FILMography Photo Project Juxtaposes Film Scenes with Real-Life Locations
Christopher Moloney's on-going project, FILMography, finds the photographer and film buff traveling across the world to photograph the real-life locations of various film scenes. That's fun and all, right? But what Moloney does to go the extra mile is print out stills from various films and juxtaposes them with a photo of the site he shoots. Moloney's journey so far has found him traveling to Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and even across the pond in Rome, Naples, and other locations. Check out some of my personal favorite shots from FILMography below, and follow along with the project on Moloney's FILMography Tumblr.
[via Demilked]
Famous Film Characters in Lego Form
Legos and films go hand in hand, as I've made abundantly clear during my tenure with Ruby Hornet. Whether Lego enthusiasts are recreating scenes from films using stock Lego pieces or even creating feature-length family films with them, the creativity that goes behind Lego creation is so amazing and inspiring. One Flickr user, SuckMyBrick, has created iconic film characters with Legos as part of a "Movie Quiz" photo set on Flickr where people can take a guess at which films are being represented.
While I won't spoil the ten photos SuckMyBrick took, I've shared some of my favorites from the set in the gallery below that are represent a good variety of film genres from comedy to action to musical (and everything in between). Make sure you check out SuckMyBrick's Flickr Photostream for more Lego creations, including South Park characters and even political figures like Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro.
[via Fast Co.CREATE]
[Contest] Win a DVD Copy of Ron Howard and Jay Z's Made in America
Less than two weeks ago, Ron Howard's documentary on Jay Z's Made in America tour, the aptly-titled Made in America, was released in theaters. Our very own Nick Valdez reviewed the doc, referring to it as "[a]n entertaining pop documentary with surface level information." Made in America will appeal to fans of not only Jay Z and Ron Howard, but some of the other artists featured in the documentary, including the Odd Future guys, Pearl Jam, Skrillex, Kanye West, and more.
With the documentary's release on DVD and Blu-ray today, we have five (5) copies of the film on DVD to give away! To enter, simply follow us on Twitter (@RubyHornet) and tweet at us with the hashtag #RHMadeInAmerica. Winners will be randomly chosen on August 1st. Good luck to those that enter! You can read more about Made in America below.
A celebration of both the unifying power of music and pursuit of the American dream, Made in America is an all-access backstage pass to the one-of-a-kind festival created by Jay Z, and directed by Academy Award winner Ron Howard. Featuring remarkable performances and backstage interviews with many of today's biggest stars, Made in America is now available on DVD at Walmart or rent it tonight with iTunes.
[Contest] Win a Prize Package from The Purge: Anarchy
The Purge: Anarchy is releasing in theaters this weekend. To help prepare you for the colloquially-coined "Crime Day," we've included five animated GIFs (found below) that share some insight behind The Purge: Anarchy. It's not all just fun shenanigans, as some of the quotes elaborate on the film's social commentary on violence and society's reaction to it. In case you're unfamiliar with The Purge, the film is titled after an annual event, the titular "The Purge," in which all crime is legalized for 12 hours. Obviously, the chaos of The Purge creates an unsafe environment for those not interested in committing crimes, especially in the presence of those that are.
In commemoration of The Purge: Anarchy's release, we are also offering a prize package featuring a The Purge: Anarchy T-shirt (L) and flashlight to keep you safe in the dark of night. One winner will be randomly selected on July 25th at 11:59pm CST. To enter, follow us on Twitter, then tag a tweet with #RHCrimeDay telling us what you would do if The Purge was real. The most creative entry will win the package. Good luck!
Each household is only eligible to win One (1) Purge Prize Pack via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.
[Contest] Win a Free Blu-Ray Copy of The Lego Movie
[Update: You can also enter the contest by following us on Twitter and tweeting #RHLego!]
While I'm a huge fan of Legos, as has been seen throughout my time on Ruby Hornet, I never would have imagined that this year's The Lego Movie would have such immense success, bringing in more than $462.7m in box office sales with many more money to be made now that the film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. To commemorate its home media release, we're offering one lucky reader a free Blu-ray copy of The Lego Movie.
Using the "Everything is Awesome" app below, you can create customized 6-second GIFs of pre-selected scenes from The Lego Movie that automatically get uploaded to a special YouTube page. After you create your The Lego Movie GIF, comment on this page below with a link to your YouTube video. Make sure you use a valid email address so we can contact you if you win! You can enter as many time as you'd like. You have until July 2nd to get your entries in. Note: The contest is only open to US residents. Good luck!
