"Dumbo" Teases

by Nathaniel R

click to enlargePrediction: By 2040 Disney will have remade all of their animated features as "live-action" movies. Well, maybe not Song of the South or The Three Caballeros. Live-action is in quotes because some of the remake titles are basically still half animated -- like The Jungle Book in 2016, or Beauty and the Beast in 2017. Next up in the Disney remakes department is Tim Burton's take on Dumbo. 

The name Tim Burton used to automatically thrill but he lost his mojo at exactly the turn of the century (just after Sleepy Hollow in '99) and hasn't been able to get it back. He's made 10 features since and the only uncompromised / totally satisfying artistic success among them, I'd argue, is the animated features Corpse Bride (2005). And to a lesser extent Frankenweenie (2012) if we're feeling a bit generous...

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would you rather...?

And now for a silly celeb-filled distraction from the awful real world (I threw my back out yesterday somehow and can't be with the marches against hate and on Trump Tower which is my real answer to what I'd rather be doing. But let's play anyway.

Would you rather...

• shower with Salma Hayek?
• night shoot with Rachel Bloom and Vincent Rodriguez?
• cockpit train with Mahershala?
• call Reese on her shell phone?
• share a moment with Luke Evans and his friend Lakshmi?
• play with Josh Brolin's snake?
• have some ice cream with Tony Shalhoub?

Pictures to help you decide after the jump.

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World Elephant Day

Happy World Elephant Day!

"Happy" might, alas, be the wrong word given how pachyderms have been treated in this world, practically always shamefully despite so much evidence of their intense family bonds, good natures (unlessly treated cruelly and then who doesn't lose their temper?) and their other cute qualities we may or may not be anthropomorphizing. Elephants may go extinct in our lifetime (which is unthinkable) so here are some charitable organizations you should consider supporting if you can that are fighting to save them. 

Elephant activists also suggests never supporting the ivory trade which is easy and never going to elephant attractions (I once rode on an elephant as a child but I didn't know anything about animal cruelty back then) because most of them have taken from their mothers to train them. If you're interested in a good doc on the subject of elephants in captivity -- or rather the ways their captors grapple with the morality of it and how thinking around the topic is changing, I'd suggest One Lucky Elephant (2011) which is about a circus man giving up the elephant he'd raised and lived with for 16 years. It's both hopeful and sad.

After saying all that it may seem hypocritical to share favorite photos of celebrities with elephants (as these beasts have obviously been trained or been living in captivity) but we aren't perfect and can't resist the combo of movie stars and anything glorious that they happen to pose with. A beauty break with lots more photos after the jump including Lupita Nyong'o, Barbra Stanwyck, and Harrison Ford...

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Swing, Tarzan, Swing! Ch.1: Buster Crabbe's Loincloth

New Miniseries! As we approach the release of The Legend of Tarzan (2016) we'll be ogling past screen incarnations of the Lord of the Apes each weekend like we're going to an old timey matinee.

We begin with Buster Crabbe as Tarzan the Fearless (1933) who looks much better in this movie than implied on the poster which imagines him from maxi-challenge workroom outtakes from RuPaul's Drag Race. Blend, man, blend!

This next image is more flattering I promise...

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Les Línkables

TMZ life imitating art - Shawarma sales skyrocketing in LA after The Avengers opening.
Coming Soon has a new photo from the set of Les Misérables. I'm choosing to interpret this set as an homage to Moulin Rouge!'s greatness
Acidemic would like you to know that 1933, not 1939 was the greatest year at the movies.
Playlist Maybe Edgar Wright is going to make that Ant-Man movie after all.

Antagony & Ecstacy looks back at Ang Lee's Hulk (2003) in the wake of the new green giant fever sweeping the nation. Really interesting piece.
In Contention Gene Kelly centennial tribute hosted by the Academy next week in LA. Someone go and tell me all about it. We'll celebrate his centennial here in August (the actual month of his birth)
Movie|Line Jessica Chastain finally passes on a movie. Hee!
SuperPunch has photos of Wal-Mart's The Avengers set. I include this only because its rabidly sexist. I believe when the camera spun around the heroes in that highly publicized shot it was The Black Widow and not Loki who was part of the heroic team. (sigh) 
Kenneth in the (212) Fun couples: Woody Allen and... Lindsay Lohan? 

P.S. This is the best thing that Kate Beckinsale has ever done.

Republicans, Get In My Vagina! from Kate Beckinsale

Told ya!

Off Cinema.
It's sometimes worth stepping out of the movie theater. Rarely but still...
The Realist for those of you who've spent too much time on Facebook
Playbill weirdest music news of the week. Twisted Sister's Dee Snider recording an album of showtunes with Broadway friendly guest stars