PUSHING DAISIES
Season 2 Episode 1
“Bzzzzzzz!”
Written by Bryan Fuller
Directed by Adam Kane
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Well, this one had its moments, and a bunch of welcome guest spots: French Stewart as Wolsey Nicholls, intent on taking over Betty’s BeesTM; Autumn Reeser as the rather unlucky Number One Bee Girl of Betty’s BeesTM, Kentucky Fitts, who’s the main corpus dilecti of the episode; and Diana Scarwid (yay!) as, not just any nun, but the Mother Superior herself.


Sadly, Scarwid is part of the subplot that I’m having trouble with: for some reason best known to the show’s writers, Olive has been sent off to a nunnery by Lily, the very same nunnery where she brought Chuck to term, because of the secret she’s privy to: that Chuck is in fact, Lily’s daughter, a secret that would kill Vivian, as she was actually engaged to Chuck’s father when the affair took place.
Sure, the nun costumes are cool and kooky, and Pigby has his own certain charm, but I’m dubious about the whole thread and wondering where they plan to take it and what its raison d’etre is.


At any rate, it’s great to have Pushing Daisies back, and to see Adam Kane at the helm again.
They also at least seem to be kicking up Emerson’s lost daughter subplot, so that’s a plus, as Chi McBride rules.
I mean, Steven Harper to Emerson Cod.
Who knew?

(Images courtesy of ABC, avclub.com, and destinything.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (101)

101.1 PIMP MY BOOK


So my online novel Pelicula is now completely available on the ‘net, all its reels and chapters safely floating out there in the aether.
If you haven’t checked it out, or were perhaps waiting for it to boast a proper ending, well, this is your chance.
Just turn off the main infobahn here.


(Thanx to Carl, for all things Pelicula website-y, and to Budj, for co-producing.)

101.2 AUGUST AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE HIGHLIGHTS


August 2, Saturday, 5:00 PM
Aero Theatre
A marathon of the extended versions of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (a whopping total of 682 minutes!), to be introduced by legendary fantasy artist Greg Hildebrandt.
[Special admission price: $3.00.]


A Tribute to Stan Winston [August 15-16]
Aero Theatre
August 15, Friday, 7:30 PM
A double feature of James Cameron’s Aliens and Winston’s directorial debut, Pumpkinhead.
August 16, Saturday, 7:30 PM
A double feature of John McTiernan’s Predator and Stephen Hopkins’ Predator 2.


August 21, Thursday, 7:30 PM
Egyptian Theatre 85th Anniversary Double Feature
The original versions of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens.
(Both films originally premiered at the Egyptian Theatre.)

101.3 PUSHING DAISIES AT SDCC08


With all the news that has flooded out of this year’s recently concluded edition of the San Diego Comic-Con, one of the bits that has got me giddy is this: a Wonderfalls/Pushing Daisies cross-over!


Mary Ann Marie Beetle, from Wonderfalls’ “Muffin Buffalo” episode, will appear in Pushing Daisies. (And the crowd goes wild…) At the moment, I’m unsure whether Beetle will again be played by Beth Grant (I certainly hope so).


And, and, and… Diana Scarwid appears in the first 3 episodes of Season 2. (Sadly, I don’t think it’s as Karen Tyler.)
Is Caroline Dhavernas far behind?

(Images courtesy of ew.com [Peter Jackson on the set of The Return of the King]; wired.com [Stan Winston]; horrorphile.net [Alien image]; aintitcool.com [Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls DVD cover art]; and hollywoodjesus.com [Wonderfalls promo image of Diana Scarwid].)

(Pelicula logo by Carl Vergara; Habagat icon and pin-up by Ian Sta. Maria.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (100)
EMMY 2008

So this year’s nominations are out, and here are the nods I took note of:

80th Annual Academy Awards
Outstanding Art Direction For A Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (Roy Christopher, Production Designer; Joe Celli, Art Director)
Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (Louis J. Horvitz)
Outstanding Lighting Direction (electronic, Multi-camera) For Vmc Programming (Robert A. Dickinson, Lighting Designer; Robert Barnhart, Andy O’Reilly, Lighting Directors)
Outstanding Music Direction (Bill Conti, Music Director)
Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety or Music Program (Jon Stewart, Host)
Outstanding Picture Editing Of Clip Packages For Talk, Performance, Award Or Reality Competition Programs [Oscar Show Tribute Sequence] (Chuck Workman)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special
Outstanding Special Class – Awards Programs (Gilbert Cates, Producer)
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special

Battlestar Galactica
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [Razor] (Stephen McNutt, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“He That Believeth In Me”] (Julius Ramsay)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [Razor] (Rick Bal, Production Mixer; Michael Olman, Kenneth Kobett, Supervising Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Razor Featurette #4] (Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Executive Producers; Harvey Frand, Supervising Producer)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series [“He That Believeth In Me”]
Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series [“Six Of One”] (Michael Angeli)


Chuck
Outstanding Main Title Design (Karin Fong, Jonathan Gershon, Dana Yee, Title Designers)
Outstanding Stunt Coordination [“Chuck Versus The Undercover Lover”] (Merritt Yohnka, Stunt Coordinator)


