What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office [ESTIMATES] Nov 1st-3rd 🔺 = New or Expanding / ★ = Recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / SPECIALTY TITLES
1 🔺  TERMINATOR DARK FATE  $29 *new*	1 🔺 PARASITE $2.6 on 461 screens (cum. $7.5) PODCAST ★
2 JOKER $13.9 (cum. $299.6) REVIEW	2 🔺 JOJO RABBIT $2.4 on 256 screens (cum. $4.2) TIFF WINNER ★
3 MALEFICENT 2 $12.1 (cum. $84.3)	3  HOUSEFULL 4 $463k on 315 screens (cum. $1.7)
4 🔺 HARRIET  $12 *new*	4 PAIN AND GLORY $348k on 111 screens (cum. $2.1) REVIEW, PODCAST ★
5 ADDAMS FAMILY $8.4 (cum. $85.2)	5 LINDA RONSTADT... $90k on 94 screens (cum. $3.9) REVIEW

The latest in a long line of attempts to keep the Terminator franchise going opened below expectations and will have trouble breaking even given its enormous budget. They shouldn't have messed with the mandatory ass shot! In other news Harriet performed above expectations which bodes well for Cynthia Erivo's Oscar campaign which had been losing some lustre after decent but hardly inspiring reviews for the film. Parasite continues to be a smash hit in limited release and is in a ton of markets now on 461 screens.  It'll be the second highest-grossing subtitled picture this year within a week (with only The Farewell left to conquer)

99 days til Oscar - let's get drunk

The number 99 always makes us think of that roadtrip sing-a-long "99 bottles of beer on the wall" which naturally leads to the question... what's the best booze-soaked performance of all time? 

In recent years our answer would totally be Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (2013) who justly careened right into her second Oscar. Screen drunks are actually rather commonly beloved by the Academy factoring into many Oscar-nominated roles but the list of winners is shorter. After the jump a (complete?) list of completely inebriated Oscar wins. How would you rank them? 

Click to read more ...

Streaming Roulette, Nov: The King Lives by Night

As is our practice we've selected a handful plus of new-to-streaming titles and frozen them at utterly random moments without cheating (whatever comes up comes up!). What should you queue up for NOVEMBER 2019 ? (★ means we definitely recommend catching) 

Let's get started...

-Meet me in the garden tomorrow

The Thief of Bagdad (1940) on Criterion Channel
This fantasy adventure based on The Arabian Knights won 3 Oscars in its year (Special Effects, Cinematography Color and Art Direction Color). Fill in those Oscar gaps! Weird trivia note: NONE of those categories it won had the standard 5 nominees. It took the Academy awhile to settle on the "five per category" rule that dominated the Oscars for decades. There were 14 films nominated for Special Effects that year -- the visual effects category in particular has had multiple strange incarnations and volatility. 

I'm going to ask you to deliver this message to France given your... familiarity with its recipient.

Click to read more ...

Best International Feature: New Rules, New Possibilities

by Cláudio Alves

Will the new rules booster Parasite's Oscar chances?

As we get closer to the peak of Awards Season, the Academy has been divulging new rules and approaches to their voting process. Most of the changes have to do with online accessibility to screeners, making it easier for the voters to have seen the films before sending in their ballots. One of the categories most affected by these changes is that of the recently renamed Best International Feature Oscar.

For one, the shortlist, which will be announced on December 16th, has been expanded from 9 to 10 films. Voters who want to help delineate this selection will have to watch at least 15 of the record-breaking 93 submitted features. Seven finalists will be selected by these voters, while the other three will be “saved” by a special committee.

That’s hardly different from the previous process. The relatively big change happens after the shortlist has been decided…

Click to read more ...

Could The King Be a Contender

by Jason Adams

It's a big day for Netflix's 2019 Oscar slate, with Martin Scorsese's The Irishman opening in eight theaters in New York (one of them being the famed Broadway theater the Belasco) and Los Angeles -- you can read my thoughts on the movie when it screened at NYFF right here. It's a great film, worthy of all the praise it's gotten and will continue to get. That Marty guy can direct a movie!

But if you're not near those eight theaters (or if you are, even) there's another choice from the streaming giant that I recommend you get your eyeballs on -- David Michôd's The King starring Timothee Chalamet has now hit their online service after its own brief theatrical window, and I suggest you find the biggest screen you can find for it...

Click to read more ...