J.J. Abrams‘ Star Wars, Episode VII cast was officially announced this morning, and the two biggest guys are Llewyn Davis and Lena Dunham‘s half-psycho actor boyfriend? I don’t know, man. I was hoping for a bigger name or two…something. I wanted the 21st Century Steve McQueen to play a major role…but who would that be? Attack The Block‘s John Boyega (where’s he been for the last three years?), the completely unknown Daisy Ridley (Mrs. Selfridge), the half-psychotic Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac (i.e., Llewyn), Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow. I read a rumor about Harrison Ford expected to play much more than a cameo as Han Solo. Profoundly dreaded cameos by Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker are also locked in.

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In 1950 the world population was 2,525,778,669, give or take. By 1964 it had risen by nearly a billion to 3,263,738,832. Today’s approximate tally is 7,243,784,121 — close to triple the 1950 figure. By 2075 the globe will be struggling to sustain 10.5 billion souls. The needs of today’s population are obviously bruising and polluting the planet as is. Life is going to be much more of a 1% vs. 99% equation — 1% will live well or semi-decently and everyone else will be doing without and/or struggling to varying degrees. Blade Runner and then some. The downmarket cultural trends of the last couple of decades (lower and lower education levels, shallower and shallower entertainments) will almost certainly worsen. Right now only a small percentage have any kind of developed or semi-enlightened aesthetic appetites and appreciations. I don’t want to think about the cultural climate that will probably exist 50 or 60 years from now. No more “movies” as most of us know them (i.e., no more dramas or story construction…mostly jizz-whizz interactive crap for the masses). A world full of empty distractions and gross Timur Bekmambetov types and Multicultural Party Animals. Good God.

About 13 hours ago (i.e., roughly 6:30 pm Pacific on Monday, 4.28) Michael Nusair ventured into Steven Soderbergh territory and posted a whacked-down version of William Friedkin‘s Sorcerer. The original theatrical cut, contained in the recently released Warner Home Video Bluray, runs 121 minutes. Musair’s ADD version runs 57 minutes, a reduction of nearly 60%.

I don’t think the ’77 version is fatty or draggy at all. If you cut the “fat” out of any film you remove the connective tissue (atmosphere, downtime, minutiae) that made it a flavorful, semi-organic experience in the first place. The fat is an essential ingredient in the overall — this is what the ADD generation can’t seem to get. At least Nusair’s cut will fan interest in the real thing.

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I’ll be seeing All The Way, the LBJ play with Bryan Cranston, and the acclaimed but under-attended Bridges of Madison County during my week-long stay in Manhattan (5.2 through 5.9). All The Way has now been Tony-nominated for Best Play along with Cranston for Best Actor, but poor Bridges, which has been struggling with ticket sales, didn’t snag a Best Musical nomination…shocker. It was nominated for Best Score (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown) and Best Actress in a Musical (Kelli O’Hara). Here’s hoping it survives, at least until I attend next week.

What else should I see? I can only afford what I can afford, but I’m open on Friday night (5.2). A friend recommends Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill with Audra McDonald or Hedwig and the Angry Inch or Beautiful, the Carole King musical.

I suspect that if CBS had offered David Letterman‘s slot to Craig Ferguson, he wouldn’t be talking about leaving. You can say “oh, no…he’s not pissed” and “he’s definitely not quitting out of pride” but I’m not buying. The Letterman slot opened up, Feruguson must have wanted it, he didn’t get it and so “eff this pop stand.” It’s one thing to be the 12:30 am guy after Letterman but after Stephen Colbert? I don’t blame him for a second.

Comments a friend: “Ferguson had it written into his contract that if he wasn’t offered the Letterman show, CBS would pay him a one-time $10 million dollar fee. I think he must have received it in his bank account today, took one look at it, and said, ‘Done by December!'”

How do you watch Josh Boone‘s The Fault Is In Our Stars or read John Green‘s novel of the same name without wondering which character will die first? What else is there to do when your story is about young kids with cancer (Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort)? You know at least one will be gone by the end of Act Three. If this didn’t happen audiences would feel jerked around. Yeah, I know — nobody’s assured of a long life. Distributed by Temple Hill, Fault opens on 6.6.

I was informed today that Warner Bros. won’t be screening Godzilla for me and other critics and columnists on my level until the evening of Wednesday, 5.14, or two days before it opens in the States, at which point I’ll be in Cannes. WB publicity knows, of course, that a fair-sized portion (a majority?) of the critic-and-columnist fraternity will be in Cannes from 5.13 through 5.25 so almost nobody will be around for the 5.14 showings. WB obviously wants the Twitter buzz on a low flame until the last possible minute. They’ll be screening Godzilla this week to ultra-elite editors and electronic media types (the first two Manhattan showings are on Thursday, 5.1, and Friday, 5.2), and I’m sure subsequent screenings on both coasts will follow next week. Guys like me will just have to cool our jets. As Godzilla opens commercially in France on Wednesday, 5.14, my best option is to pay to see the first show at a commercial cinema in Cannes and then file right away. Doing so will conflict with the first day of Cannes Film Festival screenings but I guess I can manage.

