Beauty vs Beast: Live Without Masters

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" for you people to vote yourselves silly with -- did you know that today would have been the 51st birthday of the great Philip Seymour Hoffman? He's been gone over four years now and I ache to think of all the performances we've missed out on. No I wouldn't have given him that Oscar over Heath Ledger either, but he wasn't even nominated for the greatest film of the past two decades (that would be Synecdoche New York) so the injustices, they pile up.

But we're here to talk about another film, one I have come hard around on since its release - I was cool to Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master in 2012 but my affection for it has grown with time; I'm pretty keen on it now, with its medicinal greens and hard elbows. It's only right, it taking some time - it's not the sort of film that hugs you, at least not without wanting something back, making it much like its leading men...

surveys

PREVIOUSLY Naturally the actress prevailed and then some with last week's Double Indemnity poll - crossing Barabra Stanwyck was never a good idea, not when she's got that silver pistol in her pocketbook. Said cal roth:

"That was so easy... I love Stanwyck and MacMurray reunion in There's Always Tomorrow. I love Stanwyck, the most versatile movie goddess of all time. She could go from a Hawks screwball to two masterful perfomances in Sirk melodramas to westerns by Samuel Fuller and Anthony Mann (the director who got her best best performance ever, in The Furies)."

I be on my suit and tie shit, tie shit 🎵

Beauty Break with actresses in suits, tuxes, shirts and ties. It's the shit.

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Almodóvar has started shooting his next film!

by Nathaniel R

Pedro Almodóvar has begun shooting his next film which is called Pain & Glory, so we can expect it in 2019. This will be Penelope Cruz's sixth collaboration with one of the world's greatest directors (she previously headlined Volver and Broken Embraces and had supporting roles in Live Flesh, All About My Mother, and I'm So Excited). Antonio Banderas will also co-star, marking his 7th Pedro film. Other Almodóvar regulars appearing will be Kiti Mánver (6th time) and Julieta Serrano (5th time). Though Pedro pictures are usually all about the actresses occassionally he throws gorgeous men into the mix. And this looks like one of those times. In addition to Banderas in what we assume will be the lead role (?), we've got: Raúl Arévalo from I'm So Excited, Leonardo Sbaraglia (Wild Tales) and Asier Etxeandia (Ma Ma).

The movie will also be the feature debut for a young popular singer named Rosalía. She posted the following picture on her instagram...

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Showbiz History: Monty Dies, Amy Debuts, Detroit Divides...

10 random things that happened on this day (July 23rd) in showbiz history.

1884 Emil Jannings born in Switzerland. In 1928 he will become the first man to ever win the Best Actor Oscar. He won for his roles in the silent films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. He was the only man to ever win for a silent film until Jean DuJardin took the Oscar for The Artist (2011)

Montgomery Clift, Amy Adams, Woody Harrelson, Vanessa Williams and more after the jump...

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Box Office: Here "Mamma Mia!" goes again, to #2 on the charts

by Nathaniel R

In a surprising turn of events Mamma Mia! 2 couldn't inch past Equalizer 2 despite a much higher-grossing preceding film. The absence of Meryl versus the presence of Denzel musta tipped it because it was super close with a 34/35 million battle! Much closer than last time around when Mamma Mia! faced off with The Dark Knight on its own opening weekend back in 2008 for a 27/158 million opening weekend.

In limited release theaters were packed for two new films, the fashion doc McQueen, and the new police brutality drama Blindspotting, while A24's deeply felt and delightfully awkward Eighth Grade had a great second weekend.  What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office Estimates (July 20th-22nd)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again	Eighth Grade
1.🔺 THE EQUALIZER 2 $35.8 *NEW*	1. 🔺 THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS $1.4 on 332 screens (cum. $4.5) REVIEW
2. 🔺MAMMA MIA: HERE WE GO AGAIN $34.3 *NEW* REVIEW	2. 🔺 LEAVE NO TRACE  $895k on 361 screens (cum. $3.6) TRAILER DISCUSSION
3.  HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 $23.1 (cum. $91)	3.  🔺EIGHTH GRADE $794k on 33 screens (cum. $1.1)
4. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP $16.1 (cum. $164.6)	4.  🔺 BLINDSPOTTING $332k on 14 screens *NEW*
5. THE INCREDIBLES 2 $11.5 (cum. $557.3)	5. 🔺 DON'T WORRY HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT $265k on 62 screens (cum. $380k)

Sorry to Bother You	McQueen
6. JURASSIC WORLD FALLEN KINGDOM  $11 (cum. $383.9)  REVIEW	6. 🔺 SANJU $220k on 112 screens (cum. $7.6)
7. SKYSCRAPER $10.9 (cum. $46.7)	7. RBG  $168k on 116 screens  (cum. $13.1)
8. THE FIRST PURGE $4.9 (cum. $60.1)	8. WHITNEY  $118k on 117 screens (cum. $2.7)
9. 🔺 UNFRIENDED DARK WEB  $3.4 *NEW*	9. 🔺 MCQUEEN $96k on 4 screens *NEW* REVIEW
10. SORRY TO BOTHER YOU  $2.8 (cum. $10.2)  REVIEW	10. SOORMA $78k on 50 screens (cum. $328K)
🔺 = new or expanding its theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo