Monday, November 14, 2016 at 12:30PM Chris here with something you may not be noticing at the movies lately. Whether they freak you out or make you giggle (or even a little of both), tentacles are so in right now. With the growing presence of squirmy appendages in world cinema and blockbusters, you'd think we'd get a Cthulhu franchise by now. Let's take a look at some of the examples:
Sunday, November 13, 2016 at 12:38PM 
We're back to weekly podcasts! This week Nick, Joe, and Nathaniel discuss two new Best Picture hopefuls and one bold remake
Index (43 minutes)
00:01 Arrival - thinky empathetic sci-fi just when we're starved for understanding in the real world + Amy Adams!
19:35 Slight spoilery territory on Arrival and comparing it to other movies
27:05 Cape Fear's 25th anniversary. One of our favorite Scorsese's.
33:30 Loving a quiet civil rights drama
41:11 Almost Christmas and goodbyes
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you?
Friday, November 11, 2016 at 8:48AM Just a reminder that three major titles open today
Elle
France's Oscar entry, directed by notorious provocateur Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Turkish Delight, Black Book, etcetera) features screen icon Isabelle Huppert in arguably the crowning role of her inimitable career as a video game designer chillingly obsessed with uncovering the identity of her rapist. Reviewed. Expect an Oscar nomination or (crossing fingers) two. Reviewed.
[Opens today in New York. Wednesday in Los Angeles]
Arrival
Denis Villeneuve's (Sicario, Enemy) awesome thinking person's sci-fi epic about a curiously immobile alien invasion. The aliens have arrived but what do they want hovering in 12 locations over our world? An expert linguist (Amy Adams, wonderful) is recruited to communicate with them in this superbly executed drama. Reviewed. It's also perfect for this moment for this movie.
Arrival opens this weekend. I can't imagine a better moment to go see a humanity affirming sci-fi movie about overcoming what divides us.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) November 11, 2016
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Ang Lee's technically experimental adaptation of the political novel is about a soldier on leave from war paraded for the nation as a war hero. Joe Alwyn (as Billy Lynn) is a compelling debut actor and the film has curio value from this normally great director but the high frame rate technique MUST die a quick death: it doesn't look like cinema at all but like a cheap poorly filmed stage production. More thoughts.
[Opens today in New York and Los Angeles]
Also Opening:
Wide: Almost Christmas a comedy starring Danny Glover, the Naomi Watts led thriller Shut-In; Limited: a 20th anniversary restoration of the lesbian classic The Watermelon Woman (NY only), three documentaries (Seasons, National Bird, The Anthropologist), and the Oscilloscope curiosity The Love Witch. Here's that trailer:
LOVE WITCH TRAILER from Anna Biller on Vimeo.
Monday, November 7, 2016 at 9:56PM 
Just a few days until Arrival opens. It's one of the year's best movies and a mainstream sci-fi grandiosity that deserves success so do not miss it. I watched it with anxious wonder, something like the expression Amy aces at peak moments within the film.
Psycho Beach Party (2000)Up next for the 42 year old Oscar-Darling: the miniseries Sharp Objects (quick name an Oscar-bait actresses who isn't doing a miniseries in 2017 -- they're everywhere!) and two reprisal roles with Lois Lane again (sigh) in Justice League and Giselle again (yay) in Disenchanted.
Do you remember the first time you ever saw Amy Adams onscreen? For me it was either flirty bitchy "Marvel Ann" in Psycho Beach Party (2000) or "Cousin Beth" on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But I first really paid attention and noted her name in Catch Me If You Can (2002).
Friday, September 16, 2016 at 2:51PM 
Nathaniel R reporting from TIFF. The festival is winding down now but my mind keeps drifting back to the Amy Adams double feature on day two. If there were gif walls featuring all of Amy Adams close-ups in both of her movies this year, they would accurately describe this critics innermost thoughts about the movies they came from. Read on and I'll elaborate (without spoilers) though we'll obviously revisit and go into more detail when both movies actually...ahem... arrive in mid November which is unofficially 'Amy Adams Month' according to distributors.
ARRIVAL (Dir. Denis Villeneuve, US)
Paramount Pictures. Opens on November 11th
In this gripping and sensationally crafted sci-fi drama, adapted from the short story "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, Amy Adams plays Dr. Louise Banks. Dr Banks is a prominent linguist who is recruited by the government to attempt to communicate with extra-terrestrials. They have arrived on Earth or, rather, are hovering above it in twelve space crafts each in a separate area of the world, appearing to do nothing at all. Will the world's fearful governments nuke the ships or can Dr Banks save the world (if it's even threatened?) by learning why they've come?
