C O N S I D E R -Fav Actresses of 2017, 3rd Qtr

With less than three months of the year to go - eep! -- it's time to do another tally of favorite performances -- this is how we keep track so we're not like Oscar voters who only vote on the last couple months of the year. Here are the 17 best female turns this past quarter according to your host, Nathaniel. Which movies were considered? Movies released between July and right now (October 6th) as well as unreleased movies (marked by an asterisk*) which were screened in that time frame but have no firm release date in the future. Previous 3rd quarter lists: Filmmaking and Male Acting

Disclaimer: Key actress-focused films I missed this past quarter were Home Again, Ingrid Goes West, and Lady Macbeth. If you've seen them give their MVPs a shout-out.

6 LEADING ACTRESSES

Dame Judi Dench as "Queen Victoria" in Victoria & Abdul
I love the idea of character sequels decades later rather than continuing story sequels (that's what TV is for!). The movie is no great shakes but it's quite fun to see her return to this signature character. 

Regina Hall as "Ryan Pierce" in Girls Trip 
A wonderfully nimble performance. She's got to provide the straight man to the comic bananas but to make that funny, too, while dexterously handling the script's somewhat heavy handed character arc.

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C O N S I D E R - Favorite Actors of 2017, 3rd Qtr

With only three months of the year to go - eep! -- it's time to look back on the past three months for movies we saw from July through September (excluding films with firm release dates in the next three months). Herewith Nathaniel's 17 favorite male performances from the year's third quarter (plus first week of October to keep us up-to-date), divvied up into three categories.  (Movies with asterisks have not yet been released.)

Did these men speak to you with their turns? 

7 LEADING ACTORS

Daniel Gimenez Cacho as "Don Diego de Zama" in Zama*
One of my favorite Mexican actors. Though I found the film impenetrable, he's always strong.

Harris Dickinson as "Frankie" in Beach Rats
Here's to debuts that reveal both fully-formed star charisma and film-carrying craft

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C O N S I D E R - Favorites of 2017, 3rd Qtr

by Nathaniel R

Blade Runner 2049 is our current prediction for "Most Nominations Without Best Picture" though maybe it'll snag that, too.Here at The Film Experience I like to keep track of favorites all year long for two reasons. The first is to not to be unduly influenced by the studio shenanigans of backloading the film year with their intended Oscar hopefuls. The second is to prevent forgetfullness when it comes time to give out the Film Bitch Awards, my own virtual awards fest to close out each film year.  When I don't keep careful track it's much harder to wrap things up at year's end.

Being a bit late this quarter, here are Best ofs per Oscar category from films released from July through October 6th (an extra week added on because we're running late). This list does not include films with known release dates from now until the end of the year. We'll save those films till we get there. Unreleased films without a future date are marked with an asterisk. Got it?

Key movies I missed this quarter  (that I'll try and catch up with on screeners hopefully): It, Valerian, Logan Lucky, Patti Cake$, Tulip Fever, Good Time, Lady MacBeth, and A Ghost Story

PICTURE and/or DIRECTOR and/or SCREENPLAY
(i couldn't decide which to cut so this first grouped selection is 8 wide)

     released
ATOMIC BLONDE (David Leitch) The lack of audience turn out for this uber-stylish, inventive actioner, with Charlize Theron showing all the other movie stars how to do action hero performances  (again!) was one of the bummers of summer '17.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Jonathan Drayton & Valerie Faris) Such a surprisingly strong history lesson and funny resonant drama, too
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Hypnotic if already overrated (calm down! If you're claiming that it's better than the original if it's not your #1 of 2017 with ease you'll have to explain why you've dissed one of the greatest and most influential movies ever made)
DUNKIRK (Christopher Nolan)
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) The new criticism that I keep seeing online that this film romanticizes poverty is a head-scratcher as it's an exceedingly dark movie that merely looks like candy (due to all that color). The imagined future of virtually all the characters is outstandingly bleak and politically aware for those who are willing to see it. Sean Baker's recent (also terrific) movies Starlet and Tangerine are similarly focused / staged / and tonally nimble with gallows humor, character specificity, and socioeconomic concerns. If having this much empathy for marginalized people is romanticizing poverty, I say bring it on!
mother! (Darren Aronofsky) Sorry not sorry.

more after the jump including best unreleased pics, highlights in cinematography, costumes, and the like...

