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Avatar's Best Moment (Hint - It Has Nothing to Do With 3D Special Effects)
7 hours ago
As expected, as James Cameron's Avatar continues to hammer the box office, blockbuster backlash has settled in almost before the ink on those rave reviews has dried. While blockbuster backlash is a common thing (quick... find anyone who still admits to loving Independence Day or even Return of the King), the speed in which the 'oh, it's just about effects' talk has become mainstreamed is a little surprising. The standard line is now 'oh, the story is bland and the character development is non-existent'. But, as we all know, the mega hits, the ones like Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight, or Spider-Man, made their money on the strength of everything but the effects. With the arguable exception of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (a $400 million-grossing anomaly that no one particularly liked), you »
- Scott Mendelson
Dario Yazbek Bernal, Gael Garcia Bernal's Younger Brother, In 'Daniel Y Ana' (Photos, Info)
10 hours ago
Meet Dario Yazbek Bernal, Gael Garcia Bernal's 19-year-old half-brother. The curly-haired cutie makes his big-screen debut in the Mexican thriller 'Daniel y Ana,' which has made the festival rounds this year and will be screening at the 2010 Palm Springs International Festival and The Barbican next month. In the movie, which is based on actual events that happened in Mexico, Dario plays a teenager who is kidnapped along with his older sister. They are forced to do something deeply traumatic together then released to figure out how to reconstruct their lives and relationship. You can watch the trailer here. Photos: Get HuffPost Entertainment On Facebook and Twitter! »
- Katy Hall
Movies We Loved: 2009
10 hours ago
What to say about film in 2009? It was clearly a transitional and scary year for independents and biggies alike, with an uncertain theatrical future leading to (exciting? underwhelming?) developments in film availability online and on demand and via your computer. Some of the stories that we clung to this year echoed that uncertainty, from Precious to Up in the Air. Other stories, like this summer's Transformers 2, simply blew stuff up. And then there's Avatar... already #21 in IMDb's top 250. The films we wanted to highlight in our Movies We Love piece are not necessarily the "best" or buzziest of the year; those lists, after a while, all start to sound the same. We wanted to focus on the films that touched us, moved us, and maybe changed the way we saw the world for a little while. Movies »
- Tribeca Film
California Literary Review's Top 10 Movies of 2009
11 hours ago
#1. The Hurt Locker There was no better action film this year than Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. By far the best Iraq war movie to date, it follows an elite team of soldiers whose sole job is to diffuse Ied's on the streets of Baghdad. There's no easing in to this movie. Your nerves are shot after the opening sequence and you're watching the rest of the movie shell-shocked. Hand-held camera and eye-level p.o.v's make the audience an embedded member of the squad, feeling the stress and tension alongside their fellow soldiers. Each mission is more horrific than the last and it's no wonder some of these soldiers are starting to crack. Every character is disposable, so don't get too attached to anyone - yet that's exactly what Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) does when he befriends a young »
- Zorianna Kit
Nicholas Hoult of A Single Man: About a Boy Who's Become a Man -- With Oscar Prospects!
