Dream Emmy Ballot: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

My favorite television blogger (well one of them), Michael Ausiello always helps put together his dream Emmy ballot.  I am going to share my dream Emmy nominees in most of the major categories with you day by day.  I am going to start today, but I am also going to forewarn you I am going on vacation tomorrow so I will releasing my list of nominees and why once or twice a week.

Anna Gunn as Skylar White-Breaking Bad-One of the reasons this show has improved is that the show finally engaged the audience on all levels with not only Walter and Jesse but with Skylar too.  Gunn's Skylar moved beyond being the judgmental wife to the woman behind the scenes.  I have grown to love and fear her character in a brilliant way thanks to Gunn's performance.

Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris in Mad Men-Hendricks is a bombshell, but she also is one of the best actresses working on television.  Watching Joan fight for her marriage even though her husband had raped her.  Watching her confront her husband was brilliant.  Watching Joan give her body for the firm the firm was painful, but brilliantly acted.  I am always blown away by her.

Lena Heady as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones-You want to hate her yet you can't take your eyes off her.  Cersei's sparring with Tyrion has moved to utter brilliance; she was no better than when she was meant to be the beacon of strength as Stannis Baretheon lays siege to her kingdom, and she talks about her duties, and love.  This woman has grown by leaps and bounds.

Kelly McDonald as Margaret Schroeder in Boardwalk Empire-McDonald started the series on the road to a quiet life of unhappiness with a drunk husband.  In season two her relationship Nucky as a strong more vocally active woman has shown that McDonald is a force to be reckoned with, and she commands the screen on this male dominated series.

Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife-Something great about this character is that even throughout three seasons we knew nothing complex about Kalinda, until the end.  Kalinda has realized her husband knows where she was, and the terror in her eyes showed us a whole new side to this complex character.

Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey-This sharp tongued older woman was and is still the best character on this show. Smith is a great actress, and has made this woman more than a one dimensional character; she has developed so much, and her witty one liners make her one of the most developed characters on the show.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is Entertaining, but at the end Feels like you Checked out too Late

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (3 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Proof, The Debt)

Written by Ol Parker (Imagine Me & You) 

Starring : Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Dev Patel, and Maggie Smith

Imagine a place in beautiful India where the elderly can go to find peace and relaxation for the remainder of their lives.  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is far from the luxury in its advertisement.  The story centers on a group of elderly individuals who is looking to escape/leave behind some of the baggage they have unintentionally accumulated at the end of their lives.  

Evelyn's (Dench) husband kept secrets about their financial status leaving her strapped. Doug Ainslee (Nighy) and his wife Jean Ainslee (Penelope Wilton) have invested poorly in their daughters internet company.  Madge (Celia Imrie) has grown tired of living off her children and wants another rich husband.  Graham (Wilkinson) lived in India many years ago and has returned to find a long lost love and the passion India brought to his life.  Norman (Roman Pickup) wants youthful passion.  Murial (Smith) needs a hip replacement, and India provides her with the quickest opportunity to get the surgery.  Together this group along with the hotels manager Sonny (Patel) come together and find peace as they find their place in this foreign country at their age.

John Madden directs this all star cast, and creates a beautifully shot film full of great imagery, which helps speak the films central story.  The story is more about exploring the unknown elements of this foreign environment, and how stepping outside of your comfort zone forces a person to grow and develop at any age.  Parker's script aides in this process and creates some beautifully heartfelt stories, with some witty humorous moments.  The script also creates some problems for the film by focusing on too many characters and stories, which sometimes appears daunting for Parker to tackle.  With too many characters the film sometimes loses focus and over extends your presence as a guest into this dilapidated hotel. 

Even though the script is a bit long, the performances of a few actors bring back the heart and character of this story.  The standouts were Dench, Wilkinson, and Smith.  Dench is the narrator of the groups evolution and journey; she finds her place realizing she tackle working, loving, and finding the core of what it means to grow, and find ones self for the first time in her life.  Wilkinson acting is almost effortless,but he always challenges himself to get to the depth of a character.  As Graham Wilkinson battles his own fears and trepidation by returning to a country and a former lover whom he feels he has wronged, but on this journey he finally comes to peace with himself.  Yet within most films Maggie Smith is the scene-stealer; she is funny, touching, and shows so much depth in a woman who fears change the most.

The film is is entertaining, but at the end feels like you checked out too late, and Madden and Parker drown the message with sap.  The film feels prolonged and even though there are several enjoyable performances, and we get to see the beauty of India, the story suffers from a lack of focus. 

Downton Abbey is Becoming a Cultural Phenomenon!

Last night while look at my Tivo suggestions it had Thursday's episode of The View and I figured I would give the hot topics section a watch.  I could not make it through the first five minutes, ironically only because of Joy.  I watched their interview with Viola Davis, which was interesting, but their interviews sometimes lack something.  After the interview the interviewed one of the stars for Masterpiece Theatre Presents Downton Abbey.  During the segment they talked with Michelle Dockery about the show as a cultural phenomenon in the States, and their own obsession. 

I do not know what this segment did to me, but I stopped in the middle ran to my computer and added Downton Abbey to my instant queue on Netflix and watched the first episode right away!  My friend Keith  has been telling me to watch for months, and I trust his judgment most of the time (but he does hate Singin in the Rain). After one episode I am hooked.

Why is the show becoming a cultural phenomenon, is good question.  The shows popularity has picked up on the backend of winning Emmy Awards over HBO's Mildred Pierce.  Pierce was the most nominated film at the Emmy awards, and it lost the Best Mini-Series/Movie, Best Writing, Best Directing, and Best Supporting Actress-Maggie Smith to Downton Abbey.  People were turning into Downton prior to this, but this spurred more interest.  There has been a lot of great publicity for this show but it entrance into being a cultural phenomenon was solidified this past Saturday when Saturday Night Live's only funny sketch parodied a Spike commercial for this show.  Why did this show that was meant to be a mini-series become so successful?

The premise of the show also centers around preserving a families legacy, love, class struggles, and there is treachery abound.  Julian Fellows who wrote the wonderfully brilliant film Gosford Park, is the creative mind behind this show.  The show feels similar to Gosford Park, but Executive Producer/Writer Fellows has created a wodnerfully rich new world filled with interesting characters.  All of these elements combined create an excellent television experience the show just breaks the traditional mold for popular American TV shows because its set in England in the early 1910s, it actually starts and the first episode takes place right after the Titanic sinks.

The US Anglophile mentality has long been a part of film, and their have been elements that have crept into television, but this show becoming a major player on PBS makes sense, and will help them out with gaining great amounts of funding.  I would not be surprised if that spawns of series on HBO or Showtime, and that this television experience promulgates many networks even beyond the major pay calber networks to create shows similar to this one.  I am excited to breeze through the first 7 episodes of the first part of this series, and watch as the Grantham family works to save Downton, as the servants of the house work to play their own games, and the best part will be watching Maggie Smith make wonderfully sarcastic comments.