The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’ delightful mash note to the silent cinema, is looking like a sure bet for heavy recognition at this year’s Oscars, racking up three SAG Award nominations, five Independent Spirit Award nominations, and six Golden Globe nominations, in addition to awards for best film of the year from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Phoenix Film Critics Society, and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association. It’s easy to see why film critics in particular have taken to it: it evocatively tells the story of the end of the silent era as a silent movie, complete with black-and-white photography and period music (even using the traditional 1.33:1 aspect ratio).
But it’s not the first sound-era film to ape the silent style; aside from Chaplin’s final silent pictures, done well after sound had taken over, there’s Mel Brooks’ 1976 slapstick tribute Silent Movie, and Charles Lane’s 1989 indie Sidewalk Stories. What’s more, countless sound directors have used silent storytelling techniques to great effect, eschewing dialogue (and sometimes even sound effects) to work through their narrative beats via purely visual means. After the jump, we’ve assembled ten great “silent” scenes from the sound era; add your own in the comments.
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Today at Flavorpill, we decided that these have got to be the most hardcore holiday decorations that we’ve ever seen. We heard that NYU will be offering a course on Occupy Wall Street next semester. We wished that Will Ferrell would make a free commercial for us. We learned some interesting things about the way that Pixar works. We watched a funny outtake from Louis CK’s upcoming comedy special. We read an interview with Carrie Brownstein in which she discusses why she loves Portland. We wished that The Lonely Island guys were really releasing a Christmas album. We were happy to see that the viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight Rises is already underway thanks to a pair of leaked “CIA documents.” We rather enjoyed this clip which reimagines Angry Birds through the eyes of Guy Ritchie. And finally, we decided that this guy who has 15,000 websites tattooed on his body has to be faking us all out. Right?
Readers, it has been a bumpy year in our relationship with Pixar. Once a studio that we believed could do no wrong, in 2011 its only big release was Cars 2, a film which our own Jason Bailey so perfectly dubbed “the sequel to the one Pixar movie that nobody really liked.” Then came the seriously underwhelming teaser trailer for Brave. We were originally excited for this one thanks to its female heroine (a much-needed Pixar first!), but sadly, it looks kind of boring. Thankfully, it seems like the studio might finally be turning things back around with an ambitious new project that sounds a little bit like Herman’s Head.
During a recent TV appearance, Pixar head John Lasseter revealed to Charlie Rose that, “Pete Docter, from Monsters, Inc. and Up, is doing a new film that takes place inside of a girl’s mind and it is about her emotions as characters, and that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.” So not only are we getting another female lead, but she’s also the setting for the film. Pretty surreal, right? While it will probably be a few years before we see Docter’s untitled movie hits theaters, we can’t wait to see what the talented director does with such a fascinating premise! [via Slashfilm]
Since popular Pixar film Up hit screens in 2009, there has been more than one homage to its iconic flying house. The best — or at least the most realistic — of these, a house built in Utah to look almost exactly like its animated counterpart, has just been sold to two self-described Disney fanatics who had been searching for a house with an ‘Up feel.’ The house, which now serves as a tourist attraction, wasn’t up for sale, but after meeting Clinton and Lynette Hamblin, builder Blair Bangerter decided he would be leaving the place in good hands. Even better, at least for the Hamblin’s, was the price tag — $400,000, still a hefty number, but less than the run-of-the-mill homes they had been looking at in California. Bangerter Homes received special permission from Disney to construct the house, with the stipulation that the plans be turned over after completion, making it the only house of its kind. ”That movie just made us grow as a couple,” Lynette Hamblin said of Up. “Life is never over, and adventure is out there.” [Daily News and Hollywood Reporter]
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 six new clips for your perusal, ranging from a teaser for a flick that puts Tim Riggins on Mars to an extended, eight-minute version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trailer; check ‘em out after the jump.
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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 seven new trailers this week, including, yes, Hunger Games; check ‘em out after the jump. Read More »
Lars von Trier is a great filmmaker, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy you’d much like to hang out and have a drink with. Aside from all that Nazi stuff, his films tend to traffic in the grimmest possible subject matter: he’s tackled rape, slavery, the death penalty, paralysis, and genital mutilation, so it somehow seems logical that his latest picture, Melancholia (on demand now, in theaters Friday) is about nothing less than the end of the world.
Apocalypses are a popular topic for filmmakers — though most are more interested in the narrative possibilities of the post-apocalyptic world than the event itself. Melancholia distinguishes itself by being something of a pre-apocalyptic picture, delving into the anxiety and fear of those who are awaiting the earth’s possible collision with a foreign object (timely!). After the jump, we’ll take a look back at a few of our favorite cinematic apocalypses. Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we learned that even World Scrabble Championship players can be tempted to “misplace” their crappy tiles. We tried our best to guess a few novels by their famous opening lines. We wished that The Real Housewives of South Boston would get picked up by Bravo. We thought that this Luxo Jr. Pixar desk lamp Halloween costume was such an inspired idea. We were excited to hear that the lovely and talented Judy Greer is developing her own sitcom for ABC. We wondered if the world is really ready for The Real World: Occupy Wall Street. We were amazed by this clip which syncs up all seven timelines from last week’s episode of Community. We decided that this is one of the scariest jack-o’-lanterns that we’ve ever seen. We wanted a list of the names and addresses of anyone who purchases this ridiculous $75K yurt that’s in the new Neiman Marcus “Christmas Book.” We were embarrassed by how much we want to try this Paula Deen butter-flavored lip balm. And finally, we wondered if whoever built this crazy climbing wall intended for it to look like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Also: does this mean that going to the gym in Japan is more fun?
Today at Flavorpill, we were surprised that both Jane Austen and William Shakespeare failed to make the cut in this list of Americans’ favorite British authors. We found out what our favorite ’80s band says about us. We wondered what an ad for Zookeeper was doing hanging out in an old episode of How I Met Your Mother. We took a black and white photo tour of old school Harlem. We felt inspired by this open letter to aspiring artists from Pixar animator Austin Madison. We were amused by the changes made in this abbreviated and simplified version of The Great Gatsby. We saw how easy it is to drop $1 million at Tiffany when you’ve got a ten-point action plan. We wondered how Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s short story collection will compare to James Franco’s. We were surprised to find out that Eminem is the first artist to sell 1 million downloads of an album. And finally, we loved Laura Miller’s feature on the Invisible Library and the greatest books that never were. Do you have a favorite imaginary book?
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. This week, we’ve got eight new trailers, from filmmakers as distinguished as Brad Bird and Steven Spielberg to, um, the guy who did the Resident Evil movies. Check ‘em out after the jump.
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