post

Gratuitous Trailer Breakdown: The Return of WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER and the Internet Age of Cult

by Posted in Editorials, Film Editorials, Trailers Tagged , , , , , , , 1 Comment

It’s here! Fourteen years later, we finally return to Camp Firewood (unless you count the 50 or 60 times you’ve watched Wet Hot American Summer as “returning” – which I most certainly do.) In 2001, the parody of 1980s summer-camp-sploitation movies that no one asked for (and if they did they would have asked about twelve years earlier) debuted at Sundance to four sold out crowds and zero buyers. Eventually it was released in approximately  30 cities, made approximately zero money, and was pretty much ignored to death. But that is how legends are born (isn’t it?).

Read More

post

The Case Against Faux Art Films: Why I Walked out of THE BETTER ANGELS and JAMIE MARKS IS DEAD

by Posted in Film Editorials Tagged , , , ,

I’m sick of the incognizant derision that arises when a casual film-goer acknowledges an “art film” for its boring, snooty self. Like the hive mind of Twihards (and other noxious YA fan whose title I’m too old to know), coveting a film just because it’s black-and-white, has no story and lacks any acting to speak of is just as bad, if not worse, than piling on mindless praise for an existing fad-pop franchise. It’s the navel-gazing intellectualism for those who won’t switch to eBooks because they’d lose the superiority that goes hand-in-hand with lunking leather-bound tomes around, hanging from their hands like literacy trophies, reminders of their unquestioned intelligence. Read More

post

20th SAG Nominees Led By 12 YEARS A SLAVE, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, BREAKING BAD, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

by Posted in Awards Tagged , , , , , ,

SAG-Awards-logo.jpg
The 20th SAG award nominations are just full of surprises as 12 Years a Slave, again, was nominated for almost every film category. Best actor looks like it will be neck and neck, between Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hanks, and Matthew McConaughey. Still unreleased to the general public, American Hustle was also well represented, along with underdog Dallas Buyers Club. Strangely there are no nominations for Her, which is hopefully poised to do well during award season.

In television, Breaking Bad is aiming to win just about everything. There is no way that final season doesn’t garner best drama and best actor for Bryan Cranston. Making predictions for comedy awards is usually fruitless, since comedic tastes tend to be all over the place. However, the usual suspects are here, including Arrested Development, Modern Family, and 30 Rock. In other news, people still like Big Bang Theory, as it has quite a few nominations too. Go figure.

See the full nominations below. Predictions in red.

Theatrical Motion Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

August: Osage County

Dallas Buyers Club

Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern – Woody Grant – “Nebraska“

Chiwetel Ejiofor – Solomon Northup – “12 Years a Slave“

Tom Hanks – Capt. Richard Phillips – “Captain Phillips“

Matthew McConaughey – Ron Woodroof – “Dallas Buyers Club“

Forest Whitaker – Cecil Gaines – “Lee Daniels’ The Butler“

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett – Jasmine – “Blue Jasmine“

Sandra Bullock – Ryan Stone – “Gravity“

Judi Dench – Philomena Lee – “Philomena“

Meryl Streep – Violet Weston – “August: Osage County“

Emma Thompson – P.L. Travers – “Saving Mr. Banks“

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Barkhad Abdi – Muse – “Captain Phillips“

Daniel Brühl – Niki Lauda – “Rush“

Michael Fassbender – Edwin Epps – “12 Years a Slave“

James Gandolfini – Albert – “Enough Said“

Jared Leto – Rayon – “Dallas Buyers Club“

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Jennifer Lawrence – Rosalyn Rosenfeld – “American Hustle“

Lupita Nyong’o – Patsey – “12 Years a Slave“

Julia Roberts – Barbara Weston – “August: Osage County“

June Squibb – Kate Grant – “Nebraska“

Oprah Winfrey – Gloria Gaines – “Lee Daniels’ The Butler“

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Matt Damon – Scott Thorson – “Behind the Candelabra“

Michael Douglas – Liberace – “Behind the Candelabra“

Jeremy Irons – King Henry IV – “The Hollow Crown“

Rob Lowe – John F. Kennedy – “Killing Kennedy“

Al Pacino – Phil Spector – “Phil Spector“

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Angela Bassett – Coretta Scott King – “Betty & Coretta“

Helena Bonham Carter – Elizabeth Taylor – “Burton and Taylor“

Holly Hunter – G.J. – “Top of the Lake“

Helen Mirren – Linda Kenney Baden – “Phil Spector“

Elisabeth Moss – Robin Griffin – “Top of the Lake“

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Steve Buscemi – Enoch “Nucky” Thompson – “Boardwalk Empire“

Bryan Cranston – Walter White – “Breaking Bad“

Jeff Daniels – Will McAvoy – “The Newsroom“

Peter Dinklage – Tyrion Lannister – “Game of Thrones“

Kevin Spacey – Francis Underwood – “House of Cards“

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Claire Danes – Carrie Mathison – “Homeland“

Anna Gunn – Skyler White – “Breaking Bad“

Jessica Lange – Fiona Goode – “American Horror Story: Coven“

Maggie Smith – Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham – “Downton Abbey“

Kerry Washington – Olivia Pope – “Scandal“

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

Boardwalk Empire

Breaking Bad

Downton Abbey

Game of Thrones

Homeland

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin – Jack Donaghy – “30 Rock“

Jason Bateman – Michael Bluth – “Arrested Development“

Ty Burrell – Phil Dunphy – “Modern Family“

Don Cheadle – Martin “Marty” Kaan – “House of Lies“

Jim Parsons – Sheldon Cooper – “The Big Bang Theory“

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Mayim Bialik – Amy Farrah Fowler – “The Big Bang Theory“

