Review: Ben is Back

by Eric Blume

In writer-director Peter Hedges’ new film Ben is Back, Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges perform a heart-rending duet.  They’re so locked into their characters, with their lived-in emotions so close to the skin, that they make the film soar.

Young Ben (Hedges) returns home for Christmas, 77 days clean from sober living from his drug addiction, to the joy and hope of his mom (Roberts), and the skepticism of his family.  While the plot is straightforward, Peter Hedges takes the peace out of the domestic setting in the second half of the film, where he has his two main characters on the road facing various elements from Ben’s past...

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2018 Review: Top Ten Hits in Nine Categories!

Soon we'll start daily 'year in review' parties, but here's an early one...

It's time for a special box office report AND the kick off to our year in review party. Yes, yes, everyone knows that Disney/Marvel owned the domestic and international box office with Black Panther and Infinity War, respectively. Yet there is far more to the story of ticket sales than just one studio and superhero films in general.

It's much more interesting to break it down into types of films and see which films most interested the ticket-buying public. We'll have separate reports on foreign films and documentaries but for now nine other categories!

🔺 = means that the film is still in release so its place in these rankings is not yet settled. All figures are as of March 24th, 2018

TOP ORIGINALS
NOT PRE-EXISTING  / NOT (YET) A FRANCHISE

 

01 🔺Bohemian Rhapsody (Fox) $215.9 (Nov 2nd)
02 A Quiet Place  (Paramount) $188 (April 6th)
03 The Mule (Warner Bros) $103.8 (Dec 14th)...

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Podcast: Critics Awards, Capernaum, Vox Lux

Nathaniel R, Murtada Elfadl, and Nick Davis to talk new films and awards madness

Index (68 minutes)
00:01 Top ten lists mania. And what makes a screener gay?
04:42 Vox Lux. What is going on there with Brady Corbet's messaging and Natalie Portman's ACTING?
16:01 Celebrity Cameos: Boots Riley, Julia Roberts, and pre-SAG silliness
22:16 LAFCA prizes and critical consensus especially around Roma
36:00 Ethan Hawke vs Bradley Cooper for Best Actor
41:22 Nadine Labaki's amazing Oscar submission Capernaum
49:20 Foreign Film Contenders. We don't like Girl
56:45 "Narratives" Glenn Close, Regina King, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt
63:30 Category Fraud Giggles and Carol Throwbacks
66:50 Ask us some questions, bitches!

Further Reading / References
• Boots Riley's Twitter account
• Foreign Film Race
• Nick's take on Girl
• LAFCA Awards
• ...oh and this is Christopher the cat, who was present for the recording

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? 

Critics Awards, Vox Lux, Capernaum, and More...

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Returns for Season 2!

By Spencer Coile  

It feels like an eternity has passed since The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premiered on Amazon Prime last year. Its first season was celebrated, dissected, and rewarded by most major awards bodies – sweeping up two Golden Globes and eight Emmys. In particular, the show’s leading lady, Rachel Brosnahan was lauded for her portrayal as Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a 1950’s housewife who pursues stand-up comedy when her husband unexpectedly leaves her.

Season two, which is available to stream on Prime, picks up shortly where the first season left off...

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Beauty vs Beast: Saving Private Shakespeare

Jason Adams from MNPP here, serenading us "Beauty vs Beast" style - tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of John Madden's Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love, aka the Oscar win that broke every straight boy's heart. Don't believe me? Go find one and mention how Saving Private Ryan was robbed and watch the fire and fury rise in their pupils. (I really shouldn't make fun, seeing as they got their revenge in 2005.) But the contest of 1998 films is always a good one to stir up arguments excuse me conversation, and since that's what we're here for...

bike tracks

PREVIOUSLY Although of Saoirse love is strong it wasn't enough to tackle the one-two punch of The Green Dress and Briony being a little snitch-monster, and so Keira Knightley's Cecelia took top honors in our Atonement poll last week, with about 3/4s of the vote. Said par:

"In fairness to Briony, i'd do a lot worse if somebody got between me and the housekeeper's son. But I voted for Cecilia cause, damn, that girl had some bad luck."