagrin of his roommate Goob.  One day, at the science fair, a different boy, apparently from the future named Wilbur (Singerman), comes and convinces Lewis to come from his time to help stop a man in a Bowler Hat (Anderson).  Along the way, Lewis suddenly befriends Wilbur's family, having them become the surrogate family he's always dreamed of, and suddenly he understands they are the family he's always dreamed of-Wilbur is actually his son, and these are the parents & spouse he's always hoped to have (the man in the Bowler Hat is a constantly jealous Goob).  The film ends with Lewis getting adopted in his own time by what he knows will be his new family, and starting the life he's always dreamed for himself as a successful inventor.

The movie is well-intentioned, but kind of a mess.  There are far, far too many characters, as the expansive family is hard to keep straight.  You have to wonder if Disney, which when it started this movie didn't own Pixar and when it was released did, was hoping this might become a television show or franchise, something where you could highlight the plethora of characters in a meaningful way rather than just introduce & dispose them.  The film is also littered with sight gags that don't really work, and music that feels atonal to the film (not many movies could put Rufus Wainwright & All-American Rejects on the same soundtrack).  It does feature the smash hit "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas, which...did you know that was from a Disney movie?

Worst of all, though, is the animation.  Some might chalk up the gaudy, cable animated characters to simply being 2007, but that isn't really a valid excuse.  While Meet the Robinsons was coming out, movies like Cars and Ratatouille were showing that computer animation could be stylish, distinctive, and beautiful.  That's not the case here.  The characters are drawn as empty and vapid, not so much leaning into the uncanny valley as just skipping it over for a computer game version of animation.  Meet the Robinsons is perhaps one of the only Disney films I may ever say this about, but-it looks ugly.  I'm curious as I move into some of the other films of this era (I'm taking my #FlattentheCurve very seriously here so I'll be sticking to home as much as is humanly possible) if this is also the case, because even when the story is a failure, Disney almost always gets the aesthetic right.  Just not with Meet the Robinsons.

OVP: Black Panther (2018)

Film: Black Panther (2018)
Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurina, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis
Director: Ryan Coogler
Oscar History: 7 Nominations/3 wins (Picture, Production Design*, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Score*, Song-"All the Stars," Costume Design*)
(Not So) Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Believe it or not, one of the movies that I have not reviewed yet from 2018 is the year's biggest film.  When I was sitting down to write this review, I realized too much of it was forgotten from the first time I caught it, and since I'm on vacation & in a serious "let's just watch another movie" fix right now, I felt the need to rewatch the picture before I got to reviewing it, particularly considering this is a review I will link quite often when we get to the 2018 OVP as it appears destined to be nominated (a lot).  Hence the "Not So" from above, though I will state that my opinions of the film haven't changed much since I caught the film initially.  Black Panther, while not breaking any new plot ground (this is in many ways similar to say an Iron Man or Captain America movie) makes up for its lack of originality with the script by having a compelling lead, a strong villain, and crafting a world unique onto its own in a way few other Marvel universe films have been able to achieve.

(Spoilers Ahead...though really, you read this blog and haven't seen Black Panther yet?) The movie picks up where Captain America 3 picks up (I'll be reviewing the two Ant-Man movies in the next week or so and will be addressing the odd "Chapter XX" aspects of the Marvel franchise then, but it's worth recalling that seeing these movies out-of-sequence has pretty severe drawbacks that I normally debit movies for not standing on their own, but perhaps I should stop as that's the way the world is now).  We have T'Challa (Boseman), the Black Panther, returning home to Wakanda after the death of his father to assume his mantle as the king.  We get an introduction relatively quickly to his life in this futuristic country, including his romance with longtime friend/ex-girlfriend Nakia (Nyong'o) and his brainy sister Shuri (Wright), who runs most of the technological advances in Wakanda.  The film quickly shows the parallels between T'Challa, who grew up in great wealth-and-prilege to his cousin N'Jadaka, who eventually goes by Killmonger (Jordan), who thanks to his exiled & dead father, grew up in the projects on Los Angeles, and wants revenge for the death of his father, as well as to arm black people around the world using Wakanda's technology as a weapon.  He challenges T'Challa to a fight to take the throne, a fight that he loses and nearly dies, but as this is a Marvel movie eventually recovers from, and fights Killmonger, killing him in combat but eventually conceding that Wakanda has to move out of the shadows and become a world leader, rather than remaining isolated.

