Halfway: Best Leading Performances of 2015 Thus Far

½way mark - part 2 of ? You can't see everything but you should see as much as possible if you're in the awardage business, or business of watching awardage, or business of watching awardage watchers and... well you get the picture. SEE MORE MOVIES. I know I need to and I see plenty.

Let's take stock of what's come out in theaters thus far (Jan 1st - Jul 1st for our purposes here). Even if conversations suggest otherwise in November through January each year we always pray that Academy members are regular moviegoers and don't just wait until their screeners arrive.

10 best lead performances from the year's first half...

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June. It's a Wrap

We're about to start a week long "halfway mark" review of 2015. But first let's wrap up June itself. My birthday month is over *sniffle* so if you've been offline and out in the sun this summer, here are a baker's dozen highlights from the month that was, in case you missed 'em.

Kate, Corseted - Winslet's best period piece performances
The Many Tears of Pixar - Inside Out is here to remind us that the great studio loves to make us cry
The Red Shoes - A theatrically audacious masterpiece
Bold Giddy Pop Art - Dick Tracy's 25th Anniversary
The Gleaners and I - Anne Marie looked back at one of the greatest and most personal films of Agnes Varda's fascinating career. I hope you all will seek it out.
'Gobbledygook' - Michael had words for Cameron Crowe's ill conceived Aloha. Loved this bit:

Bradley Cooper is escorted on his mission by Emma Stone. The pairing generates all the romantic sparks of a guy babysitting his rambunctious younger cousin on a weekend road trip.

1979 Discussion - Discussing the most hand-wringing battle of the sexes movie year
Gia - Revisiting Angelina Jolie's white hot HBO breakthrough
Sense8 - Tim reviewed this odd Wachowski Siblings experiment in global trans sci-fi psychic cluster connection
Best of TV in 2015 (Series) - We shared our favorites and discussed well over a dozen series 
Sing Along - Best movie songs of the 1990s - this list got you talking!
Rising Like a Phoenix - Glenn checked out the recently reedited and reonfigured flop '54 and found it a much better film 17 tears later (I concur. I was able to see it recently and it's so much more focused and enjoyable than it was back then with studio-mandated reshoots lopped off and original material reinserted.)

P.S. And one more round of applause for this month's very special in-house guests!
Cara Seymour talked The Knick, American Psycho and her favorite films 
Ann Dowd talked The Leftovers and how she fell for acting  

COMING IN JULY
Tangerine, Trainwreck, Ant-Man, the films of Kathryn Bigelow in Anne Marie's "Women's Pictures", and looks back at Angels in America and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Reminder: 1995 is our "year of the month" as we prep for another Smackdown on July 26th.

Ask Nathaniel... Plus Next Week's Festivities

It's time for another round of reader questions, so, ask yours in the comments. There's no particular theme for the questions this week but we need a new banner so the "question of the week" recipient will get to choose our next theme. I'll answer a handful or so of your questions on Tuesday.

P.S. On Tuesday or Wednesday we'll start a few days of "Halfway Mark - Year Thus Far" festivities. If you'd like a teaser check out my new piece at Towleroad where I look at the year through the lens of Inside Out's emotions (and no, as you may have guessed, I didn't much like Jurassic World). Naturally we'll go into more cinema nerd detail here by naming Best Performances and the like.

ICYMI: Cara Seymour and More and More

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves into Halfway Mark Festivities and Emmy Nomination Balloting Week (that's next week!) I want to take this time to thank Cara Seymour ("The Knick") for her guest-blogging. She shared a great portrait her acclaimed photographer husband shot of her on the set of An Education, she let us into her research process on one of her most indelible characters yet (Sister Harriett on "The Knick"), shared a few movie and music recommendations, and she even interviewed her American Psycho director Mary Harron! Thanks again to a wildly underrated actress for taking a small break between filming The Knick's second season and a new movie, to visit us.

