Main Cast Announced for Star Wars Episode VII

Written by Jon Williams

Over the years, May 4 has become a day each year for Star Wars fans to celebrate the saga. This year, in advance of Star Wars Day’s approach, a plethora of news has been coming out of Disney and Lucasfilm in regards to what comes next for the beloved galaxy far, far away.

The first bit of news came down last week when it was announced that the existing “Expanded Universe,” consisting of novels, comics, video games, and anything else that wasn’t part of the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, or the Clone Wars cartoon series, would be undergoing a reboot. Those previous installments will still be available under the new “Legends” banner, while new stories going forward will be part of the “official” timeline being created. The first novel to be part of this new timeline will be A New Dawn, written by John Jackson Miller, author of Kenobi, now part of the Legends timeline.  A New Dawn will be published on September 2 and will lead into the new animated series Star Wars Rebels, which will air this fall on the Disney Channel and Disney XD.

That news, big as it was for longtime fans, paled in comparison to what came out yesterday, which is the main cast list for the first installment of the new trilogy of films, which is scheduled to open in theaters worldwide on December 18, 2015. First, to no one’s surprise but everyone’s delight, the primary cast from the original trilogy is returning to reprise their familiar roles. This includes Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Kenny Baker as R2-D2. This seems to leave out Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian; but, as he didn’t show up until the second film of the original trilogy, perhaps that’s the case this time around as well.

Along with these familiar faces, a number of newcomers were announced as part of the cast as well. The biggest name is veteran Max von Sydow, the legendary Swedish actor whose career dates back to 1949 and who has appeared in such legendary films as The Seventh Seal and The Exorcist, to name just two. He will be joined by Andy Serkis, the motion-capture expert responsible for Gollum and King Kong. The rest are relative newcomers: Adam Driver from Girls, John Boyega from Attack the Block, Oscar Isaac from Inside Llewyn Davis, Domhnall Gleeson from About Time, and unknown actress Daisy Ridley, with just a handful of bit parts to her name, including one episode in the second season of Mr. Selfridge.

And this may not be the end of Star Wars casting news for Episode VII. Rumor has it that director J.J. Abrams is looking to fill one more female part. One name that has been mentioned in connection with that part is another unknown: British actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers. Another name getting a lot of buzz is Lupita Nyong’o, this year’s Academy Award winner for Best Actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave.

Whether or not those last two names play out, time will tell. The others, though, have now been officially confirmed, and legions of Star Wars fans will want to check out the work of all these actors new to the universe. Make sure you have these titles on your shelves, and SmartBrowse each actor’s name on our website for more.

Hot This Week: April 28

This week, Disney's Frozen juggernaut finds itself atop both the DVD list and the music chart. The latest thriller from Nora Roberts jumps to #1 on this week's fiction list, with Gillian Flynn's extremely popular Gone Girl reappearing after a several-week absence. The top non-fiction titles remain largely the same, with Claire Shipman and Katty Kay's exploration of confidence making its debut.

DVD

1. Frozen
2. The Wolf of Wall Street 
3. American Hustle
4. Gravity
5. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
6. Homefront
7. 12 Years a Slave
8. Grudge Match
9. Out of the Furnace
10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

CD

1. Frozen Soundtrack
2. August Alsina, Testimony
3. Needtobreathe, Rivers in the Wasteland
4. Jason Derulo, Talk Dirty
5. Ingrid Michaelson, Lights Out
6. Luke Bryan, Crash My Party
7. Pharrell Williams, G  I  R  L
8. Lorde, Pure Heroine
9. 5 Seconds of Summer, She Looks So Perfect (EP)
10. NOW That's What I Call Music 49

Fiction

1. The Collector, Nora Roberts
2. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
3. I've Got You Under My Skin, Mary Higgins Clark
4. NYPD Red 2, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
5. Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline
6. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
7. Carnal Curiosity, Stuart Woods
8. Missing You, Harlan Coben
9. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
10. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

Non-Fiction

1. Flash Boys, Michael Lewis
2. Thrive, Arianna Huffington
3. 10% Happier, Dan Harris
4. Killing Jesus, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
5. Face the Music, Paul Stanley
6. Confidence Code, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
7. The Opposite of Loneliness, Marina Keegan
8. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
9. David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell
10. A Call to Action, Jimmy Carter

Be on the Lookout for New Prince Tunes

Written by Jon Williams

On July 27, 1984, the movie Purple Rain was released into theaters. Starring Prince in his feature film debut, it follows a talented young musician as he struggles to discover what it takes to succeed in the music business, and has since become a cult classic. Even more significant than the film itself, of course, is the soundtrack, which came out about a month before the movie. The album added a rock vibe to Prince’s previous R&B sound, to great effect. It spawned a number of his best-known singles, including “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry” in addition to the sprawling title track, and is consistently mentioned as one of the best albums of the ‘80s, if not all time.

