The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
May 23, 2013
The Deleted Benedict Cumberbatch Star Trek Shower Scene and the Nonexistent Nudity Exchange
Last night, Conan O’Brien had J.J. Abrams on his show to talk about Star Trek Into Darkness, among other things of course, and at one point the conversation turned to Alice Eve and her brief, yet exceedingly stupid and gratuitous, underwear shot in the film. (Conan’s stance: “I didn’t personally see what the fuss was […]
Read moreGirls in Hoodies Podcast: Mad Men, Kitchen Nightmares, and Frances Ha
The Girls in Hoodies go bicoastal this week, with Emily phoning in from New York (apologies in advance for the sound quality) while Molly and Tess hold down the fort in L.A. We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about That Mad Men Episode for a bit, and the pros and cons of abstract Mad […]
Read moreSteroid-Free Vin Diesel: They Are Real and They Are Spectacular
“I have a lot of friends that I grew up with that were bouncers …”
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Q&A: Before Midnight Director Richard Linklater on Reuniting With Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, the Anatomy of a Rant, and Doing It All Again at 84
Even by the standards of “indie-voice-of-a-generation” cinema, director Richard Linklater has achieved a unique adjectival status. When you sit down to watch a Linklater film, you can know exactly what that means without having any idea what you’re in for. It could be a rotoscoped take on Philip K. Dick (A Scanner Darkly) or a […]
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The Kitchen Nightmares Nightmare and Gordon Ramsay’s Empire of Bitter Reality
Gordon Ramsay’s primary trait is that he is scary. He projects Simon Cowell–esque honesty, but it is directed at its targets in the form of spiny fireballs. He walks among them, unchained from a desk. His trademark immunity to sensitivity — he’s called Jamie Oliver fat, a Kitchen Nightmares diner an “old bag,” and once […]
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Video: Morgan Freeman Takes a Nap During a Boring Junket Interview, As Is His Right
Morgan Freeman is not getting any younger. He is also the Speaker of the House, the President of the United States of America, the leader of the human resistance, the Batmobile’s mechanic, and God. This is a man with a lot on his plate; if he needs to catch a quick catnap while Michael Caine […]
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Lindsay Lohan’s Drug Dealer Sells His Story to Star … and Other Horror Stories From This Week’s Tabloids
Star One of Linsday Lohan’s Dealers Tells All: After Lohan’s Piers Morgan appearance “where she told the host that she has done cocaine maybe four or five times in my life” and that she’s “never been a huge drinker,” a man named David Joseph comes forth to debunk her lies. “I saw her take a bump […]
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Cannes Diary, Day 8: Ryan Gosling’s New Movie Booed Out of France
Now this is more like it. Finally, a movie outrageous enough to make people stand up and boo. The honor goes to Only God Forgives, 90 minutes inside a barrel of Nicolas Winding Refn’s subconscious sexual nightmares. All the slicing and hacking makes it obvious: Refn is scared someone wants to take away his penis. […]
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May 22, 2013
Afternoon Links: Happy World Goth Day!
As I am sure you’re all already aware, it is World Goth Day. It is, after all, a hot topic. The four-year-old holiday began with two DJ’s from the BBC, Martin OldGoth and Cruel Britannia. Celebrate by taking in some black-and-white photos of bats and graves from goth’s history, and don’t forget to respect your […]
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Cannes Interview: Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck on Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Their Career Choices, and the Joaquin Debacle
The first thing I said to Rooney Mara was so wrong, it turned out right. It’s the Sunday midpoint of the Cannes Film Festival, and I’ve just sat down in a subdivided hotel ballroom across from Mara and Casey Affleck, costars of Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, the moody, Malick-esque criminal lovers odyssey from young American […]
Read moreMitch Hurwitz PSA: Talk to Your Kids About Watching Arrested Development in Order, and One at a Time
The show’s creator has some rules to lay down.
Read moreBeer of Thrones: Drink Like a Depressed Imp on His Arranged-Wedding Day, Because Cirrhosis Is Coming
We’ve all been there: a few drinks, some laughs, a few more drinks, the laughs get a little bit too loud, and the next thing you know, some drunk girl has raided your private cooler and is eating the horse heart you were saving for a special occasion. The incestuous hookup on your nice couch […]
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Veep Season 2 and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Legacy of Likable Unlikability
“You are the queen of confrontation. You’re my new hero.” —Jerry to Elaine, Seinfeld (“The Ex-Girlfriend,” Season 2, Episode 1) Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s first two movies after her three-year stint (’82-’85) on Saturday Night Live were Troll and Hannah and Her Sisters, which more or less set the tone for her career. She is fantastic in both. Since Seinfeld ended in 1998, she has had two network […]
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YouTube HOF: Fill It Up With Diesel
We know we say this every week, but this time it’s true: Summer movie season truly starts this weekend, with the opening of Fast & Furious 6, and we here at Grantland figured it was about time we honor the muscle-ripped, gravel-voiced heart of the franchise with his very own HOF.
Read morePodcast and Video: DJ and Filmmaker Bobbito Garcia on His New NYC Pickup Basketball Doc
DJ, author, and filmmaker Bobbito Garcia describes the genesis of his legendary hip-hop radio show with DJ Stretch Armstrong and his new film about pickup basketball in New York City, Doin’ It in the Park.
Read moreThe New Man of Steel Trailer: How About 200 Percent More Threats From Zod and Stuff Blowing Up?
We are just three weeks out from the premiere of Man of Steel, and, more importantly, the moment that Superman will launch himself into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, close his eyes, and listen to the millions of voices crying out from Earth’s besieged multiplexes in either delighted rapture or unbridled outrage, then decide […]
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Witnessing the Last Stand of American Culture on the TMZ Bus Tour
Two months ago, I sat in a crowded banquet hall in Austin, Texas, as TMZ founder, managing editor, and TMZ on TV host Harvey Levin gave an impassioned, highly charismatic, completely unapologetic keynote about the invasive empire that he has steadily built since 2005. In the talk, aside from his speech and a few hints […]
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Cannes Diary, Day 7: Behind the Candelabra Changes Everything
When a week of constant moviegoing fails to rouse either unanimity or contentious division, the world’s film press gets a little antsy. Where is The Movie? You know, the one that will bring us to tears or to war. Where’s the movie that incites peals of laughter, intentional or otherwise? Where on earth are the […]
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