As much as Cannes is celebrated for pushing the envelope when it comes to arty and foreign cinema, any cursory glance over the films that have shown over the years would reveal pretty quickly that the world’s most famous film festival is something of a pervert. Or at the very least, it likes to make controversial selection choices full of nudity and occasionally unsimulated sex (a favourite on the Croisette it seems.)

So, we got to thinking about the very sexiest of those raunchy moments, not only from the films but from around the festival’s various publicity events in the past. And though some of the choices below might seem a little off-the-beaten-track, you have to bear in mind that we’re also talking about a festival that glorifies and celebrates the odd. So sexy to them is a whole different world.

Incidentally, there’s absolutely no place for Sleeping Beauty, which failed to raise so much as a quiver despite the abundance of nudity, or sex tourist portrait Paradise: Love, which was arguably the single least sexy film of all time (in particular the almost abuse like scene involving the “birthday present” stripper.)

Anyway, less of what isn’t on this list…

Dishonourable Mention

Troma Occupy Cannes 2013

Now I fully understand the Troma brand – they’re all about shock and provocation to sell their movies, but the sight of a large, heavily made up man with thinning hair and the gut of a wallowing animal (Zac Amico) running down the Croisette screaming was possibly the least sexy thing I have ever seen in France.

For that reason alone, and the distinct feeling of eternal, soulful sickness that came with the vision, Mr Troma 2013 qualifies for a rather inauspicious mention here.

And now, on to the sexies…

The post 10 Sexiest Moments Ever To Happen At Cannes appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Walt Disney’s impassable animations have been shaping children for generations, making old folk tales and history accessible to all with bright colours and friendly characters. No matter what you think of Bolt or Tangled, there’s no denying the studios real strength is in classical 2D cell animation, which makes the announcement earlier this year that they are ditching their traditional, hand drawn style a depressing development.

Back in the late thirties Disney pioneered motion capture with Snow White, using real actors on film as models for the animators. This was a method that was used throughout the companies history, aiding their giant leaps forward in style (for example, underwater action in The Little Mermaid). As well as occasionally getting famous people to help in this process, often for the actual designs of the characters, the animators would often turn to popular culture, choosing elements from real people and working them into their models.

In this list we bring you seven such examples. Some are genuinely interesting pieces of trivia and others are so surprisingly obvious you’ll kick yourself for not noticing them before. Many articles on this topic around the Internet will confuse being a model with being inspiration for design, which is a bit like saying Sam Worthington inspired the design of Jake Sulley’s avatar; true, but missing the point. While some of these people ended up being used as an animation model, I’ve taken every effort to give examples where the person’s looks were the initial reason for their involvement.

The most obvious example is The Genie in Aladdin, but as the entire point of the characters is that he is Robin Williams and nigh on everyone knows it, I’ve chosen to omit it from this list.

The post 7 Classic Disney Characters You Had No Idea Were Modelled On Real People appeared first on WhatCulture!.

One of the biggest transfer saga’s this summer looks to be the one involving Neymar. According to Sky Sports, Quotes from the Vice-Chairman of his current club Santos reveal that this season’s La Liga champions Barcelona have been the first to bid for the forward.

Odilio Rodrigues said of discussions between Santos and Barcelona:

“We had a very frank conversation. Talks need to continue because the offer was not good enough.”

The quotes are set to put Europe’s elite on red alert with The Express linking Chelsea and Manchester City to the player this week. Neymar has 20 goals in just 32 appearances for Brazil so far in his career and at just 21, he has a huge future and is already considered one of the best potential footballers in the world.

Signing Neymar would be a huge coup for whichever club got him as signing the player would not just give them a superstar but would put one over on their European rivals. Whoever gets him though, will have to battle hard with Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich all interested in the player.

Rodrigues also went on to admit that they are expectant of a bid from Real Madrid also:

“We know Real Madrid will make an offer too.”

With Barcelona the first out the traps in the race for Neymar, the pursuit of the Brazilian is finally underway but where he ends up is still anyone’s guess.

The post Barcelona Transfer News: Neymar Bid Rejected appeared first on WhatCulture!.

If Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Real Madrid this summer, most football fans expect him to return to Manchester United. However Chelsea have different ideas with a story circulating in The Daily Mail that they could be set to hijack any potential move to bring the Portuguese superstar to Old Trafford.

