More Streaming Options

If you're bored with your new choices on Netflix, thought we'd give a shout out to a few options for only 99¢ on iTunes at the moment. Stronger, with Jake Gyllenhaal (who won our Bronze for Best Actor for last season) is their movie of the week. But in their often changing "Movies You Might Have Missed" section, also 99¢, they're currently offering five Pedro Almodóvar movies (Volver, Women on the Verge, All About My Mother, I'm So Excited, and Kika), Meryl Streep in She-Devil (which the Month of Meryl column hits next Thursday), the Glenn Close classic Fatal Attraction, David Fincher's Se7en, and, um, a Chinese remake of the unimprovable 90s romcom My Best Friend's Wedding... but at least it stars Shu Qi so it *might* be worth 99¢

And still more streaming options if you're not in the mood for Dwayne Johnson's Rampage this weekend or you've already see the delightful / problematic / futureOscarnominee Isle of Dogs. Amazon Prime has added a 55 wide movie collection called Movies From OutFest which is LGBTQ titles from film festivals over the last several years including a movie I've had friends rave about (52 Tuesdays) but which I've managed to not see up til now and the new musical Hello Again with a cast stacked with NYC stage greats like Martha Plimpton, Audra McDonald, and Cheyenne Jackson which I haven't seen so I'll be queueing that right up.

Beauty vs Beast: To Boston With Love

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" - the director David Gordon Green is turning 43 today, so while we wait to see what he does with his Halloween sequel-o-sorts later this year let's cast an eye  a millimeter backwards towards his last movie, the very fine but somewhat overlooked Stronger. I personally was pretty sad the movie never gained any footing during the awards season for its stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Tatiana Maslany or for Miranda Richardson in Supporting - they were all worthy in my book (and Jake made the Bronze in Nathaniel's Film Bitch Awards). But time will be kind to all of them, I think. The film isn't easy on any of its characters - it refuses to sanctify the terror victim or the "supporting girlfriend" at its heart at every turn. These are complicated people in an extremely complicated situation.

panel management

PREVIOUSLY Toss a bone up and see where it lands - last week we wished Stanely Kubrick's 2001 a happy 50 and y'all surprised me with your love for humanity of all things (this is Kubrick, people!), giving Keir Dullea's space-babe a 4% victory over the dead red eye of HAL-9000. Said MARIAH, perhaps summing many of our votes up (Keir was a piece, it's true):

"I am voting for Dave because I am a homosexual male."

Box Office Three-Way and Dependable Dame Dench

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 29th-October 1st)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. KINGSMAN 2  $16.9 (cum. $66.6)	1.🔺 TIL DEATH DO US PART $1.5 on 562 screens
2. IT $16.9 (cum. $290.7) REVIEW | 5 TAKEAWAYS	2.🔺 VICTORIA AND ABDUL $1 on 77 screens (cum. $1.3)
3. 🔺 AMERICAN MADE $16.7	3.🔺 A QUESTION OF FAITH $1 on 661 screens
4. LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE $11.6 (cum. $35.2)	4. 🔺 STRONGER $922k on 645 screens (cum. $3.1) REVIEW
5. 🔺  FLATLINERS $6.5	5. 🔺 JUDWAA 2 $638k on 192 screens
6. 🔺 BATTLE OF THE SEXES $3.4 (cum. $4)	6. BRAD'S STATUS $400k on 453 screens (cum. $1.7) REVIEW
🔺 = new or significant expansion numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo

A bit late on the quickie box office chart this week but for a good reason. The race for #1 was so tight between three films that it took til Monday to clear it up with the Kingsman sequel topping and the new Tom Cruise actioner American Made on bottom....

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Box Office: Golden Circle and Gold Prospecting

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 22nd-24th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1.🔺 KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE  $39 new	1.🔺 STRONGER $1.7 on 574 screens new REVIEW
2. IT $30 (cum. $266.3) REVIEW | 5 TAKEAWAYS	2.🔺 BRAD'S STATUS $1 on 453 screens (cum. $1.1) REVIEW
3.🔺 LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE $21.2 new	3.🔺 BATTLE OF THE SEXES $525k on 4 screens new
4. AMERICAN ASSASSIN $6.2 (cum. $26.1)	4. 🔺 VICTORIA AND ABDUL $152k on 4 screens new

Kingsman: The Golden Circle got off to a fast start with its all star cast and Looney Tunes broad violence (only I guess people die unlike Wile E. Coyote) while It continues to power on determined to be the biggest horror hit of all time right now trailing only The Sixth Sense (if you don't adjust for inflation) and that and The Exorcist (if you adjust for inflation).

Meanwhile since Fall has officially begun, so too has the Oscar-hopeful release cycle (FINALLY). All four of them that opened this weekend are off to great starts...

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YNMS: "Stronger"

Chris here. Could this finally be Jake Gyllenhaal's Oscar year? Of course it's too early to call (and we won't jinx our adored Jake) but he's got a true life drama coming that's right in the Academy's wheelhouse: David Gordon Green's Stronger.

Gyllenhaal stars as Jeff Bauman, a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing that lost both legs and helped identify the assailants. The film charts his recovery and rehabilitation as he becomes the face of the survivors for the city of Boston and the world at large. True story, disability, big emotion - quite a few of Oscar's favorite pasttimes, and maybe a more mainstream play for Gyllenhaal. But how does the film look? Take a look at the first trailer and we'll run down the Yes No Maybe So after the jump...

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