Yes No Maybe So: "The Goldfinch"

by Ilich Mejía

Before you ask, five times. Five times I've tried to get past the first half of this book. Five times I've had to put it down to rewatch that one extra-good episode Bojack Horseman drops every season and then forgotten to pick it back up. To seem cultured, I will lie and say I was in the middle of a sixth try when the trailer for the movie dropped. Naturally, I've neglected to pick it back up since because I've been busy picking the trailer apart to decide how I feel about it. Join me in deciding, fellow philistines!

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Finally, some options at the movie theater!

What did you see over the weekend? I saw four movies - a fun weekend. FINALLY. It's always better when multiple options of quality arrive instead of every distributor clearing the way for some preordained lame Disney blockbuster.

The charts and a few notes are after the jump...

Weekend Box Office May 31st-June 2nd  🔺 = new or expanded theater counts / ★ = recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / LIMITED
1 🔺 Godzilla: King of the Monsters $47.7 on 4108 screens *new*	1 🔺 Biggest Little Farm $435k on 275 screens (cum. $1.8)

2 Aladdin $42.8 on 4476 screens (cum. $185.5) 1992 RETRO	2 🔺  The Souvenir $133k on 74 screens (cum. $460k)  REVIEW, PODCAST ★

3 🔺 Rocketman  $25.7 on 3610 screens *new*  REVIEW ★	3 The White Crow $125k on 212 screens (cum. $1.5) PODCAST

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Auditions: Betty's Audition in "Mulholland Dr"

Our new series from Ginny O'Keefe, who knows from auditions as an actress in Los Angeles...

One of the more iconic audition scenes in the past 20 years of film comes from a film that gives you a great sense of security and comfort before ripping the rug right out from underneath you. It’s David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Naomi Watts plays Hollywood hopeful, Betty Elms, fresh off the plane from Ontario, Canada. She dreams of being a successful actress and is staying in her Aunt Ruth’s awesome apartment (rent-free I might add) while she is away filming a movie. She’s got a big audition coming up for a movie (with some really cheesy dialogue) and has been practicing like a beast in order to land the part. One of the things we admire about Betty is that she actually puts in the work in order to make her dreams come true. Cut to...

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Beauty vs Beast: Transylvania Time Warped

Hello and Happy Monday, Jason from MNPP here with this week's much antici........pated edition of "Beauty vs Beast" -- since it's Pride Month I'm going to be glancing back at some of my favorite LGBT movies for the next four weeks! How merry and gay it will be. Today we're finding our sexy yet somewhat boring selves stalled on the side of the road on a dark and stormy night with just a strange castle astride a mountaintop ahead seen as refuge, and hey, they seem to be having some sort of a party inside...

survey services

PREVIOUSLY Twas Aladdin's time for the spotlight last go-round, and our animated hero soundly trounced the villanous Jafar (speaking of sneering homosexuals) with a fine upstanding and heterosexual 62% of your vote. Said Ryan T:

"This is TOUGH. Aladdin was like my Disney crush for THE LONGEST TIME but Jafar was like VILLAIN GOALS. In the end I went with Aladdin, because I just can't say no to those big brown eyes."

Review: When They See Us

By Spencer Coile

Ava DuVernay, notable for her righteous films like Selma and 13, is unafraid of holding a mirror up to a culture that has condemned the subjects of her work. Her Netflix limited series, When They See Us is a piece of television that is rooted in the history and the humanity of its subjects. Following a contentious court battle, five boys (all either Black or Hispanic) were convicted of a crime they did not commit.

Accounts of the Central Park Five have been speculated and picked apart for decades, including necessary think-pieces, documentaries, and protests. After all, they were exonerated of all their crimes in 2002. When They See Us presents the timeline of this case; interrogation to court to their eventual release. These are all facts that a simple Wikipedia search would produce. What makes DuVernay’s work so astonishing, though, is the way she imbues this narrative -- one that is deeply embedded in our public consciousness - with traces of anger, and above all else, grace.

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