Expected returning Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has already apparently started putting his list of summer targets together for his comeback at Stamford Bridge and his current Madrid playmaker Ronaldo is right at the top of it.

Last night, the £80 million rated Ronaldo was sent off in Madrid’s Copa Del Rey final defeat to local rivals Atletico Madrid. Mourinho too was sent to the stands by the referee during an ill-tempted affair. Could the defeat have been both men’s last game at Bernabeu in Madrid colours?

With Rafa Benitez saying this week that Chelsea will spend big, Ronaldo could potentially be lured to London. However, the Portuguese star is understood to prefer a move to Old Trafford and Manchester United also have first option on any deal for him. Chelsea’s financial clout though could mean that he ends up back with Mourinho.

Ronaldo isn’t the only target that could anger Manchester United fans. Chelsea also have huge interest in signing Wayne Rooney, a player who most Reds fans want to remain at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo and Rooney are also joined on Mourinho’s shopping list by Napoli star Edison Cavani who could further reinforce Chelsea’s attacking options.

Ronaldo’s future is very much up in the air, if he leaves Madrid, England seems set to be his destination but whether he goes to Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford is another matter.

The post Chelsea Transfer News: Mourinho Wants Cristiano Ronaldo At Stamford Bridge appeared first on WhatCulture!.

When it comes to the subject of “acting,” there are no set rules. As the saying goes, one man’s Nicolas Cage is another man’s Laurence Olivier. Or, at least, that’s how the saying would go had I not just conjured it up out of thin air to help make my point. Fact is, actors appeal to movie-goers for all sorts of reasons, and it’s not always possible to pin down why you like watching a certain actor on the big screen. Ultimately, though, a good actor should be able to make you do one thing: believe.

To claim, then, that somebody was “miscast” in a movie role, seems kind of wrong. Because ultimately, there’s no right way to judge whether or not somebody did a good job, is there? It might just be that you thought they were miscast, after all, and who are you? I mean, I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with you at all – thanks for reading – I’m just talking in the “wider scheming of thing” sense. And yet, now and again, a certain casting goes so horribly wrong that it’s genuinely impossible to try and be diplomatic about it. Like now, for instance.

Join us as we take a look at 10 horrific miscastings that couldn’t have gone more wrong if the associated filmmakers had raced out into the street at random, grabbed somebody by the arm, and told them to act their heart out for eight weeks or face a firing squad. In fact, that’s probably exactly what happened, given that these miscastings were so bad, subjectivity died in the wake of their existence, leaving just one indisputable fact to linger in the air: these choices were freakin’ horrendous.

The post 10 Most Horrific Miscastings In Movie History appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Kanye West had debuted his new song, entitled “New Slaves”. Rather than the usual fanfare surrounding a new video on YouTube, West has projected the song via video on buildings around the world starting May 17th.

Cities and buildings that are taking part in the campaign can be found on Kanye West’s official website, with 10 cities involved and 66 screenings set to take place. The cities involved in the campaign are New York, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Paris, Berlin, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Toronto. The times and dates of the screenings vary by location, with each city hosting screenings in several locations. In London, the screenings are set to take place in Soho, at the Tate Modern, in Covent Garden, Brick Lane and at Shoreditch High Street Station.

The song has already become a viral hit across the internet, with several videos of the screenings appearing on YouTube within hours of the screenings in North America. The videos show Kanye West projected on a building, rapping the controversial song.

The event was announced yesterday on West’s Twitter. The tweet came after West deleted all of his previous tweets, including a mysterious “June Eighteen” tweet that had been creating questions about whether it was related to new music, or the birth date of his baby with Kim Kardashian.

NEW SONG AND VISUAL FROM MY NEW ALBUM BEING PROJECTED TONIGHT ACROSS THE GLOBE ON 66 BUILDINGS, LOCATIONS @ KANYEWEST.COM

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 18, 2013

Kanye West has performed his song “New Slaves” before, at the Roseland Ballroom. He is set to appear on Saturday Night Live on May 18th, where it is presumed he will perform the new song.

Are you a fan of the new song by Kanye West?

The post Kanye West Debuts “New Slaves” Through Worldwide Building Projection appeared first on WhatCulture!.

