TV Report: Weekly Comedy Rankings

If you read my blog fairly regularly (or follow me on twitter), you've probably noticed that my favorite hour of TV this fall has been Thursdays at 8pm on NBC with the double dose of awesome from Community and Parks & Recreation. Unfortunately, it seems like this past week's hour will be the last time these two shows will be paired up with 30 Rock replacing Community in the spring when the latter goes on its extended hiatus. When it does come back, it'll probably be on a new day/time slot and paired with another show. With that said, both shows are again on top of my rankings this week as they have done so in the past. I refuse to rank them against each other though, so here goes...

Regional Holiday Music (Community) - They were bound to do a musical episode someday, but I'm glad they were able to do so while also spoofing Glee and giving the fans a great half hour to go out on. The songs by themselves, with the obvious exception of Childish Gambino-like rap duet with Troy and Abed, weren't that spectacular. Joss Whedon has spoiled me on that front, but as a whole it was plenty entertaining. Props to Saturday Night Live's Taran Killam (boyfriend of How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders) for crafting the equal part cheery-creepy glee coordinator. Show, you will be missed. Please come back soon.


Citizen Knope (Parks and Recreation) - Heartwarming. That's what I got from this episode. I was holding back the tears at the end when Leslie Knope received not just an awesome gingerbread replica of the parks department, but also her co-workers and friends volunteering to take up her defunct campaign. It was all made the sweeter from the early setup with all of them proudly displaying the perfect gifts Leslie gave them (Ron even got sniffly). The B-plot with Ben was no less entertaining as he went around Pawnee trying to figure out what to do now that he resigned. I thought him becoming Leslie's campaign manager would be perfect and could still happen, but I was expecting it in this episode.

3. Symphony of Illumination (How I Met Your Mother) - With all the praise I've given those top two shows, it's this show and this episode that has been occupying my mind all week mostly due to the brutal performance by Colbie Smulders. I was one of the few people that didn't react negatively over the pregnancy cliffhanger from last episode. I trusted the show knew what it was doing and this episode proved it giving Smulders a non-Robin Sparkles episode for her to shine. She went through a roller-coaster of emotions, first freaking out about her pregnancy then reeling from the news that she not only wasn't pregnant, but is also not able to have children. Hard to watch especially as as Lily and Ted specially tried to figure out what's bothering her. The last scene of the episode with Ted and Robin especially wrecked me. What all of this means for Robin/Barney is unknown, but well-done to all involved.

At this point, just a few quick thoughts on the rest of the comedies this past week:

4. Bad in Bed (New Girl) - Justin Long should really be a series regular because his two episodes has been my favorite of the series. He has great chemistry with Zooey Deschanel and their antics together are hilarious. Schmidt's plot line also made me laugh out loud especially that outrageous moment when he pushed his very pregnant boss into the pool.

5. Christmas Wishes (The Office) - Even if this show isn't a favorite, I do tend to love their holiday offerings and this year wasn't an exception. I especially loved Erin's journey from shy receptionist to drunk woman scorned. Also thought Darryl/Val was adorable.

6. Express Christmas (Modern Family) - The episode itself was a bit bland, but I loved the different combination of characters this episode featured. With an ensemble as talented as this they can mix and match and usually deliver which they did here.

7. Grinches Be Crazy (Happy Endings) - Not their best episode, but solid enough. Max as Santa was good comedy, but the rest of the stories felt flat mostly due to writing and not the acting.

8. And the Reality Check (2 Broke Girls) - I admit I choked up a little when Max bid a tearful goodbye to Chestnut in the end and loved Caroline "acting rich" performance. Rest of the episode was just okay.

9. The Nutcracker (Suburgatory) - A bit of a forgettable episode, but what I do remember was pleasant enough especially that sudden kiss between George and Dalia. Also liked that we see how George is super awkward with the ladies.

10. The Speckerman Recurrence (Big Bang Theory) - Leonard trying to deal with his bully from yore was a bit of a snoozefest. Luckily, as they've done for more than a season now the ladies held the episode up. Amy Farrah Fowler, never leave this show.

