Talented Mr Linky

Must Reads
The New Yorker an evocative thoughtful profile of Mike Mills and 20th Century Women
The Muse Rich Juzwiak on the year in overrated pop culture, starting with Manchester by the Sea. ("A Masterpiece." "It's not tho")
The Metrograph Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy (Carol) reflects on Patricia Highsmith's dislike of the screen adaptations of her work - Metrograph is showing a handful of them his month. (Finally my chance to see Purple Noon on a big screen.)

Films which take place in 2017, Hayao Miyazaki's non-retirement retirement, Aquaman stunts, Broadway divas, and Postcards from the Edge after the jump...

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Fisher & Reynolds HBO Doc Arrives This Week!

Chris here, still mourning the loss of our beloved Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. In the midst of all the sad news of their passing was the reminder of their upcoming HBO documentary Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which had kicked around the 2016 festival circuit. Well, HBO isn't waiting until the originally scheduled March debut date to let us say our final goodbyes to the two legends! The doc will now debut this Saturday, January 7 at 8PM.

The film will give us an up-close look at mother and daughter and likely make us feel every last emotion we have. Sadness aside, what a rare treat to celebrate both stars and their lasting bond.

2016's Box Office Scorecard. Big & Minor Hits (Some Flops due to Budget)

Each day for the past two weeks we've been looking back on the year that was from different angles. Today, the biggest hits of 2016 in two different categories (franchise vs original).

It will surprise no one that the year's biggest hits continue to prove Hollywood right (sigh) in pursuing nothing but animated and superhero pictures and franchisable intellectual property and neglecting the nurturing of movies for adults. On the bright side quality pictures do occassionally break through audience resistance to original concepts and voices, often with the help of awards at year's end. So next time you hear people complain about awards season, remind them that we might never get movies made for adults if there weren't shiny gold statues to chase.

How many of these 35 pictures have you seen and which will you hit next? 

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Blind Poster

Manuel here starting off the year with a lot of questions. They are in reaction to this upcoming film titled Blind. It stars, as you'll see in the poster below, Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore. Who knew that people were clamoring for a reteaming of the stars of The Juror (aka the film that, alongside Striptease earned Ms. Moore a Razzie Award way back she was an undisputed movie star whose flops encouraged scorn and snickering all around Hollywood).

I ran across the poster and had to look up the film's synopsis. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint...

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Celebrate the 100 Oldest Living Oscar Nominees & Winners

The new updated list is now located here