Disney's latest Star Wars film starting last Wednesday, and the cast and crew is full of rumors. But the Hollywood Reporter finally confirmed one cast member, and it's none other than 69-year-old Peter Mayhew. Mayhew will reprise his role as the ferociously charming Wookie, Chewbacca.

From THR:

Mayhew played the legendary Wookiee and Han Solo's co-pilot in the original trilogy, beginning with Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope in 1977. Rumors recently surfaced that he was reprising his role after he canceled an upcoming appearance at Texas convention Comicpalooza "due to filming." Since the convention takes place May 23-26, many fans wondered if that meant the actor would be busy with Episode VII.

Mayhew was a guest at the Phoenix Comicon a number of years ago and he was pleasant person to be around. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Better alternative to the CGI wookies from the previous movies.

The film is supposed to take place 30 years after Return of the Jedi. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are rumored to return, and three new characters will be introduced in this film.

Episode VII is set to hit theaters on Dec. 18, 2015.

Prolific Hollywood director Richard Donner told a TMZ photographer that a Goonies sequel is in the works. Donner said it's unclear if the original actors will reprise their roles. But why wouldn't they?

I’m not much of a comic book movie guy, but I know a lot of you are. Hell, rumor has it Tucson Weekly Online Editor Henry Barajas sleeps with a worn VHS copy of Tim Burton’s Batman under his pillow. That’s dedication, and I can respect that. Speaking of dedication, are you gung-ho enough to whoop up some patriotic fervor and rally behind your boy Captain America? Prove your worth when Cinemark Park Place and Cinemark El Con present The Captain America Double Feature tonight at 5:30 p.m. It starts off with 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and wraps up with the premiere of this year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. For more information on this red, white and ass-kickin’ blue event, hit up cinemark.com for more information.

The good folks over at Exploded View are rolling out three globe-trotting events this week. Our first stop is in the copper mines of eastern Nevada, where experimental video artist Lucy West documented the production of raw materials to China, where copper becomes electrical wire. The resulting documentary is called China Town, and it’s playing tonight at 7:30 p.m. West will be on hand to present the film, and admission is $5. Our second stop is on Sunday, April 6, for the North African Film Fest: Women of the Maghreb. Starting at 12:30 p.m., this festival features several short and full-length films, plus a few speakers from the UA Center for Middle Eastern & North Africa studies. On Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m., our last stop is in gritty, sexy Berlin for Now I Want To Laugh, a selection of 16mm films and other performances from Berlin-based experimental filmmakers Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy. Admission is $5. For information on all these events, visit explodedviewgallery.org or call 366-1573.

Over at the Loft Cinema, the month-long Wes Anderson retrospective comes to a halt tonight with his sophomore film, the 1998 classic Rushmore. I’ve always said Rushmore is a perfect gem of a movie, and upon a recent viewing, I stand by my declaration. Not only is it my favorite Anderson film, but it’s also my favorite post-slapstick Bill Murray film (Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers is a close second). Jason Schwartzman plays Max, an extra curriculum overachiever and an academic slacker at a fancy prep school. Murray plays Mr. Blume, a sad sack of a millionaire who once went to the same institution. Both of them fall in love with a 1st grade teacher and vie for her affection through brilliant montages set to primo British Invasion-era The Kinks and The Who. If you haven’t seen it in a while, it’s worth another viewing. If it’s your first time, you’re in for a treat. Extra bonus: it’s in 35mm! It starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are regular admission.

The sequel to the critically acclaimed and box office success Rise of the Planet of the Apes teaser debuted Sunday night. Fans watching AMC's Walking Dead season finale caught the first glimpse of the The Dawn of the Planet Apes Sunday night. The 44 second clip features the Apes riding horses and looking scary. But did I mention Gary Oldman is in it because he is. So, I'm automatically sold based on this one casting decision.

The Dawn of the Planet Apes will hit theaters on Friday, July 11.

Last week's premiere of the Cesar Chavez biopic was celebrated by Chicanos and non-Chicanos alike, but another Filipino-American activists felt that the film falls short of accurately depicting their peoples' fight in the struggle and creation of the farmworker movement.

The National Board of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) issued a statement that it "celebrates the appearance of United Farm Workers (UFW) co-founder Larry Itliong in the Hollywood biopic Cesar Chavez. However, FANHS argues that the film misses an opportunity to offer a nuanced and accurate history of the farmworkers movement that was born of the Filipinos’ 1965 Grape Strike because it does not emphasize the importance of the historic multi-ethnic alliance between Mexicans and Filipinos in the UFW."

FANHS hopes that moviegoers inspired by the film continue to learn about the movement and are spurred towards dialogue and action towards today’s movements for worker justice and such issues as immigration reform.

“We respect Diego Luna’s vision of a film about the heroic rise of Cesar Chavez, but as a history of the farmworkers struggle, the film falls short by downplaying, erasing and silencing the significant role that Filipinos and others played in the heroic struggle for farmworkers justice in California,” says Dr. Dawn B. Mabalon, National Scholar and board member of FANHS, and associate professor of history at San Francisco State University. “We understand that this is Hollywood and not a documentary, but the filmmakers still have a responsibility to ensure that the history they present is accurate.”

