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Film

10 Romantic Movie Couples Who Were Actually Hopeless

By Jason Bailey on

Valentine’s Day is upon us, so it’s time to grit your teeth, load up your Netflix queue, and sit through a romance or two. Don’t get us wrong—they’re not all terrible, and some offer some very good advice. But too many hinge on hard-to-swallow coincidences, dated gender stereotypes, and insufferable cutesiness. What’s worse, even the good ones often ask us to buy a “happy ending” that puts together a couple who we all know isn’t going to last five minutes past the credits. After the jump, our votes for the movie couples least likely to actually make it — contrary to what the films that tell their stories insist. Be warned: minor spoilers are ahead. … Read More

Television

The All-Time Weirdest Guest Appearances on ‘The Simpsons’

By Tom Hawking on

So if you haven’t heard, Tom Waits was on The Simpsons last night, voicing “a gravelly voiced paranoiac” prepper and joining the long list of illustrious and not-so-illustrious guest stars who’ve graced the show since it started screening way back in 1989. His appearance got us thinking about some of the more unlikely guest stars and/or performances the show has seen over the years — and so we’ve amused ourselves after the jump selecting some of our favorites, from Johnny Cash playing a psychedelic coyote to Thomas Pynchon breaking a 40-year TV silence. Did we miss any of your favorites? Go ahead and let us know. (And advance apologies for the quality of a couple of the clips — Simpsons videos are like hen’s teeth on YouTube.) … Read More

Film

The Darkest Teen Movies of All Time

By Judy Berman on

There are two kinds of teenagers: those who get all choked up with happiness at the end of movies like Dirty Dancing or Can’t Hardly Wait and those who prefer ice-cold comedies like Heathers. As your Flavorwire editors have always fallen into the latter camp, we were intrigued (and cautiously optimistic) to learn, last week, that Heathers is getting a small-screen reboot. In fact, the news inspired us to compile a list of the dark teen movies we love the most, all of which we’ll probably re-watch in anticipation of the TV series. The selections after the jump range from black humor to true tragedy (but we’ve left out teen horror flicks because that’s a whole other post). What ties them together is the rare acknowledgment that high school isn’t all dances, football games, and makeovers. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Celebrity Couples We’re Most Inexplicably Attached To

By Emily Temple on

We were very upset this week to learn that one of our favorite celebrity couples of all time, Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, are getting a divorce after nine years of marriage. In fact, we were much too upset, considering the fact that we know neither party personally, and we know nothing about them as a couple other than what we surmise from photos and the odd interview. But some celebrity couples just have that effect on us — we find ourselves inexplicably attached to them, whether they just make so much sense together, or because they seem to represent some little corner of perfection all on their own. After the jump, we’ve put together a list of such couples, both present and (sadly) past. Click through to see who we chose, and let us know which celebrity couples fascinate you to no end in the comments. … Read More

Film

This Week in Trailers: ‘The Company You Keep,’ ‘The To-Do List,’ and More!

By Jason Bailey on

Every Friday here at Flavorwire, we like to gather up the week’s new movie trailers, give them a look-see, and rank them from worst to best — while taking a guess or two about what they might tell us (or hide from us) about the movies they’re promoting. We’ve got six new trailers for you this week, featuring Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Shannon, Anna Kendrick, Sarah Polley, Ray Liotta, Aubrey Plaza, Winona Ryder, James Franco, and Chris Evans; check ‘em all out after the jump, and share your thoughts in the comments. … Read More

Film

Flavorpill’s Guide to Movies You Need to Stream This Week

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to Flavorpill’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 find Netflix purging a bunch of good titles for a giant batch of new ones in early June (must be some sort of mid-year end-of-contract period or something), so our list is mostly — but not entirely — comprised of stuff you’ll have to get on quick, featuring stars like Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Douglas, Billy Bob Thornton, Parker Posey, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Spacey, Woody Harrelson, Tom Cruise, Winona Ryder, and Sylvester Stallone. Check them all out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Film

12 of the Greatest Movie Roles Almost Played

By Jason Bailey on

The weekend’s big movie, as you well know, was The Hunger Games, while DVD and Blu-ray players have been firing up Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo since its release last week. The two films have a lot in common: powerful female protagonists, adaptations of bestsellers, probable franchise kick-offs. As such, they were also each objects of carefully considered casting. It’s become part of the pre-production process, the bandying about of potential name actors for high-profile roles; Fincher reportedly talked to Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart, and Scarlett Johansson before settling on Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, while Hunger Games director Gary Ross’ alternate Katnisses included Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Emma Roberts, Chloe Moretz, and Saoirse Ronan.

Contemplating proxy casting choices is a fun parlor game for movie fans (perhaps second only to considering movies that never came to pass at all). After the jump, we’ll take a look at a dozen iconic movie roles, and the actors who almost, almost filled them. … Read More

Photography

Fascinating Behind-the-Scenes Polaroids of Actors on Set

By Nicole Rallis on

Polaroids have been immortalizing actors on the sets of their latest project for decades now. The retro form of photography is generally utilized for makeup or continuity purposes, and on occasion, serves as a catalogue for on-set shenanigans. Actors such as Johnny Depp, Audrey Hepburn, and Jason Schwartzman have all mugged for (or in some cases, ignored) the camera in between takes, blurring the line between their fictional characters and reality. We’ve unearthed photographs from a few cinematic gems, both old and new, that provide an intimate glimpse at life on set of projects like Taxi Driver, The Office, and more. Venture behind-the-scenes with a collection of our favorite shots after the jump. … Read More

Film

Ranking Hollywood’s Elderly Makeovers from Best to Worst

By Alison Nastasi on

Given the vast array of imaginative things that Hollywood is capable of crafting, it seems strange that moviemakers still struggle with some of the basics. Traditional makeup techniques that age actors stands as one of the biggest culprits and has often ruined entire films thanks to sloppy, weird, or unbelievable results. As many movies have proven, donning wrinkles and age spots doesn’t automatically equal a successful makeover. In the digital age, it’s easier for filmmakers to get a little help so that grandpa and grandma look more like live, actual people than a Halloween prop — but that’s what makes those who transform actors into senior stars old school-style so impressive. It’s an art form.

Leonardo DiCaprio underwent a dramatic transformation for the upcoming J. Edgar Hoover, and we definitely feel like it’s not one of his best-looking moments. The FBI’s first director didn’t win any beauty contests in his day, but DiCaprio appears to be drowning in his prosthetics, and the whole thing just seems awkward. This got us thinking about other cruddy elderly makeovers. Click past the break to see who made the leap to long in the tooth, in order from most convincing to least. Leave us your list in the comments. … Read More

Film

Trailer Park: Ghost Riders, Silent Movies, and Quiet Beatles

By Jason Bailey on

Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. This week, we’ve got an even dozen trailers for you, and most are for the kind of prestige pictures that the end of the summer movie season usually has us salivating for. Not to worry, though, fans of things that are awful: there’s also a new Ghost Rider. Check ‘em all out after the jump. … Read More