Manuel here to help you sort out your actressexual film calendar with some key release dates. The following list is prompted by the news that Sandra Bullock’s political drama, Our Brand is Crisis is set for an October release date. Based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, the film was written by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and was directed by David Gordon Green and features TFE favorite Ann Dowd in the all star ensemble.
With that, our growing list of “Fall films featuring a recent Best Actress Oscar winner that might find their way into awards season” ballooned to an even twelve and well, it's time to share. Yes, some of these will be longshots (word is not good on Dark Places, though hopefully some critics and voters remember Charlize's work in Mad Max Fury Road) but it’s exhilarating to see so many juicy and high profile actress-centered projects coming our way!
This screenshot from Carol lies. The first Todd Haynes movie in 8 years is opening on December 18th, not the 21st. Anyway the screenshot is pulled from new footage which is mixed in with other footage and interviews from Cannes from Film4 which you can see below
And because we're thinking about HOW VERY LONG IT IS UNTIL WE SEE CAROL here's the holiday calendar just to lament, as is our tradition, that early December is empty but late December is crowded (sigh).
I mean obviously Carol breaks all opening weekend box office records this weekend
23rd Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
CHRISTMAS
Two of the Hateful Eight: Demian Bichir & Kurt Russell
25th Point Break (Remake) Concussion (Will Smith in a drama about football brain injuries) The Hateful Eight (Tarantino's latest bloody western going the Django route) The Revenant (Inaritu's directs Leo DiCaprio & Tom Hardy) Snowden (Oliver Stone & Joseph Gordon-Levitt) Joy (David O. Russell & Jennifer Lawrence)
31st Nothing scheduled yet but this is traditionally the weekend wherein sometimes great movies are sacrificed to the whims of "Oscar qualifying" contracts and get no real support from their distributor
There are still several films with major stars and/or possible critical darling appeal without US release dates: the new version of MacBeth, Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert, Jean-Marc Vallée's Demolition, Luca Guadagino's A Bigger Splash, James Vanderbilt's Truth, the Lance Armstrong bio The Program and the Hank Williams bio I Saw the Light. Some of them will surely end up in December but we hope against hope that this year is light on the stupid "Oscar Qualifying" releases.
I have said this in jest many times – and will probably continue to joke about it again and again – but the truth of the matter is that I came dangerously close to having a severe nervous breakdown in the weeks that led up to the filming of Animals. For the uninitiated, Animals is a feature film that I wrote, acted in and produced. My close friend and Midwest compatriot, Collin Schiffli, directed the film about a homeless couple who struggle between the reality of their addiction to heroin (and one another) and the fantasy life that they imagine for themselves.
Although it’s not a “biopic” by any means, the film was definitely influenced by my own personal battles with the same demons as my characters. More...
• Did you know that Debbie Harry was up for the part of "Pris" in Blade Runner? [Kenneth in the (212)] • Will the general public love Crimson Peak as much as Stephen King does? [Cinemablend] • Which SXSW movie buzz got you excited. I'm partial to the response to this Tab Hunter Confidential documentary, mostly because he starred with Natalie Wood so many times [The Playlist] • Have you seen the list of SXSW winners? [SXSW] • Have you heard Stephen Sondheim's comments on Lady Gaga's Sound of Music Oscars performance? [THR]
• Do you think Disney will just put down permanent roots in mid March for Princess movies? Next up: Beauty & the Beast [Variety] • Are you excited that Sarah Polley will be doing the next remake of the oft remade Little Women? [Guardian] • Have you been keeping up with all things Madonna this publicity round for Rebel Heart. So many stars, interviews, appearances, plus Ellen DeGeneres all week. Exhausting [Boy Culture] • Isn't it weird how cinema is so much less horny than it was decades ago, 1976 to be precise? [NSFW -Deep Dish] • Did you know that The Sound of Music is coming back to movie theaters a month from now? That 50th Anniversary celebration just keeps on chugging along [Playbill] • Which of Netflix's arrivals and departure's this next month have you cheering and weeping? Maybe we should do A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night for HMWYBS? [Dissolve] • Were you aware that Timothy, one of the very best online film critics (this is why we recruited him!) is offering to review any movie of your choosing for a donation to the American Cancer Society? I just requested mine. [Antagony & Ecstasy]
• Finally, have you seen this supercut of actors waking up from nightmares? [Hat Tip: John August]
It's such a movie trope but does it happen this way in real life. I've woken up like "noooo!" from an upsetting dream but generally more mumbled lethargically than the bolt upright wail. You?
Is there any hope that summer action/comedy hopeful, Hot Pursuit, can be good? Reese & Sofia shared each others posters on social media the other day and it was endearing, albeit in a corporate mandated way. More...
Saturday, July 25, 2015 at 6:01PM 
