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Film

Woody Allen’s Classic Leading Ladies and Their Contemporary Counterparts

By Chloe Pantazi on

When Freud wrote of female sexuality as “a dark continent,” he might as well have been writing about Woody Allen’s murky understanding of women. The director’s female characters invariably have abundant daddy issues, a slew of neuroses, and affairs with artists, professors, married men. They seek advice from therapists and fortune tellers, they’re tempestuous and stubborn; though they’re sometimes incredibly narrow, they’re often appealingly complex. Allen’s female characters are so obviously amalgamations of his fantasy woman – or rather women, plural – that one might contend they’re part of an ongoing, experiment in understanding women. Following this week’s news that Emma Stone is set to star in the next Allen film, we’ve conducted a little experiment of our own, looking back at the ladies of his canon, matching the women of his classic era with their contemporary counterparts. … Read More

Books

10 Celebrities’ Favorite Children’s Books

By Emily Temple on

If you’re a fan of children’s books (or ever were), today is the day to brush them off and take a new look. That’s right, International Children’s Book Day, which falls every year on Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. To celebrate the day, we recommend curling up with a good picture book. If you need any suggestions, check out the favorite kids’ books of ten famous readers after the jump. What’s your favorite children’s book? Let us know in the comments. … Read More

Film

The Best and Worst of Sundance 2013

By Jason Bailey on

This time last year, the out-of-nowhere indie Beasts of the Southern Wild emerged at the Sundance Film Festival, knocked out everyone who saw it, and embarked on a thrilling year-long ride to become a critical fave, indie smash, and multiple Oscar nominee. Of course, when you have a big hit, everyone’s looking for a sequel — and most of the press out of Park City has been eager to buzzkill, assuring us that no, there’s not another Beasts in this year’s bunch. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an incredible… Read More

Film

10 Sundance 2013 Movies We Can’t Wait to See

By Jason Bailey on

Hold on to your hats, dear readers: the 29th annual Sundance Film Festival kicks off today in Park City, Utah. Your humble film editor is on the ground, in snow boots and several layers of sensible sweaters, with a film-going schedule that could alternately be described as “ambitious” or “insane.” Here are the ten movies that top our “must-see”… Read More

Celebrity

A Selection of Hilariously Unlikely Celebrity Doppelgängers

By Jennifer Lewis on

Folks, our friends at BuzzFeed recently discovered something remarkable: Ricky Gervais, at one point, looked exactly like David Bowie. Can you believe it? Of course we’re well aware that everyone has a doppelgänger or six running around, but Bowie and Gervais? We definitely didn’t see that one coming. Inspired by such an unlikely set of matching faces, we decided to do a bit of digging and unearth even more pairs of odd celebrity doppelgängers. Check ‘em out after the jump, and hit the comments to offer up any other unexpected couples. … Read More

Film

A Beginner’s Guide to Hitchcock

By Jason Bailey on

It’s a very big fall for fans of Alfred Hitchcock. First and foremost, Universal has released Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection, a fabulous 15-disc limited edition Blu-ray set featuring several of Hitch’s masterpieces (including Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho, and North by Northwest) in gorgeous HD transfers, with copious bonus features. And while his work is available for fresh consumption, there are a pair of new biography treatments as well — on the small screen, we have HBO’s The Girl (with Toby Jones as a rather skeevy Hitch and Sienna Miller as ‘Tippi’ Hedrin), while next week brings the theatrical release of a marvelous new big-screen biopic, Hitchcock (focusing on the production of Psycho, with Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as wife Alma, and Scarlett Johannson as Janet Leigh).

That’s a lot of Mr. Hitchcock to take in at once, but we’re here to help. If your knowledge of Hitch is confined to a shower scene and a flock of diving seagulls, you’re in luck; we’ve put together a Beginner’s Guide to Hitchcock, earmarking his major motifs, significant films, and relevant facts. Check it out after the jump. … Read More

Film

Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren Deliver in the ‘Hitchcock’ Trailer

By Caroline Stanley on

We took it as a pretty good sign when Fox Searchlight bumped Hitchcock up into a prime fall awards season spot. Now that we’ve seen the first trailer for Sacha Gervasi’s biopic, which is set during the period when the legendary director struggled to get Psycho made, we’re betting that the stellar performances by Anthony Hopkins (as Hitchcock) and Helen Mirren (as his wife Alma Reville) played a huge part in the studio’s decision. The onscreen chemistry between the two of them is almost enough to completely overshadow Scarlett Johansson’s turn as Janet Leigh — until we get to the behind-the-scenes look at the classic shower scene. If nothing else, the film is sure to be nominated for the incredible makeup job that they’ve done on Hopkins, who is completely transformed here (not to mention, much more believable in the role than Toby Jones). Hitchcock, which makes its world premiere at the AFI Fest next month, hits theaters nationwide on November 23rd. Take a look at the trailer, and let us know in the comments if you’re as excited to see this one as we are! … Read More

Music

10 MP3s You Need to Download for Free This Week: Liars, Marissa Nadler

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness from around the web. This week we get all excited about the arrival of a new Liars track via Adult Swim’s Singles Program — and there’s also an unreleased Marissa Nadler song, a free track from Dan Deacon’s new album, the return of Jean Grae and Efterklang, How to Dress Well going for full-fledged pop R&B thrills, and plenty more. Since all this action costs precisely nothing, what are you waiting for? All the download links await after the jump. … 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 read up on the newest mock meat that freaked reviewers out. We learned 10 things we didn’t know about London’s Olympics. We reimagined Disney princesses as women of color. We listened to Scarlett Johansson cover Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie and Clyde.” We watched Chris… Read More

Film

10 Surprising Box Office Bombs Starring A-List Actors

By Jason Bailey on

Next week, The Dark Knight Rises will hit theaters, and holy cow, even we’re tired of talking about how excited we are. But if you can’t wait until next week to get your Christian Bale fix, may we recommend this week’s new DVD release The Flowers of War? What’s that, you haven’t heard of it? Well, no wonder; it only made it to 30 theaters during its very limited release last January, and took in a paltry $311K. (Don’t fear for Bale and director Zhang Yimou — it grossed $93 million in China.) It just goes to show — movie stardom isn’t certain, and even the biggest names in the business can make a picture that comes and goes with nary a ripple. Bale is far from the only one to have a movie sink without a trace in spite of his fame; after the jump, we’ve assembled (in descending order of gross, with the invaluable help of Box Office Mojo) a list of ten big movie stars, and their films that barely made a peep. … Read More