Dexter
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“That Night, A Forest Grew”] (Tony Cowley, Production Designer; Linda Spheeris, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [“The British Invasion”] (Romeo Tirone, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series (Michael C. Hall)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [“It’s Alive!”] (Patrick Hanson, Production Mixer; Elmo Ponsdomenech, Joe Earle, Re-Recording Mixers)


Entourage
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series [“No Cannes Do”] (Dan Attias)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (half-hour) And Animation [“Adios Amigo”] (Steve Morantz, Production Mixer; Dennis Kirk, Bill Jackson, Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series (Jeremy Piven)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series (Kevin Dillon)


Heroes
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“Out of Time”] (Ruth Ammon, Production Designer; Matthew Jacobs, Art Director; Ron Franco, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“Powerless”] (Scott Boyd)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series [“Four Months Ago”]


Justice League: The New Frontier
Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)


Lost
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [“The Constant”] (John Bartley, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) [“The Constant”] (Michael Giacchino)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“There’s No Place Like Home” (Parts 2 & 3)] (Henk Van Eeghen, Robert Florio, Mark J. Goldman, Stephen Semel)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series [“The Shape Of Things To Come”]
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [“Meet Kevin Johnson”] (Robert Anderson, Production Mixer; Frank Morrone, Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Lost: Missing Pieces] (Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Barry Jossen, Executive Producers)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series (Michael Emerson)


Pushing Daisies
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Michael Wylie, Production Designer; Halina Siwolop, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series (Camille Patton, Meg Liberman, Jennifer Lare)
Outstanding Costumes For A Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Mary Vogt, Costume Designer; Stephanie Fox-Kramer, Costume Supervisor)
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Barry Sonnenfeld)
Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-camera Series [“Smell Of Success”] (Daniel Curet, Department Head Hairstylist; Yuko Tokunaga-Koach, Key Hairstylist)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series (Lee Pace)
Outstanding Makeup For A Single-camera Series (non-prosthetic) [“Dummy”] (Todd A. McIntosh, Department Head Makeup Artist; David De Leon, Key Makeup Artist; Bradley M. Look, Additional Makeup Artist)
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special [“Smell Of Success”] (Todd A. McIntosh, Department Head Makeup Artist; David De Leon, Key Makeup Artist; Sara De Pue, Additional Makeup Artist)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) [“Pigeon”] (Jim Dooley)
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (single or Multi-camera) [“Pie-Lette”] (Stuart Bass)
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series (Kristin Chenoweth)
Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Bryan Fuller)

In addition, Lost Find 815 and The Heroes Digital Experience also found themselves among the finalists in the Interactive Media Programming (Fiction) Juried Area, where “one, more than one or no award can be given.” (Other Fiction finalists included HBO Voyeur, Kyle XY: The Collective Experience, and The L Word Interactive.)

Now, while I’m happy for the whopping dozen nominations Pushing Daisies racked up (for a truncated season that lasted all of nine episodes, mind), I am still distressed at the distinct lack of love Emmy has perennially shown for Battlestar Galactica.
Not only were all the performers roundly ignored, but the tremendous work Bear McCreary has been doing in scoring the show also went unacknowledged.
Sigh.

At any rate, congratulations to all the nominees, a complete list of which you may find here.
The 2008 Primetime Emmys will be handed out on September 21 at the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles, while the Primetime Creative Arts Awards will be presented on September 13, also at the NOKIA.

Parting shot: Episodic reactions/recaps of Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Dexter, Entourage, Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies—as well as a review of the Battlestar Galactica straight-to-DVD film Razor—can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and wired.com [Battlestar Galactica]; aintitcool.com [Chuck Season One and Pushing Daisies Season One DVD cover art and Justice League: The New Frontier image]; rickbrotherton.com [Dexter]; hbo.com [Entourage]; NBC and yahoo.com [Heroes]; ABC and eonline.com [Lost].)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 9
“Corpsicle”
Written by Lisa Joy
Directed by Brian Dannelly
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

After an opening sequence where we witness the day of Chuck’s da’s death (during which time Ned’s mum also died, twice), we discover that after Ned’s blurting of the awful truth last episode (like “word vomit,” as he puts it later on to Emerson), Chuck disappears.
As it turns out, she’s hiding out at Olive’s, and she’s so despondent that she feels the need to tell someone about her dark secret, even if that someone won’t believe her.
So she tells Olive.
And Olive doesn’t believe her.

Later on though, Chuck finds out that Oscar Vibenius is still intrigued by her unique smell, which he’s discovered is the same smell he picks up from Digby. (Oscar’s actually shaved off some fur from Digby’s bum to confirm his suspicions; poor Digby!)
Still needing to confide in someone who isn’t Ned, Chuck eventually gives Oscar some of her hair, so he can uncover the truth she’s been keeping to herself.
Eventually though, Oscar returns her hair, wanting Chuck to tell him the truth herself. By that time though, Chuck feels she can safely see Ned already without hating him, so she takes back her hair, and tells Oscar, You should’ve checked out the hair when you had the chance.

