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.

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.

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.

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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.

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?

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.



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.

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?



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."

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.”

Soundtrack to the 80s - 'Drive'

With a style that's a cross between Top Gun and Pretty in Pink, the soundtrack for Drive is infused with electronica-inspired pop, and lyrics that literally transport you back to the 80s. This is the soundtrack to have blasting while you're driving around aimlessly on a summer night, windows down, and wind blowing. Not that I do that...or anything...

Review: Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding (TIFF 2011)

Indiewire.com

A multi-generational family comedy, Peace, Love & Misunderstanding seems perfectly content with being a pretty predictable and lighthearted story with some drama thrown in for good measure. Diane (Catherine Keener) is an uber-conservative Manhattan lawyer, unhappily married and on the cusp of divorce. She decides to take her two children, Zoe (Elizabeth Olsen) - a college girl who loves animals as much as she loves poetry and big words, and Jake (Nat Wolff), an aspiring filmmaker who's obsessed with documenting everything, to visit their grandmother Grace (Jane Fonda), who they've never met. Grace is an eccentric hippie, stuck in the 1970s, with a passion for protesting, new-age healing crystals and of course, weed. It's a bit hard to believe that it's been 20 years since mother and daughter have seen each other, especially since they live in the same state. It's just not believable.

Almost too instantly, Diane's brood starts letting loose, although Diane, more reluctantly so, taking part in all the fun that Woodstock has to offer, including the occasional war protest and full moon ritual. Grace ends up yanking each character out of their tough shell, and somehow arranges a love interest for each of them. Diane falls for a local carpenter, sometimes-musician, and full-time dreamboat (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Zoe finds herself struggling with her growing attraction to a butcher (Chace Crawford) who naturally has the soul of a poet. Even Jake gets a local girl.

Despite all of the film's formulaic shortcomings, it was hard not to love the cast. Jane Fonda shines in a role that seems tailor-made for her, and she plays it with a spunk and charisma that brought life to every scene she was in. Newcomer Elizabeth Olsen is a pleasure to watch, continuing to live up to her hype as the latest it-girl. We're not talking Oscars here, but still, it was cute.

Best Moments from the 2011 Emmys

The Emmys were on last night, and while the actual show was less than stellar, a few key moments and some well-deserved surprising wins, made it worth watching.

The opening number was way too long. But, once the awkwardness of Jane Lynch singing, wore off, we got to see some great cameos from the casts of The Big Bang Theory, Friday Night Lights, Entourage's Ari and Lloyd, and of course, Jane went back to the 60s to visit the set of Mad Men. Take a look:



Most of last night's winners were predictable, like Jon Stewart, Mad Men for Best Drama, and pretty much the entire cast of Modern Family - you know, the usual. But, when Peter Dinklage won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role on Game of Thrones, and Jason Katims was finally recognized by the Academy for the stellar and fantastic writing on Friday Night Lights, we knew it would be an interesting year. And while I have to say that Mrs. Coach (Connie Britton) was robbed, I literally jumped off my couch when Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) won Best Actor in a Drama, which he so rightly deserved. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!



Highlights from Kyle Chandler's acceptance speech included a, "Gosh, almighty", and him finishing his speech off with his signature laugh! Say it with me, 'That was SO Coach Taylor'.

Last but not least, probably the best act of the evening was a prerecorded The Office spoof, which included Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) visiting Creed at the Scranton branch for a special delivery, and Amy Poehler (speaking Dothraki, might I add), as a new Dunder Mifflin employee!

Full list of last night's Emmy winners.