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Vulture

Edited by Dan Kois & Lane Brown

Archive of The List

The List

5/14/08

9:00 AM

Meet the New Goody-Goodies

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It is a dearly held belief among many young, city-dwelling adults that the threshold to adolescence is paved with gangsta rap, slasher flicks, and hard-core pornography. Like most adults, these people have no clue what’s happening with kids today. The great tradition of clean-cut teenage entertainment — long elbowed to the pop-culture margins by the likes of James Dean, Cheech and Chong, and Kurt Cobain — has roared back to life in the digital age, fueled by tweens with disposable allowances and high-speed Internet connections. And fascinatingly, it has spawned a new breed of young stars: the Goody-Goodies. This slideshow presents the top ten churchgoing, non-drinking, promise-ring-wearing singer-actors from inside and outside the Disney universe — along with their great shames and potential for corruption. You probably know Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old Hannah Montana star with so wholesome an image that Vanity Fair created an uproar merely by publishing a picture of her (um) bare back. Before you start pooh-poohing the goody-goody lifestyle, just remember: You’re old, and no one cares what you think anyhow. —Nick Catucci

The List

5/ 9/08

2:45 PM

Ten Other Sayings That Hollywood Should Turn Into Movies

what happens in vegas is a stupid title

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

With the release today of What Happens in Vegas…, the Cameron Diaz–Ashton Kutcher comedy that proves romance isn't dead in American cinema ("There isn’t anything to say other than to note its insulting ugliness and ineptitude" —Manohla Dargis), we see that Hollywood has once and for all moved past its once blinkered view of movie titles — that they must be a funny pun or a witty turn of phrase, or the name of the main character in the movie, or come from a deathless line of dialogue, or Shakespeare/the Bible, or maybe at worst a classic-rock song lyric. What Happens in Vegas… signifies that it is totally okay for a screenwriter to think of just a thing that people say — maybe sort of an advertising catchphrase! — and then write an entire movie around it.

Well, why stop with What Happens in Vegas…? Here are ten other sayings we hope Hollywood adapts into movies soon. Feel free to borrow our pitches, after the jump!

"Can You Hear Me Now?, the movie!" »

The List

4/22/08

2:00 PM

Madonna's Five Worst Videos of All Time

Courtesy of WEA/Reprise

Look, there's no disputing that Madonna is the consummate music-video artist of our time. She's an earth-mother-dominatrix-cowgirl chameleon, etc., etc. "Vogue"! "Express Yourself"! "Don't Tell Me"! But as attested by the god-awful video attached to "4 Minutes to Save the World" — another gratuitous leotard, artless room-morphing effects, skeevy cougar action with JT, that Botoxy grimace — Madge can pinch out some crappy videos, indeed. Was she pressed for time? Out of obscure artists and motifs to cleverly pay homage to/rip off? Kinda bored? With great love and admiration, we present Mrs. Ciccone-Ritchie's Five Worst Videos of All Time.

No, "Justify My Love" isn't on the list. It wasn't bad enough! »

The List

4/ 1/08

12:15 PM

Ten Terrible Musical Slumps

Photo: WireImage (Dylan), Kelly A. Swift/Retna (Nas), Getty Images

Today sees the release of Accelerate, the album a few charitable critics are hailing as R.E.M.'s return to form after a decade-long funk. We're not convinced; yes, it's better than their previous three, but give us some guitar lessons and a week in the studio and we're pretty sure we could outdo Around the Sun too. Will Athens' finest ever recover and make a record to stand alongside their early-career best? All of the artists on our list of Ten Terrible Musical Slumps did it, so sure, why not?

Yes, Prince is included! »

The List

3/28/08

3:15 PM

Ten Rock-Star Stunts Even More Ridiculous Than Flying to Antarctica

Courtesy of Vade Retro; Getty Images

Fall Out Boy's noble quest to reach Antarctica, high-five a penguin, and set a world record may have ended ingloriously, but the band deserves recognition for how straight-faced they played their stunt, even though we're (almost) sure they realized how hilarious the entire idea was. The journey to Antarctica had a rare, almost magical combination of ridiculousness and awesomeness that few bands attain, and so there's no shame in the band's weather-related failure to see a Tauntaun up close.

