If you’re in NYC today (and tomorrow) you should stop by New York International Latino Film Festival and catch a film. One that I recommend seeing is called La Americana. It’s a simple, moving portrait of a women caught between the realities of being an illegal immigrant and the love she feels for her family.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Sudan Leader Charged with Genocide: What Are the Reactions? by Wendy Cohen

Inconvenient Truth of the Day: Al Gore Speaks on Climate Change by Joshua Tremblay

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Nicole Hughes:

“Farms in the Sky” a Solution to Global Food Crisis?

Wal-Mart Launches Eco-Bling Project

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Andy Kondrat:

NYC To Bring in 300 Hybrid Taxis Per Month

Coolio To Educate Students On Climate Change

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Jon Popham:

Pickens’ Plan for Energy Independence

On “Rent” Closing, the East Village, and Gentrification

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Gina Telaroli:

Batman Morals: Top 5 Lessons from the Capped Crusader’s Films

Emmy Nominations Kick “The Wire” to the Curb

The Emmy Nominations for the 2008 season are here. I’m not a big TV watcher, with the exception of The Wire and Lost, but it’s always interesting to consider the nominations and this year is no exception. The complete nomination list can be found here but after looking at it, it has become obvious to me that I should focus on a glaring omission:

1) THE WIRE

I’m sorry, but it is unacceptable that this show not be nominated and even more unacceptable that none of it’s actors be nominated. I mean really, does William Shatner really deserve another nomination for Boston Legal? Not when Andre Royo, Michael K Williams and Lance Reddick are without one.

I’m not sure how anyone who spent 5 minutes with Royo’s Bubbles could NOT nominate him… He is the definition of best supporting actor and did more work in one episode than William Shatner has done in his entire Boston Legal career. And as much as I love Lost and love Michael Emerson’s Ben, I would easily chop his name of the nomination list for Royo, Williams, Reddick or any number of their co-stars.

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HBO has announced plans to develop a show abut the herbal weight loss industry called Fat Sells:

It’s the magic pill theory,” Dave Broome (25/7) said. “As a society, we don’t care what the side effects are to these pills. I thought it would be an interesting world to look into, the fact that it’s a market unregulated by the FDA. [Variety]

Sounds interesting to me, even more so because Forest Whitaker is set to produce and I’ve always been a big Forest Whitaker fan. Plot wise, I’m excited for a program that examines the effects of what we put in our body - this is something everyone could stand to do a little more often.

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It’s been 4 months since The Wire season finale aired and television hasn’t been as good since. That might change though, now that HBO is airing Generation Kill, a mini-series about the first wave of Marines that engaged in combat in the Iraq war. The mini-series was created by non other than David Simon, the amazing creator of The Wire.

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Tatum O’Neal was arrested on drug charges in her Manhattan apartment Sunday night. New York City Police said they had found bags of cocaine and crack cocaine in the 44 year old actress’s possession at the time of the arrest. Police Reports indicate O’Neal initiallly told NYPD Officers that she was doing research for an upcoming film part. Also arrested was 33 year old Allen Garcia who is believed possibly to be O’Neal’s dealer.

Tatum O’Neal was the youngest actress in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Oscar, having taken home the prize for Best Supporting Actress for “Paper Moon” in which she co-starred with her father Ryan O’Neal when she was 10 years old. Since then she has appeared in such films as “The Bad News Bears”, “International Velvet” and “Basquiat” along with numerous television appearances including “Sex and the City”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Rescue Me”.

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The 4 woman are finally back in town and after weeks of tantalizing trailers, HUGE billboards and spoiler alerts, I FINALLY saw Sex and The City. And even better, in the city itself.

Shrieking, running, stiletto heel-wearing girlfriends from all over the country stormed into the theater as though Louis Vuitton bags were being given away. At first, I thought it was rather inspiring that so many women, around the country are coming together to share the love and loss with these four women. But when the movie was over, I was a little less enthused.

“Just like old times,” Samantha says at one point when the four women go out together. Well, not really. I miss the slightly less fancy clothes, slightly smaller heals and the moments of their relationship that weren’t about the men. Would it be too much to ask for some dialog about something happening in the world? Something that cant be cured by an exorbitant shopping spree?

Or perhaps shows who first find their home on a risk-taking, say anything network like HBO, shouldn’t try to jump to the big screen.

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You have to see HBO’s “Recount.” It’s an eye-opening and entertaining look at all that Florida election recount drama. The acting is amazing (Laura Dern as Katherine Harris is spot-on and hilarious) and the story, well, for me this film was a shocking and disapointing lesson in US politics and judicial loop holes.

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The Fire Bill Maher campaign, which Gina blogged about, is claiming that host of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher must be called to account for mocking the Pope. The people behind the campaign are also saying Maher got away with anti-Catholic jokes but would not have been able to get away with jokes making fun of Jews or Muslims. As Maher himself points out, he is an equal opportunity offender and makes fun of all religions without discriminating. It is also important to remember this is not the first time people have attempted to silence Maher. Bill Maher really was fired and his show Politically Incorrect really was canceled after Maher said that the 9/11 hijackers were not, in fact, cowards as Bush had claimed. Maher was not defending the people behind 9/11, but merely analyzing how and why they were able to do what they did. Then and now, Maher is a reminder of why we need to defend free speech, especially when it calls for a critical thinking and goes against conventional wisdom.

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HBO has announced their summer documentary program line-up. The season will kick off on June 9th with the new documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, based on Roman Polanski and the statutory-rape case against him.

Also on board is a new doc on Heidi Fleiss, one about high school teens in Iraq called Baghdad High and one that focuses on Bush’s No Child Left Behind act.

There are a lot of great docs on the schedule including Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery.

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