We’re not sure exactly when it started, but for years now May the 4th has been the unofficial Star Wars Day on the internet, allowing people to spread their love of the galaxy far, far away to everyone on social media. But this pun-tastic tradition is now about to become an officially recognized holiday in the state of California. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the California Legislature voted on Thursday May 2nd to officially declare May 4th as “Star Wars Day.” This is in recognition of  the Disneyland theme park’s opening of Galaxy’s Edge later this month.

As part of the announcement, a charity group that dresses as Imperial Stormtroopers (the 501st Legion, we’re guessing), along with a hot air balloon that looked a lot like Yoda, showed up at the State Capitol.

So given that Disney has theme parks in both California and Florida, why is only the Sunshine State getting Star Wars Day as an officially recognized day? Galaxy’s Edge is opening at Walt Disney World in Orlando later in the year, while California is getting it first. This is due to construction having gone a little bit faster and more smoothly at Disneyland. It’s also perfectly fitting that Galaxy’s Edge will open in the month of May, as the original Star Wars hit theaters on May 25th, 1977.

We like to imagine a future where Star Wars Day is recognized wide enough to become a true holiday. You know, with days off work and school and everything. Kids and their parents and grandparents can gather around their televisions and watch the entire saga, or just their favorite films in the series. It would be kind of like that scene in Return of the Jedi where Threepio shares the story of the trilogy thus far with the Ewoks around the campfire. This is the future we deserve.

Images: Lucasfilm 

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We’re not saying it’s possible for us to be more excited to see a Keanu Reeves’ character on the big screen this year more than John Wick, we’re just saying his character in Toy Story 4 at least has us asking the question, especially after the newest commercial for the animated film introduces us to Canada’s greatest stuntman and popular ’70s toy, Duke Caboom. He’s an action figure who can’t exactly deliver on the “action” part, but he sure can pose.

This delightful ad is our best look yet at the new Reeves-voiced toy. “Riding his powerful Caboom stunt-cycle, Duke is always prepared to show off his stunt poses with confidence and swagger,” but that’s about all he can do. As Woody finds out soon after after meeting him, “Duke has an Achilles heel: he has never been able to do the awesome stunts advertised in his own toy commercial,” and “for years, Duke has been sitting in an antique store, constantly reliving the failures of his tragic past.”

We know Keanu Reeves lived in Toronto as a kid, which is why we assume that after hockey and Alanis Morissette he’s the country’s export, so having him voice a famous Canadian stuntman is a fantastic choice on its own. But hearing him play a super silly toy full of false bravado and doubt is genuinely inspired. Despite being one of the stars of Bill & Ted, somehow Reeves’ comedic sensibilities have always been underappreciated.

So are we more excited to see Duke Caboom and his inability to do cool stunts this year more than we are the ultimate action hero John Wick? Probably not, but it’s pretty revealing we’re even thinking about it

But if we find out Duke also loves dogs all bets are off.

Toy Story 4 leaps into theaters on June 20.

Featured Image: Disney Pixar

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Source: JCM Photography- Asheville, NC / JCM Photography

Season 8 of Married at First Sight in Philly may have just come to a close, but it’s already time to prepare for a new season and four new couples. That’s right, Lifetime is sticking with four couples instead of the traditional three after the success of this last season. Just like the previous season, there are two African-American pairs featured again, but this time around, the search for love and marriage continues in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here are the stories behind the individuals matched to be married at first sight.

We’ll see if he will find his queen bee with Raleigh native Iris. Raised an only child, she doesn’t have married couples she is inspired by because her parents divorced when she was young. However, she is excited for the opportunity to possibly be matched with someone she can not only pour into, but have pour back into her, as she is known for giving so much of herself to help those in her life. She hopes to be supported and uplifted.

Also interesting about Iris is the fact that she is a virgin. She has been saving herself specifically for marriage, and looks forward to giving all of herself to the right man — hopefully her future husband. (Should be an interesting honeymoon episode.)

Source: JCM Photography- Asheville, NC / JCM Photography

Source: JCM Photography- Asheville, NC / JCM Photography

The second couple we’ll be watching out for is Gregory Okotie, 32, and 30-year-old Deonna McNeill.

Gregory is a transplant to Charlotte, primarily raised in Fort Washington, MD in a single-parent household. He is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) lover who is strong in faith, successful, and heavily involved in his church. Gregory is also more than ready to find love and start a family after years of being on the move traveling and going through failed relationships. He is confident that the success he’s seen some of the couples have on MAFS, he too will have, and is willing to put in the work to ensure that happens.