TV Report: Weekly Drama Rankings

As you will be able to tell once you read my thoughts on this week's drama shows, I have a lot of feelings and I just needed to get them out.

1. Loyalty (Revenge) - Is it just me or are you also starting to feel sorry for a bunch of people on this show? You know who I feel sorry for the most? Fake!Amanda. She's the epitome of a pawn and while Real!Amanda (now Emily) met her in jail, deep down all she really wants is something to love her and at the moment she has found that in Jack. Granted their relationship is all based on lies, but I'm oddly finding myself pulling for those two if only because they are hopelessly caught in this war that Emily is currently engaging. Another person I'm starting to feel sorry for? Victoria. I actually look to the day when she and Emily team up against Conrad, but that's probably way into the future, but right now she's in an empty house forced to ally herself with Ashley of all people. Then there's poor lovesick Nolan. The fact that he was actually starting to feel things for Tyler is a little bit ridiculous (which is one reason I love this show), but my heart goes out to him. Finally, poor oblivious Daniel. Sorry you can't speak Japanese so you can tell your girlfriend is totally carrying on a completely different conversation over dinner with some other guy! Whew, that was longer than I expected but I felt the need to get my feelings out. And who saw the teaser for next new episode? Brilliant or BRILLIANT?

2. The Shepherd (Once Upon A Time) - Don't ask me when I've gotten excited about watching new episodes for this show. It just happened. I think most of it has to do with my crazy crush on Josh Dallas aka Prince Charming. If you've seen him, you'd understand. For some reason people are already tired of the will they/won't they plot this show is taking Snow and James, but people forget it's only been five episodes. I love the chemistry between Dallas and Goodwin and they may be my favorite part of the show at the moment. I also quite enjoyed seeing James' background aka being the twin who grew up as a shepherd and had to replace his dragon-slaying brother to save the kingdom. It felt familiarly fairy-tale-ish and epic at the same time.

3. Parenting Made Easy (The Good Wife) - How great were those ten or so minutes when we thought something awful happened to Grace? Yes, she's not one of my favorite characters on the show, but I was hoping for something crazy tragic to happen just to see how it'd affect the rest of the character especially on Alicia. We got a glimpse of it (Alicia regretting her sexual dalliance with Will, Peter stepping up, Kalinda always being a friend to Alicia), but of course when we find out she's just off getting baptized, I was duly disappointed. That said, I knew they would never have done something as radical as what I had wanted, so que sera. I always enjoy when Michael J. Fox guest stars as his verbal spars with Julianna Margulies are very entertaining. It was great seeing him once again seem like a good guy (helping Alicia when she found out about Grace) only to go back to being the cutthroat lawyer he's known for. It was also great seeing Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter play against type as the uptight conservative as well as bringing back the scorned Megan who Alicia failed to hire earlier this season. All in all a solid episode with Will's investigation, Kalinda's relationship with Dana, and Eli's role in the organization simmering on the surface, but never really going anywhere yet.

4. Cuffed (Castle) - I'm actually not a hardcore Castle/Beckett shipper even if I think Fillion and Katic have chemistry to spare, but I bet those who are were absolutely giddy at the prospect of having both of these characters handcuffed to each other all episode. For their part, the actors really did do well to keep the audience interested and invested in their plight as the layers slowly peeled away to reveal the real story. For me though, as soon as we got to the tiger reveal, my attention started waning. I think what cost this episode was my expectation. I was truly expecting something a bit more tense and visceral, but it actually turned out to be a pretty light, banter-ful episode. I'm usually the first to praise the show for its deft ability to balance humor and drama, but I think with the stakes that have been raised in this season in particular, I expected something with a bit more heft than what we ended up getting with this episode.

5. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Pan Am) - I'm decidedly mixed on this episode. As usual I love anything and everything to do with Collette and this episode in particular gave her much to work with from her flirty and exciting trip with Dean to that awkward and tense scene with Dean's parents to that bow chicka bow wow hay scene in the end. This show is bound to be canceled, but PLEASE someone, anyone find Karine Vanasse a headliner. I also, for probably the first time, found Laura and Ted's relationship/characters interesting. I don't have a pulse as to why exactly, but I definitely paid more attention to their scenes than I usually did. But the show faltered when it came to Kate and Maggie's storylines. Kate's drama with the agency is getting mighty tiresome even if I was a BIG fan of it earlier on. The ending, with her shooting someone, was exciting and that might make me feel love for this part of the story again, but for most of the episode I couldn't wait for it to be over. I also liked where Maggie's story ended, with the Senator wanting to see her again. But her struggling to coincide her beatnik side with her mainstream side rang hollow to me and setting the bathroom on fire was the height of slapstick.

6. Hold On to Sixteen (Glee) - They say when you have nothing nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all. [crickets]. Okay, this episode wasn't that bad. It was at least much better than last week's travesty. I've already forgotten to care about the whole Santana/Finn dynamics at play though of course Santana is back to being her grade-A bitch self when Sam comes back. Speaking of, I'm oddly happy that Chord Overstreet and his abs are back if only so we can pretend that this first half of S3 never happened and in hopes that Mercedes will have an interesting love interest. His return was a bit forced and not at all believable, but that's hardly a misdemeanor in Glee-world. The Finn/Blaine faux drama was exciting for about a second when sweaty Darren Criss was pounding the punching bag (I don't mean Finn). Most of the episode revolved around Sectionals. I actually loved all of the numbers performed during it and while I still prefer the Troubletones (they make me think gross heterosexual thoughts) over New Directions, I don't think the former team was incredulously robbed. I wished they had prepped us more on the Michael Jackson medley, but springing that up on the audience is the Glee way. In the end, the writers seem to want a big re-do. The group is back together, Shelley is leaving, they are going to Nationals, and all is right with the world. Notice I didn't mention anything having to do with Quinn's character. Please refer back to my first sentence.

Seeing Double: American Pie

On the left is the poster for the very first American Pie film. Right next to that is the new poster for American Reunion, the fourth (and hopefully last) film in the series coming out next year. Notice something peculiar? Maybe how damn similar they are?

Here's the thing. I actually think this concept is simple and a little bit brilliant. They're already bringing back as many people as they can from the first film to flame the nostalgia factor so why not go all the way in that direction for the marketing as well? Plus it's fun to see how the actors have fared through the years (some better than others). If I had one complaint about the new poster is that you'd think after more than a decade, Photoshopping skills would get better. In this case, they seemed to have actually gotten worse! Were any of these people even in the same room together for this shoot? It even seems like they just re-used poor Nathasha Lyonne's image from the first poster.

I've seen the other three films. Sometimes more than once. It's definitely a guilty pleasure buoyed by my love for Alyson Hannigan who no doubt has had the best career trajectory compared to the rest just for the fact that she has a stable job in a hit sitcom. So I'll be watching this, expecting nothing at all except for them to literally copycat the first film. I'm okay with that.

Daniel Radcliffe: Entertainer and Hero

It wasn't really surprising that Entertainment Weekly, which has shown much love to the Harry Potter series from the very beginning, awarded this year's Entertainer of the Year Award to the man himself, Daniel Radcliffe. The final film after all was released this year and made over $1 billion worldwide. Now he may not get nominated for an Oscar, he shouldn't, but I still thought he delivered a relatively great performance this year as the bespectacled not-so-young-anymore wizard.

Of course, he has been doing double duty all year trying to juggle the appearances and promotions for the final film with his leading role in Broadway's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying alongside Tony winner John Larroquette. While Radcliffe was passed over (yet again) for a Tony nomination, he delivered one of the more impressive numbers at this year's ceremony, which is saying a lot considering the talents that were on that stage that night.

All of that makes Entertainment Weekly's choice almost a no-brainer, but I also hope they took into account Radcliffe's unending and inspiring work with The Trevor Project. He was even awarded The Trevor Hero Award earlier this year. Watch his acceptance speech after the cut, but here's an excerpt from the speech:

Go boldly and honestly through the world. Learn to love the fact that there's nobody else quite like you. And you will be, to plagiarize and paraphrase all at once, the heroes of your own lives. I thank The Trevor Project for this amazing award. Out of everything I've done, I can truly say the thing I'm proudest of is my association with Trevor. It is an outstanding organization which saves lives everyday and I look forward to helping it in any way I can for the rest of my career.

