Podcast Special: Lots and Lots of Reader Questions Answered

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl answer your questions this week

On this special edition of the podcast we ONLY answer reader questions. As many as we could get to in an hour. We had soooo much fun doing this one so we hope you enjoy, and thank you for the diversion.

Index (60 minutes)
00:01 Who will win SAG's Supporting Actress + fixing category fraud?
06:50 Original screenplay nominations + buying DVDs
12:00 Characters wardrobe, female directors, and films that define 2018
22:30 "Shallow" + "If you saw this... than why?" + replacing Oscar lists
31:35 Nominee presentations + Oscar Hosting 
35:45 Ben is Back and Roma questions
41:40 Nomination balloting procedures + Fav scenes of the year
52:00 Mandatory Best Actress diversion
57:00 Changing opinions on previous top 10 lists?

Further Reading / References
• Nadine Labaki (Capernaum) interview
• Smackdown of 1943
• Oscar Charts
• Kyle Buchanan on the hostless Oscars article

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? 

Special Episode: Reader Questions!

Nicole Kidman Rules the Box Office

Nicole Kidman has the top two movies in the nation today, with the surprise hit The Upside and the endless hit Aquaman. She's also got Destroyer in the top ten platform films of the moment. In short she never stops working and sometimes audiences come out for it. Listen, you could argue that she has nothing to do with the success of Aquaman or The Upside but why would you want to? Come live in our better world where the public lines up in droves and says "one for the new Nicole Kidman, please!".

More box office commentary after the jump...

Weekend Box Office (Estimates) (January 11th-13th)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1 The Upside $20.3 on 3080 screens *NEW*	1 🔺 Free Solo $812k on 154 screens (cum. $12.3)  Review ❤️

2 Aquaman   $17.3 on 3863 screens (cum. $287.9) Review, Podcast	2 🔺 Uri: The Surgical Strike $631k on 101 screens *NEW*

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Podcast: Ben is Back, Beale Street, Vice, and those pesky SAG nods

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl welcome special guest Alfred Soto to talk new films & SAG fallout

Index (61 minutes)
00:01 SAG nomination leftover feelings
05:00 None of us liked Vice and the reviews are mixed. We still think it's an awards contender so we discuss the question of latebreakers in each awards season. 
11:45 Randomness: Ethan Hawke, Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Florida Film Critics Circle
20:40 Ben is Back starring Lucas Hedges (with sidebars of Boy Erased and Beautiful Boy)
33:40 If Beale Street Could Talk
45:00 Reader Q: A fine element of a buzzy movie that's not being talked up
49:17 Reader Q: Is Best Actress actually set already?
51:00 Reader Q: If there wasn't Category Fraud this year what would be happening in Supporting Actress?
53:30 Reader Q: Reassign an Oscar win - what's the cascading effect?
59:40 Wrap up

Further Reading / References
• Murtada's If Beale Street Review
• Nathaniel's If Beale Street Quick Take
• Alfred's controversial review of Roma
• Alfred's Florida Film Critics ballot
• Best Actress Race 

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? 

Beale St, Ben is Back, Vice

This week in unfortunate headlines...

Since we were just talking about Ben is Back...

Thanks to Jazz (from Awards Daily) for sharing this with us. It's from the Post Journal of Jamestown. Do you think someone got fired? 

Review: Ben is Back

by Eric Blume

In writer-director Peter Hedges’ new film Ben is Back, Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges perform a heart-rending duet.  They’re so locked into their characters, with their lived-in emotions so close to the skin, that they make the film soar.

Young Ben (Hedges) returns home for Christmas, 77 days clean from sober living from his drug addiction, to the joy and hope of his mom (Roberts), and the skepticism of his family.  While the plot is straightforward, Peter Hedges takes the peace out of the domestic setting in the second half of the film, where he has his two main characters on the road facing various elements from Ben’s past...

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