The film tackles some heartier stuff than you usually see from a Marvel movie.  While occasionally the films go into ethical issues of privacy and terrorism, racism hasn't been central to past Marvel films because, well, there hasn't been a person-of-color lead in any of their pictures.  As a result, this film feels instantly fresher than some of the staler recent installments whose only outlets appear to make their characters more ridiculous (Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor Ragnarok).  Disney usually paints these sorts of arguments in broad strokes so as not to risk alienating audiences, but Coogler keeps in enough truth to his racial critiques (he's not throwing out ideas that aren't based in our own reality, rather than just Marvel's), to make the film feel modern and one of the more essential Marvel Universe pictures.

Boseman's lead character doesn't have enough differentiating qualities in my opinion, other than being proud, handsome, and noble; there's a risk with a superhero like this that they become Superman-impenetrable and too reliant on comic book cliche to be relatable to the audience.  However, the side characters are fresher & stronger than most Marvel movies of late, which helps elevate Black Panther.  Shuri is hilarious, and Wright plays her with a sense of actual teenage personality (she's the smartest girl in the room & she knows it), while Winston Duke's M'Baku is one of the more interesting non-main heroes/villains I've seen in a Marvel movie in a while.  His M'Baku is very similar to Killmonger (clearly worthy, but neglected thanks to his birth, and comes to the aid of T'Challa when he could so easily stay silent), and he has a wryness in his work ('we're vegetarians") that I'm excited to see come forward in a future picture.  And then there's Jordan, Coogler's most frequent muse whom he has gotten his strongest performances out of in the past (Fruitvale Station, Creed), and creates arguably Marvel's best villain to-date.  Think of that first scene with Jordan, where he takes a seemingly innocuous conversation with a white museum curator and turns it into both a moment to show his motives, but also to show the racial dynamic at play here.  While the focus in this scene is on an imaginary artifact from an imaginary country (Killmonger is trying to steal a vibranium weapon from this museum), he's name-checking actual African countries who were pillaged of this art by white colonialists, much like in real-life.  Jordan's performance is informed by important social issues involving race, and it's here that Coogler gets true depth added to his picture.  While the effects aren't always as bright as Ant-Man and the Wasp and the gravitas (or casting budget) doesn't approach that of Avengers 3, Black Panther stands apart because Coogler has a world-building vision in mind with crafting his picture, and it works because he roots it in some of the ugliness of our own existence.

2015 Emmy Predictions: The Miniseries

And now we transition from the shows you watch religiously to the TV movies that you have heard of starring the people you know as movie stars.  Yes, it's the miniseries/TV movie categories, which frequently feature the likes of HBO and PBS, though it's worth noting that at least a couple of other channels have snuck in with their own brand of worthiness.  Let's start, shall we?

Best Miniseries

American Crime

American Horror Story: Freak Show

The Honorable Woman

Olive Kitteridge

Wolf Hall

The Lowdown: I think now that Ryan Murphy has admitted that the seasons are interconnected that it might be even more questionable whether or not American Horror Story should be considered legal here, but even so it won't be interrupting the clear winner here.  HBO may not have had what one would consider a stellar miniseries season this past year, but without much competition (and boy howdy is this season generally pretty weak for Mini/TV Movies) I don't think that will matter as Elizabeth Strout's critically-acclaimed novel will surely end up at the top of the mountain.

