Review: X-Men Apocalypse

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad

If you experience extreme deja vu at the movie’s this weekend, don’t panic – that’s just how summer movies play. Take X-MEN APOCALYPSE for example. The sixth film in the X-Men franchise will feel very familiar if you’ve seen any X-pictures before. And maybe even if you haven’t. So let us begin (again) with a short detour.

Oscar Isaac is the internet’s current boyfriend and an amazing actor and as is required by the law of desire he’s in everything now. He was used sparingly but potently in The Force Awakens last Christmas as dashing pilot Poe Dameron and he’s in theaters again in a much larger role as the big bad of X-Men Apocalypse...

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Swing, Tarzan, Swing! Ch.3: Lex Barker... and Queen Dorothy Dandridge?

As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we're ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes...

After Buster Crabbe filled a loincloth beautifully and Johnny Weissmuller & Maureen O'Sullivan gave us the deservedly definitive Golden Age Tarzan and Jane, the franchise had to recast or close shop. O'Sullivan left first and by the late 40s Weissmuller was feeling too old for the role and also called it quits. The producer Sol Lesser wasn't about to let the profitable franchise go, though, and led a search for a replacement. The winner was Lex Barker, a then little known blue blood actor from New York who had been disowned by his family for choosing an acting career (!) and he took up the loincloth in 1949 for Tarzan's Magic Fountain.

I opted to watch Barker's third go at the character in Tarzan's Peril (sometimes called Tarzan and the Jungle Queen) because it was the first Tarzan film to actually shoot some scenes in Africa (Kenya to be exact) and six actors down the call list was the curio factor of a young Dorothy Dandridge as "Melmedi, Queen of The Ashuba".

Dorothy & Lex after the jump...

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Podcast: The Lobster, Sing Street, A Bigger Splash, High-Rise

With two not-worthy wide releases set to dominate Memorial Day Weekend, Nathaniel, Nick, and Joe catch up on recent quality limited-release movies we hadn't yet discussed together. Catch these in the theaters, please.

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
11:18 High-Rise (Ben Wheatley)
15:45 Sing Street (John Carney) and a Keira Knightley tangent
22:37 Dakota Johnson & actress nemeses
24:35 A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino)
40:03 Venice detour & goodbyes

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

The Lobster & Sing Street

Link Rising

Vanity Fair are big changes ahead for HBO's original programming? Will they make the right calls?
Film School Rejects 38 things we learned from writer/director Robert Eggers' commentary track on The Witch 
Oscar Dances a new twitter account is replaying that Ex Machina dance scene with Oscar Isaac getting down to every song imaginable
Variety Owen Gleiberman has a smart take on the comic rise of Zac Efron in Neighbors and Neighbors 2

Comics Alliance has a fan and staff generated list of the 100 greatest X-Men of all time. Another reminder that that movies just aren't doing right by this breadth, diversity, and queerness of this team. Only 2 of their top ten (Jean Grey & Magneto) have been reasonably well served by the movies.
Antagony & Ecstasy remembers Hedwig and the Angry Inch with a stellar review
Business Insider the new practice of teasing the trailer you're actually watching online before you watch it
Forbes underperforming sequels can still generate profits if the production is smart
Pajiba Lionsgate admits that the Divergent series is a mess but shows no signs of having learned from it
Slate on the "dark future of whitewashing" in regards to Asian-American actors 
MTV "We still don't live in that kind of world" - we weren't the only ones remembering the still resonant Thelma & Louise this week 
NY Times has a fascinating report on the death of the office dress code. Love that they illustrated with Working Girl.  

Best of May ICYMI

It's that time again to look back on the month that was. We're doing a little early to pretend that May is already over. T'was a difficult month for your host with writer's block that wouldn't quit (which is not a common malady at TFE HQ) but we thank you for your enthusiasms about all we do here. Here's a look back on key posts this month in case you missed any...

6 Personal Favs
Buster Crabbe's Loincloth on Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
Podcast: Truth or Dare a seminal text on celebrity culture. And...
Interview Jose's chat with the dancers from that same Madonna doc
Thelma & Louise relay revisit of one of the all time best flicks
10 Bad Girl Oscar Winners  -Kieran's list from Marylee Hadley to Nurse Ratched
Maddening Matte Painting - Daniel on Black Narcissus (1947) 

7 That Sparked Most Conversation
Best Actress an overdue narrative or fresh blood this year? 
The Tony Nominations Hamilton + Other Stuff
1994 Favorites Pulp Fiction, Three Colors: Red, Interview with a Vampire, and more
First Teaser Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk 
First Teaser Beauty & The Beast 
Q&A Everybody Wants Some Drop Dead Gorgeous Editing
Cannes Actress - Sonia Braga & Kristen Stewart are buzzing 

Best of Nathaniel's Random Screenings, any type (with post links)
Best New Movie: Sing Street (2016)
Best Miniature Thing: "The Trolley Song"
Best Cameo: Spider-Man in Civil War
Sexiest: (tie) A Bigger Splash and Queen Margot
Funniest: Bobby's family in Café Society
Spookiest: Ryan Murphy's Feud could go so wrong

Congratulations are in Order!
Glenn has a new book about Cannes available to purchase - so do that. And Manuel completed his year long HBO LGBT series documenting all the ways that HBO has dramatized the LGBT lives, loves, and civil rights battles over the past few decades. He also got married this month!  

How was your May?

Coming in June:  New Movies: Finding Dory, The Fits, The Neon Demon, Genius, Swiss Army Man, Warcraft, and The Conjuring 2. Plus the Tony Awards and Emmy Award FYCs; Anniversaries to celebrate: Olivia de Havilland is about to turn 100, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 50, and The Devil Wears Prada 10 years old.

Any requests?