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What’s On at Flavorwire: Links You Need to See

By Lillian Ruiz on

Depending on who you’re asking, Reggie Watts’ shot-for shot video cover of “Never Gonna Give You Up” is amazingly accurate (and hilarious). Thanks to NPR, we got a look at 100 behind-the-scenes photos of 100 classic films. This Neatorama piece gives us the inside story behind a legendary tale… 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, there’s good stuff from Bradley Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Paul Rudd, Julie Delpy, Amy Poehler, Zach Galifanakis, and Akira Kurosawa, plus a must-see documentary and one of our favorite stand-up specials. Check them out after the jump, and follow the title links to watch them right now. … Read More

Books

Required Reading List: The Bluth Family

By Emily Temple on

Arrested Development fans are busy counting down the hours until Season 4 premieres this Sunday at midnight on Netflix, and here at Flavorwire, we’re no different. So, we’re passing the time by declaring this Arrested Development Week, all leading up to a Recap-a-thon on Sunday, when our own Jason Bailey will review the whole season, episode by episode. Click here to follow our coverage.

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten,” Ralph Waldo Emerson famously quipped, “even so, they have made me.” In this bi-weekly series, Flavorwire plays professor to some of our favorite pop culture characters, assigning reading lists tailored to their temperaments or — in some cases — designed to make them into slightly better people. After all, even fictional characters can have their lives changed by books. Or so we imagine. This week, in honor of Arrested Development , we recommend a reading list for everyone’s favorite family, the Bluths. … Read More

Pop Culture

7 Bitter Fandom Rivalries From Across Pop Culture

By Alison Herman on

It’s no secret that science fiction fans can get a little overexcited about their franchise of choice, but things got heated last Thursday when the local Star Wars club of Norwich, England and a delegation from the Norwich Sci Fi Club, a group of Doctor Who devotees, got into a physical altercation at the Norwich Sci-Fi and Film Convention, hosted by the Star Wars club at the University of East Anglia. Apparently, the two groups had a longstanding feud that came to blows when the Sci Fi Club decided to show up on the Star Wars group’s turf to get a signature from Gram Cole, an actor from the time-travel series that currently stars Matt Smith. Though fandom disputes don’t usually escalate to blows, this is hardly the first time otherwise peacefully geeky communities have run afoul of each other. Here are some of the most prominent fandom rivalries throughout history, from superheroes to science fiction. … Read More

Film

The Gay Bechdel Test: Why Hollywood Needs to Expand Its Representation of LGBT Characters

By Tyler Coates on

For years, I’ve enjoyed putting popular films through the Bechdel Test. Named after cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the test was introduced in her long-running comic Dykes to Watch Out For. Named “The Rule,” what became known as the Bechdel Test had three requirements: a film had to feature two named female characters, those characters had to speak to each other, and the subject of conversation had to be about something other than a man. Sounds pretty simple, right? It’s pretty astonishing how many movies fail the pretty easy test — especially in 2013. (A website that keeps track of movie releases and whether they pass the test already lists at least 38 films from 2013; only 21 pass the Bechdel test.) It got me thinking: could there be a similar test about gay characters, and how many movies would actually pass it? … Read More

Music

The 50 Albums Everyone Needs to Own, 1963-2013

By Tom Hawking on

No one buys albums anymore, goes the music industry truism. And yet, for all that the format’s commercial viability may or may not be on the wane, sitting and listening to a great album from start to finish is one of the greatest pleasures that music can bring. Flavorwire recently got to thinking about how one might build a record collection if you really only did buy one record a year. So here’s the result of our thought exercise: 50 albums you really should own, one a year from 1963 until the present… Read More

Television

Why George Michael Is the Best ‘Arrested Development’ Character

By Judy Berman on

Arrested Development fans are busy counting down the hours until Season 4 premieres this Sunday at midnight on Netflix, and here at Flavorwire, we’re no different. So, we’re passing the time by declaring this Arrested Development Week, all leading up to a Recap-a-thon on Sunday, when our own Jason Bailey will review the whole season, episode by episode. This piece is the first in a series of contributors’ essays in support of their favorite Bluth. Click here to follow our coverage.

It may be reductive to argue that there are just two kinds of people in life, but there are certainly just two kinds of characters on Arrested Development: the prickly Bluths and the sweet Bluths. While the selfish, apathetic family members — Lucille, George, G.O.B., Lindsay, Maeby — have the pithiest lines and cause the most dramatic friction, it’s their generous, caring relatives who actually make us care about this big, rich, fucked-up family. Despite strong competition from his dad, George Michael is the sweetest Bluth of all, and the heart and conscience of Arrested Development. … Read More

Film

12 Famous Actors and the Films You Forgot They Directed

By Jason Bailey on

As you may have heard, Scarlett Johansson is going to make the leap from actress to feature filmmaker, helming an adaptation of Truman Capote’s first, posthumously published novel Summer Crossing. The path from one side of the camera to the other is a well-trod one, so here’s hoping that Ms. Johansson follows in the footsteps of distinguished actors-turned-directors like Charles Laughton, Orson Welles, and Clint Eastwood. But don’t forget, not all actors find the transition so easy; some try it once and never again, the job of director a strange and forgotten footnote on otherwise stellar careers. … Read More

Television

The Geekiest ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 3 Recap: “Second Sons”

By Alison Herman on

The best and worst part of a show whose moral is that there’s no such thing as traditional morals is that characters we’ve come to know as basically good (or at least complex) end up on opposite sides by circumstance alone. We’ve already seen this through Game of Thrones’ famous odd couples — Arya Stark and Tywin Lannister’s conversations at Harrenhal, for example, or the growing relationship between Jaime and Brienne. “Second Sons” brings this point home with its emotional centerpiece: Tyrion and Sansa’s wedding, which gathers together the King’s Landing power players in one unhappy mess of rivalries and disappointments. … Read More

Television

Your ‘Mad Men’ Season 6, Episode 8 Talking Points: Body Horror

By Judy Berman on

No current TV show generates more Monday morning conversation than Mad Men. With that in mind, Flavorwire is recapping Season 6′s Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce drama by giving you a handful of talking points to spark your own water-cooler debate. Aptly titled “The Crash,” last night gave us this year’s equivalent of Roger’s Season 5 LSD episode, with the characters’ tripped-out perspectives causing barriers to break down and thin veneers of sanity and stability to shatter. … Read More