Ned and Chuck finally reunite at her da’s grave, where she actually asks Ned to bring back her father, if only for a minute, but Ned refuses, telling her, I can’t bring your father back, then kill him again. I couldn’t do that to you…
It’s a great, sad scene, as Ned wants to comfort her by embracing her, but of course, he can’t…

Meanwhile, since Chuck isn’t spending time at the Pie Hole, she asks Olive to bake a pie for her aunts, and gives her the happy juice she doses her pies with. (Olive is her unsuspecting homeopathic drug mule…)
Thinking it’s vanilla and taking a taste of it but not finding it particularly strong, Olive decides to use the entire bottle.
Later on, Lily eats the whole pie, and in her drugged-out, blissful state, she blurts out to Olive that she is, in fact, Chuck’s mum! (Which is where the episode ends…)

The whodunit portion of the finale involves the murders of Uber-Life Life Insurance adjustors. Notable bits in this subplot include a Blood Simple reference, Bobo the banobo, and Emerson admitting that he has a daughter (which surprises us all, including Ned).

Thus do we close what Bryan Fuller has come to think of as the show’s “teaser season.” Now, due to the strike—and the subsequent time afforded to Fuller to re-think the narrative thus far—the reveal of Lily being Chuck’s mum (a plot development which was originally meant to be resolved mid-season), will apparently “inform much of [Pushing Daisies’] next season’s direction.”
At the Paley Fest ’08, Fuller also confirmed that Chuck will find out who her real mother is next season: "It's going to be interesting to see how she reacts to that information, and how the Pie Maker tries to control her trajectory and how that will complicate their relationship. There are going to be some nice surprises."
Fuller also said that the interruption caused by the WGA strike, "… gave us a chance to look back at the nine episodes and [figure out] what was working and what was not working. The arc of the first nine was a soft, romantic arc. In the second season, we want to do something a little harder and a little more aggressive in the style of storytelling. We learned a lot of lessons."

If you’ve been following these recaps, you’ll know that I love me my Pushing Daisies, and I do think it’s the best new show that emerged from the past strike-truncated season. (Chuck’s a close second.)
I’m looking forward to fall, when Daisies returns, and hopefully, between then and now, people who haven’t tasted of its bittersweet humour and whimsical visuals can catch up on the web. (Or, the Season 1 DVD set, which hits stores in early September.)

Parting shot: At the Paley Fest, Fuller fielded a question regarding the chances Ned and Chuck have of conceiving a child: "I think her egg would die when his sperm hit it."
He also confirmed that Ned is a vegetarian, because if he ever ate meat and it made contact with his insides, the meat would come back to life “and crawl out of him.”

(Image courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 8
“Bitter Sweets”
Written by Abby Gewanter
Directed by Allan Kroeker
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

This one’s another winner, as Dilly Balsam (ex-SNLer Molly Shannon, who also voiced Patience the Vampire in The Amazing Screw-On Head), co-owner of Balsam’s Bittersweets Taffy & Sweets Emporium, moves in across the street, intent on crushing her perceived competition, The Pie Hole.
Ned, now officially Chuck’s boyfriend (and preoccupied with his guilt over inadvertently causing her father’s death), is hesitant to engage in the war, the hostilities inadvertently pushed into overdrive by a welcome gift of Georgia peach pie. Olive and Chuck have no problem in getting down and dirty though, and are ready to do so.
They get their chance when Dilly gets health inspector Andrew Brown (Steve Hytner, from The Bill Engvall Show and Roswell) to pay a surprise visit to The Pie Ho (its sign “inexplicably” malfunctioning). Brown discovers the locked room stocked full of rotten fruit (which Ned uses for his ingredients, of course) and shuts the Ho down.

In retaliation, Olive and Chuck break in and release a pack of rats in the Emporium. Unknown to them, Dilly’s brother Billy (Mike White, who starred in The Good Girl and The Stepford Wives, and recently worked with Shannon in his directorial debut, Year of the Dog) is already a floating, taffied corpse in one of the shop’s vats.
When Ned finds out about the rat problem, he goes next door to try and clean the mess up, but instead touches Billy’s corpse by mistake. But Billy can’t talk with a mouthful of taffy, and when the cops bust in, Ned touches Billy again, and he’s caught red-handed, with Billy’s now permanently dead, taffied body.

With Ned in jail, Emerson is forced to sleuth the old-fashioned way, and with Chuck’s (and the coroner’s) help, they find out that Billy bit off one of his killer’s fingers before dying. Sadly Billy’s stomach acids eradicated all trace of a fingerprint, so Emerson and Chuck go to the scene of the crime, and with the help of some flour, lift a pair of handprints (with a grand total of 9 fingers) from a marble countertop.
It turns out that Billy’s killer was Brown, who was rudely demanding to be paid for his “surprise inspection” to The Pie Ho. A scuffle takes place, and voila, dead, taffied Billy.

With Ned in the clear, there’s a welcome back do at the Ho, courtesy of Olive and Chuck. Later that evening, and despite having decided otherwise, Ned confesses that he caused Chuck’s dad’s death. (Dang that cliffhanger!)
There’re also a couple of subplots involving a “carpool doll” (think Lars and the Real Girl), and the return of traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio, who is still smitten with Olive, and whom Olive doesn’t realize is right there in front of her, until it’s too late.