11 hours ago
In 2002, Nicholas Hoult was a pudgy-faced awkward young boy who sort of stalked ne'er-do-well Hugh Grant in the delightful and moving film, About A Boy. America hasn't seen much of him since his auspicious debut forging a significant bond with Grant's character, in the process symbiotically helping each other to lead richer and fulfilled lives. This year he's back, and what a metamorphosis in seven years from the much teased, put-upon kid, who's been transformed into a twenty-year-old 6'4" hunk with a handsome face and striking blue eyes. The latter put to good use as he returns to similar territory, obsessing about an older man. In this case, he's stalking his college professor Colin Firth in the lovely film, A Single Man. It's not as if Nicholas has been idle in between; he was on a popular British »
- Michael Russnow
Touchdown: For New Year's, My Favorite Football Movies
12 hours ago
As we ponder which bowl games to watch tomorrow, let's salute the game of football: not just the sheer excitement of it, but the values it promotes. Fundamentally, to survive on a football field, it helps to be big, tough and fast, but you'll get nowhere without brains, instinct, and the ability to work with and rely on others -- the very same attributes we need to navigate our own lives. Countless films have explored the inherent drama and heroic quality of organized sports in general, and football in particular. In fact, Hollywood has turned the feel-good sports movie into a tried-and-true formula, cranking out numerous retread features that inevitably include tough but fair coaches leading underdog teams to unexpected victory. But amidst all the strictly average titles lie a few bona-fide winners, movies that resonate with fans and non-fans alike, »
- John Farr
Best Films of the '00s (Zeros/Aughts)
13 hours ago
What qualifies me to do a retrospective review of the best films of the decade? Well, I'd like to think that I know a lot about film, that I've seen a lot of movies, that I love movies, and that I have good taste. Plus, I'm a blogger, so here you go, like it or not. (Oh, and I was a film critic way back when for The Tufts Daily.) Seriously, it's been an interesting exercise looking back over the decade in film. These lists don't mean much -- and there are way too many of them already -- but wrapping up a year or a decade or whatever with "best of" lists allows one to reflect on what was, and on what was excellent, and to celebrate excellence, and, given that all this is subjective, to stimulate debate within oneself and »
- Michael J.W. Stickings
Ten Records That Made This Cruddy Decade a Little More Bearable
14 hours ago
Damn, I hated the '00s -- a decade so crappy that nobody ever even figured out what to call it. From the recession and stolen election that kicked it off to the near-economic collapse at its tail end, and all the bullshit in between, the last ten years have been one long bummer after another. To my ears, the music of the decade didn't make things much better. Fleet Foxes and Fiery Furnaces, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne, Jay-z and the Jonas Brothers, Bright Eyes and The Darkness, emo and screamo, and that goddamn Autotune. Almost all of it made me go "feh," "eh," or "meh," if not all three. But as the old saying goes, there's always good music out there, it's just that sometimes you have to hunt a little harder for the good stuff. »
- Tony Sachs
"Wishing Well": A Playlist for Rush Limbaugh in Hawaii Tonight
15 hours ago
Dear Rush, I have no mega-dittos for you tonight -- only well wishes and a few songs to help speed what I hope will be your quick recovery. Here's hoping that you can right back to being wrong real soon. Wishing Well - Terence Trent D'Arby Getting Better - The Beatles Get Well Soon - Steve Forbert Feeling Good - Nina Simone The Spirit of Radio - Rush Rush - Big Audio Dynamite Gut Feeling - Devo Don't Think... Feel - Neil Diamond Feeling All Right - Joe Cocker Living and Living Well - George Strait Put a Little Love in Your Heart - Jackie DeShannon Come on, Huffington Post, let's show Rush the human dignity that he sometimes denies others, and send him all our best -- and some cool tunes to recover by. »
- David Wild
Rubbernecking's Top Ten Pop Culture Moments of 2009
15 hours ago
It's been a year full of rubbernecking, the perfect coda to a decade chock full of Wtf Moments. Let's count down the top ten pop culture moments of Oh-Nine, shall we? 1. Swinging wildly between sad and just plain sick on the pop culture pendulum is the spectacle of Jon and Kate Gosselin's marriage falling apart for all to see on national television. My sympathies to their brood of eight, all of whom are likely destined for many years of professional counseling once they're old enough to realize that their home lives were exploited so hideously by their own parents. 2. Falcon Heene Aka Balloon Boy spilling the beans about his parents' prank on live television (and his cookies). That poor kid, like his given name isn't bad enough (Falcon? Really?!?), he will forever be known as Balloon Boy. 3. The four legged »
