Lists and Awards, 2011

The end of the year marks the beginning of Year's Best Films lists and Awards Season. Roger Ebert lists what he thinks were the year's 20 best films here.

Ebert's old reviewing partner, Richard Roeper, lists his top 11 films.

Peter Travers compiles Rolling Stone's list of the 10 best films here.

David Denby's list for The New Yorker is here.

The A.V. Club's list is here.

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For a different kind of list, The Atlantic has a slide show of its own idiosyncratic categories for the year in movies. A few examples:

Best Political Film: The Muppets
Most Unnecessary Literary Adaptation: The Three Musketeers in 3D
Best Foreign Film That You Can't See Yet: A Separation

There are many other entries on this fun list, with plenty to discuss and argue about with friends.

SAG Award Nominations

The nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced today. Here is the complete list, with CoyoteMoon Films' Howard Allen's preferences listed first (and sometimes second). Do you agree? Disagree? Leave a comment!

18th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® NOMINATIONS

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

BRAD PITT / Billy Beane - "MONEYBALL" (Columbia Pictures)

JEAN DUJARDIN / George - "THE ARTIST" (The Weinstein Company)

DEMIÁN BICHIR / Carlos Galindo - “A BETTER LIFE” (Summit Entertainment)

GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King - "THE DESCENDANTS” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO / J. Edgar Hoover - "J. EDGAR" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark - “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)

MICHELLE WILLIAMS / Marilyn Monroe - “MY WEEK WITH MARILYN” (The Weinstein Company)

GLENN CLOSE / Albert Nobbs - "ALBERT NOBBS” (Roadside Attractions)

MERYL STREEP / Margaret Thatcher - “THE IRON LADY” (The Weinstein Company)

TILDA SWINTON / Eva - “WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

KENNETH BRANAGH / Sir Laurence Olivier - “MY WEEK WITH MARILYN” (The Weinstein Company)

ARMIE HAMMER / Clyde Tolson - "J. EDGAR" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

JONAH HILL / Peter Brand - "MONEYBALL" (Columbia Pictures)

NICK NOLTE / Paddy Conlon - “WARRIOR” (Lionsgate)

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER / Hal - “BEGINNERS” (Focus Features)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson - “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)

JANET McTEER / Hubert Page - "ALBERT NOBBS” (Roadside Attractions)

BÉRÉNICE BEJO / Peppy - "THE ARTIST" (The Weinstein Company)

JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote - “THE HELP” (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)

MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan - “BRIDESMAIDS” (Universal Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

THE HELP (DreamWorks Pictures / Touchstone Pictures)

JESSICA CHASTAIN / Celia Foote ; VIOLA DAVIS / Aibileen Clark ; BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD / Hilly Holbrook ; ALLISON JANNEY / Charlotte Phelan ; CHRIS LOWELL / Stuart Whitworth ; AHNA O’REILLY / Elizabeth Leefolt ; SISSY SPACEK / Missus Walters ; OCTAVIA SPENCER / Minny Jackson ; MARY STEENBURGEN / Elaine Stein ; EMMA STONE / Skeeter Phelan ; CICELY TYSON / Constantine Jefferson ; MIKE VOGEL / Johnny Foote

THE ARTIST (The Weinstein Company)

BÉRÉNICE BEJO / Peppy : JAMES CROMWELL / Clifton ; JEAN DUJARDIN / George ; JOHN GOODMAN / Al Zimmer ; PENELOPE ANN MILLER / Doris

BRIDESMAIDS (Universal Pictures)

ROSE BYRNE / Helen ; JILL CLAYBURGH / Annie’s Mom ; ELLIE KEMPER / Becca ; MATT LUCAS / Gil ; MELISSA McCARTHY / Megan ; WENDI McLENDON-COVEY / Rita ; CHRIS O’DOWD / Rhodes ; MAYA RUDOLPH / Lillian ; KRISTEN WIIG / Annie

THE DESCENDANTS (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

BEAU BRIDGES / Cousin Hugh ; GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King ; ROBERT FORSTER / Scott Thorson ; JUDY GREER / Julie Speer ; MATTHEW LILLARD / Brian Speer ; SHAILENE WOODLEY / Alexandra King

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Sony Pictures Classics)

KATHY BATES / Gertrude Stein ; ADRIEN BRODY / Salvador Dali ; CARLA BRUNI / Museum Guide ; MARION COTILLARD / Adriana ; RACHEL McADAMS / Inez ; MICHAEL SHEEN / Paul ; OWEN WILSON / Gil

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

JAMES WOODS / Richard Fuld - “TOO BIG TO FAIL” (HBO)

LAURENCE FISHBURNE / Thurgood Marshall - “THURGOOD” (HBO)

PAUL GIAMATTI / Ben Bernanke - “TOO BIG TO FAIL” (HBO)

GREG KINNEAR / Jack Kennedy - “THE KENNEDYS” (REELZ CHANNEL)

GUY PEARCE / Monty Beragon - “MILDRED PIERCE“ (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

KATE WINSLET / Mildred Pierce - “MILDRED PIERCE” (HBO)

MAGGIE SMITH / Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham - “DOWNTON ABBEY” (PBS)

DIANE LANE / Pat Loud - “CINEMA VERITE” (HBO)

EMILY WATSON / Janet Leach - “APPROPRIATE ADULT” (Sundance Channel)

BETTY WHITE / Caroline Thomas - “HALLMARK HALL OF FAME: THE LOST VALENTINE” (CBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch “Nucky” Thompson - “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” (HBO)

MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan - “DEXTER” (Showtime)

PATRICK J. ADAMS / Mike Ross - “SUITS” (USA)

KYLE CHANDLER / Eric Taylor - “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS” (DirecTV)

BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White - “BREAKING BAD” (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

JESSICA LANGE / Constance - “AMERICAN HORROR STORY” (FX)

JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick - “THE GOOD WIFE” (CBS)

KATHY BATES / Harriet Korn - “HARRY’S LAW” (NBC)

GLENN CLOSE / Patty Hewes - “DAMAGES” (DirecTV)

KYRA SEDGWICK / Dept. Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson - “THE CLOSER” (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy - “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)

ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron Tucker - “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)

ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy - “30 ROCK” (NBC)

STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott - “THE OFFICE” (NBC)

JON CRYER / Alan Harper - “TWO AND A HALF MEN” (CBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

TINA FEY / Liz Lemon - “30 ROCK” (NBC)

SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria Delgado-Pritchett - “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)

JULIE BOWEN / Claire Dunphy - “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)

EDIE FALCO / Jackie Peyton - “NURSE JACKIE” (Showtime)

BETTY WHITE / Elka Ostrovsky - “HOT IN CLEVELAND” (TV Land)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)

STEVE BUSCEMI / Enoch “Nucky” Thompson ; DOMINIC CHIANESE / Leander Cephas Whitlock ; ROBERT CLOHESSY / Ward Boss Jim Neary ; DABNEY COLEMAN / Commodore Louis Kaestner ; CHARLIE COX / Owen Sleater ; JOSIE & LUCY GALLINA / Emily Schroeder ; STEPHEN GRAHAM / Al Capone ; JACK HUSTON / Richard Harrow ; ANTHONY LACIURA / Eddie Kessler ; HEATHER LIND / Katy ; KELLY MACDONALD / Margaret Schroeder ; RORY & DECLAN McTIGUE / Teddy Schroeder ; GRETCHEN MOL / Gillian Darmody ; BRADY & CONNOR NOON/ Tommy Darmody ; KEVIN O’ROURKE / Mayor Edward Bader ; ALEKSA PALLADINO / Angela Darmody ; JACQUELINE PENNEWILL / Lilian ; VINCENT PIAZZA / Lucky Luciano ; MICHAEL PITT / Jimmy Darmody ; MICHAEL SHANNON / Agent Nelson Van Alden ; PAUL SPARKS / Mickey Doyle ; MICHAEL STUHLBARG / Arnold Rothstein ; PETER VAN WAGNER / Isaac “Icky” Ginsburg ; SHEA WHIGHAM / Sheriff Elias Thompson ; MICHAEL KENNETH WILLIAMS / Chalky White ; ANATOL YUSEF / Meyer Lansky

