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Despite His Protests, Zach Braff’s Cannes Deal Violates the Spirit of His Kickstarter Campaign

By Jason Bailey on

It’s not like anyone was crossing their fingers and wishing upon a star to talk about Zach Braff and Kickstarter again, but here we go. “Zach Braff’s Kickstarter Film Lands Full Financing,” reads the headline at The Hollywood Reporter, which got all the details of Braff’s Cannes deal with Worldview Entertainment to “fund much of Wish I Was Here,” the Garden State follow-up that Braff already raised $2.6 million for via the crowd-funding site. It’s a deal that seems to confirm the worst grumblings about the project (that it was a publicity stunt, that it was a vanity move, that it was a gross exploitation of crowd funding by a multimillionaire). And though the Reporter has updated its piece with softer language concerning the full extent of Worldview’s participation, the new controversy surrounding the project raises further questions about exactly how these hybrid Kickstarter/Hollywood projects should work — and who will benefit from them. … Read More

Celebrity

Zoe Saldana Is the Latest Hollywood Ingénue to Use Bisexuality as a PR Tactic

By Tyler Coates on

The ladyblogs are all abuzz over this month’s issue of Allure, featuring Star Trek star Zoe Saldana. The cover line under her boldface name reads, “115 Pounds of Grit and Heartache,” bait that the Internet has gleefully seized, because the business of calling out sexism is always booming. But buried within the actual profile of Saldana is another irritating trend that Hollywood ingénues willingly participate in: the casual mention of the actress’s bisexuality. … Read More

Film

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’s’ Clumsy, Superficial Commentary on Drones

By Jason Bailey on

Star Trek has never shied from allegory — in fact, from the original 1960s series incarnation, creator Gene Rodenberry saw the show’s parallel universe as an opportunity to “make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam, politics, and intercontinental missiles.” His show, and the spin-offs and films that followed, offered up commentary on war, the environment, torture, and the like, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that J.J. Abrams’s new sequel Star Trek Into Darkness treads into the waters of political allegory. What’s surprising for the franchise (but not for the current moviemaking culture) is that it does it so shallowly. … Read More

Film

Gorgeous Original Posters for Paul Thomas Anderson Movies From Mondo

By Jason Bailey on

Well, looks like Mondo has off and done it again. The collectible art division of our beloved Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has a new series of posters dedicated to the work of Paul Thomas Anderson, and they’re knockouts. Mondo artist Aaron Horkey curated the series; after the jump, you can see their posters for Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, and Hard Eight (aka Sidney), along with Horkey’s thoughts on the pieces and the artists responsible. … Read More

Film

The 50 Greatest Movie Villains of All Time

By Jason Bailey on

The true nature of Star Trek Into Darkness’s villain has become perhaps the Internet’s worst-kept secret, but don’t worry — you’ll not have it spoiled here. Suffice it to say that the film’s antagonist is fiercely intelligent, physically brutal, and hellbent on revenge. In other words, this is a great movie villain. But what makes a truly memorable one? Sifting through the scores of iconic movie bad guys and girls reveals that villainy comes in all shapes, sizes, and levels of intensity; ranking them against each other is a tall order, but your Flavorwire was willing to give it a… Read More

Film

Guess What: Hollywood’s ‘Bridesmaids’ Revolution Never Happened

By Jason Bailey on

Hey, remember back when Bridesmaids came out, and everybody was all, “It’s your social responsibility to support female-driven comedy,” and then it was a hit, so yay for funny ladies? And then The Hunger Games came out, and everybody was all, “It’s your social responsibility to support a female-driven blockbuster,” and then it was a hit, so yay for lady ass-kickers? Well, as it turns out, none of that mattered a lick, because according to a study released yesterday by the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, female representation in popular films is at its lowest level in five years. So thanks for nothing, Hollywood. … Read More

Film

Flavorwire’s Guide to Movies You Need to Stream This Week

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to Flavorwire’s streaming movie guide, in which we help you sift through the scores of movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and other services to find the best of the recently available, freshly relevant, or soon to expire. This week, there’s good stuff from Kristen Bell, Greta Gerwig, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Helen Mirren, Felicity Jones, Sarah Polley, Julie Christie, and the Star Trek crew; check them out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Film

The Complicated — And Troubling — Role of Race and Class in Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Gatsby’

By Tyler Coates on

Now that The Great Gatsby has opened to favorable audience reviews and not-so-ecstatic critical response, there seems little left to be said about Baz Luhrmann’s garish 3D romance. As expected, Luhrmann’s picture is a mostly faithful adaptation of the book, if not a completely obvious one. And sure, for every shot of Leonardo DiCaprio practically tripping over his wing-tipped feet to reach for the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock, there are thousands of frames filled with fireworks, confetti, champagne, and even the typewritten words of F. Scott Fitzgerald (by way of the ludicrous framing device suggesting that Nick Carraway wrote The Great Gatsby as a memoir to cure his “morbid alcoholism”) flying into the faces of the bespectacled audience. (It’s surprising that the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg weren’t behind Dolby-branded 3D glasses.) You don’t see a Baz Luhrmann film for the subtlety, but one aspect of The Great Gatsby that is surprisingly nuanced is the complicated role that race plays in both Lurhmann’s and Fitzgerald’s cynical treatment of the American class struggle. … Read More

Film

10 Mom-Approved Movie Character Crushes

By Alison Nastasi on

Try as you might, mom won’t ever let you forget that she knows what’s best for you. In the spirit of Mother’s Day, we played matchmaker and set you up with a few film characters that mom would approve of. She only wants you to be happy. We chose ten films, guesstimated who you probably have a crush on, and then selected a character from the same movie that mom would prefer you invite over for dinner sometime. Feel free to leave your own mom-approved film character crushes in the comments section. … Read More

Web

Do Celebrity-Backed Projects Hurt Kickstarter’s Reputation?

By Tyler Coates on

When Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell announced last month that a movie version of the cult show was in the works — via Kickstarter — the internet exploded with excitement. The project hit its $2 million goal in just 11 hours, setting a record on the four-year-old fundraising site. The project was seen as a way to gauge the audience interest rather than a chance to fully fund the production, although Thomas and Bell were able to pull together $5.7 million from Veronica Mars fans. … Read More