Rob Beschizza at 7:09 am •
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When British authorities began to suspect that a movie production was in fact a massive tax scam, the producers were
forced to cover their tracks by actually making the movie. It even won an award from the 2012 Las Vegas Film Festival; an award only rescinded after tax inspectors nevertheless swooped in. The movie's name?
Landscape of Lies. Enjoy the trailer! [Daily Mail]
David Pescovitz at 2:53 pm •
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(Spoken in the voice of Don LaFontaine): You may have seen the Star Trek Into Darkness trailer, but have you seen it... in LEGO!? Directed by Antonio Toscano and Andrea Toscano.
David Pescovitz at 10:19 am •
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Richard Nixon and his pal RoboCop in 1987. Photo snapped by Chuck Pulin during a charity event promoting the movie's VHS release. (via Mental Floss)
Xeni Jardin at 5:16 pm •
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In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published today, George Lucas more or less spilled the beans: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher will reprise their roles as Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in the new "Star Wars" film. All three had signed on for the forthcoming "Episode VII" project before Lucasfilm's $4 billion purchase by Disney.
"We had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison — or were pretty much in the final stages of negotiation," said Lucas. "Maybe I'm not supposed to say that. I think they want to announce that with some big whoop-de-do."
WHOAH, SPOILER, DUDE.
Fisher had confirmed her reprisal in an earlier interview.
David Pescovitz at 9:25 am •
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"That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age."
Dazed and Confused is 20 years old! Esquire has a package of features tied to the anniversary. And if you're in Austin, there's a big screening, reunion, and cast party happening at the Marchesa Hall & Theatre!
David Pescovitz at 10:14 am •
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Q Pop is holding an online Star Trek art sale with more than 100 piece most of which are less than $100! Above, Doug Gauthier's "Mugato" plushie ($100) and Peter Paul's "Uhura" watercolor ($50). "
Beam Me Up: Star Trek Art Show"
Xeni Jardin at 12:11 pm •
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Julien Nitzberg's short (10 minute)
documentary on comedian
Patton Oswalt is out today, via
Thrash Lab. Ashton Kutcher executive produced, but don't worry, it's still great.
I've written previously about Nitzberg's film, "
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia," which I thought was a terrific film.
Noah Smith (who is white) saw "Django,"
and loved it. "Not for the cartoonish violence (which was OK, nothing special) or for Tarantino's trademark witty banter (which was a bit subdued)," he says, but for its politics. "I'm pretty sure that for all its elements of blaxploitation, Django's politics are all about white people,"
writes Smith. "It's not a black revenge fantasy; it's a white revenge fantasy." Django isn't black people's story of slavery: it's white people's.
— Xeni
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Leigh Alexander at 6:56 am •
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The last episode of Black Mirror’s second season airs tonight on UK Channel 4.
Do you remember the first profoundly shocking image you saw on the internet? Perhaps it would have been something you came across by accident; perhaps you followed, half horrified and half compelled, a trail of digital whispers to see if you could handle it.
Maybe you don’t remember the first one, but you remember some of them. Maybe you shut the window, sick at yourself, at the glimpse of a woman’s eyes glassed with something unsettling, not staged. Maybe you lingered on eruptions, lacerations, in spite of yourself. To see if the image could possibly be real.
Read the rest
Leigh Alexander at 7:04 am •
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The English have a coy euphemism for addiction: “moreish.” It summons the delightful anxiety in surrendering your control to something else, the ambivalent cocktail of desire and guilt. We feel it flickering in the periphery, and we feel our smartphones in the middle of a restaurant dinner.
Read the rest
David Pescovitz at 11:06 am •
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All of the Criterion Collection films on Hulu are free for viewing until February 18. (US only, unfortunately.) Time to stock up on Jiffy Pop, Gitanes, and Blue Bottle. "Watch the Criterion Collection films online" (via @criterion)
David Pescovitz at 10:55 am •
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Master blacksmith Tony Swatton of Sword & Stone is Hollywood's favorite weapons maker. Here he is forging Jaime Lannister's sword for "Games of Thrones."
Xeni Jardin at 11:36 am •
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Zach Galafianakis' Oscars coverage is pretty much all the Oscars coverage I want to watch. In part one, Zach sits down with Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway, Christoph Waltz, Naomi Watts & Amy Adams. In part two, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Chastain, Sally Field and "another special guest from Lincoln." (HT: Chris Sacca)
Xeni Jardin at 10:06 am •
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"Rhythm and Hues has filed for Chapter 11 and most of us have been laid off," a Boing Boing reader wrote in an email Monday.
"The visual effects industry woke up Monday morning to news it had been dreading," Variety reported later that day. "One of its most admired companies, Rhythm & Hues, had been forced into bankruptcy."
R&H's "Life of Pi" (2012) just won four Visual Effects Society Awards, including the equivalent of Best Picture; as well as the BAFTA for visual effects. The company will file for Chapter 11 reorganization in Los Angeles.
They're laying off staff now, and the LA Times has more.
Xeni Jardin at 11:35 am •
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Actor Christian Bale had a conversation with Zach, a young fan of his "
Batman" who happens to have cancer, and is a patient in a Seattle hospital. Zach's parents video'd the exchange. It's pretty cool. Bale seems like a really empathetic person.
(HT: @EWGradySmith)