The Links of Grindelwald

• Feedspot This is nice. The Film Experience has been listed as one of the top 40 movie podcasts.
• AV Club the Random Roles series grills Sarah Jessica Parker about her defining roles
• THR goes deep on The Favourite's power plays
• Rotten Tomatoes Ouch. Reviews for Fantastic Beasts 2 are brutal
• Pop Sugar the casting of Nagini in Fantastic Beasts was controversial but here's where you've seen the actress before
• Stephen Colbert Jude Law discuss fan nicknames for Dumbledore. Very cute

• Awards Daily Rob Marshall "wanted to bring a gift of hope into this climate" with Mary Poppins Returns
• /Film the effort to save Filmstruck has now gotten some big name directors behind it
• The Playlist opinions are divided in Hollywood about whether Netflix's theatrical play with Roma is playing by the rules or a con
• Variety ...speaking of. Italy is cracking down on streaming service with new laws about theatrical windows
• Film School Rejects Kiersey Clemons (Hearts Beat Loud) lines up a biopic which could take her career to the next level
• Coming Soon the Jack Reacher franchise is dead for now. They hope to reboot in TV series form with an actor who is more faithful to the character (who is 6'5"... nearly a full foot taller than Tom Cruise!)

Today's Must Read
• Critics Notebook "The End of Endings" I bow to this great piece. And I worry like ∞

Stage Diversions
• EW Tom Hiddleston will star in a revival of Harold Pinter's 70s classic Betrayal in the West End in the spring
• Playbill Caroline or Change returns to NYC at the Astoria Performing Arts Center next summer. I saw their production of Follies last season and it was really strong so I have high hopes that they'll do this great musical justice. I still think if they ever make this into a movie, whoever plays Caroline will win the Oscar. 
• Playbill Broadway grosses for the week: New shows Network with Bryan Cranston and Tatiana Maslany and To Kill a Mockingbird with Jeff Daniels are already hits, playing to 100% capacity. The emptiest houses are unfortunately for the Go-Gos musical Head Over Heels (which we loved but which has been struggling to find its audience). Head Over Heels will be one of the Thanksgiving performances at the Macy's Day Parade so we'll see if that helps get them through the holidays. 

Homecoming: Season 1

By Spencer Coile 

With the recent wave of bona fide movie stars making their way to television, it should come as no surprise that someone as prolific as Julia Roberts would do the same. Her extensive career has proven time and again that she can master multiple genres, complex characters, and still be the best part of any ensemble (looking at you, August: Osage County).

That is what makes her performance in Homecoming, the latest Amazon Prime series from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, all the more exciting. Based on the popular podcast that came before it, Roberts takes on the role of Heidi Bergman, previously played by Catherine Keener. Working for the Homecoming Transitional Support Center, Heidi’s job is to assimilate soldiers back into civilian life. However, unease and intrigue begins to set in, as Heidi soon realizes that her role is more sinister than she had initially thought...

Click to read more ...

Watch at Home: The Children Act, The Rider, Puzzle

What's newly available for home viewing this week? 

DVD/Blu-Ray
• Alpha - Kodi Smith-McPhee (The Road, X-Men Apocalypse) stars in this prehistoric adventure film about a boy and his wolf friend
• Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings -Marc Chao reprises his popular Detective Dee role. The previous title started with "Young Detective Dee" but I guess now that Chao is 34 they feel "Young" is pushing it? The previous film was ... bonkers. 
• Juliet, Naked  -Rose Byrne & Ethan Hawke star in this well-reviewed romcom
• The Meg -the campy giant-shark flick was a sleeper hit
• Mile 22 -Another gun-loving actioner from Peter Berg & Mark Wahlberg
• Puzzle - Two of our most reliable but underappreciated screen actors Kelly Macdonald and Irffan Khan star in this story about a woman who discovers a passion for solving puzzles

New iTunes 99¢ Deals
• Death of Stalin -Armando Iannucci (of In the Loop and Veep fame) is back with another political comedy. This one was up for Best British Independent Film Awards last year but released in the US this year.
• The Rider  -Chinese director Chloé Zhao made one of the most celebrated debut films of the past two years. It was up for Indie Spirit prizes last year and is nominated for Best Film this year (when it was released) at the Gothams.
• Diner -Barry Levinson's beloved 1982 debut was a Golden Globe Best Picture nominee and an Oscar nominee for Best Screenplay in its time. The cast is a who's who of then rising stars: Ellen Barkin, Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, and Paul Reiser.