At episode 8, we’re winding down on the interrupted freshman season of Pushing Daisies and it’s still going strong. With yet another Hitchcock homage in this episode, “Bitter Sweets” keeps the winning streak going.

Parting shot: We also discover that Dilly is capable of murder, as we see her getting rid of Brown‘s body, which could actually be yet another Hitchcock nod. (If only that 4-fingered hand had been shown sticking out of the trunk of a car as it sank into the muck, then the reference would be undeniable…)

Parting shot: Reviews of The Amazing Screw-On Head and The Stepford Wives can be found in the Archive.

(Image courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (53)
AND IN OTHER AWARDS NEWS…
… No Country For Old Men was recognized at the 44th annual Cinema Audio Society Awards, where Gods and Monsters director Bill Condon, was also honoured with the CAS Filmmaker Award.

Meanwhile, at the 58th annual ACE EDDIE Awards, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street took home the Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical) award, thanks to the excellent work by editor Chris Lebenzon, while the Chuck Pilot took home the Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television award, courtesy of Norman Buckley.

And, umm, meanwhiler, the Costume Designers Guild honoured Colleen Atwood’s glorious work on Sweeney Todd as well, for Excellence in Period Film, while Ruth Myers was recognized twice, for Excellence in Fantasy Film (for her work on The Golden Compass), as well as the Lacoste Career Achievement in Film Award.
On the TV front, Robert Blackman took home the Period/Fantasy Television Series award, for dressing up the cast of Pushing Daisies.

To one and all, congratulations.

Parting shot: Reviews of The Golden Compass, No Country For Old Men, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reactions of Chuck and Pushing Daisies.

(No Country For Old Men and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street OS’s courtesy of impawards.com; Chuck image and The Golden Compass OS courtesy of aintitcool.com; Pushing Daisies image courtesy of about.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (52)
HITCHHIKING TO SATURN 2008
This year’s Saturn Award nominations have just been announced, and those that made me go “Woot!” are:

30 Days of Night:
Best Horror Film
Best Make-Up (Davina Lamont)

300:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Best Actor, Film (Gerard Butler)
Best Supporting Actor, Film (David Wenham)
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Lena Headey)
Best Direction (Zack Snyder)
Best Writing (Michael Gordon, Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad)
Best Music (Tyler Bates)
Best Costume (Michael Wilkinson)
Best Make-Up (Shaun Smith, Mark Rappaport)
Best Special Effects (Chris Watts, Grant Freckelton, Derek Wentworth, Daniel Leduc)

Battlestar Galactica:
Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
Best Presentation on Television [Razor]
Best Actor on Television (Edward James Olmos)

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon:
Best DVD Release

Beowulf:
Best Writing (Roger Avary, Neil Gaiman)
Best Animated Film

Blade Runner:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (5 Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

Bug:
Best Actress, Film (Ashley Judd)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (30th Anniversay – Blu Ray)

Cloverfield:
Best Science Fiction Film
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Lizzy Caplan)

The Dark Crystal:
Best Classic Film DVD Release

Death Proof:
Best Special Edition DVD Release (Grindhouse Presentation: Extended & Unrated)

Dexter:
Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Michael C. Hall)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Erik King)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Jennifer Carpenter)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Jaime Murray)

Eastern Promises:
Best Actor, Film (Viggo Mortensen)
Best Actress, Film (Naomi Watts)
Best International Film

The Golden Compass:
Best Fantasy Film
Best Performance by a Younger Actor (Dakota Blue Richards)
Best Costume (Ruth Myers)
Best Special Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood)

Grindhouse:
Best Horror Film

Heroes:
Best Network Television Series
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Greg Grunberg)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Masi Oka)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Hayden Panettiere)
Best Television Series on DVD (Season 1)

El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth):
Best Special Edition DVD Release (Platinum Series)

Lost:
Best Network Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Matthew Fox)
Best Actress on Television (Evangeline Lilly)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Michael Emerson)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Josh Holloway)
Best Supporting Actor on Television (Terry O’Quinn)
Best Supporting Actress on Television (Elizabeth Mitchell)
Best Television Series on DVD (The Complete Third Season)

The Mist:
Best Horror Film
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Marcia Gay Harden)
Best Direction (Frank Darabont)

The Nin9s:
Best DVD Release

No Country For Old Men:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Best Supporting Actor, Film (Javier Bardem)
Best Writing (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

El Orfanato (The Orphanage):
Best Actress, Film (Belen Rueda)
Best International Film

Planet Terror:
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Rose McGowan)
Best Make-Up (Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero, Jake Garber)

Pushing Daisies:
Best Network Television Series
Best Actor on Television (Lee Pace)
Best Actress on Television (Anna Friel)

Stardust:
Best Fantasy Film
Best Supporting Actress, Film (Michelle Pfeiffer)
Best Costume (Sammy Sheldon)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Horror Film
Best Actor, Film (Johnny Depp)
Best Actress, Film (Helena Bonham Carter)
Best Supporting Actor, Film (Alan Rickman)
Best Direction (Tim Burton)
Best Writing (John Logan)
Best Costume (Colleen Atwood)
Best Make-Up (Peter Owen, Ivana Primorac)