BREAKING BAD (AMC)

JONATHAN BANKS / Mike ; BETSY BRANDT / Marie Schrader ; RAY CAMPBELL / Tyrus Kitt ; BRYAN CRANSTON / Walter White ; GIANCARLO ESPOSITO / Gus Fring ; ANNA GUNN / Skyler White ; RJ MITTE / Walter White, Jr. ; DEAN NORRIS / Hank Schrader ; BOB ODENKIRK / Saul Goodman ; AARON PAUL / Jesse Pinkman

DEXTER (Showtime)

BILLY BROWN / Chicago Mike ; JENNIFER CARPENTER / Debra Morgan ; JOSH COOKE / Louis ; AIMEE GARCIA / Jamie Batista ; MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan ; COLIN HANKS / Travis Marshall ; DESMOND HARRINGTON / Joey Quinn ; RYA KIHLSTEDT / Michelle ; C.S. LEE / Vince Masuka ; EDWARD JAMES OLMOS / Professor Gellar ; JAMES REMAR / Harry Morgan ; LAUREN VELEZ / Lt. Maria LaGuerta ; DAVID ZAYAS / Sgt. Angel Batista

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

AMRITA ACHARIA / Irri ; MARK ADDY / King Robert Baratheon ; ALFIE ALLEN / Theon Greyjoy ; JOSEF ALTIN / Pypar ; SEAN BEAN / Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark ; SUSAN BROWN / Septa Mordane ; EMILIA CLARKE / Daenerys Targaryen ; NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU / Ser Jaime Lannister ; PETER DINKLAGE / Tyrion Lannister ; RON DONACHIE / Ser Rodrik Cassel ; MICHELLE FAIRLEY / Lady Catelyn Stark ; JEROME FLYNN / Bronn ; ELYES GABEL / Rakharo ; AIDAN GILLEN / “Littlefinger” Petyr Baelish ; JACK GLEESON / Joffrey Baratheon ; IAIN GLEN / Ser Jorah Mormont ; JULIAN GLOVER / Grand Maester Pycelle ; KIT HARINGTON / Jon Snow ; LENA HEADEY / Queen Cersei Lannister ; ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT / Bran Stark ; CONLETH HILL / Lord Varys ; RICHARD MADDEN / Robb Stark ; JASON MOMOA / Khal Drogo ; RORY McCANN / Sandor Clegane ; IAN McELHINNEY / Barristan Selmy ; LUKE McEWAN / Rast ; ROXANNE McKEE / Doreah ; DAR SALIM / Qotho ; MARK STANLEY / Grenn ; DONALD SUMPTER / Maester Luwin ; SOPHIE TURNER / Sansa Stark ; MAISIE WILLIAMS / Arya Stark

THE GOOD WIFE (CBS)

CHRISTINE BARANSKI / Diane Lockhart ; JOSH CHARLES / Will Gardner ; ALAN CUMMING / Eli Gold ; MATT CZUCHRY / Cary Agos ; JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick ; CHRIS NOTH / Peter Florrick ; ARCHIE PANJABI / Kalinda Sharma ; GRAHAM PHILLIPS / Zach Florrick ; MAKENZIE VEGA / Grace Florrick

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

MODERN FAMILY (ABC)

AUBREY ANDERSON-EMMONS / Lily ; JULIE BOWEN / Claire ; TY BURRELL / Phil ; JESSE TYLER FERGUSON / Mitchell ; NOLAN GOULD / Luke ; SARAH HYLAND / Haley ; ED O’NEILL / Jay ; RICO RODRIGUEZ / Manny ; ERIC STONESTREET / Cameron ; SOFIA VERGARA / Gloria ; ARIEL WINTER / Alex