Julie Bowen – Claire Dunphy – “Modern Family“

Edie Falco – Jackie Peyton – “Nurse Jackie“

Tina Fey – Liz Lemon – “30 Rock“

Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Vice President Selina Meyer – “Veep“

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

30 Rock

Arrested Development

The Big Bang Theory

Modern Family

Veep

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter

 

What Looks Worse: THE STARVING GAMES or THE HUNGOVER GAMES?

by Posted in Film Editorials Tagged , , , , , , , ,

For all the praise The Hunger Games franchise has received (and count me amongst the many fans of the series), the second installment is now single-handedly responsible for not one, but two spin-off “comedies.” The first, so cleverly titled The Starving Games, throws wedgies, Hobbits, The Avengers, LMFAO, Apple products, Angry Birds and a horny Gandalf into the Hunger Games formula that makes a 2 minute and 27 second trailer look like a life time. The internet collectively sighed at the trailer’s debut and condemned it to the worst corner of film hell. If you dare, take a peek at this monstrosity.

Thankfully, audiences also seemed to have enough of Jason Friedman and Aaron Seltzer (Vampires Suck, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie) notoriously lazy brand of comedy as when The Starving Games opened last month (November 8) it made less than $10,000 and barely saw ten theaters. Such a face-first wipeout would make you think that Ketchup Entertainment and their intellectually sleazy cohorts would catch the hint and start leaving these spoofers in the dumpster where they belong but no, as the second Hunger Games ripoff is well on its way in the form of The Hungover Games. Because we all know that you’ve been wondering what would happen if you took the wolf pack and threw them in with Katniss.

This time the spoof net is even wider, and arguably more lazy, with nods to just about everything in the mere periphery of pop culture rears its head in this ugly, ugly looking film. From Jack Sparrow to Tonto, Ted to Django, race jokes to housewives, Carrie and, oh yeah, The Avengers again, it’s amazing just how non-topical some of these references can be. The saddest part of this whole thing is to see Tara Reid and Jamie Kennedy‘s names thrown in the mix as if those two really are going to get people to see the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAq0jgKGGGw

More than anything, I just wonder who goes to see these films.Friedberg and Seltzer, amazingly enough, tend to break 30 million dollars domestically usually working off a budget of around 20 million. So the profits are small but just sizable enough to give them something to do every couple years or so. I just want to plead with the audiences who are actually seeing these abominations to stop seeing them. It’s not like they enjoy them, right? (Please God, I hope no one enjoys them)

So which of these two do you think looks worse? I know they’re both horrendous but one might have a leg up on the other in terms of being unbelievably shitty. Further, what is the worse spoof movie you’ve ever seen? And finally, if you know anyone who admits to seeing these, just do them a favor and steal ten bucks from their wallet.

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter

 

post

Untitled Superman Vs. Batman Film Gets List of Tentative Titles, MAN OF STEEL: BATTLE THE KNIGHT Amongst the Running

by Posted in Film Editorials Tagged , , , , ,

batman_vs_superman.jpg
Odds are you could probably care less what DC decides to title their Man of Steel sequel, which is set to pit the near invisible Superman again a PTSD-suffering billionaire who dresses like a bat and wears a lot of black makeup, but the latest list of possible titles is sure to induce the slightest of gags from the masses still with the truffley taste of Christopher Nolan‘s Battrilogy still lingering in our mouths. I’m of course not accounting for of bottom-tier puns (here all focused on swapping knight in for night, GET IT?!) who this batch of title treatments seems custom tailored for. The rest of us though can collectively sigh at the rampant stupidity taking place over at Warner Bros and the world of superhero sequel namers at large.

The runt of the new name litter is probably Man of Steel: Battle the Knight which sounds like the name of an animated title intended for 5-year olds yet to learn the idiosyncrasies of the language. Yank that colon out for Man of Steel Battles the Knight, or just go the next step for Man of Steel Battles the Dark Knight, and there’s at least something of interest that also reads like a normal sentence. As is, it sounds like the juvenile attempt of someone who secured an unflattering C in high school English.

Since the dawn of the Silver Surfer, the colon has become so overused in the blockbuster films that it’s essentially become a required part of a name for anything with a hundred million dollar plus budget. Even more important than the colon is the need to tack the word ‘dark’ somewhere in there (it’s just a no-brainer amiright?). This year’s Star Trek: Into Darkness is the best example of a misused colon couple with the useless inclusion of the word ‘dark’ (why not just Star Trek into Darkness or, more appropriately, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan: Part Deux). Thor: The Dark World is another great example of just throwing a colon and the word ‘dark’ at a title and expecting oohs and ahhs from wide-eyed fanboys.

As for this super DC conglomerate, there’s not much to this list of titles that catches my interest but, who knows, maybe people will just eat ’em up. What do you think of the following?

  • Man of Steel: Battle the Knight
  • Man of Steel: Beyond Darkness
  • Man of Steel: Black of Knight
  • Man of Steel: Darkness Falls
  • Man of Steel: Knight Falls
  • Man of Steel: Shadow of the Night
  • Man of Steel: The Blackest Hour
  • Man of Steel: The Darkness Within

At this point why don’t they just go with Man of Steel: Night of the Knight…oh wait. That actually has a nice ring to it. I think I’ve officially just spitballed a better title than WB’s collection of caffeine-slobbering goons jammed in a conference room somewhere, feeding from their 100k salaries.

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter