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Taxi Driver

Film

Artwork Inspired by the Films of Martin Scorsese

By Jason Bailey on

From Taxi Driver to Raging Bull to GoodFellas, few filmmakers have turned out as many influential movies as the great Martin Scorsese — and, come to find out, he’s also inspired plenty of artists from other disciplines. This weekend, San Francisco’s Spoke Art Gallery is presenting Scorsese: An Art Show Tribute, and since they’re honoring the quintessential New York artist, they’ve come east for the occasion. The show, running this weekend only at Chelsea’s Bold Hype Gallery, features work from over 75 painters, sculptors, and screen print artists. But if you can’t make it, don’t worry; Spoke Art has shared a few highlights from the show, including a couple of Flavorwire exclusives. Check them out after the jump. … 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

Film

The Film Lover’s Guide to Bad Romance

By Alexander Huls on

Movies – for better or worse – have set up a lot of standards for what qualifies as romantic, and taught us tricks here and there on how to pull it off ourselves. As much as films have provided positive examples to help demonstrate how to be romantic, there’s also a lot to be learned from its negative examples. After all, as life is prone to mercilessly teaching us, sometimes there are more valuable lessons to be found in doing the wrong thing instead of the right thing. With that in mind, we’ve equally mercilessly gathered together a list of movies that show characters doing all the wrong things. Their helpful demonstrations of ways not to be romantic serve as a guide to what you probably shouldn’t do whilst engaging in the grand affairs of the heart. … Read More

Film

Film’s Most Epic Quests

By Alison Nastasi on

Acclaimed director Keisuke Kinoshita adapted a Shichirō Fukazawa novel in 1958, setting his haunting film in rural, 19th-century Japan. Ballad of Narayama — which arrives on Blu-ray from Criterion today — explores an ancient folkloric tradition in which elderly and infirmed relatives are carried to a mountain and left to die. Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) approaches her 70th year and faces her final days on Mount Narayama, but she embarks on a quest to secure her family’s happiness before her journey to the mountain. It’s an allegorical, stylish Japanese classic that inspires thoughts of other epic film quests — stories that defined obsession, sacrifice, adventure, greed, self-discovery, and a search for the truth. Add to our list, below. … Read More

Film

Awesome Storyboards from 15 of Your Favorite Films

By Jason Bailey on

With storyboards on our mind lately thanks to their use in both the opening sequence and the climax of Argo, we decided to put together a gallery of our favorites from iconic… Read More

Pop Culture

10 of the Greatest ‘Simpsons’ Movie References

By Matthew Bower on

Whether through homage or satire, there’s a rich tradition in cinema — fueled by the likes of cinephile filmmakers such as Godard and Tarantino — of making inside references to other filmmakers. But perhaps even more than the directors enjoy making movie references, audiences love picking up on them. It makes us feel like we have a specialized, albeit useless, expertise. Apparently the writers of The Simpsons have indulged in their share of cinephilia over the years as well, and the Movie Simpsons Tumblr — which launched earlier this year — has been posting animated gifs of famous movie scenes reconstructed, referenced, or otherwise alluded to on the show. We’ve put together ten of our favorites here. … Read More

Film

Profound Actor-Mentor Relationships That Lit Up the Screen

By Alison Nastasi on

Jodie Foster played a child prostitute in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. She was only 12 years old at the time, but had already established herself as a prolific presence in commercials and television. The film took the young star onto the gritty New York City streets opposite the intense and chillingly effective Robert De Niro as the unhinged Travis Bickle. The 33-year-old actor’s methods inspired a career revelation for Foster, who admits she was cocksure when she showed up on set. “I felt like I was the veteran there,” the actress revealed.

This kind of actor-mentor relationship has been prevalent throughout Hollywood since the Golden Age of cinema. Stars guiding other stars and sharing their wisdom has proven crucial for many now iconic actors who sought to perfect their screen personae. We took a look at a few famous actor-mentor duos — including that of Foster and De Niro — below. … Read More

Film

The Movies People Need to Stop Quoting

By Jason Bailey on

Earlier this week, while running down the worst performances of some of our favorite actors, we were reminded again of that unfortunate moment back in 2000 where Robert De Niro cashed in the chip of one of his most iconic performances for a cheap laugh in a Rocky & Bullwinkle movie. That’s only one way of looking at it, of course — it could also be argued that everyone else had been quoting Taxi Driver for years, so De Niro was just getting in on the action himself. There is something to be said for the notion that, cinema classic though it might be, we’ve probably all had enough of people taking the opportunity whenever they look in a mirror to do a Bickle-esque smile/smirk and inquire, “You talkin’ to me?”

Taxi Driver is one of many great movies that have been trod upon by the corrupting influence of movie quoting, that unfortunate social phenomenon by which pop culture obsessives, unable to communicate with their own words, end up speaking primarily in dialogue lifted from their favorite films, rendering said dialogue tiresome and unwelcome. We’ve assembled over a dozen movies we’re sick of having quoted back to us, but we’re sure we left some out — and that’s what the comment section is for. Check them out after the jump. … Read More

Pop Culture

10 Fictional Characters People Need to Stop Idolizing

By Judy Berman on

We all need idols, and considering how central books, film, and TV can be to our lives, it makes sense that so many of us count fictional characters among our role models. But not every charismatic protagonist is an Atticus Finch — or even a Leslie Knope. After the jump, we take a lighthearted look at some of the outsize personalities that never should have become cult heroes or objects of popular worship. These aren’t villains we relish for their cartoonish evil, but irreparably flawed (and sometimes downright sociopathic) characters people think are cool and/or strive to emulate, from a teenage rapist to pop culture’s ultimate kept woman. … 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 about a gang of thieves who stole a 10-ton Czech bridge. We watched Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka dance on Inside the Actor’s Studio. We were curious about a Henry David Thoreau-inspired video game. We read a 1943 Disney employee handbook. We followed the maturation of billionaire… Read More