EGM STAFF Tyler Ton Felipe Picado Natalie Morton Daiki Ideta Lorrianne Ruiz Aleksa Harris
The 10 Best Hulu Original Series Right Now, Ranked BY: DUSTIN ROWLES
While Netflix and Amazon Prime continue to expand their slate of original programming, the biggest draw for Hulu continues to be the content it licenses from network television. That’s begun to change more recently, however, as Hulu has begun to supplement its licensed programming with increasingly strong original series. It doesn’t boast as many originals as Netflix or Amazon, but it has quietly built an impressive catalog of series. If you’re trying to figure out exactly which original show to watch next on Hulu, here’s a great place to start with a look at the 10 best Hulu original series right now. 10. The Path (3 Seasons) Set in upstate New York, The Path concerns members of a fictional spiritual moment (or cult) called Meyerism. The series primarily revolves around Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul), who has a revelation while on a retreat that leads him to question his faith. Eddie, however, won’t confess his doubts to his devout wife, Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), who believes her husband is hiding an affair from her. Things are further complicated by Cal (Hugh Dancy), the charismatic and corrupt leader of the Meyerist Movement, whose ambitions are often at odds with the more altruistic motives of the movement. While featuring strong performances from its leads, The Path is an achingly slow burn that doesn’t catch fire until near the end of the first season only to fizzle out again when the second season kicks off. There’s a fascinating story being told on The Path, but it’s not currently one that warrants 10 episodes a season, and the series often labors to spread its thin story across a canvass that is too large. The magical realist elements of the series only exacerbate its problems. It’s not a bad show thanks to the strong efforts of its leads, but it is one that struggles to figure out what it wants to say. 9. Chance (2 Seasons) Based on the Kem Nunn novel of the same name, Chance stars Hugh Laurie as a forensic neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Eldon Chance. Chance — who is going through a divorce — becomes romantically involved with a patient named Lucy
(Greta Lee). Pulled into her troubled life, Chance finds himself embroiled in a dispute between the femme fatale and her abusive husband, a violently jealous police officer who has his sights set on Chance. It’s a moody, psychological noir with heavy doses of intrigue and mystery, but the pacing here suggest that it would have been better told in half the number of episodes. The series too often drifts and seems more preoccupied with mood setting than telling a story. Hugh Laurie’s compelling performance keeps it afloat, while Ethan Suplee — who plays a street-smart assistant in an antique shop — steals every scene he’s in, delivering occasional bursts of violence to stir viewers awake. 8. 11.22.63 (1 Season) Produced by J.J. Abrams and created by Bridget Carpenter (a writer on Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), 11.22.63 is adapted from a Stephen King novel and stars James Franco as newly divorced high school teacher, Jake Epping, who finds a portal that takes him back to October 1960. There, Jake decides to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though doing so will upend the life he has made for himself. It’s an exhilarating premise, and it’s nearly impossible not to get hooked by the pilot. Unfortunately, once Epping finds himself in the 1960s, the series drops many of the time-travel elements and settles into a more conventional — and often tiresome — conspiracy thriller. Franco is solid in the lead role, but the series is derailed by its devotion to the source material. It’s not one of King’s best books, and while it does provide viewers with a satisfying, heartfelt pay-off, the slow pace makes the journey more of a chore than the destination ultimately warrants. 7. Harlots (1 Season) Written and directed by women (Moira Buffini and Coky Giedroyc, respectively), Harlots is set in 1763 England where one in every five women is a prostitute. The story concerns two competing brothels operated by Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) and Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), the latter of whom reluctantly pimps out her two daughters, one of whom is a popular courtesan (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay) and another whose maidenhead is being auctioned off at a hefty price. There’s plenty of sex in Harlots, as one might expect from a series about
