On this day in movie history - The Disaster Artist (2017):

The Disaster Artist

directed James Franco,

written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber,

was released in the United States on December 8, 2017.
Based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell.
Music by Dave Porter.

Cast:

James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver, Paul Scheer, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, June Diane Raphael, Megan Mullally, Jason Mantzoukas, Andrew Santino, Nathan Fielder, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Hannibal Buress, Bob Odenkirk, James Dean, Judd Apatow, Kristen Bell, Ike Barinholtz, Adam Scott, Kevin Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Lizzy Caplan, Danny McBride, Zach Braff, J. J. Abrams, John Early, Joe Mande, Charlyne Yi, Kelly Oxford, Tom Franco, Zoey Deutch, Sugar Lyn Beard, Brian Huskey, Randall Park, Jerrod Carmichael, Casey Wilson, Lauren Ash, Angelyne, Bryan Cranston, Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau.

On this day in movie history - The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017):

The Man Who Invented Christmas

directed by Bharat Nalluri,

written by Susan Coyne,

based on the book by Les Standiford,

was released in the United States on November 22, 2017.
Music by Mychael Danna.

Cast:

Dan Stevens, Ely Solan, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Callow, Donald Sumpter, Miriam Margolyes, Morfydd Clark, Justin Edwards, Miles Jupp, Ian McNeice, David McSavage, Bill Paterson, John Henshaw, Annette Badland, Anna Murphy, Jasper Hughes-Cotter, Eddie Jackson, Paul Kealyn, Aleah Lennon, Ger Ryan, Cosimo Fusco, Valeria Bandino, Donna Marie Sludds.

On this day in music history - Let There Be Light, by Tom Moore & Sherry Finzer (2017):

The album Let There Be Light,

by Tom Moore & Sherry Finzer,

was released on November 19, 2017.

On this day in movie history - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017):

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

directed and written by Martin McDonagh,

was released in the United States on November 10, 2017.
Music by Carter Burwell.

Cast:

Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Željko Ivanek, Caleb Landry Jones, Clarke Peters, Samara Weaving, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage, Kerry Condon, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Kathryn Newton, Brendan Sexton III, Amanda Warren, Malaya Drew, Christopher Berry, Jerry Winsett, Sandy Martin, Nick Searcy.

Recommended reading - The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist (2017):

The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist

By Syd Mead.

Published by Titan Books.

Published 2017.

Illustrated edition.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1785651188

ISBN-13: 978-1785651182

Description:

Syd Mead is one of the most accomplished and widely respected artists and industrial designers alive today. His career boasts an incredible array of projects from designing cars to drafting architectural renderings, but he is most famous for his work as a concept artist on some of the most visually arresting films in the history of cinema. Since working on Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1978 as a production illustrator Syd Mead has always aimed to render “reality ahead of schedule,” creating evocative designs that marry believable content with a neofuturistic form. It is this ability to predict technological potential that has helped Mead create such a distinctive and influential aesthetic. From his work with Ridley Scott on Blade Runner, to his striking designs for the light cycles in Tron, to his imposing concept art for the U.S.S. Sulaco in James Cameron’s Aliens, Syd Mead has played a pivotal role in shaping cinema’s vision of the future.

The Movie Art of Syd Mead: Visual Futurist represents the most extensive collection of Mead’s visionary work ever printed, compiling hundreds of images, sketches and concept arts from a career spanning almost 40 years, many of which have never been seen in print before. Each entry provides a unique insight into the processes involved in Mead’s practice as well as illuminating the behind-the-scenes work involved in creating a fully realized, cinematic depiction of the future. With such a plethora of images from the many genre-defining films Mead has worked on, this is essential reading for film fans, artists and futurologists alike.

Recommended reading - Film Noir: A Critical Introduction (2017):

Film Noir: A Critical Introduction

By Ian Brookes.

Bloomsbury Film Genres Series.

Published by Bloomsbury Academic.

Published 2017.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1780933134

ISBN-13: 978-1780933139

Description:

What is film noir? With its archetypal femme fatale and private eye, its darkly-lit scenes and even darker narratives, the answer can seem obvious enough. But as Ian Brookes shows in this new study, the answer is a lot more complex than that. This book is designed to tackle those complexities in a critical introduction that takes into account the problems of straightforward definition and classification. Students will benefit from an accessible introductory text that is not just an account of what film noir is, but also an interrogation of the ways in which the term came to be applied to a disparate group of American films of the 1940s and 1950s.

On this day in movie history - Lady Bird (2017):

Lady Bird

directed and written by Greta Gerwig,

was released in the United States on November 3, 2017.
Music by Jon Brion.

Cast:

Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Odeya Rush, Jordan Rodrigues, Marielle Scott, John Karna, Jake McDorman, Bayne Gibby, Laura Marano, Marietta DePrima, Daniel Zovatto, Kristen Cloke, Andy Buckley, Paul Keller, Kathryn Newton, Myra Turley, Bob Stephenson, Abhimanyu Katyal, Chris Witaske, Ben Konigsberg, Gurpreet Gill, Richard Jin, Joan Patricia O'Neil, Robert Figueroa, Carla Valentine, Roman Arabia, Monique Edwards, Matthew Maher, Anita Kalathara, Debra Miller, Georgia Leva, Derek Butler, London Thor, Shaelan O'Connor, Christina Offley, Sabrina Schloss, Connor Mickiewicz, Erik Daniells, Cynthia Cales, Giselle Grams, Ithamar Enriquez, Luisa Lee, Danielle Macdonald, Adam Brock, Bonnie Jean Shelton, Rebecca Light, Adriana Becerril, Joey Bell, Beau Bielski, Stephen Dill, Sheila Ellis, Nick Fenske, Sedona Feretto, Keenan Johnston, Rebecca Knight, Suzanne LaChasse, Elester Latham, Emily Merlin, Maxx Morando, Jessica Nunez-Wood, Brian Sampson, Janet Song, Nicole Torres, Brian VanGeem, Carolyn Wilson, Tomomi Yoshida.