Would you rather?

Time for another round of our silly hangin' with celebrities game, brought to you via the aspirational pleasures of Instagram.

Would you rather... 

• smell the flowers with Missi Pyle?
• steal a Myrtle Snow painting with Sarah Paulson?
• Read Thelma Adams' new book with the LEOgend?
• enjoy a mud treatment with Michelle Monaghan on the Dead Sea?
• attend a tennis match with Mads Mikkelsen?
• do charity with Liv Tyler & Goldie Hawn?
• dine with Julianne Moore & Kyle Maclachlan?
• see Vox Lux with Carrie Preston & Emily Berg?
• visit an ADR session with Lena Olin?
• have a cup with Henry Golding & Michelle Yeoh?

pictures after the jump to help you decide... 

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Blueprints: "Crazy Rich Asians"

I’m back. Thanks everyone for bearing with the small hiatus that the column took for the past few weeks. Who knew being overworked and sick wasn’t a good time? For our return, let’s take a look at the biggest movie of the summer, and how a pivotal scene operates in many emotional levels. -Jorge

Warning! Crazy Rich Spoilers ahead!

There are many things to admire in Crazy Rich Asians. Consider theway it reinvents a rom-com formula that seemed to have gotten stale. Or its historic all-Asian cast, something that hadn’t happened in an American movie in over two decades. Big themes of family, legacy, tradition and culture running through its veins. And Michele Yeoh’s stare. One scene in the movie encompasses all of these traits.

The mahjong game, the final confrontation between Rachel (Constance Wu) and Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) was not in the original novel; it was written specifically for the film. It's one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the movie, where Rachel finally gives up the fight and backs away from her fiancée and his family that clearly doesn’t want her there. But in the scene, Rachel reclaims power and control in many levels at the same time. Let’s take a look at the script to see how the most tense movie moment of the summer was crafted. Sorry, Mission Impossible...

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Beauty vs Beast: Video Nasties

Hey everybody it's Jason from MNPP here poking my head out from in between NYFF screenings to entertain us with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" real quick - this weekend Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers is hitting theaters, but as I am sure you are each and all aware it's not the first time we have been gifted the sight of Jake Gyllenhaal & Riz Ahmed on-screen together. Nope four years ago they gave us the wonder that was Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler, in which the self-determined (ha, understatement) Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) took the slightly less determined Rick (Ahmed) under his wing. And what a scratchy wing that was.

bike trails

PREVIOUSLY Although her fate was a downer in Crouching Tiger we can now these many years later finally give a round of applause to Michelle Yeoh's character of Yu Shu Lien, who roundly trounced Zhang Ziyi's Jen Yu, taking 73% of your vote. I'm sure it's little comfort given what she lost, but hey, whatcha gonna do. Said Ani di:

"Not fair, this is like a gay sophie's choice. Torture."

Beauty vs Beast: Tiger vs Dragon

Jason Adams from MNPP here, hoping against hope that Michelle Yeoh's name doesn't get lost among all the brand new Oscar contenders currently dominating our thoughts thanks to the ongoing Toronto Film Festival; they might be fresh playthings but Crazy Rich Asians as Nathaniel just reported is still dominating the box office, so let's keep Yeoh's heat going.

And what better way than to use this week's "Beauty vs Beast" glance back at her previous greatest role, that of the love-stricken bad-ass Yu Shu Lien in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She faced down an ignorant but loveable upstart that time around to, with Zhang Ziyi embodying all fiery desire as the thief and shit-kicker Jen Yu. 

survey services

PREVIOUSLY Our Hammer vs Cavill battle kept itself pretty tight but Armie came out on top (I hear he's into that) with 52% of your vote - said Matt:

"Well, Armie Hammer wants to wrestle. So....yeah."

Podcast: Crazy Rich Asians and Glenn Close for Best Actress

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl welcome Nick Davis back to the podcast this week for lots of Crazy Rich Asians talk.

Index (58 minutes)
00:01 Introductions. Randomness.
02:10 Nick has read the book that The Wife is based on!
05:01 Crazy Rich Asians talk. Lots and lots on with SPOILERS (sorry). We love the ensemble including Michelle Yeoh, Harry Shum Jr, Pierre Png, Gemma Chan, and more...
36:34 Older films we've been watching: Travels with My Aunt (1972) Your Name (2016), and Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969)
42:00 Recent releases: I Feel Pretty, Madeline's Madeline, The Darkest Minds
50:45 Steve James new docuseries "America to Me"
54:00 Glenn Close for Best Actress! 

Referenced in this discussion
• Nathaniel's year old review of The Wife from TIFF
• Murtada's Desiree Akhavan interview
• Justin Chang's Crazy Rich Asians review
• Kelley Dong's Crazy Rich Asians review
• The 1972 Best Actress list

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Crazy Rich Asians, The Wife