30 ROCK (NBC)

SCOTT ADSIT / Pete Hornberger ; ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy ; KATRINA BOWDEN / Cerie ; KEVIN BROWN / Dotcom ; GRIZZ CHAPMAN / Grizz ; TINA FEY / Liz Lemon ; JUDAH FRIEDLANDER / Frank Rossitano ; JANE KRAKOWSKI / Jenna Maroney ; JOHN LUTZ / Lutz ; JACK MCBRAYER / Kenneth Parcell ; TRACY MORGAN / Tracy Jordan ; MAULIK PANCHOLY / Jonathan ; KEITH POWELL / Toofer

THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS)

MAYIM BIALIK / Amy Farrah Fowler ; KALEY CUOCO / Penny ; JOHNNY GALECKI / Leonard Hofstadter ; SIMON HELBERG / Howard Wolowitz ; KUNAL NAYYAR / Rajesh Koothrappali ; JIM PARSONS / Sheldon Cooper ; MELISSA RAUCH / Bernadette Rostenkowski

GLEE (FOX)

DIANNA AGRON / Quinn Fabray ; CHRIS COLFER / Kurt Hummel ; DARREN CRISS / Blaine Anderson ; ASHLEY FINK / Lauren Zizes ; DOT MARIE JONES / Coach Beiste ; JANE LYNCH / Sue Sylvester ; JAYMA MAYS / Emma Pillsbury ; KEVIN McHALE / Artie Abrams ; LEA MICHELE / Rachel Berry ; CORY MONTEITH / Finn Hudson ; HEATHER MORRIS / Brittany Pierce ; MATTHEW MORRISON / Will Schuester ; MIKE O’MALLEY / Burt Hummel ; CHORD OVERSTREET / Sam Evans ; LAUREN POTTER / Becky Johnson ; AMBER RILEY / Mercedes Jones ; NAYA RIVERA / Santana Lopez ; MARK SALLING / Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman ; HARRY SHUM, JR. / Mike Chang ; IQBAL THEBA / Principal Figgins ; JENNA USHKOWITZ / Tina Cohen-Chang

THE OFFICE (NBC)

LESLIE DAVID BAKER / Stanley Hudson ; BRIAN BAUMGARTNER / Kevin Malone ; CREED BRATTON / Creed Bratton ; STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott ; JENNA FISCHER / Pam Beesly Halpert ; KATE FLANNERY / Meredith Palmer ; ED HELMS / Andy Bernard ; MINDY KALING / Kelly Kapoor ; ELLIE KEMPER / Erin Hannon ; ANGELA KINSEY / Angela Martin ; JOHN KRASINSKI / Jim Halpert ; PAUL LIEBERSTEIN / Toby Flenderson ; B.J. NOVAK / Ryan Howard ; OSCAR NUÑEZ / Oscar Martinez ; CRAIG ROBINSON / Daryll Philbin ; JAMES SPADER / Robert California ; PHYLLIS SMITH / Phyllis Lapin-Vance ; RAINN WILSON / Dwight Schrute ; ZACH WOODS / Gabe Lewis

SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (WARNER BROS. PICTURES)

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

COWBOYS & ALIENS (UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (PARAMOUNT PICTURES)

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (20TH CENTURY FOX)

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

DEXTER (SHOWTIME)

SOUTHLAND (TNT)

SPARTACUS: GODS OF THE ARENA (STARZ)

TRUE BLOOD (HBO)

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Screen Actors Guild Awards 48th Annual Life Achievement Award

MARY TYLER MOORE

Review: Bad Santa

NOTE: This post is a review of the “Badder Santa” version of Bad Santa available on DVD.

We’re in the midst of the Christmas special season on television. For weeks now, Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty, Virginia, and others have been spreading cheer designed for small children. If you’re an adult looking for a different kind of cheer, Bad Santa may have enough bitter and sour to balance the sweet that’s currently permeating the airwaves.

Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie, a professional safecracker and unprofessional mall Santa who swears, drinks, swears, has sex with any woman who’s willing, swears, drinks, and swears. He’s a wreck. His partner in crime, Marcus (Tony Cox), is the brains behind the operation. After the job that opens the movie, Willie thinks he’s got enough money to retire to Miami. Marcus predicts that Willie will drink his share and need to do another job next year. Obviously Marcus is correct, or there wouldn’t be a movie.

At the next job, Willie encounters a shy 8-year-old boy (Brett Kelly) who’s the object of bullying. The scenes with the kid avoid the saccharine sweetness and unearned redemption that might be expected from lesser films depicting this kind of relationship. Willie’s too far gone to be redeemed completely, and “Bad Santa” leaves the audience somewhat concerned for the kid’s future with Willie as an important influence in his life.

Bad Santa features John Ritter and Bernie Mac in pivotal supporting roles. Despite the underwritten dialogue, the prickly relationship between Ritter’s prudish mall executive and Mac’s corrupt security chief provide both actors with ample opportunities to squeeze laughs out of lines that easily could have fallen flat. Ritter, in one of his last roles, steals nearly every scene he’s in.

The characters that populate Bad Santa don’t find the joy of Christmas that saved Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. They find a different kind of joy, and they elicit laughs by engaging in behaviors not usually associated with the holiday season. If the usual Christmas movie is a mug of hot cocoa, Bad Santa is a fifth of gin.

This review was written by L.R. Simon

Announcement

December 18

Society of Southwestern Authors Forum
The Tucson Sheraton Four Points on Speedway and Campbell in the conference center (south of the hotel). Program begins at 10 am.

Howard Allen will do his Presentation on the Storytelling Secrets of the Christmas Classic: It's A Wonderful Life

ScriptDoctor's Contest of Contest Winners

ScriptDoctor.com's Contest of Contest Winners is still accepting entries through December 15. If you've won a screenplay contest, please visit the ScriptDoctor website to enter.

Loft Film Fest

If you're in Tucson this week, the Loft Cinema is hosting its Film Festival today through the 17th. Featured films include Melancholia, Into the Abyss, Mozart's Sister, and the 10th anniversary of Donnie Darko, among many others. This is an excellent time to take advantage of the Loft's eclectic selection of films.

Quick update

Our Executive Producer, Nathan Shelton, is very busy with his production business (Desert Penguin Media) and will give us details soon.

Also look for updates from other CoyoteMoon Films people. We have much to look forward to.

Faith-based films; The Mighty Macs

This post was written by our friends and colleagues, Mick and Vicki McCarville.

Faith-based, Christian-themed, inspirational. Whatever you call them, these movies are becoming very popular. The most influential movie that comes to mind is The Blind Side which grossed $256 million.

If you haven’t seen Soul Surfer with Anna Sophia Robb, Helen Hunt, and Dennis Quaid, go rent it. You will be awed.

Now The Mighty Macs is in the news and gaining momentum. Writer/director Tim Chambers said in a recent interview with Joseph Airdo of the Phoenix Movie Examiner:

As a filmmaker – and as a father – what I wanted to do in making this movie was give us a choice to say, “This is what we can go see this weekend as a family,” Chambers explains. Whether you are 8 or 88 years old, this is a movie that you can go see. I feel like the industry needs to give families more choices when it comes to the big screen.

I saw The Mighty Macs with my wife and another couple. We all agreed that we liked it. It is hard to explain why these movies keep working. Maybe it is just the good feeling one has walking out of the theater. Maybe it is the underdog factor or the simplicity.

Are these types of movies becoming popular because stories of character, honesty, integrity, perseverance and inspiration have been missing from our theaters?

Shaun of the Dead

I shiver at the thought of ghosts in the hallway. I jump at an eerie howl coming from the distance. Blood, gore, goblins, and ghouls all make me weak at the knees. I refuse to watch horror films. I refuse to put myself through that kind of torture. So why is it that "Shaun of the Dead" is one of my all time favorite movies?

