Oh, Top Gun. The Sullivan to Rambo's Gilbert, it cemented pop-culture love for Reagan's aggressive foreign policy, established the late lamented Tony Scott as a successful director, and catapulted Tom Cruise to A-list status, where he has remained ever since. Now, 26 years after its initial theatrical run, Top Gun's barely stifled masculine angst and jingoistic pro-military message (wait, isn't that the same thing?) feel more relevant than they did in 1986. (I blame Dr Pepper Ten for that.) What the world clearly needs is a chance to experience the film's many delights with fresh eyes. more »
Across the pond in the U.K., the popular sitcom The Inbetweeners earned two BAFTA nominations and the Audience Award and ran for three seasons, depicting the coming-of-age mortifications of four teenage boys (Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley, and Blake Harrison) stumbling their way through life, girls, and the assorted humiliations of young adulthood. Naturally, MTV's gone and mimicked the formula with an Americanized version, but the original foursome get their own feature-length holiday in The Inbetweeners Movie (out September 7). And if you're in the Hollywood area today, you can be a part of their British invasion.
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Leslye Headland won't forget her first time, but not for the reasons you might think. In a guest blog she wrote for The Film Experience, the playwright and filmmaker, whose buzzed-about debut, Bachelorette, opens theatrically on Sept. 7 wrote that while losing her virginity was "sort of a let down," the experience was salvaged by a post-deflowering viewing of Wes Anderson's iconoclastic teen romance story Rushmore. more »
Indie pic
Celeste and Jesse Forever played Sundance back in January and achieved that much sought-after hallmark of success: an acquisition deal with a big-name distributor - in this case the venerable Sony Pictures Classics. But the movie that had some false starts before shooting began did make it to the screen and if a gala screening of the film last night in New York is any measure, it should see more success. In addition to cast members Rashida Jones (who also co-wrote the film) and Rebecca Dayan as well as writer Will McCormack and director Lee Toland Krieger,
Anne Hathaway,
Paul Rudd,
David Schwimmer,
Amy Poehler,
Aziz Ansari, Andy Cohen and Max Greenfield turned out for the event, hosted by The Peggy Siegal Company and the International Rescue Committee.
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Do you live in the New York area? Are you interested in film criticism? If you answered "yes" to both, then clear your calendar on the evening of April 4, when Movieline's chief critic Stephanie Zacharek will join an esteemed panel of peers to discuss film criticism today. No, really! The event is even called "Film Criticism Today." And it's free! Read on for the details.
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Heads up, romantic drama die-hards: Movie theaters will be awash with tears in the next couple of weeks. Three epic — well, two epics and one epic-lite — love stories are being re-released for various questionable reasons, and in these challenging economic times it might not make sense to rush out and see all three. Here, then, are some points to consider before buying a ticket and travel-size tissues for Casablanca, The Bodyguard or Titanic.
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Good news! In honor of The Godfather's 40th anniversary, Paramount is re-releasing Francis Ford Coppola's classic in theaters for one day only. Bad news: That day is... today. Thanks for the notice, guys! Hope you didn't make plans? It might not matter anyway, because even worse news awaits residents of the two biggest, most populous media markets in the country.
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