F

Flavorwire

Paul Thomas Anderson

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

10 Notorious Leaked Screenplay Scandals

By Jason Bailey on

Earlier this week, we told you about Xavier Macafee, the New Mexico man who was arrested on suspicion of burglary after allegedly breaking into Bryan Cranston’s car and stealing, among other things, the script to one of Breaking Bad’s final episodes. While we still don’t know if it was a coincidental act or the work of a brilliant BB superfan, this isn’t the first time a swiped script has created havoc in Hollywood. Here are ten tales of leaked screenplays, and what happened to the films… Read More

Film

Five Movie Comebacks That Worked (and Five That Didn’t)

By Jason Bailey on

“RETIREMENT IS FOR SISSIES!” roar the posters for The Last Stand (seriously? “Sissies?” In 2012? But I digress…), the first starring role for Arnold Schwarzenegger since stepping away from the silver screen for a, shall we say, problematic stint in the California governor’s mansion. Its mid-January release date doesn’t exactly scream box-office or critical confidence, but who knows; Mr. Schwarzenegger has been underestimated before, and usually comes out ahead. Either way it goes, we thought it would be interesting to run down some of the other big-name actors who hit rough or absent patches and tried to work their way back into the spotlight with a well placed role; after the jump we’ll take a look at five comeback vehicles that took, and five that didn’t quite get the job done. … Read More

Film

The Year in Film: The 25 Best Movies of 2012

By Jason Bailey on

2012’s finest films reflected ambition, risk, and advocacy. They boldly redrew the maps of genre, freshly examined the creative process, and dared us to contemplate our own mortality. And, in more traditional terms, they made us laugh, and cry, and feel alive. These are the best films of… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Judy Berman on

1. Forget being re-elected; we imagine Joe Biden’s even more excited to have landed a cameo on Parks and Recreation. The episode in which he appears will air next Thursday, November 15th. We hope Leslie Knope will be able to contain herself. Check out a video preview of Biden’s appearance at

Film

The Most Eye-Opening Films about the Movie Industry

By Alison Nastasi on

This week, Paramount released a Blu-ray of Billy Wilder’s dramatic tale about a faded silent film star and the madness that ensues when her big-screen dreams are shattered. Sunset Boulevard is a tragic Hollywood love story — love for the illusion and the grandeur. It’s a cautionary tale about the trappings of Tinseltown that calls to mind other eye-opening films about the movie industry. We explored them all past the break. See what messages these celluloid satires have to share about the Hollywood machine, and tell us what films you would add to the list in the comments section. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we remembered 25 band names designed to confound listeners and irritate copy editors. We watched all five endings for The Hobbit trailer. We laughed at two young brothers in a homemade horror film. We got Cosmo-style tips from famous writers. We discovered secrets about… 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, we’ve got titles from Liam Neeson, Richard Gere, Ben Stiller, Juliette Binoche, Adrian Brody, Josh Brolin, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Mary Tyler Moore, and Adam Sandler, a must-see documentary, and comedy from Patton Oswalt and Zach Galifianakis; check them all out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Film

Flavorwire’s Flick of the Week: ‘The Master’

By Jason Bailey on

The first close-up in The Master, the sublimely grand and wonderfully eccentric new film from Paul Thomas Anderson, holds tightly on the eyes of Freddie Quell, the troubled seaman played by Joaquin Phoenix. Anderson’s camera fixes on those eyes—fixates on them, really—and challenges us to understand what’s happening behind them. For a good long while, it’s anybody’s guess; Freddie is an opaque and worrisome protagonist, an aimless troublemaker and desperate alcoholic who puts himself into questionable situations with nary a moment’s hesitation. Throughout the film’s first act, those eyes are a blank, the actor following the lead of a director determined not to show his hand. And then he meets The Master. … Read More

Film

The Movies Hollywood Was Afraid to Make

By Jason Bailey on

Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master opens Friday in limited release — his first film in five years, though we certainly could have been waiting longer. Anderson’s oh-so-thinly-veiled portrait of a cult leader who seems an awful lot like L. Ron Hubbard knocked around Hollywood for a good long while before the writer/director finally found outside financing (more on that later); it’s one of several films — most of them related to religion, the movie industry’s primary hot button — that had to go the indie route when the major studios were afraid to touch them. After the jump, a brief history of movies Hollywood was too scared to make. … Read More