With The LEGO Movie winning rave reviews from critics (no, really) and looking to dominate the weekend, it's time to ask:
What's the best movie ever made based on toys or games?
My vote would probably go to Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996)which I found so deeply silly on first viewing that I got the giggles in the theater and could not stop... even during the less funnies. We quoted it for months afterwards. Or at least we froze our faces awkwardly and barked "Ack" at each other when it seemed appropriate... which was all. the. time.
But then there's Clue. Soooo.... tough call?
Any other contenders? First person who says Transformers has to do all of our household chores for a week.
Screencapping fun! We've frozen early 2013 releases* at the 20th minute and 13th second of their running times. Here's what we found. How many of these have you seen and do you think this moment is telling of the whole?
I had been drunk just once twice in my life and the second time was that afternoon."
In case you are illiterate, Baz Luhrmann's got you covered in his version of The Great Gatsby! (He sure is good at shooting party sequences, though. No filmmaker can touch him in that ultra specific place.)
This next screencap I had to lighten a bit so you could actually see it... Bed sheets are being yanked down... but by what/who?
abstew here. Dame Judi Dench returned to theaters this weekend with the Oscar-buzzing Philomena. (She gets Oscar buzz for nearly everything she's in. She even makes it happen with James Bond films!)
I had a teacher that used to say
Ask me my three favorite actresses and the answer is: Judi Dench, Judi Dench, Judi Dench.
And as great as Dame Judi is in the film, Steve Coogan (who also adapted the screenplay) is equally strong as the investigative reporter helping Philomena, Martin Sixsmith. The two play off each other well in a salty, sweet relationship.
There's a scene in the film which is bound to catch the attention of cinephiles...
They enter the convent where Philomena's son was taken from her ('The Sisters of No Mercy,' as Sixsmith snarkly calls it) to investigate what happened. On the wall in the waiting room is an autographed photo of actress Jane Russell. Coogan stares at the picture and when the Sister he's meeting with comes in, he asks, "What's Jayne Mansfield doing here?"
"I think you mean Jane Russell," the Sister corrects him.
They then have an exchange where Sixsmith tries to remember which one is which and ultimately remembers that Jayne Mansfield (not on the wall) is the one who got her head chopped off in a car accident. Which seems to be the only thing people seem to remember about poor Jayne.
But it all made me wonder: How well do you, TFE readers, know your Jane Russells from your Jayne Mansfields? Below are 10 factoids. Try to guess which fact is about Jane Russell and which is about Jayne Mansfield. After guessing, click on the read more at the bottom for the answers!
MANSFIELD or RUSSELL? TEN FACTOIDS Try to guess which fact is about Russell and which is about Mansfield. After guessing, click on the 'read more' at the bottom for the answers!
1. Born in Bryn Mawr, PA with the name Vera Palmer.
2. Was a Playboy Centerfold in the early years of the magazine and appeared in every February issue of the magazine for 4 consecutive years
3. A censorship debate with the production code about the amount of cleavage displayed in the film delayed the release of her film debut 2 years after it was filmed. It didn't get a wide release until 5 years after it was filmed!
4. Won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer - Female
5. Known for her curvy figure, Bob Hope once joked, "Culture is the ability to describe <this actress> without moving your hands."
The look of disdain on Sophia Loren's face is priceless!
6. Starred in television commercials for the Playtex Cross Your Heart Bra and the 18 hour bra line "For us full-figured gals".
7. Both actresses were each married 3 times and mothers to multiple children, but she is the mother of the Emmy award nominated star of TV's Law and Order: SVU, Mariska Hargitay.
8. Formed a gospel singing quartet called The Hollywood Christian Group. Their song, "Do Lord" reached 27 on the Billboard charts.
9. Her signature color was pink. Her Beverly Hills mansion was painted the color and named "The Pink Palace". And long before Mary Kay representatives were doing it, she drove around in a pink Cadillac.
10. Has her feet and hands immortalized in cement in front of the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
And now, a musical break before the answers. It'll be the gayest thing you'll see all day:
Alexa here. The German photographers Bernard and Hilla Becher pioneered the art of the typology: grids of images of various examples of a single type of object. The technique was to photograph a series of similar objects, usually industrial structures, from similar vantage points to highlight what their differences were. Illustrator Mitch Frey has used this technique to create grids of types from the world of film, including these 70s movie men. He's turned the typology into a fun guessing game of "Name That Movie!"
We'll continue the guessing games after the jump, with 70s ladies, and typologies of Clint Eastwood through the years...
Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 8:00PM 
With The LEGO Movie winning rave reviews from critics (no, really) and looking to dominate the weekend, it's time to ask:
