Robert Zemeckis

Hilarious Notes on Modern Classics From Clueless Studio Executives

The image of non-creative types mucking about with (and screwing up) movies and television shows is nothing new — we’ve seen it in everything from Barton Fink to The Player to The Larry Sanders Show — but we got a rare opportunity to observe a real-life example of it recently, when a memorandum of notes from the suits at Tandem Productions to the makers of Blade Runner started popping up online. Those hilarious criticisms and suggestions got us wondering about other classic movies that came close to ruin thanks to studio interference. We’ll take a look at Blade Runner and several other examples after the jump. … Read More

The Year In Film: 2012's Best Movie Moments

As the inevitable “Year’s Best Films” lists pour forth (and ours will join them soon enough) — that while a great movie is an accumulation of first-rate writing, directing, and performance, plenty of films that didn’t make that final cut did offer us the pleasure of a perfect scene. Here, we present our carefully cultivated picks for ten of the best moments from this year’s… Read More

10 Proposed Movie Sequels That We Do. Not. Want.

From Warner Brothers’ latest attempt to revive Casablanca to Searching for Keyser Soze, here’s a look at some of Hollywood’s worst sequel ideas for its greatest… Read More

This Supercut Will Make You Never Want to Fly Again

It has its share of problems (contrary to what the ads are showing you, it spends most of its running time being yet another addiction melodrama), but Robert Zemeckis’ Flight does have one major draw: its opening in-flight sequences are among the most gripping, terrifying flying scenes ever put to film. And that’s not an easy boast to make — over the past several years, many filmmakers have brought the air traveler’s biggest fear to harrowing life on screen. After the jump, we’ve put together a dozen of the most harrowing flying sequences into this exclusive supercut. … Read More

Bombs Away: 12 of Film’s Most Welcome Failures

We try not to make a habit of cheering failure (really, honestly, promise, we don’t), but we couldn’t help getting a little warm and runny inside when Battleship laid a big egg at the beginning of the summer, since the movie beat is filled with tales of great movies that no one sees, and terrible turkeys that make a fortune. But occasionally, people just don’t go see a barking dog of a picture, and that can be good for all of us — not just because time isn’t wasted and incompetence isn’t rewarded, but because Hollywood is a town that takes its cues from what does well, so when a bad idea fails, more are less likely to follow. So today, in honor of Battleship’s DVD/Blu-ray release tomorrow, we’ll take a look at a dozen big-time bombs, and what the movie industry did or didn’t learn from them. … Read More

10 Once-Great Directors Who’ve Lost Their Touch

Rob Reiner has a new movie in theaters this Friday; it’s called The Magic of Belle Isle, it stars Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen, and it is just plain terrible. This shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point in the Reiner filmography; after a hot streak that included the likes of This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, and Stand By Me, Reiner went cold after 1995′s The American President and hasn’t made a great movie since. It happens — for every Scorsese that maintains a consistent quality for decades on end, there are plenty of filmmakers who don’t (even such greats as Hitchcock, Wilder, Chaplin, and Hawks were turning out clunkers at the end of their distinguished careers). In fact, we took an inventory, and dug up 10 more contemporary filmmakers who have gone cold; check them out after the jump, and add your own in the comments. … Read More

This Week in Trailers: Disney, Denzel, and ‘Django’

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. This weeks, we’ve got new trailers from the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Watson, John C. Reilly, and more; check ‘em all out after the jump, and share your thoughts in the comments. … Read More

10 Viciously Backlashed Movies We Still Like (and Why)

Backlash is a funny thing. It’s always been present in popular culture, but it feels as though it’s become particularly prominent over the past few years, an unavoidable step in any celebrated film, band, book, or television show’s penetration into the cultural landscape: first comes critical acclaim, then financial success, then ubiquity, and then the inevitable backlash from those who object (or who have turned, perhaps because of said popularity and/or ubiquity). Sometimes, the pendulum swings back and the backlash fades — but often, the negative connotation is what sticks, and that’s what becomes the lasting perception.

This week’s 3D rerelease of Titanic got us thinking about backlash, and how often we find ourselves defending movies that were, at least in the beginning, critical and popular hits, but have since fallen out of public favor. Thus, we’ve collected ten movies that the worm turned on — but that we’re standing by, damnit, and we’ll tell you why. Check them out after the jump, and add your own in the comments. … Read More

10 Romantic Comedies That Aren’t Terrible

Well, kids, it’s Valentine’s Day, and those of you who aren’t looking to go out and spend a fortune at a swanky restaurant (read: those of you who are married or in relationships that have been going long enough that you’re not trying to impress each other anymore) may very well choose to stay in for the holiday, cuddling up on the couch and enjoying a nice romantic comedy. Except, ugh, they’re all terrible.

Or so it seems, in this Heigl/Hudson/Hugh/Sarah-Jessica saturated cinematic marketplace. But believe it or not, there are some genuinely great romantic comedies out there — smart, tender, funny movies that make you laugh and warm your heart. No, seriously! We’ve not only managed to collect ten of them, but even an alternate choice or two for each. Snuggle up and enjoy after the jump. … Read More

2011’s Box-Office Bombs Prove Crass Movies Are Doomed to Fail

We’ve been having the “Does criticism matter?” debate for decades now — and it’s kicked into high gear in the past few years, with cash-strapped publications cutting their staff critics. So there is something especially gratifying about Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter’s midyear list of 2011′s biggest box-office flops, which we discovered via FilmDrunk. For the most part, it’s a strong statement that crass movies — unnecessary sequels and remakes, kid- and teen-pandering crap, and exploitative action flicks with no substance — aren’t working. If critics are so unimportant, then why did nearly even movie in the top ten also happen to get mercilessly panned? The list, with details and our commentary, is after the jump. … Read More