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Good riddance, August!

Uff. what an unpleasant month this is / that was! The world continued to go insane, people are still denying climate change despite more and more frequent tragedies like what's happening in Texas and, on a more personal level, at TFE HQ your host Nathaniel threw his back out most severely. As a result the blogging was less prolific. Now that recovery is finding some momentum (crosses fingers) expect a return to normalcy after the Labor Day holiday. First up: The Toronto International Film Festival, our favorite annual event that isn't awards show related.

ICYMI a dozen highlights From August
• Grace & Frankie's Costumes  - Emmy nominated and deservedly so
• Best Actress in a Limited Series - the hottest Emmy category. Who to vote for?
• Sunset Blvd Musical Movie Rumors - the most discussed post of the month
• Best Screen Owls oh, the randomness!
• Soundtracking: The First Wives Club - you don't own them!
• Girls Trip and Atomic Blonde - the funnest August double feature
• Yes No Maybe So: mother! - Only two weeks to go!
• Smackdown 1963 lots on Liz, Poitier, Tom Jones, and Lilies of the Field
• The Furniture Arthurian legends through the years
• Beauty vs Beast Hercules vs Hades - it's a close race so vote
• Stage Door: Angels in America - Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield take on the giant roles this time
• Doc Corner: Whose Streets? Now playing and could be a contender

Coming in September
A look back at the 1985 film year with the Smackdown dropping on October 1st, Darren Aronofsky's mother!, the first significant waves of Oscar buzz, Emma vs Steve in Battle of the Sexes, Jake Gyllenhaal in Stronger, and more Difficult People

July is a Wrap

Whew. That month was a swift one. It's August tomorrow, WTF? While we continue updating those Oscar charts please check out some highlights you might have missed in July... 

• Podcast is Back The Big Sick, Baby Driver, Dunkirk, and more
• Charlize Theron in Jade Scorpion an early peak at greatness in a terrible movie
• Bright Or, 'how will we define a Netflix blockbuster?'
• Soundtracking Chris revisits Young Adult
• Roundtable Drama Reese, Jessica, Oprah and more on the hunt for Emmy
• Being There (1979) unexpected essential viewing for 2017
• Okja's many delights on Netflix
• An Ode to Joan Harris for Mad Men's 10th anniversary
• An Ode to Julia TFE's first restaurant review (wait, what?)
• The Furniture  leered through Fassbinder's erotic Querelle
• Emmy Reactions our favorite nominations
• Emmy Reactions but how did they pass up ____?

COMING IN AUGUST: Robert Mitchum's Centennial, Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit, Emmy discussions as the TV Academy does their final voting, In the Heat of the Night (1967), Scarface (1983... I know I know), and much more. We haven't planned as far ahead as we usually do!

ICYMI

It occurs to me that though we did mark the year's halfway point, we did not do a "wrap" post for May or June and here we are in mid July. So let's stop to catch our breath before steaming ahead into the dog days of summer. Herewith key posts in case you're behind on your favorite blog. That's this one, right? (Rhetorical question)

17 Favorites
• A League of Their Own - a four part retrospective
• Olivia de Havilland sues Feud - don't mess w/ this centenarian
• Interview James Ivory - on Maurice's 30th anniversary
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Moonlight - revisiting the Oscar winner
• Susan Hayward Centennial - we looked back at four pictures
• mother! - the teaser poster
• Podcast Premiere - Wonder Woman, My Cousin Rachel...

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