SXSW: Andrea Riseborough Shines in ‘To Leslie’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It's an unwritten rule that every festival must include at least one movie starring Andrea Riseborough, sometimes as many as four (that was Sundance 2018). While I’ll note that I haven’t seen one of her more recent entries – Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor – most of her turns in the past few years have been very subdued in lackluster films like Nancy, Luxor, and Here Before. I fondly remember her standout performances even with minimal roles in Birdman and The Death of Stalin, and I’m pleased to report that her latest effort, To Leslie, gives her a superb platform again in a leading part…

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Review: "Possessor" is a true provocation

by Tony Ruggio

A worm-infested apple doesn’t fall far from a rotting tree. In only his second feature film, baby Brandon Cronenberg proves he’s everything his father David was in his heyday: stylish, provocative, and interested in more than the gore and sleazy depravity that often grab headlines, although he’s clearly interested in those as well. Set in an alternate techno-horror 2008 of corporate espionage, where agents like Tasya (Andrea Riseborough) use brain-implant technology to “possess” other human beings for carrying out assassinations, Possessor is possibly the most graphic film made since Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist. Here it’s not so much what happens, but how it happens, how it’s framed on screen via some truly horrific and terrific practical effects.

When we meet Tasya, she’s at the top of her game yet beginning to slip. As Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character puts it, “the older you get, the harder it gets”...

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The Greatest Linkman

• Gurus of Gold our soon-to-be very outdated Golden Globe predix and current Oscar rankings
• Globe Predictions ...mine in full which our soon to be very embarrassing. It's tonight, kids!
• Slate as ever, the very long Movie Club is a great read. It begins, appropriately enough with Thanos's finger snap in Avengers Infinity War
• Irish Times terrific outspoken interview with Keira Knightley on Colette, Weinstein, and her public falling out with John Carney on Begin Again

• i09 Good news for people who loved Leonardo Nam in Westworld (like me!), he's been cast in a big role in the new Swamp Thing series
• AV Club Danny DeVito joins the Jumanji sequel
• My New Plaid Pants really loves Andrea Riseborough in Nancy

OffScreen
• Variety Interest report on album sales this year. The Greatest Showman (the only album to sell over 1 million copies in this streaming world where people rarely buy anymore) and A Star is Born are the top sellers.
• NYT 1 woman, 12 months, 52 places -- such a cool project and a good read
• Borowitz Report makes a funny about Nancy Pelosi avoiding "the middleman" to get the government working
• Playbill Anthony Ramos (A Star is Born) and Jasmine Cephas Jones (Broadway's Hamilton) are now engaged

List-Mania
• Boy Culture top 20 movies and performances. Some surprise picks
• Awards Daily Joey's top ten TV list

Tweetweek: Hereditary and Wonder Woman '84

the most successful people i’ve met:

1. put others first
2. dress for success
3. collect vinyl
4. don’t believe in accidents
5. treat service industry workers well
6. will have the creamed spinach
7. should have said, “Therese, wait”
8. are not ugly people, Harge
9. like the hat https://t.co/MdvYjlMjY4

— Netflix Film (@NetflixFilm) June 14, 2018

After the jump woman of a 1000 faces, all the funny reactions to Hereditary, Wonder Woman 1984, and more... 

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The Planet of the Links

Pull it together, Nathaniel! There is so much showbiz news of late that we've been buried in avalanche of it. How to stop and collect the linkage? So herewith a looooong list of links in a vain attempt to catch up or but by the time you've read it we'll surely have missed another 20 stories in addition to those that already slipped by in the past two weeks. What I'm saying is "too many things too many things too many things" 

So read on and click away for The Avengers: Infinity War, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jessica Chastain, Big Little Lies paydays, Sundance buzz, and much much more. Please to enjoy or at least peruse...

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