Lucasfilm has narrowed down the lead female role of the upcoming young Han Solo movie to four non-white actresses. The actual role is unknown but current speculation centers on the recent Star Wars comic book character of Sana Solo, the first wife of Han Solo. The rumor is largely fueled by the fact that the comic character is also non-white.
It should be noted that in the John Cassady and Jason Aaron Star Wars comic, the character of Sana Starros “married” Han Solo as part of a cover operation in the story. So how “married” they are might be slighted exaggerated.
Even so, the prospects of adding more depth to a beloved and scoundrel-like character adds some intrigue to the possibilities within an expanded series of Star Wars stories.
After a very wide casting call, Alden Ehrenreich was given the plum role of a youthful Han Solo in what can only be expected to be a new run of films in the beloved Star Wars franchise.
The movie is yet to be officially named, and is currently scheduled for a May 2018 release date.
20th Century Fox released the trailer to ‘Hidden Figures’ Sunday, and the film has caused a buzz. The trailer has 12-million views on Facebook in 48-hours. ‘Hidden Figures’ is the ultimate underdog story for nerds.
‘Hidden Figures’ is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe)—brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.
‘Hidden Figures’ is directed by Theodore Melfi, and stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, and Glen Powell.
Florence Foster Jenkins is as sweet and lovingly crafted a biopic as audiences have seen all year.
It’s a lighthearted glimpse at the life of a woman whose love of music and the arts defined her life and her legend. As brought to life by one of our age’s true screen legends, it’s a delight that should not be missed.
What’s it about?
In 1944 New York City, wealthy heiress and socialite Florence Foster Jenkins (Streep) is the star of “The Verdi Club,” a members-only gathering of music and opera patrons. Her husband, actor St. Clair Bayfield (Grant), occasionally warms up Verdi Club audiences with a monologue, but mostly acts as Florence’s manager.
It’s not an easy job. Mostly, it involves making sure Florence’s audiences are friendly and arts critics in attendance are well compensated in advance for good reviews.
For St. Clair, however, what’s most important is protecting Florence from any possible harm, including the awful truth. Florence … is a terrible singer.
She doesn’t realize it, of course. In her head, she has a lovely voice. Due to her kind and generous nature, peers and fellow art lovers lack the heart to tell her otherwise.
But when a recording of Florence makes it on the radio and generates a tremendous response, particularly from U.S. servicemen home from the fighting in Europe, she makes a bold choice. Florence resolves to perform a benefit for the boys at no less than Carnegie Hall.
With some help from Florence’s devoted but justifiably mortified pianist, Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg), St. Clair sets out to do what he’s always done for his “bunny”: help her live out her dreams. But even their best efforts may not be enough to get Florence through the biggest night of her life unscathed by the harshest critic of all: reality.
Streep, as always, shines
The true story behind Florence Foster Jenkins isn’t not an unfamiliar one, especially for music and theater buffs. In fact, the story was the subject of a German documentary released earlier this year.
What makes the difference here is, naturally, Meryl Streep. Streep, who really can sing, clearly has a ball portraying someone who really, really can’t sing.
Her depiction of Florence is all the more endearing because the character is so blithely oblivious to her deficiencies. Between that and her genuine love of music and the arts, one can’t help but love Florence for her Quixotic efforts.
The cast behind her is exceptional, as well. Grant does proper and anxious as well as he ever has, but there’s real warmth and likability in what he brings to St. Clair. Helberg, however, draws some of the film’s biggest laughs thanks to his initial reaction to Florence’s singing and his subsequent terror at having to accompany her on the grandest of stages, putting his own ambitions at risk.
Not all played for laughs
Director Stephen Frears (The Queen, Philomena) does not just play Florence Foster Jenkins for laughs, however. Yes, audiences who give the film a chance are likely to come away from it remembering best the flatness of Florence’s singing, because it really is funny and cringe-worthy to watch.
But beyond those moments, Frears brings to life in elegant fashion the chaste love between Florence and St. Clair, which helps fill the film with heart and emotional weight. The film also briefly touches on the role of critics in the world of the arts, how important their feedback can be, and how self-righteous they can become as they see themselves as self-appointed gatekeepers of quality.
Costume and production design also stand out in Florence Foster Jenkins. For this production, Frears turns to frequent collaborators Consolata Boyle (costumes) and Alan MacDonald (production), both of whom should be in the conversation for Oscar and BAFTA awards later this year. MacDonald’s art design is immersive and authentic throughout the film, while Boyle’s work on Florence’s attire, from her everyday clothes to her costumes for performances, projects all the taste and charm that it should to be reflective of Florence herself.
Worth seeing?
For fans of Streep and Frears’ previous films, Florence Foster Jenkins is a must-see film, but its potential for appeal goes far beyond just those audiences.
Yes, there are all those laughs during Florence’s attempts at opera that may also have viewers hiding their eyes or covering their ears. But there’s also a genuine admiration for the woman’s efforts and her devotion to the arts in the film, one that grants the film an irrepressible, unforgettable charm.
Florence Foster Jenkins
Starring Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson, Nina Arianda. Directed by Stephen Frears.
Running Time: 110 minutes
Rated PG-13 for brief suggestive material.
Yes, it’s just a U.S. Postal truck, but I’ve never seen one like this delivering my mail. It’s a futuristic prop from Ready Player One, and if memory serves it’s a pretty key transport for one character or another.
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
Tye Sheridan stars as Wade, and the rest of the cast includes Simon Pegg, new Spielberg BFF (and BFG, get it!?!?) Mark Rylance, T.J. Miller, Olivia Cooke, and Hannah John-Kamen. It’s set to release March 30, 2018. So we have some time to kill…
Paramount Pictures released a full trailer to Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Arrival,’ Tuesday morning. Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama builds scale in the second trailer, with scale comes anticipation and nerd excitement. The director of ‘Sicario’ has a chance to save a very bland year in film.
