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Top Ten Films of 2015 Here are my choices for the ten best movies of this past year:

Review: Die Fledermaus at the Met A wave of trepidation slowly overcame the audience of the Met's December 4th performance of Die Fledermaus , as people opened their playbills and read the insert that said Mireille Asselin would be on for Lucy Crowe, who was ill, in the pivotal role of Adele. Fortunately, the immensely charming Asselin displayed no signs of nervousness at having to command the gargantuan Met stage. She has a beautiful voice that suits Adele nicely.  It should be noted that a cover being a highlight of the evening is not unlike a chambermaid becoming the sensation of the New Year's Eve party at the center of the story.

What Should be NBC's Next Live Musical? With The Wiz Live! being both a critical and ratings success, it seems inevitable that the tradition of the airing a live musical will continue next year. The Sound of Music was a good production of a great musical, Peter Pan was a so-so production of a so-so musical, The Wiz was a great production of a good musical. So what musical should NBC do next? Given the stipulations that whatever musical is chosen, it has to be family friendly and have recognizable songs, there aren't really that many to chose from. Here are some musicals I think could work:

Film Review: "Miss You Already" (2015) There's a scene about midway through Miss You Already in which the best friends played by Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore dance to "Losing My Religion" in the middle of the night, in the rain, in the Yorkshire Moors. In just about any other movie, the moment would feel contrived. But perhaps it's the chemistry between the actors, or perhaps its director Catherine Hardwicke's stylish visuals, but the scene works surprisingly well at portraying a bonding moment between two lifelong friends, despite its gratuitous construction. This is what is odd about Miss You Already ; what should be overly formulaic, isn't.

Ranking the Films of Sofia Coppola   Sofia Coppola may be the daughter of one of the most acclaimed directors of all time, but she has never struggled to imbue her films with her unique vision. A trademark of Coppola's films is that all of her films deal with the theme of celebrity, whether it be local celebrity, fading celebrity, unsought celebrity, the monotony that goes along with celebrity, or the unattainability of celebrity. Other trademarks of a Sofia Coppola film are dreamlike visuals and awesome soundtracks. This is how I'd rank the films of Sofia Coppola:

The 5th Annual Timmys Television Awards The Timmy Awards annually honor excellence in television from the previous season. This year we look at the great work from the 2014-15 season. Winners are in bold.

Reaction to the 2015 Emmy Nominations: Snubs and Surprises The Primetime Emmy nominations were announced Thursday morning, here are my thoughts on some of the big categories.  Outstanding Comedy Series:  Louie,  Modern Family,  Parks & Recreation,  Silicon Valley,  Transparent,  Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,  Veep The surprises here were good ones, Parks and Recreation and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are both terrific shows and deserved their spots. Veep , of course, is always deserving. Emmy voters were never going to deny Louie and Modern Family. Haven't seen the other two.  Outstanding Drama Series:  Better Call Saul,  Downton Abbey,  Game of Thrones,  Homeland,  House of Cards,  Mad Men,  Orange Is The New Black The snubs include Empire, w hich I haven't seen, but many people seem to like, and Bloodline , which I liked, if not loved,   The Americans and The Good Wife . Hon...

A Complete Ranking of All 54 Walt Disney Animated Films In late 2013 while trying to come up with article ideas for the blog I was intending to start, I came up with the idea to rank all the Disney films. It seemed like an easy enough task, but I soon realized there were several Disney films that I had never seen, or had not seen in years. To accurately be able to rank all of them, I decided I would watch every film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series in the order which they were released. I watched a film a week for the entire year of 2014. It was a great experience, as I got to see not only the evolution of animation as an art form, but the highs and lows of Disney as a studio. Each week I would learn something new about the films I thought I knew every about. After a year and a half of research, here is how I ranked them:

Film Review: "Two Days, One Night" "Two Days, One Night", the latest film from Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, continues the Belgian filmmakers' tradition of depicting working class life in Belgium. Perhaps Marion Cotillard, the international movie star synonymous with glamour, was an odd choice to star in their latest film. But not only does Ms. Cotillard give the most human performance of the year, every sigh, every gesture, and every look is completely believable of a woman facing extraordinary circumstances.     The premise is that Sandra (Cotillard) is ready to return to work after being away due to depression, but the company can operate without her.  Her coworkers are posed with a question; do they vote to let Sandra keep her job, or vote to keep their promised bonuses.  After all but two vote against Sandra, she convinces her boss to do a revote, and has one weekend to convince her coworkers to change their minds.  The interactions Sandra has wit...

2015 Oscar Predictions With the Oscars Sunday night, I have decided to take a look at the major races as of now, and make my predictions for which movies will win.    Best Picture This is a two-way race between Boyhood and Birdman . Boyhood was the presumed front runner and critical favorite, winning the Globe, Critics Choice, and the BAFTA. Birdman, on the other hand, won the DGA, SAG, and the PGA. The last time a film has won all three guild groups and not went onto win the Oscar was 1995 when Braveheart took down Apollo 13 . Another important thing to take note of is if Birdman wins, it will only be the eleventh time in the  87 year history of the Academy Awards that the Best Picture was not nominated for Best Editing, and the first time it has happened since  Ordinary People  back in 1980. Prediction:  Boyhood Best Director One thing that seems destined is that this year will see another spilt between Best Picture ...