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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"Pitch Perfect 3" Teaser

Chris here. Are you ready for another acapella round of pop mashups and "pitch" puns? Anna Kendrick and the rest of the Barden Bellas will be back for a third trip to the stage for this Christmas's Pitch Perfect 3. And we just got out first glimpse of what fun is in store with a first teaser trailer.

Except this trailer looks very little like what we've loved in the past. Instead of musical numbers, we get hints of action sequences and icky jokes at timeliness like Rebel Wilson in a "Make American Eat Again" hat - looks like we might be headed for the pitfalls of "a sequel means we must go bigger" syndrome. Where is the charm? Where is the heart?  Where are the TUNES?

Perhaps worst of all, it looks like they will be sidelining Hailee Steinfeld after her young songwriter livened up the second installment with the pop ballad "Flashlight" - I guess the Bellas are back to preexisting music full stop based on what their competition says about them in this trailer. Or maybe the film will just be reliving its global plot points from that last go around.

You can't blame the film for not spoiling the chosen tracks just yet and since that's a major part of the joy of these films, we'll hold out on a full Yes No Maybe So treatment. But needless to say this first look is... suspicious. Have a look for yourself and tell us your thoughts. Also: what musical artist would you like to see the group cover this time?

Tony Awards 2017: Key Moments, Interesting Stats, Winners List

by Nathaniel R

Last night the American theater community, and a boat load of adjacent stars (hello Tina Fey & Scarlett Johansson) celebrated Broadway triumphs at the 71st Annual Tony Awards. As expected the revival of Hello Dolly and Dear Evan Hansen owned the evening with 4 and 6 wins respectively. Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are now halfway to the EGOT in less than half a year having picked up the Oscar for Best Original song for La La Land back in February. But the peak of the evening was Bette Midler's very funny, quite enthusiastic and extremely long acceptance for Best Actress in a Musical (the biggest lock of the evening going in). It's the first time I can recall a performer ignoring the orchestra trying to play her off so insistently that they finally gave up. Her speech had a whole and even better second act as if the orchestra's interruption was just a particularly noisy intermission! 

Kevin Spacey began his hosting job with a very strange and anxiety ridden number about competing with the memories of Tony hosts like Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden, and Hugh Jackman...

Whoopi Goldberg made a cameo with an "in the closet" joke, which played very strangely given that she was standing right next to a man who's famously been inside one his whole career. For his part, Spacey relied heavily on his rather amazing if also dated impersonation skills trotting out his super Johnny Carson and Bill Clinton mimicry for mini-skits within the show. He also leaned into his past and present personal career peaks with American Beauty, Usual Suspects, and House of Cards jokes and cast reunions.  But, alas, not a host for the ages even though he seemed like a smart choice on paper.

Glenn Close presented Bette Midler her Best Actress prize

Backstage before commercial breaks Crazy Ex Girlfriend's Rachel Bloom brought the theater nerd funny and maybe she should host in the future! More after the jump including a complete list of winners...

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Review: "Table 19"

by Chris Feil

Table 19 is a solid sketch comedy concept - a quirky table of oddball, mismatched wedding guests at the bottom of the acquaintance food chain - a trifle built to go down easy with even a modest amount of charm applied. Add in a winning cast (Anna Kendrick, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Tony Revolori, and Stephen Merchant) and this should be a recipe for some simple pleasures at the very least.

Forget for a moment that the film goes to great lengths to prove to us that this ensemble amounts to anything less than the Cool Table. You’re trying to tell me I wouldn’t leap at the opportunity to get weird with Kudrow and Squibb at a tacky wedding? Hmmmmm.

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DVD Review: Trolls

Tim here. Today marks the DVD/Blu-ray release of Trolls, the 33rd feature film and only the second musical made by DreamWorks Animation, and a recent Best Original Song Oscar nominee (and if I may say so, the wrong song got honored, but whatever).

We haven't talked about the film much at all here at TFE, and this seemed like the best possible reason to correct that lapse. For a lapse it is: despite its 100% boilerplate plot, vaguely inspired by a line of toys that haven't been popular in more than two decades, and its wall-to-wall "pop songs and dance parties" structure, Trolls is, like, pretty good, y'all. It is, undoubtedly, assembled according to some Modern Kiddie Cartoon Mad-Libs: a crabby outsider, from a community dominated by one personality trait, finds himself in the position of being forced to save the day when catastrophe hits. By the end of the movie's trim 92 minutes, we've learned that real happiness was inside of you all along, and true beauty comes from confidence in being yourself.

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