- Holly Cara Price
Gwyneth Shares Her Recipes For New Years Cocktails
16 hours ago
In case you are still figuring out how to drink yourself into the New Year, Gwyneth Paltrow presents some cocktail recipes via her newsletter, Goop. Gwyneth's sidecar recipe is inspired by the original sidecar at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, made with an 1865 Ritz Reserve cognac exclusive to the hotel. "It's not everyday that you have 800 Euros at your disposal for a cocktail," Gwyneth concedes, "so I've modified the recipe." Here is the plebeian version: The Everyman's Sidecar For One Cocktail: * 2 ounces nice cognac * 1/2 ounce Cointreau * juice of half a lemon * twist of lime Shake the cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice hard in shaker with Lots of ice. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with the twist of lime. If you are »
- Katy Hall
HuffPost Review: A Film With Me in It
30 December 2009 3:33 PM, PST
It's tempting to lump Ian Fitzgibbon's A Film with Me in It in with a comically Grand Guignol-thriller like Shallow Grave. Or the plays (and film) of Martin McDonagh. But it would be wrong. For, while there is violence galore in A Film with Me in It, the lion's share is accidental. No, really -- they were accidents. That's the joke in this blackly humorous Irish film, which stars the film's writer, Mark Doherty, and stand-up comic Dylan Moran. People drop dead at an alarming rate in this movie -- and the deaths are unbelievably accidental, in the sense that so many bizarre accidents in so short a time simply has to look fishy to the authorities. So unemployed actor Mark (Doherty) and his would-be writer-filmmaker friend Pierce (Moran) must invent a set of circumstances that seem more likely than the freak occurrences »
- Marshall Fine
Precious star Sidibe "Pushes" Her Way to 2010
30 December 2009 2:57 PM, PST
Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe was working as a receptionist in an electrolysis office this time last year. This morning, the Golden Globe nominated star of the acclaimed Precious: Based on the Novel Bush by Sapphire was in Time Square helping to power the 2010 New Year's Eve Ball. I'll be damned if the phrase "what a difference a year makes" has ever resonated more. At the Duracell Power Lab, Sidibe became the final celebrity of the year (guyliner extraordinaire Adam Lambert and "SNL" funnyboner Kristen Wiig are among those who took part in '09) to pedal the battery company's Power Rover, which captures human energy via the push of a pedal, and converts it into usable power. The yearlong storing of power will light up the 2010 numerals as the Ball drops tomorrow night. How appropriate since Sidibe's star has been shining »
- Jon Chattman
"Barely a Crime?" - An Answer to a Polanski Apologist
30 December 2009 2:02 PM, PST
"How do you plead?" "Barely Guilty." "Barely Guilty?" "Um, yeah. Because the crime I'm accused of committing in California is barely a crime in some places in Europe, I'd like to plead Barely Guilty here." "So then you're pleading guilty..." "Yes, but barely." That's how the scene in court might play out if Jeff Norman's legal logic reigned. Norman wrote in his latest blog, "The offense for which Polanski's extradition from Switzerland is sought is barely considered a crime in Europe, where the age of consent is as low as 13." Barely considered a crime. If it weren't such a creepy statement it would be laughable. Norman starts out his invective, aimed at all of us who think Polanski should be brought to justice, with a quote from the California Court of Appeals: "Fundamental »
- Michael Seitzman
Tracy Kachtick-Anders: Rosie O'Donnell's New Girlfriend (Photo, Info)
30 December 2009 1:51 PM, PST
Rosie O'Donnell no longer has to remain sad about being single. She's now dating dating Tracy Kachtick-Anders, a Texas-based artist who has six children, her rep confirmed to People. The happy couple was spotted strolling hand-in-hand on Miami Beach Tuesday. Rosie announced in November that her longtime partner, Kelli Carpenter, moved out of their home two years ago. Tracy is an activist for Lbgt adoptive rights, and she founded the non-profit Open Arms Campaign, which helps recruit foster and adoptive families. Five of her six children (ages 5 to 17) are adopted and several are special needs, she told the Examiner. In her free time she paints and serves as a doula. You can see some of her art here. Rosie met Tracy through her blog, according to Perez Hilton, and in her Ask Ro section she answers all her fans' questions »