Hilarious shenanigans — from the Beastie Boys breaking into Chuck Eddy’s hotel room, to the Rolling Stones’ fifteen-foot inflatable onstage penis, to Dylan’s conversion to Christianity — have always been part of rock and roll. So have attempted shenanigans whose outcomes range from lame to disastrous. After the jump, we've compiled ten rock-and-roll stunts that proved even less impressive than Pete Wentz's journey to Antarctic ignominy.

Read more »

The List

3/10/08

7:45 AM

Ten Questions Left Unanswered by the ‘Wire’ Finale

Courtesy of HBO

Last night's series finale of The Wire took great care to tie up a whole lot of loose ends and answer a whole bunch of nagging questions. Thanks to the events of the finale — and especially the montage at the end — we know that McNulty and Freamon lose their jobs, but McNulty is at least temporarily reconciled with Beadie; that Carcetti is elected governor and Nerese replaces him as mayor; that Valchek replaces Daniels as commissioner and Daniels winds up a public defender; that Slim Charles and Fat Face Rick seem to have taken over the Co-op's connection with the Greek; and that Scott Templeton wins a Pulitzer.

But one of the great pleasures of The Wire has always been the rich and novelistic details of plot and character, and over five seasons and 60 hours of TV, a lot of questions were raised. Some of them just weren't answered by this finale, as conscientious as it was. So we're going to ask. We've sent this list to David Simon, and we'll see if he writes back to drop us a few hints. Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments, and ask a few questions of your own.

For starters, what's in Daniels's file? »

The List

2/28/08

12:15 PM

Ten Beloved Characters, Ten Ignoble Deaths

Clockwise from top left: Courtesy of Miramax, Universal, Gramercy Pictures, Fox; iStockphoto (reaper)

Usually, our TV and movie heroes, when they die, get dramatic, noble deaths. Think Titanic's Jack giving his life to save his Rose, or Boromir taking a dozen arrows to the chest to protect the hobbits, or Charlie using his last breath to warn Desmond it's NOT PENNY'S BOAT. But every once in a while someone audiences have grown to love is dispatched in a disappointing, stupid, or downright ridiculous fashion — as happened to a certain beloved character on a certain beloved HBO drama recently. (Spoilers, obviously!) Vulture takes a look at ten other characters whose ignominious deaths made us shake our heads and think, He deserved better.

Video tributes to ten ignoble deaths. »

The List

1/25/08

11:30 AM

Ten Shows From the Eighties We'd Actually Like Ben Silverman to Revive

Clockwise from top left: CBS, ABC, ABC, ABC, ABC, 20th Century Fox Television

Watching our favorite spandex-clad super-warriors of American Gladiators the past few weeks, we've been treated by NBC wunderkind Ben Silverman to a preview of the network's upcoming Knight Rider remake. Gladiators? Knight Rider? Rambo tearing up the multiplex? It's the eighties all over again!

Given that Silverman's recipe for invigorating NBC is to pillage the glorious recent past — and given that Gladiators' ratings thus far suggest the strategy is totally successful — we thought we'd offer the tanned, gleaming genius some advice on what other shows he might nab from the era of big dreams and bigger hair.

Start Equalizing, Michael Gambon! »

The List

1/24/08

4:00 PM

Ten Movie Vaginas Even Scarier Than the One in ‘Teeth’

Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

As we're sure you're aware, in the new film Teeth, Jess Weixler plays Dawn, a high-school student with a fanged, carnivorous vagina that exacts bloody revenge on all males who dare go near it. Terrifying? Certainly. It almost made us ready to declare this the Season of the Vadge. But is Teeth's dentata the scariest movie vagina of all time? Not even close!

Enter here! »

The List

1/10/08

5:25 PM

Ten Other Cities We’d Like to See Hollywood Destroy

Photo Illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: iStockphoto, Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The New York Daily News is steamed today about Hollywood's repeated destruction of our city in film. We're not altogether sure what they're so upset over, since we think movies like I Am Legend and Cloverfield provide a nice reality check on Gotham–glorifying entertainment like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl. (Take heed, prospective Manhattanites: It's not all promiscuous sex and debutante balls for us New Yorkers — sometimes we have zombie plagues and deadly monster attacks.) Still, the Daily News is asking filmmakers to consider trashing another city for once, and that we can definitely get behind. After the jump, our list of the ten American cities we'd most like to see reduced to an on-screen crater.

Is your city on it? »

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Vulture's Critics' Poll: What Was the Worst Movie of 2007?

