Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Halloween Mask for Boardwalk Empire's Richard Harrow

vulture.com
Richard Harrow (John Huston) is arguably the best character on TV right now and it looks like the writers at Boardwalk Empire have finally clued in because he's been getting a lot more screen time lately. Now it looks like he's getting his own Halloween costume (even if it is a DIY one) which basically means he's made it. I'm seriously considering doing a last minute switcheroo so I can be Richard Harrow this Halloween. 

Just the like Dexter Ben & Jerry's ice cream and the True Blood sunscreen, this is from illustrator Jon Defreest, designed especially for Vulture. Download your own full-size Richard Harrow masks here and here.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Play Truth or Dare with Lip Gallagher from Showtime's Shameless

I'm not going to lie, I have a little bit of a crush on the eldest Gallagher son Lip (Jeremy Allen White). Although it's not so much a crush, as it is an all-encompassing mission to be his partner in petty crime, while trying with all my heart to save his little bad boy soul. Anyway, I digress. Shameless won't be back on TV for a few months (January 8th, to be exact), but while we impatiently wait for everyone's favourite dysfunctional brood to return, take comfort in their latest social media promotional campaign.

Showtime will be putting out a web series featuring Lip, where fans can submit to play Truth or Dare with him through Shameless' Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages (Twitter tweeps can submit their truths and dares with the hashtags #liptruth and #lipdare). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network will then pick 10 finalists and have Lip answer the chosen questions or do the submitted dares for the web series. How very Old Spice of them.



I'm smitten by this social media campaign - it's socially interactive, we get to see more of Lip (who, if you ask me, doesn't get nearly enough screen time), and it gives fans extra and new content between seasons so we don't have to keep watching reruns of season 1 for the third or fourth time... yeah, I've done that.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Heathers - The Original Mean Girls

I recently saw Heathers for the first time - I know, I know, how had I not seen it until now! Starring a pre-klepto Winona Ryder, and a pre-90210 Shannen Doherty, Heathers screams and oozes the essence and style of the (fabulous) 1980s.

Veronica (Winona Ryder) is the only non-Heather member of her exclusive high school clique, and along with her diabolically demented new boyfriend JD (Christian Slater), goes on a violent rampage to bring down the clique from the inside.

Killerfilm.com
With snappy dialogue and memorable one-liners, this cult 80s classic - yes, I said classic! - is one of those really bad films that is so much fun to watch. Heathers satirizes high school life in a pretty unbelievable way, but at the same time, addresses the many every-day issues that teens face - bullying, suicide, homosexuality, and eating disorders. Of course, in no way is Heathers an after-school-special. It's dark and sadistic, while managing to be pretty funny, and the Heathers clique is so bitchy and deliciously evil, they make the cast of Mean Girls look like harmless pussycats.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Actors Recreate Iconic Scorsese Scenes for Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar has put together a series of photographs that recreate iconic scenes from legendary Martin Scorsese films, recast with today's most intriguing and celebrated actors. Seriously, I couldn't love this more if I tried.


I think we need a Mad Men-Boardwalk Empire crossover of sorts, because I love Joan Halloway (Christina Hendricks) with Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) in this image. Oh to be her in this photo...



































Boardwalk Empire's Michael Pitt and Vincent Piazza make an appearance, as does the Ben Kingsley, unrecognizably playing Robert De Niro's Mickey Conway. Here they are, quite convincingly recreating a scene from (the greatest movie ever, of all-time) Goodfellas. Doesn't Michael Pitt make a dreamy Henry Hill?

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Dexter Facebook Promo from The Movie Network

There's an intriguing, new Dexter promo from the folks at The Movie Network, that takes a page right out of HBO's Guide to Creative Social Media Marketing. For my friends south of the border, The Movie Network is the channel that carries Showtime's Dexter in Canada.

This promotional contest gets you to choose between being a suspect, hero or victim, and the application uses your Facebook profile to generate a news story about you. I chose victim, and of course, the story has me being murdered due to my obsession with watching TV. Typical. In case this turns out to be a creepy case of foreshadowing, I'd like to leave my DVD and Blu-ray collection to... on second thought, I think I'll have them buried with me.

Photobucket

Almost forgot to mention that by participating in this promo, you're entered into a contest for 1 of 10 Dexter-themed prize packs. Not going to lie, it's rewarding enough (for me, anyway) just to be immortalized in print for the (obviously-fake, but nonetheless super-cool) Movie Network Examiner.

The only social media element that's missing is an option to tweet my news article. My only options to spread the word are to, 'like' it on Facebook, without a personalized status update, or to send it as a private message to Facebook friends. But no tweet button. Kind of missing out on a pretty big opportunity there.

Update:
Someone at The Movie Network must have been listening, because a comment-er brought to my attention that as of yesterday, you can now tweet your news article.

Friday, October 7, 2011

As You Wish - Princess Bride Cast Reunites After 25 Years

It's hard to believe it's been 25 years since The Princess Bride came out. "Inconceivable!" 80s cult classic and one of the most quotable movies of all time, it's got romance of epic proportions, effortless comedy from comic geniuses (Billy Crystal included), and cleverly-constructed satire mixed-in to create an almost-perfect movie. To commemorate the 25-year mark, most of the film's cast reunited on 'Good Morning America'.

Do you remember how swoon-worthy Cary Elwes' Westley was back then? Have you noticed that, aside from The Princess Bride, Elwes always seems to play the bad guy?

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

And I'm sorry but, were Fred Savage and Mandy Patinkin really too busy to make it? I guess we'll have to wait another 25 years for a reenactment of the classic line, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Music of Martin Scorsese's Films

Flavorwire has written and posted a phenomenal analysis of the classic rock 'n roll music Scorsese used in his epic films. Taking a look through Scorsese's accomplished filmography, the post highlights memorable scenes from his body of work, and goes through the iconic music that has come to epitomize those groundbreaking scenes. It's a must-read for anyone who calls themselves a Martin Scorsese fan.
"By 1985 I stopped really listening to popular music. But the earlier songs created images in my head. Somehow some of those images and feelings—not all of them—were able to be used in certain pictures. Certain scenes suddenly reminded me of a piece of music that I thought would be perfect for a film." – Martin Scorsese, Conversations with Scorsese (2011)
 
The opening sequence of Mean Streets - Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.”