Beauty vs Beast: Colin Farrell's Best Friends Forever

Jason from MNPP here on the eve of Oscar nominations wishing you all a good night's rest tonight - I know how you'll all be tossing and turning with visions of little golden sugar-plum statues dancing in your heads. Until then let's use this week's "Beauty vs Beast" to tackle one of the greatest movies of 2016 which may or may not get a single nomination tomorrow but if you ask me it'd be up for La La level awardage - Yorgos Lanthimos' The Lobster. And I want to further tune in one two of its finest yet totally unsung turns, both of which I maintain are as fine as any in the conversation for Supporting Actor - Ben Whishaw as John the Limping Man, and John C Reilly as Robert the Lisping Man.

PREVIOUSLY Last week it was John Carpenter's birthday so we looked through our x-ray goggles at his 1988 anti-consumerist actioner They Live, and once again it was "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's chance to pound some alien butt. Said Steven:

"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum. For the Hot Rod. Still miss that man."

Personal Ballots Galore!

The Oscar correlative part of the Film Bitch Awards are almost done. Racing to the finish line here. In the updates you'll see the nominees for Best Screenplays and Animated Feature as well as Visual categories like Visual Effects and Makeup.

You never know where a great movie will come from. Who knew that a circular short story by Ted Chiang, an possibly unfilmable novel like "Oh...," or a novella like "Lady Susan" could make great movies like Arrival, Elle, and Love & Friendship? (Okay okay, everyone knows that Jane Austen stories can make great movies. But isn't it insane that Love & Friendship isn't locked up for an Oscar nomination? What was everyone thinking this year?) They're all up for the Film Bitch Award for Adapted Screenplay. The nominees are...

As for the Makeup and Hair ballot, I'll state straightaway that I'll never understand what Oscar's makeup branch wants from their movies (besides old age prosthetics. They love those). Everything that makes my list, save Hail Caesar! and Star Trek Beyond did not make the Oscar finals in that category (or perhaps did not even submit reels to the branch for consideration?). It may seem to on-the-nose to include Neon Demon, but when that nose is a work of art...

Previous Announcements
Picture/Director/Top Ten List
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Costume Design and Production Design
Sound and Music Categories

Three more TBA: Actor, Actress, and Cinematography

"We Can't Wait" Pt 2: Most Anticipated of 2017

Before the Oscar nominations tomorrow help put on a cap on 2016, we here at Team Experience are looking to the year ahead. We took a vote on our 17 most breathlessly anticipated movies of 2017 and here are the results. Part one, posted yesterday, included Beauty and the Beast, Coco, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties among others.

Part two after the jump. Our nine most anticipated films of the year...

Click to read more ...

Box Office: Split Dominates, Hidden Figures Stays Strong

The big winner at hte box office this weekend was M Night Shyamalan's split personality thriller Split starring James McAvoy, Betty Buckley (!!!) and The Witch's Anya-Taylor Joy. Hidden Figures continued to show signs of a hefty box office tally to come with another very low percentage drop and Sing has become the biggest grossing movie of all time that never hit #1 at the box office, surpassing the previous record holder My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Martin Scorsese's Silence has gone wide but is still struggling to find takers and The Founder, after a long delayed release, opened as well to $3+ million. Meanwhile 20th Century Women added 600+ theaters and is finally ready for your eyeballs and you MUST see it. It's marvelous. Silence added over 800 screens but to little traction from moviegoers. 

TOP WIDE
(over 800 screens)
01 Split $40.1 NEW 
02 xXx: Return of Xander Cage $20 NEW 
03 Hidden Figures $16.2 (cum. $84.2) Podcast
04 Sing $9 (cum. $249.3) 
05 La La Land $8.3 (cum. $89.6) Reviewish, Demy Influence, and How Rare It Is!

TOP LIMITED
(under 800 screens - excluding previously wide)
01 Lion $1.8 (cum. $16.3) 575 screens Review and Nicole
02 20th Century Women $1.4 (cum. $2.3) 650 screens  Podcast, Top Ten, Billy Crudup, First Impressions
03 Moonlight $633K (cum. $15.8) 489 screens Review,Podcast, and Supporting
04 Jackie $365K (cum. $11.2) 239 screens Review and Interview
05 Paterson  $123K (cum. $529K) 38 screens Review

 What did you see this weekend? 

"We Can't Wait" Pt 1: Most Anticipated of 2017

Before the Oscar nominations on Tuesday help put on a cap on 2016, we here at Team Experience are looking to the year ahead. Yes, fresh off of our Team Experience Awards, our most anticipated films of 2017 with this installment of We Can't Wait!

In this list you'll find upcoming films from favorite auteurs and favorite actress, and some promising films giving us both in the same package. Forgive us if your favorite superhero doesn't make the cut - our superheroes are the actressy sort, though we will be keeping an eye on Wonder Woman. Some films that almost made the list: Pulitzer-winning adaptation Marjorie Prime, the starry remake Murder on The Orient Express, and a Short Term 12 reunion for Destin Cretton and Brie Larson with The Glass Castle.

After the jump our 17 most anticipated films of 2017...

Click to read more ...