For film fans, the must-read article of the week — to hell with that, the year — is Mark Harris’ brilliant think piece for GQ on the state of the current cinema, “The Day The Movies Died.” Harris, whose book Pictures at a Revolution is the single best piece of film writing of the last decade, despairs of a Hollywood that, in the words of a studio executive, “doesn’t tell stories anymore”; instead, it cranks out endless sequels and adaptations and remakes and reboots, more concerned with built-in brands than quality or craftsmanship.
“As you read this,” Harris writes, “the person who gave the go-ahead to Fast Five, the (I hate to prejudge, but…) utterly unnecessary fifth installment in the Vin Diesel–Paul Walker epic The Fast and the Furious, is sleeping soundly right now, possibly even at his desk. On June 10, 2011, he will bestow on several thousand screens a product that people have already purchased four times before. How can it miss?”
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1. In case you missed it before, last night The Daily Show ran a rather timely (and possibly NSFW) clip of Isabella Rossellini as a bedbug from her educational Green Porno series. [via Vulture]
2. Angelina Jolie will make her debut as both a director and screenwriter for an upcoming romantic drama that’s set during the Bosnian war. [via Us]
3. Between books, film, and TV shows, vampires have brought in about $7 billion since the Twilight film franchise launched less than two years ago. [via THR]
4. Definite downgrade: Now that she is done playing Jackie Kennedy, Katie Holmes might sign on for the part of Adam Sandler’s wife in Jack and Jill — a Thanksgiving comedy where he’ll take on the roles of a twin brother and sister. [via MTV]
5. Preliminary research shows that people who buy e-readers — an estimated 11 million Americans by the end of September — tend to spend more time than ever reading. [via WSJ]
Bonus link: Movies That Would Have Been Ruined by Facebook
When we talk about the impending Thanksgiving holiday at Flavorpill HQ, we’re generally not discussing the best way to cook a bird. (That might be partially due to the fact that half of our editorial team is vegetarian.) What we do tend to debate are the best holiday-related films and TV episodes. After the jump we’ve rounded up clips from 10 Turkey Day classics — from Adam Sandler’s performance of “The Thanksgiving Song” to South Park’s Helen Keller! The Musical. Enjoy, and add to our list in the comments.
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1. Check out the the trailer for Grown Ups, a new comedy starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider and David Spade. [Yahoo! via Pop Candy]
2. Watch Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney, and Lily Allen sing “Hey Jude” as part of the Children In Need Rocks gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall. [via NME]
3. Tate Britain welcomes its first female director, Penelope Curtis. [via Telegraph]
4. ABC is this close to ordering a pilot remake of Charlie’s Angels; Josh Friedman, who recently adapted the Terminator franchise for Fox, will write/executive produce. [via Variety]
5. David Lloyd, the sitcom writer responsible for the funniest episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show ever, has died at 75. Watch the clip and say it together with us: “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down the pants.” [via The Awl]
Bonus link: The 15 Greatest Acts of Rock Rebellion
Who doesn’t envy the pants off Judd Apatow? This prolific writer of funny stories gets to hang out with some of the coolest comedians of our time, make successful big budget movies and even cast his wife and daughters. It’s like he has got the world in the palm of his hand. But at 2 hours and 20 minutes, his latest film Funny People also has some people shifting in their seats. Sure it’s funny, we could smell our neighbor’s breath he was cackling so hard. But it’s also a little too long and a little too light on the tragedy ingredient. Read More »
Perhaps the whole Christmas dinner with the family isn’t your thing, or maybe your religion requests that you stay as far away from the jolly fat man as possible (if that’s the case, we’re jealous) — but either way, there’s a reason why so many hotly-anticipated films open in theaters on Christmas Day … and it’s not so Santa’s elves would have something to do once their long shift finally ended.
Believe it or not, but a lot of people choose to spend their Christmas (which, in some circles, is just another day off from work) at the movies. And if you’re one of those people, then feel free to use the handy cheat sheet after the jump to help you decide what to see.
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There once was a time, before he teamed up with Queen Latifah and was signed to replace Conan O’Brien, that we loved Jimmy Fallon. That we stayed up for Jimmy Fallon. Maybe it was the teenage-girl in us (it most definitely was the teenage-girl in us), but it seemed like his strummy guitar parodies on SNL‘s Weekend Update and his Adam Sandler impressions were some of the best acts on TV.
But then we grew up. Fallon did a few terrible movies — even though we actually liked Fever Pitch (old habits die hard) — and then, seemingly out of nowhere, he was back in our lives with a contract to take the 12:30 a.m. slot on NBC. But it didn’t seem right. He was still the same man-boy, and the schtick seemed tired — not to mention out-of-place behind a real host’s desk where he might have to comb his hair and put away his guitar.
Almost four months before his show is set to debut, Fallon has just premiered a sort of soft-launch, promising to post daily video blogs from his new studio. Here’s what we thought of it.
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