The Emmy nominations are here, and as always I’ve forgotten not to care about them. Every year I am annoyed by every awards show, but I still follow them faithfully like a sad, hungry dog that will never be properly fed. If you are in the same position, enjoy this guide to the major categories!
All posts by Sophie Parker-Rees
Write for the Buffer!
The Princeton Buffer is taking submissions!
We’re looking for reviews and features on film and television–new releases, new additions to Netflix, maybe just something great you saw recently. Articles should be no more than 600 words, but you can go longer if you have a lot to say.
Submit your writing to Sophie Parker-Rees at semp@princeton.edu, and it will be edited by our Board and might get published here on this site!
Fresh Starts: Great Pilot Episodes
The first episode of a TV show is a welcome, a please come in, a sit down and make yourself at home. It’s a new start, a fresh group of people to know. These characters have a lot more to tell you about themselves and you should probably listen because this relationship might last for years.
An Affair to Forget
The Affair knows that it is retreading well-worn ground. Adultery has been covered so extensively across all forms of media that it’s hard to imagine a new TV drama adding much to the conversation. For the first few episodes, though, it seemed like Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi had achieved the massively unlikely. The show actually felt original, with a fresh angle on its main characters and an innovative storytelling style. It’s unfortunate that by the tenth and final episode of the season, that freshness had all but disappeared into the many clichés of infidelity fiction. Continue reading An Affair to Forget
I Sacrificed Three Hours So You Don’t Have To
With Dean’s Date rapidly approaching, I gave up an eighth of a day to watch the Golden Globes and even more to report on them here. I did that for you, readers, so I hope you forgive me if we disagree about any of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s decisions. Unlike the ceremony and Michael Keaton’s speech in particular, I’m going to keep it concise. Here, then, are the noteworthy moments from the 72nd Golden Globes!
Continue reading I Sacrificed Three Hours So You Don’t Have To
Pride: Sweet and Sour History
It’s always dangerous to add too much sugar to your cup of bitter historical fact. For many filmmakers, however, the temptation is too great to resist—after all, a neatly shaped and heartwarming narrative is likely to do far better at the box office than a somber reflection on the usually messy truth. In Pride, released on DVD in the U.S. on the 23rd of December, director Matthew Warchus falls into this predictable trap. The result is certainly moving, but his chosen subject deserves more honesty, and even an impressive cast can’t totally save their film from the saccharine.
Sophie Parker-Rees on Leslie Knope
They Came Together: An Ode to the Rom Com
You have watched all these scenes before, but they have never been so funny. David Wain’s They Came Together is a parody of the romantic comedy genre, a distillation of every hackneyed trope into eighty minutes of absurdity.