My Prediction: Oliver Kitteridge

Best TV Movie

Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain, Poirot's Last Case

Bessie

Grace of Monaco

Hello Ladies: The Movie

Killing Jesus

Nightingale

The Lowdown: Really?  We really needed six in this category which managed to bring together Bill O'Reilly, a spinoff movie of a TV series no one watched, and a movie considered so bad that it couldn't get a theatrical release despite starring Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman?  I don't throw Poirot in there mostly because it's a swan song and I'm still bummed that David Suchet didn't score a "life achievement" sort of nomination in a pretty paltry season, but you know in a normal year it wouldn't have stood a prayer.  Either way, this is clearly between Bessie and Nightingale, and considering it had the higher-profile and Nightingale has an easy trophy to hand out as a consolation prize in acting, the blues singer is one of the simplest picks of the night.

My Prediction: Bessie

Best Actor in a Miniseries/TV Movie

Adrien Brody, Houdini

Ricky Gervais, Derek: The Final Chapter

Timothy Hutton, American Crime

Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge

David Oyelowo, Nightingale

Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall

The Lowdown: I like to imagine the Emmys and the Oscars have a little bit of a rivalry, with the Oscars being the star older brother to the Emmys shy, under-performing sister (their cousin Tony is the guy whom everyone looks nervously around when Grandma Peabody says "I wish he'd find a nice girl").  As a result of this, I think that the Oscars clear snub of David Oyelowo and the backlash against them will only strengthen his hand in trying to take home a different trophy this year.  Richard Jenkins theoretically has a chance if Olive is a blowout, but I doubt it will come to that.

My Prediction: David Oyelowo

Best Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie

Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman

Felicity Huffman, American Crime

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show

Queen Latifah, Bessie

Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge

Emma Thompson, Sweeney Todd at Lincoln Center

The Lowdown: An extremely prestigious affair, with all six women sporting Oscar nominations to go with their Emmy nods, though I suspect most of them don't have a prayer.  The best bets here are on Latifah, McDormand, and Lange (Gyllenhaal did win a surprise Golden Globe, and theoretically could score but I suspect not with the Emmys who aren't as likely to surprise on TV as the Globes).  McDormand has the most lauded program and doesn't have an Emmy (unlike Lange, who has three), and as a result I think that may be enough for her to seal-the-deal and get the Triple Crown, but don't entirely discount the other two women if you're being ballsy in your predictions.

My Prediction: Frances McDormand

Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries/TV Movie

Richard Cabral, American Crime

Damien Lewis, Wolf Hall

Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge

Denis O'Hare, American Horror Story: Freak Show

Michael Kenneth Williams, Bessie

Finn Wittrock, American Horror Story: Freak Show

The Lowdown: In a perfect world, this would be an easy win for Finn Wittrock, who created the most iconic performance of this bunch and had a "star is born" year in general (plus, the women on AHS always get all of the love).  However, the Emmys like their winners a bit sturdier than that, and Bill Murray hasn't won an Emmy award in 38 years.  He's also starring in the much buzzier miniseries, and doesn't have a costar to compete with (one has to assume that Denis O'Hare has Emmy fans considering he keeps getting nominated for these nothing roles).  As a result, expect Murray, if he shows up, to give a speech social media goes gaga over.

My Prediction: Bill Murray

Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie

Angela Bassett, American Horror Story: Freak Show

Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Freak Show

Zoe Kazan, Olive Kitteridge

Regina King, American Crime

Mo'Nique, Bessie

Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Freak Show

The Lowdown: After four nominations a lot of people seem to think this is Sarah Paulson's year, and indeed she did have a truly showy spot this past season as a two-headed woman (which had to have gained notice from voters).  Her competition, though, isn't a bunch of slouches, particularly Regina King (who has been a TV trouper for years and just got her first Emmy citation) and Kathy Bates (who won last year and is gunning for a third-never discount the Emmys ability to add yet another trophy to a shelf).  Paulson's biggest threat, though, is Oscar winner Mo'Nique, who likely isn't campaigning too heartily (it's about the performance, not the politics), but is universally regarded as an acting titan after her bravura work in Precious.  Considering the struggles she's had to make movies since then, one wonders if the Academy's acting branch will stand tall with her.  She's the underdog, but not by much.

My Prediction: I'm going to go with a rare upset (I don't usually do that since awards shows have gotten considerably more predictable in the past five years) and predict Mo'Nique.