Are you excited for this movie? Comment below.
When mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team – lead by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) – is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks, and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.
Arrival’ stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. We will see aliens on November 11.
Jim Lee has seen a lot in his comic book career. After spurring the 1990’s Marvel Comics renaissance, he helped found Image Comics, sold his production company to DC and then worked up to become the Co-Publisher of DC Comics. Along the way he arguably influenced a generation of comic book artists with his active, detailed style of illustration.
For a character born in 1992 to flesh out a scene in Batman: The Animated Series, the road to super-stardom has been relatively fast, with worldwide notice taking place in 2016’s Suicide Squad movie. Within the last few years, Harley Quinn has been taking the comic book world by storm becoming one of the most featured players in the DC Universe, and is currently enjoying even more total appearances than Wonder Woman, who is part of the DC Comics “Trinity” that also includes Superman and Batman.
Clearly, the complex character of Harley Quinn resonates with modern fans. She’s a psychopath, a paramour of Joker, colorful, funny and unpredictable. She’s a hero, anti-hero and villain. Harley Quinn often challenges us to examine an idea from various perspectives and to consider things from whatever point of view she may or may not have.
With all of these attributes, it’s not hard to understand how Harley Quinn became so popular, so quickly.
So when Jim Lee talks about the Fourth Pillar of DC Comics, it really shines a light on the “coming out party” of Harley Quinn.
Harley Quinn’s Coming Out Party
This “coming out” is translating to some big bucks for DC and Warner Brothers. Licensing for Harley Quinn in toys and collectibles is very hot. Any comic books starring Harley vault to the top of retailer orders, with higher numbers than Superman or Wonder Woman offerings.
All the powers at DC and Warner Brothers know what they have in Harley Quinn.
If people didn’t know her before, they do now after the character’s live-action breakout on the Suicide Squad movie. Conversations of a spinoff are certainly happening.
Clearly Harley Quinn is here to stay and it’s likely the character is going to be a big part of future offerings from DC Comics and the DCEU.
So long Trinity, it seems that DC Comics and Warner Brothers now have “The Quinnity”.
Warner Bros. released a new image of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise from the ‘It’ reboot directed by Andrés Muschiett. Tim Curry played the original Pennywise.
A monster of unknown origins, It originated before the creation of the universe itself in a dimension named the “Deadlights,” and It’s true form is never revealed. Because of this, the Losers’ Club does not know what It actually is, giving the creature its name. The form It takes the most is that of a sadistic clown, named Pennywise. The clown form is used as a decoy when stalking a child. In It’s home under the sewers, It takes the form of a monstrous pregnant female black spider. This form is determined to be the closest to It’s true physical shape. Having control over what happens in Derry, many of the child murders It commits are never solved, as the adults of Derry either act as though nothing is happening or have forgotten about It.
The monster arrived on Earth in the form of an asteroid during prehistory, landing on what later would become the town of Derry, and hibernated there until humans settled and colonized the place. It awoke, fed on the settlers, and started a cycle of hibernation, in which It would sleep for almost three decades and be awake for over two years. Every time It’s hibernation stage finished, events of extreme violence happened in Derry. To feed on its prey, It transforms into the shape of whatever the victim most fears to extract their fear and consume it.
“The costume definitely incorporates all these otherworldly past lives, if you will. He is definitely a clown from a different time.” said costume designer Janie Bryan in an interview with EW.
‘It’ based on Stephen King’s novel is scheduled for a September 8, 2017, theatrical release.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson and lead Benedict Cumberbatch dropped some new details about the film.
Cumberbatch on the character of Stephen Strange:
“This man reaches the very bottom and then more. You think, How much more can this guy take? He’s broken, he gets up again, he’s broken — and that’s really what makes him a superhero. A lot of people have asked me, ‘What makes him a superhero?’ That’s really the answer I should have given. It’s not the Cloak of Levitation. It’s not the Eye of Agamotto. It’s about his staying power. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. The guy endures so much.”
Derrickson on the unique visuals, story and overall ambition of the movie:
“The ambition was to use cutting-edge visual effects to do things that are fresh and new — to not just blow things up… All I will say is that the movie deals heavily with other dimensions.”
Along with these quotes regarding the movie, some new images were released. Check ’em out below.
“Marvel’s Doctor Strange follows the story of the talented neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a tragic car accident, must put ego aside and learn the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. Based in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilizing a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect the Marvel cinematic universe.”
Robert Downey Jr. is headed back to TV for the first time in 15 years, and he’s teaming up with HBO and their star-crossed scribe, Nic Pizzolatto.
According to the news at Variety, plot details for the new series from the True Detective creator and Iron Man are practically non-existent. “[B]ut,” the reports says, “insiders say the project is based on Downey Jr.’s “Perry Mason” reboot, which he had been developing as a feature film at Warner Bros. for several years.”
For anyone born after, say, 1990, Perry Mason was a courtroom drama starring the TV legend Raymond Burr in the title role. The show ran from 1957 to 1966, and into perpetuity on syndication.
Perry Mason is an interesting passion project for Robert Downey Jr. The last time RDJ was on television was way back in the early 2000s, when he was trying to get his wheels back on and guest starred on Ally McBeal.
Pizzolatto is still trying to rebound from the woefully mismanaged second season of True Detective, when so much good will seemingly vanished into the desert with Vince Vaughn and his epic death walk. I think time will tell a different story about that wild ass second season – I’m getting close to revisiting it myself – but there’s no secret Pizzolatto needs to make good on his deal with HBO.
