Christopher James continues his coverage of the 2023 TCM Film Festival. Check in for daily...
If the first two days of the TCM festival were dominated by bad boys fighting the establishment, day 3 was all about the movie musical. Out of the four films I screened today, three were musicals from different eras. It was a fantastic example of the breadth and depth the genre has to offer.
Today was also the day of big stars. For the first screening, Shari Belafonte had a discussion with TCM host and Academy Museum programmer Jacqueline Stewart. Later on in the same room, Ann-Margret arrived and blew out a birthday cake inspired by her legs. Then, right before a screening of Carmen Jones, legendary film historian Donald Bogle was awarded the Robert Osborne award for achievement in classic film preservation...
Vanity Fair's Emma Watson cover story (with a really cool photoshoot by Tim Walker that of course is getting flak due to one semi-topless photo) Daily News JJ Abrams says Mark Hamill will be up for an Oscar for The Last Jedi next year. Uff, we're going there already? (What is it with blockbuster teams especially that like to make these predictions. Remember when Vin Diesel was sure Fast & Furious was going to be a Best Picture nominee?) Variety a movie theater in London plays a prank, showing a bit of La La Land before a Moonlight screening Variety a movie theater in Alabama, one of those states that just can't help being a stereotype of itself, won't show Disney's new Beauty & the Beast due to... TFE ...the earlier announcement that there'd be a gay character
PlaybillHairspray Live!'s directing duo will reunite for the live version of Bye Bye Birdie -- that's good news as I really think Hairspray Live was by far the best of these productions yet THR strange cast assembled for what's billed as a romantic drama that has something to do with death. Irreplaceable You will star hotties with star hotties Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michiel Huisman as well as Christopher Walker and Steve Coogan i09 filmmakers discussing why video game movies always suck /Film Disney may reboot Tron for... Jared Leto. Hrmmm.
Oscar Crumbs Jezebel an Oscars story we accidentally didn't cover but for a brief mention on the podcast - Oscar winner Patricia Arquette is understandably upset that Alexis Arquette was left out of the In Memoriam montage AV Club Sir Ian McKellen's advice to awards show presenters to avoid the Beatty/Dunaway fiasco
Off Screen The Hairpin "Everyone wants to be this raccoon" Amen Theater Mania Sondheim and Bernadette Peters attend the opening night of the new Off Broadway production of Sweeney Todd, with the theater transformed into a pie shop. The show has already extended its run all the way through December. Wheeee
Mark Harris's Book Gets a Documentary Version Yes, I wish we were talking about Pictures at a Revolution (because we can never get enough Oscar lore) but it's his book about Hollywood directors during World War II which is also fascinating. Here's the trailer for Five Came Back which premieres at the end of the month
Tim here. Saving Mr. Banks opens in New York and Los Angeles today, and Mary Poppins made its debut on Blu-ray this past Tuesday in a "50th Anniversary" edition bumped up a year for maximum cross-promotion effectiveness. Doubtlessly, neither of those events was timed to coincide with the birthday of Mary Poppins co-star Dick Van Dyke, who turns 88 years old today, but the confluence of events was just too perfect to pass up. Let us then spare a moment to thank one of the greatest avuncular figures in American pop culture in this moment when his most important film role has been brought back into the limelight so enthusiastically (though Van Dyke, as a character, is barely a blip in the context of Saving Mr. Banks, taking the form of an unbilled performance by Kristopher Kyer).
Monday, April 17, 2023 at 9:30PM 