And there it is-who do you think is taking the trophy?  Whom are you cheering for?  Share in the comments!

Ranting On...American Horror Story: Hotel

If you've read this blog for many years or have come here recently and perused the archives (you should-we post almost daily and there's over 1300 articles at your fingertips), you'll know that I have a complicated TV relationship with Ryan Murphy, the Emmy-winning creator of Nip/Tuck, Glee, The Normal Heart, and most recently American Horror Story.  I have watched many of his shows-hell, I was there from beginning to end of the abysmal The New Normal, though I don't know if I would consider myself a fan of his.  The reason for this is that Ryan Murphy is, more than any other showrunner (and all showrunners get this issue from time-to-time) a sucker for his own hype and a man who frequently finds himself ruining his creations.  Let's be clear here-I'm not one of those people who said Glee stopped being good after the first episode...though I am going to say that even with my Darren Criss-love that I just couldn't with the show eventually, particularly after they didn't know how to recover after the death of Cory Monteith and the introduction of the "new class."  Murphy is someone who ruins his creations, going on tangents that just don't make any sense for his shows, and frequently pushing his characters to such intense extremes that they are almost unrecognizable in the end.

As a result of this I have long thought that the anthology-style programs that he was creating on American Horror Story were a perfect fit for him.  After all, here was a place where he could reinvent himself each season, giving us another dose of his brand of crazy while never actually being able to go into a stupor of boredom and overwriting like he did on other shows.  And for the first two seasons of the program, we were left with something that made that seem correct.  Murder House was marvelously  fun-a sexy, fascinating look at a family haunted by a house, it's the sort of show that instantly both titillated and occasionally brought out some really strong acting (both in Murphy's wheelhouse), and Asylum may have been the high-point artistically, with a maddening array of great actors (Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, and James Cromwell all bringing their A-game) joining a truly well-formed plot that only allowed for occasional alien-induced distractions.  Then Coven came, and Murphy's focus shifted away from creating yet another vital story and instead onto the outlandish things he was going to make his cast do onscreen.  You had great actors like Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, and Gabourey Sidibe showing up, which had to be quite rewarding, but past them he suffered that fate that happens when comic book movies start getting made-when you have too many characters, the script gets muddled, and Coven became an exhausting mess.

His fourth season, though, is when things started to get completely off-the-rails.  Freak Show had arguably the worst turn by star Jessica Lange of the series, and even a bravura piece-of-work by Sarah Paulson couldn't save the series from utter eye-rolling (every character seemed to be obsessed with being horrible human beings and despicably violent and changed their moods seemingly every scene cut).  The season was saved, of course, by Finn Wittrock's picture-perfect turn as Dandy Mott, a villain unlike any that we had seen in past seasons of the show, and arguably the best creation for the series since at least Sister Jude, if not Constance Langdon herself. Still, though, Mott was the only real icing on a bloated season.

Which is why I look at Hotel and am cringing, because there's nothing about the cast that seems to be calling out "wow" in a major way to me.  Every other season of the show, of course, it was noted for having Jessica Lange, a movie star extraordinaire in the center of the occasional bedlam to ground the script.  A double Oscar-winner with an incredible ability to ooze confidence and create memorable moments, Lange was, to put it bluntly, too good to be bogged down when Murphy took her into a questionable direction.  Without her, though, we're left with some very good actors (Kathy Bates, Finn Wittrock, Angela Bassett, Sarah Paulson), who quite frankly don't have that ability to the same degree.  Kathy Bates is the best actor of this bunch (and like Lange also comes armed with an Oscar), but she's frequently relegated to the sidelines of this series and aside from her "featured" episodes, occasionally feels more like prestigious wallpaper than the great actress she is.  Sarah Paulson should be the central actor now (she's more than earned it), but she's been hit-or-miss in the series, with every Asylum resulting in a Coven, and doesn't have the movie star gravitas that Bates does to ground some of the more outlandish things in the script.  Angela Bassett's roles on the show have, like Bates, been severely underwritten and Wittrock is still new-we need to see if he can make it past Dandy Mott (Evan Peters, usually solid, has never been remotely as good as he was as Tate Langdon).  Plus, let's be honest here-Murphy is making this entirely about Lady Gaga from the promotions and the press.

