Blog Posts by Vera H-C Chan

  • From ‘Wizard of Oz’ to ‘Troy’: Ten Cursed Films

    By Vera H-C Chan | Movie Talk – Tue, Oct 30, 2012 5:39 PM EDT

    Photo: Everett Collection

    Scary movies are orchestrated to pluck at our nerve endings. But what might be scarier are movies that have been cursed themselves.

    What does cursed exactly mean? Did a black specter really hover over "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), "Superman" (1978), or "The Dark Knight" (2008) because of actors' premature deaths or life-altering injuries? Or aren't on-set accidents — such as the heartrendingly shocking decapitations in "Twilight Zone: The Movie" (1983) or the shooting in "The Crow" (1994) — be exactly that: accidents? And isn't it more than a coincidence that horror movies get the most (publicized) hexes?

    Maybe. Sure, you can be skeptical. But be they mysterious forces, publicity stunts, or just life (and gruesome death) getting in the way, sometimes there are just some bad vibes you'd rather avoid — except on the big screen. Here is a list of some famously plagued films (in chronological order) — so decide for yourself. (Don't forget to share, below, your intel on afflicted

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  • Unwrapping Milla Jovovich’s famous costume from ‘The Fifth Element’

    By Vera H-C Chan | Movie Talk – Fri, Aug 31, 2012 3:12 PM EDT

    photo: Columbia/Everett Collection

    Time for sci-fi "fanboys" and action-heroine worshipers to pay some respect. Whatever you might think of "Resident Evil" ("Retribution," the fifth in the series, comes out September 14) the franchise has made actress Milla Jovovich today's reigning action star — a destiny that can be traced back 15 years to "The Fifth Element." The breakout role of Leeloo didn't just give her action chops and solidify her woman-as-supreme-savior legacy. That costume has become a fanboy favorite and sci-fi trope to honor, from cosplay tributes to movies like "Run Lola Run" and "Prometheus," which served up a double helping with Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron in the ACE-Bandage ensemble.

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  • Race controversy over ‘The Hunger Games’

    By Vera H-C Chan | Movie Talk – Tue, Mar 27, 2012 2:27 PM EDT

    Lenny Kravitz (left) as Cinna and Amandla Sternberg as Rue (right)Any adaptation from book to movie is bound to rile up fans. The casting of black actors in "The Hunger Games" has spurred some negative tweets -- even though at least two are true to Suzanne Collins's 2008 book.

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  • Fan-Made Poster Imagines Ryan Gosling as ‘Walt’

    By Vera H-C Chan | Movie Talk – Tue, Mar 13, 2012 3:54 PM EDT

    'Walt' PosterPoster created by Pascal WitaszekFirst, the French won this year's Oscars. Now they're telling Americans what movies to make. Quel toupet!

    Not that Paris-based graphic artist Pascal Witaszek hasn't come up with a bonne idée, especially now that Hollywood is awash in nostalgia about its own past. The pitch: a biopic about Walt Disney. Over the weekend, the Parisian dreamer uploaded a what-if movie poster, featuring a mustachioed Ryan Gosling hunched over a notepad, perched on a pink velvet train seat while scenic grasslands and puffy clouds rush by. (And if you squint not that hard at the puffy clouds, you'll spot a very famous mouse.)

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  • Brad Pitt on Marriage, ‘Moneyball,’ and Misery

    By Vera H-C Chan | Coverage of The 84th Annual Academy Awards® – Wed, Jan 25, 2012 7:57 PM EST

    Cover courtesy of The Hollywood ReporterBrad Pitt has been mighty chatty lately, what with a lengthy Entertainment Weekly interview in September and now a one-on-one with the Hollywood Reporter. As Pitt faces 50 in less than two years, the Oscar-nominated actor has become more sanguine about opening up--and when he opens up, eye-opening details come pouring out about marriage, "Moneyball," and misery.

    Pitt has actually brought up marriage talk with his famous partner of seven years, Angelina Jolie. Pitt dropped hints to Ellen DeGeneres and USA Today in September. "We'd actually like to," he tells the Hollywood Reporter, "and it seems to mean more and more to our kids. We made this declaration some time ago that we weren't going to do it 'til everyone can. But I don't think we'll be able to hold out. It means so much to my kids ... and it means something to me, too, to make that kind of commitment."

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  • The Misery of Brad Pitt

    By Vera H-C Chan | Movie Talk – Thu, Sep 15, 2011 7:55 PM EDT

    Photo: 20th Century Fox/Everett CollectionThe first role that Brad Pitt won an award for, he hated.

    Maybe hate is a strong word, but Pitt describes his experience as the brooding, self-loathing Louis de Pointe du Lac in the 1994 film "Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles," as "miserable." In a nicely self-deprecating cover story for the September 23 Entertainment Weekly issue, the actor recalls his "six months in the (expletive) dark" wearing contact lenses, makeup, and playing second fiddle to star Tom Cruise both onscreen and off. (Cruise played the vampire Lestat.) "I'm telling you, one day it broke me," Pitt tells EW, and confesses he called friend and producer David Geffen to see how much it would cost to get out. The sobering answer: $40 million. "I was like, 'I've got to man up and ride through this....'"

    Vampire model
    One upside: Pitt got introduced to New Orleans, which would later become his adopted hometown that he would help to rebuild. And, miserable or not, a depressed vampire is still bragging

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Pagination

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