Summer Movie Season Surveyed

This article originally appeared in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. It is reprinted here in a revised TFE specific but abridged version...

While summer didn’t technically begin until June 20th and isn’t technically over yet, “Summer Movie Season” is not beholden to the solstice and equinox but to The Blockbuster. Summer has long been the most lucrative season for Hollywood and so they’ve stretched it out to start earlier each year. It now tends to begin sometime in April with the release of the first movie that feels like a Summer Blockbuster proper (this year that would’ve arguably been The Jungle Book on April 15th) and ends on Labor Day, aka Any Second Now. It’s no secret that it’s been a rough summer for the quality of blockbusters. But if you’re lucky enough to live in a big city or smart enough to seek out films without gargantuan ad budgets, there was still plenty of cinema to get excited about. So herewith the Best & Worst of 2016’s Summer movie season…

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Instagram Battles: Armie, Kristin, or Billy?

Would you rather...

• give Armie Hammer a massage?
• go to a gown fitting with Kristin Chenoweth? 
• go falconing with Billy Magnussen? 

Birthday massage... Check. #painisweaknessleavingthebody

A photo posted by Armie Hammer (@armiehammer) on Aug 28, 2016 at 5:02am PDT

So much beauty and glamour in one photo! @kchenoweth in our ombré tulle gown. Happy Saturday! 💞💞

A photo posted by Christian Siriano (@csiriano) on Sep 3, 2016 at 9:52am PDT

America!! Falconing!! #nomadcowboys #worldnomadgames #worldnomadgames2016 #livefortoday #america #kyrgyzstan

A photo posted by Billy Magnussen (@billymagnussen) on Sep 3, 2016 at 5:03am PDT

The Link Of...

• THR got the first look at Fences. Photos of Denzel, Viola and Stephen McKinley Henderson
• Awards Daily surveys the rave reviews for Nocturnal Animals 
• Playbill there's another musical about the life of Tennessee Williams on the way. The developmental concert is when I'm away at TIFF argh.

• /Film Riz Ahmed sees his Rogue One action figure for the first time (he's so skinny & British -- it's freaking me out a little post The Night Of...!)
• Coming Soon Tom Holland visits a children's hospital dressed as Spider-Man
• AV Club interviews Rob Reiner about his well loved filmography
• MNPP if you live in NYC please note that there's a Paul Verhoeven retrospective coming in November to celebrate the release of Elle. Naturally Showgirls and the other Hollywood films will be accounted for but so will his Dutch offerings. Can't wait to see Turkish Delight finally with Rutger Hauer!
• EW Tyler Hoechlin talks about becoming Superman for the CW's Supergirl
• Fusion crunched the numbers on the ballots for the BBC 100 greatest of the 21st century list to come up with an all female directors ranking. I'm a little stunned, given that ultra specific scenario that A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is so low on the list (only #59) and Bright Star can't even manage the top 20 (tied for #21)
•... the original list icymi 

Controversy
• Los Angeles Times powerful op ed from Gabrielle Union about sexual consent, rape culture, Nate Parker, and Birth of a Nation. She plays a rape victim in his film
• Variety Mark Ruffalo responds to the criticism of the casting of Matt Bomer as a trans woman in his new project. "Please have a little compassion. We are all learning" oh Jesus. Is Hollywood in so much of a bubble that they're still years behind everyone else? I find this hard to believe especially for the politically actives types like Ruffalo so it's hard to have compassion for people purposefully benefitting from the status quo.

Just For Fun
• Vice analyzes the exact amount of banter in the photo of those Eton schoolboys about to meet Putin. I LOL'ed and LOL'ed. Bloody well done 

Video o' the Day
Check out this neat montage celebrating Stop-Motion in film - it's very short and due to that it gets to our lifetimes way too quickly but it still brought back so many fun movie memories. 

THE EVOLUTION OF STOP-MOTION from Vugar Efendi on Vimeo.

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars E2 - Snatch Game

By Chris Feil

How was Rupaul's Drag Race All Stars going to follow the all-timer quality of last week's premiere? By diving right into the show's biggest fan favorite challenge and ramping up all sorts of drama, of course!

Yes, this week is already Snatch Game, the show's most legendary challenge that has been seeing increasingly diminishing returns in past seasons (dare we say that we've considered the show should just eliminate it entirely *gasp*). But the actual challenge was more than just hype this time around with even the weaker performing queens producing more memorable celebrity impersonations than some of season seven and eight's strongest. I guess that's why this bunch are truly All Stars.

But the main challenge and runway drama weren't the biggest showdown this week...

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (S1.E13-14)

Dancin' Dan back at long last with a return to our favorite musical comedy TV show! This time out, we movie-lovers have a lot to get excited about as Rebecca goes to court and receives more than a few surprises in doing so.

S1. E13: "Josh and I Go To Los Angeles!"

Rebecca and Josh's case finally goes to court, only the opposing counsel turns out to be a surprise guest from New York...

Let's rank the crazy!

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