Beauty Break: Mahershala Ali and the Beach

Chris here, reminding you that recent Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is the gift that keeps on giving. While we haven't been able to enjoy his abilities onscreen since his Best Supporting Actor win for Moonlight, we will soon get a little something special as he costars with Lupita Nyong'o in Jay-Z's much-teased (and apparently naughtily NC-17) visual album that drops on Tidal at the end of the month. After that, he'll have supporting roles in Sundance favorite Roxanne Roxanne and Robert Rodriquez's manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel next summer.

But speaking of waves, GQ has the actor having some fun in the sun on their newest cover. The actor is as swoonworthy as ever in both the photo spread and interview, though the article doesn't hint at any of those upcoming projects. No matter, just enjoy Ali's breeze in the rest of the spread after the jump...

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Beauty Break: The Men of "Mr. Goodbar"

by Seán McGovern

Annie Hall turns 40 this year and Diane Keaton will be the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award next month (June 8th to be exact). Keaton, a perennial A-lister, reminds us every few years about the extent of her talents. She's been enjoying recent success in The Young Pope and her upcoming projects Hampstead and Book Club sound promising at least. Since Annie Hall turns 40 this year so too will Keaton's other '77 triumph, Looking For Mr. Goodbar. 

Though Goodbar is remembered for Keaton in a dramatic role (which this author will pay attention to here at a later date), the film is definitely what we'd call in contemporary parlance "problematic". I recently watched Goodbar for my own podcast, but amongst the reprehensible moments I finally understood why so many women of a certain age (i.e. my mother) swooned over Richard Gere - who we get to see plenty of in this film, as well as co-star Tom Berenger who never looked so gorgeous.[More, slightly NSFW, after the jump...] 

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Beauty Break: Happy 90th Birthday to the Grauman's Chinese!

One of my favorite places in Hollywood turned 90 years old today. The Grauman's Chinese Theater, which often houses premieres and events, opened on this day in 1927, so its centennial is just ten years away. It's currently known as the TCL Theater and was called the Mann Theater before that but it's still popularly known as Grauman's. You can rename something as perks for modern corporations but sometimes the original name hangs around (as well as it should). Don't even get me started on beautiful Broadway theaters chucking their iconic stage giant names for "American Airlines Theater" or whatnot. DO NOT GET ME STARTED. 

The Grauman's most familiar pop culture aspect is its large collection of cement tiles out front bearing the handprints of movie stars from all eras. So it's time for a Beauty Break. Which of these ceremonies after the jump do you most wish you had been at? 

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Beauty Break: A National Treasure in National Parks

Brad Pitt recently opened up to GQ in a lengthy interview about divorce, drinking, therapy, and his new film War Machine. Interviews like this, which get so personal, are always a a bit of a strange experience if you love movie stars. Should you voraciously read everything about your favorite stars or let the work speak for itself and give their mystique some space to work? 

I've never sold that question for myself so I read lengthy profiles/interviews quite erratically.

But one thing that offers pleasure without any such confusion is looking at photos of beautiful stars. So here are some gorgeous pictures of National Treasure Brad Pitt in three of our National Parks, along with a few key quotes from the interviews. Did you know what Brad's favorite among his own films is? It's not what I expected.

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Costume Design ~ April Foolish Oscar Predix

on the set of THE CURRENT WARCutting right to the chase tonight. Here's what I'm predicting for Oscar's Costume Design category in this first round of punditry

• The Current War (Michael Wilkinson)
• The Greatest Showman (Ellen Mirojnick)
• Murder on the Orient Express (Alexandra Byrne)
• Victoria & Abdul (Consolata Boyle)
• Wonderstruck (Sandy Powell)

[Here's the chart]

Sandy Powell is always a good bet of course with 12 past nominations and 3 wins and she'll obviously be having a great time with the dual time frames and actressing of Julianne Moore. The other designers are less regular with the Academy but they've all been nominated with the exception of Ellen Mirojnick. But Mirojnick is no slouch having designed iconic pieces seen in films like Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and recently she won the Emmy for Soderbergh's Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. She's got one of the year's (presumably) showiest gigs : Hugh Jackman's PT Barnum musical The Greatest Showman.

Ali Fasal stars opposite Dame Judi Dench in VICTORIA AND ABDUL

But that's just scratching the surface of what will surely be lots of fine threads in the movies this year from many talented designers. After the jump, a Beauty Break of Costume Design possibilities this year...

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