Tag Archives: Shame
The 12 Most Awkward Sex Scenes in Movies
Fox Searchlight
Andy Warhol famously said, "Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets," but clearly he never saw "Monster's Ball." If uncomfortably awkward love scenes don't bother you, this weekend's indie offerings may be just for you.
Check out "The Sessions," featuring an oft-naked Helen Hunt as a sexual surrogate trying to pleasure a disabled virgin (John Hawkes). And, if that's not enough, there's also "The First Time," which highlights a laughably awful (or realistic, depending on your experience) adolescent deflowering.
From the comedic to the absurd to the downright depressing, here are 12 cringe-inducing sex scenes we've compiled for your viewing (dis)pleasure. Get More »
Filed Under: Features
All In the Family: 12 On-Screen Relatives Who Actually Look Alike
Warner Bros.
Hollywood usually ignores the rules of genetics when it comes to casting family members in movies. Even some of our favorite films of all time, from "The Godfather" to "The Royal Tenenbaums" feature relatives that no combination of chromosomes could have realistically created. But every once in a while, the showbiz powers that be strike casting gold with actors who resemble each other enough to believably share a last name.
Here are 12 pairs of co-stars who you'd swear could be related. Get More »
Filed Under: Features
New on DVD and Blu-ray: 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' and More
Paramount
This week: Tom Cruise is back as IMF agent Ethan Hunt for the fourth and most high-stakes assignment yet in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," which takes the intense action from Moscow to Dubai.
Also out on DVD this week are Michael Fassbender and his penis in "Shame," the harrowing post-apocalyptic character study "The Divide" starring Michael Biehn and Milo Ventimiglia, and the haunted house horror film "7 Below" with Val Kilmer and Ving Rhames.
'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'
Paramount
Box Office: $209 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Fresh
Storyline: Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Paula Patton) go underground after the Kremlin is bombed and the IMF is thought to harbor international terrorists. While trying to clear the agency's name, the rogue group discovers a plot to start a nuclear war and must use all the high-tech gadgets at their disposal to avert global catastrophe.
Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain 51 minutes of "Impossible Missions," which can be watched either as individual making-of featurettes ("The Sandstorm," "Dubai Car Crash") or as one long documentary.
We Say: This "Mission" -- if you choose to accept it -- is one of the most dizzyingly exciting action films in recent history, especially when Cruise scales the outside of Dubai's Buri Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Another impossible bonus is that this "Mission" stands on its own -- you don't need to watch the previous three movies in the series to enjoy the action.
'Shame'
20th Century Fox
Box Office: $4 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Fresh
Storyline: Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a Manhattan sex addict who shuns intimate relationships with people. He is forced to confront some painful memories when his wayward sister (Carey Mulligan) moves in with him and his insular life becomes exposed.
Extras! The "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Michael Fassbender" talks in-depth about Brandon's inability to form meaningful relationships.
We Say: This fascinating NC-17 drama by director Steve McQueen got a lot of attention for showcasing Fassbender's penis, which deserves its own screen credit and dressing room; but the film most notably features a brave performance by Fassbender as it explores the dark side of extreme sexual addiction.
'The Divide'
Anchor Bay
Box Office: $22,000
Rotten Tomatoes: 22% Rotten
Storyline: A group of nine tenants (including Michael Biehn, Rosanna Arquette, Milo Ventimiglia and Lauren German) in a New York high-rise barricade themselves in the basement to survive a nuclear attack, slowly descending into madness when help never comes.
Extras! Both the unrated DVD and Blu-ray contain commentary by the director and actors Biehn, Ventimiglia and Michael Eklund.
We Say: Although it's difficult to watch the tenants physically and psycho-sexually torment each other, the movie features a chillingly believable portrayal of what people become when stress erodes the thin mask of sanity we all wear.
'7 Below'
Arc Entertainment
Box Office: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Storyline: A group of strangers (including Val Kilmer and Luke Goss) stranded after a tour bus accident must ride out a storm in a Ving Rhames' creepy house, where a little boy murdered his family a century ago.
Extras! There are no bonus features of note on either the DVD or Blu-ray.
We Say: Rhames chews into his chance to play a creepy loner, but this straight-to-video ghost tale is creaky like his haunted house.
