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

Prime in November: Excalibur, It's a Wonderful Life, and Julia Roberts x 3

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share. No cheating.  What does Amazon Prime offer us for free viewing this month? Let's survey...

-Can I help you with something?
-Fuck, what was I gonna ask?

Homecoming Season 1 (2018)
Julia Roberts first TV series! She's about take a tour of 'the facilities' (MOST PRODUCTION DESIGN) in one long showy tracking shot. I have no idea what this show is about but I'm eager to watch it. Especially since it's only 1/2 an hour long.

[Laughter / Gasp / Sigh]

Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994)
Bonus points to anyone who knows exactly what the queens are reacting to in this scene...

Click to read more ...

Netflix in November: Doctor Strange, 16 Candles, Children of Men, etc...

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share!

Here's what's new on Netflix...

When you leave, you should forget me.

The English Patient (1996) won 9 Oscars. Nine! As much as that's a wonderful movie -- and my god it hurts to look at these two (Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in they're prime) they're so superhumanly gorgeous -- 9 is a lot. I'm glad Oscar has recently moved away from giving all the statues to one movie. It's been 10 years since we've had that kind of overkill (Slumdog Millionaire with 8)... and lately things have been winning closer to 3-5 which is more than enough for most movies, even the great ones...

Click to read more ...

99¢: Boogie Nights, First Reformed, Heathers, A History of Violence

Heads up on these great deals for four truly awesome movies on iTunes. iTunes deals expire quickly so if you've always wanted to see or revisit any of these they're only 99¢ this week.

• First Reformed - The nomination leader at the Gotham Awards and we still think Ethan Hawke could nab a Best Actor Oscar nomination for it. 
• Boogie Nights - The film that made Paul Thomas Anderson famous, and delivered Julianne Moore 'the foxiest bitch in the whole world' her first Oscar nomination (which she should've won). 
• A History of Violence - David Cronenberg's masterful adaptation of a graphic novel nabbed two Oscar nominations for its screenplay and for William Hurt's late film curtain chewing but it started the season with lots more Oscar buzz. It should have been up for everything, especially the big four: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress. It did really well at our own Film Bitch Awards that year winning several medals including the gold for the frankly scorching sex scene between Viggo and Maria Bello in her all time best screen performance. 
• Heathers - 'Fuck me gently with a chainsaw...' it's the high school black comedy wherein Winona Ryder's  'teen-angst bullshit has a body count'.

Can You Ever Link Me?

• In Contention Alfonso Cuarón could tie Walt Disney's record this year for most nominations for a single person in one year (six). And he could break the record for most nominations for a single person from a single film (four)
• /Film Katherine Langford (Love Simon, 13 Reasons Why) added to the cast of Infinity War's sequel
• Variety Extremely sad to report that Filmstruck is shutting down next week. It had become the go to streaming place for cinephiles once Netflix started having such crappy movie selections
• Next Best Picture if you're not sick of hearing me rave about Can You Ever Forgive Me? yet, I'm the guest on this podcast doing that again.

• TFE in case you missed it, our podcast on the same movie
• The Daily Beast hateful conservatives now targeting Netflix's brilliant Big Mouth series which is all the more reason why all of you should watch it. It's awesome.
• /Film this is kind of non-news given the caginess of the statements but TriStar is still hoping to mount a Labyrinth sequel with Jennifer Connelly reprising her role 30+ years later
• MNPP 13 moustaches of Halloween - fun series, now with more Sam Elliott and Vincent Price
• /Film to celebrate Dario Argento a ranking of his features. His most famous film, Suspiria, is NOT number one!
• Next Best Picture on recent under 15 minute performances nominated for Oscars with some possibilities this year like Sam Elliott and Daniel Kaluuya

Off Screen or Behind the Scenes
• Wall Street Journal thinks there is an atmosphere of fear at Netflix with their quick firings
• Variety Boy George interview as Culture Club releases their first album since 1999. It's called "Life" -- ftr I think "Colour By Numbers," their 1983 album is one of the most perfect albums ever recorded
• Playbill 10 plays and musicals that only require 2 actors
• Playbill Wicked is about to turn 15. Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel are sharing two things they added to the musical that weren't in the original script/score.
• Fast Company examines the state of Hollywood's middle class. Turns out the proliferation of content isn't good for everyone and the reasons why aren't all that apparent from the outside (shouldn't more content mean more job opportunities?). Note: this website has annoying ads that are confusing to get out of in order to read the article (hint) scroll down without hitting that scroll down sign!