competing brothels, but it’s not a sexy show. It’s more of a serious family drama about hardscrabble women using the only card they have in their 18th century deck in an effort to maintain some sense of control over their lives. There’s power in sex, but as Harlots reveals, it only gets them so far. The series is a thoughtful costume drama that can be bleak at times (the corpse of a prostitute is used as a gruesome prop in the ongoing war between the brothels), but there are moments of crackling wit and a few stand-out performances, particularly that of Samantha Morton. Unfortunately, as the series’ first season progresses, it loses some of its momentum as it gets bogged down in its more soapy elements. 6. The Wrong Mans (2 Seasons) Co-produced by Hulu and the BBC, The Wrong Mans stars the current host of The Late Show, James Corden, as well as his fellow Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Baynton. It’s an exuberantly zippy series that combines office-comedy with action movie tropes as it sees two co-workers involve themselves in complicated criminal conspiracy in an effort to enliven their humdrum lives and, more importantly, make heroes out of themselves. It’s a quick binge (the two seasons are only 8 half-hour episodes in all) and immensely entertaining. It’s light, unpredictable, surprisingly suspenseful and funny — often times hysterically so — as it mashes up and pokes fun of a number of different tropes, doing for the office comedy what Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz did for the buddy-cop film. 5. Future Man (1 Season) From creators Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir and executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the team behind Sausage Party), Future Man is basically a mash-up of The Last Starfighter, Back to the Future, and The Terminator. Josh Hutcherson stars as Josh Futterman, a loser-ish janitor at a science lab who becomes the first person ever to finish a nearly impossible-to-beat video game. The game, it turns out, is a training application sent back from the future to find humanity’s savior. Characters from the video game recruit Josh to travel back into the
past to kill the head of the science lab (Keith David) where Josh works in the present to prevent his boss from developing a cure for herpes that somehow ends up wiping out humanity in the future. There’s a lot to unpack in its premise, but once Future Man gets to its feet and finds its heart, the character evolves into more than mouthpieces for quick-fire pop-culture riffs. Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings) is fantastic as a fast-talking badass with an arsenic-laced “rathole” and a fondness for hand-to-hand combat. It’s Preacher’s Derek Wilson, however, who proves to be the scene stealer. He’s basically Firefly’s Jayne Cobb plus an obsession with ’80s pop culture, cooking, and two-hit wonder Corey Hart, who also makes a cameo appearance. It’s a fast-paced, filthy, and hilarious homage to time-travel movies that boasts a hysterical hatred for James Cameron, who is the target of a lot of the series’ best jokes. What Future Man lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in laughs. 4. Runaways (1 Season) Adapted by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage from Adrian Alphona and Brian K. Vaughan’s Marvel comic, Runaways is a slick, briskly paced teen soap featuring high school students discovering and coming to terms with their burgeoning superpowers. Runaways finds that happy space between the heaviness of Marvel’s Netflix dramas and the more lightweight nature of their network series (Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter). It’s a potent combination of compelling mystery and coming of age tale. The teen characters here are fantastic as they grapple with their own powers while investigating the dark history of their parents. Runaways takes a lot of cues from Schwartz and Savage’s The O.C. and Gossip Girl, respectively, although the series is not half as interesting when it’s exploring the conspiracy surrounding the parent characters, who are essentially the series’ supervillains. That storytelling deficit, however, is more than made up for by the existence of a dinosaur! 3. Difficult People (3 Seasons) Difficult People is not for everyone. Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner, who co-wrote and star in the series, play best friends and aspiring comedians. The series, however, is not about their careers; in fact, it’s not about much of anything, like a more misanthropic Seinfeld. Difficult People is primarily about Billy and Julie being assholes and making fun of other people, often to their faces. They’re incredibly unlikable: selfish, cranky,
narcissistic, catty and cruel. It’s as hilarious as it is mean-spirited, but the humor is esoteric and requires an audience as steeped in pop culture as the characters. It rewards those who keep up with the gossip blogs. It’s also relentlessly funny, but like Curb Your Enthusiasm, the humor is often uncomfortable. Billy and Julie, in fact, are more hostile to both the other characters on the show and its audience than Larry David is. It’s a fun watch but it’s toxic enough that it should be consumed in short doses. 2. Casual (3 Seasons) Michaela Watkins stars as Valerie, a forty-something Mom whose husband just left her for a grad student in one of his classes (it’s a cliche for a reason). She and her daughter move in with her layabout brother, Alex (Tommy Dewey), an independently wealthy co-creator of a dating website. Alex is caddish but intensely likable, especially once viewers realize that his womanizing is a pretense, that he’s simply too afraid to reveal his true self for fear of rejection. Like Transparent, with which Casual shares some DNA, there’s an organic, improvised feel to the series, which alternates between funny and heartbreaking as it seeks to find the humor in the devastation of loss and the awkward challenges of finding someone new. It’s a tremendously good show that only gets better in its later seasons. 