Exploded View microcinema and gallery, 197 #2 E. Toole Ave., has become a mover and shaker in Tucson’s cinema scene. From experimental films to fringe music movies to compelling social documentaries, Exploded View is definitely making a mark downtown. Catch the buzz on Saturday, March 29, when filmmaker Elizabeth Kennedy presents her documentary Wounaan: A People of the Rainforest, a look at an indigenous tribe living peacefully in the Columbian rain forests during the 1960s. It starts at 7:30 p.m., and admission is $5. For more information, visit explodedviewgallery.org or call 520-366-1573.

The Loft Cinema’s Wes Anderson series is winding down this week, with only two more films left to go. Saturday, March 29, Anderson’s epic The Royal Tenenbabums rolls out at 7 p.m. The third film directed by Anderson, it’s equally hilarious and poignant. Gene Hackman plays Royal Tenenbaum, an insufferable patriarch of a family full of woeful genii and socially awkward overachievers played by Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Gwyneth Paltrow (you can witness some early “conscious uncoupling” on display here). Tickets are regular admission, but they should let you in for free if your name is “Eli Cash.”

On Sunday, March 30, the Loft presents the 1958 sci-fi thriller Fiend without a Face as part of their Science of Cinema series. This schlocky picture, about a secret experiment gone awry at a military base, pulls out all the Atomic Era tropes. Soldiers mysteriously dying? Check. Blame it on spies? Check. Radiated monsters are the culprits, but it’s really an allegory for Cold War geo-politics? Oh you betcha, check! Film scholar and University of Arizona Regents Professor David Soren presents the film at 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 for general admission, $6 for Loft members and students.

• Photo courtesy of TMNT Facebook page.
• For some reason Donatello is sleding into hummers in the next "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" summer blockbuster.

Cowabunga! I have always wanted to open with that infamous catch phrase that stole the hearts of young nerds and the money from their parent's wallets since the late 80s. What was once a black and white self published comic book The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is now a multi-million dollar franchise that has been acquired by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon to reboot for a new generation. It even says it in the Facebook URL.

We finally get to catch a glimpse of the new TMNT:

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson bestowed some images of himself in the upcoming film Hercules, and July can't come fast enough. We have seen him as the People's Champ to the tooth fairy, but never considered what he would look like as a statuesque greek god.

EXCLUSIVE first look..#HERCULES The world's first superhero. #TilDeathOrVictory pic.twitter.com/NXZp8JfWo5
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) March 24, 2014

"Become the man you were born to be" EXCLUSIVE first look #HERCULES movie poster. pic.twitter.com/OAOnTR8YFm
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) March 24, 2014

The 41-year-old actor knows no bounds. Johnson is still keeping a tight lip on which DC character he should play.

Back in 2011, one of my must-see films was Hobo With a Shotgun, a Canadian exploitation film starring Rutger Hauer as a homeless vigilante. The feature-length film grew out of a trailer director Jason Eisner submitted to Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez for their 2007 double-feature Grindhouse. Eisner won the challenge, and certain prints of Grindhouse carried the faux trailer, along with fake trailers by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright. Enough money was ponied up for Eisner to expand it, and damn if he didn’t make the best ‘80s blood-and-guts straight-to-video shocker to come out 20 years too late. See it again on Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 at 10 p.m. $6 for general admission, $5 for Loft members.

The Wes Anderson series continues this week over at the Loft. On Saturday, March 22 at 7 p.m., you can catch the 2009 film The Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion animation film based on the book by one of my favorite childhood authors, the delightful and often creepy Roald Dahl. With voice work provided by George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Anderson staples Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray, Anderson, along with co-writer Noah Baumbach, crafted a nifty and witty film that the whole family can enjoy. There’s even a second screening for the kiddos on Sunday, March 23 at 11 a.m. On Wednesday, March 26, Anderson’s 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou plays at 7 p.m. Murray plays a Jacques Cousteau-type oceanographer on a mission to hunt down a mysterious shark that killed his partner years previously. This film features an incredible soundtrack of David Bowie covers sung in Portuguese, and possibly the finest tribute to Buckaroo Banzai I’ve ever seen. All the Anderson screenings are regular admission.

This one is for the folks that have real jobs and can't afford to go to South by Southwest. John Ridley's highly anticipated Jimi Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side is expected to debut at SXSW on Wednesday, March 12. Unfortunately, there won't be any songs written by Hendrix in the movie because the late guitarist's estate refused to give approval. Reportedly, Andre 3000 covered tunes by the Beatles, Muddy Waters, the Troggs and other major acts from the sixties instead.

Accordingly to Ridley, this project began some seven years ago when the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind 12 Years a Slave discovered instrumental rarity “Sending My Love to Linda” and decided to learn more about the woman of the title. Linda, according Ridley's film, was Linda Keith, a former girlfriend of Keith Richards who became close with Hendrix and encouraged him to work on original material.