Looking Forward To...

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Release: December 9, 2011
Distributor: Focus Features
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciaran Hinds, and Christan McKay

Nadal Leads Spain to Davis Cup Win

In front of a Spanish crowd, Rafael Nadal ends his tennis season on the highest of notes as he led Spain to its 3rd Davis Cup championship in 4 years and 5th Davis Cup trophy overall. He clinched the win by taking out a determined, but outmatched Juan Martin Del Potro who took the King of Clay to a fourth set tiebreak, but no further.

It was always going to be an uphill climb for the four-time finalist Argentina to beat this Spanish team on their beloved clay. They went down 0-2 on the first day when Nadal demolished Juan Monaco and David Ferrer gutted out another heart-breaker for Del Potro in five sets. Argentina kept their hopes alive when David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank whooped the listless doubles team of Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez on the second day. But Nadal stepped up on the final day coming back from losing the first set to win.

This win should set Nadal up nicely for next year after a generally disappointing post-US Open fall season. Lest we forget, Novak Djokovic used his Davis Cup success at the end of last year as the jumping off point for his brilliant 2011. As for Del Potro, it was a tough weekend for him, but he more than held his own against two of Spain's best in his least favored surface. With some rest and time, he will definitely be a force to be reckoned with next year. Speaking of next year, unfortunately, that's just a few weeks away. So much for the tennis off-season!

Video: The 2011 Portfolio

I don't know if this is officially the first year-end montage of the season, but it's the first to make it into my radar. I like the first half a bit better than the latter half since by then I feel they're just throwing every film they can remember instead of telling a story. But what am I saying and why am I critiquing? This is still quite awesome. I'm jealous of anyone who can do this kind of thing so skillfully. Looking forward to seeing more in the next few weeks.

TV Report: Weekly Rankings

Last week I said I wouldn't be ranking the TV I saw this week, but I change my mind. Take them with a grain of salt, however, since as I said last week, way too many shows took off this week so the numbers are really there more for me to organize my own thoughts. Just four comedies I write about aired this week with two shows in particular showing off why they're the best sitcoms on TV right now...

1. The Trial of Leslie Knope (Parks & Recreation) - After the episode ended I just wanted to hug my closest loved one... aka my television. No, but seriously as a Ben/Leslie shipper this episode felt like Christmas morning. From the very beginning with their hand-holding in Chris' office and then Ben giving Leslie a custom-made Lil' Sebastian doll to their parallel declarations of love made via Ethel the stenographer it was almost too much for my heart to handle. The trial itself took up most of the episode, but that too was done well with Chris putting up just enough fight per his character to pose problems for Leslie who kept holding her own by the help of everyone. The quick Megan Mullaly cameo was also a nice welcome though I wish we could've seen Leslie's mother on the stand.

2. Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism (Community) - Many people think that since the show's hiatus announcement, critics and its fan have started seeing the show in rose-tinted glasses unable to muster up negative comments over a show they like for fear of making things worse for the show. People can believe that, but I don't think it's true in this case. The Shirley/Jeff A-plot was perfection down to the flashbacks of their younger selves and the now classic anime cutaway. The Annie/Troy/Abed was no less humorous with all three young actors showing why this cast is just full of talent. Plus putting those three together almost always works out.

3. Bells (New Girl) - Good episode for Winston as the writers are slowly trying to figure out what to do with this character they were for to conceive after Damon Wayans left them after the pilot. His character is still pretty blank though despite the affinity for bell playing, but it's a move in the right direction. For the most part I enjoyed the interaction between Schmidt and Nick, but it went a little too far at times.