1. The Handmaid’s Tale (1 Season) Based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian future run by a fundamentalist government renamed Gilead. The fertility rate has bottomed out, women have been deprived of their rights, and the men have turned them into reproductive vessels. This future, however, is so recently removed from the present that the misery of the women — forced to be submissive through electroshock and other forms of torture — is compounded by haunting memories of their most recent past. Top-lined by the exceptional performance of Elizabeth Moss, the series also boasts strong supporting turns from Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Joseph Fiennes, and Alexis Bledel, whose character attempts to rebel against the autocratic government and suffers excruciating consequences. It’s a harrowing series, often so bleak that it’s difficult to watch, but in our current political climate, the themes of The Handmaid’s Tale resonate loudly.
The Best TV Shows on Netflix Right Now BY: COLLIDER STAFF
It’s the weekend, or a sick day, or just a regular Tuesday night, and you need to binge-watch something. You don’t just want it, you need it. Where to begin? Fear not — we’re here to help. Below you’ll find an ever-expanding recommended list of TV shows available on Netflix, curated by us TV-obsessives. The mix covers a myriad of genres, lengths, countries of origins, and much more, but the one thing they have in common is that they are all excellent. (Hint: you may want to scroll slowly for each of the recs to load because of the volume of selections).
Breaking Bad Created by: Vince Gilligan Cast: Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, RJ Mitte, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, and Giancarlo Esposito It’s entirely possible that Breaking Bad will go down in history as the most influential TV drama ever. Creator Vince Gilligan makes good on a single story arc over the course of five seasons: Taking chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) from Mr. Chips to Scarface. That arc tracks, but along the way we get an engaging, twisty, character-rich story that can vacillate between deeply emotional and edge-of-your-seat thrilling. The show begins with the mild-mannered White receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis and opting to go into the crystal meth trade to put together some money to leave behind to his family. But as the story wears on and obstacles arise, Walter White morphs into something far more dangerous and terrifying—or was it always there, bubbling under the surface? – Adam Chitwood
Friends Created by: Marta Kauffman and David Crane Cast: Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, and Matt Le Blanc Friends is easily one of the most rewatchable shows ever made. When it launched in 1994, it was something of a groundbreaking series. At the time, most sitcoms were about families or
workplaces, but Friends dared to simply zero in on the relationships between six twenty-something friends navigating adulthood. The chemistry was killer right off the bat, and while the characters would evolve and shift over the course of the first couple seasons, the comedy was on point incredibly early—which is rare in the world of sitcoms. Audiences grew to love these characters, and the writers took great strides to take risks that kept the show fresh for 10 seasons. While these jokes were written 20 years ago, they still hold up incredibly well today. But it’s the characters that make this one of the best TV shows ever made. – Adam Chitwood
The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Created by: Ryan Murphy Cast: Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Sterling K. Brown, Bruce Greenwood, Kenneth Choi, Nathan Lane, David Schwimmer, Courtney B. Vance, and John Travolta Few could have predicted not only how big of a deal The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story would be, but also how genuinely great the show is. The first installment of a new anthology series from American Horror Story and Glee creator Ryan Murphy, O.J. takes a unique look at this seminal moment in history by revealing new truths not just about the case, but the environment surrounding it. How issues of sexism, racism, and class played heavy roles in the outcome, and how little-known facts changed the course of history forever. The show is tremendously well acted, especially by Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden, and Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran. Trust me, this is not the show you think, and as a 10-episode piece of storytelling it’s one of the best things that’s aired on TV in the past decade. – Adam Chitwood
