Saturday, November 1, 2008
Jokers Galore
10:43AM Seth | It’s The Office Joker-off! Creed wins. Shivverrrrr… We mentioned the Today Show’s fairytale costumes this morning, but you really need to watch the whole Matthew Broderick-narrated introduction (a marketing tie-in for The Tale Of Despereaux) to appreciate how exquisitely awkward and unsettling the whole thing was. Stick around for Kathy Lee’s diva-fit over being forced into a fur suit to play the Wolf. (We think that’s a fur suit.) Then click here to see a dog hungrily investigate Al Roker’s blue crotch button. The Sword celebrates the guy-in-a-bear-suit-blowing-a-guy-in-a-tux scene from The Shining (or as they call it around Defamer HQ, Tuesday), and nine other “homo-oriented horror flicks.” Somehow this costume ended up on a list of Worst Halloween Costumes Ever. Perhaps this list was compiled in Bizarro World, where the “worst” is actually totally kick-ass. You want bad? We’ll give you bad. (Though an A for execution.) OK, this isn’t Halloweenish, per se, but here’s the cover and song listing of Britney Spears’s new album, Circus. Pay special attention to track #9, “Mmm Papi.” We smell a hit. More »
9:30AM Kyle Buchanan | You Got It, Dude? Have you ever wondered who among modern Hollywood’s stars could hold a pastie to the scantily-clad pinup models of the forties and fifties? Photographer Timothy White has, and for his new book, Hollywood Pinups, he recreated those bygone poses with stars including, uh, Full House star/avowed Spencer Pratt hater Mary-Kate Olsen. Bob Saget, avert your eyes; we have a feeling this one is going to give Gilbert Gottfried a lot of material. Click through for full-size. [Amazon] More »
40 Reasons to Wish the MPAA Ratings System an Unhappy 40th Birthday
8:45AM STV | The MPAA ratings system tomorrow celebrates its 40th birthday — four full decades of tormenting filmmakers, distributors and, ultimately, audiences with an inconsistent moral code symbolised by those infamous G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 ratings. In an interview published Thursday in Time, MPAA chief Dan Glickman and ratings board chair Joan Graves reflected warmly on the system’s evolution over the years; and while we agree that Hollywood’s self-governance is preferable to the zealotry of the Hays Code and other puritanical watchdogs who preceded it, Graves and Co. remain the city’s worst censors by any other name. So join us after the jump to commemorate the MPAA’s milestone with a look back at 40 decisions affirming its less-than-inspiring legacy. Unhappy 40th, everyone! More »
Leaked ‘Twilight’ Footage Nearly Drowned Out By Italian Shrieks of ‘OMG!’
8:04AM Kyle Buchanan | Now that teenage girls have finally gotten over their fear of Twilight star Robert Pattinson’s chest hair, they can go back to their regularly scheduled, quavery anticipation for the vampire-in-love drama, which comes out in just a few weeks. How intense is the want-to-see factor for the film? For a primer, just check out this excerpt of footage that just leaked from the Rome Film Festival, where the dialogue is no match for the Beatles-worthy shrieking from the audience that greets every single moment. Summit Entertainment’s logo? “AHHHHH!” The first glimpse of Pattinson? “AHHHHH!” The arrival of a female supporting player who’s maybe tenth-billed, at best? Screams, fainting, and revivals that can only be successfully administered by the Pope himself. We’d pegged this movie as The Dark Knight for girls, but even Bat-mania was never this loud. Clip above (be sure to turn down your volume). [Twilight] More »
7:39AM Seth | Boo! You want a Halloween scare? Go over to RadarOnline.com. Our old friend has been shipped off to an institution by their new adoptive parents and lobotomized, and now spends afternoons staring out a window and mumbling about The Bachelorette and dolphins. We’ve heard the rumours, we just didn’t have the stomach to really face it until today. On the plus side, new tag headings of “Bachelorette, PhotoOp, SeaWorld, and Trista Sutter” should make it all the easier for you to access this empty husk’s growing database of stories on those topics, should you care to. [Radar Online] More »
Daniel Craig Just Can’t Catch a Break With The New Bond Girls
7:06AM Kyle Buchanan | The typical formula of two pliant Bond girls per movie tends to serve the 007 franchise well, as in Casino Royale, where Daniel Craig’s first at-bat was supported by striking work from Eva Green and that other one. For the new Quantum of Solace, though, things seem to have gone haywire — almost as though it were planned by some shadowy, nefarious league pulling the strings of Her Majesty’s empire! First, Bond girl Gemma Arterton unnerved fans with the bizarre revelation that she was born with six fingers, and now female lead Olga Kurylenko is… well, we’ll let the Communist Party give you the details: More »
Defamer Halloween Costume Ideas, Vol. VI: The Icon
6:41AM Seth | We realise our ongoing Halloween costume ideas series has so far overwhelmingly catered to the mannish among you, so we thought we’d now throw one out to all you sexy ladies in the house. Some old-fashioned roller skates, a period hat, vampishly red lipstick and an assortment of ethnically diverse dolls are the essentials for this ensemble. See the finished product after the jump! More »
Busted Australian Cops Steal Maiming Techniques, Fashion Tips From ‘Reservoir Dogs’
6:15AM STV | The influence of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs has finally broken out of the film-school ghetto and into the real-world application where it really belongs: law enforcement. A disbanded troupe of rogue Australian cops was exposed this week in a report citing four decades of skull-cracking work by the “Armed Offenders Squad,” which had in recent years taken to amending the conventional cop uniform to include black suits, sunglasses and lyrical poetry talents in lieu of Tarantino’s more confusing non-linear storytelling: More »
Studio 8H To Smell Like Egg Salad And VapoRub
5:39AM Seth | John McCain will appear on SNL tomorrow, playing what we hear is his uncannily dead-on impression of David Archuleta in a planned sketch with musical guest David Cook. Good on McCain for managing to stay up that late, assuming he does! [Variety] Spider-Man 4 will be written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, giving this franchise a key into the snooty, UES-society-lady demographic that has been eluding it until now. [THR] Samantha Who? gets a back seven order from ABC. [Variety] After the jump: Finally—an answer to your “Tatum O’Neal and Brigitte Nielsen starring in the same B-movie” prayers! Find out who else joins them. More »