The trivia section on the Doctor Who IMDB page tells us that the only reason we have ‘Next Time’ trailers is because during production of the first Series of the reboot the show consistently ran under its 45 minute length. But after Eight years, (almost) Seven series and a couple of specials, the idea of Doctor Who without a Next time trailer seems positivley ridiculous.

A good ‘Next Time’ trailer does what all good trailers do. It needs to strike a balance between intriguing the audience, and not giving too much away. What sets the ‘Next Time’ trailer apart is that it comes hot off the heels of a brand new episode, and so if the episode itself has been particularly good, the short preview at the end can tease the building of threads that have been woven into the episode (See almost any trailer relating to Season 5 and the ‘Cracks in time’ arc, or nearly any RTD/Moffat ‘event’ episode).

Some may avoid them completely because they want to go in spoiler free, the ‘Next Time’ trailer from the perspective of the production team has become the show’s most important ways of asking viewers to come back next week.

I have two honorable mentions to make, that didn’t make the list for different reasons. The first is the teaser/lack of teaser for Series 4′s ‘Journey’s End’. Cast your minds back to 2008 and remember the surprise of a potential David Tennant regeneration, and the credits roll, but instead of a teaser we get the words ‘To be continued…’. Now, apart from the resolution being predictably underwhelming, it still deserves mention just because of the amount of anticipation it managed to build up by using this technique. (This is also seen in some of the other series finales)

Secondly, I’d like to mention the latest ‘Next Time’ trailer, the one for ‘The Name of the Doctor’, because damn does it seem intriguing. Or rather, it would if the preceeding Series had made any effort to build up the mysteries so that the answers we are being teased with in the finale held any kind of weight.

And with that, we begin our countdown…

The post Doctor Who: 10 Best “Next Time” Trailers appeared first on WhatCulture!.

The final chapter to a fine career will come to a close this weekend and we will bid a sad and fond farewell to a Liverpool legend. Jamie Carragher plays his final competitive game for Liverpool this weekend after a distinguished career which has spanned 16 happy years. Fittingly, the centre back’s final game will take place at his second home – Anfield.

In the grand scheme of the Premier League, this final sentence of this final chapter has near enough no meaning to it but there are plenty of moments which have meant a great deal to the fans at L4. Cup finals. Crucial blocks. Title chases. These are just some of the things that have brought happy emotions to the hearts of Red supporters and Jamie has played his part in all of them over the last decade and a half.

There are, of course, a few bad memories to go with a career as long as Jamie Carragher’s. Such as Athens, a red card at Craven Cottage or the 2012 FA Cup Final. But when such a great competitor leaves the arena for the last time we should focus solely on the positives and that’s exactly what I’ll aim to do with this article. I hope to add my penny to the celebrations surrounding Jamie Carragher’s final bow. I also hope to remind you all of what a player he is! So, here we go. Here are our Top 10 Jamie Carragher Moments! Enjoy.

The post Jamie Carragher’s 10 Greatest Liverpool Moments appeared first on WhatCulture!.

The Punisher is one of those strange characters – his logo is instantly recognisable and he has a lot of name value and yet despite this he doesn’t have the popularity of a Batman or a Spider-Man. This could be partly down to three poorly received films – 1989′s The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren, 2004′s Garth Ennis influenced version starring Thomas Jane and the ultraviolent (albeit straight to DVD) Punisher: War Zone with Ray Stevenson perfectly cast as Frank Castle – or maybe because his ultraviolent and uncompromising nature makes it near on impossible for him to be mass marketed. But with his iconic black and white skull-shirt and gruff Dirty Harry demeanor, the story of Frank Castle – a former Marine who engages in a one-man war on crime after his family is viciously gunned down in front of him – is one that strikes a chord with people due to its simplicity and grounded emotions, and since his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 in 1974, the Punisher has laid claim to some of the most compelling and vicious stories in the medium of comics.

Often times the character has been shackled by the constraints of the genre – it’s hard to be ultraviolent when the company he is printed under is known for its tameness – and for this reason The Punisher has pretty much become the flag bearer of Marvel’s MAX imprint since its inception in 2004.

