The Woman from U.N.C.L.E.

Murtada here to praise the images released so far from next weekend's wide release The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are lookers and judging from the trailer seem to be having fun. It’s Alicia Vikander’s big year and of course she’ll be entertaining. However the most exciting proposition the marketing has offered so far is Elizabeth Debicki as the villain. And her gorgeous costumes.

Debicki is the big baddie of the movie. Her name is Victoria Vinciguerra, the mastermind behind the criminal organization that our spies must stop before she throws the world into calamity. [More...]

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Alexander/Alexandra

From the "We Nearly Forgot To Mention It And What Is Wrong With Us" Folder:
Alexander Skarsgård, currently untethered to a particular role/screen persona post-True Blood, came to the premiere of The Diary of a Teenage Girl (opening tomorrow) in drag. For reasons we know not...

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Best Shot - The Final Episodes of the Season

Some News!
A few weeks ago we asked your opinion on changing up Hit Me With Your Best Shot into a year round but non-weekly feature -- to better hit movies when they're available outside the summer time. After careful consideration, we're going to experiment with the current Season 6 by extending it irregularly through October. We simply can't do it during the four intense Oscar months (November-February) as much as we'd like to... time being just way too tight. But for Season 7 I think we'll try biweekly from March through October of 2016. How about that? 

NEXT UP...

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)
*Monday Night Special September 7th*
Before the official kick off of fall prestige season (i.e. the Venice/Toronto/Telluride madness) let's revisit the most exciting film of Summer 2015 as an FYC for Oscar voters who don't often think "hey how about that sci-fi action franchise?" while voting. George Miller's long-in-production return to his post-apocalyptic desert world turned out better than anyone could have possibly expected, i.e. better than any of its predecessors with more adrenaline fueled scenes than 90% of what passes for "action" of late and fine performances from Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy as Imperator Furiosa and Mad Max.  [Digital Copies release: August 11th | BluRay/DVD release: September 1st]

We'll do two more titles in October and call Season Six a wrap!

"Junebug" is more than just Amy Adams

Lynn Lee revisiting Junebug, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this week…

Junebug is best known as the film that launched Amy Adams’ into the A list, and deservedly so.  Her wonderfully layered portrayal of the bright-eyed, meerkat-loving Ashley, should have taken home the supporting actress Oscar for 2005 (with apologies to Rachel Weisz).  But for a change let's talk about the best scene in the movie, in which another, more elusive character suddenly, if fleetingly, comes into focus. 

I’m referring to the scene in which George (the always-welcome, perennially undervalued Alessandro Nivola), the returning native who’s brought his new wife Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) to visit his small North Carolina hometown, attends a church social with his family.  By this point, Madeleine’s outsider status has already been made starkly clear: a long-limbed, graceful, effortlessly stylish and posh-accented art dealer whom George met and married in the big city, she stands out without even trying, like a greyhound among border collies.  George’s status, on the other hand, is more ambiguous. 

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HBO’s LGBT History: Normal (2003)

Manuel is working his way through all the LGBT-themed HBO productions...

Last week we looked at Moisés Kaufman’s adaptation of his own play, The Laramie Project, based on the aftermath of the Matthew Shepard murder in the small town of Laramie, Wyoming. I raved about Laura Linney’s bit scene, continuing an unexpected but welcome line of actressy write-ups that this project has allowed. You see back when I envisioned this project, I worried we’d be stuck talking solely about gay men-driven stories and male actors for months, but looking back, it turns out we’ve talked about Stockard Channing, Lily Tomlin, Glenn Close, Angelina Jolie, Vanessa Redgrave and Michelle Williams! Not too shabby considering gay men have been at the center of more than half the titles we’ve looked at. This week, we continue to add another acting goddess to our list as we reach our first main trans storyline in an HBO production in Jane Anderson’s Normal.

More after the jump...

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