C O N S I D E R - Actors of 2018, First Half of Year

With the year half over, it's time to look back on the first six months of the year and what treasures they brought us. Here are the 18 performances by male actors that we liked the most thus far this year. It should probably suffice to say that this list was much easier to come up with then the forthcoming female list since the competition wasn't as fierce. (Four key films I missed that might have played into these categories were The Rider, Lean on Pete, You Were Never Really Here, and Paddington 2)

5 LEADING ACTORS
(Jan 1st through June 30th releases)

Daniel Giménez Cacho as "Don Diego de Zama" in Zama
Though I didn't much care for this film, Giménez Cacho, the talented Mexican/Spanish star (of Blancanieves and Cronos fame... and the unseen narrator of all time Mexican classic Y Tu Mama Tambien) delivers as the frustrated sickly officer of the Spanish crown longing for a transfer that may never come.

Alden Ehrenreich as "Han Solo" in Solo
Mimicry is overrated. It's better to get the spirit of a thing than to duplicate the tics. He manages the former though the script fights against it, refashioning Han as a hero at the beginning. 

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100 Oldest Living Oscar Nominees & Winners

This list is now updated and living here. 

Soundtracking: "Hearts Beat Loud"

by Chris Feil

Brett Haley is quietly becoming the American independent counterpart to Once and Sing Street’s John Carney, crafting happy-sad narratives with music as a key ingredient. With music partner Keegan DeWitt, Haley’s films feature characters at the end of their performance days taking one renewed grasp toward fulfillment. His newest film Hearts Beat Loud is the most addictively musical, and like his I’ll See You in My Dreams before it, its songs come straight from the heart.

Loud is the story of Frank and Sam Fisher, played by Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons, a father-daughter pair preparing for imminent college bicoastal separation. Frank is a failed musician and now record store owner, forever pushing the gifted Sam towards a music collaboration she perpetually resists...

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Prime/Hulu in July: Breakfast on Mulholland Dr with a Manchurian

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles, we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share -- no cheating!  

Which of these films will you be streaming this month for the first time or as a rewatch? Do tell us in the comments. Ready for our game? Okay let's  go...

Everyone thought he was dotty the way he gorged himself on peanut butter. But he wasn't dotty. Just sweet and vague and terribly slow. Poor Fred. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) only on Prime
Everyone knows that Audrey Hepburn is wonderful/funny/elegant in this picture... though some think she's miscast. Less often noted but worthy of careful inspection: the smoking hotness of George Peppard as her conflicted gigolo neighbor. [5 Oscar nominations and 2 wins, both for Henry Mancini's music]

[no dialogue]

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iTunes' 99¢ Deals This Week

No, we are not conspiring with iTunes. It's pure accident that their 99¢ deal this week is I, Tonya moments after Jason asked us to vote on it in the Beauty vs Beast column. I don't like that movie but if you do or if you haven't seen it 99¢ can't really be beat.

I find myself turning more and more to iTunes and hoping for 99¢ rental deals for films I don't own because Netflix / Prime / Filmstruck whoever have such limited and shifting selections each month. iTunes changes their dollar deals quickly but right at the moment there are a ton of great films as well as some interesting little ones... 

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