Kind souls that we are at WhatCulture, we have chosen some of the best Punisher stories for you to add to your ever burgeoning ‘to read’ list. Be warned however – the words ‘Garth’ and ‘Ennis’ appear an awful lot here.

Please note – the following are in no particular order…

The post The Punisher: 7 Essential Stories You Must Read appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Let’s be honest, Eurovision is an acquired taste – the music ranges from catchy Euro-Pop, to equally catchy Finnish Metal and takes in everything from Polka to Bonnie Tyler along the way, whilst the acts encompass everything from stunning pop-starlets to Russian grandmothers, and take in everything from Dana International to well… Bonnie Tyler.

For some of us, myself included, it’s a fantastic celebration of European culture that we tap our feet along to and cringe at in equal measure, whereas for others it represents over four hours of wasted time and license fee money. Regardless of which camp you sit in though, it’s undeniable that alcohol can improve the situation (and I don’t mean by going to the pub instead) because drinking along to Eurovision can heighten the Euphoria (pun intended) for those of us who enjoy watching it and can make the “pain” of viewing more bearable for viewers who, truth be told, would much rather be at the pub.

As with all drinking games, I’d encourage you to create your own rules but to get you started I’m going to cover some of the rules that were devised during my 2nd year of university (and a few that have been added since) but first we need to think about the structure of the Eurovision Song Contest.*

The night itself can be split into four main parts: the presenters, the voting period, the songs, and the points.

We’ll look at each of these in turn and examine some of the rules but before that I’d be remiss if I didn’t to remind you to drink responsibly – with all drinking games its easy to drink more than you intended so it’s important to know your limits.

So without further ado, let’s look at what you will need and the preparation you will need to do (don’t worry its not much).

*I won’t be covering the Semi Finals as a) they’ve already happened and b) because the UK qualifies automatically it doesn’t get the same airtime that the main show does.

The post Eurovision 2013: How To Drink Along With The Show appeared first on WhatCulture!.

What makes for a classic rock song? Oftentimes, a rock song features three or four chords in a basic progression, played fast and with an attitude. It often has simple lyrics, suggestive lyrics, or sometimes lyrics that just don’t make any sense.

But all of these come second place to The Riff. The riff frequently begins the song and reoccurs throughout it, giving the song a distinctive voice. But even the riffs are all very unique. Some are simple, some hammer out loud and fast demanding your attention, and some are intricate and surprisingly beautiful. Or in the case of Jimi Hendrix and some others, it can be all three.

But I digress. Today, we will be looking back through rock history and discussing what riffs have had an enduring legacy, which ones have influenced other musicians, or are just plain awesome.

Note: There is no scientific formula for determining this list, neither would it be possible for this list to please everyone.

We’ll be analyzing these riffs in chronological order, beginning with 1958….

The post 20 Greatest Guitar Riffs Of All Time appeared first on WhatCulture!.

When it comes to video games I have a certain bias toward anything made by BioWare. Even though Capcom really grabbed my attention with the amazing Dragon’s Dogma, BioWare is still my favorite developer. I find it interesting that they really put themselves on the map with the classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game, but ultimately took hold of the RPG genre with a widely successful sci-fi game called Mass Effect.

Ironically, Mass Effect bore striking resemblance to Star War’s perceived fan boy nemesis Star Trek. Playing the Mass Effect series got me to thinking, what needs to happen to turn the corner and just make a great Star Trek game in earnest.

Here are a few ideas, ten in fact…

10.  A Versatile Engine

I promise that this article will not be a thinly veiled attempt to suggest repackaging Mass Effect as Star Trek, so this will be the only actual direct comparison between the two IP’s. What Star Trek needs to do is create a game play engine that makes the transition between game aspects seamless. Mass Effect gets this done and when something works… the game’s engine should allow the player to experience the world, the ship, and the locations from mostly the same position. This allows for the idea that there is danger behind every corner. I

t’s the same basic reasoning as to why the in game graphics should also be the cut scene graphics. Also, the engine has to allow for dialogue with as many NPC’s (Non- Player Characters) as possible. The engine would need to be able to process a good amount of complex characters that aren’t static, something I’ll go into detail on later.

