Podcast: Smackdown Reflections and Film Critics on Acting

Nathaniel talks to Sheila O'Malley, one of the best film critics on acting, as they reflect on recent Smackdown adventures, the chaos of acting careers, and the problems with "best" designations.

Index (43 minutes)
00:01 Acting training, Geraldine Page, and critics who "get" acting
06:45 Glenn Close and Robert Redford Reveries in The Natural
14:00 The quality of acting fields & self-selecting "Oscar movies"
20:45 Romancing the Stone and the "realm of fantasy" versus the "gritty" farm wife movies. Why do some movies hold up so well over time?
27:00 Peggy Ashcroft and Lindsay Crouse. Plus: making out with Ed Harris.
33:00 The rumors about Swing Shift and Jonathan Demme's original cut. Did we lose a masterpiece?
40:18 Sheila's connection to Gena Rowland's Honorary Oscar.

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?  

P.S. Read more about Sheila's Gena Rowlands tribute here.

a conversation with Sheila O'Malley

Couple Goals

Box Office

The box office numbers are too dire to report for the holiday weekend. Suicide Squad crossed the $300 million mark (who is still seeing this and why? It is utterly awful.) It's huge haul will ensure that Hollywood need not worry about the execution of their movies, only the brand names surrounding the movies. Depressing. The Light Between Oceans performed about half as well as expected (ouch) even though it's quite touching and reportedly faithful to the popular novel -- which ensures that Hollywood will continue to be afraid to release adult dramas outside of October-December. Depressing. A huge second week for Don't Breathe will ensure that the easiest money bet in movies (budget to potential gross) continues to be in the gore/horror genre -- just don't get too arty because then you don't cross over! (Depressing but also true for I think as long as I've been alive so whatever). And the intensely pleasurable Love & Friendship (on DVD this week) is losing its crown as the #1 platform release of the summer to Hell or High Water.

Can you tell I'm depressed? Cheer me up by telling me about your favorite screening this weeked, movie, streaming, tv, whatever. What's good?

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…

Click to read more ...

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