Website Spotlight: Movie Titles Stills Collection
Posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
Web designer Christian Annyas has created a website, Movie Titles Stills Collection, focusing on the art of movie titles in feature films.
Shyamalan Talks Last Airbender, Compares to Star Wars and The Matrix
Posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 by Devindra Hardawar
I’m not sure if I’m alone in feeling this way, but I currently consider M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender one of my most anticipated films of 2010. As a fan of the original TV series, I’ve been consistently impressed with what we’ve seen of the film so far — particularly the teaser and some recent photos. Casting issues aside, I’ve gotten the sense that Shyamalan really gets what makes the series so great. The LAT’s Hero Complex blog recently got a chance to speak with M. Night about the film, and he reveals some interesting details on what led him to choose the project.
Lost News: Petition for Disney Attraction, White House Could Derail Season Six Premiere, New Mr. Clucks Commercial Online
Posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 by Devindra Hardawar
Now that we’re gearing up for the premiere of the final season of Lost on February 2nd, you can bet that we’re going to see an increase in Lost news. Take for example the many Losties who are now petitioning Disney for the show to become an attraction at Disneyland by replacing Tom Sawyer Island. They even have ideas for potential locations to feature, including “The Swan Station and Hatch ride”, and Jacob’s cabin.
Comprehensive List of Fictional Restaurants is Surely Useful for Something
Posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 by Devindra Hardawar
I’m sure at some point in your life, you’ve desperately tried to recall the fried chicken restaurant in Rocko’s Modern Life (”Chokey Chicken”), or the bizarro version of the Seinfeld coffee shop (”Reggie’s”), to no avail. Now you have a resource to turn to in those moments of desperation. The statistical database site StateMaster has a freakishly comprehensive list of fictional restaurants, which covers everything from old Nickelodeon cartoons to film.
Step off that ledge, dear reader. That drive-in place in the Wonder Years was called “Fatso’s”. You’re welcome.
[via Cinematical]
Brad Bird’s The Incredibles has long had many political meanings read into it. Perhaps most controversial is how well the film lines up with Ayn Rand’s objectivist movement. It’s also quite popular with politically conservative types as well — the National Review named it number two on their list of the top 25 conservative movies. Tom Elrod, over at The House Next Door, points out that The Incredibles isn’t the only Pixar film that could be read conservatively in a recent post. He argues that while Pixar’s movies may not be politically conservative, you could apply a more relaxed notion of conservatism to many of their films due to their focus on preserving the family unit.
Independence Day Stage Production Shows The Movie In Its True Form
Posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by David Chen
I wasn’t a huge fan of Michel Gondry’s Be Kind, Rewind, but I loved the film’s take on “sweded” videos, which had amateur filmmakers and actors recreating iconic scenes from beloved films. My absolute favorite one had to be the Terminator 2: Low Budgment Day video, but Gondry actually created a hilarious sweded version of the trailer for his own movie. While some might see the process of sweding as reductive, derivative, or just plain ridiculous, the film seemed to argue that there’s something beautiful in the art of interpretation that comes through in these low-rent films.
I was reminded of Be Kind, Rewind when I saw a piece over at Cinematical about a stage production version of Roland Emmerich’s 1996 film, Independence Day. Hit the jump to see some video of the production, and for a few more details.
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Kevin Smith Launches Smodcast.com, Shuts Down Quick Stop Entertainment
Posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
Filmmaker Kevin Smith has decided to shut down QuickStopEntertainment.com*, formerly MoviePoopshoot.com, and move his popular weekly podcast series with Scott Mosier to its own website — Smodcast.com. If you’ve never listened to an episode of Smodcast, I would highly recommend you do. In fact, right now you should go to Apple iTunes and subscribe to… the /Filmcast. And after you’ve done that, also subscribe to the Smodcast.
*Meanwhile, QSE editor-in-chief Ken Plume plans to continue the fun at asitecalledfred.com.
Years ago, I remember using a little site called Flixter that let users rate movies, and thinking to myself that it would likely never take off. I mean, Internet Movie Database (IMDb) had a much larger sample of users to draw from, and it didn’t seem like Flixter would ever be able to catch up. Enter Facebook, and their open app api. It seemed like overnight every one of my facebook friends had their favorite movies listed and rated using the Flixter app. Overnight Flixter became a competitor in the online movie space. It also helps that they jumped on the iPhone app bandwagon very eary on and quickly became the go-to app for movie showtimes, ratings, and ticket purchasing.
So when I was sent a link from Mashable announcing that Flixter was going to acquire Rotten Tomatoes from the Fox-owned IGN Entertainment, I was surprised but not shocked. IGN will get minority equity stake in Flixster, and both sites will continue to operate as separate properties, although it is expected that we’ll start seeing data more integrated across the two.
Life Magazine’s Jet-Setting With the Cast of Avatar
Posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 by Peter Sciretta
Life Magazine has a fun photoslideshow showing the cast of Avatar on their worldwide publicity tour. I have included a couple of my favorite photos below.
Article Round-Up: Thought-Provoking Writing About Avatar
Posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 by David Chen
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we here at /Film have been covering James Cameron’s Avatar pretty extensively. An event movie this interesting only comes around once in awhile, so it’s been a blast to participate in the public discussion. You can read my review, Brendon’s review, Russ’s review, Hunter’s review, see Brendon’s interview with Jon Landau, listen/read my interview with James Cameron, listen to our podcast review, or just hit this link to read all our coverage.
With Hollywood and the trades virtually shutting down for the holidays, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the interesting, entertaining, and/or thought-provoking writing about Avatar around the internet. Hit the jump for some of my favorite pieces. Assume most of the following articles have spoilers. Head to the comments or e-mail me at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com to add your own.
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