Also New This Week:
"Frozen Planet: The Complete Series"
"High Road to China"
"Born to Be Wild"
"Buck Privates" Blu-ray
Filed Under: DVD & Blu-ray
Oscars 2012 Poll: Biggest Snub
FilmDistrict / Universal / Warner Bros.
The nominations for the 2012 Academy Awardsare in, and now all that's left to do is debate, scratch our heads, and guess like crazy until the winners are announced on February 26.
Of course, half the fun is getting outraged about what was left out. Every year the Academy makes some idiosyncratic choices -- or "gets it wrong," as some would argue -- and this year was no exception.
In this, the first of our daily polls leading up to the Oscars ceremony, let us know who you think wuz the most robbed; then come back every day for a brand-new Oscars poll. Let the voting begin!
Oscar Predictions 2012: Who Will Win?
This poll will close at 1 p.m. on February 22, 2012.
9 Rejected 2012 Oscar Campaign Posters
NextMovie
Now that the Golden Globes are over, we're officially in the thick of Oscars season. Which means that studios are putting on the full-court publicity press for films they want to earn coveted Oscar nominations (announced January 24).
Industry magazines like Variety are brimming with "For Your Consideration" ads touting the usual suspects, including those who won Golden Globes last Sunday.
But what about those potential nominees and angles that aren't quite so obvious? We're rooting for you, Mike Vogel in "The Help"! And even "Jack and Jill" has its Oscars champion ... somewhere.
With the help of our friend Old Red Jalopy, we've unearthed nine, shall we say, "unorthodox" Oscar campaign posters you might have missed.
Year-End Poll: Best Nude Scene of 2011
Summit / Screen Gems / Fox Searchlight
PREVIOUS: Who's the biggest breakout star of the year? >>
This poll will close on Dec. 26 at 11 p.m.
Year-End Poll: Biggest Breakout Star of 2011
Disney / 20th Century Fox / Columbia Pictures
PREVIOUS: Who's the hottest dude of the year? >>
This poll will close on Dec. 26 at 11 p.m.
Filed Under: Best of 2011 Poll
'Drive,' 'The Artist' & 'Shame' Score Critics' Choice Noms
FilmDistrict
Critics seem to be championing edgier, artsier cinema even more than usual this year as non-mainstream films such as "Drive," "The Artist" and "Shame" scored nominations in multiple categories for the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
"The Artist" and "Hugo" led the charge with a whopping 11 nominations, but "Drive" is the big winner here, as the violent, surrealist crime thriller starring Ryan Gosling probably won't be touched by Oscar with a 10-foot pole, or so we might've thought previously. Writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn's film scored nominations in the Best Picture, Best Actor (Gosling), Best Supporting Actor (Albert Brooks), Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Action Movie and Best Score categories. Get More »
Filed Under: Awards Critics Choice Awards
The 9 Greatest Penis Moments in Movies
Fox Searchlight
Let's all be adults; this is not a puerile discussion of the male member. We're merely noting that throughout history, while paintings and sculptures have depicted the nude male body with regularity, film has a limited number of offerings (not counting the XXX variety, of course), whereas leading ladies (even Oscar-winning ones) drop cover again and again.
Michael Fassbender, however, has no qualms about showing what God gave him. In Steve McQueen's new drama "Shame," Fassbender plays a sex addict who's in the buff so often his body is naked nearly as often as its clothed. In honor of Fassbender's courage to reveal everything, we're celebrating the movies -- and actors -- who've dared to go full frontal. Get More »
Filed Under: Features The NextMovie Nine
There's Nothing Shameful in Loving 'Shame'
Fox Searchlight
It's a downbeat indie, but chances are you've heard of "Shame," the chief reason being it's commonly known as the film in which Michael Fassbender ("A Dangerous Method") shows his penis.
And show his privates he does (quite a lot actually) in this gorgeously sad drama directed by British artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen. It's no surprise Magneto goes full-frontal, given that Fassbender stars as a depressed sex addict who scours bars, clubs and the Internet for no-holds-barred sex. And while it's refreshing to see a man let it all hang out (women seem to do it far more often), there's more to "Shame" than Fassbender's nether regions. Get More »
Filed Under: Indie Jones
