Tag Archives: newswire

The New York Times Investigates ‘Neo-VHS’ Culture

What is this strange retro fascination the kids have these days with watching old crappy horror movies on — what was it called again? V-H-S ? The New York Times investigates. “I like putting it in the VCR and rewinding and pausing and fast-forwarding,” said Lunchmeat founder Josh Shafer. “The best way to watch is to know nothing about how it was created, like it was a tape that was found buried in a ditch or was found unmarked at a Goodwill,” explains Drafthouse Films’ Evan Husney. See kids, once upon a time there were these things called videotapes … that you rented from video stores … before the internet existed . Yes, I know. That’s a lot to digest. Let the nice Gray Lady explain it to you. [ NYT ]

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The New York Times Investigates ‘Neo-VHS’ Culture

What to Expect From Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’s Wild IMAX Action Sequences

This December 16, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol premieres in IMAX five days in advance of its general release. Why exactly? Probably to encourage fans of the Tom Cruise franchise to see the picture in the large format director Brad Bird intended when he shot thirty minutes-worth of the fourth Ethan Hunt film in IMAX. To convince journalists that the large format is indeed worth higher ticket prices, an advance release date and a little early buzz, Paramount screened about 20 minutes worth of wild action sequences at the Rave 18 theater in Los Angeles last week. Ahead, the stomach-flipping details (and very mild spoilers).

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What to Expect From Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’s Wild IMAX Action Sequences

Why Yes, I Will Watch Chris Brown and Laz Alonso in Planet B-Boy

Screen Gems spilled the news today that they’re already filming a feature adaptation of Benson Lee’s 2007 dance documentary Planet B-Boy , about a crew of American breakdancers who compete on the world’s stage against crews from foreign lands. Sure, it sounds like just another dance movie. But I ask you: What’s wrong with that? I LOVE DANCE MOVIES ! And if you love dance movies like I do, then there are at least two additional reasons why you’ll totally mark your calendars for this particular project.

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Why Yes, I Will Watch Chris Brown and Laz Alonso in Planet B-Boy

9 Pro Tips For Breaking Into Visual Effects From Jurassic Park’s VFX Pioneers

If there’s anyone who knows about breaking barriers in the visual effects industry, it’s Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett and John Rosengrant, whose computer-generated dinosaur effects on Jurassic Park forever changed the FX landscape, earned them Academy Awards and famously caused George Lucas to tear up with joy. But their work pioneering new technologies did not begin or end with Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic. The artists have worked on some of Hollywood’s most technologically innovative titles including Star Wars , E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial , Predator , Terminator 2: Judgment Day , A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Avatar .

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9 Pro Tips For Breaking Into Visual Effects From Jurassic Park’s VFX Pioneers

Alec Baldwin’s New Podcast is Just as Awesome as You’d Imagine

Now hear this! No, seriously, hear this : Alec Baldwin has a new NPR podcast called Here’s the Thing , which will comprise a series of conversations with the actor’s Hollywood peers and other cultural luminaries (including “makers of public policy, critics and comedians”) about “what motivates them” and “how they feel about what they do” — among other things. The first episode, which you can listen to below, feature Michael Douglas and is pretty much just as awesome as you’d imagine.

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Alec Baldwin’s New Podcast is Just as Awesome as You’d Imagine

Zooey Deschanel or Demi Lovato: Which Actress Sang the National Anthem Better at the World Series?

I haven’t been watching the World Series because, um, baseball is the least telegenic sport since blogging, but I’ve caught two actresses unleash very decent renditions of the national anthem since the series began. Two days ago, Zooey Deschanel purred her version, and yesterday, convalescing Disney queen Demi Lovato belted it out. Fantastic. Unfortunately, It is my belief that only one can win. Who did it better?

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Zooey Deschanel or Demi Lovato: Which Actress Sang the National Anthem Better at the World Series?

Lindsay Lohan Accepts Playboy Nude Pictorial Offer

This is what things have come to for actress-singer-celebrity criminal Lindsay Lohan ; at the tender age of 25, as the media watches her every move, the onetime promising Disney star has reportedly agreed to pose nude for Playboy. For less than a million! Oh, LiLo.

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Lindsay Lohan Accepts Playboy Nude Pictorial Offer

Video: Eddie Murphy Predicts That He Will Be the Worst Oscars Host of All Time

While promoting Tower Heist during a recent television interview, Eddie Murphy took a moment to forecast that he will be the most awful Academy Awards host of all time. (Has he seen last year’s ceremony co-hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco?) Click through to watch Murphy repeatedly cut off his Tower Heist co-star Ben Stiller to predict just how bad his Oscars show will be. Spoiler alert: It ends with a powder blue suit and a golden statuette shower.

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Video: Eddie Murphy Predicts That He Will Be the Worst Oscars Host of All Time

Which of Your Favorite Stars are Stuck in Cable Christmas Movies This Year?

Santa Claus loves visiting 34th Street and Whoville, yes, but he spends most of his time taking trips to the enchanted land of cable television. This holiday season, plenty of your childhood heroes are starring in original yuletide cinema from the Hallmark Channel, TNT, and even Animal Planet. We’ve listed our nine favorites after the jump. Can you handle a homeless Kristy Swanson? Or getting “lucky” with Elizabeth Berkley? Hallmark can!

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Which of Your Favorite Stars are Stuck in Cable Christmas Movies This Year?

Photo: Does Scarlett Johansson Look Like Our Sexiest Movie Alien Yet?

Over the course of her career, Scarlett Johansson has played a sexy Dutch muse, a sexy clone, a sexy journalism student, a sexy Boleyn sister and a sexy, spandex-clad Roman spy. (She is so sexy that David Fincher did not cast her in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for fear that audiences wouldn’t be able “to wait for her to take her clothes off.”) So it’s not surprising that in Jonathan Glazer’s upcoming film Under The Skin , the bombshell doesn’t just play an alien — she plays an alien who uses a voluptuous human body to ensnare male prey. Take a look at the first photo of Johansson in character to see how she stacks up against cinema’s other most titillating extraterrestrials.

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Photo: Does Scarlett Johansson Look Like Our Sexiest Movie Alien Yet?