Star profiles, Heart stoppers, Shanghai blossoms, and more...

• THR Heartstopper (and other series) make Netflix the leader for the Children & Family Emmy nominations -- by a large margin, too
• Advocate Kit Connor (who plays Nick on Heartstopper) just came out as bisexual because he felt pressured to with the online accusations that he was queerbaiting. 
• Fangoria Talks to TV creator/showrunner Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) about Crystal Lake which will be a prequel series (of sorts) to the Friday the 13th movies

After the jump comes more movie news, fun articles, or actor profiles like the superstar who came back down to earth Jennifer Lawrence, and rising hotties Ismael Cruz Córdova (Rings of Power) and Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness)...

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Link Stop

• Variety Spider-Man: No Way Home and Euphoria lead the MTV nominations. Happy about the nomination for Sydney Sweeney for Euphoria and Megan Stalter for Hacks
• Out Joel Kim Booster covers Out Traveler to promote Fire Island
• Deadline in unexpected news A Simple Favor is getting a sequel with original stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick. If you'll recall we truly really loved...
• TFE ...and it made our top ten list of 2018
• El Diario Pedro Almodóvar writes another diary. This one is about the Met Gala, Marilyn Monroe (he has seen the upcoming bio Blonde) and "feminized" men

More after the jump including a viral Broadway rant, a new Cronenberg, Sutton Foster on PBS, and a film that pairs Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway...

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Halfway Mark 2021 - Movie Achievements of the Year (Thus Far)

Okay, sooooo... The Oscars f***ed around with their eligibility calendar but we did not for our own annual prizes. Anything released after January 1st or on its way to release at the moment was eligible for this fluid keeping track list (unless it had a qualifying release in 2020 -- confusing, yes but please go see I Carry You With Me, one of 2020's best that only just surfaced for your viewing pleasure despite an Oscar qualifying release several months ago). It's just our way of jotting things down before the film year really gets crazyso that we don't forget about early releases. Still, there's no guarantee any of these accomplishments will show up in January for the offficial awards. Generally Hollywood backloads the film year, as you know. We'll do fav performances tomorrow but for now our 'cheat sheet' for everything else from the year's first half...

TEN BEST MOVIES (thus far alpha order)

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Quickies to Catch Up (pt 1): The Conjuring 3, A Quiet Place 2, Barb & Star 1

It's been difficult to get back into the swing of things, especially since we're short on funds given how last season went with Hollywood shut down. That said, we're feeling a swing of summer energy coming so... watch out? stay tuned? cross fingers? Though we reviewed quite a few indies, docs, and festival entries, we've given mainstream stuff short shrift other than the beautifully made but maddeningly soft Cruella, the wondrously exuberant In the Heights, and the utterly lame Thunder Force. We'll be shocked if a worse movie arrives this year than the latter, which is sad since it's so easy to root for both of its leading actresses in a general career sense.

Without further ado let's get started on the catch-up (and fill out that review page) with four movies you probably saw that we didn't talk about. Let's fix that in the comment section...

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The box office is open again. What did you see this week?

Been back to the movie theaters yet? We're so thrilled to be able to post a full top ten weekend box office report again. It's been ages since there were enough theaters open and movies in play. We've just barely gotten there of course. But the box office results to date (especially overseas) with the world starting to turn again suggest that Disney and Warner Bros have left a lot of money on the table by making things available to stream simultaneously or ONLY; they're betting their entire futures on streaming. Which might be wise but some decisions still feel foolhardy especially the decision to not release Pixar's Luca in theaters, given that it's already winning raves and might have been a perfect summertime bet in airconditioned theaters since it's a summertime tale and Pixar movies generally make hundreds of millions in movie theaters. Strange decision especially since they gave Raya the traditional release! When viewed in broader context of what gets a theatrical release versus what doesn't it's like pissing directly on Pixar when something like Dreamworks Spirit Untamed gets a theatrical release and Luca doesn't. Ugh.

Anyway. Here is the chart. What did you see this past week/weekend?

Weekend Box Office June 4th-6th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE	PLATFORM TITLES
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It	Undine

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