I know I can be a little rough on Lady Gaga, but it's only because she's kind of emerged so far as a bit of a one-note pony.  She tried to be Madonna for most of her first two albums, and it was refreshing in a sea of R&B, and I'm not going to say that I wasn't into it for a while, but then she tried too hard to create this legion-of-fans-who-worship-me thing, and she felt increasingly inauthentic.  Her pop output ended up being avant garde without any substance when she released Applause, and let's be honest here-she wouldn't be doing a TV show on cable or doing Sound of Music medleys on the Oscars or duets albums with Tony Bennett if her career was where she wished it was.  This is a second act, and while those occasionally work for pop stars, most actors end up being more like Britney Spears than Cher when they go from singer to thespian.  Gaga's act has always been to try and offend people in the least offensive way possible, and she has seemed wooden in music videos where she's playing a part.  She could surprise (again, Cher), but I'm doubtful and wish that Murphy was trusting a stronger actor like Paulson or Bates with the center of the show.  Couple Gaga with the fact that he's hiring actors who seem pretty limited in their abilities (Cheyenne Jackson, Matt Bomer, Max Greenfield, Naomi Campbell, Wes Bentley-sorry, but it's true that none of them have really popped in a way other than a signature character), and I smell a bit of a disaster.  I could be wrong, and there's a very decent chance I get sucked in (I've quit AHS before only to end up back in the throes), but I am filled with a lot of dread based on everything I have read.

Those are my thoughts, anyway-what are yours?  What do you think of the looks of American Horror Story's next season?  Are you excited about Lady Gaga, or are you wishing that Jessica Lange was still around?  Share your thoughts below in the comments!

Thoughts On American Horror Story: Freak Show

Once upon a time, I used to do recaps of American Horror Story (and Glee, for that matter), but I quit a few episodes into Coven, principally because I quit watching the show.  In fact, though it sits somewhere on the labyrinth that is my Netflix queue (I feel like there are films on that list that will never actually escape at this point-I hit my 500 film limit a while ago), I have little yearning to go out and finish the series.

However, I have heard such interesting things about Freak Show that over the last three days I decided to binge-watch the first seven episodes, and I have to admit that I’m pleasantly surprised.  While it lacks the gravitas of Asylum and the surprise of Murder House, it may be the best-plotted Ryan Murphy show I’ve ever seen.  People seem to be a bit turned off by the deliberate, and occasionally even slow pace, but this is Ryan Murphy we are talking about-he starts and ends “major” relationships in single episodes of shows.  The fact that he seems to have actually planned out and kept Freak Show relatively grounded in a coherent story is nothing short of a miracle (I say this knowing full-well that next week one of the freaks could end up being an alien).

As a result, I’m not going to get back into recapping Freak Show (maybe I’ll start again with Season 5), but I figured I’d go through the five things I love and the five things I can’t stand coming out of the first seven episodes (Obviously, spoilers ensue)

The Good

1. Finn Wittrock’s Dandy Mott: Honestly, this is enough reason to watch the show.  Wittrock (whom I have met, and really is just spectacularly dreamy in person, to the point that I met Andrew Garfield moments later and couldn’t stop thinking about how attractive Wittrock was) is wonderful as Dandy, a sociopath with the mentality of a child and the sense of morality of a barracuda.  His lines can be both ridiculous and frightening.  And Wittrock isn’t afraid to make Dandy weirdly intoxicating and oddly real.  Plus, the American Psycho homage was, well, something to behold.

2. The Pacing: I said it above, but the pacing of the show has been beautifully-restrained, and has only helped sell the story.  The Dandy plot, in particular, seems unusually deliberate for Ryan Murphy, as he normally would have had Dandy out killing someone in the first episode.  There’s also the giant question mark of which villains we should fear the most: is it Dandy or is it Denis O’Hare’s sadistic Stanley, out to profit from the deaths of the freaks?

3. Jessica Lange: Lange’s story is weirdly similar to last season’s (a once-powerful woman clinging to her fading youth and delusion), but this year she has a darkness that goes with it.  I love the way that she finds the complete lack of moral compass and sense of reality that is Elsa: this is a woman surrounded by the absurd, and she has pronounced herself a god, but there is absolutely no hope for her dreams, and we as the audience see the pointlessness of her life, but she doesn’t, which results in a sense of danger surrounding her.

4. The Darkness: The reality of this year, quite frankly, is that it might be the darkest and bleakest season so far of the series.  You see that in Elsa, who had any chances of stardom stolen from her when her legs were amputated during a snuff film (again, dark).  You see that with the devastating long sequence death of Matt Bomer’s Andy (and the way that Dandy and Andy serve as weird mirrors of each other).  You see that in the death of arguably the series’ most lovable character Ma Petite, when the death seems so unnecessary.  And of course, also in the last episode, you see that in the way that Penny is forced into becoming a freak by her father, who tattoos her face because she disobeyed him.  These are rough, difficult, permanent scars that are inflicted on these people in a way that twinges a bit more than usual for this show.

5. The Celia Weston Scenes: At first this was a bit of a downer for me, as was the entire Denis O’Hare storyline (at some point they’re going to explain the Viking joke, correct?), but this is yet another payoff of moving at a slower pace.  It seems that the Weston scenes may be building to something-perhaps that all of the freaks have died at Stanley’s hand?  That we’ll someday see some of our villains like Stanley or Dandy in her cavalcade?  There’s so much potential here, and building potential is not something Ryan Murphy does well, so this is definitely in the plus column for now.

The Bad

1. Angela Bassett: Hopefully we’re headed in a different direction with the Oscar-nominated actress, but at this point she seems to be woefully underused by the show, and is forced throughout the series to use the phrase “ding-a-ling” which seems a bit much.  Honestly, and I mean this in as nice of a way as I can because the horrible nature of the show has been a solid high point for the series (it’s received an infusion of The Leftovers), but did we really need Desiree to have her dream stolen so quickly with the death of Dr. Bonham?  Couldn't that plot line have continued a bit longer?

2. The Twisty Back Story: I liked the back stories on nearly every character on the show, with this exception.  Twisty the Clown was far more menacing, and in my opinion, effective, when we had no idea what was going on behind the mask.  I understand that his being a murderer without as much knowledge of what he is doing compared with Dandy’s ruthless evil is a solid juxtaposition, but why did we even need to know that evil can come from good as well as bad?  Why not leave his creepy, horrible clown as a creepy horrible clown that eventually inspires Dandy to become just as ruthless?

3. Patti LaBelle: What precisely was the point of hiring someone as famous as LaBelle to be in the series just to have her be killed off without any sort of character development?  If they had to do that, why not pick an unknown actor who is looking for a break rather than a platinum-recording artist?  Considering how much singing randomly goes on at the Freak Show, couldn’t we at least have had a song before she went?

4. Michael Chiklis: I don’t like Dell, and like all Ryan Murphy productions, he’s the character who I find could have been cut (every season has at least one plotline that doesn’t need to be there, and Dell the Strong Man is certainly that role this year).  Dell is unnecessarily angry and illogical (he’s already a pariah-why does it matter to his fellow carnies if he was also gay), and quite frankly I haven’t seen enough character growth or rationale to keep him around, and his actions in killing off Ma Petite were just awful.

5. Emma Roberts: I don’t get what the appeal is here yet.  Her character’s actions are always shifting, and she’s not a strong enough actress yet to really sell these scenes.  Her role should be more interesting, particularly since she may be the most moral person so far in the season, excepting Ethel (she’s one of the only major characters who hasn’t killed someone quite yet), but I don’t see the draw to her at all yet.