His match is Deonna, who was raised by both of her parents and considers family to be everything. Like Gregory, she has reached success in her career. Deonna is a homeowner, has done a great deal of traveling and has a tight-knit group of friends and family, but she too feels as though she’s missing something by not being married and having her own family. She is open and willing to try whatever is necessary to succeed with the experiment because she trusts the experts and is confident in her leap of faith.

Source: JCM Photography- Asheville, NC / JCM Photography

Source: JCM Photography- Asheville, NC / JCM Photography

These are some good-looking people, but we’ll have to wait and see if that actually translates to compatibility.

Season 9 of Married at First Sight in Charlotte premieres on Wednesday, June 12 at 8 p.m. with the matchmaking special. The two-hour premiere follows at 9 p.m. EST/PST on Lifetime.

The Intruder is more than a “break-in” film. It’s a homage to the thriller/horror genre.

But if it had to be classified, ultimately if Amityville Horror (1979) and Peeping Tom (1960) had a baby, this would be it.

The film follows Annie and Scott, a young married couple played by Meagan Good and Michael Ealy, as they move from the city to a gorgeous new house surrounded by acres of wooded land in Napa Valley, California. Previous owner Charlie, played by Dennis Quaid, decides to sell to the couple but has a hard time (understatement) letting go. Directed by Deon Taylor, The Intruder is a good time in the theater.

It’s not so much an original film as a different perspective. The protagonists are Black, which creates a different type of story, for sure. At first, everything seems good. Then, there’s a gradual shift as you learn things aren’t as hunky-dory as they seem. Like true horror movie fashion for films about a house, this one has a history that our new owners know nothing about it. Hence the Amityville Horror reference, which itself was about a house with a horrible past that comes to bite the new owners in the butt.

Dennis Quaid becomes the peeper that will give you nightmares. What starts off innocent or merely quirky escalates to enraged moments that channel The Shining and the landlord in 13 Cameras. It’s a rollercoaster that keeps viewers on the edge of their seat. The audience is constantly guessing what Charlie will do next. They are also guessing what naive thing Annie will do or say, despite the advances of Charlie. The atmosphere created by director Deon Taylor manages to combine humor and horror in the best way.

This film is also reminiscent of The Strangers in the way it evokes fear and terror in the simplest ways. There are so many scenes in The Intruder when the audience sees Charlie lurking behind the couple and they have no idea. The suspense builds at the right moments and crescendos with the best twist. The audience is able to see the viewpoint of both the protagonists and antagonist of the story. The Intruder is exhilarating, scary, and fun.

The script, written by David Loughery, is smart and well written. Writing suspense is hard, but Loughery seems to know what he’s doing. One of the tricks to suspense is to give the main characters more than just one problem. For our couple in their new house, the problems keep piling up. What starts off as a loving couple getting jiggy to baby-making music turns into a cheating husband and Black Lives Matter topped off with a creepy, athletic, good-looking older American Psycho type obsessing over the house. The Intruder has a great central hook. The basic idea of buying a house and having the previous owner linger around far too long is a first buyer’s nightmare. There’s also the creepiness of a house with so many windows in a dense wood area — people are bound to be spying on you.

The Intruder isn’t perfect. It has its cheesy moments — real-life cheesy, but cheesy nonetheless. You can see that Meagan Good’s character Annie is the nice, albeit naive, young woman who strangers like Quaid’s character Charlie prey upon. Annie’s role is reminiscent of the main character in the film The Resident. She makes some really bad decisions to the point where theatergoers will yell at the screen at her foolishness. At least, that’s what happened at the early screenings of this film. There were people screaming at the screen and commenting with gasps and clapbacks. Listen to the audience, and you can tell when a character is making too many mistakes.

Conversely, the audience will let you know when there’s something right. Dennis Quaid is the bad guy we never thought would be so terrifying. Let the nightmares begin. Quaid channels so many different classic thriller moments, you can’t help but scream out loud in the theater or jump in anticipation. Loughery and Taylor have created a really good villain. He’s not perfect. One scene, where he practices something the rest of us do naturally, could easily have been cut. But, goodness gracious, for a man who has played mostly good guys like the dad in the Parent Trap, this is a side of Dennis Quaid we haven’t seen before. It’s both praiseworthy and look-under-your-bed terrifying. You will be surprised by how well he finds his inner villain. It even goes beyond his creepy psychotic mortician role in Beneath the Darkness.

If you’re into horror, The Intruder is a lot of fun. It’s got some kinks, but overall it’s a good genre film. Be sure to see The Intruder in theaters May 3, 2019.

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