Beauty vs Beast: Sibling Rivalry

Jason from MNPP here wishing us all the happiest Lovely Laura Linney Day! Today Linney is celebrating her 54th birthday, which means we're celebrating as well because she's a national treasure that one. But that happiness and celebration might not last long, I ruin everything, because I'm about to force a horrible choice on you with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" contest and ask you to consider choosing between the siblings of Kenneth Lonergan's 2000 sibling masterpiece You Can Count On Me -- Linney's hometown mama and boss-schtupper Sammy versus Mark Ruffalo's home-crashing money-grubbing seatbealt-wearing Terry. Vote and then tell us why you voted how you voted down below in the comments!

surveys

PREVIOUSLY Last week's Best Actor contest handed Timothee Chalamet a win as sound (to the tune of 87% of the vote!) as his trounced competitor Gary Oldman's eventual win at the Oscars next month is assured, so let's just enjoy us getting it right anyway. Said hepwa (and this is a fine list that I'd love to hear if anybody has any of their own to add to this list, too):

"There are five great young male performances in the past forty years, in chronological order: Dennis Christopher in "Breaking Away", Michael O'Keefe in "The Great Santini", Timothy Hutton in "Ordinary People", River Phoenix in "Running On Empty" and now Timothee Chalamet in "Call Me by Your Name"."

Box Office: Jumanji and Showman Won't Quit

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Feb 2nd-4th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. Jumanji $11 (cum. $352.6)	1. Padmaavat $2.5 on 354 screens (cum. $9.0)
2. Maze Runner 3 $10.2 (cum. $39.7	2. 🔺 Bilal: A New Kind of Hero  $278k on 300 screens NEW
3. 🔺 Winchester $9.2  NEW	3. 🔺 The Insult $118k on 36 screens (cum. $237k)
4. The Greatest Showman $7.8 (cum. $137.4) REVIEW | ANOTHER HIT MUSICAL	4. 🔺  A Fantastic Woman $70k on 5 screens NEW CAPSULE | REVIEW
5. Hostiles $5.5 (cum. $21.2)	5.Mary and the Witches Flower $57k on 30 screens (cum. $1.8)

Jumanji and The Greatest Showman continue to have incredible staying power in their 7th weeks, the former regaining its #1 berth and Showman holding tight at four...

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Del Toro's last stop before Oscar

by Nathaniel R

Last night Guillermo del Toro took his expected win at the Directors Guild Awards. Next stop: the 90th Academy Awards where he's also expected to claim his trophy. No one else in the Best Director field has enough momentum or goodwill to upset him, particularly given that the DGA prize is historically super predictive of the eventual Oscar win. They only seem to stray when they're making a "statement"...

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Uma Speaks Out

by Nathaniel R

Uma Thurman photographed by Damon Winter for the New York Times

"This is Why Uma Thurman is Angry" is the weekend's must-read. The movie star has been suggesting that she had a rage boiling up inside her for months now. She has now added her voice to the chorus of women accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Though she spares us the sickening details this sharply written editorial by Maureen Dowd, who spent two nights talking to Uma, suggests plenty. Surprisingly it's more damning, in a curious and, for this particular season, atypical way, of her chief collaborator Quentin Tarantino with whom she had enjoyed a long and creative relationship.

I had really always felt a connection to the greater good in my work with Quentin and most of what I allowed to happen to me and what I participated in was kind of like a horrible mud wrestle with a very angry brother. But at least I had some say, you know?

The account of their strained relationship after Weinstein's misconduct and their falling out over a dangerous accident (warning the video is very upsetting) on the set of Kill Bill feel emotionally brutal.

The Bride had more names to cross of her list. 

RPDR All Stars 3: E2 - Divas Live!

by Chris Feil

After a phenomenal premiere last week, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars retuned with a nod to it’s new VH1 home for a lipsync tribute to VH1 Divas Live.

For the children who may not remember this landmark televised event of living legends sharing a stage and its subsequent installments, this was the thunderdome of vocal runs and balladry. Some helpful context: last week Aja’s jawdropping performance snuck up on formiddable competition and Céline-d a stage of Aretha’s and Mariah’s. Morgan McMichaels was Carole King and didn’t stick around. Valentina Whitney Houston-d because everyone wondered why she wasn’t there.

Seriously VH1, it’s the 20th Anniversary of the first Divas Live. Be good to us and start a revival. And true to Divas Live, this episode delivered as much on personality as it did performance.

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