I’ve been driving up and down Benedict Canyon a lot lately, and I don’t mind saying it’s a wee bit creepy glancing at a big gorilla statue with glowing red eyes every time I drive by 1280 Benedict Canyon Drive, which is just beyond the Beverly Hills city line. The gorilla is a few inches from the curb and right next to the driveway. There’s also a chimpanzee sculpture on the other side of the driveway and a King Kong-sized gorilla sitting on a hill just inside the gate. What is a home owner saying by having three apes “guard” his property? He’s saying he’s eccentric, has a bit of an ego, isn’t a timid businessman, somebody with a machismo complex, looking for attention. A seemingly reliable source (www.city-data.com) says the owner is Urban S. Hirsch III, the founder of Ink Systems, Inc. I suppose that life-sized ape sculptures are cool in and of themselves, but it’s just…I don’t know, a little weird to see these big apes as you’re driving by. Then again it’s no biggie. I can roll with it.

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Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta‘s The Leftovers (HBO, 6.29) is basically about a rapture-like event in which 2% of the world’s population (roughly 143,000,000 souls) suddenly vaporizes. Or “ascends,” if you’re a believer. Based on Perotta’s 2011 novel, it would appear to be a close relation of Michael Tolkin‘s The Rapture (’91), hands down the most horrific film about born-again Christians ever made. The pilot was directed by Peter Berg. The lead costars are Justin Theroux (what’s be been doing besides lying around with Jennifer Aniston?), Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, Liv Tyler and Ann Dowd.

A half-hour ago the U.S. population was 317,947,517 — 2% suddenly disappearing would mean an out-of-the-blue absence of 6,358,950 people. The world population is 7,162,622,670 so a 2% reduction would be roughly 143,000,000. Honestly? There are too many on the globe as it is so a 2% reduction isn’t such a bad thing. How about 10% of the population ascending to Heaven? How about 20%? The more the merrier. As long as I don’t get picked, I mean.

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The 2014 Cannes Film Festival jury members were announced earlier today — Carole Bouquet, Iranian actress Leila Hatami, Willem Dafoe, Gael Garcia Bernal, Nicholas Winding-Refn, director Sofia Coppola, South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon and Chinese director Jia Zhangke plus previously announced Jury boss Jane Campion. Is it unfair to suspect that the women will probably vote as a bloc, favoring films that engage with the usual female concerns (families, emotions, relationships)? Bernal is an engaged liberal humanist who’s probably inclined to reward engaged liberal humanism in films. Dafoe is an adventurous actor but at the same time one suspects that he might be an obliging metrosexual go-alonger (i.e., loves to work and very much wants to stay in the game so no obstinate, against-the-grain opinions). Refn is the only certifiable loon (no other term applies if you’ve seen Only God Forgives) in the group. I don’t know what Jia Zhangke’s deal is but…naah, I shouldn’t say. By and large it doesn’t feel like any kind of contrarian, thorny-minded group. I’m getting a vibe that they might be a bit on the mushy, accommodating side — the kind of jury that mainly wants to show love whenever and wherever possible. But you never know.

With Gareth Edwards‘ Godzilla (Warner Bros., 5.16) just around the corner, Edwards‘ Monsters (’10) is worth recalling. I loved the look of the trailer but for some reason I never got around to the feature, which Magnolia distributed. It earned a lousy $237,301 domestic and $4,005,677 international. So nobody saw it including me. As part of my Godzilla prep I intend to see it this week on Netflix.

“The one film you must see if you haven’t is Monsters,” Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy wrote this morning. “I saw Edwards introduce the restored original Godzilla at the TCM festival a couple of weeks ago and he’s very impressive — a smart, quite self-deprecating young Brit who, on Monsters, directed, shot, wrote, did the production design and all the effects himself. It was shot on location in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the U.S. The camerawork is fantastic, the sense of being on the road and living by your wits in Central America, the music and the uncliched and novel approach to making a monster movie — all exceptional.

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A Bluray of Robert Zemeckis‘ Used Cars (’80) has been out since April 8th. Easily one of the funniest and most pungent social farces ever cranked out by semi-mainstream Hollywood. Written and created in the tradition of the great Preston Sturges. World-class performances by Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Frank McRae and Gerritt Graham. “Used Cars is a lot of things — sloppy, juvenile, cynical — but Zemeckis and Bob Gale absolutely refuse to soften or second guess the insidiously wicked spirit of the idea originated by John Milius. While the movie is hilarious, its running theme of the American dream as a con job is what endears it on repeated viewings.” — posted in January 2008 by This Distracted Globe.

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