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Film

10 Cult Classics The Critics Got Dead Wrong

By Jason Bailey on

Alex Cox’s odd, cool, darkly comic, and frankly brilliant Repo Man hits Blu-ray this week via the cinematic angels over at the Criterion Collection. It’s always a blast to see a movie as subversive and fun as this one getting its respect as a classic, but it’s worth noting that many of our favorite cult movies were less than beloved at the time of their release. Don’t believe us? Click through to see what some of the less enlightened critics had to say, back in the day, about Repo Man and nine more cult… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Musical theater geeks, drop everything: A new international trailer for Les Misérables has landed online, and unlike the previous teaser, it includes juicy snippets of “One Day More” and “Do You Hear The People Sing?” Are we the only ones getting chills?

2. A benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy called… Read More

Film

10 of Film’s Greatest Training Montages

By Molly Cameron on

The London 2012 Summer Olympics kick off tonight with Danny Boyle’s highly-anticipated opening ceremony, and like most people around the world right now, we can’t wait to curl up on the couch for the next 17 days and be blown away by the crazy athletic prowess on display. Watching competitors put their all into winning a medal can be pretty darn inspiring, but of course we’re seeing the results of weeks, months, and even years of training. Luckily, there are a ton of films to help us imagine those moments that we didn’t see using one of the best cinematic devices created: the training montage. Check out ten classic sequences below, and let us know what we may have missed in the comments! … Read More

Pop Culture

10 Fictional Summer Camps We Wish We Could Go To

By Emily Temple on

[Editor's note: Your devoted Flavorwire team is taking Memorial Day off, but we've left you with some of our favorite summer-related features that you may have missed the first time around. This post originally ran May 21, 2011. Enjoy!]

Now that summer is tantalizingly close, we’re spending an unwholesome amount of time daydreaming about the summers of our childhood, when the possibilities were endless, the days stretched forever, and school was just an uncomfortable blip in the back of our brains. As adults, most of us will watch the bulk of our summer days from our office windows (if we’re lucky enough to have any), so we’ve put together a little wish fulfillment list of the fictional summer camps, complete with some helpful suggestions for how you can approximate each camp experience in the real world. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Thanks to an appearance by Michael Showalter on Watch What Happens Live, there is now video proof that the Wet Hot American Summer sequel is a go, with the entire original cast on board!

2. Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt has posted a new song online (he’s also got a new … Read More

Film

Watch a Clip from Wet Hot American Summer’s 10th Anniversary Bash

By Caroline Stanley on

Last night the Stella gang (aka David Wain, Michael Showalter, and Michael Ian Black) celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Wet Hot American Summer by hosting an event at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Vulture has a nice recap of the evening’s highlights, which included taped bits by Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler, audition footage for Bradley Cooper and Naomi Watts (who was not cast!), and in-person appearances by a few of the cult classic’s most beloved characters, including frumpy Camp Firewood director Beth (Janeane Garofalo), who is currently busy at work on “a line of clothing for the imminent Rapture,” and legendary Catskills comedian Alan Shemper (Showalter), a man who went to camp so long ago that Jesus Christ was his counselor. Click through to watch Shemper’s all-to-brief routine, and if you’re craving for more WHAS action, head over to Entertainment Weekly where Wain, Showalter, and Joe Lo Truglio all reflect back on their experiences making the film a decade later. … Read More

Film

25 Great Parties on Film We Wish We Could Have Attended

By Judy Berman on

Movies teach us how to party. Think about it: How many teen movies — almost all of which inevitably end in some kind of dance or parents-out-of-town blowout — did you watch before you were actually old enough to go to a high-school party? From sophisticated dinner gatherings to all-night ragers, we’ve all fantasized about scoring an invite to one of the glamorous parties we’ve seen on the big screen. With summer in full swing and theme ideas for our own future fêtes in mind, we asked the experts in Flavorpill’s extended family to tell us which celluloid party they’d most like to have attended. Their picks, and ours, are after the jump. … Read More

Art

Gallery: Art Inspired by 'Wet Hot American Summer'

By Judy Berman on

Our favorite pop culture-obsessed art space, Gallery 1988, have mounted groups shows inspired by everything from Watership Down to John Hughes films. But now that school is out, they’ve taken on the beloved cult summer-camp movie, Wet Hot American Summer. The Funny or Die-approved Camp Firewood opens June 10th at Gallery 1988 Venice, but several images from the show have already made their way onto the web. Click through to preview some hilarious works. Those expecting “dick cream” references will not be disappointed. … Read More

Film

10 Great Summer Nostalgia Movies

By Jason Bailey on

Finals, graduations, barbecues, baseball, summer jobs, summer camp, vacations… yes, friends, summer is upon us. What’s more, summer movies are upon us — more giant robots and superheroes and pirates and Vin Diesels than you can shake a stick at. It’s all pretty depressing, frankly.

So instead of looking at those summer movies, let’s take a look at some of our favorite films that are set in the summer. Summertime nostalgia is a powerful thing, and few screenwriters worth their salt can resist the opportunity to pen an introspective voice-over about the summer that changed their lives (“Nothing was really the same after that summer of 1963…”). After the jump, a brief survey of some of our favorite slices of summer nostalgia. … Read More

Comedy

Michael Showalter Reveals All in Our Interactive Interview

By Doug Levy on

Comedian Michael Showalter has done it all. He’s been a member of one of the most-loved comedy troupes of all time (The State); written, directed, and starred in movies like Wet Hot American Summer and The Baxter; released a hilarious album — and now he’s written a book too.

In our exclusive Interactive Interview — where you ask the questions — he talks about his literary inspirations, the possibility of sequels and reunions for some of his projects, and the bizarre rumor that he has a rivalry with fellow comedy sensation Eugene Mirman. Plus, he tells us his real name. … Read More