The post 10 Essential Ways To Make The Perfect Star Trek Video Game appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Cannes invariably offers the opportunity to see some weird and wonderful projects that might not otherwise grab the attention, and Roberto Minervi’s neo-realist documentary style Stop The Pounding Heart is one such film. Following a young girl (Sara Carlson) in a deeply religious territory of Texas, the film seeks to offer a glaringly realistic portrayal of her struggles with lust and religion, when she meets a trainee rodeo rider from a neighbouring family (Colby Trichell) and becomes immediately drawn to him.

This story plays out over the backdrop of Sara’s family life, showing her familial duties, and the tasks required of her on the family goat farm, as well as the fervent religious dedication of her family, and how that impacts on her individuality and the various relationships between characters.

The film is the third in Minervi’s neo-realist trilogy of documentary-type films set in Texas and follows the conventions set by The Passage and Low Tide: aping the documentary style, but with a fictionalised story and characters. It’s not quite The Hills, as there’s very much the sense that these characters, or versions of them, do actually exist, and Minervi is clearly fascinated in their realities, but there simply isn’t enough here to really engage.

Sara wrestles with her personal conflict, but we are never really invited to sympathise with her, because of the cold detachment of the filming techniques, and at times it’s hard to believe the characters, because the actors are clearly not at ease with the more set-up elements of the film, and the dynamics (particularly between Sara and Colby) are thus laboured, and at worst excrutiatingly hard to watch. That of course is partly intended, to portray the social awkwardness of the situation, but the curious result is that everything feels too realistic to convince as real.

The major problem (ignoring Colby’s almost unintelligible voice) is that Minervi hints at some interesting issues – like Sara’s reluctance to embrace Christianity wholly, and her desire to move far away from home and shun marriage as soon as she can – but never explores them, and we’re left wishing he had been more engaged with those aspects, rather than simply holding up a mirror to a community that offers rich ideas, but little in the way of actual entertainment. There’s also a thin criticism of religious institutionalism and the culture of guns in the American south, but again Minervi swerves making a comment, and instead shows his conviction to neo-realism by including a warts and all birth scene that comes pretty much out of nowhere.

It was intriguing yes, and Sara’s story could have made for good viewing, but I can’t help but feel like Louis Theroux should have been wandering this community, probing and looking quizzical in the background to give us all more of an anchor to this strange little world.

The post Cannes 2013: Stop The Pounding Heart Review appeared first on WhatCulture!.

Romance is a fickle beast. We fall in love, we fall out of love, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It can feel like the easiest thing in the world, but often it just plain doesn’t make sense at all. Fictional characters aren’t exempt from the ups and downs that love often brings, or the heartache that it can cause. In fact, many a fictional story is fueled purely by the chaos love can wreak on people (I’m looking at you, Twilight).

The world of science-fiction has its fair share of whirlwind romance. Some work out like a dream, others can best be described as a train wreck, where each individual car is made up of many, smaller train wrecks. Here are 5 of the worst science-fiction romances, followed by 5 of the best…

5 Worst Sci-Fi Romances

5. Cyclops & Jean Grey (X-Men)

Right off the bat, it seems these two have the most joyless relationship ever captured on camera. We don’t even find out they’re a couple until she off-handedly mentions it to Wolverine, who by now is dead set on romancing her himself, and who couldn’t care less. And it’s hard to blame him, seeing as how, other than a cool warning to ‘stay away from his girl’, Cyclops does precisely ziltch to discourage his advances.

Imagine for a moment, friends, that you are in a committed relationship, when all of a sudden some virile, never-aging, perfect-specimen-of-a-human-body stranger just up and moved in with you and your squeeze, and their room was right ‘down the hall’. Not only that, but this attractive stranger made no secret of the fact that they were out to steal your sweetheart from under you.

Whatever your reaction would be, even if you’re the most docile of people, Cyclops’ was, like, a dozen times less than that. Wolverine’s presence is treated like more of an annoyance than a threat to his relationship. And it isn’t like Logan’s intentions are a secret (they do have two mind readers on campus, after all, one of whom is Jean herself).

Throughout all three of the original X-Men films, Storm, Jean, Rogue, and freaking Bobby are all aware of the ‘tension’ between Dr. Grey and the Wolverine. And all the while Cyclops does…. a lot of frowning. Heck, the only time we see an earnest reaction from him is when Logan joins the team. I don’t know about you, but watching X-Men and X2 I always got the feeling there was some inner animosity a’brewing between Cyclops and Jean to make him care that little about their relationship.