4. Mrs. California (The Office) - To be completely honest, this episode suffered just by airing right after the one-two punch of Community and Parks and Rec. My brain at that point was maxed out by awesomeness that I barely remember what happened here. The cold open with Dwight's refusal to sit was amusing as was Jim's attempt to escape the office when Robert wanted to get his input. I also like Maura Tierney in general as her role of Robert's wife, but the Andy/Robert never-ending awkward stand-off is getting quite tiresome and Dwight's gym B-plot was ridiculous and plain stupid.


It seemed like there were a lot of deaths when it came to the dramas this week. For some that actually meant dead people. For others it just meant death of quality. Read on to find which shows did what...

1. Death's Door (Supernatural) - This season started out well enough and even after my favorite character was killed the show kept me intrigued for a couple more episodes. Then something happened and suddenly it's become who-cares-TV? So I was glad that they delivered one of the best episodes this season for their mid-season finale. It picked off right where we ended last episode with Bobby getting shot in the head. Most of the rest of the episode is spent inside Bobby's mind as he re-lives and navigates several moments of his life while at the same time trying to escape a reaper and trying to get one last message to his boys. Jim Beaver was magnificent throughout, but most especially his interactions with his adopted sons. His final moment with them in the hospital calling them "idjits" and then his final final moment with them, a memory of them watching some TV show, made me tear up like whoa.

2. That Still Small Voice (Once Upon A Time) - This was the first episode that Buffy vet writer Jane Espenson wrote and it was a pretty good one and showed that the show, which I was initially quite down on, is trending up. I was especially touched by the story of Jiminy Cricket ala Archie Hopper especially as it had a rather Grimm feel to it instead of the usual tame Disneyfied version. The moment with the dolls in the cabin freaked me out and his tearful wish to the Blue Fairy made me sob. Plus it seems like he's the only person to make the Henry not seem too grating. I'm still down on the Evil Queen, less because of of Lana Parilla's portrayal of her and more because the writers on this show aren't clear what to do with her and her relationship to the rest of the townsfolk.

3. That's What You Get for Trying to Kill Me (Ringer) - This show finally gets bloody and it's about damn time. I'm a bit sad that Gemma is dead dead since there could've still been plenty of drama between her and the real Siobhan, but I'm not at all sad to see Charlie done and dusted as his character definitely ran his course. Agent Machado also gets his man finally, but knowing how they've handled this part of the storyline, that'll continue to drag. I'm also not at all feeling the whole "my teacher raped me" storyline they've saddled Juliet in. They really should've left that character at boarding school or something. I think this was the mid-season finale and of course the big thing is Siobhan is finally back in New York (also way to do your job Homeland Security!). This show is a mess, but I'll keep watching. Oh and I almost forgot, yay for Amber Benson appearing in a really bit part as a stripper.

4. Now You See Me (Terra Nova) - I could go on a diatribe about what's wrong with this show, but others have already done it for me. The sad thing is this show had lots of potential, but their decision to focus on the Shannon family was a big mistake. I find that I'm more invested in every other character than anyone in this family. For example, there's Skye who I've only liked whenever she wasn't with Josh and now that it's revealed that she's (improbably) the mole all along it just makes her that more interesting. Taylor's feud with his son and Mira's reasoning for working for the Unknown Big Bad are also the kinds of plots and stories I want to see seeing. Too bad the show is more interested in crafting some awful hybrid of a family-friendly yet intriguing sci-fi show. Less family-friendly and more intriguing, please.

5. I Kissed A Girl (Glee) - It's not the worst episode of this show, but it's down there. Yes, Naya Rivera is phenomenal and her scene with her grandmother was duly heartbreaking. But even she can't save the tone-deafness of this episode especially in regards to how they handled the whole Finn/Santana situation from the previous episode. I'm actually NOT a Finn hater, but the way the show propped him up as an almost hero this week for the way he outed Santana was fairly disgusting. And he kept pushing her. I'm sorry priviledged straight white male character, NO. STOP. What the hell are you doing? I'm more disappointed that Santana actually fell for it. And if you needed more proof at how tone-deaf this episode was well just know the title of the episode is clearly based on Katy Perry's song which they performed as some kind of female empowerment anthem. HAHA. Yeah, okay. Don't get me started on Kurt-Rachel forgettable election drama, Puck's ridiculous affair with Shelley, and Sue shitting all over Coach Beiste. Awful all around.

