September/October. It's a Wrap

Since the bulk of September and October are given over to festival life each year (here's all that business wrapped up for you) there's less time for randomness which is in some ways our favorite thing about blogging about the cinema. But since we haven't done an ICYMI best of since August, here are 16 things you might have missed that you should check out:

• This is Halloween Salim's cinematic evocation of the season
• The Furniture: The Beguiled Daniel gazes into the plaster haze
• Elizabeth Debicki as Virginia Woolf Murtada takes a first look
• Martyr Mothers of Aronofsky Jorge wonders if the director has mommy issues?
• Two for the Road (1967) Tim's fiftieth anniversary revisit
• Podcast 9.9 Battle of the Sexes, Beach Rats and mother! discussed
• Academy Expels Weinstein Nathaniel sees the end of an era
• Smackdown 85 The Color Purple, Agnes of God, and more
• 5 Takeaways from the Success of It Spencer lists it out
• 15 Oscar Hopeful Documentaries Glenn surveys the DOC NYC list
• Black Swan (2010) Visuals Ilich looks back at the balletic madness
• Joan Fontaine in Rebecca (1940) Eric sees it for the first time!
• Karen Allen Jose talks to the Raiders of the Lost Ark star
• Soundtracking: Rocky Horror Picture Show Chris does the "Time Warp" again

and Best Ofs...

• Fav Actresses of 2017 (thus far) excluding the Oct-Dec women
• Fav Actors of 2017 (thus far) excluding the Oct-Dec men
• Fav Films of 2017 (thus far) excluding the Oct-Dec releases

COMING IN NOVEMBER
The 1944 Smackdown, Call Me By Your Name, Coco, James Ivory interview, Greta Gerwig interview, Lois Smith interview, Thor: Ragnarok fun, Nathaniel in Los Angeles for AFI festivities, Lady Bird, Donald Sutherland and Agnes Varda's Honorary Oscars, Murder on the Orient Express, Three Billboards, and of course lots of Oscar talk as the race heats up while the temperature cools down. 

TIFF & NYFF & Middleburg Wrap-Ups

Another autumn whizzes by and with it a look back on the festivals we've covered. Here's everything we reviewed from TIFF and NYFF and Middleburg this year in case you missed it. Reviews from Jason Adams, Manuel Betancourt, Nick Davis, Sean Donovan, Murtada Elfaldl, John Guerin, Chris Feil, and Nathaniel R

TIFF 2017

the films 
The Breadwinner •  Darkest Hour • 
Death of Stalin • Disaster • Downsizing • 
Euphoria • Film Stars Dont Die in Liverpool • 
First They Killed My Father • 
The Florida Project • Happy End • I, Tonya • 
The Killing of a Sacred Deer • Kings • 

Lady Bird • Lodgers • Mademoiselle Paradis • 
Mary Shelley • mother! • 
Never Steady Never Still • On Body and Soul • 
The Racer and the Jailbird • Revenge • 

The Seen and Unseen • The Shape of Water • 
Sheikh Jackson • Thelma • 
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri • 
Tigre • Western • The Wife • Zama

parties, events, randomness
greatest party photo ever • "I'm Armie" • 
Helena Bonham-Carter • mother! moods • 
portraits from the fest • PODCAST FINALE

NYFF 2017

the films 
Arthur Miller: Writer • BPM (Beats Per Minute) • Before We Vanish • 
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat • 
Faces Places • Félicité • First Reformed • The Florida Project • 

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold • Lady Bird • Let the Sunshine In • 
The Meyerowitz Stories • Mrs Hyde • Mudbound • The Rider • Spielberg •
Thelma

 parties, events, randomness 
red carpet prayer • PODCAST FINALE

MIDDLEBURG 2017

the films
Darkest Hour • A Fantastic Woman • Last Flag Flying • Mudbound •
Novitiate • Wonderstruck

parties, events, randomness
James Ivory talk • Nicholas Britell in concert

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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