How It Ends:

Turns out, of course, that there was! When Phoenix (Jean’s powerful subconscious) is unleashed, the first thing she does is kill Scott. The second thing she does is make out with Wolverine. Not much room for doubt there.

The post 5 Best And 5 Worst Romances In Science Fiction appeared first on WhatCulture!.

On May 27th Altitude Films are releasing SEVEN classic horror films and we are offering you the chance to win them all.

Our two lucky winners will each receive a copy of The Black Cat, Madhouse, The Raven, Scream and Scream Again, Black Friday, Phantom Lady and The Legend of Hell House.

Here’s the details of the films…

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (1970) – Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing

A serial killer, who drains his victims for blood is on the loose in London, the Police follow him to a house owned by an eccentric scientist.

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973) – Roddy McDowall, Pamela Franklin

A team consisting of a physicist, his wife, a young female psychic and the only survivor of the previous visit are sent to the notorious Hell House to prove/disprove survival after death.

THE RAVEN (1935) – Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi

A brilliant surgeon obsessed with Poe saves the life of a beautiful dancer and goes mad when he can’t have her.

PHANTOM LADY (1944) – Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis

Unhappily married Scott Henderson spends the evening on a no-name basis with a hat-wearing woman he picked up in a bar. Returning home, he finds his wife strangled and becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Every effort to establish his alibi fails; oddly no one seems to remember seeing the phantom lady (or her hat). In prison, Scott gives up hope but his faithful secretary, ‘Kansas,’ doggedly follows evanescent clues through shadowy nocturnal streets. Can she save Scott in time?

MADHOUSE (1974) – Vincent Price, Peter Cushing

A horror movie star returns to his famous role after years in a mental institution. But the character seems to be committing murders independent of his will.

THE BLACK CAT (1934) – Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi

American honeymooners in Hungary are trapped in the home of a Satan- worshiping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.

BLACK FRIDAY (1940) – Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi

Dr. Sovac transplants the brain of a gangster into his professor friend’s body to save his life, but there is a side effect that causes a dangerous split personality.

To enter the competition, first like us on Facebook... Already a fan? You can skip this part.

And then send us your details by completing the form below...

The post Win: Classic 7 DVD Horror Movie Bundle appeared first on WhatCulture!.

There have been rumblings for a few years that a Venom movie could be in the works. While I seriously have my doubts about it ever happening, I think that there is some serious potential in the project. At one point Josh Trank was supposedly looking into taking up the picture after his break out hit Chronicle but later switched to take on the Fantastic Four.

Venom is one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains and is beloved by comic book fans and outsiders alike. Perhaps it is down to his wonderful character design, or perhaps it is some of his more complex anti-hero tendencies. While writers struggled for years, not knowing exactly what do with the character after his explosive introduction from Todd Macfarlane, he has recently had a resurgence and is one of my favorite Marvel titles running at the moment. Currently repurposed as a hero (did you know he is a apart of The Avengers?) with the chance to go wrong at any point, I think there is plenty here mine.

But what would a Venom movie end up looking like? How do you make a movie out of a popular super hero villain? There are plenty of ways to make it work, but a fair bit of ground work has to be laid down before even consider taking Venom out for his own movie.

Here is one approach I would whole heartedly welcome in adapting a Venom movie…

The post 5 Ways To Make A Stand-Alone Venom Movie Work appeared first on WhatCulture!.

In the age of superhero team movies, high concept science-fiction and philosophically novels-turned-films, we’re just days away from a sixth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise. No matter how critically panned or culturally eviscerated, the Fast & Furious movie franchise still… won’t… die. Why is that?

What is this strange hold Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and company have on the moviegoing public? How has this series gotten to six movies (with a imminent seventh on the horizon)? All excellent questions. Continue on to find the answer to these and other burning questions about why this franchise just won’t end…

6. Cars & Sex Sell

This would probably make a more accurate title for the series since it seems to be the producers’ stock and trade in these films. These movies literally never pass up an opportunity to showcase either a woman in peril or a loud, gaudy vehicle. Strangely enough when they’re given a choice it seems the filmmakers (and by extension, the fans) prefer tailpipes to actual asses.

