Blog Wars: The Link Strikes Back

Must Read ICYMI
The Hoopla Frances McDormand suggests that looking your age is a subversive act. Great stuff. It's been great to see her face all over signage for Olive Kitteridge

More Linkage
Coming Soon strange news: Christian Bale drops out of Steve Jobs biopic two weeks after taking it claims 'he's not right for the role'. Hmmmm, then why take it?
CHUD the poster for Neil Blomkamp's Chappie with Hugh Jackman. It's weird and cute and hmmm.
Previously TV great piece on a key scene in the awesome series Transparent (on Amazon - you must watch it if you haven't, especially if you're interested in the psychology of family dynamics or in trans issues) 
MNPP if you missed any episodes of Jason's "13 Phones of Halloween" now is the time to rectify that. Was your holiday good this past weekend?
Towleroad Benedict Cumberbatch responds to complaints that The Imitation Game isn't as gay as its subject
Dissolve JJ Abrams confirms via "thank you" letter (such manners!) that Star Wars Episode VII has wrapped filming 
Deadline bonafide crazy person Nicolas Winding Refn is making a female led horror film called The Neon Demon because...

One morning I woke and realized I was both surrounded and dominated by women. Strangely, a sudden urge was planted in me to make a horror film about vicious beauty" 

Variety Johnny Depp performed with Marilyn Mason on Halloween
MNPP [NSFW] Awww, it's Dolph Lundgren's birthday today. Remember Showdown in Little Tokyo? a Bad Movies We Love winner
/Film Tom Cruise doing his own Mission Impossible stunts again like a crazy person
Pajiba Taylor Kitsch "Officially" reacts to being replaced as Gambit by Channing Tatum in the forthcoming superhero movie
Pop Culture Crazy thinks The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a knockout (I wish I liked this one more! I want to)
Daily Mail Jamie Dornan refers to his cock as "gratuitous, graphic and ugly" when discussing what we will and won't see in 50 Shades of Grey. How could any part of him be ugly? 

Exit Video ICYMI
Every death in the original Star Wars trilogy. The saddest part isn't even a minute in when the body count jumps to 2 billion. Sigh, Alderaanians. We hardly knew thee.

Box Office: Expect Gone Girl To Stick Around

Hey all, Nathaniel back at my own home blog. Sorry for my radio silence the past couple of days but on rare occasions the words just don't come. What did you see this weekend? Here's what the masses turned out for.

Gone Girl's strong opening weekend -- a best for David Fincher -- suggests that it's going to stick around for awhile given how many conversations it starts (and editorials it will continue to inspire). That must be what that blurb whore meant when he said "date movie of the decade"... that you'd want to talk about it after seeing it giving you conversation fodder at dinner. At least I hope that's what he meant because the story is so cynical about relationships and would probably be a horrible thing to see with someone you barely knew and didn't know if you could trust and didn't know how to read their reactions to entertainment yet (people want different things from it, after all).

TOP TEN WIDE (800 THEATERS PLUS)
01 GONE GIRL $38 NEW Review
02 ANNABELLE $37.2 NEW
03 THE EQUALIZER $19 (cum. $64.5) Why Denzel?
04 THE BOXTROLLS $12.4 (cum. $32.5) The Most Exciting Animation Studio
05 THE MAZE RUNNER $12 (cum. $73.9) Review
06 LEFT BEHIND $6.8 NEW 
07 THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU $4 (cum. $29) 
08 DOLPHIN TALE 2 $3.5 (cum. $.1)
09 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY $3 (cum. $323.3) Review & Ten Best Trees
10 NO GOOD DEED $2.5 (cum. $50.1)  

Hrithik Roshan gets wet for action flick BANG BANGTOP TEN LIMITED (EXCLUDING WIDE RELEASES LOSING THEATERS)
01 BANG BANG $1.2 NEW 
02 THE GOOD LIE $.9 NEW
03 THE SKELETON TWINS $.7 (cum. $3.5)
04 MY OLD LADY $.4 (cum. $2.2)
05 BREAKUP BUDDIES $.2 NEW
06 HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS $.2 (cum. $.5)
07 LOVE IS STRANGE $.1 (cum. $2) Review
08 THE TRIP TO ITALY $.1 (cum. $2.6) Review
09 PRIDE $.09 (cum. $.2) Review
10 JIMI: ALL IS BY MY SIDE $.09 (cum. $.2)  

The latest Bollywood action flick starring Hrithik Roshan, he of the very huge muscles and stunning eyes opened big. I don't see Bollywood movies unless there's a dance sequence so someone let me know if Hrithik shows his moves again in this one.

I can watch his dancing in Dhoom again forever...

The other newbie The Good Lie was just behind. I keep hearing that the advertising is not very accurate. Maggie Smith fans have come out for My Old Lady despite a total lack of publicity but weirdly it isn't doing nearly as well as Quartet did and that was a really bad movie. And now two great gay films:  Love is Strange didn't take off like I'd hoped but a $2 million theatrical gross for an indie without bankable stars these days isn't exactly bad news either. Meanwhile Pride, my fav cause of the moment, is only in three cities but will add more next Friday. As I've said before I think this would be a massive arthouse hit if this were still the 1990s when people went to charming limited release movies rather than waiting for them to go to Netflix.

Emmy Threats to the standard lineup don't you think? Jeffrey Tambor for Best Actor in a comedy and Viola Davis for Best Actress in a drama

In TV's version of box office, the ratings, Viola's How To Get Away With Murder is the best ranked new network show of the fall -- thus far, at least, since it's premature to say such things given that premieres are still happening. If you haven't yet checked out my liveblog of the first two episodes why not do it. I'm probably spendingnew week bingeing on Amazon's Transparent. Watched the first three episodes last night and wow it's good with fantastic performances, intriguing and tangled character-based plots, and a firm sense of taking it all very seriously while also being able to laugh at itself. Amazon had been waiting for a series to capture accolades / attention in a way that would put them on the map as a content creator and this could well be it. I haven't heard anything about whether any of their recent pilots (we reviewed Hand of God) will be making it to series. 

What did you see this weekend?