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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Breaking down the Emmys' most dramatic battle: ‘The Pitt' vs. ‘Severance'
Have you at any point this year consulted WebMD to learn the possible side effects of reintegration? And if the answer is yes, does that mean your favorite show is 'Severance,' or does your (possibly neurotic) interest in medicine put you squarely in the camp of 'The Pitt'? I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. And no, it's not too early to choose sides in the upcoming Emmy showdown between the Apple TV+ and Max drama series. Let's take a page from Lumon founder Kier Eagan and 'be ever merry' while we take an early look at the race. It would be easy — and perhaps reductive — to boil down the battle between 'Severance' and 'The Pitt' as a matter of choosing the head or the heart. The loopy 'Severance' tells the story of people in a workplace doing a job they don't understand, partially because they've had chips implanted in their brains to create two selves ('innies' and 'outies') that are both distinct and the same. The show's second season found Outie Mark (Adam Scott) looking to reintegrate his two halves and liberate Innie Mark from his corporate enslavement. Only Innie Mark has questions about how all this will work and whether he wants to sublimate himself and end his relationship with another innie, Helly R. (Britt Lower). I could go on for several thousand words about all this because 'Severance' trades in the art of indirection, taking its sweet time to reveal the mysteries hidden within the blinding-white offices of Lumon Industries. Some people find the ambiguity confounding. The show's fans disagree, burrowing into the corporate cult(ure) of Lumon with glee. A herd of goats in a conference room? Of course! But why? Off to the subreddit we go! And don't forget the waffles! 'The Pitt' is also set in a workplace, a hospital emergency room. Its 15-episode first season follows what happens during a very eventful shift, each episode depicting one hour of the shift. It's a reunion for several key members of the team that made 'ER,' including creator R. Scott Gemmill, executive producer John Wells (who also directed the season's first and last episode) and star Noah Wyle. Some may consider this sacrilege, but with 'The Pitt,' they've built a better show. I offer this opinion as one who was devastated more than once by the chaos and drama that Wyle's Dr. Robby and his team dealt with during the season. Their despair became our despair — and if you've had the misfortune of visiting an emergency room recently, you know that the healthcare crisis shown on 'The Pitt' is real and getting worse. When the team's shift ended in the season finale, you were both relieved for its heroic characters and sad that you wouldn't be seeing them again until the second season drops. You felt like you'd been through something together. When Emmy nominations are announced next month, I'd expect that 'The White Lotus' and 'The Last of Us' will share in the wealth, with each earning up to 20 or more mentions. 'The White Lotus' ensemble alone will account for a chunk of that number. But I don't think either of those shows will win the drama series prize. 'The Last of Us' will be hampered by a story arc that's essentially the first part of a two-season storyline. And while 'The White Lotus' kept us guessing until the end, few would argue that its third season was its best. That leaves 'Severance' and 'The Pitt,' the head and the heart. Except 'Severance' made viewers feel the tragedy of Mark's plight deeply. And 'The Pitt' smartly incorporated topical issues — violence against healthcare workers, hospital understaffing, sex trafficking, anti-vaccination misconceptions — into its season. I appreciate both shows, and I don't have to create an alternative version of myself to let these twin passions coexist. But like Mark in 'Severance,' at one point I'm going to have to choose. And like Mark, I'll likely opt for love. Bold prediction: 'The Pitt' ultimately squeaks by 'Severance' in a barn-burner for drama series. I mentioned the sometimes stubbornly confounding aspects of 'Severance,' and the show's creators and actors are self-aware enough to know what they're doing and how its audience might react. 'I was scared of some of the risks [the creative team] were taking: 'What if this doesn't work?'' actor Patricia Arquette tells Tim Grierson for The Times. 'They really didn't sit on their laurels from the first year's success — they took a lot more chances in the second year.' Tim catalogued those chances in a terrific story, noting that the risks were even more palpable given the three-year gap between the series' first and second seasons, a break that happened partly due to the actors' and writers' strikes and partly because it's a hard show to sort out. 'It's a unique show,' star Adam Scott says, 'and in Season 1 we were figuring out what it was as we were doing it. In Season 2, the show was changing and expanding — we were figuring out what it was all over again because it was important to all of us that it not feel the same. Sometimes it takes a while.'
