Box Office: Venom, A Star is Born, and new records for Crazy Rich Asians

by Nathaniel R

What did you see over the weekend? Both Venom and A Star is Born opened to big numbers making it a strong start to October box office. While Venom isn't as likely to hold as well (lower Cinemascore, terrible reviews, and no awards season to maintain interest) both are already hits. More after the jump...

Weekend Box Office Estimates (October 5-7)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 Venom $80  *NEW*	1. 🔺 Free Solo $540k  on 41 screens (cum. $953k)

2. 🔺 A STAR IS BORN $41.2 *NEW* Review, Posterized	2. 🔺The Hate U Give $500k *NEW * on 36 screens

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Is that you Carey Mulligan?

Tfw u #CareyMulligan !!!!!!!! RT if u very smart like her 💖 pic.twitter.com/PAVhlEIYnO

— Desi Domo (@DesiDomo) October 4, 2018

Witness one of the best comic impressions out there! Utter genius, really. If Carey Mulligan were more famous this woulda gone viral!

NYFF: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Jason Adams reporting from the New York Film Festival

Anthology films always have a bit of an under-cooked quality - you like a chunk of meat here, a chunk of potato there, but the stew's uneven, the broth skinned over from sitting. Even the very best ones can feel haphazard - you can and should certainly argue that Pulp Fiction is an anthology film, albeit one that's po-mo'd up in glorious fashion, but some days you're just not in the mood for Honey Bunny, ya dig?  The Coens' six-part The Ballad of Buster Scruggs maintains that streak - highs, lows, and everything in between, slapped between two fraying book covers...

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Catch-Up: A Simple Favor, The Children Act, Colette

by Nathaniel R

So as not to get ANY further behind on reviewing and such -- you wouldn't believe my calendar right now -- here are quick takes on four  movies we barely said anything about, the first of which you should absolutely make time to see.

A Simple Favor (Paul Feig)
Synopsis: Mommy vlogger Stephanie's (Anna Kendrick) new best friend, chic enigmatic Emily (Blake Lively) goes missing then turns up dead... or does she?... in this twisty genre mashup. 
Capsule: Half comic thriller. Half campy mystery. Half bad girl dress-up fantasy. The math doesn't add up, I'm aware, but it's all enjoyable. The leading ladies are deliciously inspired, marrying all the disparate tones with as much ease, flair, and detail as the costumes, chic soundtrack, and aspirational production design. Makes a solid case for itself as the year's most delightful surprise...

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Posterized: A Star is Born

by Nathaniel R

How many versions of the oft-remade A Star is Born have you seen? There have been four now, five if you count What Price Hollywood, often forgotten because it has a different title but so alike in story beats that the first official A Star is Born was clearly lifting from it wholesale. Since the Judy Garland version they've all been musicals and as of the Barbra Streisand version, the Grammys replaced the Oscars as the key awards show moment when the new superstar wins big while her husband hits rock bottom. But more on all this later maybe..

WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD? (1932) Director George Cukor 
Starring Constance Bennett & Lowell Sherman (1 Oscar nomination for writing)

A STAR IS BORN (1937) Director William Wellman (Cukor declined)
Starring Janet Gaynor & Fredric March (7 nominations including Director, Actor and Actress, 1 win for "original" writing even though the plot was lifted from the 1932 film!, 1 Honorary for its color photography in a then mostly black-and-white world. This is the only version that was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars)

A STAR IS BORN (1954) Director George Cukor again but this time it's a musical
Starring Judy Garland & James Mason (6 nominations: Actor, Actress, Costume Design, Art Direction, Score, Original Song "The Man That Got Away")

A STAR IS BORN (1976) Director Frank Pierson
Starring Barbra Streisand & Kris Kristofferson (4 nominations including Cinematography, Sound, and Score, 1 win for Original Song "Evergreen")

A STAR IS BORN (2018) Director Bradley Cooper
Starring Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (Oscar fate to be determined)

Since the space inbetween each A Star is Born movies is growing each time, the sixth version should arrive around 2070. Mark your calendars! ;)