'Wonder Woman' and 'Game of Thrones' win for Outstanding Stunt Ensemble at the 2018 SAG Awards

I was very optimistic about the prospects of the speculative fiction nominees at the 2018 SAG Awards and got more so as awards season progressed.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I thought "Stranger Things" might repeat last years win for Ensemble in a Drama Series.  Nope.  Instead, speculative fiction only won two trophies for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble for Motion Pictures and Television Series.  Still, that's worth celebrating.

Here is the announcement of the winners from the red carpet, beginning with Wonder Woman Wins Best Stunts: Red Carpet Interview from TNT.


The presenters certainly showed their enthusiasm for "Wonder Woman" winning this award.  I'm happy, too, although I can't claim calling it, as I merely wrote "Oh, look, two superhero films, a science fiction movie, and two action flicks, making this the strongest category for speculative fiction in movies."  No prediction here.

Next, TNT reported Game of Thrones Wins Stunt Ensemble: Red Carpet Interview.


I did call this one.

This category lists the fourth nomination for "Stranger Things 2," the third nomination for "Game of Thrones," and the only nomination for "The Walking Dead."  I'm rooting for "The Walking Dead," but I think the award will go to "Game of Thrones" for the seventh consecutive time.  Insert joke about White Walkers beating Walkers here.

Congratulations and #GOT!

Follow over the jump to see how the rest of my predictions fared.

Speculative fiction nominees at the 2018 SAG Awards

I told my readers to "Stay tuned for posts on speculative fiction at the SAG Awards" in the list of future post topics that concluded Neutron star collision detected and other top science stories of 2017.  As an environmentalist, I love recycling ideas, including the theme of last year's post on these awards, Speculative fiction at the 2017 SAG Awards.  Without any further ado, watch the 24th Annual SAG Awards Nominations Ceremony from TNT.

Watch Olivia Munn and Niecy Nash announce the 24th Annual SAG Awards nominees LIVE from the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, CA!

I found Munn and Nash to be a hoot to watch, as Nash inspired Munn to be more fun and expressive.  I took it as one of the benefits of diversity.  Speaking of which, diversity was not a problem at the SAG Awards this year, either, as Variety noted SAG Awards Nominations Continue Strong Diversity Showing.  Yay!  I hope to say the same about the Oscar nominations next month.

Another Variety article listed the nominees. It showed that speculative fiction had at least one nominee in every acting category for movies, again demonstating both the high quality of this year's best speculative fiction films and the respect actors have for genre works.  The same two movies that have been recognized in every awards program I have reported on so far, "Get Out" and "The Shape of Water," earned two nominations each.

"Get Out" has a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Daniel Kaluuya garnered one for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.  I still think neither will win, with Gary Oldman winning the acting award and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” winning the cast award, but it deserved both nominations.  I'm hoping Kaluuya earns a nomination for Best Actor in a Film at the Saturn Awards.  I'm pretty sure "Get Out" will be nominated for Best Thiller Film (nothing supernatural about it, so it won't be nominated as horror).

"The Shape of Water" earned nominations for Sally Hawkins as Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and Richard Jenkins as Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.  I'm not optimistic about either winning, as the competition is very stiff in both categories.  That reminds me that I thought the actresses were better than the actors last year, both in film and on television.  This year, I think the men are as good as the women.

While "Downsizing" may be a disappointment at the box office, Hong Chau's performance hasn't been, as she has now been nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role to join her Critics' Choice and Golden Globes nominations.  KTLA interviewed her in Hong Chau Reacts to Her SAG Nomination.

This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News, Wednesday, December 13, 2017.

Congratulations to Chau, as she is obviously the best thing about "Downsizing."  That won't be enough for her to win, as her competition is too stiff.  Holly Hunter, Allison Janney, and Laurie Metcalf are all established actresses and all delivered outstanding performances, so I think one of them will win.  Just the same, that she has been a consensus pick so far bodes well for her being nominated for an Oscar.

