Throwback Thursday: Still ended up in outer space...

Lynn Lee here, with a little "before they were in Star Wars" trip down memory lane...
Remember when Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren did a novelty song with Justin Timberlake?

Does this mean JT will be joining them at some point in our favorite outer space saga?  Maybe there can be a truce trio - or even a quartet with Daisy Ridley...

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) is one of those films that I didn't love when I first saw it but gradually burrowed its way into my soul.  I now think it's one of the Coen brothers' best.  Of course, a lot of credit goes to the gorgeous musical performances, especially Oscar Isaac's solo turns, even if they're continually punctuated (and punctured) by the complete lack of on-screen audience appreciation.  Or maybe all the more because of that: you feel like you're making a private discovery, whether of the character or the actor, or both.  Definitely worth revisiting, if nothing else as the sad-mask companion piece to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" or for the always-welcome reminder that Oscar Isaac can sang.

Review: "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens"

This article originally appeared yesterday in Nathaniel's column on Towleroad. It is reprinted here in a slightly longer version

[Please read with the John Williams Star Wars theme blaring in your head…]

 

In the first trailer for The Force Awakens (aka Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens but we’ll go with the shorter title). Han Solo famously announced…

Chewie we’re home.

You’ll be happy to learn that it wasn’t just a well placed trailer byte but a promise to audiences that the film actually delivers on. I can state unequivocably that the The Force Awakens is the best Star Wars film in 32 years. That might sound like a backhanded compliment — for what could be worse than the 1999-2005 prequels? —  but it’s meant with great affection just like the film in question...

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Beauty Break: W Magazine October Issue

Behold an Inez & Vinoodh celeb-filled photoshoot they're dubbing "The New Royals" in the latest issue of W. Kicking it off with Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis below -- wasn't it great to see her again in Scream Queens? Ryan Murphy has his foibles -- I get that he's always trying to be "outrageous" rather than serious but there is an odd whiff of misogyny strung through everything -- but bless him for giving so many actresses of a certain age big parts.

More photogenic divas including Claire Danes and Academy Award Winner Julianne Moore* after the jump...

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Star Wars: The Marketing Awakens

Manuel (and Yoda!) here to talk more Star Wars! 

A photo posted by Manuel Betancourt (@bmanuel) on May 4, 2015 at 4:30am PDT

I have been an avid Star Wars fan since as far back as I can remember (blame my mom who was obsessed with Harrison Ford!) and so I couldn't let this celebration go by without throwing my two cents.

Nathaniel already wished you all a Happy May the Fourth, but as if intent on making sure the franchise isn't resting on nostalgia, Vanity Fair has just released a number of beautiful portraits of the new recruits of The Force Awakens and I couldn't not share three of them with you: 

Oscar Isaac: woofworthy since 2011 (and probably even before but I do love him in Drive)

The helmet is off and we get a first glimpse at bad guy Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)

And I saved the best for last:

Lupita: luminous even when doing motion capture (her character is apparently a pirate named Maz Kanata) 

Which of these pics will you be framing and swooning over until December when the film opens? Do these portraits give you hope, or do they just give you flashbacks to the equally glossy and gawk-worthy ones that greeted Episode One?

Tribeca: "The Adderall Diaries" and "Hungry Hearts"

Tribeca Festival coverage. Here's Joe Reid, who you know and love from the podcast...

The Adderall Diaries
We sometimes joke around about James Franco's insane output over the last five years -- he's been in WELL OVER 30 movies since 127 Hours, with a whopping 21 of them playing film festivals. That's an average of five films a year playing in some festival or another.

For a lesser-known actor, this kind of heavy indie output might be a better idea. Throw yourself into as many projects as possible, increasing your odds that one of them will hit. Franco's already established, though. He's had his hits. What starring in so many festival indies does for him it's the opposite: it ups his odds that he'll end up in at least a few total stinkers, every year. It's gotten to the point where Franco's presence in an indie feels like the promise of disappointment.

New Franco and new Adam Driver after the jump...

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