Poster for "Call Me by Your Name"

by Murtada

Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino's already wildly acclaimed gay romantic drama, was just announced for TIFF. It will probably play NYFF, too, on its way to a limited release on November 24, the sweet Thanksgiving spot for Oscar hopeful movies. And now the gorgeous poster for one of our most anticipated films of the year, has been revealed. See it in all its glory (plus more news about the film) after the jump...

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"Being There" -- Essential Viewing For the Right Now

by Nathaniel R

Hal Ashby’s Being There (1979) is a fortune teller. And the future it foretells isn’t rosy. The classic film about a TV-loving cypher who Forrest Gumps his way into history is approaching its 40th anniversary, but its essential viewing for the right now.  Don't wait until 2019 to see it.

Among the film’s many queasy previews of life in the early 21st century is the proliferation of screens. Here that takes the shape of television, with Ashby frequent crosscutting to whatever is on the TV in a given scene. Though the content we see is recognizably dated, its intrusion is evergreen. 

Hidden within the prophecy of multiple screens replacing actual experience, is an even sharper notion of the screen as a mirror...

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C O N S I D E R - Actors of 2017, 2nd Qtr

With the year's second quarter over, we've begun listing highlights as you saw yesterday with Best Films and Technical Achievements. So here's a listicle of noteworthy male performances we'll eventually compare to what's to come and what came before (the best male performances of the first quarter are back here). These are my personal favorites from screenings and releases from April 1st through June 30th (though not all of these have opened in theaters yet - those that haven't are marked with an asterisk). Herewith the 17 best male performances from the year's second quarter, divvied up into three categories. Did these actors resonate with you? 

Disclaimer: Key male actor heavy movies I missed this quarter were Fate of the Furious, Free Fire, King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sleight,  and Their Finest. If you've seen them give their MVPs a shout-out.

5 LEADING ACTORS

 

Jon Bernthal as "Sam" in Sweet Virginia*

Ansel Elgort as "Baby" in Baby Driver...

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YNMS: "Stronger"

Chris here. Could this finally be Jake Gyllenhaal's Oscar year? Of course it's too early to call (and we won't jinx our adored Jake) but he's got a true life drama coming that's right in the Academy's wheelhouse: David Gordon Green's Stronger.

Gyllenhaal stars as Jeff Bauman, a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing that lost both legs and helped identify the assailants. The film charts his recovery and rehabilitation as he becomes the face of the survivors for the city of Boston and the world at large. True story, disability, big emotion - quite a few of Oscar's favorite pasttimes, and maybe a more mainstream play for Gyllenhaal. But how does the film look? Take a look at the first trailer and we'll run down the Yes No Maybe So after the jump...

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Emmy FYC: Justin Theroux in "The Leftovers"

For the next two weeks with Emmy nominating ballots in progress Team Experience will be sharing personal favorites. Here's Eric Blume...

When you talk about Justin Theroux, inevitably you turn to the subject of fairness.  On one level, is it fair to the rest of us mortals that Justin Theroux looks like this... 

Then again, it’s exactly because Justin Theroux looks like that that he is grossly undervalued.   Usually, if someone who looked like that was even just able to spell his own name, he would be fawned over.  But in the acting game, male beauty is rebuffed, and awards bodies tend to eschew acknowledgement if the male actor isn’t an everyman.

Part of the glory, ironically, of Theroux’s acting in HBO’s The Leftovers is that he so deeply inhabits the everyman, in the true sense of that term.  The trajectory for his character, Kevin, was of loving husband and father, trying to protect and save his family, as men do.  He couldn’t understand how to bring his family together, how to truly be vulnerable enough to connect.  And Theroux’s physical power was the perfect foil for his paralyzing inner fear...

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