August. It's (Nearly) a Wrap

That went quick! We're about to leaving the summer behind so herewith 15 highlights from August...

• 200 Oldest Living Screen Stars since we've updated the list
• Doc Corner: One Child Nation Glenn thinks it might be the Oscar frontrunner
• Underrated Ed Norton Performances beyond that Oscar nomination triple
• We Met Marsha Mason she's still working but mostly on stage
• Tarantino & Oscar They do have some blindspots
• Sigourney Weaver in Copycat Jason's new series on Horror Actressing
• Moulin Rouge! on Broadway reviewed
• Over & Over: Julie & Julia Ginny kicks off our new series on movies we each watch a lot
• Hobbs & Shaw get Sean all hot & bothered in his seat
• AGLIFF Nathaniel's trip to Austin for a very fun festival
• Dino De Laurentiis the team had a lot of fun doing this retrospective of the prolific producer's various eras from Bitter Rice through The Bible and on to King Kong and Dune

Most Discussed
• Yes No Maybe So: Bombshell  What an actressexual tease!
• Where'd You Go Bernadette you love talking Cate Blanchett
• Favourite Hitchcocks He has so many great ones, it's hard to narrow it down
• Yes No Maybe So: Little Women Greta Gerwig offers up a very now cast for the perennial classic

COMING IN SEPTEMBER
Nathaniel and Chris hit the Toronto International Film Festival, We all watch the Emmy Awards. We'll also celebrate nw films like The Goldfinch, Ad Astra, Downton Abbey, Judy, The Laundromat,  and It Chapter Two, with lookbacks to Blue Sky (1994) and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) just for the hell of it. Any requests?

July. It's a wrap

The dog days of summer are upon us and the year is just flying by now. As we prepare to ride out the last month of the summer (and thus the summer movie season), here are 14 highlights from the month we now leave behind...

• The Farewell interview  Murtada talks to rising director Lulu Wang about her autobiographical hit
• New Classics: In the Loop Michael discovers that the political satire is eerily even more relevant 10 years on
• Doc Corner Glenn says Maiden is a must-see and an Oscar contender
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Nathaniel sits in the car with Brad and wonders where Tarantino's 9th or 10th movie is going. What an odd film experience
• The Personal and the universal Lynn Lee's take on The Farewell
• Best Actresses Nathaniel's ballot on 2019's first half
• Review: MidSommar Chris on the year's most polarizing movie
• Soundtracking: Nashville Chris listens closely to a non-musical that's also a musical 
• Smackdown 1960 Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) and more special guests discuss Psycho and Elmer Gantry. Have you listened yet? 
• The Lion King Redux Timn's brutal review of Disney's money-devouring remake 

Most Discussed
• Yes No Maybe So: Cats that trailer was the stuff of dream nightmare ballets
• Emmy Snubs who we were mourning on nomination day
• Populist Oscar Nominees which performances wouldn't have been nominated without their outstanding box office receipts? 
• Big Little Lies "I Want to Know" - series or season finale? Either way we all had opinions.  

COMING IN AUGUST
The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1957,  a tribute to the very random and many-act career of producer Dino de Laurentiis for his Centennial, Mindhunter season 2, and new films like Luce, Blinded by the Light, The Kitchen, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Brittany Runs a Marathon, and Vita & Virginia.

Halfway Mark: Best of 2019 (Thus Far)

by Nathaniel R

 
Let's wrap up the midyear review now with a general overview and behind the scenes beauty. Please don't consider this list 'official' awards since the back half of the year is usually more impressive than the first half due to annoying Oscar-focused distribution patterns. The point, nevertheless, is an important one: we should always be appreciating art and keeping lists so we don't forget delights that opened in non-awards season months like most awards voters do. 

TEN BEST MOVIES

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CONSIDER - Actresses of 2019, First Half

Here's our penultimate 'halfway mark, year in review' post for you. The 19 performances by actresses we treasured most at the movies thus far this year. 

We hope you'll sound off on these and share your own favourites in the comments... and we hope this list serves as a reminder to Oscar and Globe and SAG voters to keep lists of things that impress you all year so that at the end of the year you aren't just voting for the 5 things you just saw. Before we begin I should note that I sadly missed the three following female-led films and will catch up with them when given the chance later in the year: Her Smell, Little, and The Souvenir. Okay here we go...

7 LEADING ACTRESSES
(Jan 1st - June 28th releases)  

Jessie Buckley as "Rose-Lynn" in Wild Rose
Yes, the movie basically hands her the "star-making" reviews on a platter. It's ALL about watching her sing and emote. But the performance has lovely nuances, lived-in feeling, and own-worst-enemy fire. And that voice. Good god.  

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Halfway Mark Box Office (Part 2: Of Special Interest)

As part of our midway through the year report (previously: top fives from the team , favourite male performances , and mainstream box office hits) here's a look at the box office year thus far but getting very niche with queer cinema, documentaries, movies with rave reviews, and other specialty interests. We all know that superhero movies earn a lot of money at the box office so it's more fun to dig deeper. Figures here are actuals as of Sunday June 30th for films released in the first six months of the year. We'd love to know what you make of the following lists so don't be shy in the comments, please.

BOX OFFICE IN EIGHT NICHE CATEGORIES
🔺= the movie is still in a decent number of cinemas so its numbers will go up.

TOP GROSSING FILMS THAT NEVER WENT INTO WIDE RELEASE

The Mustang

01 No Manches Frida 2 (Pantelion) $9.2 March 15th (472 theaters at widest)
02 Apollo 11 (Neon) $8.9 March 1st (588 theaters at widest)
03 The Wandering Earth (CMC) $5.8 Feb 5th (129 theaters at widest)
04 Gully Boy (Viva Pictures) $5.5 Feb 14th (270 theaters at widest)
05 The Mustang (Focus) $5 March 15th (527 theaters at widest)
06 Amazing Grace (Neon) $4.4 April 5th (263 theaters at widest)...

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Halfway Mark Box Office (Pt 1: The Mainstream)

As part of our midway through the year report (we've already seen fun halfway top fives from the team and favourite male performances) here's a look at the box office year thus far. Tomorrow we'll get a bit more niche, okay? Figures here are estimates as of Sunday June 30th for films released in the first six months of the year.

BOX OFFICE TOP TENS IN SIX CATEGORIES
🔺= the movie is still in over 100 theaters.

1. TOP GROSSING FILMS WITH A FEMALE LEAD
(Excluding films where a male lead is just as prominent as his female co-star)

Captain Marvel

01 Captain Marvel (Disney/Marvel) $426.7 starring Brie Larson. March 8th
02 Us (Universal) $175 starring Lupita Nyong'o. March 22nd
03 Alita Battle Angel (Fox) $85.7 starring Rosa Salazar. Feb 14th...

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