Last week, in anticipation of Purple Rain’s upcoming 30th anniversary, Prince released a statement announcing a new record deal with Warner Bros. that heralds new music on the horizon. One project that is certain is a remastered deluxe edition of the Purple Rain soundtrack, as well as a new original album. He even offered a teaser, releasing last weekend a new single, “The Breakdown,” which is available for streaming through a number of entertainment websites.

Prince has had a long and storied career with plenty of ups and downs, not to mention its share of controversy, including the period when he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and was referred to as “the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” One thing that has remained constant throughout, though, is the high quality music he produces, as well as music lovers’ demand for it. As more information comes out on new releases from Prince, be they new or reissues of past classics, we’ll have it for you. In the meantime, SmartBrowse “Prince” on our website to see all we currently offer from this gifted musician.

Happy Birthday to the Bard!

Written by Jon Williams

On this day 450 years ago, William Shakespeare was born. And on this day 398 years ago, he died. In between, in his exactly 52 years of life, he created many of the finest works of literature and drama in the English language.

Being so long ago, the chronology of Shakespeare’s work is difficult to nail down with any accuracy. However, it is widely believed that the historical plays Richard III and Henry VI are his earliest works, likely written in the early 1590s. Shortly thereafter, the mid-1590s saw Shakespeare writing a number of his great comedies, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. These are balanced, of course, by fantastic tragedies like Julius Caesar, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth—not to mention Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, two of the best-loved and most-performed plays of all time.

Of course, reading or hearing Shakespeare’s plays read is just one way to savor the Bard’s genius. Seeing them performed onstage is yet another. For the truly dedicated and ambitious, the BBC offers a 37-volume DVD set comprising recorded performances of all of Shakespeare’s plays. For the less ambitious, each of those volumes is available individually as well, as are many different versions of both his most famous and his lesser-known works.

In addition to staged performances, Shakespeare has provided plenty of inspiration for Hollywood over the years. One of the most recent instances is Joss Whedon’s acclaimed 2012 production of Much Ado about Nothing, filmed at his own house. Other notable examples include two versions of Hamlet— the essential 1948 version starring Sir Laurence Olivier as the Danish prince, and the 1990 version starring Mel Gibson—and Baz Lurhmann’s 1996 adaptation of Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the star-crossed lovers. And there are a number of films that take the premises of Shakespeare’s stories and repurpose them, like Kiss Me, Kate and 10 Things I Hate About You, both based on The Taming of the Shrew, and any number from Romeo and Juliet—among them West Side Story and the 2013 zomromcom Warm Bodies.

And all this is just scratching the surface of the sheer wealth of material by, about, and adapted from Shakespeare and his works (after all, we haven’t even mentioned his sonnets). For plenty more, be sure to SmartBrowse ‘Shakespeare’ on our website. And be sure to let your Bard-loving patrons know that a number of his plays are available in audiobook form on hoopla, as well as some other materials they may find interesting.

Hot This Week: April 21

The top DVD titles from last week stay strong, with three titles debuting on the bottom half of the list. The Frozen soundtrack continues its dominance of the music chart for yet another week, with four new titles occupying spots 4-7. Mary Higgins Clark holds onto the top line on the fiction list, with Lisa Scottoline and Stuart Woods coming in just behind her. Four new non-fiction titles this week include memoirs by Paul Stanley and Rob Lowe.

DVD

1. The Wolf of Wall Street 
2. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
3. Gravity
4. American Hustle 
5. 12 Years a Slave
6. Homefront
7. Frozen
8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
9. Out of the Furnace
10. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

CD

1. Frozen Soundtrack
2. Pharrell Williams, G  I  R  L
3. 5 Seconds of Summer, She Looks So Perfect (EP)
4. MercyMe, Welcome to the New
5. Black Label Society, Catacombs of the Black Vatican
6. SoMo, SoMo
7. Martina McBride, Everlasting
8. Luke Bryan, Crash My Party
9. Shakira, Shakira.
10. Florida Georgia Line, Here's to the Good Times

Fiction

1. I've Got You Under My Skin, Mary Higgins Clark
2. Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline
3. Carnal Curiosity, Stuart Woods
4. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
5. NYPD Red 2, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
6. Missing You, Harlan Coben
7. The Invention of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd
8. Be Careful What You Wish For, Jeffrey Archer
9. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty
10. Blossom Street Brides, Debbie Macomber

Non-Fiction

1. Flash Boys, Michael Lewis
2. Face the Music, Paul Stanley
3. Thrive, Arianna Huffington
4. 10% Happier, Dan Harris
5. Killing Jesus, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
6. Creativity, Inc., Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
7. Love Life, Rob Lowe
8. A Call to Action, Jimmy Carter
9. The Opposite of Loneliness, Marina Keegan
10. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand