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Film

Why Can’t Hollywood Get ‘The Great Gatsby’ Right?

By Jason Bailey on

Hollywood took its first stab at adapting The Great Gatsby for the screen only a year after its publication, and has been trying intermittently ever since — and, for the most part, failing. What is it about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic that makes it so impossible, so utterly untraslatable? It’s certainly not that the film industry hasn’t been trying hard enough: Baz Luhrmann’s new film is the fifth official adaptation. In the course of a week, I watched all of them that can be seen (and another, looser adaptation besides), and came up with a few theories. … Read More

Film

10 Impossible-to-See Movies Starring A-List Actors

By Jason Bailey on

Hey, Game of Thrones/Community/True Blood/Firefly fans: how’d you like to see a major motion picture starring Peter Dinklage, Danny Pudi, Ryan Kwanten, and Summer Glau? So would we! Would you be surprised to learn that such a motion picture not only exists, but has been sitting on a shelf for two years? So would we! Such is the strange tale of The Knights of Badassdom, director Joe Lynch’s horror comedy that’s been the subject of much discussion and confusion this week. Badassdom, which was previewed at the San Diego Comic-Con clear back in 2011, is hardly the first film that sounded like a good bet, only to sputter in post-production and after due to unforeseen difficulties in financing, distribution, or rights. After the jump, we’ll take a look at ten movies that you’d think you would have heard of, and be able to see, based on the personnel involved — but you can’t, for all sorts of strange reasons. … Read More

Film

Flavorwire’s Guide to Indie Flicks to See in November

By Jason Bailey on

We’re getting into serious Oscar-bidding season, and the month of November is chock full of movies we’re excited about: Skyfall, Lincoln, Life of Pi, Hitchcock, Anna Karenina, Silver Linings Playbook, Killing Them Softly, and on and on. But the majors aren’t the only ones trotting out smarter-than-average fare; as usual, the indies have got a full slate of strong stuff this month as well. After the jump, we’ve got a few that are worth checking out in the weeks ahead. … Read More

Film

Video Essay: “All of Woody’s Surrogates”

By Jason Bailey on

Woody Allen’s flawed but funny new film To Rome with Love opens this Friday, and while it marks his first acting appearance in one of his movies since 2006′s Scoop, he plays the role of a retired father while continuing his tradition of writing his leading man as a “Woody Allen role” — played, in this film, by Jesse Eisenberg. In his early works, Allen would occasionally engage a young actor to play himself as a child, but as he got too old to play the leading man (okay, let’s face it, after he’d gotten a little too old to play the leading man), he began putting younger actors in roles that were still distinctively Woody-esque, and which said actors played as varying degrees of imitation. We’ve assembled a montage of those actors and some of their most Allen-inspired moments; check out our latest video essay after the jump. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and The Backstreet Boys are among the many pop artists whose songs have recently been banned by China’s Ministry of Culture for containing “vulgar content.” The offending tracks must be removed from Chinese websites by September 15, or their owners will face prosecution. [via Guardian]

2. … Read More

Daily Dose

Daily Dose Pick: KAWS

By Paul Laster on

The first publication dedicated to the full range of work by subculture hero KAWS, this amazing eponymous monograph highlights a superstar from a new generation of pop artists.

A graffiti artist, painter, illustrator, sculptor, toymaker, and product designer, Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, made his name altering public advertisements with X-eyed, skull-and-crossboned, spermazoidal characters, before turning his talents to editorial collaborations, collectible toy figures, design objects, and colorful canvases. A wildly successful crossover artist, KAWS cleverly makes Mickey Mouse, the Simpsons, Smurfs, and SpongeBob SquarePants anew. … Read More

Film

Video of the Day: Every Line of Dialogue in ‘The Lost Boys’ Is ‘Michael’

By Jason Bailey on

One of our favorite underrated movies is Wonder Boys, director Curtis Hanson’s film version of Michael Chabon’s terrific novel. It’s smart, it’s funny, it’s heartwarming, and it’s got a livewire Robert Downey Jr., an understated Michael Douglas, a pre-Spider-Man Tobey Maguire, a pre-Xenu Katie Holmes, and Frances McDormand (who requires no qualifications) — and, on top of all of that, Bob Dylan’s Oscar-winning “Things Have Changed.” Yep, Wonder Boys is pretty much a perfect movie — except for one flaw. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. The British royal family has confirmed that Prince William is finally engaged to Kate Middleton. They have been dating since 2003. [via CNN]
2. Baz Luhrmann has confirmed that Carey Mulligan will play Daisy Buchanan in his adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Leonardo DiCaprio will play Jay Gatsby, and Tobey Maguire… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann is reportedly workshopping a version of The Great Gatsby that would star Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, and Rebecca Hall in the role of Daisy. We’d watch that. [via Deadline]
2. Word is that Brenda Chapman is no longer attached to Pixar’s Brave, which… Read More