Saturday, July 15, 2017 at 5:00PM Chris here. D23 (basically Disney's own version of Comic Con) is underway and there have been quite a few delightful things to emerge - a gorgeous trailer for A Wrinkle in Time, tidbits on The Last Jedi, and early footage of Coco and the next Avengers gathering...
Monday, June 19, 2017 at 10:44AM Full casting for Broadway hopeful Frozen has been announced. The names have been trickling out for months but now it's all official. The out of town tryouts begin in August in Denver (so if you live there, do report back!). It's quite a high profile gig for all of the cast members none of whom have been Tony nominated and many of whom are in early stages of their careers.
This image, headshots for the two leads Caissie Levy and Patti Murin, is going around and though accidental I couldn't help but giggle a little. Do they share a hairdresser and colorist? Hopefully the differences in the stage sisters will be easy to read via acting and costuming. It's going to be weird to have it on Broadway where Wicked, which Frozen rips off so liberally from, is a Broadway mainstay. We'll see. One assumes Disney will add songs by already EGOTed team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez to the second half or that's going to be one lopsided stage musical with all the songs sung before intermission! [More on the cast after the jump.]
Sunday, June 18, 2017 at 9:00AM Five mood boosting assignments for you this morning. Celebrate this day (June 18th) in showbiz history with us!
2010 I Am Love and Toy Story 3 both open in US theaters. When it rains it pours sometimes with quality at the movies (sadly we also get droughts). The former, an Italian masterpiece starring Tilda Swinton as a foreign trophy wife caught up in an affair and family drama, was the Best Film of the Year (according to yours truly) and the latter a Best Picture nominee and colossal hit for Pixar. Sadly they're sullying its legacy with a sequel even though it reached such a perfect circle-of-life conclusion. Sometimes you need to let perfect things go.
In their honor today: Reminisce about your favorite scene from each. Such great great pictures, right?
More after the jump including a Broadway great and ABBA's breakout smash...
Friday, June 9, 2017 at 6:30PM 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.
Friday, June 2, 2017 at 7:25PM 
Nathaniel popping in from a vacation I forgot to tell you about at Disney World to say hello. (Thanks to the team for keeping you occupied!) Disney opened "Pandora – The World of Avatar" just a week back and the lines are loooong. It's two to three hours for the Avatar related rides and pricy gift shop purchases. The most popular of the souvenirs are banshee puppets that sit on your shoulder. All the little kids seem to be wearing them but it seems like adults might like them even more. They're gorgeous and have a ton of realistic movement you control with a small device in one hand. There are also custom made Avatar action figures that are meant to look like you. That's an exceptional audience-friendly concept for a toy but I personally didn't see enough resemblance in the examples to justify the $80ish price tag.
We fast-passed the "Flight of Passage" ride and it is breathtaking. You mount motorcycle like contraptions and wear some form of 3D glasses for the ride. For a hot minute or so in the middle of the 4 minute ride, I literally forgot I was at an amusement park I was so caught up in it as if I actually were flying a banshee in Na'vi form. James Cameron, never one to shy away from hyperbole, has described the ride as "dreaming with your eyes open” and that's not far off. In theory it's not so different from other rides which are more "virtual" than purely physical (like, say, old school rollercoasters) but this one is the most immersive and transporting ride of its kind that I've ever experienced.
