film

The New Anthony Weiner Documentary Sounds Like It's Going to Be Juicy as Hell

Andy Cush · 01/19/16 12:35PM

Weiner is the title of a new documentary about the dismal 2013 New York City mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner. Considering that Weiner’s run, like his tenure as a U.S. congressman before, was ended by a sexting scandal, the title seems like a mean and juvenile joke. But then again, that’s just his name: Weiner. Tough break, I guess. What are you gonna do? Anyway, the documentary sounds like it’s going to be excellent.

Twenty Years of Quentin Tarantino Characters Saying "Nigger" in Twenty Minutes

Alex Pareene · 12/24/15 01:00PM

Earlier this week, Rich Juzwiak published a deeply-researched history of director Quentin Tarantino’s love affair with the word “nigger,” a word he has always used liberally in his screenplays. Juzwiak unearthed and examined twenty years worth of Tarantino’s varied and contradictory defenses of his use of the word. He also produced this video, a supercut of every instance of a character in a Tarantino-written film (through 2012’s Django Unchained) saying it. It’s a very long supercut.

The Complete History of Quentin Tarantino Saying "Nigger"

Rich Juzwiak · 12/21/15 02:00PM

No contemporary white public figure has a more involved relationship to the word “nigger” than Quentin Tarantino. He’s used it in screenplays since the beginning of his directing career, he’s been criticized (and defended) by black peers for it, and he’s explained his rationale for it several times in a variety of ways. Americans are obsessed with the word “nigger,” a semantic memento of our country’s shameful founding legacy. But few white artists seem to me more obsessed than Tarantino.

Brad Pitt Is Going to Play the "Bud Light Lime" Army General

Adam Weinstein · 04/15/14 09:49AM

Michael Hastings' book on the Afghanistan war, The Operators, is set to be made into a movie, and Brad Pitt is reportedly being tapped to play Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Bud Light Lime-swilling war architect who lost his job thanks to Hastings' unflattering profile.

Gabrielle Bluestone · 02/20/14 08:36PM

Critic Jordan Hoffman says he once worked for the Wolf of Broadway telemarketing theater tickets: "Listen," I'd say, "an all-deaf cast doing a musical version of Huck Finn may sound a little nuts, but what's the point of getting up in the morning if you don't try something different, right? You want Sunday matinees?"

Spike Lee Amends "Essential Film List" to Include Women-Directed Works

Camille Dodero · 08/20/13 03:00PM

Spike Lee, a very accomplished New York film director and NYU professor, has spent a substantial part of this summer promoting a Kickstarter campaign he'd launched to crowdsource a $1,250,000 budget for his vaguely defined next movie. (On Friday, his $1.25-million goal was met.) One of the ways he'd drummed up publicity for the project was by releasing the academic list of essential movies he considers "the greatest films ever made," a slugsheet of cinematic titles he'd routinely hand out on the first day of class, which we published here.

Here Is Spike Lee's List of the Greatest Films Ever Made

Camille Dodero · 07/29/13 05:45PM

Spike Lee, the very accomplished director, producer, and Madison Square Garden defender, has been a film professor at NYU for the last 15 years. Every semester on the first day of class, the former Harvard instructor distributes a list of essential movies he considers "the greatest films ever made," cinematic titles he deems required education for all aspiring directors. Now, Professor Lee has entrusted this academic canon to the electronic world.

John Cook · 07/25/13 03:00PM

LOL the New York Review of Books dresses up a piece about cat videos with some fancy words from this "Martin Scorsese" dude.

"This Is Water" Is the Most Inspirational Thing You'll See Today

Max Read · 05/08/13 10:23AM

ONE WEIRD TRICK to Being a Good Person: Here's a newly-conceived and filmed version of David Foster Wallace's 2005 Kenyon commencement speech "This Is Water" (using an abridged version of the original audio), for visual learners among you.

"Missing Soldier" Found Living in Vietnam Is Just a Vietnamese Con Man

Adam Weinstein · 05/01/13 02:19PM

The internet got excited yesterday when an old man living in a Vietnamese jungle identified himself as Sgt. John Hartley Robinson, a US soldier who disappeared in Laos in 1968. Interest spiked in an upcoming documentary about the man, who'd raised a Vietnamese family. There was only problem: He was a liar.