Twin Peaks:
Best Retro Television Series on DVD (The Definitive Gold Box Edition)

Zodiac:
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film

The other films reviewed here at the Iguana that also received nominations (some, head-scratchingly so) were:

1408 (Best Horror Film; Best Actor, Film [John Cusack])
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Best Science Fiction Film)
Ghost Rider (Best Horror Film)
I Am Legend (Best Science Fiction Film; Best Actor, Film [Will Smith])
Spider-Man 3 (Best Fantasy Film; Best Supporting Actor, Film [James Franco]; Best Direction [Sam Raimi]; Best Special Effects)
Sunshine (Best Science Fiction Film)
Transformers (Best Science Fiction Film; Best Special Effects)

Guillermo del Toro is also being honoured this year with the George Pal Memorial Award.
For a complete (and downloadable) list of this year’s nominees, go here.
The winners will be announced on June 24, 2008 at the 34th Annual Saturn Awards, in Universal City, California.

Parting shot: Reviews of 30 Days of Night, 300, 1408, Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Beowulf, Bug, Death Proof, Eastern Promises, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider, The Golden Compass, I Am Legend, El Laberinto Del Fauno, The Nin9s, No Country For Old Men, Planet Terror, Spider-Man 3, Stardust, Sunshine, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Transformers, and Zodiac can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reviews of Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies.

(OS's and Lost Season 4 ad courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (51)

51.1 THUS ENDETH THE STRIKE
So the count last Tuesday night: 3,492 to 283, in favour of ending the strike during the ratification process.
It’s officially over and the writers can get back to work Wednesday. Some, in fact (like the writers for the upcoming Oscar night) were already in the thick of things late Tuesday night.
Now, as the two week ratification of the proposed three-year deal takes place (votes for that to be tallied on February 26), Hollywood gets back into the swing of things, which leads us rather neatly to…

51.2 REVVING THE POST-STRIKE ENGINE (1)
LOST
Showrunner Carlton Cuse has already made the announcement that they’re aiming to come up with 5 post-strike episodes, so this season will end with 13 episodes.
Intending to wrap the season up at the same narrative point it was originally supposed to end at, there will be some storyline compression required. Hopefully, that won’t have an adverse effect on the story’s rhythm. And hopefully, writers, cast, and crew won’t run themselves ragged to get those episodes ready to keep the consecutive airing of Lost an on-going concern.
Cuse also indicated that the 3 AWOL episodes (since season 4 was meant to be comprised of 16 installments) will pop up somewhere down the road, so we’re still going to get the same number of Lost episodes we were meant to get, before the strike stepped on the brakes.
In an ABC press release, the network has also announced it’s picking up Lost for a fifth season, though I’m uncertain if that season kicks off this Fall, or will have a delayed start date, as per the current season.

PUSHING DAISIES
In the same ABC press release, Pushing Daisies was also announced as having been picked up for a second season.
Thus, there will be no more episodes beyond the 9 pre-strike installments for the current season.

CHUCK
NBC’s Chuck is also expected to return in the Fall, so the first season topped off at 13 pre-strike episodes.

HEROES
Meanwhile, Volume Two’s 11 episodes are pretty much Season 2.
Volume Three: “Villains” will presumably kick off Season 3 when Heroes returns in the Fall.
In preparation, Tim Kring is reportedly getting busy on a series Bible, an always indispensable tool for shows like Heroes.

So with the picket signs being put aside, I’ll be having irregular updates for any strike-affected projects that are on my radar (like the Justice League film) as reports and announcements are made.

Let’s all breathe a huge sigh of relief that it’s over, and that apparently, the writers got a deal they can call a triumph.
Admittedly, not the total victory they were first targetting (reality and animation writers—who have been likened to the sweatshop equivalents of the Hollywood writers world—are still not covered by the guild, one of the aims the WGA had hoped to achieve), but the strides forward in new media seem to be cause to cheer.

Now let’s all hope the upcoming SAG negotiations don’t run into any speed bumps…

(Images courtesy of variety.com [WGA strike is over]; impawards.com [Lost]; avclub.com [Pushing Daisies]; aintitcool.com [Chuck]; and yahoo.com [Heroes].)

PUSHING DAISIES
Season 1 Episode 7
“Smell of Success”
Written by Scott Nimerfro
Directed by Lawrence Trilling
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

So, first off, let me assure you, this episode is by no means an awful one, it’s just that, given its shortcomings, and given that it immediately follows the brilliant “Bitches,” “Smell of Success“ comes off as perhaps one of the weaker installments of Pushing Daisies.
The most significant shortcoming, I suppose, is the whodunit portion.
Involving olfactory expert Napoleon LeNez (It’s All Relative’s Christopher Sieber) and his just-about-to-be-released scratch-‘n-sniff self-help book, Smell of Success, this one is pretty standard stuff that should prove to be no mystery at all for anyone who’s a procedural hound.

