Few films in recent history have so polarized public opinion as Lars Von Trier’s latest venture, a masterwork of psychological horror entitled Antichrist. When it premiered at Cannes this summer, it was met with equal amounts of zealous praise and derisive boos, both winning critical acclaim and eliciting fervent protest.
In anticipation of the release of The Stepfather, Street chatted with Gossip Girl hunk Penn Badgley about thrillers, family life and playing Dan Humphrey
Street: How will the film be different than other thrillers?
Penn Badgley: First off, it is a thriller — it’s not straight-up horror.
For anyone who is a little behind in their catechism class, the book of Job concerns a pious man of good fortune who gets caught in the middle of a bet between God and Satan.
As little kids, we all fell asleep to our parents narrating Maurice Sendak’s tale of the adventures of Max and the Wild Things, dreaming of the adventures we could have as the ruler of a distant land.
Was it difficult to balance directing the film and acting in it as well?
It would have been easier in some ways to just focus on directing, but I wanted to be in the trenches, understanding the scary, hard, unattainable goal of achieving the skills of roller derby.
Breaking from his usual tough-man persona, Clive Owen stars as Joe Warr, a sportswriter coping with the tragic death of his wife in The Boys Are Back. Struggling with his new role as a single father, Warr adopts an “anything goes” parenting philosophy as he tries to create a world devoid of harsh realities for his two sons.
Oh, Couples Retreat, you had so much promise.
Vince Vaughn’s latest has all the right ingredients: a stellar ensemble cast, including Jon Favreau and Jason Bateman, an intriguing premise and a gorgeous island backdrop.
While Zombieland is not the first film to blend the seemingly opposite genres of comedy and horror, it is certainly one of the most successful attempts so far.
Earth has once again been overrun by ferocious flesh-eating zombies (of the Danny Boyle sprinting variety), and college dork Jesse Eisenberg and hard-man Woody Harrelson fear they are all alone in a world with no hot girls and no Twinkies.
Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It, effectively straddles the line between indie flick and big-budget Hollywood feature, dropping A-list stars into a rural Texas landscape.
The film follows Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) as she finds an “out” from her small hometown of Bodeen, Texas.
Just ask yourself one question: why wouldn’t you want a pair of thrift store jeans that magically fit you and your three best friends with completely different body types?
Set in an alternate reality in which the human race is not able to lie, The Invention of Lying is British master comedian Ricky Gervais's first foray into directing.
He creates a cinematic world whose blunt inhabitants constantly remind his protagonist, Mark Bellison, that he is a “chubby little loser.” This brutal honesty manifests itself in other ways, too; nursing homes are referred to as places “where old, lonely people live.” Mark is in a rut, jobless and struggling with romance, as the woman that he loves, Anna (Jennifer Garner), does not find him a suitable genetic match.
Whether they’re rocking out on a tour bus, planning a Vegas heist, reading Thoreau or skipping detention, you know these famous movie groups make you want to hop on the bandwagon and join in on the fun.
Watching Fame is kind of like a Theos downtown. At first everything is spinning and you are not quite sure how the man at the door swindled ten dollars away from you.
Jane Campion’s Bright Star is a romantic period piece about the fated love between poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his neighbor, Ms. Brawne, played beautifully by Abbie Cornish.
n anticipation of the September 25 release of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, the film adaptation of his best-selling book of the same name, Tucker Max is premiering his movie across the country on a month-long promotional tour.