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Anne Marie here, delivering the latest Comic Con news.
And the word of day two was: Star Wars! Any other events that may have taken place Friday were completely overshadowed by the evening Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel, for which fans camped in line over 24 hrs. (Adorably, JJ Abrams bought the Hall H line donuts.)
The panel was a blend of tradition and technology designed to quell fears and excite fan hearts. New castmembers (not Lupita, alas) made appearances on the panel shoulder-to-shoulder with animatronic puppets AND the original trio: Mark Hammill, Carrie Fisher, and (surprise) Harrison Ford himself. Instead of a trailer, Abrams brought a behind-the-scenes look at the The Force Awakens, which stresses even further the blending of old and new. Watch for a first glimpse of Leia, a lot of practical effects, and Lupita Nyong'o (who appears briefly at roughly the 1 minute mark).
So, Star Wars fans: does this video awaken the force within you? Or do you still fear the film's fall into the dark side?
Hi, everyone! Anne Marie here. And by "here," I mean "in LA," because the stars did not align to get me to San Diego Comic Con this year. So, like any geek, I've been glued to social media all day. Here's a quick summary of Comic Con Day 1:
Photo from AP
1) Bill Murray Rocked the Kasbah. No idea why Rock the Kasbah is at SDCC, but nobody rocks a costumed guest appearance quite like Bill Murray.
“I’ll believe these films are definitely happening when they are on the screen.”
3) Doctor Who released an official trailer to the internet but Mockingjay Part 2 did not because apparently the producers of Mockingjay don't understand how the internet works. It's out there. Just google it.
Click to embiggen
4) Tomorrow's Star Wars panel *already* has a gigantic line. It's been forming since Wednesday. Don't you feel a little better about not going now?
The Star is TIFF about to get an "In Competition" slate at their annual festival? They've always avoided it Playbill Sutton Foster visited "The View" and talked Thoroughly Modern Millie and her new show Younger (which she is typically excellent/adorable/funny in if you haven't yet watched it. No musical numbers yet though, boo!) Wired has a longform oral history of ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) for its 40th anniversary, the fx house created originally for Star Wars that changed movies. The Daily Beast on Flula Borg, the German scene stealer from Pitch Perfect 2 Playbill this always kind of annoys me but non-nominated musicals will be performing at the Tony Awards: Gigi, Finding Neverland, and It Shoulda Been You. Better to spend the time focusing on nominees, I think. Comics Alliance Vertigo Comics was totally prepared for the world to go wild for Mad Max Fury Road. They already have prequel comics and an art book with pre-comissioned tributes by major comic artists. Towleroad Nick the Gardener takes you on a behind the scene tour of Magic Mike XXL for Ellen
Cannes Cannes RogerEbert.comloves Hou Hsiao-hsien’s longawaited epic The Assassin starring Shu Qi. Another Palme d'Or contender? This year seems highly competitive. But mixed on Youth... which is apparently highly influenced by 8½ Awards Daily Sasha says that Paolo Sorrentino's Youth about two old men in the film industry, one retired (Caine) one still working (Keitel) will be catnip to Oscar voters In Contention says Emily Blunt is "spectacular" in Sicario but Benicio del Toro is the MVP The Playlist [NSFW] has a clip from Gaspar Noé's Love
"Mad" Must Reads Because people can't stop writing about the Mad Men finale and George Miller's fourth Mad Max film. These are highly recommended!
Emily Nussbaum on the "existential brilliance" of the Mad Men finale Julianne Escobedo Shepherd examines how the meaning of Don Draper --or what we thought the show was about -- seem to have shifted over time Alan Sepinwall grapples with the two Dons or rather Don & Dick and what we want from a person/character and who they really are Mark Harris on "Artisinal Macho" and why the Mad Max Fury Road action scenes make recent action films feel so weightless Arthur Chu offers up a rundown of the long form feminism and "toxic masculinity" of the Mad Max franchise - the headline and subheader are kind of misleading but the actual point by point content / argument is terrific
1979 to Go Criterion Collection got Bette Midler to reminisce about The Rose (1979) for a dvd release!!! Take a look.
Jason from MNPP hoping your hangover from partying hard into the wee hours of Mother's Day is not too harsh. I know how it goes - when your Mom demands more shots, ya gotta do more shots. And speaking of Motherhood! As Nathaniel just told you last week this month's Supporting Actress Smackdown belongs to the year 1979, and when they get to that on May 31st a really big piece of that puzzle will be Meryl Streep's performance in Kramer vs Kramer, which brought her her first Oscar. Kramer vs Kramer... Beauty vs Beast... it's a natural fit! Consider this an appetizer to the Smackdown main course...
Whose team are you on?
Team Ted0%
Team Joanna0%
PREVIOUSLY Last week we also took on the breaking of familial bonds, albeit in a galaxy a bit further away than our own, when we pitted Luke Skywalker against his helmeted Papa Darth. Well you're all a bunch of evil Empire lovers becauve Vader strutted off (imagine John Williams' marching music here) with just under 70% of the vote Said Steven:
Happy May the Fourth, everybody! Jason from MNPP here - it wasn't until this morning when Nathaniel reminded us of the annual Star Wars holiday-of-sorts that I looked back through our "Beauty vs Beast" archives and found it to be seriously Skywalker wanting, which is just unacceptable. I was maybe a little too young for the first round of Star Wars movies and definitely a little too old for the Prequels so I've never been as huge a fanatic about the series as some folks, but I enjoy the world enough that the Force Awakens trailer made me a little misty-eyed. I have my fingers and toes and lightsabers crossed that Abrams has made a good movie, one that does justice to what George Lucas accomplished and to what so many people love - the simple story of a boy and his dad, learning to find common ground.
Whose team are you on?
Team Luke Skywalker0%
Team Darth Vader0%
PREVIOUSLY Elvira Hancock might've told Tony Montana they were losers not winners but it turns out he's the only loser in this town - Michelle Pfeiffer pretty handily trounced Al Pacino in last weeks Scarface-off. Said The Pretentious Know It All:
"Admit you didn't vote for Elvira on this blog at your own peril."
Saturday, July 11, 2015 at 10:24AM 