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Created by: Jerry Seinfeld If you’re a comedy nerd, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is a must-watch. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld puts his own spin on the late night TV format by cutting out the monologue and fluff, filming during broad daylight, and taking his interview subjects on rides in classic cars. The result is
insightful, hilarious, and sometimes emotional conversations with guests that range from Larry David to Tina Fey to Chris Rock to Barack Obama. Some of the best episodes, however, are the ones devoted to late night TV hosts past and present, as you can watch David Letterman and Jay Leno separately get incredibly candid about their histories and legacy, while newcomers like Trevor Noah and John Oliver are somewhat subjected to a test of sorts by Seinfeld. This show is about as good as cuddling up with a warm cup of coffee and a book—a soothing, enjoyable experience from start to finish. – Adam Chitwood
The End of the F***ing World Created by: Charlie Covell Cast: Alex Lawther, Jessica Barden, Gemma Whelan, Steve Oram On premise-level alone, The End of the F***ing World has most teenage romances beat by a mile. Alex Lawther’s James is almost positive that he’s a serial killer and when Alyssa (Jessica Barden in a lively breakout performance) takes an interest in him, he thinks he’s found the perfect first victim. In essence, they both want release from the bonds of society and their bodies, with Alyssa seeking that release through exploration and confrontation while James seeks the same through destruction and rejection of humanity. When they impulsively take off together on a road trip, however, the dynamics get a bit more complicated and yield surprising insights. Early on, there’s a fear that the show might veer too hard into the cutesy, but the actors, including Steve Oram of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and the writing consistently evade letting the gooey overwhelm the unseemly. If the series is given a second season, the creative team might do well to push the story into darker terrain but for now, it’s the kind of engagingly morbid, funny, and surprisingly moving show that Netflix devotees should make time for. — Chris Cabin
Mindhunter Created by: Joe Penhall Cast: Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Hannah Gross, and Cotter Smith Executive produced and essentially run by David Fincher, Mindhunter is one of TV’s best new shows of 2017. The series is based on true events and follows the early days of the FBI’s criminal profiling unit in the late 1970s. Two
FBI agents from the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit—Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany)—set out to interview imprisoned serial killers to see if they can understand why they did what they did, to help create a profile for the FBI to catch these kinds of killers. The show is methodical, wildly engrossing, and surprisingly funny, and Fincher himself directs four of the first season’s 10 episodes, resulting in terrific piece of filmmaking as well. It’s an addictive series that refuses to go down easy or well-worn paths, instead finding brand new ways to chronicle stories that have been told countless times, and as a result offering wholly new insight into human behavior. Oh yeah, and it’s deliciously entertaining. – Adam Chitwood
The Good Place Created by: Michael Schur Cast: Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto, and D’Arcy Carden Try to imagine Lost as a sitcom plus some more philosophical depth and a lot more humor, and you’re on your way to The Good Place. Parks and Recreation showrunner Michael Schur’s new sitcom is set in an afterlife where Eleanor Shellstrop (Bell), a recently deceased woman who lived a selfish, spiteful life, has ended up in the “good place” by mistake. With the help of her soulmate Chidi (Harper), she tries to learn how to be a better person as we get flashbacks to Eleanor’s life and the lives of those around her. Meanwhile, the architect of the good place, Michael (Danson), tries to figure out why everything in this utopia is going haywire. It’s a sweet, funny, brilliant bit of television, and when I finally caught up with it, I was angry that I hadn’t watched it sooner. Watch it as soon as possible. – Matt Goldberg
The Great British Baking Show If only all reality TV was this good. Rather than stuff the competition with people who “aren’t here to make friends” and cut each others throats for a cash prize, The Great British Baking Show is all about people being nice to each other as they attempt various baking challenges to win the title of Britain’s best amateur baker. With the help of charming lead hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins and thoughtful judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, there’s plenty of humor and a surprising level of intensity as you anxiously hope the contestants’ baked goods can come to fruition. My fiancée introduced me to this
show, and while I was hesitant at first, I’m obsessed with it now. Try not to devour the series all at once. – Matt Goldberg
Better Call Saul Created by: Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Michael McKean AMC’s Breaking Bad spinoff goes back to find Saul Goodman (Odenkirk) at a time when he was known as Jimmy McGill (or “Slippin’ Jimmy”), a hustler with courtroom ambitions, whose life had yet to be turned upside down by Walter White. Though as comedically quirky as expected, the languid and artistically rendered Saul also proved to also be very dark, affecting, and dramatic, thanks to Odenkirk’s outstandingly nuanced performance. Jimmy’s complicated relationship with his brother Chuck (McKean) drives the emotional undercurrent of the season, alongside his being thwarted in his ambitions to join a real law firm. When he opens up his own business (in the closet of a nail salon), a revolving door of crazy clients appear, but it’s the selfless work that Jimmy does on behalf of an elderly contingent in town that imbues his journey with meaning, and gives the series truly dramatic stakes.Still, at every step, Jimmy finds himself running into walls, and his frustration with the misfires and betrayals that litter his life eventually start adding up to his transformation as the slick Saul Goodman. The show is at its best when it distances itself from Breaking Bad, and though it starts off slow with some curious digressions, Better Call Saul picks up tremendously towards the end of the first season. Ultimately, being swept along in the chaos, hilarity, and sadness of Jimmy’s rise and fall (and eventual resurrection as Saul) is an immersive experience — Allison Keene
Stranger Things Created by: The Duffer Brothers Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, and Matthew Modine
You’ve no doubt heard the hype, so let us set you straight: believe it. Stranger Things popped up almost out of nowhere as a new Netflix original series that had little buzz surrounding its pre-release. But the 80s-set mystery thriller is equal parts It, Stand by Me, and The Goonies as it mashes up the creepy atmosphere of a Stephen King novel with compelling characters and a strong narrative drive. The true test of Stranger Things is whether the show works without the nostalgia-inducing 80s setting, and the answer is yes. There’s a government mystery, impressive effects, and most of all memorable characters that are a joy to watch, and creators/writers/directors Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer craft each season like one long movie divided into chapters. Indeed, one could easily watch an entire season in one day without feeling like it’s dragging or hitting upon an easy “stopping point,” as this is more television as novel than episodic TV. Which makes it a delightful binge. So have at it! – Adam Chitwood
Black Mirror Created By: Charlie Brooker Cast: Mackenzie Davis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kelly Macdonald, Hayley Atwell, Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Smiley, Rory Kinnear, Toby Kebbell, Daniel Kaluuya, Jesse Plemons, Rosemarie DeWitt, Letitia Wright American audiences were a bit late to the Channel 4 anthology series, but when Netflix released the first six episodes of Black Mirror to streaming, the internet collectively lost its mind over Charlie Brooker‘s dark, unsettling spin on contemporary culture. Often described a modern-day Twilight Zone, Black Mirror tackles subjects like politics, technology, fame, and grief through the lens of genre fiction, leading to self-contained episodes that are engrossing, terrifying, wrenching and occasionally revolting (Looking at you, The National Anthem). A touch of Kurt Vonnegut, a splash of William Gibson, and yes, a hint of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror is its own beast entirely, but like all the best sci-fi, it rattles your perceptions and leaves you wanting more. And now, with six brand new episodes produced exclusively for Netflix, there’s even more Black Mirror to enjoy. Have fun debating your favorite episodes with your friends. – Haleigh Foutch
Jordan Peele Just Won an Oscar for 'Get Out' BY: RIVER DONAGHEY
Oh, shit—Jordan Peele won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his brilliant social thriller, Get Out. His win makes him the first black screenwriter to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in the Academy Awards' 90-year history. Peele is also up for the Oscar in Best Director and Best Picture for the film—a massive hit that the 39-year-old director never expected to actually wind up in theaters in the first place. "I wrote Get Out not necessarily as something to get made," the director told Entertainment Weekly last year. "I wrote it more as something that would be fun to write and something that would help me get better as an artist." Peele's screenplay beat out Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird, Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water—all films that are also going head-to-head for Best Picture later in the night. Get Out also beat Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani's script for The Big Sick, based on the true story of the couple's relationship. "I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible," Peele said in his acceptance speech. "I thought it wasn't going to work. I thought no one would ever make this movie. But I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it. So, I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie.
