The Shape of Water is the one I can't wait for. And I really liked The Blackcoat's Daughter.

Ditto here, I'm even willing to put up with Michael Shannon's constant pop-eyed yelling for it. (People keep telling me he's a good actor, and I keep failing to see any evidence of it.)

I wish I'd managed to see Victoria and Abdul in the week it was playing in the local theater, but I figure that one will translate well to TV for a DVD rental. And I can get my Judi Dench fix at Murder on the Orient Express.

And Sacred Deer.

The only reason I might see that is because it was filmed here. The sketchy diner where Colin Farrell meets with Creepy Kid is in my neighborhood (in fact, I took Scola there for lunch when he was here).

Look, Cincinnati, despite being a metropolitan area, is pretty damn provincial, and we get excited about movies being filmed here.

I took Scola there for lunch when he was here

[link]

[link]

Awwww yeah, Blue Jay.

I wish I'd managed to see Victoria and Abdul in the week it was playing in the local theater

I wouldn't bother. I usually love Stephen Frears but found this subpar and to be frank, offensive. It struck me as pap colonialist apologia and despite the title, Abdul's character remains a cipher and is mostly there to prop up Victoria's late-life crisis. Judy Dench is predictably excellent in it and the movie is pretty to look at, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. One of the few real disappointments among the films I saw in TIFF.

My top 10 films of the year would go something like this (in no particular order):

Get Out
Logan
Lady Bird
Dunkirk
The Florida Project
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Shape of Water
Mudbound
A Fantastic Woman
Lady MacBeth
The Lost City of Z
Wonder Woman

Wait, that's more than 10. Ehh, whatev. The ones I haven't yet seen and am super keen on checking out: Call Me By Your Name (does it have a release date??) and The Square. I tried to get tickets to them for TIFF but couldn't make it work.

I'm a bit afraid to check out Killing of the Sacred Deer. I had mixed feelings about The Lobster (I thought the first half was brilliant and the second half didn't work for me at all) and from what I hear, this new one might vibrate entirely outside my preferred frequency.

Call Me By Your Name is definitely on my must-see list. Did you see the controversy last week about Sony trying to market the film in the UK as a romance between Timothée Chalamet's character and his female bestie? That went over about as well as the Hindenburg.

Did you see the controversy last week about Sony trying to market the film in the UK as a romance between Timothée Chalamet's character and his female bestie?

That was fucking hilarious. The internets helpfully reminded me that they tried to do something similar with Brokeback Mountain as well.

Someone on twitter linked to this recent Armie Hammer profile on Vulture where he talks about the emotional experience of filming Call Me By Your Name and... I think I might now like Armie Hammer? *scratches head* Previously, I thought he was just an uncommonly tall dude with a symmetric face and was charismatic as a block of wood. I did like him quite a bit in The Man from UNCLE remake, I'll grant you.

Ditto here, I'm even willing to put up with Michael Shannon's constant pop-eyed yelling for it. (People keep telling me he's a good actor, and I keep failing to see any evidence of it.)

I'm pretty sure this movie won't convince you. I don't mind him myself, but he is responsible for most of the brutal moments that I could have done without.

Vonnie, Get Out will definitely make my Top Ten as well. (Note: My list above was just what I've seen since the end of September). I anticipate that once I've seen The Florida Project and Lady Bird, Dunkirk will definitively be knocked off for the year.

My Top Twenty through October is here.

I've liked Hammer since I saw him on Reaper years ago. Sounds like going for artistically fulfilling indies rather than trying to be a mainstream leading man might be the better career path for him.