ICYMI & Coming Soon at the Halfway Mark
Monday, June 30, 2014 at 9:09AM 
Today marks the final day of the first half of 2014. That flashed by, didn't it? Here are five highlights from this past week while you wait for this afternoon's Smackdown (squeeeeeeeee!)
• Ten Best Dragons - from Toothless to Vermithrax
• Test Interview - filming dance sequences
• What's Wrong With Musicals? - it isn't the talent pool
• What If... The Academy had loved Do The Right Thing 25 years ago? Fight the Power!
• Welcome to the Academy - 271 new invites went out... and, as always, some are headscratchers and some are deliciously welcome
COMING IN JULY
Oscar Chart Updates are in progress and we'll post tomorrow when we start "Halfway Mark" festivities surveying the Best of the Year (thus far).
What else? July's Year of the Month is 1973... so get to watching / rewatching some of the movies from that vintage especially Paper Moon, The Exorcist, Cries and Whispers, and The Way We Were. 'A Year with Kate' will hit The African Queen and The Rainmaker... and I'll try to catch up with Seasons of Bette. We'll also return to the "Best Shot" party and wish Sandra Bullock a happy 50th. AND (Who, ME? Overplan?) it's Reader Appreciation Month so we'll start spotlighting some of you again.
PLUS ENTICING NEW MOVIES: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Tammy, Land Ho!, Boyhood, Happy Christmas, Magic in the Moonlight and Lucy chief among them.
Reader Comments (7)
I guess I'll just have to give up on the Film Bitch Awards. They are such a unique and fun way to remember the previous year and honor moments and performances that otherwise get overlooked, and categories like Best Cameo and Best Diva gave this site something original to cut through all the self-serious awards buzz elsewhere. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, it's more important to have Oscar predictions up by April. Don't really understand that but I guess I'll just have to learn to accept it as the new normal.
(PS please read this is a half-kidding mourning for something I was have looked forward to ever since I discovered this site and not as a harsh critique. It's your site, your can prioritize whatever you want obviously, just thought I'd throw in my two cents.)
(PPS - Having said that, it has occurred to me that you get frustrated with studios for their over-reliance on the Oscars, like for August: Osage County, and yet I can't help but feel that you devote time and energy to the Oscars at the expense of other great features of this site - but I love this site and love your writing and know you work hard so I'll shut up now.)
DJDeeDay -- it disappoints me when i mess them up too. But I did do them this year! Or did you miss it? Film Bitch Awards are on the pull down menu up top. the only thing i didn't finish was the "scenes" but i got through cameos, diva, hero, and all of that. I just have that last page to go (fight scenes, best kiss, etcetera)
Oh, Paper Moon! I saw it for the first time last fall and I loved it so much (although Madeline Kahn's character is treated pretty poorly. If you don't want me to care about someone, don't cast Madeline Kahn!).
Any tips on finding Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams for the Smackdown (other than buying it, which I'm too cheap to do)?
I know she is revered around these parts but a nod to Bullocks 20 yr plus career in July would be great since she is arguably more bankable and famous and nominated than in 1993 when she burst onto our screens in Demolition Man,i would like to hear your thought son her entire career and some fine performances we may have missed,Hope Floats has some lovely work from it's 3 leads plus she did once star with filmexperience patron Kidman..
Since we're talking Film Bitch Awards, could you please put up the media winners for Best Actor????? It can't be that hard right?
You haven't awarded the top three best actor stars, either in what was a very competitive category this past year - I'm really interested in seeing how you rank them.