Our 10 Favorite Disney Animated Villains
With Disney's latest re-imagining of Maleficent burning through the box office, it got us here at Ruby Hornet thinking. We've had Disney on the brain for quite some time, so we'd figure we share some of that with you all. Geoff Henao, Alex Katz, and I have put our heads together to come up with a list of our ten favorite Disney animated villains.
So for this list, it means no Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Ghibli, or even live-action villains. It's just villains crafted by the House of Mouse itself (if there's enough interest, we may visit those later). Finally, this isn't a definitive list by any means. It's just our ten favorites as of this writing. With all of that said, check out our Ten Favorite Disney Animated Villains!
Five Notorious American Remakes of Foreign Films
Hollywood remakes and reboots are a dime a dozen. There's an old adage that trends and fads are cyclical, and this notion couldn't be more true when it comes to films. Take, for instance, all of the remakes, reboots, and sequels that have been announced recently or already have films in development: The Goonies 2, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and today's wide release of Godzilla are just a handful of films that have been in the news this past month alone. While reboots are one thing, American remakes of foreign films are a whole other bag of controversy and criticism. There are so many amazing foreign films that go unseen or underrated simply because they don't share the same Hollywood quality, whether it's due to production costs or the simple fact that they're in a different language. However, many of them do garner attention at film festivals and are great enough in their own merit that they inevitably appear on our radars.
For better or worse, money talks, and when it comes to a successful film that, for some reason, goes unseen by the average American audience, leave it to Hollywood to nab the rights to said films and do things their way. Nine times out of 10, the American remake bombs in one form or another, whether it's at the box office or from critical reception. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule, albeit they're few and far between.
In commemoration of Godzilla's release, Alex and I have teamed together to write a little bit on five notorious American remakes of foreign films, both already released and in development. I hope you enjoy our selections!
[SXSW 2014] South by Southwest 2014 Retrospective
[Ruby Hornet will be covering SXSW from March 7th to March 16th. Follow along as we bring you exclusive film reviews, photos, daily features, and interviews with filmmakers, actors, and musicians!]
South by Southwest has always held a special candle in my heart. Were it not for my inaugural trip to Austin in 2012, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now, both personally and professionally. Going into SXSW every year, I always find myself filled with a level of excitement I never get when covering other festivals, whether they're film or music-related, and this year was no different. With SXSW 2014 being my first year covering for Ruby Hornet, I opted to handle the film festival differently than I have in the past, focusing more on interviews rather than reviews, which I hope you've all seen by now, because they've been great. On the music side, Jake made his own spin on covering SXSW, writing personal daily journals that detailed his experience in Austin surrounded by a lot of rising artists and musicians, as well as doing his thing with some amazing interviews. In the photography realm, both Virgil and Kristen Wrzesniewski held it down for us, covering the film and music sides of the festival, respectively. In case you missed our coverage sprinkled throughout the past month, everything SXSW-related can be found below, neatly indexed and set in order in chronological order. I hope you all enjoyed our SXSW 2014 coverage!
[SXSW] 10 Films You Should See at SXSW 2014
[SXSW Review] The Infinite Man
[SXSW Review] Chef
[SXSW Review] Neighbors
[SXSW Review] Premature
[SXSW Review] Manny
[SXSW Review] Space Station 76
[SXSW Video Interview] Kim Shaw, David Dastmalchian, and Collin Schiffli (ANIMALS)
[SXSW Review] ANIMALS
[SXSW Review] Cesar Chavez
[SXSW Interview] Jerrod Carmichael (Neighbors)
[SXSW Interview] Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors)
[SXSW Interview] Hannah Marshall and Hugh Sullivan (The Infinite Man)
[SXSW Video Interview] Emmy Rossum and Fatima Ptacek (Before I Disappear)
[SXSW Interview] Adam Riegler and Alan Tudyk (Premature)
[SXSW Interview] John Karna and Dan Beers (Premature)
[SXSW Video Interview] Lenny Mesina (Manny)
[SXSW Video Interview] Ryan Moore (Manny)
[SXSW Interview] Shawn Christensen and Paul Wesley (Before I Disappear)
[SXSW Journal] Day 1
[SXSW Journal] Day 2
[SXSW Journal] Day 3
[SXSW Journal] Day 4
[SXSW] Music Festival 2014 Recap
[SXSW Interview] The Radkey Brothers Are Bringing Punk Back
[SXSW Interview] Bishop Nehru Embodies 'The Twenty Year Loop'
[SXSW Interview] The Tontons, Well on Their Way
[SXSW Interview] Cheers Elephant, SXSW Veterans
[SXSW Photos] Robert Rodriguez Museum
[SXSW Photos] From Dusk till Dawn: The Series After Party
[SXSW Photos] Film Festival 2014
[SXSW Photos] Music Festival 2014