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Han Solo isn’t exactly a character that has our affections enmeshed in his origins. As played in the original Star Wars saga by peak hunk Harrison Ford, Han is about 50% swagger, 30% smart ass, and 20% emotional walls. He’s a crucial element, but one whose history isn’t essential to the story we all know and love - so in tracing his beginnings, Solo - A Star Wars Story needs a strong point of view to be more than a spin on the hampster wheel. It’s sadly almost there...
Chris here. We've got only a month or so before we finally feast our eyes on the much reported troubled production of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Was Ron Howard able to steer the film to safety after original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller notoriously clashed with Lucasfilm brass? Depending on which reports you believe, Howard either completely reshot the entire script or just the major set pieces. Whether the final product succeeds, expect the "who shot what" discussion to continue into Star Wars lore like "Han shot first".
Adding to the concern has been a lack of footage to pore over, but await no longer for a full trailer is finally here! While the delayed glimpse at what is in store hasn't done much in the way of damage control, the actual trailer doesn't quite help either. We're served a mishmash of murky imagery and what looks to be an overadherence to formula, particularly in its character lineup. If you can already sense there are too many cooks in the kitchen from this short assemblage, it might be time to believe the worst. Doesn't it feel like the titular hero (and our beloved Alden Ehrenreich who plays him) is being backgrounded? Shouldn't our heart race immediately at the sight of the Millennium Falcon?
But the trailer isn't without its highlights: Donald Glover being sexy in space, ample capes, Woody Harrelson being weird again, and whatever it is that Thandie Newton is doing (but speechlessly so? Why?!). And thanks to Fleabag, we still couldn't be any more excited for whatever Phoebe Waller-Bridge's android brings. For now, we wait nervously on the rest...
• Film Doctor UK good interview with a action film storyboard artist • IndieWire David Ehrlich makes a great case that Oscar needs to change their rules about Original Song. "Cut to the Feeling" from Leap is not eligible (incidentally for the same reason "Come What May" wasn't eligible... originally written for something else and then unused for that something else) • Variety Morgan Freeman will be this year's SAG Lifetime Achievement Recipient • NYT and LAT remember the career of movie & television star Jerry Lewis (RIP)
• AV Club more drama for that Han Solo movie. Michael K Williams, currently Emmy nominated for The Night Of, has had his entire part cut out. • Deadline another new role for Roland Møller (in the action film Skyscraper). The Danish actor is hot hot hot after Land of Mine. You'll understand if you've seen that Oscar nominated picture • The Guardian we're promised a definitive victor in the forthcoming action film Godzilla vs Kong. But either way audiences probably lose.
TV • Variety the annual survey of who makes what per episode of hit TV shows. Casts of Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones, Modern Family, and Robert DeNiro (in a new series) are swimming in money. Cast of This is Us will surely eventually be but not quite yet. • Out RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 3 is a go... and already filming! • Variety Peak TV still hasn't peaked. At least in terms of quantity. One executive predicts 534 new series next year so you're not just imagining that it's impossible to keep up • Coming Soon 'everything we know about Star Trek Discovery'... though can someone explain to me the deal with this. I keep hearing that it'll be on Netflix and that Netflix is distributing. Yet often times and sometimes even in the same single paragraph in various articles it will say "exclusively on CBS All Access" so I'm confused. Anyone?
Off-Screen Comic Book Resources fun article on that time that the Incredible Hulk could fly in the comics
• Vulture Michelle Pfeiffer's ten essential roles • Prizeo Lin-Manuel Miranda offers up the chance to win VIP tickets and a meet and greet at the opening night of Hamilton in Los Angeles with a donation to "Immigrants Get the Job Done Coalition". (And FYI two former Tony nominees Joshua Henry as Aaron Burr and Rory O'Malley as King George are in the company) • Vanity Fair on how difficult it is to get a gay film made in today's Hollywood. The headline to this is a bit misleading since it's like "in a post-Moonlight world" but let's be reasonable. Moonlight only made its dent a handful of months back. So most of the films cited didn't have Moonlight to point to when seeking financing
• THR More dirt on what happened behind the scenes on the troubled Han Solo movie • Nerdist Why Megara is the MVP of Disney's Hercules • Playbill The glorious Audra McDonald finally makes her West End debut, no big deal after 6 Tony Awards, reprising her Tony winning / Emmy nominated Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill Billie Holiday role • Buzzfeed the hardest game of 'would you rather' with hot cartoon dudes. I don't know. Most of these were easy for me but your mileage may vary. • Variety offers up a franchise report card on the various series that are taking up so much of Hollywood's time and capital. But shouldn't Bond and Tarzan have been included in this roundup? • Decider lists the '20 best foreign films on Netflix'... though the list would have been more exciting had they editorialized rather than just pulling the RT scores to determine which 20 to feature • MNPP pic of the day with Edgar Wright at a Baby Driver screening
Exit Video Check out this glorious montage of NYC (hat tip to Gothamist) as seen through the movies.
God, I love living here. And one of my fav things in movies is city street scenes where the main character is just part of a huge walking crowd (the most classic visual example being Tootsie I think). How many movies did you instantly recognize?
Robert here! The Star Wars franchise has been enjoying a commercial and critically successful third wind with the release of new trilogy starting The Force Awakens and standalone, universe expanding film Rogue One. While the next installment of the main nonilogy of films, The Last Jedi, is slated to be released in December, the next standalone film, an origin story for series favorite character Han Solo, has hit a major snarl as directing team Phil Lord and Chris Miller have just announced that they are departing the project.
Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 11:00PM 