Other June Highlights...
Tony Award Fashions bold colors + giddy showoffs
1979 Smackdown Kramer vs Kramer holds up beautifully but how about Breaking Away and Manhattan?
Best Original Songs of the 1990s - a movie list whim 
Silence / Silencio - two new movies from top auteurs
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama - your most competitive Emmy race 
MacBeth - the new trailer

Coming in the Second Half of June
Kate Winslet Corseted, Pixar's Inside Out, A 1948 Retrospective including Hamlet, Key Largo, I Remember Mama, The Red Shoes and the next Supporting Smackdown, the Halfway Mark "Best of" 2015 (thus far) lists, and Oscar Chart Updates...

And our next Fabulous Actress Guest!

The awesomely gifted Ann Dowd (Compliance, Garden State, Masters of Sex, True Detective) who malevolently stared Justin Theroux down so memorably as The Guilty Remnant's leader on The Leftovers this past year. She'll be taking over the reins of The Film Experience for one day next week - one day only! It'll be Tuesday or Wednesday so don't miss it. 

April. It's a Wrap

We're so ready for sunshine and summer movie season! But let's wrap up April first ICYMI... not the whole month but the highlights. We work hard providing fresh content daily so we don't want you to miss anything. There's always something new. And... uh... old. Maybe we went a little overboard on the sudden Joan Crawford fetishizing this month but it happens. The actress fetishes. It's best to just let them play out. They're not going to be ignored, Dan.

Most Popular
Y'all seemed to like the Team Top Ten for Best Sci-Fi films Parts 1 and Part 2 i.e. before and after the populist dam-bursting of 1977's Star Wars & Close Encounters. That sci-fi madness came with a robust Artificial Intelligence fascination that's also going on at the multiplex (Avengers / Ex Machina). The other most popular feature was the return of the Ask Nathaniel Q&As for which I am flattered and must thank you for your participatory enthusiasm (another belated one very soon). It was fun to talk favorite crazy characters, missing Buffy & Battlestar Galactica, and dream screen-to-stage plays. Regarding the latter: I'm now fully obsessed with my Contact idea; I'm brilliant!

Oscar Predictions
The first wave which we affectionately call April Foolish Predictions because it's dumb to start so early are up. Dig into the charts and discuss (The remainder hit tomorrow)

Monthly Playlist
Our listening pleasures this month were showtunes. Margaret eased on down the road with her amazing and creative dream-casting of The Wiz's upcoming remake. Plus, it's Tony Season so Broadway is naturally on the brain. We're rooting for "Fun Home" based on the life of cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Aside from the showtunes we got our fingers tapping to Dolly Parton's immortal earworm "9 to 5".

"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley"
You didn't sign the guestbook so we don't know if you enjoyed the amenities and conditions of your 5 day stay with us but we had a ball serving you Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca all the same: Day 1 a meet-rude courtship; Day 2 your new home and old (bitter) staff; Day 3 ooh, lingerie; Day 4 a costume ball mistake; Day 5 a trial by fire. We're eager to do this relay-revisit again but we need to find the right movie that's entertaining in all of its subsections.

Other Key Posts
The Walk -can you handle the vertigo?
Jane Campion - Anne Marie revisited 5 of her features
Taxi Driver - is it actually about the movies? I think so
Michelle Pfeiffer - she's shopping around a TV sitcom
Movie Amigurumi - we want every one of these brilliant crotchet dolls
Art Movies - these 5 paintings deserve the Woman in Gold movie treatment (only, uh, better movies) 
Furious 7 - Michael reviewed the behemoth hit and didn't disappoint

Getting worked up over the lack of realism on display is like chastising a toddler smashing his Tonka trucks together because, actually, that’s not how to use a cement mixer properly. 

Hot Piece(s) o' the Month 
Hathaway as Miley - that lipsynching! Cox as Daredevil - those lips!

Coming in The Lusty Month of May
Favorite sex scenes, Orson Welles Centennial tribute, rising actor David Dastmalchian, Avengers-mania, and a 1979 retrospective to coincide with the Supporting Actress Smackdown.