The Undecided

1. Gabourey Sidibe: I don’t quite want to list all three of the main African-American actresses as disappointing this season quite yet (even if they all three feel vastly underwritten at this point), but I’m hoping that Sidibe is at least somewhat fun next week.  Sidibe is great with comedy on the red carpet, and her one-liners are frequently hilarious in other films/shows, so hopefully next week’s episode, where it looks like she is a featured player, will be great.

2. The Crossover Element: Ryan Murphy has claimed that all of the series are related, but doesn’t seem to have an ending planned.  Either he’s flying by the seat of his pants (always terrible in his case) or he has a plan to link the seasons together in the future, which would be pretty incredible if done well.  We’ll see when Lily Rabe returns as Sister Mary Eunice if this ends up being completely awesome or not.

3. Sarah Paulson’s Story Arch: The twins, it should be noted, are incredibly watchable.  Paulson’s acting is sublime, and they are fascinating in the way they are similar and different.  However, their story has been stuck in park since the first episode, and there hasn’t been much growth in their plot.  Clearly they are gearing up for them to be separated, but can’t they do something else in the meantime?

And those are my thoughts so far on the season.  What about yours?  Are you watching Freak Show, and where does it rank compared to past seasons of the show?  Where do you hope to see the show progress in coming weeks?  Which of this season’s newbies do you hope becomes part of the “regulars?”  Share in the comments!

American Horror Story: Boy Parts (#3.2)

Yes, I'm aware I'm a week late on this and should probably just skip ahead to our third episode (which I'm also a bit late on), but I'm a completist and considering how many people watch this show on DVR, I'm guessing a few of you just watched our second episode of the new season.  I was a little nervous after the first episode that I was going to have to meddle through a season that I didn't particularly enjoy, but this episode gave me a lot to hope for, even if we aren't quite at the genius of Murder House or Asylum quite yet.

The best development of this episode didn't revolve around any of the four Oscar-nominated actresses, but instead around one who has had to endure two seasons of this series as a murderous mother and a murderous nun-Lily Rabe's Misty Day has oddly become my favorite character of the season.  I was mesmerized by the opening scene, where she attacks those two alligator hunters while Stevie Nicks plays in the background (anyone think she's due for a cameo at some point this season considering her prominence in last night's episode?).  Later in the episode, when she decided to start helping Kyle (wanted to call him Tate-it might take a few episodes on that one), it dawned on me why I liked her.  In the same way that Lana became the soul of last season because she truly wanted to do some good (though she had greed and ambition in her bones, she still was the oddly right compass of Asylum), I'm hoping that Misty becomes that for this season.  Or, you know, you all are laughing at me because she's the surprise early death of this season.  Either way, I loved the respite we got from the horrors this episode during her scene with Farmiga and Peters.

Jessica Lange continues to be good, though I wish she would have given a little bit more information in her scene with Angela Bassett.  For starters, what was the war that was going on between Lange and Bassett's characters?  I gather that they are both witches, but different "kinds" of witches, and therefore hate each other?  Either way, I think that Lange's Fiona is going to go without immortality this season, but you just know that at least one person (likely Farmiga) is going to suffer from it.  Finally, on the other end of the good this episode, I really liked the strong steps we've made with Bates's character, who was acting to the hilt in the last episode but mellowed considerably this episode, especially in that funny final scene (though I'm confused about the extents of Bates's powers right now).

I'm still quite leery on our main teenage females, though.  Roberts casual disregard for all human life is a bit odd for someone so young, even if she's vapid and playing Lindsay Lohan as a witch (we all know it, it's about time someone just said it).  Every other character seems to have a motive in the show-Fiona's evil is out of self-interest, Madame Delphine loves her children, and Marie loves her minotaur-man, but Madison is just selfish.  I get that there are people in the world who are like this, but they aren't interesting.

Neither is whiny and stupid, which is what Zoe is turning into at the moment.  I also get that in real life people aren't as interesting or ambitious as Fiona, but Zoe is a little too bland and scattered for my tastes.  I hated the scene where she spilled all of the beans to the police officers-seriously, who does that?  If we all found out we were wizards or witches tomorrow, the one thing we'd make sure not to do is go around yelling and telling about it.  I'm hoping that with Misty as something of a role model we'll see her blossom a bit, because I am more onboard with Gabby Sidibe and Jamie Brewer's teens at the moment, and I have a sneaking suspicion we're about to lose one of them (there's always an early death on AHS).