Academy Award Winners 2018: The Complete List BY: EGM STAFF
“The Shape of Water” led the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday, winning best picture and best director (for Guillermo del Toro). The film also nabbed prizes for production design and original score. Gary Oldman won the lead actor award for his work as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour.” Frances McDormand earned her second best actress Oscar for her role as a grieving mother in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Meanwhile, Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) and Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) picked up supporting actor and actress honors. Here’s the full winners list.
Best Picture: “The Shape of Water” (WINNER) “Call Me by Your Name” “Darkest Hour” “Dunkirk” “Get Out” “Lady Bird” “Phantom Thread” “The Post” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Actress: Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (WINNER) Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water” Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya” Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird” Meryl Streep, “The Post” Actor: Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” (WINNER) Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name” Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread” Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out” Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
Director: “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro (WINNER) “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan “Get Out,” Jordan Peele “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig “Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson Original Song: “Remember Me” from “Coco,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez (WINNER) “Mighty River” from “Mudbound,” Mary J. Blige “Mystery of Love” from “Call Me by Your Name,” Sufjan Stevens “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” Diane Warren, Common “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” Benj Pasek, Justin Paul Original Score: “The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat (WINNER) “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” John Williams “Dunkirk,” Hans Zimmer “Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Carter Burwell Cinematography: “Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins (WINNER) “Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel “Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema “Mudbound,” Rachel Morrison “The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen Original Screenplay: “Get Out,” Jordan Peele (WINNER) “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh “The Big Sick,” Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor Adapted Screenplay: “Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory (WINNER) “The Disaster Artist,” Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber “Logan,” Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green “Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin “Mudbound,” Virgil Williams and Dee Rees
Live Action Short Film: “The Silent Child,” Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton (WINNER) “DeKalb Elementary,” Reed Van Dyk “The Eleven O’Clock,” Derin Seale, Josh Lawson “My Nephew Emmett,” Kevin Wilson, Jr. “Watu Wote/All of Us,” Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen Documentary Short Subject: “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Frank Stiefel (WINNER) “Heroin(e),” Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon “Edith+Eddie,” Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright “Knife Skills,” Thomas Lennon “Traffic Stop,” Kate Davis, David Heilbroner Film Editing: “Dunkirk,” Lee Smith (WINNER) “Baby Driver,” Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss “I, Tonya,” Tatiana S. Riegel “The Shape of Water,” Sidney Wolinsky “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Jon Gregory Visual Effects: “Blade Runner 2049,” John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer (WINNER) “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick “Kong: Skull Island,” Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlan “War for the Planet of the Apes,” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist Animated Feature: “Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson (WINNER) “The Boss Baby,” Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito “The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo “Ferdinand,” Carlos Saldanha “Loving Vincent,” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman Animated Short: “Dear Basketball,” Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant (WINNER) “Garden Party,” Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon “Lou,” Dave Mullins, Dana Murray “Negative Space,” Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata
“Revolting Rhymes,” Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” (WINNER) Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound” Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread” Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird” Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water” Foreign Language Film: “A Fantastic Woman” (Chile) (WINNER) “The Insult” (Lebanon) “Loveless” (Russia) “On Body and Soul (Hungary) “The Square” (Sweden) Production Design: “The Shape of Water,” Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau (WINNER) “Beauty and the Beast,” Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer “Blade Runner 2049,” Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola “Darkest Hour,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer “Dunkirk,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis Sound Mixing: “Dunkirk,” Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo (WINNER) “Baby Driver,” Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin “Blade Runner 2049,” Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill “The Shape of Water,” Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick Sound Editing: “Dunkirk,” Alex Gibson, Richard King (WINNER) “Baby Driver,” Julian Slater “Blade Runner 2049,” Mark Mangini, Theo Green “The Shape of Water,” Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood Documentary Feature: “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan (WINNER) “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman “Faces Places,” JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda “Last Men in Aleppo,” Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen
“Strong Island,” Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes Costume Design: “Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges (WINNER) “Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran “Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran “The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira “Victoria and Abdul,” Consolata Boyle Makeup and Hairstyling: “Darkest Hour,” Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick (WINNER) “Victoria and Abdul,” Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard “Wonder,” Arjen Tuiten Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (WINNER) Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project” Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water” Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which service is the streaming king? BY: PARKER HALL
USER INTERFACE AND MOBILE EXPERIENCE Despite Apple’s penchant for minimalist design, Apple Music’s mobile interface was less than intuitive out of the gate. With the subsequent releases of iOS 10 and iOS 11, however, the cumbersome layout became a more streamlined experience that music lovers should appreciate. The library is now in the home page of the Music app — all the music you own can be accessed in this tab, and you can easily select from Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and Downloaded Music, just in case you don’t want to waste your precious mobile data. Tapping on the For You tab now brings up several different personalized options. The My New Music Mix and the daily themed playlists provide even more ways to discover new tunes, while the Browse tab gives you an avenue to explore popular music, videos, and Apple exclusives. Those looking for something specific can use the Search tab, which allows you to quickly search through either your personal library or the Apple Music library. Apple has also integrated Siri with Apple Music, allowing subscribers to issue voice commands through their iPhone or Mac. If you were to ask Siri to play the No. 1 song from 2001, for instance, Lifehouse‘s Hanging by A Moment would quickly start playing. It’s a cool feature that Android users won’t get, as they don’t have access to Siri. The Android Apple Music app is aesthetically different from the iOS version, in that it hides its menu to the left side of the screen like many Android apps do. If users need to navigate, they can pull the menu into view like a drawer. This keeps the layout clean and makes good use of your phone’s limited real estate. Though Apple Music is available for iOS and Android, Apple Music works best on iOS — especially with the added Siri functionality. Spotify, on the other hand, is more device agnostic. Spotify has long been the industry leader in terms of sheer usability. The mobile and desktop applications provide users an easy way to browse music, access playlists, listen to internet radio, and discover new music. Running on the left side of both the desktop client and mobile app is the program’s navigation bar, which is broken into
three separate sections: Main, Your Music, and Playlists. Each section features its own set of straightforward subcategories, which gives users easy access to the service’s many features. The search window actively populates the results field, much like Google’s search engine, often providing exactly what you’re looking for after simply typing just a few characters. Speaking of outside integration, Spotify also supports Amazon’s Echo ecosystem, allowing subscribers to play songs on the company’s smart home systems with simple Alexa voice commands like, “Play songs by Ryan Adams.” Spotify even offers Google Cast integration, which is especially handy for those who like Google’s streaming devices like the Chromecast, allowing for a quick and easy way to stream music from your home theater system. To its credit, Apple Music has its own speaker via the iOS 11.2.5 platform and its recently released HomePod speaker. In addition to being able to stream via its house-made speaker, leading companies like Bose, Bang & Olufsen, Denon, McIntosh and Polk all also make their speakers available on the Apple’s platform, and Apple TV users can also integrate Apple Music playback onto their bigger screens. Winner: Spotify SOCIAL FEATURES Spotify’s social functions allow subscribers to follow friends, see what they listen to, and who they follow. It also gives users the ability to share or recommend playlists, along with the ability to publish their listening history to Facebook, which then gives their Facebook friends an opportunity to Like or Comment on the activity. While these features do give Spotify some social clout, we’d like to see the service add an easy way to chat with who you follow. It has also now removed the Inbox/Messages feature, which allowed users to privately message each other inside the app — something the company said most users simply weren’t using, and therefore was too expensive to maintain. Apple Music’s main social feature comes from what it calls the Connect function, which brings artists and fans closer together and effectively serves as an all-access
