elle fanning

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Unfortunately, it should come as no surprise that comedy is coming up short in nominations for awards even amongst the Film Independent Spirit Awards where comedies tend to have more of a chance of inclusion. The past year saw a lot of delays and postponements in releases both big and small, leaving lots to be desired when it comes to comedy.

Also, the pandemic made comedy, in so many ways, harder to figure out than ever before.

Thus, comedy only garnered a small handful of nominations for the 2021 Spirit Awards. Apple TV+’s Little America anthology series scored Best Series and two Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series noms for Conphidance and Adam Ali. Radha Blank’s excellent The Forty Year Old Version got a nod for Best First Feature. Then, the Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series category actually had Elle Fanning, Abby McEnany, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan nominated for The Great, Work In Progress, and Never Have I Ever.

FYI, Spirit Awards puts more emphasis to freshman TV series in case you’re wondering why What We Do In The Shadows is absent from the list.

There’s no telling what sort of signal this will give as to the rest of awards season and how comedy will fare. For now, you should watch all of what was nominated if you haven’t already (Never Have I Ever, Work In Progress, and The Forty Year Old Version are worth watching ASAP).

The Spirit Awards will be given out Thurs. Apr. 22nd, hosted by Patton Oswalt.

Get the full list of nominees here.

The Great Is Every Bit The Follow-Up to “The Favourite” That You’d Want It To Be

May 18, 2020

News

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Hulu’s latest comedy series is probably one of the bolder moves that they’ve pulled this year. That’s saying something considering the unabashed pandemonium and gore-filled dark comedy of another brand new original series of theirs, Solar Opposites, from Rick and Morty co-creator, Justin Roiland.

The Great is a very liberal and highly satirical retelling of the rise of real life historical figure Catherine the Great and it comes to us from the mind of Tony McNamara, the co-writer of one of our personal favorite films from 2018, The Favourite (another adjective-only title, alt-history period piece). Very much like The Favourite, The Great follows a lower classed woman, seeking a higher purpose and power while surrounded by dangerous ineptitude. Actually, the gross incompetence and extravagant waste afforded by monarchy is possibly even more ramped up than it was in The Favourite. Peter III of Russia, played by Nicholas Hoult, is a pure, unfiltered walking id afforded with unchecked power and privilege, often thinking of life in the binary terms of either having or not having sex.

[Spoiler ahead] The liberties, with which McNamara very transparently takes to make The Great “occasionally” true, really play up the absurdity to a quite shocking comedic effect. A bear given as an initial gift to the titular character, Catherine, played by Elle Fanning, ends up being shot to death as a test subject for Peter’s new pistols.

Episodes for The Great run near an hour, which categorically tosses it up between comedy and drama, but those lines, very thankfully are getting very blurred (ex. the romantic drama that’s on the tip of many people’s tongues right now, Normal People, only has half hour episodes). The Great is clearly a great, savage satire and we get to enjoy an hour of it at a time (or more as you’re probably going to binge watch it).

All episodes of The Great are streaming now on Hulu.

This Teaser for Hulu’s The Great Seems Like Spiritual Sequel to The Favourite

March 24, 2020

News

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There’s a certain mischievous panache to Hulu’s upcoming historical comedy that reimagines the rise of Catherine the Great aptly titled, The Great. If you watch this teaser and see said panache and are even somewhat reminded of the fantastic satirical historical comedy The Favourite, that might have something to do with The Favourite co-writer Tony McNamara being at the helm here.

Given that this is also following a struggle for power by a very clever woman at a time centuries ago when women were afforded much much less equality than now, this very easily could be considered as a sequel of sorts to The Favourite. Also, we could it seeing being a spiritual prequel to Death of Stalin with the bits of sharp dialogue we’ve gotten to see thus far.

In any case, we’ll be looking forward to seeing The Great drop on Hulu on Fri. May 15th.

Hulu’s The Great, Another Period Piece Comedy from Co-Writer of The Favourite Tommy McNamara, Gets a Teaser

January 21, 2020

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The Favourite really blew up the notion of what a period piece could be and how subversively comedic and raunchy you could be within what had previously be a very rigid sub genre of film and TV.

Tommy McNamara co-wrote The Favourite with Deborah Davis and is now at the helm of another satirical reimagining of a power female historical figure, Catherine the Great. The series is being called The Great and will definitely take liberties to twist the knife for comedy’s sake from moment to moment.

McNamara was careful to point out that The Great does play with facts, saying the show is accurate in various spots but, “we’re not trying to make a historically accurate document.” (via Deadline)

For now, there is only this announcement teaser, but you can get a sense of what McNamara has up his sleeve with Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great.

On a separate note, is this the start of McNamara creating various works that are titled only by superlatives and are dark comedies of historical figures, particularly of women?

Look for The Great to premiere on Hulu come Fri., May 15th.

20th Century Women to Donate 5% of Revenue to Planned Parenthood This Weekend

January 20, 2017

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20th Century Women to Donate 5% of Revenue to Planned Parenthood This Weekend

There are so many good reasons to go see Mike Mills’ brilliant film 20th Century Women.

It’s as beautiful and life-affirming and relevant as it is downright funny.

Also, for this historic weekend, you’ll be supporting Planned Parenthood if you go see it.

So, once you’re done marching, protesting, etc. for the day, perhaps go watch 20th Century Women.

Little America & Female TV Leads Mark Nominations for Comedy This Year’s Spirit-Awards

The Great Is Every Bit The Follow-Up to “The Favourite” That You’d Want It To Be

This Teaser for Hulu’s The Great Seems Like Spiritual Sequel to The Favourite

Hulu’s The Great, Another Period Piece Comedy from Co-Writer of The Favourite Tommy McNamara, Gets a Teaser

20th Century Women to Donate 5% of Revenue to Planned Parenthood This Weekend