If last night’s Oscars proved one thing, it’s that Old Hollywood has officially been resurrected, and we hope it’s here to stay. From Rooney Mara’s stunning homage to Audrey Hepburn to Brian Grazer’s decision to include live music in the Theatre-formerly-known-as-the-Kodak-Theatre’s parterre, everything about Hollywood’s golden night seemed to be a nod to gracious days gone by.
Jean Dujardin, our favorite sexy French 1920s throwback and the evening’s Best Actor winner, took us back in time with his nostalgic acceptance speech reminiscing that, “in 1929 it wasn’t Billy Crystal, but Douglas Fairbanks who hosted the first Oscar ceremony. Tickets cost five dollars and it lasted 15 minutes. Times have changed. Though thank you Douglas Fairbanks, your spirit and joie de vivre inspired me for this role.”
We celebrate this year’s Best Picture winner — and the only movie among the nine nominees filmed entirely in Los Angeles — by combining two of the Golden State’s greatest inventions: Hollywood Glamour and Google Maps. Sit back, relax and enjoy the design of a bygone era as we poke around the street views of The Artist’s architecture with our favorite virtual globetrotting tool.
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It’s Friday, readers, and we all deserve a treat for making it through this long, February week. So, what would you like? Wait — don’t tell us. You want to see David Bowie inserted into a bunch of famous movie posters that have had their titles mashed up with his song titles and lyrics. Well, OK, since you asked so nicely, British film magazine Empire has invited its readers to do just that, and its forum is now bursting with Photoshop brilliance. Check out some of our favorites after the jump, and make sure you keep your eye on the message board thread, where new additions are sure to keep popping up over the weekend.
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You’ve probably seen Jonathan May’s subjects in films like Killing Zoe or Heat. The photographer’s archetypal characters illustrate a bank robbery in his Heist series, which explores villainy and innocence in alter ego-style portraits. The images are shot head-on, showing how one’s calm and neutral demeanor can quickly transform into something aggressive or fearful. Of course, May’s portraits are humorous caricatures, complete with pantyhose masks, streaming eyeliner, and snarling grimaces galore. See May’s good versus evil accost below.
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“I put off the actual kill until the last moment,” says Marc Manceaux, who isn’t an assassin but the owner of the oldest piano-parts shop in Paris, recounting the twinge of regret he feels when he has to disassemble an intact instrument. In Tom Wrigglesworth and Mathieu Cuvelier’s captivating five-minute film, we meet this philosophical artisan and tour his shop, Fournitures Generales Pour Le Piano, which is packed from floor to ceiling with pianos in various stages of deconstruction. He can’t see his declining business lasting for more than another decade, but his mind is already occupied with a higher pursuit: the quest to create “a sound that doesn’t exist,” an instrument that combines the sounds of the piano, the lute, and the harp but with “the purity of one single string.” Get your daily dose of inspiration after the jump.
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Dogs are often good sports about letting their humans lovingly humiliate them, AKA dress them up. And let’s be honest: fawning over your dog’s duds is for the owner’s amusement, not the pup’s — which is probably how National Dress Up Your Pet Day got started. On January 14, pets around the world will be wondering how they hell they got themselves into this mess, or they’ll be thanking you for their cool costume. We were impressed by the number of film-inspired dog costumes (cats want no part in this, of course) and seeing how each dog’s personality was brought to light with a little movie magic. For inspiration, click through our gallery of incredible dog costumes past the break.
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Just when you thought the Internet had already exhausted every possible Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Watch the Throne parody, one last dose of rapper-inspired hilariousness comes along. Chloe Holgate, Katie Dana, and Lily Holgate star in this three-minute clip, which adapts the album as an IFC-sponsored indie film that might remind you of certain mumblecore auteurs’ work. Is this video basically just three 20-something, hipster-y white girls in scarves and hunting caps reciting somewhat re-contextualized lyrics from Watch the Throne in their kitchen? Yes. And yet somehow, it is very funny. Enjoy it after the jump.
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As you may have noticed, we at Flavorpill are big fans of John Waters and his dear friend and muse, Divine. Earlier this year, we even paid tribute to the late drag star and cinema legend with a roundup of style lessons we learned from the demented fashion icon. But we have to admit, our own paean to Divine pales in comparison with The Melt Gallery’s Pretty? Pretty? A Divine Art Show. The group exhibition collects art inspired by Divine, from straight-up portraits to faux comic-book covers to a Pink Flamingos-referencing jar of “Divine’s Old Fashioned Dog Turds.” Fans in Los Angeles only have a day left to check out the show, which closes November 17th. Meanwhile, we’ve posted a gallery of our favorite pieces after the jump; you can see a lot more at the show’s Facebook page. And if you’re interested in buying any of the work — like, say, if you wanted to get us that awesome Divine lunch box — you can call the gallery at 323-851-7223. Read More »
If you don’t have Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design in your clutches yet (tsk, tsk) there’s a supercut highlighting the title sequence god’s career that should hold you over until you hit the bookstore. Editor Ian Albinson — best known for his credits savvy site, Art of the Title — put together a brief visual history of Bass’ contributions to the film and television worlds. The graphic, surreal, elegant, and playful designs for famous films like Psycho and The Seven Year Itch are all featured here — reminding us why Bass’ timeless artistry remains so popular today. Click past the break for a peek. Read More »
Film critic extraordinaire Roger Ebert has had to overcome his share of hurdles over the past several years. After a battle with thyroid cancer left the savvy writer without a voice, he handed over the reins of his iconic television series, At The Movies, to hosts Christy Lemire and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. Famous for its “thumbs up/thumbs down” rating system, the show is modeled after Ebert’s TV late 70′s partnership with late film critic Gene Siskel. Now, the landmark series is in danger of being axed, according to Rog’s blog. “Unless we find an angel, our television program will go off the air at the end of its current season,” he wrote in his online journal at the Chicago Sun-Times. “There. I’ve said it. Usually in television, people use evasive language. Not me. We’ll be gone. I want to be honest about why this is. We can’t afford to finance it any longer.”
The public television program — a nationally syndicated success, according to the writer (with the numbers to prove it) — is being funded in large part by Ebert and his wife Chaz, who used a $25,000 grant from the Kanbar Charitable Trust to get the show on the air. If someone doesn’t step up to the plate with a bag of dough, At The Movies has no hope of returning to the small screen after December — a sad fate for a culturally important program that provides honest and insightful film criticism. As Ebert explains, “Movie coverage on TV is otherwise so intensely driven by marketing that some programs actually cover the marketing itself.” Yuck. Do you think it’s time for the film critic to turn to Kickstarter for some help? Should At The Movies quit the TV circuit and move to the web?
Humorously uncomplicated and sporting the iconic raincoat and fedora of the genre, the Film Noire Guide to Ominous Lighting infographic toys with the dramatically lit characters that classic movie cinephiles love, made famous by greats like The Big Sleep, Sunset Boulevard, and Double Indemnity. The melodramatic nature of the detective crime tales, along with the black-and-white visual and narrative sensibility of the stories, is made obvious in the infographic’s lighting scale. See what happens when things go from gloom to doom in three easy steps, after the jump.
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