Nathaniel Gives Thanks

Team Experience members were invited to give thanks this week so you'll be hearing from a few of us. Here's your host Nathaniel R... 

2018 was an unusually hard year for your host, given that he was starting over in his offline life after a painful breakup so first things first. I'm so goddamn grateful for The Film Experience. Thank YOU all for reading (especially those who donate to keep us on life support- see sidebar) and for being such a faithful community. This labor of love site is a continual source of pleasure and stability for me personally and I always aim to make it so for you, too. Before I get to the individual entertainment gratitude I also want to thank the Team Experience regulars: Murtada, Chris, Jason, Glenn, Jorge, Lynn, Eric, Dancin' Dan, Spencer, John & Matthew, and those we don't hear from much at the moment (life is so rude like that) but who we're always happy to work with like Nick, Ilich, Salim, Tim, Deborah, Séan, Daniel, Ben, Katey, and Joe. And both warm hugs to those who've moved on and nervous waving at those yet to come; they're out there somewhere and must make themselves known soon!

I will now attempt to give entertainment thanks without completely repeating my esteemed colleagues in their fun posts even though I love several of the movies they already spoke of. Okay in 2018 I was ever so grateful for:

• The continual shapeshifting of A Simple Favor from comedy to noir to mystery to camp spectacle to romcom to satire. It was such a great film to take friends to since it was so funny and surprising and memorable with it genre juggling. And Blake Lively's ultra modern wardrobe paired with Old Hollywood star charisma was something else... 

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C O N S I D E R - Actresses of 2018, First Half of Year

With the year half over, it's time to look back on the first six months and what treasures they brought us. Here are the 18 performances by actresses we treasured most at the movies thus far this year. We've previously shared the biggest hits in multiple categories at the box office and 18 fav performances by male actors. We hope you'll sound off on these and share a few of your own in the comments... and we hope this list serves as a reminder to Oscar and Globe and SAG voters that amazing performances can happy at any time of the year. Why wait til December to start considering your "Best of" ballot? 

Disclaimer: before we begin I should note that there were a few key bits of actressing I have not yet seen that might have factored in like performances from Game Night, The Seagull, or Hearts Beat Loud.

Okay here we go...

7 LEADING ACTRESSES
(Jan 1st - June 30th releases) 

Toni Collette as "Annie" in Hereditary
What can we add to the already robust conversation around her brilliance? The nuanced construction is a marvel: she's giving you a portrait of an artist's idiosyncractic point of view and convictions, an adult child's contemptuous grief and anger about her parents, and, best of all, her own not always pleasant relationship to mothering. She does all of that while peppering in alarming details that prepare you for the climax. And the crescendo of this star turn! Movies are shot out of sequence which makes this performance even more of a wow.

Rachel McAdams as "Esti Kuperman"
and Rachel Weisz as "Ronit Krushka" in Disobedience
McAdams is in fine form as a woman who's repressed her sexuality for years and surprises with sharp glimpses into the woman that could have been or once was in younger form. But Weisz is holding the whole picture together with a complex take on a more self-actualized woman who nevertheless struggles with intimacy and with reconciling the first half of her life (religious) with the second (secular). It's right up there with her work in Constant Gardener and Deep Blue Sea as the holy trinity of her career.

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Michelle Williams in "I Feel Pretty" (and Your Favorite Scene Stealers)

By Spencer Coile 

While it was not on the list of 2018 films I was dying to see, I found myself in an empty theater to see I Feel Pretty Tuesday. It wasn't perfect, but charming and breezy. Through it all, there was one clear standout: Michelle Williams as Avery LeClaire, the squeaky voiced, quirky, neurotic CEO of LeClaire Cosmetics.

With limited screentime, Williams manages to craft a complete, sympathetic, and hilarious character. It could have been so easy to turn Avery into a caricature, but while I was cackling at every single line reading and mannerism in Williams' performance, I was still as drawn to her here as in her darker, more dramatic roles. 

So let's take a moment to talk about 2018 scene-stealing performances. Williams aside, who are some of your favorites from this year so far? 

Box Office: I Feel Pretty, A Quiet Place, and More...

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (March 23rd-25th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
I Feel Pretty	Lean on Pete
1. A Quiet Place $22 (cum. $132.3) REVIEW, SECOND OPINION, SCREENPLAY	1. 🔺 Bahrat Ane Nenu $2.8 on 305 screens NEW
2. Rampage $21 (cum. $66.6)	2. Beirut $1 (cum $3.9) on 755 screens
3.🔺 I Feel Pretty  $16.2 NEW	3. Death of Stalin  $340k on 210 screens (cum. $6.8) REVIEW
4.🔺 Super Troopers 2 $14.7  NEW	4.  Lean on Pete $177k on 65 screens (cum. $347k) REVIEW
5. Truth or Dare $7.9 (cum. $33)	5. 🔺 The Rider $78k on 9 screens (cum. $142k) REVIEW

A Quiet Place dominated the box office in its third weekend (it's added theaters each weekend despite opening very wide!). It's a genuine smash already earning back more than 10 times its budget in just three weeks time globally.  Super Troopers 2 and I Feel Pretty, two new wide release comedies, didn't fare as well though I Feel Pretty could prove to have legs given that word of mouth is much stronger than Schumer's previous film, the misfire Snatched, and the budget is reasonable, too...  

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