Speaking of nominations, I think she should be nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Film at the Saturn Awards.  However, I don't think she'll win, even if the professionals think she's the best supporting actress in a speculative fiction film (Olivia Spencer could just as easily have been nominated instead of Mary J. Blige for her role in "The Shape of Water," but wasn't).  I suspect the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films will also nominate Spencer as well as Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, and possibly Carrie Fisher for a seventh nominee if she isn't nominated for a leading role from "The Last Jedi."  They might also nominate Blige, as they could consider "Mudbound" an independent film, which would qualify her for the nomination.  For a sixth nominee, they could honor last year's winner Tilda Swinton for her role in "Okja."  That would make for a talented and diverse field, but I'd give the advantage to one of Dern, Fisher, or Tran, none of whom will get a nomination for their parts elsewhere.  Remember, the Saturn Awards are about entertainment not art, they don't care for subtle, and they love to stick it to the experts.

One final movie category recognized genre films for all of its nominations, Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.  I'll let a picture say its 1000 words for me.


Oh, look, two superhero films, a science fiction movie, and two action flicks, making this the strongest category for speculative fiction in movies.

Follow over the jump for the television nominees.

'Hidden Figures' and 'Fences' had big nights at the SAG Awards

While I was celebrating the speculative fiction winners at the SAG awards, there was one other film I was rooting for that was about space.

I'm also rooting for another movie about space, "Hidden Figures," even though the film falls under historical fiction and science fact, not science fiction.  The movie was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Octavia Spencer.  I'd be surprised if it wins either, but the film and actress deserved their nominations.

Much to my pleasant surprise, it won for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.  Here is the acceptance speech.

Hidden Figures cast celebrate victory for their win for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Congratulations!

As for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, that didn't go to Octavia Spencer, but Viola Davis instead, just as it did for the Golden Globes.

Viola Davis shares passionate acceptance speech after winning Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Fences.

Denzel Washington cheered on Davis and she returned the favor for Washington in his acceptance speech.

Denzel Washington wins Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

It may not have been a good evening for speculative fiction in the movies at the SAG Awards, as Amy Adams of "Arrival" lost to Emma Stone of "La La Land" and "Hacksaw Ridge" beat both superhero movies, but it was a good evening for diversity.  May it continue at the Oscars!

'Stranger Things' wins awards from both SAG and Producers Guild

I made the following observation and prediction about the the nominees in Speculative fiction at the 2017 SAG Awards.

The three shows with the most nominations are "Game of Thrones," "Stranger Things," and "Westworld," with three nominations each, with all of them nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Drama Series, the SAG equivalent of Best Drama Series.  As I wrote about speculative fiction television nominations at the Golden Globes, "there appears to be critical and popular consensus both on which speculative fiction shows are best, but also that they are among the best shows on television right now."  Add in the opinion of the actors themselves, and its now a clear popular, critical, and professional consensus on both the best speculative fiction shows and their place among the best television shows of last year.  As for whether any of them win top honors, I'd be pleasantly surprised, but I have a feeling "Downton Abbey" might get Outstanding Cast for its final season.

I was happy to be wrong.  "Stranger Things" won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Drama Series.  From TNT, here is the Stranger Things Cast: Acceptance Speech.

Stranger Things receives award for Outstanding Performance in an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

That's a justifiably happy group, even if both Millie Bobby Brown and Winona Ryder lost to Claire Foy for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Crown."

SAG/AFTRA wasn't the only organization in Hollywood recognizing outstanding achievement in film and television on Sunday.  Producers Guild of America did as well and "Stranger Things" won the Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama.  The other speculative fiction series it was competing against were "Game of Thrones" and "Westworld"--no surprise there.

I wrote that it would be the year of "Stranger Things" in Speculative fiction on television at the People's Choice Awards 2017, part 1.  That prediction finally seems to be coming true as the professionals weigh in.