Birthday Hotties: Julianne Moore & Amanda Seyfried

Before time runs out, just wanted to give a quick shout-out birthday wishes to two very lovely ladies, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried. They both appeared in last year's sexually-charged thriller Chloe where they shared a pretty steamy scene together. Other than sharing a birthday, another thing they have in common was that they both started off their careers in the soap opera As the World Turns!

Of course Moore is better known for her movie work now especially with her four Academy Award nominations. Seyfried is also known for her films, but I personally think she has done her best work in TV such as Veronica Mars and Big Love. Though of course if I had to pick her "best work" it'll probably be dim-witted turn as Karen in Mean Girls. Picking a favorite performance for Moore is a bit more difficult since she's done so many, but her Oscar-nominated roles in Far From Heaven and The Hours are definitely up there.

Up next, they'll both play controversial American women. Seyfried will take on Linda Lovelace while Moore will try to do Sarah Palin justice. Best of luck to both.

National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review has always been one of the first major precursors to the Academy Awards and even if the NYFCC beat them to the punch by a couple of days the fact that they went in several different directions just shows how volatile and possibly exciting the awards season will be this year. At least I'm hoping!

And this year's NBR winners are...

Best Film
Hugo

Top Ten Films
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
The Ides of March
J. Edgar
Tree of Life
War Horse

Choosing Hugo was a bit unexpected, but that's what makes it the more exciting. That film should worry though since more often than not this past decade, the winner here has gone on to lose at the Oscars including last year's supposed front-runner The Social Network. We get the usual fan service to their favorites such as George Clooney and Clint Eastwood, but their inclusions of Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter, and Drive are quite interesting. I am a bit disappointed to see Midnight in Paris miss out here and surprised to see Moneyball and The Help miss out as well. In any case I have seen 6 of the 10 films listed and will no doubt see the other four soon enough.

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Breakthrough Performance
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Ensemble Cast
The Help

Spotlight Award
Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)

Getting an acting win here, even for breakthrough performance, definitely increases one's chances of getting an Oscar nomination if the last few years are any indication. Translating those nominations into wins is a bit more dicey. The big winner here is perhaps Tilda Swinton and Shailene Woodley especially the latter since she's a newcomer. Speaking of newcomers, seems like Felicity Jones and Rooney Mara held off Elizabeth Olsen this time around. Neither Glenn Close nor Viola Davis won, but the latter (as well as Jessica Chastain) was buoyed by that Ensemble award. Finally, Michael Fassbender, the male equivalent of Chastain, won the Spotlight Award which he certainly deserved. I do wish he shared it with Ryan Gosling who has two films in the Top 10.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Debut Director
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

Best Original Screenplay
Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash, The Descendants

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Harry Potter Franchise

Best Animated Feature
Rango

NBR definitely gave Hugo, The Descendants, 50/50, and Harry Potter big boosts today. The latter especially for being in the Top 10 and getting a Special Achievement Award. It's also quite fun to see Jim Rash (Dean Pelton in Community) pop up in the Oscar race.

Top Ten Independent Films
50/50
Another Earth
Beginners
A Better Life
Cedar Rapids
Margin Call
Shame
Take Shelter
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win

This was yet another huge blow for Martha Marcy May Marlene since it was expected to end up here. Two years ago, District 9 made this shortlist and ended up getting Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. I wonder if any of these films can do the same. For my part, I've only seen 4 of the 10 films here--50/50, Beginners, Cedar Rapids, and Win Win.

Best Foreign Film
A Separation

Top Five Foreign Films
13 Assassins
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Footnote
Le Havre
Point Blank

Best Documentary
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Top Five Documentary Films
Born to be Wild
Buck
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Project Nim
Senna

NBR Freedom of Expression
Crime After Crime
Pariah

Not much to say about these last few categories since I haven't seen any of the films. I have only heard of good things regarding A Separation and Pariah so they'll be on top of my Netflix queue as soon as they're available there.

Basically, it's still anybody's game.