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10 of Film’s Greatest Sex Comedies

By Jason Bailey on

We’ve been excited about For A Good Time, Call… since its Sundance premiere, and not just because it (like fellow Sundance film Bachelorette, on demand now and in theaters next month) indicates that the post-Bridesmaids female-heavy R-rated comedy surge is actually going to happen. More than that, For A Good Time is, quite simply, a very funny and exquisitely likable sex comedy, and there’s a shortage of those any way you slice it. There’s no shortage of sex comedies, of course — since the early ‘80s heyday of Porky’s and Hardbodies and their ilk, they’ve been all but ubiquitous. But have you ever tried going back and watching those iconic titles? Good heavens. They do not hold up well.

But a select few do. After the jump, we’ve assembled ten of our all-time favorite sex comedies (which we’re defining as movies where sex is the primary preoccupation/subject matter); add your own in the comments. … Read More

Film

10 Unfortunate Intersections of Movies and Real Life Events

By Jason Bailey on

The new Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn/Jonah Hill comedy The Watch is out tomorrow, though that’s not the title it was written, shot, and originally marketed under. Somewhere between page and premiere, it lost its original title and saw its marketing focus shift; as has been known to happen, the events of the world off-screen either changed events on-screen, or colored our response to them. After the jump, we’ve assembled ten films that unexpectedly intersected with real life, and what happened to them as a result. … Read More

Pop Culture

10 Movie Stars Who Bombed on TV

By Jason Bailey on

A couple of weeks back, while assembling our post on the shortest-running shows in TV history, we noticed a bit of a pattern: an awful lot of them were vehicles for movie stars, who keep getting TV shows even though their track record for success is surprisingly low. There are exceptions, of course, but more often than not, it seems that TV executives value the built-in recognition factor of a big star over quality writing and the kind of ensemble work that the best television thrives on. As a result, an audience may tune in for the first week or two, but if they don’t see big-screen quality right away, they tune out. We thought of this pattern again when we noticed the single season of ABC’s canceled Missing among today’s DVD releases — a show starring Ashley Judd, who was headlining very big movies just a few short years ago. Ms. Judd can take solace, however, in the fact that many a movie star before her has flopped on the tube; after the jump, we’ve collected ten of the most notable examples. … Read More

Film

This Week in Trailers: ‘Anchorman,’ ‘Gatsby,’ ‘The Master,’ and More!

By Jason Bailey on

Every Friday here at Flavorwire, we like to gather up the week’s new movie trailers, give them a look-see, and rank them from worst to best — while taking a guess or two about what they might tell us (or hide from us) about the movies they’re promoting. We’ve got a boatload of new trailers this week — many of them from Cannes, which is after all not just a film festival but a film market, where foreign rights are sold and trailers are thus trotted out. So we’ve got new films from name directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Mendes, and Baz Luhrmann, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Carey Mulligan, Jackie Chan, Joaquin Phoenix, and his late brother River. Check ‘em all out after the jump, and share your thoughts in the comments. … Read More

Film

Video Essay: “And Introducing… Famous Faces in Their Film Debuts”

By Jason Bailey on

This week’s must-see DVD for film fans is Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, Alex Stapleton’s wickedly enjoyable documentary profile of Roger Corman, the B-movie master whose exploitation movies launched half the moviemakers and movie stars of the ’70s. One of the film’s highlights is Jack Nicholson’s remembrances of his first movie roles, including his debut performance in The Little Shop of Horrors (which Corman shot in all of two days). Nicholson’s story got us thinking about other stars and their first movie roles, so we put together this quick video essay with a peek at some other famous film debuts. Check out our latest video essay after the jump. … Read More

Film

Six Lessons Learned at the SXSW Film Festival

By Jason Bailey on

Your humble film editor spent last week at the South by Southwest Film Festival — my first time not only at that event, but in Austin, period. (It’s a lovely town, full of friendly folks and outstanding smoked meat products.) Normally, when I go to a film festival, I just try to jam as many movies into my eye-holes as possible, but there were some interview and panel opportunities this year, and I knew you guys wouldn’t forgive me if I passed up the chance to talk to Patton Oswalt or Nick Offerman or Aubrey Plaza or Mike Birbiglia, or to go to panels with Joss Whedon or Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow. But the moviegoing took a hit — I accomplished a pathetic average of two movies per day. Hell, I do better than that sneaking into multiplexes at home.

And although I managed to see not a single solitary one of the SXSW Film award winners, I did learn some valuable lessons from the movies I did manage to see. I’ll share them with you after the jump! … Read More

Film

10 Film Characters Who Went Back to School

By Alison Nastasi on

This Friday Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are heading back to high school in Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s adaptation of the late ’80s and early ’90s TV drama, 21 Jump Street. Hill and Tatum are taking over the roles that Johnny Depp and Richard Grieco made famous — two undercover agents busting drug baddies at a local high school. The Hill written and produced version (Tatum also has a producer credit) puts a comedic spin on things (obviously), as the duo ends up joining the secret Jump Street unit of the local police department. They also return to school on the DL, but find that their traumatic high school pasts often gets in the way of their investigation.

Whether film characters head back to class to reinvent themselves, chase lost dreams, or take on an entirely new identity, hitting the books for a second go-round always seems to inspire great hilarity and drama. We’ve revisited ten other back to school movies past the break. Tell us your favorites? … Read More

Television

The Best and Worst of Last Night's 'SNL' with Jonah Hill

By Emily Temple on

Last night on Saturday Night Live, Jonah Hill returned to his hosting duties to somewhat mixed results. To our minds, Hill was a little underused, or maybe used in the wrong way — he was too often the straight man and not let off the leash enough. And while he broke a little too often, we found it more charming than awkward, which isn’t always the case. Plus, the Shins were predictably wonderful as musical guest, and there was one instance of the most advanced makeup we’ve ever seen on the show (even if the skit it appeared in was wildly uncomfortable). Click through to watch the best and worst sketches of the night, and let us know how you thought Jonah Hill did in the comments. … Read More

Comedy

Watch Jonah Hill’s Funny New ‘SNL’ Promos

By Caroline Stanley on

Poor Jonah Hill. It seems like anyone wants to talk about when he comes up these days is the fact there’s suddenly a lot less of him. We still cringe when we recall Billy Crystal serenading him with “if you lose, I think that you should know, that there’s cupcakes after the show,” at the Oscars. Anyway, if you’re like us, then you’ll be happy that there’s no mention of Hill’s weight loss in the promos for his upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live, just some effortless back and forth with his Superbad co-star Bill Hader. This should be a nice palate cleanser after Ms. Lohan’s painful struggle with the cue cards last week, right? We’ve got but one request: please let there be a sketch where Taran Killam gets to break out his killer Michael Cera impression. … Read More

Film

This Week in Trailers: ‘The Avengers,’ ‘Frankenweenie,’ ‘Neighborhood Watch,’ and More

By Jason Bailey on

Every Friday here at Flavorwire, we like to gather up the week new movie trailers, give them a look-see, and rank them from worst to best — while taking a guess or two about what they might tell us (or hide from us) about the movies they’re promoting. We’ve got nine new trailers for you this week, including a new look at The Avengers and Richard Linklater’s latest (yay!), and new films from Adam Sandler and Tim Burton (boo!). Check ‘em all out after the jump, and share your thoughts in the comments. … Read More