The Furniture: Beatriz at Dinner in a Tacky Muted Mansion

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Beatriz at Dinner is a film of climaxes, moments of outrage that burst through the veneer of respectability cultivated by the rich and amoral. Beatriz (Salma Hayek), overwhelmed with disgust at a picture of Doug (John Lithgow) and the body of a recently-murdered rhinoceros, throws his phone at him and storms out. Laughing at her principles, he looks at his hosts and asks, “Does she get out much?”

This, of course, is a central irony of Miguel Arteta and Mike White’s tightly-wound send-up of American wealth. Doug is the CEO of Rife Worldwide, an internationally-reviled real estate firm. He’s a Trumpian nightmare of toxic masculinity and unbridled capitalism, breaking laws and displacing communities as a best business practice. And so when he asks this question, we are reminded that his life is spent constructing hideous monuments to tackiness that replicate a precise vision of high-end living no matter the context...

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5 Takeaways from the Success of "It"

By Spencer Coile 

After two short weeks and hundreds of millions of dollars later, It is nothing short of a 2017 phenomenon. I work part-time at a movie theater, and have never witnessed anything quite like It. For instance, in its first weekend alone, I worked through seventeen showings of It, where all seventeen sold out -- the last show selling out so quickly, there was still a line outside and wrapped around the building. And my little theater in Indiana is no outlier: Muschietti's dance with a devilish clown has already coughed up $218 million in its first two weeks (earning back its entire budget in one day). And considering the film's genre and its R-rating, this is wholly unprecedented.  

This has led many (myself included) to ask: what did Muschietti and the entire production team for It do right?

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Emmy Night: Winners List, Haphazard Notes, Political Jabs

By Nathaniel R

The BIG LITTLE LIES cast were first presenters setting the tone for a night devoted to them essentially

8:00 Stephen Colbert managed to work lots of political commentary and Trump jabs into his opening song which hits peak jab with the "even treason's better on TV" lyric with the stars of The Americans giving brief cameo. The also Trump centric post-song monologue is good and the stars are eating it up. 

8:16 Colbert actually saves the best joke for last with a surprise cameo by Sean Spicer (yes, actually Sean Spicer with his stand) who he introduces as Melissa McCarthy. Even McCarthy is shook. 

8:18 Nice touch to have an ensemble as joyfully in synch as Big Little Lies do a supporting category. Lithgow wins for playing Churchill. That also worked for Albert Finney 15 years ago. Oldman is also going to win the Oscar playing Churchill later this year. It's one of those roles... like Effie White or Mama Rose. And, well, Winston Churchill...

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TIFF: Gerwig's Lovely "Lady Bird"

by Chris Feil

One of the most heartening things about Greta Gerwig’s directorial arrival Lady Bird is how naturally it feels like an extension of her previous acting work. The film is modest, unpretentious in its intelligent character study of a high school senior facing the near-adulthood pressures of the end of high school and living in a poor family. Christine, redubbing herself Lady Bird, is just at the beginning of her own reinvention and the other one that the world has waiting for her whether she likes it or not.

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Difficult People S3 E5-6: Golden Toilets, Jane Krakowski, and Gay Get Out

Chris and Spencer are back for more Difficult People! In "Cindarestylox," Marilyn asks Julie to freeze her eggs, Julie indulges in some Botox (to fit on a golden toilet seat, naturally), and Billy teaches an acting class for adolescents. 

CHRIS: The Ramble has been transformed into an outdoor yoga studio?! Is nothing sacred anymore!

SPENCER: And yet that Leather Queen who climbs out of the tree still wages the war against the women! Love that whole bit where people are telling our pal Julie to smile. Now that is real. 

C: So Billy starts teaching acting classes to help pay for his Madonna standup tickets. Strangely, Madonna as a standup comic was a joke that didn't work for me - watch any interview with her and she's an excellent shadestress! She'd make a decent insult comic.

S: Do you remember that one short clip where a fan brought her flowers and she mocked him for it? I mean… the shade is insurmountable, but it is equally hilarious... 

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