- Katy Hall
Interview: Bryce Dallas Howard on Opie and Tennessee
30 December 2009 1:11 PM, PST
When actress Bryce Dallas Howard casually mentions both her father and her son in a phone interview, it takes a minute to make the leap to -- Ron Howard is a grandfather? Opie is... Gramps? But that's just part of the reality for Howard, 28, who stars in The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, which opens today (12.30.09) in limited release. The film, which also stars Chris Evans, Ellen Burstyn and Ann-Margret, is the feature directing debut of actress Jodie Markell - and has a script that's an unproduced screenplay by the late Tennessee Williams. In Teardrop Diamond, Howard plays debutante Fisher Willow, who elevates working-class Jimmy (Evans) to beau status, to attend the season's balls in Memphis during the 1920s. It's a character easily identifiable as Williams', yet with a difference. Howard, who broke through in M. Night Shymalan's The Village in »
- Marshall Fine
Jamie Bell's Abs: Billy Elliot Mans Up (Photo)
30 December 2009 12:36 PM, PST
Jamie Bell danced into audiences' hearts in 2000's "Billy Elliot" and judging by the photo below, he is set to earn a whole new set of fans when "The Eagle of the Ninth" is released in 2010. Bell, now 23, plays Esca, the Celtic slave of Channing Tatum's Marcus in 140 Ad Roman-ruled Britain. And he takes his shirt off. New stills of the movie show Bell dirty and bare chested, but sadly there are no shirtless photos of Channing. In the 9 years since "Billy Elliot" Bell has had supporting roles in films like "Jumper," "Defiance" and "Flags of our Fathers." Jamie Now: Jamie Then: Channing Tatum: »
- Katherine Thomson
Con Games: Bury My Avatar at Wounded Knee
30 December 2009 9:15 AM, PST
Darwin's restaurant was packed, so we went next door the day after Christmas for the next form of evolution: James Cameron's Avatar, albeit in 2-D, the standard stuff that fills screens to bursting and the stadium seating to capacity. Instead of plush, lush 3-D, we ended up in one of the end-of-civilization screens the Bow-Tie Cinemas keep alive at the frontier outpost of El Jebel, Colorado. All in all, in other words, the worst possible set-up for a movie set up to break the glass ceiling of film with three-dimensional computer-generated movie-making. Even so, with the deck stacked against it, Avatar was much better than good: Cameron -- he of Terminator, Aliens, and Titanic fame -- has now set the bar so high that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will spend the rest of their careers trying to reach the planet »
- Michael Conniff
Hailey Glassman Accuses Jon Gosselin Of Domestic Violence
30 December 2009 8:53 AM, PST
The war between Jon Gosselin and Hailey Glassman's lawyers rages on as they argue over what exactly happened on Saturday when the apartment they shared was trashed and looted. Now Hailey says that Jon slammed her against the wall after he found a photo of her kissing "Celebrity Boxing" promoter Damon Feldman. "That picture started the whole thing, a picture of her kissing another man," a source told the New York Post. Cops are still investigating a harassment charge Hailey filed, accusing Jon of pushing her against a wall and verbally abusing her. Gosselin's lawyer, Mark Heller, always good for sound bites such "Jon was raped" in reference to the robbery, told the Post, "Jon is a lover, not a fighter. He's been rumored to steal a kiss here and there, but he has never been accused of landing a sucker »
- Katy Hall
2009 in Review: The Guilty Pleasures, the Surprisingly Good, and the Runners-up
30 December 2009 8:52 AM, PST
Before I get to my obligatory 'best films of the year' list, I'd like to take a moment to run down a list of films that are worthy of mention outside of the very best of the year. Some of these films are great pictures that missed the top-ten. Some are surprisingly good pictures that would otherwise have no business on a 'best of' list. Some are simply movies that I felt like pointing out for one reason or another. Enjoy... 2012 A movie that, against all odds, actually turned out to be entertaining and genuinely good. Sure, the special effects were almost comical in their overwhelming scenes of world-ending carnage. Yes, we once again had to suffer through a 'distant father learns to be a better parent and wins his family back' yarn. But »
- Scott Mendelson
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