Los Angeles Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The Cannes prizewinners to watch for in the Oscar race
After reading about these California beaches, can you blame me for thinking about the south of France right about now? And, you know, the movies at Cannes this year were pretty good too. In fact, we might have another best picture Oscar winner from the festival. I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter, which is back in your inbox after a springtime sabbatical. Today, I'm looking at the news out of the Cannes Film Festival, wondering if Neon's publicity team will be getting any rest this coming awards season. Last year's Cannes Film Festival gave us a Demi Moore comeback ('The Substance'), an overstuffed, ambitious movie musical that everyone loved until they didn't ('Emilia Pérez') and a freewheeling Cinderella story that became the actual Cinderella story of the 2024-25 awards season ('Anora'). Sean Baker's 'Anora' became just the fourth film to take the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, and then go on to win the Oscar for best picture. But it had been only five years since Bong Joon Ho's 'Parasite' pulled off that feat, so this would seem to be the direction that the academy is going. As the major Hollywood studios have doubled down on IP, indies like A24 and Neon have stepped up, delivering original, daring films that win the hearts of critics, awards voters and, sometimes, moviegoers. Neon brought 'Anora' to Cannes last year, confident that it would make an ideal launching pad. This year, the studio bought films at the festival — among them the taut, tart revenge thriller 'It Was Just an Accident,' from dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, and the anarchic political thriller 'The Secret Agent' from Brazil's Kleber Mendonça Filho. 'It Was Just an Accident' won the Palme, making it the sixth consecutive time Neon has won the award. Despite being one of the world's most celebrated and influential filmmakers for movies like 'No Bears' and 'The White Balloon,' Panahi has never received any recognition at the Oscars. That will change this coming year. Another movie that might deliver the goods is a title Neon announced at Cannes last year, 'Sentimental Value,' an intense family drama that earned a 15-minute standing ovation. Or was it 17? Or 19? The audience at the Grand Théâtre Lumière might still be standing and applauding; who knows with these Cannes festivalgoers. I'd be long gone, heading to the nearest wine bar. The point is: People love this movie. It won the Grand Prix, Cannes' second-highest honor. 'Sentimental Value' is a dysfunctional family dramedy focusing on the relationship between a flawed father (the great Stellan Skarsgård) and his actor daughter (Renate Reinsve, extraordinary), two people who are better at their jobs than they are at grappling with their emotions. They're both sad and lonely, and the film circles a reconciliation, one that's only possible through their artistic endeavors. Norwegian director Joachim Trier directed and co-wrote 'Sentimental Value,' and it's his third collaboration with Reinsve, following her debut in the 2011 historical drama 'Oslo, August 31st' and the brilliant 'The Worst Person in the World,' for which she won Cannes' best actress prize in 2021. Reinsve somehow failed to make the cut at the Oscars that year, an oversight that will likely be corrected several months from now. Reinsve could well be joined in the category by a past Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence, who elicited rave reviews for her turn as a new mother coping with a raft of feelings after giving birth in Lynne Ramsay's Cannes competition title 'Die, My Love.' Critics have mostly been kind to the film, which Mubi bought at the festival for $24 million. Just don't label it a postpartum-depression drama, for which Ramsay pointedly chastised reviewers. 'This whole postpartum thing is just bull—,' she told film critic Elvis Mitchell. 'It's not about that. It's about a relationship breaking down, it's about love breaking down, and sex breaking down after having a baby. And it's also about a creative block.' However you want to read it, 'Die, My Love' looks like a comeback for Lawrence, last seen onscreen two years ago, showing her comic chops in the sweetly raunchy 'No Hard Feelings.' Lawrence won the lead actress Oscar for the 2012 film 'Silver Linings Playbook' and has been nominated three other times — for 'Winter's Bone,' 'American Hustle' and 'Joy.' With Ramsay's movie, which co-stars Robert Pattinson as her husband, Lawrence may well have printed her return ticket to the ceremony, which would be welcome. The Oscars are always more fun when she's in the room.
Los Angeles Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
2025 Emmy predictions: best limited series
This race is widely seen as a runaway for the two top contenders, and the panel agrees: 'Adolescence' and 'The Penguin' are the only two to appear on all ballots. 'Another year, another Netflix limited series from England that arrives seemingly out of nowhere to dazzle critics and push viewership numbers through the roof,' says Glenn Whipp of 'Adolescence.' Lorraine Ali calls 'Netflix's one-continuous-shot drama about a family's trauma around a teenage murder' 'the show to beat.' Matt Roush says it '[dominates] the field, making an instant star of the remarkable teenage newcomer Owen Cooper.' In the Bat-villain's corner, Tracy Brown writes, 'My favorite of the year remains 'The Penguin.' That's mostly for Cristin Milioti's scene-stealing turn as Gotham's forgotten mob-boss daughter who grows increasingly unhinged.' Trey Mangum, like several of his fellow Buzzards, likens the 'Adolescence' wave to the attention Netflix's 'Baby Reindeer' garnered and likes 'Penguin's' chances, but ponders, 'Maybe I'm one of the few who think 'Presumed Innocent' could take it as well.' 'Dope Thief' and 'Dying for Sex' get the next most praise in general from the panelists, including more enthusiastic recognition for their lead performers than for the series themselves. Perhaps the most surprising in the lukewarmness of its support is 'Disclaimer,' falling outside the top five despite the pedigree of Oscar-winning writer-director Alfonso Cuarón and actors Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline. And, ahem, Kristen Baldwin would like a word: '[Climbs up on soapbox, raises megaphone] 'La Máquina' … needs to be part of the Emmys conversation!' More predictions: Limited / TV movie actor | Limited / TV movie actress 1. 'Adolescence'2. 'The Penguin'3. 'Dope Thief'4. 'Say Nothing'5. 'Dying for Sex'6. 'Presumed Innocent'7. 'La Máquina'8. (tie) 'Disclaimer'8. (tie) 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story'
Los Angeles Times
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
LA Times Today: All the best and worst moments of the 2025 Oscars, as they happened
Conan O'Brien hosted the Academy Awards last night, bringing an eventful awards season to a show has generally been well received and featured show stopping musical performances, surprise wins and a few new Oscars records. L.A. Times awards columnist Glenn Whipp is here to break it all down.
Los Angeles Times
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
LA Times Today: Oscar best picture race is a free-for-all
The Oscars will be awarded on Sunday. And this year's nominees for best picture are all over the a Spanish-language musical about a transgender drug cartel leader, to the Cinderella story of a Brooklyn sex worker, to the shenanigans of electing a new pope – it's anybody's guess at this point. L.A. Times awards columnist Glenn Whipp is here to make the case for each nominee, and assess their odds of winning.