The vehicular lovin’ might have reached the point of insanity when one ad for the second movie suggests that a particular car was more attractive than Eva Mendes, but for the most part the series has a damnable eye for the ladies. Let’s not forget they’re also loaded to the gills with homoerotic moments; hell, there’s an entire episode of American Dad devoted to that very fact.

A brief synopsis: four teenage boys find the script of an unmade F&F movie and somehow miss the blatantly homosensual content, obsessed instead with he sound and fury of jumping cars exploding through trains. Which leads quite neatly to my next point…

The post Fast & Furious: 6 Reasons Why This Franchise Hasn’t Died Yet appeared first on WhatCulture!.

]]> http://whatculture.com/film/fast-furious-6-reasons-why-this-franchise-hasnt-died-yet.php/feed 0 http://whatculture.com/film/cannes-2013-jimmy-p-review.php#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cannes-2013-jimmy-p-review http://whatculture.com/film/cannes-2013-jimmy-p-review.php#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 09:41:19 +0000 Simon Gallagher http://whatculture.com/?p=413499 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Film-making is a truly international affair, which tends to spring to the front of the agenda here at Cannes – though there are inevitably some fairly high profile films playing in competition and throughout [...]

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Film-making is a truly international affair, which tends to spring to the front of the agenda here at Cannes – though there are inevitably some fairly high profile films playing in competition and throughout the rest of the selection, there are invariably also offerings from across the globe – some of which may never get large distribution deals in major territories. The festival then offers the opportunity to celebrate those other markets, as well as embracing some projects that ignore the traditional boundaries of geographical film-making, such as Jimmy P, a US production, with a French director, starring leads from Puerto Rico, France and England.

Based on the major work of French psychoanalyst Georges Devereaux (played in the film by Mathieu Amalric,) the film charts the psychoanalytical treatment of Blackfoot Indian James Picard (the titular JimmyP,) a war veteran with a brain injury, who appears to be in good physical health, but who is plagued by crippling pain and episodes that suggest underlying psychic trauma. Largely a two-man film, the narrative plots a course from diagnosis to treatment, through sessions designed to uncover the triggers to Picard’s condition, taking in personal discovery and revelation, as well as wider anthropological concerns regarding native American culture.

It is, at its heart a tale of redemption, played through a culture-clash dynamic as the French analyst and his patient build a relationship and work through his issues, and it’s hard to resist the similarities with The King’s Speech, which almost certainly lends elements to the central relationship, whether consciously or through simple circumstantial proximity. Like The King’s Speech, there is some pleasure to be had in the way the central pair play off one another and how the patient develops as we learn more about him and his condition.

That patient – played by Benicio Del Toro of course – is a rather difficult hero. He is inherently guarded, and the way Del Toro plays the character, clearly taking in issues of nationality in his speech patterns and disposition, makes him difficult to engage with, and thus the sympathetic element that later becomes so important is a slow-burner. Ultimately, that is a smart choice, but it’s also a brave one for how it packages the character, as it challenges the audience to persevere with the character despite the traditional sympathetic link to this sort of figure.

Del Toro’s performance is far more multi-layered than it first appears, and it is on his development from deeply wounded patient to empowered individual by the end that really powers the narrative. Alongside him, Amalric is excellent as the anthropologist/analyst, and his personal story – outlining his relationship with English “friend” Madelaine – is an engaging sidebar element to Jimmy P’s own journey, which adds an entirely different aspect to the film, just as the exploration of Lionel’s personal life did in The King’s Speech.

The film is also shot beautifully – particularly the sequences that portray Jimmy P’s dreams as he describes them during sessions, and though the pace is a little slow, it is necessary (even if it wasn’t the greatest choice for the early morning slot here.)

Accusations of Oscar-baiting will no doubt accompany this film, given the subject matter, but they might not be too far off point. But Jimmy P is never manipulative, and it definitely doesn’t feel like it has been packaged for the purpose (hence the unpoeticness of the title.)