pass to your favorite bands. From candid backstage photos, to early cuts of an upcoming music video, artists have the ability to share with their fans a host of exclusive insight and information. Apple also allows users the ability to comment, like, or share any artist’s messages, with the artist having the opportunity to respond back. In addition, these posts can be shared over Facebook and Twitter, along with individual songs and albums. Still, Apple Music doesn’t offer much in the way of social components. While Connect is a cool feature, other friend-to-friend social aspects are relatively bare in Apple Music. Even without messaging, Spotify’s solid social media integration, as well as the ability to see what friends and followers are listening to. gives the service the upper hand. Winner: Spotify WORKOUT MODES Many people listen to music while running, and one of the most intriguing features of Spotify’s mobile app is its ability to provide a playlist tailored to the user’s running speed. Users can choose from a variety of playlists, categorized by environment (cold weather, evening), genre, or even popularity. There are also Running Originals, playlists of original music composed by artists such as Ellie Goulding and Tiësto. While it’s mostly generic techno at this point, it’s something we’d like to see expanded upon in the future. On smartphones with the appropriate sensors, Spotify will also automatically estimate how quickly a user is running and select a playlist at a matching tempo. For phones that lack the necessary sensors, users can manually enter the tempo they want (given in steps per minute). During use, Spotify seems to cut the intros and outros of songs, fading quickly into the next track. This keeps the tempo steady, though it can be a bit jarring for music purists. Spotify Running is far from perfect, however. The music selection can be a bit puzzling — a smooth Spanish ballad, one of the songs that played during our testing, doesn’t seem particularly good for exercise — and the performance is not always great. Depending on where you run, you will likely not have access to Wi-Fi, and will be forced to rely on your mobile data to stream music. This exposes Running’s
biggest weakness, as the streaming quality can vary dramatically depending on your connection. That said, it’s a unique feature for Spotify, and a welcome one for people who don’t want to plan out their music selection before they hit the track. Apple Music, on the other hand, doesn’t have a feature dedicated to exercise, though there are numerous workout playlists. As such, though it’s not perfect, Spotify’s investment in workout modes gives it the win by default. Winner: Spotify FINAL VERDICT Spotify for the win. While Apple Music has made some serious strides, for our money, Spotify still reigns supreme. Its user interface is accessible, uncluttered, and makes playlist management simple. Its new music discover playlists, especially Discover Weekly, keep it brilliantly fresh, and it’s also free for those who can’t yet make a commitment. Apple Music’s larger catalog (though how much larger isn’t clear), exclusive releases, and features like Beats 1 radio make it a serious contender. But for now, Spotify still has the edge in our book.
Oscars: ‘Remember Me’ From ‘Coco’ Wins Best Original Song BY: JON BURLINGAME
“Remember Me,” from Disney-Pixar’s “Coco,” won the best song Oscar for songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. This was the second Oscar win for the New York-based tunesmiths, having previously taken home the statue for the massive hit “Let It Go” for another Disney film, 2013’s “Frozen.” They are now two-for-two in Oscar competition. “Remember Me” was widely favored to win, as it plays a key role in the narrative about a Mexican boy who travels to the Land of the Dead to learn the truth about a famous musician who may be his ancestor. The original song is heard in four different contexts in the film: First as played in grand style by Ernesto de la Cruz, that now-dead musician; then in lullaby form by Hector, another dead songwriter who fears being forgotten by his family; by the little boy, to his great-great grandmother in an emotional finale; and by Miguel with Natalie Lafourcade in a pop version under the end titles. The Lopezes researched Mexican music from the mid-20th-century and penned a song in the bolero-ranchero style that could work as a quiet ballad or in a more boisterous style; then added a lyric that spoke, as the film does, about family and intimate connections. The Lopezes win deprived Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of back-to-back Oscar victories. Pasek and Paul won last year as the lyricists of “La La Land” and had already won this year’s Golden Globe for “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.” It also means that veteran songwriter Diane Warren has still not won despite nine nominations. She was hopeful that her song “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall,” which has become something of a political anthem, might get her the elusive statue. But it was not to be.