-What do they call you? Your Highness? Your Excellency? Your Honourable Something?
-In court it's "My Lady"

Brand New Streaming
• The Children Act -Amazon Prime has the Emma Thompson film about a no-nonsense judge whose marriage is faltering while she's working on a case involving a teenager (Fionn Whitehead) who refuses a blood transfusion that could save his life.
• Green Room - Netflix is streaming this brutal neo-nazi thriller from summer 2016 starring the late Anton Yelchin and Sir Patrick Stewart.

Why does everyone want to talk about Chris Pine's penis?

Guest article from Anna from Defiant Success

Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September, film critics who had seen David Mackenzie’s Outlaw King were all abuzz on Twitter. The one scene they were very vocal about: star Chris Pine going full frontal. Following the social media explosion, Pine expressed his discomfort not at filming the scene but rather at how it was receiving more attention than the rest of the movie. (“There’s so much beheading in this. And yet people wanna talk about my penis.”) Subsequent interviews had Pine talking about how there’s a double standard in Hollywood towards performers going full frontal for their work; men receive a lot of press for whipping it out but when women bare it all for the camera, it’s barely noteworthy. In all honestly, Pine isn’t wrong in the slightest.

Mind you, there have been male frontal nudity scenes for decades -- at least for as long as the MPAA rating system has been in existence...

Click to read more ...

Watch at Home: Latin History, Ernest & Celestine, Christopher Robin, BlacKkKlansman

Heads up on what's newly available to you this week. Links go to previous coverage / reviews here at TFE.

DVD/Blu-Ray
• Bel Canto -Julianne Moore as an opera singer. It was barely released
• BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee's best in ages. We think it might be competitive for Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing nominations. Do you?
• Christopher Robin - Ewan McGregor stars as the boy all grown up revisited by Pooh, Tigger, and the Hundred Acre Woods gang.
• Incredibles 2 - The year's fourth biggest hit globally with 1.2 billion in the bank
• Loving Pablo - Penelope Cruz & Javier Bardem star in this drama about a journalist and a drug lord.
• Papillon - Rami Malek and Charlie Hunnam remake the Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen prison drama
• Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood - a salacious documentary about a man who allegedly secured same-sex sex for the movie stars of Old Hollywood.

iTunes 99¢ Deals
• Tomb Raider -Alicia Vikander takes over as Lara Croft. We missed this in theaters and no one seemed to care at the time. 'Is it worth 99¢?' he asked any of you that did.
• Critically Acclaimed Animation - 99¢ deals this week on a bunch of underseen nominees for Best Animated Feature: The Secret of Kells, Ernest & Celestine, A Cat in Paris, and Chico & Rita as well as smaller foreign titles that weren't nominated but were well regarded including Wrinkles and The Girl Without Hands

Brand New Streaming This Week
• Into the Forest (Netflix) a forgotten 2015 sci-fi movie with Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood as sisters trying to survive a looming apocalypse
• Latin History for Morons (Netflix) John Leguizamo's fourth solo Broadway outing (after Freak, Sexaholic, and Ghetto Klown) brought him his first Tony Award after two previous nominations. His first two acclaimed Off Broadway solo shows Mambo Mouth and Spic-O-Rama definitely led to boosts in his film/tv career. Writing talent is so handy for the actors that have it. When people aren't giving you great material, write your own vehicle!

I put on my best dad hat and I go to him and I say buddy, honey, I'm sorry but life is gonna fuck you sometimes. It just is.  And you're going to have to... I don't know, just keep changing positions until it feels good somehow. 

ICYMI
• November on Netflix
• November on Prime