Year in Review: Style Icons of the Big Screen

by Cláudio Alves

As an obsessive list-maker, to write a top ten for The Film Experience's Year in Review was more of a dream come true than a challenge. As we're in festive times, I decided to give myself a gift, by fusing one obsession with another. Cinema, costume design and list-making all consumed my Christmas Eve afternoon in a haze of sartorial glory. Looking back at the movies of 2019, from opulent period pieces to humble contemporary dramas, I went in search of the year's greatest style icons. Not those of real life, obviously, but the ones who graced the silver screen.

In decades to come, we may look at them as we now look at Darth Vader's sinister countenance or Holly Golightly's Givenchy clad figure. Who knows? More than predicting future icon-status, this is a list of personal favorites, though.

Without further ado, let's celebrate 2019's style icons, but first, some honorary mentions…

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"Little" is a hit but "Shazam!" stays on top

What did you see over the weekend? We waited until Monday night to get the full receipts on the arthouse releases (which often report late). Both Shazam! and The Mustang (still expanding) stayed on top in their second and fifth weekend respectively. It was a crowded weekend... well, overcrowded actually, since only the new comedy Little managed to make much of a box office impression of the 17 (gulp) new releases. Sadly Laika, our current favourite animation studio, had trouble. Missing Link proved their weakest opening by far with only $5.8 million (they generally manage about $14 million on opening weekends).

Here's the top ten in both wide and platform titles...

Weekend Box Office (Actuals) April 12th-14th  🔺 = new or expanded theater counts
W I D E	PLATFORM / LIMITED
1 Shazam!  $24.4 on 4306 screens (cum. $94.2)	1 🔺 The Mustang $773k on 527 screens (cum. $3.1)

2 🔺 Little  $15.4 on 2667 screens *NEW*	2 🔺  Amazing Grace $349k on 58 screens (cum. $589k)

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Posterized: Regina Hall, finally a star

by Nathaniel R

With the new comedy Little opening today in theaters and last year's beloved indie Support the Girls still fresh in the memory, let's talk Regina Hall.

The talented 48 year-old actress has been kicking around in the movies and (occasionally) on television for 20 years now, but it's only very recently that she's come into full stardom. Or, to put it another way, it's only very recently that Hollywood has realized that she's a star. Usually with slow-burn stardom, the charisma and talent were there all along but it takes a big hit movie, or a breakthrough signature part, or the cumulation of multiple moderate hits for that too happen. 

It's a little of all of those with Regina Hall who spent the first decade of her career mostly well-down the hiearchical cast lists of ensemble comedies and then finally began to crack leading roles. 

How many of her films have you seen? (I've included her two biggest television roles as well). Let's look at all the posters after the jump...

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