Oscar narratives being pushed out of Telluride & Venice

by Nathaniel R

Hmmm... let's see Joaquin Phoenix Joker and Adam Sandler Uncut Gems for Best Actor (blargh and double-blargh*), Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story, A24's Waves for everything, Renee Zellweger's second Oscar for Judy, Christian Bale for Ford v Ferrari, Ad Astra for something or other (or will this go the First Man route of being wildly praised at its festival bow and then too "reserved" emotionally to actually catch on?) and... what else... what else.... Sure we missed something.  

It all feels dizzying right now since everything just began happening all at once, as is tradition this week of each year. The numbers of course don't add up. If you accept preemie buzz with no caveats about anything that happens after this week, we already have the Best Actor lineup (Phoenix, Driver, Sandler, Bale, and Banderas) and the supporting actor winner (Brad Pitt, OUATIH). But this is a small sampling of the movies and performances to come in the next few months of the year...

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Nobody goes to the movies on Labor Day, do they?

In retrospect it was probably a bad idea to make a movie called Labor Day (remember that 2013 Kate Winslet misfire?) since Labor Day weekend is one of those rare holidays where people mostly avoid the movies. Essentially it's the last "outdoor" weekend, and it's no longer hot enough to pine away for air conditioned storytelling. At any rate here is the quickie chart for the weekend. Were you an iconoclast who did go to the movies this weekend or were you thwarted by Hollywood's lack of desire to program anything between franchise blockbusters. Seriously this year feels like they're not even trying -- thank god awards season might rescue us...

Weekend Box Office Estimates August 30th- September 1st Estimates 🔺 = New or Expanding / ★ = Recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / SPECIALTY TITLES
Good Boys	Brittany Runs a Marathon
1 Angel Has Fallen  $11.5 (cum. $40.6)	1 🔺 Tod@s Caen $1 on 371 screens *new*
2 Good Boys $9.1 (cum. $56.1)  REVIEW  ★	2 🔺 After the Wedding $445k on 428 screens (cum. $862k)  REVIEW
3 The Lion King  $6.7 (cum. $520.9)   REVIEW	3 🔺 Brittany Runs a Marathon $414k on 49 screens (cum. $637k)

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Streaming Roulette, September ...now with Criterion Channel!

As is our practice we've selected a handful plus of new-to-streaming titles and frozen them at utterly random moments without cheating (whatever comes up comes up!). After those selections we've listed all the movies from each of the streaming channels. What should you queue up for SEPTEMBER 2019 ?(★ means we definitely recommend catching them.)

OH and also we're very excited to announce that we have added THE CRITERION CHANNEL to this monthly roundup because good god but it's worth the money. Ready? Here we go...

Boy. Boy. Will you come with me?

Jungle Book (1942) on Criterion Channel
True embarrassing story: I've never seen this Korda brothers film which was the first complete movie adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's book (though there were earlier films using portions of it) and it's got to be better than the subsequent versions, nearly all of which I have seen of this oft-regurgitated story. It was nominated for four Oscars: Cinematography (losing to Black Swan though this image above makes me want to restart our Hit Me With Your Best Shot series), Art Direction (losing to My Gal Sal), Special Effects, and Score

Anyway, this is the finish. Me and showbiz. 

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Valerie Harper (1939-2019)

by Nathaniel R

Emmy & Golden Globe winner Valerie Harper, who rose to considerable fame as Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off Rhoda, passed away yesterday after a long battle with brain cancer which doctors thought would end her life years ago. And it wasn't her first such battle either. She'd survived lung cancer in 2009, returning triumphantly to showbiz with a smashing performance as Tallulah Bankhead in the play "Looped" in 2010. Though The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda were before our time as showbiz conoisseurs we did catch her in Looped on Broadway and were thrilled to see her justly Tony-nominated for what was surely a taxing but also a bewitching performance...

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Best Costume Design. What we've seen and what's to come.

Please welcome new contributor Cláudio Alves...

Multiple Oscar winner Colleen Atwood on the set of "Dumbo"

As we head into the heart of festival season, the Oscar race is about to take shape. Many of the buzzier titles are finally being seen and, some will emerge as major contenders while others will fall by the wayside. That is true for most categories, but not always true for Best Costume Design. That wonderful craft award, oft celebrated here at The Film Experience, is less dependent on Best Picture buzz as other craft prizes. Let’s not forget the sole nomination likes of The Tempest, W.E. and The Invisible Woman.

It’s quite likely we’ve already seen at least one of the eventual nominees. Let's take a more thorough look at the contenders for this award...

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