It’s a good thing though that the writing still displays those moments of humour and emotion that make Daisies such a constant delight. (Discovering not just about Emerson’s love of Knit Wit, but also about his love of pop-up books, are definite highlights of the episode. And while the absurdity of the whole scratch-‘n-sniff and pop-up literary movements is certainly a hoot, the C.H.U.D. reference is a hoot and a half.)
Then of course, there’s also the introduction of Oscar Vibenius (Pee Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens), former best friend and current olfactory rival of LeNez, who seems to be meant to be a recurring character from here on out, as he quickly develops a fixation on Chuck, who smells quite unlike anything he’s ever smelled before…

And in the subplot, the Darling Mermaid Darlings finally get back into the water…

Parting shot: Lawrence Trilling, who directed this episode, has produced and directed for shows like Felicity, Invasion, and Alias.

(Images courtesy of pushing-daisies.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (46)
DIRECTIONS 2008

Over the past weekend, the DGA presented those big-a$$ medallions of theirs to the winners of their various Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for the year 2007.
Congratulations to all the winners, particularly Joel and Ethan Coen, for winning Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for No Country For Old Men, and Barry Sonnenfeld, for winning Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series Night for the “Pie-Lette” episode of Pushing Daisies.
Joel Coen had this to say after receiving the award:

"Ethan and I have a bookshelf in our office where we keep various plaques and such that we've gotten over the years that we call our ego corner. Whenever Ethan has a really bad day, he gets a bottle of Windex and a big can of silver polish and goes over and spit shines those medals for an hour or two. It makes him feel better. This is a really big one—in every respect. It's going to keep him busy."

You can check out all the winners here.

Parting shot: A review of No Country For Old Men and episodic recaps/reactions of Pushing Daisies can be found in the Archive.

(DGA award image courtesy of dga.org; No Country For Old Men OS courtesy of impawards.com; Pushing Daisies image courtesy of avclub.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (43)

43.1 HEY, IF IT ISN’T OSCAR! 2008
As per my usual Oscar routine, I watched the live announcement of the major nominations (on BBC). I then quickly scuttled over to oscar.com, for the rest of the nominations.
Apparently though, what’s up at the site at the moment may not be a complete complete list (only one of the three Best Animated Feature Films is listed; Best Cinematography has four nominees listed), so if there are any nominations I’m unable to mention below, well, that’s the reason.
At any rate, the nominations I’m excited about are…

Across The Universe:
Best Costume Design (Albert Wolsky)

Eastern Promises:
Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)

No Country For Old Men:
Best Picture
Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
Best Film Editing (Joel &Ethan Coen)
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Once:
Best Song (“Falling Slowly”)

Transformers:
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects

Nominations from other films I’ve mentioned here at the Iguana, but have yet to see are…

Away From Her:
Best Actress (Julie Christie)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Sarah Polley)

The Golden Compass:
Best Art Direction

Juno:
Best Picture
Best Director (Jason Reitman)
Best Actress (Ellen Page)
Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Best Original Screenplay (Nancy Oliver)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Actor (Johnny Depp)

As always there are some disappointments.
One of the most glaring is probably that Eastern Promises is severely under-represented. One nomination, and since all indications point to Daniel Day-Lewis stealing the gold for There Will Be Blood…
But then again, there are some welcome sights, like “Falling Slowly” getting in there for Best Song. It’s up against three songs from Enchanted though, so we’ll just have to see.

Congratulations, one and all. (You can check out the sorta complete list here.)
Oscar Night is on February 24, 2008. Hopefully, the WGA strike will be over by then…

43.2 FOR THE SAKE OF ART 2008
And since we are talking about awards, the Art Directors Guild also recently announced their nominations for the 12th Annual ADG Awards.
And the nominees for Excellence in Production Design in 2007 that got me all pumped are…

300 (Fantasy Feature Film; PD: James Bissell)
Heroes: Episode 1020 “Five Years Gone” (Single Camera Television Series; PD: Ruth Ammon)
Lost: Episode 322 “Through The Looking Glass” (Single Camera Television Series; PD: Zack Grobler)
No Country For Old Men (Contemporary Feature Film; PD: Jess Gonchor)
Pushing Daisies: Episode 101 “Pie Lette” (Single Camera Television Series; PD: Michael Wylie)

Other Feature Film nominees I’ve mentioned ‘round these parts before but have yet to see are…

The Golden Compass (Fantasy Feature Film; PD: Dennis Gassner)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Period Feature Film; PD: Dante Ferretti)

But the high point for me for this year’s ADG awards will most certainly be stop-motion animation grand master Ray Harryhausen receiving the honourary Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award.
Ray Harryhausen is a hero of mine from my grade school days. This is the man who painstakingly brought to life the mythical beasties that threatened the lives of cinematic heroes like Sinbad and Jason, made dinosaurs battle cowboys, and flying saucers and giant octopi and prehistoric monsters leave great swathes of property damage in their wake.
He brought a kid’s dreams to life on screen, and made that kid a lifelong devotee of cinema.
I will be forever indebted, Mr. Harryhausen. Congratulations.

