As you’ve surely noticed from the lines of ecstatic moviegoers camped out on the sidewalks of your local cineplex (/sarcasm), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is out tomorrow. Try to contain your excitement. Yes, in their infinite wisdom, Hollywood has spent $75 million to grind out a sequel to Ghost Rider, a film that nobody liked and nobody wanted to see more of. So why on earth does Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance exist? Ah, here we go: because beloved or no, the first film grossed $115 million, and while that may be a meager profit on a reported $110 million budget (seriously? SERIOUSLY?), it pretty much doubled that gross overseas. As they say, it’s show business, kids, and if there are that many ticket buyers who’ll pony up once to see Nicolas Cage flambé motorcycling around for justice, maybe they’ll do so twice. (Not to worry, though: the sequel is directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who did Crank and, um, Crank 2. And, oh dear, Jonah Hex. Enjoy, moviegoers!)

GR:SOV (as the kids are calling it) is just the latest in Hollywood’s long, long, long history of churning out utterly inexplicable sequels. Look, let’s be clear, we’re not cinema snobs, railing against sequels on general principle: movies from Godfather II to Aliens to The Dark Knight to Harry Potter 3-7.5 have proven that you can follow up a film with equal (or even advancing) returns. But there has to be a compelling reason for it to exist: a story worth returning to, say, or even a general positive opinion of the initial outing. After the jump, we’ll take a look at a few occasions where we got a sequel, whether we wanted one or not.

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We hope Laura Dern has a wild at heart and weird on top kind of birthday. The actress celebrates tomorrow, but we’re stealing our slice of cake a day early by taking a look at Dern’s relationship with director pal David Lynch. While the star has been busy filming Paul Thomas Anderson’s scientology-inspired drama The Master, her early career days were spent with the king of strange, Lynch. Dern’s appeared in three of the director’s films — keep in mind he’s only made 10 features since starting out in the late ’70s — and has been a unique, expansive female character in his canon, as this article from The Awl has also pointed out. It’s clear that there’s a depth to Dern’s dramatic allure Lynch greatly admires. While we hope to see the director take up with his muse once more, we thought it’d be a perfect time to celebrate a few other inspired collaborations. Click on to see some of our picks, and tell us yours, won’t you?

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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. We’ve got seven new trailers for you this week; check ‘em all out after the jump.

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With the holiday season in full swing, it’s easy to get burned out — cable stations are running crappy movies like Jingle All the Way and The Santa Clause 24/7, saccharine holiday music is blasting out of every speaker, and you’ve still got like half your list to buy, and what the hell do I get these freaks?

Calm down. Have an eggnog. Put some rum in it. And enjoy some of our favorite anti-Christmas movies — not films that hate the holiday, per se (though a couple of them do), but ones that cut through all that warmth and good feeling and get at the darkness underneath. Our contrarian Christmas viewing list is after the jump. Read More »

We love Bill Murray unconditionally, but even so, we have to admit that his career has had its low points. Like Larger than Life, for instance — you know, the one where he starred opposite an elephant. And those two Garfield movies, which we can’t blame Murray for doing because his voice was so perfect for the big, orange cat. But those missteps barely detract from his highlights, from Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day to Lost in Translation and Fantastic Mr. Fox, the films of his 21st-century renaissance. Derek Eads charts these ups and downs in the attractive graph above, which uses Rotten Tomatoes as a barometer for Murray’s success. See a larger version of the graph here. [via Slashfilm]

Today at Flavorpill, we looked at some Ryan Gosling-approved decorating ideas for our apartment. We wondered if it would be more pleasant to work in a fancy shed than a cubicle. We couldn’t decide which we found more confusing: the fact that Hanson is possibly launching their own beer or that the littlest brother is now a dead ringer for Wayne Coyne. We loved today’s Google Doodle, an illustration inspired by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in honor of Mark Twain’s 176th birthday. We were glad not to be Aung Zaw Oo’s body. We tried to imagine why anyone would want to own a set of Hitler’s swastika-emblazoned sheets. We agreed with author Karen Russell that Bill Murray would make a good Chief Bigtree in the forthcoming TV adaptation of Swamplandia!. We were happy to see that hi-res versions of John James Audubon’s pretty bird pictures are now online thanks to the University of Pittsburgh. And finally, we watched an amazing time-lapse video of the construction of the incredible Maurizio Cattelan retrospective that’s currently up at the Guggenheim. We’re curious how long it’s going to take to bring it all down when the show closes in January.

1. Cory Smoot aka Flattus Maximus, the lead guitarist for the heavy metal band GWAR, was found dead on their tour bus yesterday following a concert in Minneapolis. The cause of death is currently unknown, and according to a statement from GWAR, “at this point we are just dealing with the loss of our dear friend and brother.” [via AP]

2. Here’s your first look at Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham in Mike Newell’s adaptation of Great Expectations and Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt in Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson.

3. David Simon has announced that Treme will end after its fourth season; considering that shooting is currently underway on Season 3, at least this gives fans plenty of time to prepare themselves, right? [via Variety]

4. Jennifer Lopez plans to produce — not star in — a live action film version of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? According to Slashfilm, “The hope is that the film… turns into a family adventure along the lines of National Treasure.” All we’ve got to say is Rockapella better be doing the soundtrack.

5. ABC has announced that it will air A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, a TV special that was conceived and directed by Lady Gaga, on Thanksgiving day. The show will feature eight performances by the singer, as well as a sit-down interview with Katie Couric. [via THR]

Bonus Buzz: 3D Mapping On Steroids

There are the famous portrayals of Hunter S. Thompson, the random Internet impressions, and everything in between (hi there, John Cusack). Our friends at BuzzFeed have collected all three in a new, Rum Diary-apropos supercut that features quite a few men in Hawaiian shirts with sunglasses and cigarette holders talking in decidedly staccato rhythms. While it’s interesting — okay, no, it’s mostly alarming — to see how many dudes are hanging out in their basement pretending to be Thompson (perhaps under the influence of drugs), the real question the video raises is: Who’s your Gozno journalist of choice, Bill Murray or Johnny Depp? Watch the supercut after the jump and tell us who you think makes a better Hunter in the comments.

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There is no shortage of pop-culture love for the great Bill Murray — one of the most talented, and strangest, actors of his generation. So it was only a matter of time before some well-attuned curator dedicated an entire exhibition to him. Los Angeles’ Gallery1988 Melrose has done just that, with Please Post Bills, a group show of works inspired by Murray that will run from November 3rd-26th. In the preview gallery after the jump, you’ll find tributes to Steve Zissou, Ghostbusters‘ Peter Venkman, Groundhog Day‘s Phil Connors, Lost in Translation‘s Bob Harris, and even a handy infographic guide to all of Murray’s films.

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English portraiture meets pop culture in this series of digital paintings that one artist has created based on 329 19th century portraits of Russian Generals who defeated Napoleon in 1812. George Dawe was Russia’s first portrait painter of the Imperial Court. His creations have become the jumping point for Steve Payne’s new body of work, in which he digitally replaces the faces of the Generals with those of friends, family, and various celebrities. Payne found several photographic reproductions of the original paintings and has inserted the famous mugs of people like Sean Connery, Rob Pattinson, and Bill Murray. Some folks look right at home in their regal get-ups — the big surprise being Mickey Rourke who looks just as comfortable donning an epaulet as he does on a Harley. Sadly, Elijah Wood seems to be swallowed whole by his uniform, and Charlie Sheen is … well, Charlie Sheen. Check out more after the jump, and let us know who commands your attention most.

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