F

Flavorwire

danny devito

Film

The Lousiest Christmas Movies Ever Made

By Jason Bailey on

If you’ve ever wondered why there are so many (for the love of all that is holy, so damn many) Christmas movies, the answer is the same as for most of what happens in Hollywood: Money. Holiday movies are money lying on the ground, to be picked up every single December; a good Christmas movie that becomes a tradition can generate more continuing revenue than even the most beloved of catalogue releases. But there’s the rub — it also has to be a movie people actually want to revisit year after year. Making a good Christmas movie is harder than it looks; the delicate balance of humor, warmth, and schmaltz has to be just right, and for every Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation, we usually end up with three or four Santa Claus: The Movies. After the jump, a few would-be holiday “classics” to keep the hell off your Netflix queues and cable boxes; add your own cautionary tales in the comments. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Embarrassing, Hilarious Past Lives of Pop Culture Stars

By Alison Nastasi on

Many celebrities got their start doing some pretty embarrassing things. While we can totally picture Alison Brie as a party clown, you won’t believe which actor once fronted a New Wave… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Lindsay Lohan was actually pretty funny last night in the “Let Us Play With Your Look” segment on Jimmy Fallon — granted, she didn’t have to say anything. [via Pop Culture Brain]

2. “I just thought it was ridiculous. I mean, I’ve read reviews — there’s good and there’s bad in the… Read More

Film

Our 10 Favorite Voice-Only Film Performances

By Jason Bailey on

Critics and audiences weren’t entirely enamored of The Lorax (out today on DVD and Blu-ray), but it was tough to complain about the casting of the title character: Danny DeVito is spot-on, investing the character with the curmudgeonly lovability that’s always been part of his screen persona, and is a perfect fit for the orange creature who speaks for the trees.

Voice-over acting, whether in live action or animated films, is in many ways a tougher task than conventional on-screen work; the performer must do all of their acting with only the voice, unable to rely on other tools (movement, eyes, facial expression, etc.) to convey meaning and emotion. After the jump, we’ve selected — with considerable difficulty — our ten favorite voice-only performances in feature films (let’s face it: if we were just talking shorts, it’d be a list of ten Mel Blanc roles). Check them out after the jump, and add your own in the comments. … Read More

Pop Culture

An Open Letter (and Nostalgia Intervention) to Pop Culture

By Jason Bailey on

Dear Popular Culture,

Look, I realize this kind of thing is usually done face-to-face, and the “open letter” is, by definition, a rather impersonal medium for communication. Whenever you dramatize this kind of thing, it’s always in a small room, a select group of friends and family, all present to insist that we’re only doing this because we care. But there’s a lot of you to track down at once, and the written words is our medium of choice here at Flavorwire, so this is just going to have to do. We’re staging an intervention, popular culture. We’re worried about your addiction to the past. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. “I think there are some ages, like the one we’re living in, when the game is kind of rigged towards products that contain music – sort of like those cheap drinks you get in a bad supermarket where it says, ‘Contains 10% juice.’” – Record Store Day 2012 ambassador Iggy Pop reflects… Read More

Celebrity

Celebrities with Awesomely Strange Twitter Pictures

By Jennifer Lewis on

Ah, the Twitter profile picture. Which do you prefer — a glamor shot or an action shot? An indoor shot or an outdoor shot? A chimpanzee or an eagle? For most celebrities, Twitter is yet another medium for sharing overly attractive professional photos with the public. For others? It’s an opportunity to boast about that time they sipped a smoothie with Chewbacca. Check out 13 amusing celebrity Twitter profile pictures featuring bears, monkeys, Wookiees, and unsettling mustaches after the jump, and let us know your other favorites in the comments. … Read More

Film

Trailer Park: A Holiday Feast

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. We’ve got a whopping eleven trailers for you this week, offering everything from animation to big-budget studio comedy to Sundance hopefuls; check ‘em out after the jump. … Read More

Television

The 15 Funniest Scenes From 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'

By James Furbush on

Last season it felt like FX’s raunchy and hilarious sitcom, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was getting a bit long in the tooth. Perhaps it’s because the first five seasons about the demented gang that owns Paddy’s Pub were so gloriously absurd and raised the bar for intelligent, crass humor. Season six, however, was just disappointing. So, it was much welcomed this summer when one of the actors on the show decided to gain 50 pounds for the new season, launching the summer of “Fat Mac.” Then, FX released a few hilarious promo videos and the excitement for the show quickly rekindled on the Internet.

The new season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia kicks off tomorrow night. Over at Uproxx, they were doing some heavy lifting by rounding up the best GIFs from the show and then the best fan art ahead of the premiere. This list is by no means comprehensive, but take a gander of what we picked as the best moments/scenes from the show’s available YouTube clips and let us know if it matches up with your own favorites in the comments. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Judy Berman on

1. The Weeknd has released his second mixtape, Thursday, for free download. It comes out a mere five months after his mysterious debut, House of Balloons.

2. He’s an actor, producer, and activist, but it turns out Ashton Kutcher isn’t much of a journalist. After guest editing a special online issue of Details, he may… Read More