What were your thoughts?  I'm about to go watch the third episode to figure out what happens, but do you have a favorite character yet?  Are you also wondering why Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare got credit billing and Angela Bassett didn't?  When the hell is Patti LuPone going to show up?  Share in the comments!

American Horror Story: Bitchcraft (#3.1)

Now entering Ryan Murphy’s School for Gifted Youngsters (McKinley High, you’ve been replaced).  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are in season three of American Horror Story.

I haven’t had the chance to re-watch some of the past seasons of the show, but I can tell you that, compared with some of the past seasons, I’m a teensy bit more nervous than I was after watching the premiere episode.  There was an incredible lot to like about the first episode.  Jessica Lange’s latest incarnation, Fiona, for example.  Lange has incredible presence, and manages to use her sexuality as a brandished weapon (though not as literally as Taissa Farmiga's Zoey).  The fact that she is the “Grand Supreme,” the most powerful witch of her era is a given the moment she click-clacks onto the screen.

The only other cast member that manages to equal her in this episode, though in a far more subdued way, is Sarah Paulson and her Cordelia.  Paulson, the great treasure that we’ve discovered from this series (am I the only one really feeling that she’s about to get her first Oscar nomination for Twelve Years a Slave?), shows what years of emotional abuse from her mother Fiona have done to her.  She’s clearly a mousy but powerful witch who spends most of her time tending to plants and instructing the young girls.

The rest of the episode wasn’t really my cup of tea, though there’s certainly potential all around (I promise that next week this will read less like a review and more like a recap, but this is my first encounter with these characters, after all).  The new cast members didn’t really catch on with me.  Gabourey Sidibe I love to death, but she was given less than nothing to do in this episode.  Emma Roberts, who is her inferior as an actress, gets a more robust role (she’s in the opening credits) and as a faded teen star (hmm…potentially life imitating art?) she shows a casual indifference to life that should be good for some chilling scenes later in the season, provided that she takes after her more talented costars.

Two actresses that we’re all more than aware can act that I also wasn’t feeling quite yet?  Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett.  From what I’ve heard I’m in the minority here (particularly with Bates), but I thought both of them played far too high into the rafters.  This is something I’m not as concerned with quite yet (like I am with Roberts) because both of these actresses can rise-and-fall a character as necessary and they were surely heightened to impress the craziness of their time (their scenes were nearly two centuries ago).  Once they come back to the modern era, I suspect that they’ll be able to join Fiona and Cordelia in a less scenery-chewing way.

The episode was oddly structured as well.  Taissa Farmiga’s voiceovers throughout the episode seemed eerily reminiscent of Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan monologues in the Twilight saga.  Her power to make men’s head explodes when she causes them to orgasm was a clever joke at the beginning of the episode, though part of me wonders if this is going to be a decision the writers regret if she can’t eventually get with Tate…err Kyle (who else had Murder House flashbacks during that party scene?).

One of the best things about this episode, though, was the wonderful actress love-in this episode received.  Evan Peters and Denis O’Hare aside, this looks to be an entirely female-oriented season, something that I would have thought impossible on FX in the past, and if nothing else, it’s going to be a Bechdel grand slam (though the reverse Bechdel was passed, I doubt it will be very often).  I haven't even mentioned Jamie Brewer, Frances Conroy, and soon-to-be-spotted Patti Lupone-it's a wonderfully female-driven season, and I couldn't be happier.

All-in-all there’s more than enough to get me back week-after-week, but I just felt there was something off throughout.  What did you think?  Is there a particular actress or performance that you were drawn to (for me Lange and Paulson seem the best so far, but I’ll reserve judgment until I get to know the gang a little better)?  Did you also feel the Twilight overtones?  And what direction do you see the season headed?