Another honour for the evening is the awarding of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Stuart Craig, who did the production design for Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie, and won awards for his work on David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, and Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons.
Craig’s work will best be known to today’s generation of movie-goers though, through the Harry Potter franchise.

Congratulations, one and all. Awards night is on February 16, 2008. (The complete list of nominees can be found here.)

Parting shot: Reviews of 300, Across The Universe, Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, Once, and Transformers can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reactions to Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies.

(Images courtesy of hollywoodreporter.com [Oscar OS], impawards.com [No Country For Old Men OS], and rayharryhausen.com.)

I AM LEGEND
(Review)

Emma Thompson destroys the world.
I love it, I love it, I love it! She may have missed out on playing God in Kevin Smith’s Dogma, but boy, she can really bring down the house, can’t she?
In an all-too-brief (and uncredited) cameo, Thompson plays Dr. Alice Krippin, who, in engineering a viral cure for cancer, turns those poor souls unlucky enough not to be Will Smith, into hyper-active, sunlight-fearing CGI constructs.
All this Hollywood insanity can be found in Francis Lawrence’s big budget take on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (by way of the script for the 1971 Charlton Heston-starrer, The Omega Man).

For this latest re-do, megastar Smith is Robert Neville, the last uninfected man in New York. Roaming the overgrown, deserted streets by day with his trusty dog Sam—he’s completely immune to the Krippin Virus, while Sam, like all canines, is immune to the airborne strain—holed up in his nice, well-stocked (and fortified) digs by night, Neville continues to try to find a cure for the virus, some three years after the original outbreak.
Thus, for the most part, I Am Legend asks us to spend about an hour and a half watching Smith do his thing. Fortunately, Smith is an A-lister who can actually act, so that part of the equation is dandy.
Smith’s Neville is likeable enough, his rapport with Sam easy and amiable. Soon though, the cracks begin to show, as, realistically, given his situation, Neville really isn’t all there anymore. It’s interesting to watch him go from a subdued version of his usual Will Smith cinema persona, to a slightly crazed semi-loon complete with mini-meltdowns (the one involving Shrek is probably the most disturbing).
So, given that this is nearly a one-man show, Smith effectively carries his own weight. The script meanwhile—which is based on the ’71 adaptation—by Mark Protosevich (The Cell and the upcoming Thor) and Akiva Goldsman (who may have won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, but will always be remembered by yours truly as the man responsible for inflicting the script of Batman & Robin upon my delicate sensibilities), smoothly gives Smith leeway to play action hero, obsessed scientist, haunted father, and borderline nutcase, and the man doesn’t miss a beat.
But, like Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf, the problem isn’t so much in the script (though the third act developments may prove a tad too Hollywood for some) as it is in the pixels.

For some reason, director Lawrence chose to forego the use of human actors to play the KV-infected because he wasn’t quite getting what he was looking for in their performances. What that was, I’m not exactly sure: an air of gross artificiality?
The CGI bits are dodgy, and quite frankly, terribly distracting. As a result, you have a film that has some genuinely moving emotional scenes (notably, Neville’s regular midday idylls), but which falls hard and flat when it comes to the sequences that are supposed to be thrilling and tense.
Actually, the only effective thrill sequence comes when Sam inadvertently chases a deer into a dark, apparently abandoned building, and we catch our first glimpses of the infected. The build up, as Neville desperately tries to find the dog without waking the slumbering occupants, is taut, a well-constructed tension that snaps into so many brittle shards when the CGI monsters wake up and give chase.
The things look patently fake, so, knowing that Smith is out there running from and struggling with a bunch of pixels kind of bursts the bubble, you know? (The fact that Dash Mihok—who recently appeared in Pushing Daisies’ “Pigeon” episode—gets third billing as the “Alpha Male,” is truly odd, considering he’s not recognizable beneath the computer-generated, mo-cap sheen, and the performance doesn’t strike me as one that reaches an Andy Serkis-level.)

It’s sad since I Am Legend could have been a legitimate Hollywood portrait of a viral apocalypse, instead of the hobbled, compromised creature that it is.
Anyone looking for white-knuckle, viral apocalypse thrills would do well to look towards the 28 Days/Weeks Later area of zombie cinema. I Am Legend, while certainly better than Lawrence’s previous effort, the lamentable Constantine, may have a beating heart, but it clearly lacks any real, organic teeth to make it a formidable and threatening cinematic construct.*

* Of course, given that I Am Legend has made, at the time of this review’s writing, a staggering US total of $228 million in just 4 weeks of release (that puts it at # 6 on the US Top Ten Films released in 2007, having just edged out The Bourne Ultimatum by a measly million; it’s also raking in the moolah across the globe—as of January 1, it already had a cumulative gross of $126 million, from 25 markets), shows that the film has found an audience, so what do I know?

Parting shot: Reviews of 28 Weeks Later, Beowulf, and Constantine, as well as episodic recaps of Pushing Daisies, can be found in the Archive.

(I Am Legend OS courtesy of wildaboutmovies.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (37)
TOP TV SHOWS FOR 2007

It’s that time of year when Top 10 lists breed like rabbits, and though the sheer number do make the head spin, I still check out a lot of them, just to see what others have to say about the shows that I love (if and when my top choices happen to coincide with theirs).