The story, my friends, the story is the answer. It’s not just about blood and zombies and blowing their heads to bits. I mean it is and it isn’t. The story is about living, in both senses of the word. I mean obviously they have to survive the zombie invasion but the main character, Shaun, also has to learn how to grow up and master the world around him; go out and get what he wants out of life instead of waiting for it to happen to him. Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) have such a natural relationship that it’s easy to join their world and share in their adventures. Pegg and Frost used to live together as flat mates so the dynamics you see between them are never forced. They are friends through and through but like all friends, their relationship isn’t perfect. Keeping reality in check, Shaun and Ed disagree and argue on several points throughout the film. Add in their roommate, Pete, Shaun’s love interest, Liz, and you’ve got all sorts of juicy conflict and witty dialogue.

The script, together with Edgar Wright’s direction and Chris Dickens’ editing makes for a visually stimulating goldmine. If you have the pleasure of watching “Hot Fuzz” you’ll notice the same editing techniques with fast action cuts and long uninterrupted shots. The romantic zombie comedy (rom zom com) also pays homage to several other zombie films of the past including but not limited to "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), "Dawn of the Dead" (1978), and "The Evil Dead" (1981). You can check out the references and some other cool trivia at http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/18/movie-trivia-shaun-of-the-dead/. And don’t forget to follow the awesome Brit himself on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/simonpegg. Pegg, Frost, and Wright have something brewing for their next project together so it’s best to stay in touch.

Once Upon a Time

The ads for Once Upon a Time ran for months, touting the show’s pedigree (“From the writers of Lost”), and giving glimpses of Vancouver doubling for both the land of fairy tales and Storybrooke, Maine, a slightly off-looking small town that serves as the characters’ prison.

I loved Lost—I watched every episode and marveled at how the production designers made Hawaii look like any place in the world they needed it to be. However, the writing was uneven. At times wonderful, at times good, it too often relied too much on the actors to raise the dialogue above mediocrity. Some of that carries over to Once Upon a Time, but the cast is largely up to the task. However, I hesitate to judge the writing solely on the basis of the pilot because of the extensive amount of exposition this series seems to require. Also, Jane Espenson’s (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones) presence as co-executive producer should help. (Read an interview with Espenson here.)

The production values are as high as anything you’ll see on television, and surpass those of some feature films. Vancouver was absolutely the right choice of location for this series. When we’re watching the fairy tale scenes, it looks like a richly illustrated book of children’s stories, and when we’re watching the Storybrooke scenes, it looks like a fairy tale character’s slightly off impression of our world. This is a beautiful show.

This brings us to the cast. When I initially saw the line-up, I couldn’t wait for the show to start. Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love, Something Borrowed) makes a good Snow White, but she seems more effective in her Storybrooke role. Jennifer Morrison (House M.D., How I Met Your Mother, Star Trek) is very good as Emma Swan, and her character looks to have some interesting things to do in the coming weeks. Jared Gilmore (The Back-Up Plan, Mad Men), who plays Henry, had some awkward exposition in the premiere and did pretty well with it, but exposition is difficult and a few lines seemed a bit much for him. He has great promise, though.

Lana Parrilla (24, Boomtown, and two episodes of Lost) looks like she’s relishing every line and every scene. Her problem, though, is that her villainy is less menacing than that of another character, Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold, played by Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, The Full Monty, 28 Weeks Later). When Parrilla threatens first Snow White and then Emma Swan with “I will destroy you if it’s the last thing I do,” you believe she will die trying, but she’s so close to the evil queens in the Disney princess movies that you know eventually she will die trying and fail. Carlyle, on the other hand, can make your skin crawl by saying something trivial like “Enjoy your stay.” His portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin is the most physical performance on the show so far, and his scenes in both worlds give the show all of its edge and any uncertainty as to its eventual outcome. His presence on the show is great news for the audience.

While I think the pilot episode had some issues, it also had enough going for it to give the series a few more weeks before deciding whether to keep watching.

This post was written by LR Simon as part of an ongoing series of posts on horror/fantasy films and television series.