1. In her capacity as creative director of Polaroid, Lady Gaga has designed the GL10 Instant Mobile Printer, a device that allows you to print photos from your smartphone via Bluetooth. We assume Polaroid uses the term “designed” loosely. [via NME]
2. Your daily actor/project Mad Lib: Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio are collaborating — as both executive producers and stars — on a cop drama for NBC. The working title is Blue Tilt. [via Deadline]
3. Yesterday, the Internet got all worked up over the news that Real Housewife of DC/White House party crasher Michaele Salahi had been kidnapped. The story of what actually happened is fairly complicated, but in case you have as little time for this item as we do, here’s the punchline: She ran off with Journey guitarist Neal Schon. Really. [via LA Times]
4. Roman Polanski was famously arrested in Zurich at the request of the US Justice Department back in 2009, but he will return to the city September 27 to receive the lifetime achievement award the city’s film festival had hoped to bestow upon him before he was taken into custody. [via Guardian]
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.
In a recent edition of our regular Friday feature “Trailer Park,” we took a look at the trailer for the new Daniel Craig/Rachel Weisz haunted house thriller Dream House, and came to the following conclusion: “this is one of those trailers that gives you, about halfway through, the unsettling feeling that they’re showing you the whole movie.” Apparently, concern for that point was widespread enough that executive producer Rick Nicita was compelled to speak up, insisting to Entertainment Weekly that the revealed twist is “not the ending. The twist happens less than halfway through.” But Nicita’s damage control spotlights the fact that our film culture is increasingly dominated by discussion and fear of “spoilers,” and it’s a phenomenon that is only a couple of decades old. (Ever dive into your DVD special features and check out the original trailers for films from the ’40s? Talk about showing you the whole movie.)
We’re still obsessing over Jonah Lehrer’s fascinating study (and subsequent Wired piece) on the effect of spoilers on literary gratification. (The takeaway: knowing a story’s outcome ultimately does not prevent one’s enjoyment of the work, and may even increase it.) A couple of weeks back, we selected some of the books we still read, knowing full well how they end; now we’ve picked out ten movies that still play, even with precise knowledge of their narrative outcomes.
You can probably put this together yourselves, but just to be safe: plentiful spoilers after the jump.
The 1988 Broadway adaptation of Carrie — based on Stephen King’s book and Brian DePalma’s subsequent film — was such a notorious turkey that it became shorthand for ill-advised stage productions; a compendium book of them even bears the title Not Since “Carrie”. But somehow, the show still has its supporters, and it seems that a few of them have convinced investors that it deserves a second shot. Thus, Carrie will return to the New York stage early next year, albeit this time in an off-Broadway setting.
Carrie’s return may have as much to do with the current cautious atmosphere in the New York theatrical world as it does with the quality of the much-maligned production — with costs (and ticket prices) ballooning, Broadway producers seem only interested in sure things: revivals, big stars, so-called “jukebox musicals.” The theory is that the tourists who keep the New York stage solvent will only part with Broadway dollars if they’re spending them on a brand they’re familiar with; hence the Spider-Man musical, say, or The Million Dollar Quartet. And then, of course, there is the movie-to-stage adaptation — why not come see a live production of something you’ve already seen on film? Movie-to-musical shows have popped up sporadically for decades, but after the smash success of The Producers a decade ago, we’ve seen an onslaught; this season saw the debuts of Catch Me If You Can, Sister Act, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, in addition to long-running hits like The Lion King and Billy Elliot. But successfully staging a beloved movie is harder than it looks; it’s important to remember that for every Hairspray or Little Shop of Horrors, there’s an Urban Cowboy or High Fidelity. After the jump, we’ll take a look at ten popular movies that tanked on the boards.
Among the buzziest indie films of the year, Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furnitureopens today in New York. The 24-year-old filmmaker’s second feature (the first, Creative Nonfiction, didn’t get theatrical distribution) has been earning some impressive and thought-provoking reviews, with the likes of New York Times critic Manohla Dargis remarking that Dunham “has created a work that addresses a constellation of ideas that speak to how we live now, on screen and off, in an age of multiplying types of technological reproductions. By playing a version of herself (and asking her family to go along for the ride), and by closing the distance between art and life, she has gotten at something real.”
In an industry that tends to reward years of tireless dues-paying, and in one of art’s most expensive mediums, it can seem impossible for young people to summon the money and support needed to make a great film. And yet, over the years, a number of smart 20-somethings have leveraged their sparse resources to do just that. After the jump, in hopes of lighting a fire under the aspiring Truffauts and Coens out there, we list 10 great movies made by directors under 30.
Welcome to the second installment of Flavorpill’s Definitive Guide to Halloween Movies! As we proved with last week’s kid-friendly film picks, a movie doesn’t necessarily have to be scary in order to get you in the mood for Halloween. In that spirit, find 10 of the best campy Halloween flicks we could find after the jump. If we happen to have missed one of your all-time favorites, feel free to add to our list in the comments.
With all of the positive critical buzz, we can’t wait for this weekend’s release of Christopher Nolan’s mind-bender Inception, which promises to be a dream-fueled film that blurs all distinctions between reality and what happens inside the mind. Inspired, we’ve decided to explore one of the most interesting cinematic conventions: the dream sequence. Dreams, unrestrained by any visual logic, tend to be where movies are at their most creative, and these classic clips exemplify that point. They range from funny, to cryptic to just plain scary and over the top. Which one’s your favorite?
1. Amy Winehouse promises to have a new album out early next year. We’ll believe it when we hear it. [via AFP]
2. Harvey Pekar had several projects in the works at the time of his death, earlier this week. And it looks like some of them will see the light of day. [via MTV]
3. Now that he is, for some reason, a free man, Roman Polanski plans to direct a film adaptation of the play God of Carnage. [via Daily News]
4. Apple has planned a surprise press conference tomorrow morning to discuss… something about the iPhone. [via WaPo]
5. Ever wish you could have William Faulkner as your English teacher? Now you can! His lectures from a stint at UVA have been posted online. [via NPR]
1. Lady Gaga‘s ex-boyfriend, songwriter and music producer Ron Fusari, is suing her for $30.5 million, claiming that it was “his songs and productions and connections that got her her first deal.” He also helped name her. [via NYP]
2. An opera based on Ian McEwan‘s novel Atonement is set to premiere in 2013 at the Southbank Centre in London. [via BBC]
3. There’s a legal battle a brewin’ behind the scenes of The Runways biopic, which opens in theaters today. [via Reuters]
4. Jennifer Aniston plays a New York Daily News reporter in her new film, The Bounty Hunter. Read what they had to say about its total lack of authenticity. [via NYDN]
5. How not to handle a rape case: Roman Polanski‘s lawyers are alleging even more judicial misconduct in his 1977 trial than we previously knew about. [via Jezebel]
Photographer David Bailey began working for Vogue in 1960 and it was there that his lens helped shape and capture what has become known as “Swinging London.” Actors, musicians, supermodels, and royalty were his subjects and social pals. His iconic images of Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Jane Birkin, Jean Shrimpton, Andy Warhol, and Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski defined the decade.
Bailey was such a popular figure of the time that film director Michelangelo Antonioni based the character of Thomas, a sexy fashion photographer in the 1966 movie Blow-Up, on him. Dubbed the “Godfather of cool,” when he was named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his contribution to photography in 2001, Bailey is now being honored with an exhibition of his celebrated ‘60s photos in the exhibition Pure Sixties. Pure Bailey, which runs through April 7, at Bonhams in London.
