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27 Awesome Photos of Cultural Icons at Prom

By Emily Temple on

Now that May is here, there’s no ignoring it: our tackiest American teenage rite of passage is approaching. That’s right, it’s prom season. Whether this conjures up cringe-worthy memories or no memories at all for you, not to worry — hosts of your favorite cultural icons have gone through it too, with varying degrees of grace. Click through for a collection of some of the greatest photos of actors, politicians, musicians, and even writers in their prom-night… Read More

Film

Everything Wes Anderson’s Ever Directed, Ranked

By Jason Bailey on

Today is Wes Anderson’s birthday, with the Houston-born auteur turning 44 years old following the commercial and critical success of Moonrise Kingdom. That 2012 Oscar nominee was his seventh feature film, and between that, his shorts, and his many commercials, Anderson has put together a pretty respectable body of work. So how does it all stack up? … Read More

Film

Great Movies With Embarrassingly Bad DVD Art

By Jason Bailey on

You can’t judge a book by its cover, as we’ve recently discovered with not only books, but also music. That holds true with film as well — not just with movie posters, which have their own problematic elements, but when it comes time to sell you the movie in physical form. For years, DVD distributors have uglified some of our favorite movies — often even eschewing the classy and striking movie posters for Photoshopped, Frankensteined monstrosities of their own making, designed to move units at all costs. We’ve assembled some of the ugliest and most terrifying DVD images for movies we actually like — and provided their original posters as well, just so you can see how far they can fall. … Read More

Film

Your Favorite Actors on Their Favorite Actors

By Jason Bailey on

The Ryan Gosling fan club is getting even more crowded. Recently, James Franco took to the Huffington Post to do what countless fans and stalkers have spent the past several years doing: writing on the Internet about Ryan Gosling. “I want to make love to this section,” Franco writes of the first, Gosling-heavy hour of The Place Beyond the Pines. “He played the role to a T. Look at the funny glasses he wears when he robs banks, green on the sides; look at the writing on the bike before he paints it black; Gosling touches, all, I’m sure of it.” Actors obsessing over actors — they’re just like us! And let’s be honest: there’s something kind of wonderful about actors and actresses who genuinely love each other’s work, and who can articulate what makes it great. So we went on the hunt for the favorite actors of some of our favorite actors, to find out who they love, who inspires them, and… Read More

Film

Will These 10 Films Be Next Year’s Oscar Nominees?

By Jason Bailey on

After months of hype, after hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaigning, after endless precursor award ceremonies leading to the big night, the Oscars are over. So, what’s next? We took a look at the films slated thus far for release this fall — traditionally the time when Serious Oscar Movies are unleashed — and inventoried their Academy-friendly elements to come up with our picks for next year’s most likely… Read More

Design

Extraordinary Multifunctional Furniture for Small Spaces

By Claire Cottrell on

Brad Pitt, our favorite celebrity design enthusiast, has explained, “I’m drawn to furniture design as complete architecture on a minor scale.” Nothing illustrates his point more than the marvelous multifunctional designs that are quickly becoming mainstays on in today’s economically aware, space-saving obsessed design circuit. From an all-in-one bicycle ironing board ladder clothes rack shelf to a table cum bookshelf made out of books, click through to check out some of the most innovative, versatile furniture on the planet. … Read More

Celebrity

Celebrities and the Countries From Which They’ve Been Banned

By Jennifer Lewis on

Once upon a time, two of your doting Flavorpill staffers were banned from a “ruin pub” in Hungary. The whole debacle was a bit of a silly misunderstanding, but hey — at least we weren’t banned from the entire country, eh? The same can’t be said for the following celebrities, who have somehow landed themselves on a handful of nations’ naughty lists. We’ve got everyone from drug addicts to human rights activists to drug rights activists. Check ‘em out after the jump, and hit the comments to tell us your thoughts and dreams. … Read More

Film

Flavorwire’s Flick of the Week: ‘Killing Them Softly’ Is a Cool, Muscular Crime Pic

By Jason Bailey on

Killing Them Softly stars Brad Pitt as a hitman, and I’m going to stop right away and assure you that it’s about twelve times more interesting than it already sounds. That’s because it’s the work of Andrew Dominick, the writer/director of Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which remains one of Pitt’s most compelling (and experimental) films. The plot is ancient, stale even: a pair of low-level greaseballs are hired by a dry cleaner to knock over a lucrative high-stakes mob card game, and Pitt is Cogan, the contractor brought in to clean up the mess (i.e., track the perps down and take them out). … Read More

Film

‘Killing Them Softly’ Trailer Features New Footage

By Alison Nastasi on

More slow-mo violence, snarky wiseguys, and a belligerent James Gandolfini? Don’t mind if we do! A new trailer for Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly has appeared on Slash Film, and while it features more of the same, there are a few new bits and pieces from the puzzle. Brad Pitt plays Jackie Cogan who is a mob enforcer keeping tabs on a heist that went down during a poker game. The film is based on George V. Higgins’ book Cogan’s Trade, and the Assassination of Jesse James director seems to be doing a fine job so far of capturing the dark comedic tone of the story. We feel wicked for laughing at that car explosion scene. Head past the break to see what we mean. Watch Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy, and friends in theaters when the film arrives next weekend on November 30. … Read More

Film

10 Potential Blockbusters Killed by the Internet

By Jason Bailey on

Paramount’s upcoming film adaptation of Max Brooks’ novel World War Z was already smelling like a stinker — the $125 million production was originally slated for release this Christmas, only to be pushed back until next summer to accommodate an additional seven weeks of shooting and a third act rewrite by Damon Lindelof (because that’s what that guy’s best at, wrapping things up). That rewrite was eventually done not by Lindelof but by Cabin in the Woods co-writer/director Drew Goddard, and with the reshoots complete, the studio released its first trailer for the film last week. And the Internet went apeshit.

Responses on Twitter and film blogs were swift, damning, and nearly universal. The crux of them was that, simply, the film being advertised appeared to bear little to no resemblance whatsoever to the book it was ostensibly based on. “It’s not always wise to judge a movie by its trailer,” writes Film School Rejects’ Robert Fure, “but from our first look it seems Hollywood has screwed the pooch in the most Hollywood way imaginable.” The book’s multi-narrative structure and elements of social commentary are, it seems, gone; the film’s story of a single protagonist taking on an army of fast-moving zombies looks less like World War Z than I Am Legend.

We’ll have to wait until next June to find out if this controversial trailer reflects the entirety of the film — and if the already poison buzz surrounding World War Z will crash its box office chances. But what has become clear over the past two decades is that the explosion of online film culture can hurt a film’s build-up as much as it can help it; though movie geek sites, Twitter, and even Wikipedia can help amass an audience, they can also keep one away. After the jump, we’ll take a look at ten movies that the Internet may well have smothered in their sleep. … Read More