Black Panther Teases

Having recently returned from Disney World, where 'The Festival of the Lion King' earwormed that soundtrack into my brain again, I find myself frantically trying to rewrite "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" for Prince T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) who we last saw mourning his king and proving something of a surprise moral center to the squabbling superheroes of Captain America: Civil War (2016).

Sing it with me...

It's Hard for a Good Man To Be King 🎵"

Marvel Studios has gone and made its first movie without a white guy named Chris in the lead role (kidding) and from 112 seconds of evidence we have, they made a great decision hiring exciting young director Ryan Coogler (hot off Fruitvale Station and Creed) to direct. The movie is still an excruciating 251 days away still (February 16th, 2018) but the teaser and the poster for Marvel's sure-to-be smash hit The Black Panther have arrived after the jump...

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Best Shot: The Parent Trap (1961)

The weirdest thing happened to me this week. My life and plans were entirely thrown off when I discovered I had an identical twin in... no, no. That's what's happened to Hayley Mills. I have no such excuse other than that life has proven very complicated lately. I will. will. will. return to former blogging glory soon. Until then... please enjoy these fine articles on my favorite movie when I was a wee thing, Disney's The Parent Trap (1961)

The Entertainment Junkie
Jason Henson writes...

Running parallel to the twins' attempts to mend their broken family is an examination of why it fell apart in the first place. It's here that, for a family film, The Parent Trap entertains some complex ideas about marriage...

Film Actually
Shane Slater chose the same scene and writes...

Maureen O'Hara's Maggie is indeed the most fascinating character in "The Parent Trap"

and how's this for crazy...

Rachel Wagner chose the exact same scene (albeit a different image) to focus on in her write up. That's all three Best Shot partygoers this week. 

My dvd is faulty so I'm delayed but I will get to it because I've been eager to rewatch.

P.S. Rachel was also the sole person to bravely join me in looking back at the Wonder Woman TV show last week, so you can see her take on that as well as thoughts on the new Wonder Woman movie.

The Moustaches of 'Maurice'

by Murtada

Do you not  think that Maurice’s moustache would be the making of him?

No. It’s revolting.

This exchange about an hour into Merchant-Ivory’s 1987 classic gem Maurice, made me laugh so hard. There are so many moustaches in Maurice. It must’ve been the fashion in Edwardian England. But Hugh Grant’s Clive Durham is right, Maurice’s is revolting. But then how come later on he grows one even more revolting. In the world of Maurice, moustaches are the ultimate boner killers.

Maurice (James Wilby) and Grant’s Clive meet when they are students at Cambridge in 1909 and fall in love. Their relationship means a bit more to Maurice, he’s so smitten. And who wouldn’t be infatuated with Grant at the height of his floppy haired gorgeousness. Clive though always keeps him at an arm’s length, never succumbing to carnality. And we think that moustache is to blame.

Regrettably since this is about moustaches we can't include Rupert Graves’ Scudder. He's the real dreamboat in Maurice, partly because he keeps his upper lip clean shaven throughout the film. Check him out in the trailer or better, if you are in New York or LA, check out the gorgeous restoration that is currently playing.

How do you feel about moustaches? Has one ever deterred you? 

Glenne Headly (1955-2017)

By Nathaniel R

Terrible news to report this afternoon. The actress Glenne Headly has died rather suddenly at just 62. 

Headly came to fame on the stage in acclaimed productions in the mid 80s like Balm in Gilead, Extremities, and The Philanthropist and big movie roles soon followed. At the peak of her fame in the late 80s and early 90s she co-starred in box office hits Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Dick Tracy (1990) and was Emmy nominated for the miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) inbetween those twin peaks...

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"The Crucible" Is Just About Witches

The Tony Awards are this Sunday, so all week we’ve been talking stage-to-film adaptations. Here’s Goody Jorge with the mother of all allegorical plays… 

At this point everyone knows that The Crucible is not about the Salem Witch trials.

Arthur Miller’s 1953 play is a very straightforward and less-than-obvious allegory for the McCarthy era and the prosecution of believed Communists in the U.S. It has become a staple of American theater and inspired dozens of generations to think twice before finger-pointing. 

Underneath even its Red Scare themes, the play is about much more...

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