DVD: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Pimp

New on DVD & BluRay this week are three films which awards season completists will need to see...

• Mr Holmes in which 76 year-old spry Sir Ian McKellen is aged up to play the world's most famous detective at 93 years of age as he mind begins to deteriorate. Mr Holmes was a leggy arthouse hit this summer but can that be converted into an awards run for Sir Ian? We shall see...
• Tangerine, one of the year's best films, follows Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) & Alexandra (Mya Taylor), best friends & hookers, as they search for Sin-Dee's boyfriend/pimp (James Ransone) who cheated on her "with real fish!" during her latest prison stint. It's the most unexpected and awesome Christmas comedy ever. It's already snagged multiple Gotham nominations but pray for Golden Globe, BFCA, Spirit nominations and top ten lists because this Sean Baker gem deserves them.
• Trainwreck, or The Coronation of Amy Schumer as 2015's It Girl. Expect Golden Globe Comedy nominations

Also out this week

• Star Wars Episodes I-VI Steel Book Collection
  The amount of times they've convinced people to buy the Star Wars films in different versions / formats is like Swindling Achievement of the Century right?
• Pay the Ghost in which Nicolas Cage collects another paycheck. He collects loads of them but they surely have less zeroes on them by now.
• Self/Less in which Ben Kingsley steals Ryan Reynolds body (I mean... who wouldn't?)
• We'll Never Have Paris a romantic comedy with Melanie Lynskey, Simon Helberg, Maggie Grace, and Zachary Quinto
• Two Men in Town a restoration of the 1973 French ex-con drama with Jean  Gabin, beautiful Alain Delon, and young Gerard Depardieu

Star Wars: The Marketing Strikes Back

Manuel here. I have been trying to steer clear of the Star Wars hype machine. I’m an avid fan as you all know so I don’t need to obsess over every extra footage trying to glean what this latest installment will be about. Alas, while catching James Bond: The Winter Soldier ahem, I mean Spectre, I caught that latest trailer after all. And while a trailer, as we all know, is by no means indicative of quality, I have to say I am very much eager to revisit this galaxy far far away. 

Abrams did a great job jump starting Star Trek and while Lucas's characters and stories are quite literally of a different world, the emphasis on practical effects and simple color palette suggest there's a chance this could be something special. And thank god we'll be spared any Jar Jar nonsense (though I will say, this wacko theory about that loathed character is funny, if all too ridiculous).

And so, I had to share these character posters that are making the rounds. I know everyone is already making a lot of the fact that Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker continues to be conspicuously (and intentionally, I’m sure) absent from the marketing of the film, but I have to admit that I wanted an Oscar Isaac character poster. If only to see his luscious cartoon pilot locks (what is it with hair and me lately?). And don’t get me started on Lupita; is her character going to be cameo-sized? I'm happy she's getting strong reviews Off-Broadway (enough for her play Eclipsed to already have booked a Broadway run next year) but for all the press she got when she was signed on for the franchise, I'd have expected her to be more prominently featured. [Update: No sooner had I published this that I saw the latest TV ad features her voice!] If she will be unrecognizable under CGI, I hope she gets to play more of a wily Bobba Fett than a tangentially villainous Jabba the Hutt.

And speaking of Jabba, did you hear that all “Slave Leia” merchandise is being pulled from stores? We know Carrie Fisher is not a fan (she reportedly told fellow co-star Daisy Ridley,“You should fight for your outfit. Don’t be a slave like I was.”). It’s a savvy and progressive move on Disney’s part though one which necessarily neglects both what Leia stands for and how the outfit in itself plays out in the film (I mean, she uses her chains to kill her kidnapper!). Yes, the outfit has since been co-opted and exploited, but does that really merit a wilful banishment from our pop culture lexicon?

11 Tweets: Kate Fandom, Bradley Trash, Princess Fatigue

You guys! I leave for Los Angeles in the morning and am feeling so overwhelmed. In a good way of course. Oscar season has basically gone from 0 to 60 while I puttered around my apartment not working fast enough.

In this week's tweet roundup Andie MacDowell sort of announces a very exciting new project (sex, lies and videotape is still her best work), Xavier Dolan announces his love for Kate Winslet, Adele questions DiCaprio, and Guillermo del Toro geeks out about 70s movies  after the jump...

Studying lines & very excited to get back to work leave next Monday for 7 weeks best character since Sex Lies ...lots to dig into ☺️☺️☺️

— Andie MacDowell (@AndieMacDowell3) November 3, 2015

Click to read more ...

'my mom's getting an Honorary and they couldn't even give me a lousy nomination for my brilliant screenplay for Postcards from the Edge'

[Hollywood Royalty problems]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

If you yearn to go into the movie theater cold -- as I am longing more and more to do -- can you resist watching the official trailer. Can I? I'll try but the Dark Side (of Hype) is strong...

On the Yes No Maybe So scale this is a yes without hitting the play button given that it's a culture event. One hates to be a slave to nostalgia but Han, Luke, and Leia returning pushes certain buttons that cannot be unfelt. But, personally speaking, it's a yes without the mania that is felt in most quarters of the internet. Yours truly has no willful amnesia about how utterly terrible the last three Star Wars films were. But let's all hope this one is good for the sake of the masses (ourselves included) who would taste test even if it came with a poison label.