Hans Linkin' Andersen

• The Undefeated an amazing longread about the careers of several non-household name black actors from 1990s television series
• Coming Soon Ansel Elgort in talks to play fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen in an original screen musical composed by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked). The huge success of La La Land and Greatest Showman is already taking effect which is nice because we were worried it wouldn't.
• /Film Kristen Wiig in talks to play the villain Cheetah in Wonder Woman 2. Looooove this idea

• MNPP Armie Hammer getting his chest waxed. Nooooo
• The Guardian Casting for Quentin Tarantino's Charles Manson movie has begun. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are officially returning to the director's filmography. Margot Robbie might be joining them. 
• Coming Soon Have any of you read the Witchers series of fantasy books? It's being adapted to Netflix series with several characters confirmed
• NPR profiles the three awesome Octogenarians up for Oscar this year: James Ivory, Agnes Varda, and Christopher Plummer
• TFE ...and in case you missed it, we just interviewed James Ivory
• Variety Chris Hemsworth may star in a Men in Black spinoff because no franchises die anymore
• Into Film inspired by Lady Bird, a list of 10 other great debut films by female directors.

Stage (Pssst. Tony Season is almost upon us)
• W Magazine Lee Pace sorta comes out... in that tortured 'I won't say it, but I'm saying it' Jodie Foster kinda way in this interview about taking on the Joe Pitt role in the revival of Angels in America
• Theater Mania Harry Connick Jr is now in rehearsals for the debut of a new musical based on Best Picture winner The Sting. It's going to premiere at New Jersey's Papermill Playhouse (which is a great place to see shows)
• Show-Score A list of all the current NYC stage shows offering lottery tickets (i.e. cheap seats for lucky winners) not that I want to give myself competition as I'm already losing Angels in America and Frozen daily. But these lotteries do actually send people to shows every single  day who couldn't afford it otherwise. I only ever enter sporadically (if I remember / am dying to see a show / friends visiting NYC etc) and I've won thrice over the years and seen West Side Story, Wicked, and Kinky Boots quite cheaply. Though I suspect it's harder to win now that all the lotteries are online instead of in person (i.e. less commitment to enter so way more competition).

Exit Video
Christine Baranski talks about filming Mamma Mia 2 and does a really bad Cher impression!

Berlinale: Winners Roundup and More...

Seán McGovern completes his Berlinale coverage. Until next year's fest!

You're no-one in Berlin unless you're coughing, which is what 75% of people (myself included) have been doing this last week.

Negative temperatures make for more serious cinema goers, although 2018's edition had its share of sideswipes. The festival's director Dieter Kosslick has two years remaining before his tenure is up and many are anxiously awaiting a fresh vision. Nevertheless, Berlin has some of the most offbeat and independently-minded filmmakers showing their work, and the gems are absoultely there. Let's have a final look at some of the curiosities that may or may not end up in a cinema near you.

Golden Bear Winner - TOUCH ME NOT (dir. Adina Pintile, Romania/Germany/Czech Republic/Bulgaria/France)

The only premiere at the Berlinale Palast that I managed to go to also turned out to be the the winner of the Golden Bear...

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RPDR All Stars 3: E5 - Can-aroon!

by Chris Feil

Drag Race fans got a mega-serving of the ever popular show this week with an All Stars design challenge followed immediately by the announcement of the season 10 cast. The big tenth season will be following the ongoing All Stars season without a break, so in 2018 the Race is a marathon. We’ll briefly look at the new contestants, but first we have to unpack (oops) the season’s first dud episode.

Last week Shangela played up the drama for a middling Snatch Game and gave once expected frontrunner Trixie Mattel a major fakeout, ultimating sending the beloved but stuck-in-first-gear Chi Chi DeVayne. The first agenda once back in the workroom was to lay the Notegate drama to rest...

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Berlinale: Three queer docs and one all too brief feature

Seán McGovern's continued reporting from the Berlin International Film Festival. Click back to part one if you missed it the opening film "Isle of Dogs". Here are notes on four more films playing at Berlinale 2018. 

Shakedown (dir. Leilah Weinraub, 2018)
This slightly chaotic documentary charting the history of a Los Angeles lesbian dance club in the early Aughts is dope-tempered and energetic. Leilah Weinraub's confident and assured filmmaking features several years of footage of Shakedown's nights – the women who performed and the women who watched. There are plenty of anthropological documentaries about queer subcultures, but Weinraub's doc is anything but...

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Berlinale 2018: Isle of Dogs and more...

Seán McGovern reporting from the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.

There's a friendly kind of brusqueness to Berliners. They're very unbothered. But the barely-contained excitement of my first Berlinale is almost matched by the huge passion the Germans have for film culture. Ten days and dozens of stunning venues. I'm here mainly to see all the films up for the Teddy Award but it wouldn't be a film festival if I wasn't in at least three screenings a day.

Opening Film
Isle of Dogs (dir. Wes Anderson, United Kingdom/Germany)

At first it seems like a basic choice – A famed US director with a star studded cast.

But take a moment to appreciate that Isle of Dogs is a multi-format animation, in dual languages, and about a historic animosity between humans and dogs, set in Japan, in the future. It's is a gorgeous testament to the kind of storytelling animation is capable of...

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