Tag Archives: lists

‘Anybody Got a Match?’: The 8 Best Smokers on Film

As evidenced by the packed patios at this weekend’s Golden Globe parties , cigarette smoking is alive and well in Hollywood — but, ironically, not in the films made by these pack-a-day producers and talent. Because it would be a crime for Tinsel Town to advocate a potentially deadly habit that they actively advocate in their down-time, right? Whatever. Let’s take a moment to remember a time when Hollywood was less hypocritical, cigarettes were a cool onscreen accessory (not just coffin nails) and actors made smoking an art.

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‘Anybody Got a Match?’: The 8 Best Smokers on Film

The Movieline Year in Review Review: 29 Indispensable Year-End Lists

Here at Movieline HQ we’re ready to shuffle off until 2011 — don’t worry, we’ll avoid those lame, “See you next year!” jokes; well maybe not Julie, but the rest of us — but before working our way toward a fairly intense champagne hangover, it seemed like a good time to compile all of our fabulously specific year-end coverage into one clickable place. Ahead, find the 29 ways Movieline decided to say goodbye to 2010.

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The Movieline Year in Review Review: 29 Indispensable Year-End Lists

Titanic, Battlefield Earth and 9 More Abandoned Movie Web Sites

Yesterday, the official Web site for the film Space Jam — which hasn’t been updated since the movie opened 14 years ago — had quite the resurgence when it was discovered to still be working and functioning like it was 1996. Naturally, the site’s existence got us wondering about other abandoned, obsolete official film sites from this particular era of the Internet. And hoo boy, we found some gems.

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Titanic, Battlefield Earth and 9 More Abandoned Movie Web Sites

My Favorite Movies of 2010

I was hesitant to make a top 10 movie list this year because, really, who cares what I have to say? But then I started thinking, Yeah… who cares what I have to say? Without the title of “movie critic,” I can just choose whatever movies I want — the ones that I truly enjoyed the most — as opposed to movies that I know are technically great or that any film fan should definitely see, but may not be as emotionally pleasing to my Big 12-school-educated mind. I know that a “favorite movie list” from an Internet writer my age is supposed to include Inception and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World , it’s almost blasphemy for it not to, but mine doesn’t.

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My Favorite Movies of 2010

IMDB Offers 43 or So Reasons to Dread 2011

Optimism for 2011’s film culture will only get you so far. That’s the enduring lesson of IMDB’ s perennial spirit bludgeon also known as 50 Most Popular Feature Films, which, in the last week of any given year, provides as explicit a reminder as any of what Hollywood will soon shovel into multiplexes. Here’s your top 10 at the moment: Pirates of the Caribbean 4 ; Fast Five ; Transformers 3 ; Thor ; The Green Hornet ; Twilight Part 4, Part 1 ; Harry Potter Part 7, Part 2 ; Captain America ; Hanna ; and The Hangover 2 . Get me rewrite, Brooks Barnes . [ IMDB via @ebertchicago ]

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IMDB Offers 43 or So Reasons to Dread 2011

The 20 Most Anticipated Cultural Dates of 2011 — STV’s Picks

Who’s excited for 2011? I said, who’s excited for 2011?? Oh. Well, maybe this list of dates, designations, and not just few fearless predictions for the next year in culture might help stimulate your interest. Failing that, there’s always the rest of Movieline’s future-positive anticipations to get you through. Onward!

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The 20 Most Anticipated Cultural Dates of 2011 — STV’s Picks

Michelle Orange’s Top 10 Films of 2010

Asking what films I’ve seen recently is a good way to wipe my brain clean. Once, in a job interview where it was clear the answer would determine my fate, all I could come up with was Calendar Girls , which would have been a poor choice even as a recent release, which it was not. Tabulation is not a strong suit. Rubrics wear me out. A recent report on people with brains like databases with total recall made me itch, and yet the chemistry made sense: An abundance of adrenaline caused ordinary events to imprint in their memories the way only extraordinary events — or even amazing shots, bravura scenes, and other bits of movie magic — do for the rest of us.

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Michelle Orange’s Top 10 Films of 2010

Slideshow: The 10 Biggest MPAA Debacles of 2010

Ah, another year, another series of enigmatic clues as to how the MPAA ratings board actually makes its decisions. And then an equal number of films try to challenge the mystifying organization to gain free publicity. 2010 was no exception, with a wide variety of contradictions, exceptions and just completely baffling decisions, and so in our grand year-end tradition, let’s take a look at the 10 biggest MPAA debacles of 2010.

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Slideshow: The 10 Biggest MPAA Debacles of 2010

Slideshow: The 10 Biggest Movie Marketing Milestones of 2010

You can have your top 10 movies and other reflections on the year in culture. I’ll stick with an even more demonstrative metric of Hollywood at its best (and worst): Marketing. Some is inspired, some not so much. And some is inspired in all the wrong ways. With this in mind, join me for a leisurely stroll through some of 2010’s best, worst, weirdest and wildest attempts at studios peddling their wares.

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Slideshow: The 10 Biggest Movie Marketing Milestones of 2010

REVIEW: John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole Is Sensitive But Not Bloodless

Perhaps the only thing harder than making a movie about young parents riven by grief after losing a child is sitting through one. And for that reason alone, Rabbit Hole won’t make for a particularly cheery night out. But director John Cameron Mitchell — adapting David Lindsay-Abaire’s play — has a surprisingly deft touch with this admittedly downbeat material; he builds dramatic intensity in subtle layers, rather than slapping it on with a trowel. Rabbit Hole is so unassuming, in fact — it’s filled with delicately calibrated performances and nuanced moments of connection and disaffection — that the cumulative effect is a bit underwhelming. But you can’t fault Mitchell’s instincts; he’s adamant about understating this material rather than sending it over the top, and that makes all the difference.

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REVIEW: John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole Is Sensitive But Not Bloodless