(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
A well-cut trailer is a thing of beauty. To be clear: trailers are pieces of advertising. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be art, too. A bad trailer either shows us too much, relies heavily on cliches, or fails to grab our interest. A great trailer, however, can make or break a film. Put together a compelling, interesting, and original trailer, and you’ve gone a long way towards drawing in your audience. Which is exactly what the best trailers of the decade did.
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(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
The 2010s will mark the decade when cinema as we know it started changing drastically. The movies themselves aren’t really changing, but the manner in which we get to see them is in the middle of a drastic overhaul. In some ways, it’s easier than ever to watch a movie. But along with that, it’s also gotten harder for movies to find their audience, let alone get made. Even so, the 2010s were full of movies that will stick with us for years to come, and below you can find my own top ten movies of the decade. Read More »
(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
Narrowing down a top 10 list for one year is hard enough. An entire decade? It’s almost impossible. Almost. I hemmed and hawed my way through this task, debating with myself as to what titles would go where, and what titles would make the list at all. The bottom line: it was a great decade for film, and don’t let anyone claim otherwise. As of this moment, I am happy with this list. But check back in with me in a week – I may have changed my mind by then.
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(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
I can’t stress enough how formative this past decade of movies has been for my moviegoing experience. Sometimes I wonder if I can fully trust my opinions during 2010-2019, ever-shifting they were, and ever-evolving my movie knowledge was. I went and graduated college during that time, and began to form a movie opinion of my own outside of the one the film classes would impose on me. And in my opinion, the last decade of movies was fantastic.
It was never a more exciting time to be a movie fan in the 2010s, because the movie landscape itself underwent a dramatic shift. This was the decade when the genre movie began to get taken seriously by critics and the Academy, when cerebral sci-fi made a vengeful comeback, when horror got a socially thrilling edge. And most importantly, it’s one where a bear taught us the value of being kind. Here are my top 10 movies of the past decade.
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Facebook has been in the news frequently in the last few years, and not for good reasons. With all the behind-the-scenes turmoil at the online social media and social networking service company, many have suggested it might be time for a sequel to David Fincher‘s The Social Network. And according to screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, it might happen. Sorkin recently confirmed that he himself thinks there should be a sequel, and that Social Network producer Scott Rudin has brought the subject up as well. Perhaps Jesse Eisenberg should get his hoodie and flip-flops ready again.
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Hollywood is full of “what if” casting scenarios, stories of actors who came thisclose to landing life-changing leading roles that may have had huge ripple effects through the rest of the industry. You probably know many of them: Nicolas Cage as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, Dougray Scott as Wolverine in X-Men, etc.
At this point, someone could write an entire book about all of the actors who were nearly cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one of those chapters would have to be about Wilson Bethel, who eventually landed the MCU-adjacent role of Bullseye on Netflix’s Daredevil. If things were slightly different, Bethel could have suited up as Captain America. Meanwhile, outside of the MCU, Jonah Hill was close to playing Sean Parker in The Social Network. Read more about both of these what-if stories below.
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The start of a David Fincher commentary is kind of like the start of a David Fincher movie: you know you’re in store for something good. Sometimes after listening to hours upon hours of commentary tracks, I question how I spend my time, but listening to Fincher’s commentaries is always time well spent. He’s concise and candid, he’s as funny as his movies, and he’s a great storyteller. The co-founder of Propaganda Films is completely open about his choices and how a scene and film was put together, and never attempts to preserve some sense of mystery about his work.
Everything you’d want to know about one of Fincher’s movies can be learned in one of his commentary tracks, which are usually joined by other excellent and informative bonus features, including a highly reccomended Panic Room commentary featuring screenwriter William Goldman. Audio commentaries don’t get much better than Fincher’s, though, so if you’ve yet to listen to one of his, do yourself a favor and check one out.
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The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, find out how Pixar’s The Incredibles should have ended. Plus, take a tour of the new Jim Henson exhibition on display at the Museum of the Moving Image and watch a video essay looking closely at how David Fincher uses music in his films. Read More »
How a film opens says a lot about its style and tone, and can turn people off or make them sit forward in their seats with curiosity. This week’s big new release, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, has a hard act to follow; its 2014 predecessor had a memorable opening in which hero Peter Quill/Star-Lord dances through an alien world, blasting “Come and Get Your Love” on his old Walkman. As we wait to see if Vol. 2 lives up to the original, let’s look at 15 of the best opening scenes in movies.
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Cool Posts From Around the Web:
If you’re looking for a film that accurately depicts the creation of Facebook, it’s not The Social Network. But if you’re looking for a sharply written drama that defines the generation who is living on the internet, then David Fincher‘s drama scripted by Aaron Sorkin is just the ticket.
Still, just because The Social Network was nominated for Best Picture does not make it safe from the folks at Screen Junkies, who decided to mock the film in an Honest Trailer in honor of this week’s release of The Circle starring Tom Hanks. You also might be surprised to learn how many laptops were broken in the scene where Andrew Garfield smashes Jesse Eisenberg‘s computer.
Watch The Social Network Honest Trailer after the jump. Read More »
