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

With the year's second quarter over, here's a listicle of noteworthy performances we'll eventually compare to what's to come. These are my personal favorites from screenings and releases from April 1st through June 30th (if the film hasn't opened in theaters yet, it's marked with an asterisk). Herewith the 17 best from the year's second quarter, divvied up into three categories. (If you'd like to group them with the women from the first quarter, that list is here). Did these actresses speak to you with their turns?

Disclaimer: Key actress-focused films I missed that I'll have to catch up with later were Beatriz at Dinner, Manifesto, A Quiet Passion and Rough Night. If you've seen them give their MVPs a shout-out.

6 LEADING ACTRESSES

 

Gal Gadot as "Diana" in Wonder Woman

Nicole Kidman as "Miss Martha" in The Beguiled...

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

THE YEAR'S FIRST HALF IS OVER! But rather than wait for this "halfway mark" for year in review listicles we started at the end of the 1st quarter so you'll have to combine those lists (movies / actresses / actors) with the highlights from your host's April through June screenings for a complete "halfway mark" take. Got it? Unlike many critics orgs and the Oscars, The Film Experience believes that moviegoing is a 12 month long activity and each month can hold worthy efforts.  Here are 4 or 5 highlights of what we've seen the past three months per Oscar category in alpha order. How will they measure up to what's still to come?

Key movies I regret missing this quarter: Beatriz at Dinner, Hero, Gifted, Manifesto, and Their Finest

PICTURE and/or DIRECTOR and/or SCREENPLAY
(i couldn't decide which to cut so this first grouped selection is 6 wide)

BABY DRIVER (Edgar Wright)
THE BIG SICK (Michael Showalter)
THE LOVERS (Azazel Jacobs)
LOST CITY OF Z (James Gray)
THE WEDDING PLAN (Rama Burshtein)
WONDER WOMAN (Patty Jenkins)

Lots more after the jump...

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Welcome to the Academy (2017 Invitee List)

The Academy continues its diversity push this year with a record 774 new invitations for membership including people from all over the world. The youngest this year is Elle Fanning and the oldest is Betty White. The list is 39% female this year and 30% people of color.

Chinese superstar screen partners Maggie Cheung & Tony Leung Chiu Wai are finally invited!We must also note that AMPAS's diversity push is also doubling as a major expansion. They're not just inviting differently (i.e. less white men and more women and people of color) but MORE in general. If all of the invitees accepted the invites from this year and last that's 1400ish new members in two years for an institution that previously kept its ranks steady around the 6,000 member mark. 

Everyone's gagging over Gal Gadot being invited but that's obvious. She's in a phenomenon sized hit at the moment and timing is everything -- see also Riz Ahmed whose career is also white hot at this very second and who is also invited... 

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YNMS: Detroit - Trailer #2

by Seán McGovern

Detroit could make Kathryn Bigelow's style definable. Both Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker tapped into a social, political and very American psyche of the moment. And unlike other filmmakers, hearing that Bigelow is to bring the 1967 Detroit riots to the screen seems absolutely appropriate. Bigelow has always had an eye for life teetering on a knife edge, of people on the fringes - be they wandering vampires, Soviet submariners or black market memory peddlers. Her two most recent films have cemented her as an auteur with a distinct vision but it's adjectives like tense, visceral or full-throated that define her. A director who has long appreciated genre pictures, it's thanks to her historic Oscar standing that her films now arrive with a sense of expectation.

A new trailer for Detroit has recently been released, doing what all good second trailers do: it tells us a little bit more, and hints to something different, both of which will be revealed after the jump...

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