First reviews of "Big Little Lies" cite Streep as standout

We're exactly a week away from the debut of the first episode of season 2 of Big Little Lies. A couple of days ago, reviews started to come in from critics, whom I believe were made privy to the first two episodes. The general consensus is that the second season is very good. More excitingly, Streep is being singled out for Emmy love in most accounts I've read. Not that this is particularly shocking...Meryl is usually best in show. But up alongside the likes of Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and and Laura Dern, it's still a tall task to stand out.

There are only five official reviews on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, but the season is charting at 80% on RT and whopping 81 on MC. Certainly we'll get more reviews once the show actually airs and everyone gets to see all the episodes. But so far, things look pretty promising for how viewers are going to react to the quality of round two of the series. 

Can't wait 'til next weekend!

Streep attends premiere of season 2 of "Big Little Lies"

Along with the rest of the cast, Meryl walked the red carpet at the premiere of season 2 of Big Little Lies last night in New York City.

Looking lovely as always. I was also happy to find a video of a panel she was part of earlier in the day with costars Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Nicole Kidman. The best I could find was the Facebook feed from The Wing's page. Nothing on YouTube I'm able to embed unfortunately, so click on the link below. Some wonderful pearls of wisdom from the ladies of Monterey. Don't worry, it's only sideways for the first couple minutes:

https://www.facebook.com/thewingnyc/videos/2461167733903172/

The men of "Big Little Lies" talk season 2

Jeffrey Nordling, James Tupper and Adam Scott stopped by Good Morning America the other day to discuss the upcoming season of Big Little Lies. Normally I wouldn't post a video like the one below, but they talk about Meryl a bunch, so thought I should share. My favorite little snippet comes at 1:52. Enjoy.

Streep to narrate "Charlotte's Web"

People has announced that Streep will be the first to record a narration of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web since the author did so way back in 1970. I normally don't get too into Meryl's audio work, but this book was my favorite growing up, later followed by a wonderful animated feature starring the voice talents of Debbie Reynolds.

According to the article, Streep will lead a full cast of voices for the audiobook. I didn't see why they're re-recording the novel at this point. Perhaps they thought fifty years was long enough between versions.  The book is set for release by Listening Library this October.

New look to Word on the Streep!

Happy Friday, everyone. I've been kind of itching to switch up the look of the blog a little. So as I'm sure you've noticed if you've ever visited before, the layout has changed. This is probably the third or fourth(?) iteration of the blog's background since I started it in 2011. I just chose one of the simple options Blogger has to offer, and I have to say I enjoy how clean and easy to read all the fonts are. 

You might also notice that I've added a couple of new items off to the right. There's a list of the most-visited posts from the last year, as well as a translate button for those who may prefer to read the blog in a non-English language. Blame Google if it doesn't translate well, but I expect it will be adequate. 

Hope you like the new look!

New trailer for season 2 of "Big Little Lies"

HBO has released a second, full trailer for the upcoming season of Big Little Lies:



This trailer is juicier and showcases how on edge the "Monterey Five" are following Perry's death. A detective is on the case, and more importantly of course Meryl's character is particularly skeptical of how everything went down. She gets a little prickly with Nicole Kidman and I like how she sneers "You left that out, too." We don't know where Mary Louise is getting her info (maybe the detective), but it makes for good drama. 

Can't wait for when this returns on June 9!

Meryl continues to trend top five for Best Supporting Actress predictions

Exactly two months ago, I posted that Meryl had cracked the top five for Best Supporting Actress on my go-to site for Oscar predictions, Awards Watch. Fast forward to today and she's maintained her position at #5 for her role in director Steven Soderbergh's Panama Papers drama for Netflix, The Laundromat. The entire top five is as follows:

1. Margot Robbie (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

2. Annette Bening (The Report)

3. Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)

4. Laura Dern (Untitled Noah Baumbach Project)

5. Meryl Streep (The Laundromat)

The one change from two months ago is that Laura Dern was in third, but for Little Women (another Meryl movie btw).  I don't know much about the Noah Baumbach project, other than that Dern is apparently supposed to have meaty role, and that of course it's still untitled. Incidentally, her role as Marmee in Little Women is now listed in sixth place.  

I find it a little bit strange that we still don't have an official release date for The Laundromat, but I assume that will be decided within the next month or two. I feel like I read somewhere that there was to be a test screening last week, but haven't been able to find any further info on it. Perhaps after they get some early audience feedback they'll be able to figure out when best to give the film a limited release in theaters. That release will be necessary for it to be eligible at the Oscars, since its main venue for viewers will of course be Netflix.