it’s a wonderful life

Christmas Movie Kids: Where Are They Now?

By Jason Bailey on Dec 10, 2012 10:32am

Christmas movie season is in full swing, and if you’re like us, you’ve got holiday films blasting from your television and Netflix window 24/7. “Timeless” is the term that gets thrown around for the good ones, and it’s often true — except in one respect. Those cute and cuddly kids so often at the center of yuletide tales have, in the years since they staked out a permanent place in your heart, grown up. Some have gone on to successful acting careers. Some dropped out once puberty hit. And one even, God help us, did porn. After the jump, our roundup of the after-Christmas lives of our favorite holiday movie kids. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on Dec 27, 2011 10:02am

1. “There will never be a reunion … as I will never do anything with an as*hole like Will Smith. He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn’t know the word.” — Janet Hubert,… Read More

Film

10 Christmas Movie Landmarks You Can Actually Visit

By Jennifer Lewis on Dec 22, 2011 2:30pm

‘Tis the season for rockin’ around the Christmas tree and cruisin’ around suburban neighborhoods, folks. Why? To decide which big empty house to rob, of course! Just kidding — that’s only if you’re the Wet and/or Sticky Bandits. For the rest of us, it’s to enjoy the fantastic light displays in all their tacky glory. For this year’s drive through the lights, why not add a few notorious holiday film locations to your festive route? Who knows, you might even get to meet a real-life Randy Parker! Pile into the family van, crank up the tinselly tunes, and read on for ten Christmas movie landmarks that you can actually visit. Which is your favorite? … Read More

Film

Open Thread: What Are Your Essential Holiday Movies?

By Jason Bailey on Nov 28, 2011 11:59am

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday is over, the only turkey left is that weird slab of half-fat and half-dark meat, the recycling can is overflowing with empty beer and wine bottles (seriously, somebody better take that out), and it’s time to start thinking about Christmas — specifically, Christmas viewing. It’s little wonder that the “holiday movie” has become such a venerable moviemaking standby; whether the resultant picture is good (A Christmas Story) or not so good (Fred Claus), there’s a pretty good chance that studios can count on perennial DVD sales and TV bookings as a revenue stream.

There are plenty of memorable holiday films, and yes, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see a list or two centered on them in the upcoming weeks. But as the season gets underway, we thought we’d keep it simple, and ask you the basic question: What are your essential holiday movies? What do you always watch once the Christmas season is in full swing? … Read More

Film

Open Thread: What Movies Make You Cry?

By Jason Bailey on Aug 1, 2011 1:00pm

So here’s an intriguing story that’s been working its way through the blogosphere: a pair of UC Berkley researchers have determined that the final scene of Franco Zeffirelli’s The Champ, in which Jon Voight’s washed-up boxer dies in front of his son (played by nine-year-old Ricky Schroeder), is the saddest movie scene of all time — that is, it has been scientifically proven to be the film clip most likely to make people cry. Don’t argue, it’s science.

The details of the research are compelling, and its conclusions were certainly not arrived at hastily. And yet… there’s just something about this story that rubs your author the wrong way. The “cry-ability” of a movie doesn’t seem all that measurable — like laughter or fear, crying at a movie seems such a singularly personal and subjective experience that it hardly seems quantifiable. Which begs the question: what makes you cry at the movies? … Read More