Soundtracking: FYC 5 Original Song Outliers

by Chris Feil

In lieu of a regular deep dive into the soundtrack of one film, Soundtracking is indulging in some For Your Consideration tracks before the season narrows down to a few contenders. Naturally, all of the talk for original songs this season has been gobbled up by A Star Is Born with some hopes being thrown towards the likes of Mary Poppins Returns, Black Panther, and even Radiohead's Thom Yorke for Suspiria. I'll unpack the field once Oscar reveals its shortlist on December 17 (remember that quiet news item that the Academy will be announcing song and score shortlists all at once along with such categories as visual effects?).

But the outsiders deserve some love too, so allow me to champion a few solid tracks...

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What did you see this weekend?

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Feb 9th-11th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 Fifty Shades Freed $38.8 NEW REVIEW	1. 🔺 La Boda de Valentina $1.1 on 331 screens NEW
2. 🔺 Peter Rabbit $25 NEW	2. 🔺 Pad Man  $760k on 152 screens NEW
3. 🔺 The 15:17 To Paris $12.6  NEW	3. 🔺 Oscar Nominated Short Films $615k on 180 screens NEW
4. Jumanji $9.8 (cum. $365.6)	4. 🔺  A Fantastic Woman $121k on 20 screens (cum. $232k) CAPSULE | REVIEW
5. The Greatest Showman $6.4 (cum. $146.5) REVIEW | ANOTHER HIT MUSICAL	5. 🔺 The Insult $109k on 50 screens (cum. $454k)

Fifty Shades Freed  continued its franchise's box office power by opening at #1 again. This weekend's bow also brought the franchise's total box office haul over the billion dollar mark. That's a lot of green for something barely blue...

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Review: Fifty Shades Freed

by Chris Feil

Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele’s romantic tale of trust and submission comes to a close with Fifty Shades Freed. Opening on their wedding ceremony, the couple still has quite a bit to reconcile before they truly land the fairy tale ending the genre promises. As Anastasia’s career flourishes, her stalker and former boss reemerges to threaten their relationship and the Grey family as well.

Things remain silly. There’s more sex this time around but its handily the least titillating of the three films by good margin. There are car chases, sudden violent attacks, a kidnapping plot, and of course lots of pseudo-kinky coitus to be seen, because the series is nothing if not delightfully ludicrous. This time however is a more snoozy bit of outlandish.

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