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Stanley Kubrick

Film

Surprising Early, Alternate Versions of Iconic Movie Posters

By Jason Bailey on

Movie posters, as we’ve discussed before, are a tricky business, and a great movie poster must serve many functions: it must capture the essence of a movie, it must be aesthetically pleasing or interesting in itself, and it must sell the product in question. Unsurprisingly, the quest for that balance can result in reworking, re-imagining, and revisions galore, which is why the new Daybees online exhibit The Iconic Movie Posters That Never Were is so fascinating. In it, the designers behind some of Hollywood’s most memorable posters share their early drafts and alternate versions of classic posters; check them out after the jump, alongside the final drafts that became part of movie history, and visit Daybees to learn more about their creators. … Read More

Film

The 50 Greatest Movie Villains of All Time

By Jason Bailey on

The true nature of Star Trek Into Darkness’s villain has become perhaps the Internet’s worst-kept secret, but don’t worry — you’ll not have it spoiled here. Suffice it to say that the film’s antagonist is fiercely intelligent, physically brutal, and hellbent on revenge. In other words, this is a great movie villain. But what makes a truly memorable one? Sifting through the scores of iconic movie bad guys and girls reveals that villainy comes in all shapes, sizes, and levels of intensity; ranking them against each other is a tall order, but your Flavorwire was willing to give it a… Read More

Film

Behind-the-Scenes Photos of Iconic Filmmakers Directing Their Stars

By Alison Nastasi on

There’s nothing more exciting to a film lover than learning how their favorite movies were developed and executed. When we saw some fantastic behind-the-scenes photos from famous films on Every Day I Show, by way of Cinephilia and Beyond, we were blown away. The snapshots of iconic filmmakers directing their equally popular stars offers a peek at the history of cinema in the making. Head to our gallery for a look at directors in action and actors preparing their characters, collaborating on some of film’s greatest stories ever told. … Read More

Film

How ‘Star Wars’ Killed Smart Sci-Fi Cinema

By Jason Bailey on

In the opening sequence of Oblivion, the voice of Tom Cruise (playing the film’s protagonist, Commander Jack Harper) creeps onto the soundtrack and painstakingly explains the precise details of the film’s backstory. The year is 2077. The Earth is all but abandoned. An alien population known as Scavengers (Scavs for short) invaded the moon, which in turn nearly destroyed the earth. Most humans have moved to a space station. Drones and technicians like Harper roam the earth, and so on and son on. A metric ton of exposition is slammed into that opening sequence, but here’s what’s peculiar: at the beginning of the second act, after Jack discovers a hibernating astronaut (Olga Kurylekno) and saves her, he sits her down and gives her the whole spiel again. Why? Is this a safeguard in case people showed up late? Do they think we didn’t get it the first time? … Read More

Film

The Best Insults in Film

By Jason Bailey on

Recently, Flavorwire rounded up some of our very favorite punchlines from our favorite funny movies — which was a bit of a job in itself, since there are so many great lines, and they’re funny in so many different ways. But perhaps the most reliable way to get a laugh is one of the oldest: a great insult. The best can come from anywhere (even a serious drama), prompting not only a quick, dirty, slightly guilty laugh, but also the jotting down of a particularly effective slam in one’s mental notebook. Click through for 25 of the cruelest, funniest, and most effective cinematic… Read More

Film

The Best Punchlines in Film

By Jason Bailey on

A couple of weeks back, we perused the entirety of film history and pulled out our very favorite break-up lines — the meanest, the sharpest, and the funniest. For a follow-up, we decided to focus on the latter: selecting some of the best punchlines ever uttered in movies. By definition, a punchline isn’t just a funny bit of dialogue or an amusingly awkward moment: it’s the payoff to a setup, whether in situation or dialogue, and thus must be carefully teed up and smoothly executed. We think these 25 examples do just that, with panache. … 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 great flicks from Jack Nicholson, Ryan Gosling, Robert Pattinson, Clive Owen, Michelle Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis, Harvey Keitel, Pam Grier, Toni Collete, Stanley Kubrick, and David Cronenberg. Check them all out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Art

Killer Italian Artwork Inspired by Great American Movies

By Jason Bailey on

Italian illustrator and cartoonist Massimo Carnevale has been capturing attention on film blogs all over the world for his beautiful and inventive artwork inspired by scenes from American movies; he makes striking use of color and repurposed iconography, creating works that are both recognizably his and true to the spirit of the films that inspired them. After the jump, join us for a quick stroll past some of our favorites by this prolific artist. … Read More

New York

For Your Calendars: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

By Jason Diamond on

You’ve seen Clockwork Orange so many times that you speak fluent
Nadsat, you think Lolita is a better film than Nabokov’s original novel, you know Full Metal Jacket word for word, and you made a low-budget version of an unrealized Napoleon biopic script. Congrats,
you’re a huge Stanley Kubrick fan. And since you’re such a huge fan of the late director, the next week should probably find you camping out at IFC Center, as the great theater on Sixth Avenue presents The Films of Stanley Kubrick, a retrospective of his most well known earlier works, including all the above-mentioned movies, Barry Lyndon, Paths of Glory, and many others. Some choices are easier than others (who doesn’t want to see 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen?), but there is one film of his that has divided just about every type of moviegoer since its release in 1999, less than six months after Kubrick’s death. … Read More

Film

Beautiful International Lobby Cards for Famous Films

By Alison Nastasi on

Movie posters get all the glory, but lobby cards can be just as beautiful. These smaller promotional artworks usually feature the most memorable scenes from films. Tumblr Lobby Cards — which we spotted thanks to Gems — boasts a wonderful collection of the filmic advertisements. The Tumblr explains: “The lobby card was a form of advertising that revolutionized the look of graphics. Lobby Cards were sent out by the publicity departments of the Hollywood studios in sets of eight to twenty images reflecting the content of a newly released movie. Their purpose: to lure the movie-going public into theatres across the country.” Most of the lobby cards featured on the website are from various personal collections, including the Tumblr author’s. We highlighted several eye-popping international lobby cards advertising famous films in our gallery. … Read More