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]]> http://whatculture.com/film/cannes-2013-jimmy-p-review.php/feed 0 http://whatculture.com/film/11-movies-that-prove-modern-film-is-just-as-good-as-the-classic-era.php#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=11-movies-that-prove-modern-film-is-just-as-good-as-the-classic-era http://whatculture.com/film/11-movies-that-prove-modern-film-is-just-as-good-as-the-classic-era.php#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 09:29:39 +0000 Dolan Reynolds http://whatculture.com/?p=417549 We’ve all heard someone make the hasty generalisation that modern movies are going down a spiral of descending quality and can’t even begin to compare to the classics such as Citizen Kane, Casablanca and The Godfather. Don’t get me wrong: those movies [...]

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We’ve all heard someone make the hasty generalisation that modern movies are going down a spiral of descending quality and can’t even begin to compare to the classics such as Citizen Kane, Casablanca and The Godfather. Don’t get me wrong: those movies are some of the best that film has to offer, but there are a real plethora of modern movies that are just as good (but for entirely different reasons).

Casual film fans and cinephiles alike can find something to enjoy in each of the movies I’ve listed here and the majority of these entries are astounding achievements in their own right. Stories have been reinvented decade after decade and the modern times we currently live in have done a great deal to advance movies, especially with digital filmmaking  evolving to take precedence in ways that it never has before.

Without further ado, I now present to you 11 movies that prove modern films are just as good as their classic counterparts…

 

11. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

I wanted to start this list with a movie from 2013 and the latest installment in the classic Science Fiction series is a great way to start. Star Trek Into Darkness is a film so epic, so intense and so exciting that it opens with a dissection on the nature of intelligent life vs. primitive life all inside of a volcano, while an adjacent chase scene intersects the scene of Spock in the volcano. Everything about Into Darkness is what a big budget, Hollywood blockbuster should be.

Abrams’ film is exhilarating, intelligent and deeply character driven. Star Trek has always been known for it’s fascinating portrayal of the human and alien relationships with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock representing the show’s most ambitious themes. In Into Darkness Kirk and Spock’s friendship serves to really deepen the nature of the two iconic characters but also elevate them into more fully formed characters.

It takes a lot to develop a 50 year old series into something even better than it was when it started and the latest Star Trek film does this fantastically.

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]]> http://whatculture.com/film/11-movies-that-prove-modern-film-is-just-as-good-as-the-classic-era.php/feed 2 http://whatculture.com/film/star-trek-into-darkness-5-reasons-its-the-best-star-trek-movie-yet.php#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=star-trek-into-darkness-5-reasons-its-the-best-star-trek-movie-yet http://whatculture.com/film/star-trek-into-darkness-5-reasons-its-the-best-star-trek-movie-yet.php#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 09:03:12 +0000 Matt Grazel http://whatculture.com/film/5-reasons-star-trek-into-darkness-is-the-best-star-trek-film-yet.php Star Trek Into Darkness is a film that garnered high expectations due to the success of the movie Star Trek that was released in 2009 and reinvigorated the film franchise. The 2009 movie portrayed the characters as much younger than [...]

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Star Trek Into Darkness is a film that garnered high expectations due to the success of the movie Star Trek that was released in 2009 and reinvigorated the film franchise. The 2009 movie portrayed the characters as much younger than they had been interpreted in the previous films. A group of young characters setting out on adventures that are the result of the missions the members of Starfleet take on is a refreshing interpretation for the film franchise.

From the trailers and what was revealed about the plot of Star Trek Into Darkness prior to the movie’s release, it is evident that the members aboard the USS Enterprise would be faced with escalation in terms of the threat that opposes them. Here are 5 reasons why Star Trek Into Darkness is the best Star Trek movie yet….

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN

 

 

5. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Performance

One of the most intriguing aspects leading up to the release of Star Trek Into Darkness was the anticipation of Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as the primary villain. In viewing the film, Cumberbatch’s portrayal is synonymous with the perception the audience had of him from watching the trailers. He is physically intimidating and a cold character not only due to his actions but through how he speaks. One look at Cumberbatch in this film is all it takes to realize how much of a threat he is.

Cumberbatch, as Khan, strikes fear into those who oppose him through his actions and dialogue. Kirk, Spock and the rest of the members of the Enterprise witness the destruction Khan is capable of as the film progresses. One of the reasons this film is successful is because of the performances of the actors. Cumberbatch clearly excels at portraying a formidable villain.

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