Time had two lists of top TV shows, and Lost crashed into the #2 spot on Time’s Top 10 Returning TV Shows, while Pushing Daisies took root in the #5 spot of their Top 10 New TV Series.

#2. Lost (from Time’s Top 10 Returning TV Shows)
Like a boulder on a desert-island mountain, a Lost season starts slow, but after a dithering first six episodes, season 3 was an awesome force. This spring's episodes delved deeper into the mythology of the mysterious island, then vaulted years ahead in an astonishing, forehead-smacking finale that set the bar even higher for next season. In between, we got Desmond's mind-blowing premonitions, invisible mystic island honcho, Jacob, and the moving death of doomed romantic junkie Charlie. What more could you want? Only more Lost, and soon.

#5. Pushing Daisies (from Time’s Top 10 New TV Shows)
It's whimsational! It's twee-riffic! It's preciously precious! In this grown-up fairy-tale, a piemaker (Lee Pace) can raise the dead with a touch, but kills them if he ever touches them again. This complicates matters when he resurrects the love of his life, whom he can never kiss, at pain of her life. Playful, fantastical, and art-directed within an inch of its life in candy colors by Barry Sonnenfeld, Daisies is as romantic as it is outlandish.

Pushing Daisies also sprouted in the #2 spot on Entertainment Weekly’s Best TV Shows of 2007.

2. Pushing Daisies (from Entertainment Weekly’s Best TV Shows of 2007)
Filled with mermaid divers and windmill farms, Pushing Daisies is a fantastically fantastical, bubble-gum-colored fable about a pie maker named Ned (Lee Pace), who magically brings his childhood love, Chuck (Anna Friel), back to life with his touch but will kill her if he ever makes contact again. Between solving oddball mysteries involving puppy cloning and scratch-'n'-sniff empires, Chuck and Ned banter and moon at each other. (As Ned's gruff detective buddy, wonderful Chi McBride undercuts any excess sweet.) When so many TV couples are bickery brats, there's something strangely mature about this chaste pair. It's easy to whip up a juicy drama about evildoing bastards — it takes a boatload of creativity to make all this niceness so mesmerizing.

Congratulations to all involved with Lost and Pushing Daisies. Onward, ho, to 2008. And let’s get the WGA strike resolved soon so we can all breathe easier…

Entries quoted above are from time.com and ew.com. To see the other Top 10 shows, the complete lists can be accessed from the links above.

(Images courtesy of abc, fanpop.com [Lost] and about.com [Pushing Daisies].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (36)

36.1 PIMP MY BOOK (5)
Chapter 10 is up at the Pelicula website, where you can find out exactly what goes on at all those Manila Basketball League games. Mosey on over to the website to see what the frak I’m blathering on about.
And thanx to everyone who’s checked Pelicula out.

36.2 BETTER WATCH THAT SAG 2008
Unlike the Golden Globes, which is on shaky ground with the on-going WGA strike, next year’s 14th Annual SAG Awards (scheduled for January 27), looks to be a go, though whether or not nominees will cross the picket lines to attend the show remains to be seen.
At any rate, the SAG award nominees that got my attention are:

Motion Pictures

Away From Her:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Julie Christie as Fiona)

Eastern Promises:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai)

Juno:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom)

Television

Dexter:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan)

Entourage:
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold)
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Rhys Coiro / Billy Walsh
Kevin Connolly / Eric Murphy
Kevin Dillon / Johnny Drama
Jerry Ferrara / Turtle
Adrian Grenier / Vincent Chase
Rex Lee / Lloyd
Jeremy Piven / Ari Gold
Perrey Reeves / Mrs. Ari

SAG has also established a new stunt award category for both film and TV, with the respective categories looking like this:

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
300
The Bourne Ultimatum
I Am Legend
The Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
24
Heroes
Lost
Rome
The Unit

Congratulations, one and all, and hurrah for the stunt people!

You can check out the entire list of nominees for the 14th Annual SAGs here, a list which features a frighteningly thorough fact sheet, and the SAG Award histories of the nominees. So if you always wanted to know whether or not George Clooney won an Actor for his work on ER (he won four Actors as part of the show’s ensemble, but failed to win Actor in a Drama Series the two times he was nominated; sorry, George), this cheat sheet is the place to go.

36.3 TO RATE THE UNDERRATED
And congratulations to C.S. Lee (of Dexter and Chuck) and Pushing Daisies’ Orbit, for making zap2it.com’s The Underrated of 2007 list.
Recognizing the sometimes overlooked supporting players of our favourite shows, the list did well to note Orbit’s very tangible contribution to Pushing Daisies, as Ned’s faithful golden retriever, Digby.

Yeah, Orbit! Break down those gender barriers! You go, girl!

The complete Underrated of 2007 list can be found here.

(Image from Pelicula website, website designed by Carl Vergara, Habagat icon designed by Ian Sta. Maria; other images courtesy of variety.com and SAG [SAG crest]; and zap2it.com, showtime, and abc [C.S. Lee and Orbit with Kristin Chenoweth].)