Wild Woman Blogspot
After many years of running this bookblog my life has shifted a bit. I will continue to review books I am reading but will be adding in TV and movie reviews as well. Enjoy! Check out my companion blog: http://dcvegeats.blogspot.com/
Friday, March 21, 2025
"Circe" by Madeline Miller
This book, by very young Madeline Miller, is a wonder. Beautifully lyric and literary, it is still accessible. And it does for the Greek myths what Marion Zimmer Bradley did for the Arthurian legend with "Mists of Avalon". "Circe" takes the feminine point of view and an epic tale and make them human and relatable. Circe is a child, a young woman, a girlfriend, an outcast, a lover, a parent. Her life spans centuries but the ache she feels, the distance and loneliness, is real. She becomes a fully fledged woman by the end but we travel the road with her, seeing the growing pains and the sacrifices. She is not perfect but she is like us. We celebrate each step towards her self actualization. It is one of those books I didn't mind reading slowly because I didn't want it to end. When it did end, I cried. Just a bit. It was the only ending which would bring peace. Brava.
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Oh, Canada
Very few network shows, and a growing number of streaming shows, are filmed in the United States. More than 60% of what you watch these days is filmed in ... Canada. Which explains a lot. But first, the list of projects filmed in Canada.
On ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX
High Potential
Watson
Tracker
Fire Country
The Hunting Party
Found
The Irrational
Brilliant Minds
Doc
Murder in a Small Town
Almost all Hallmark and CW shows are filmed in Canada, as
well as streaming shows like Handmaid’s Tale, The Boys, all of the new Star
Treks. Shows on AMC, TNT and others,
like the recently departed (pun intended) “What We Do in the Shadows” are also
filmed there. It’s a long list.
So, why?
1.
It’s cheaper.
2.
Canada is wide open – fewer roads to shut down,
more places to film with a lot less people.
3.
Canada is diverse. It can look like places in the US.
4.
It’s not that far away. Toronto to NYC is only an hour and a half by
air, Vancouver to LA is 3 hours.
5.
Seasons.
Canada is suffering from climate change a tad less than we are. If you need snow, they have it. If you need a real Spring, as opposed to a
couple of cool weeks, you are good. And
in the Summer, you have a LOT of daylight.
Does it lower the quality of the shows?
Depends on your tastes.
Lead actors (some of whom are from the US) are just as good, if not
better. They are just a little less
famous. The actors generally look more
human and less like runway models and semaglutide addicts. Diversity with the actors is just like here,
but you see more Asians and fewer Hispanics.
My issue (and it is just my issue) – some of the “day player” actors (those
who appear in a single scene, for instance) – can be a tad weak. Canada just doesn't have as deep a pool of actors
to draw from, and it shows. There is
also a subtle thing about storytelling.
The Canada “vibe” comes out now and then … a little lower key, a little
darker … than in US produced shows.
That’s not a bad thing, but it is palpable (to me anyway).
So grab your poutine and your remotes and settle in. This trend, tariffs or not, is likely to
stick around.
Monday, February 10, 2025
And the Award Goes to ...
FILMS: “Meh”. Beautiful filming but few, if any, films
which raised the bar. Favorites included
women-forward films like “Emilia Perez” and “The Last Showgirl”. There were tired themes done well – cognitive
decline in “The Great Lillian Hall” and another musician biopic where the women
are set pieces in “A Complete Unknown”.
There were creepy-as-hell films, “The Substance” and “The Piano
Lesson”. Clever films which made you
think, like “The Brutalist”, “Conclave” and “A Real Pain”. “Sing Sing” brought tears aplenty. At least one film I loathed, “Anora” (it ran
rampant on my feminist sensibilities) and the sparkly fun of “Wicked”. But nothing which rocked the boat. Films which made an impact but nothing that
said, “Wow”. A so-so year for so-so times.
This year’s nominees in the STREAMING/TELEVISION category were
… bleak. But not bleak like in past
years, where themes of death and loss have prevailed. Bleak as in film noir. Dark.
Violent. Depraved. Ugly. I
swear, if I heard “psychological thriller” or “true crime” one more time, I was
going to hurl. There is a morose malaise
which filters through nearly every project.
Can’t say I enjoyed many of them, including the comedies. Even some of
the so-called funny stuff had an “edge” (although “Nobody Wants This” was
charming). There was just a prevailing
sense of hopelessness and few characters you really wanted to succeed. Not my speed.
I will say, however, that almost universally, the “filmmaking” aspect of
the shows was extremely high. “Ripley”,
“True Detective: Night Country”, “The
Penguin”, “Baby Reindeer”, “Disclaimer” and “Under the Bridge” were nothing if
not artful and beautifully brought to screen.
In the end there was only one drama which truly drew me in. “Shogun”.
It is a cinematic masterpiece with Shakespearean overtones. A showcase for brilliant actors. A sensitive and layered script. I had put off watching it because I knew
there were lengthy subtitles, but once I started in, I could not turn
away. Paradoxically, it is large screen
in concept and yet humbling and very real in execution. These aren’t characters, they are
people. Are there bad guys? Sure.