The other speculative fiction winner was "Game of Thrones" for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series.  I was not surprised, as it was the defending winner of the category.

Stay tuned for a special entertainment feature tomorrow for the Super Bowl.

Diversity not a problem at the SAG Awards

Two weeks ago, I groused about Hollywood's diversity issues for MLK Day.  In particular, I singled out Idris Elba's lack of nominations.

Elba being left out was particularly surprising, as he was nominated for a Golden Globe (he lost to Sylvester Stallone), a BAFTA Award, and three SAG Awards (two for his film perfomance and one for a TV role).  The actors and foreign press were certainly behind him, even if the rest of the voters were not.

Last night, Elba got some of the recognition he was denied at the Oscars by winning two of the three SAG Awards for which he was nominated, Performance by a male actor in a supporting role for "Beasts of No Nation" and Performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries for "Luther."  He had earlier won a Critics' Choice Award for the latter role, keeping "Fargo" from completely sweeping the miniseries awards at that ceremony.

TNT posted two videos of Elba accepting his awards.  The first was for "Beasts of No Nation."


The second was for "Luther."


Congratulations, Mr. Elba!

He wasn't alone in making the SAG Awards winners a diverse group.  Follow over the jump for more on how diversity reigned on the television side of the awards.

'The Last Ship' returns and other summer TV fare

If my readers have been counting, I promised three times that I would blog about the season premiere of "The Last Ship" tonight.  I'm making good on that promise, which I first made in the footnote to Razzies and Robocop this past February.

My wife and I are watching "The Last Ship." When I heard it was a Michael Bay show, I knew to expect a lot of action and things being blown up. I have not [been] disappointed.

Some Sunday this summer, I'm going to have to write about "The Last Ship," which is an OK post-apocalyptic drama that probably will seem more relevant and urgent after last year's Ebola epidemic.  For example, in a case of life imitating art, one of the Ebola treatments looked very similar to a treatment for the disease in the TV show.  That's not something I expect out of a Michael Bay production.

In the TV show, the ship's doctor transfuses blood from an immune person picked up during the voyage to the ship's crew who were infected in hopes of transferring her immunity to them.  That's what Scientific American described last summer in Blood Transfusions from Survivors Best Way to Fight Ebola.

Treating Ebola patients with blood transfusions from survivors of the disease should be the immediate priority among all the experimental therapies under consideration for this outbreak, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said Friday after reviewing the status of all the potential experimental therapies and vaccines. “We agreed that whole-blood therapies and convalescent serum may be used to treat Ebola virus disease and that all efforts must be invested into helping affected countries use them safely,” Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director general for health systems and innovation at WHO told reporters. “This is something that would be ready near term.” None of the considered Ebola regimes have yet been adequately tested in humans.

Because survivors of an Ebola infection would typically have produced effective antibodies against the virus (otherwise they wouldn't have survived), transfusions of their blood into a newly infected individual may help that person survive the often fatal disease. Such blood preparations, drawn from volunteers, could be ready before the end of 2014, according to preliminary WHO estimates put out earlier this week. “We have to change the sense that there is no hope in this situation to a realistic hope,” Kieny said during a press conference Friday. She has called for other countries to help affected west African nations to build their capacity to safely do the blood drawing and preparation for what needs to be reinfused into the patients.

A Google search found that this treatment had been proposed back in 1999.  In that case, it looks less like a case of life imitating art, which it would seem to the uninformed, and more an example of a scriptwriter doing his or her homework.  Given how many examples TV Tropes lists of the show's various kinds of artistic license, I'm pleasantly surprised.  Here's to the show providing more victories of sense over sensation, although given that Michael Bay prefers sensation, I'm only guardedly optimistic.  Given the two trailers below, that's probably the right expectation to have.

When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction.

Follow over the jump for more on this show and the rest of this summer's post-apocalyptic TV offerings, including the surprising addition of "Wayward Pines" to the genre.