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The Dirtiest Movie Posters of All Time [NSFW]

By Jason Bailey on

Late last week, the Internet collectively furrowed its brow, cocked its head sideways a bit, and then issued a unanimous “Ohhhh” and turned a little red before quickly closing the tab window as Lars von Trier unleashed the dirty/artsy poster for his latest film, the two-part, LaBeouf-enabling, unsimulated-sex epic Nymphomaniac. But how do Von Trier parenthetical genitals stack up against the cinema’s naughtier one-sheets? A roundup of some of the dirtiest movie posters to date after the jump. … Read More

Pop Culture

Cool Russ Meyer-Inspired ‘Star Wars’ Figures, Commissioned by Patton Oswalt

By Jason Bailey on

It’s not every day that you hear about a project that brings together (psychically, at least) George Lucas, Roger Ebert, Russ Meyer, and Patton Oswalt, but here goes: when Oswalt was acting in Young Adult, he became interested in Jamie Follis (aka “Sillof”), an “action figure customizer” with a specialty in physical reimaginings of the Star Wars universe. Oswalt liked Sillof’s work so much that he commissioned him to create a series of figures that mashed up the world of Lucas with that of exploitation movie legend Russ Meyer, resulting in the artist’s latest series, Faster, Empire! Strike! Strike! … Read More

Film

The Quirkiest Film Titles in Cinema

By Alison Nastasi on

Moonrise Kingdom director Wes Anderson is a master at creating quirky, endearing, and gorgeously detailed films, and his latest project with a recently cast Johnny Depp — which we reported this morning — is proving to be no different. So far, we know the upcoming film — likely to also star Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Jude Law, and Angela Lansbury — will be set in Europe and that the director is calling it The Grand Budapest Hotel. It’s another whimsical title in a long list of delightfully zany film names like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, or… well, take your pick. Anderson is hardly alone when it comes to choosing eccentric titles, and we’ve compiled a list of cinema’s quirkiest movie monikers after the jump. Leave us a note with your favorites below. … Read More

Film

The Best Opening Lines in Cinema

By Alison Nastasi on

Whether you’re reading a book or watching a film, audiences and bookworms want to be pulled into the story’s world, immersed in the life of its characters, and get a keen sense of the setting where the action is taking place. Skilled writers can ignite that connection almost instantly, and as the Guardian shared over the weekend, the literary world is full of fine examples where the first lines in fiction have been enrapturing readers for decades. Cinema is no different, and we wanted to search for the most unforgettable movie openers. These oft-quotable opening lines have acted as a foreshadowing device, added instant drama, and allowed us to understand the inner workings of different characters’ minds. We could have spent all day reciting first lines from our favorite films, but we narrowed our picks down and left you the opportunity to share your own past the break. … Read More

Film

10 of the Best Worst Movies

By Alison Nastasi on

Plan 9 from Outer Space from cult director Ed Wood hit Blu-ray this week. The film has famously been dubbed the worst movie ever made. We can’t help but admire the low budget filmmaker’s ability to craft an alien invasion — a charming feat considering his lack of resources (cardboard cutouts and model-kits on strings abound), amateur cast, and weirdly intercut footage of Bela Lugosi who posthumously starred in the sci-fi schlockfest. In celebration of all the best, worst movies out there, we wanted to examine a few other favorites. It’s all subjective, but these are a couple of standouts that managed to be entertaining despite the odds. Share your picks below, and let us know if you approve of ours in the comments section. … Read More

Film

10 Movies That Would Make Great Theme Parties

By Judy Berman on

Project X premieres today, and despite the hype promising the teen party movie to end all teen party movies, it’s getting pretty dismal reviews. And while we probably could have predicted it would be a disappointment from the previews, we can’t say we’re not a little sad about it — after all, no one likes a good film about mindless revelry more than we do. Luckily, Project X did get us thinking about a better way to combine pictures and parties, and we’ve compiled a list of movies that would make for awesome theme bashes of all kinds. We’ve skipped some of the more obvious picks — Harry Potter, The Big Lebowski – but the brave hosts among you will find inspiration to recreate ’20s Paris, throw a lavish Italian dinner party, or bathe your guests in Lynchian neo-noir, after the jump. Add your own movie-inspired theme party ideas in the comments. … 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 learned eight things we didn’t know about Mardi Gras. We traveled back to the ’90s with these photos that perfectly (and hilariously) capture the decade. We went “pun hunting” at the grocery store with Pleated Jeans. We loved this snowy photo of Stanley Kubrick… Read More

Film

10 Cult Filmmakers Everyone Should Know

By Judy Berman on

When the news broke earlier this week that l0w-budget film legend George Kuchar had died, we were surprised at how many people we knew hadn’t heard of him. In case you’re not familiar, Kuchar and his twin brother Mike are known for campy, so-bad-they’re-good flicks with names like Hold Me While I’m Naked and I Was a Teenage Rumpot that have gained a vocal following among trash-cinema fans. Of course, it isn’t often that our greatest cult filmmakers get the recognition they deserve. Take, for instance, PopMatters’ recent list of “The 100 Essential Directors” – the staff’s picks are mostly solid, but they only deign to include a few directors who could legitimately be described as “cult.” In an attempt to remedy the oversight, we’ve compiled a list of 10 cult filmmakers everyone should know. They may not be the “best” (and that isn’t even a useful benchmark for a genre where the term would be so hard to define), but they’re among the most influential, and each serves as a great gateway to legions of lesser-known directors. … Read More

Film

Gallery: Movie Posters from an Alternate, Superior Universe

By Judy Berman on

Somewhere out there, in the cosmos, there’s a universe far better than ours. It’s a place where Russ Meyer directs Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne in Kill Bill and Ronald Reagan stars as Big Brother in 1984, where Angelina Jolie takes the role of Little Alex in A Clockwork Orange and the cast of John Frankenheimer’s Watchmen includes Lenny Bruce, Peter Fonda, and Brigitte Bardot. In this faraway Valhalla, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall helm a film adaptation of Futurama, directed by Tim Burton.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the technology to travel there. But a brave soul named Sean Hartter has somehow gotten his hands on some its dispatches — and he’s selling them for pretty reasonable prices! Check out a gallery of Hartter’s alternate-universe movie posters after the jump. … Read More

Film

10 Cult Films That Should Never Be Remade

By Judy Berman on

We could hardly believe the news, yesterday, that Warner Bros. is planning to reboot Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie, without the participation of franchise mastermind Joss Whedon. Although we’ve endured endless offensive remakes in the past several years, this one was particularly surprising: The original film is, after all, only 18 years old and its creator is still very much a force in the industry. Plus, the TV series was always a far bigger hit than the movie.

If anything proves that the possibility of wrongheaded remakes is unlimited, it’s the new Buffy. With that in mind, we present our list of 10 cult films that should under no circumstances ever be remade. Please, Hollywood, trust us on these. … Read More