would you rather...?

Time for another silly 'let's fantasize about hanging out with celebrities' game. Would you rather...

• visit South Africa with two of its most famous exports Charlize Theron and Trevor Noah?
• cheer Ashley Judd's cat on as it fully recovers from a near fatal attack?
• do goat yoga (there are so many kinds of yoga!) with Marisa Tomei?
• watch the eclipse with Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda, and Mary Steenburgen?
• bask in the afterglow with Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally?
• mother kittens with Kristin Bauer?
• hang in Brooklyn in your pjs with Anna Kendrick?
• wish John Stamos a happy birthday suit?

pictures after the jump to help you decide.

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Beauty Break: Women's March

can we please have a duet?!?

A shout out to all the brave souls that marched today... er yesterday now. Before we return to movie loving with more awardage in the morning, let's look at fun movie-themed signs (including Grease, Star Wars, and even less expected choices like Dazed and Confused and  Carol!) and lots of celebrities marching with civilians.

Women's rights are human rights. Inspiring people and funny signs after the jump...

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First Bite. Will "The Founder" Serve Tasty Drama?

As iconic logos go, it's impossible to beat those golden arches. Smart teaser work, then, to instantly brand your movie. On the other hand...

Does McDonalds really scream "Major Motion Picture" or will it have people thinking i saw a doc about that once. 

The presence of the newly dazzling Michael Keaton (quite a comeback these past two years!) should help win the film attention. Keaton is the businessman who wrestled away control of McDonalds in the 1950s and made it into an empire... but not without a lot of behind the scenes drama apparently. The supporting cast includes John Carrol Lynch and Nick Offerman as the actual McDonald brothers, and Laura Dern as Keaton's wife. Patrick Wilson and Linda Cardellini play another couple though we're not sure how they fit into the story. The film opens on August 5th from the Weinstein Co who keep claiming they're determined to make the summer work for Oscar launches (after having helped making the last quarter mandatory over the last 20+ years).

The screenplay is by Robert Seigel (who wrote The Wrestler and Big Fan). Director John Lee Hancock has directed one Best Picture nominee to date (The Blind Side) and one intended Oscar player that didn't get invited to the playground (Saving Mr Banks) but his best film remains The Rookie (2002) don't you think? Part of the one-two punch (with Far From Heaven -- odd bedfellows!) that should have been the great sticky comeback for Dennis Quaid a dozen plus years back. (We're distracted by comeback stories of late thanks to Kyle's Easter post.)

Do you have high hopes for The Founder, Oscar-related or otherwise?

Sundance: Redford and Nolte go on a breezy "Walk in the Woods"

Based on the best seller by Bill BrysonMichael C reporting from Sundance to review a film starring the Sundance Kid himself.

Ken Kwapis's A Walk in the Woods has the misfortune of following not one, but two movies about the restorative spiritual powers of hiking, Tracks and Wild. Taken on its own the story of two estranged buddies hiking the Appalachian trail despite everyone saying they are way too old would probably be taken as a bit too broad, a bit too slight. Following hot on the heels of those high quality titles it feels positively featherweight. A Walk in the Woods is a lark, just an opportunity to take a low stakes tromp through the wilderness in the company of two beloved actors, Redford and Nolte. Some of it is amusing, most of it is agreeable, and if it occasional touches on an undercurrent of loss and regret, it is only in a minor way.

Redford plays semi-retired travel writer Bill Bryson as he has reached the age where every conversation is about ailments and funerals. Despite being semi-retired it all becomes too much for him until he announces out of the blue his intention to hike the Appalachian Trail, a plan his wife takes as tantamount to a suicide attempt. She insists he not go alone, but every friend laughs off the idea of an epic senior citizen trek across the East Coast...

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