But every single role is multi-dimensional. There are no simple reasons for anyone’s
behavior. There are even laughs now and
then, as there are in real life. Colonialism
is dealt with realistically while the Japanese culture is respected and put at
the forefront. I would hesitate to say
that this treatment of the famous Clavell novel is about the conqueror. It is about the nation he stumbles into and
the people trying to make the best of bad hands. Worth the time. And the tears.
Deciding on my votes was difficult. In some cases, there was an overabundance of
choices, in other cases no choices at all.
Below are the ones I settled on.
The Motion Picture Nominees are:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
ADRIEN BRODY / László Tóth - "THE BRUTALIST"
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET / Bob Dylan - "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN"
DANIEL CRAIG / William Lee - "QUEER"
COLMAN DOMINGO / Divine G - "SING SING"
RALPH FIENNES / Lawrence - "CONCLAVE"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading
Role
PAMELA ANDERSON / Shelly -
"THE LAST SHOWGIRL"
CYNTHIA ERIVO / Elphaba - "WICKED"
KARLA SOFÍA GASCÓN / Emilia/Manitas - "EMILIA PÉREZ"
MIKEY MADISON / Ani - "ANORA"
DEMI MOORE / Elisabeth - "THE SUBSTANCE"
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting
Role
JONATHAN BAILEY / Fiyero - "WICKED"
YURA BORISOV / Igor - "ANORA"
KIERAN CULKIN / Benji Kaplan - "A REAL PAIN"
EDWARD NORTON / Pete
Seeger - "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN"
JEREMY STRONG / Roy Cohn - "THE APPRENTICE"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting
Role
MONICA BARBARO / Joan Baez - "A COMPLETE UNKNOWN"
JAMIE LEE CURTIS / Annette - "THE LAST SHOWGIRL"
DANIELLE DEADWYLER /
Berniece - "THE PIANO LESSON"
ARIANA GRANDE / Galinda/Glinda - "WICKED"
ZOE SALDAÑA / Rita - "EMILIA PÉREZ"
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
ANORA
CONCLAVE
EMILIA PÉREZ
WICKED
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a
Motion Picture
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
DUNE: PART TWO
THE FALL GUY
GLADIATOR II
WICKED
The Television Program Nominees are:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television
Movie or Limited Series
JAVIER BARDEM / Jose Menendez - "MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ
STORY"
COLIN FARRELL / Oz Cobb - "THE PENGUIN"
RICHARD GADD / Donny - "BABY REINDEER"
KEVIN KLINE / Stephen
Brigstocke - "DISCLAIMER"
ANDREW SCOTT / Tom Ripley - "RIPLEY"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television
Movie or Limited Series
KATHY BATES / Edith Wilson - "THE GREAT LILLIAN HALL"
CATE BLANCHETT / Catherine Ravenscroft - "DISCLAIMER"
JODIE FOSTER / Det. Elizabeth Danvers - "TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT
COUNTRY"
LILY GLADSTONE / Cam
Bentland - "UNDER THE BRIDGE"
JESSICA GUNNING / Martha - "BABY REINDEER"
CRISTIN MILIOTI / Sofia Falcone - "THE PENGUIN"
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
TADANOBU ASANO / Kashigi
Yabushige - "SHŌGUN"
JEFF BRIDGES / Dan Chase - "THE OLD MAN"
GARY OLDMAN / Jackson Lamb - "SLOW HORSES"
EDDIE REDMAYNE / The Jackal - "THE DAY OF THE JACKAL"
HIROYUKI SANADA / Yoshii Toranaga - "SHŌGUN"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama
Series
KATHY BATES / Madeline Matlock - "MATLOCK"
NICOLA COUGHLAN / Penelope Featherington - "BRIDGERTON"
ALLISON JANNEY / Vice President Grace Penn - "THE DIPLOMAT"
KERI RUSSELL / Kate Wyler - "THE DIPLOMAT"
ANNA SAWAI / Toda Mariko -
"SHŌGUN"
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy
Series
ADAM BRODY / Noah Roklov - "NOBODY WANTS THIS"
TED DANSON / Charles Nieuwendyk - "A MAN ON THE INSIDE"
HARRISON FORD / Paul -
"SHRINKING"
MARTIN SHORT / Oliver Putnam - "ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING"
JEREMY ALLEN WHITE / Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto - "THE BEAR"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy
Series
KRISTEN BELL / Joanne -
"NOBODY WANTS THIS"
QUINTA BRUNSON / Janine Teagues - "ABBOTT ELEMENTARY"
LIZA COLÓN-ZAYAS / Tina - "THE BEAR"
AYO EDEBIRI / Sydney Adamu - "THE BEAR"
JEAN SMART / Deborah Vance - "HACKS"
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
BRIDGERTONTHE DAY OF THE JACKAL
THE DIPLOMAT
SHŌGUN
SLOW HORSES
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY
THE BEAR
HACKS
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING
SHRINKING
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a
Television Series
THE BOYS
FALLOUT
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON
THE PENGUIN
SHŌGUN