It's Halloween-time at the Box Office

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (October 27th-29th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 JIGSAW  $16.5 new	1. 🔺 LET THERE BE LIGHT $1.8 on 378 screens new
2.  BOO 2! A MADEA HALLOWEEN $10 (cum. $35.5)	2. 🔺 THE FLORIDA PROJECT $539k on 145 screens (cum. $2.1) REVIEW 1, REVIEW 2
3. GEOSTORM  $5.6 (cum. $23.5)	3.🔺 LOVING VINCENT $449k on 114 screens (cum. $2.1)
4. HAPPY DEATH DAY  $5.0 (cum. $48.3)	4. 🔺  GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN $330k on 213 screens (cum. $633k)
5. BLADE RUNNER 2049 $3.9 (cum. $81.3) REVIEW | SHORTS | "BESTS"	5. 🔺 THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER $221k on 33 screens (cum. $392k)  REVIEW

Moviegoers were in a horror mood -- what else is new? -- which is appropriate for Halloween time. Three of the top five were specifically seasonal while It logged what is probably it's last week in the top ten with another 2 million for its historical box office winnings. It's the highest grossing horror film ever now but only #4 of all time (not adjusted for inflation) in terms of R-rated films. It won't be able to overtake any of the top three: The Passion of the Christ, Deadpool, and American Sniper since it will surely lose a huge swath of theaters next weekend when everything at the multiplexes has to make room for Thor: Ragnarok...

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Wonder Wheel, Wonderstruck, BPM, and Last Flag Flying

Nathaniel welcomes NYFF buddies and regular TFE voices Jose Solis and Murtada Elfadl to talk highlights from the fest, some of which are in theaters now! 

Index (43 minutes)
00:01 Intro, NYFF, and The Mountain Between Us tangent
02:50 Steve Carell and Bryan Cranston in Last Flag Flying
07:00 Mixed feelings on Wonderstruck
14:30 Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake
22:10 The Rider, Western, Lady Bird - a year of great female directors
30:00 France's BPM (Beats Per Minute)
34:21 Thelma, Faces Places
41:00 Wrapping up

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

NYFF Highlights

Mysterious, Adorable, Purrfect "Kedi"

by Nathaniel R

As a self-confessed crazy cat lady, I'm not sure why it took me so long to see the Turkish documentary Kedi. But it's fitting that I finally saw it late last night. I didn't even realize until this morning that I had ushered in National Cat Day with the streetcats of Istanbul. Since I am not a frequent documentary-watcher (unlike Glenn) I tend to only see them when the subject matter really intrigues me or if awards season comes calling...

Click to read more ...

Happy 50th to Julia Roberts!

by Nathaniel R

The biggest female movie star of the 1990s hit the half-century mark today. Happy 50th pretty woman. Herewith my personal votes as to her ten best screen performances. Yours? How will you celebrate this milestone?

1. Erin Brockovich (2000)
2. My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
3. Closer (2004)
4. Pretty Woman (1990)
5. The Normal Heart (2014)
6. August: Osage County (2013)
7. Notting Hill (1999)
8. Duplicity (2009)
9. The Pelican Brief (1993)
10. Mystic Pizza (1988)

170 Documentaries to Compete for the Oscar (Yup, That's a Lot!)

By Glenn Dunks

Turkish cats, white supremacist terrorists, underground artists, climate change activists, controversial politicians, hackers, ballerinas and YouTube celebrities. These are just some of the subjects of the ONE-HUNDRED-AND-SEVENTY films that have been submitted for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award. Yes, that 170 figure is a record and no, you probably haven't heard of a lot of them. Not even I had, and I write a weekly column on the subject.

We have tried to cover as many as possible, but trust me there's only so much we can do! Of course, on one hand, the number of titles listed here is daunting and massive. On the other hand, I must admit that a number this large actually somewhat puts my guilt at not covering enough to rest. It's simply too many! And it ought to be even longer! It's disappointing to see award season-worthy titles like In Transit, All This Panic and Antarctica: Ice and Sky not even submitted, but that's how this thing always goes.

I have included links to any TFE reviews, but also included bite-sized snippets to give you a snapshot and even a few one-sentence reviews for films I have seen and will not be doing a full write-up on. Nobody can say we don't attempt to cover as many as possible!

The Academy's doc branch will soon whittle this list down to 15 soon before we find out, as always, what the five nominees will be on Oscar Nomination Morning...

Click to read more ...