1/ 3/08

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1:45 PM

| Tags: 300, because i said so, critics, evan almighty, Hostel 2, i now pronounce you chuck and larry, license to wed, movies, norbit, pulitzer prize winner stephen hunter, southland tales, the bucket list, the number 23

The Ten Best Hip-Hop Mixtapes of 2007

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The Ten Best Movie Destructions of New York City

12/13/07

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The Ten Most Anti-Christian Movies of All Time

12/ 7/07

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9:45 AM

| Tags: carrie, dogma, footloose, jesus camp, lyra is awesome, monty python's the meaning of life, movies, philp pullman, priest, the boys of st. vincent, the canterbury tales, the golden compass, the magdalene sisters, the name of the rose

The Ten Video Games That Should Be Movies (and the Directors Who Should Make Them)

11/14/07

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3:49 PM

| Tags: ang lee, coen brothers, david lynch, duck hunt, grand theft auto, larry clark, lars von trier, m. night shyamalan, metroid, michel gondry, monkey island, second life, super mario galaxy, terry gilliam, tetris, the oregon trail, video games, wes anderson, world of warcraft

The Seven Best Movie Weapons of 2007

11/ 8/07

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2:32 PM

| Tags: balls of fury, bourne ultimatum, christopher walken, death proof, eastern promises, famous wangs, grindhouse, javier bardem, live free or die hard, matt damon, movies, no country for old men, planet terror, quentin tarantino, robert rodriguez, viggo mortensen

The Lamest Pop-Classical Crossovers in Music History

10/31/07

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5:31 PM

| Tags: asian dub foundation, billy joel, elvis costello, glenn danzig, laaaaaaaame, michael bolton, music, paul mccartney, roger waters, sting

The Ten Best Single-Artist Soundtracks Ever

10/26/07

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8:59 AM

| Tags: about a boy, air, badly drawn boy, curious george, curtis mayfield, ghost dog, jack johnson, josie and the pussycats, lift to the scaffold, matthew sweet, miles davis, movies, music, one from the heart, prince, purple rain, rza, she's the one, superfly, the virgin suicides, tom petty, tom waits

Ten Other Fictional Characters Whose Outings Won't Shock Us That Much

10/23/07

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12:01 PM

| Tags: books, cheers, comics, frasier, harry potter, movies, muppets, peanuts, sex and the city, small wonder, star trek, star wars, the flash, the golden girls, tv

The Ten Worst Movies Directed by Actors

10/18/07

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12:45 PM

| Tags: andy garcia, ben affleck, ben stiller, beyond the sea, braveheart, crispin glover, duplex danny devito, eddie murphy, gone baby gone, harlem nights, john turturro, kevin spacey, mel gibson, movies, nicolas cage, romance & cigarettes, sonny, star trek v, the cable guy, the lost city, what is it?, william shatner

The Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time

10/ 4/07

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11:30 AM

| Tags: bob dylan, i'm not there, music, todd haynes

Ten Commercials That Would Make Even Worse TV Shows Than the Geico Cavemen

10/ 2/07

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11:20 AM

| Tags: abc, cavemen, commercials

The Ten Greatest Pop-Culture Devils of All Time

9/25/07

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6:01 PM

| Tags: al pacino, angel heart, bedazzled, billy crystal, dave grohl, deconstructing harry, futurama, jack nicholson, jon lovitz, peter cook, ray wise, reaper, robert de niro, snl, southpark, tenacious d, the devil's advocate, witches of eastwick

Ten Directors Who Could Make an Even Unsexier Sex Movie Than Quentin Tarantino

9/20/07

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1:35 PM

| Tags: larry david, m. night shyamalan, mel gibson, movies, noah baumbach, oliver stone, paul greengrass, paul haggis, quentin tarantino, stanley kubruck, woody allen

Ten Annoying Child Actors We'd Love to Send to ‘Kid Nation’

9/19/07

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| Tags: ashley olsen, big daddy, cole sprouse, dakota fanning, dylan sprouse, full house, haley joel osment, henry thomas, home alone, jake lloyd, jerry maguire, jonathan lipnicki, kid nation, macaulay culkin, mary-kate olsen, michael oliver, possible child labor violations, problem child, ron howard, star wars, the andy griffith show, the cat in the hat, tv

Our Ten Favorite Beatles Covers of All Time

9/14/07

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12:30 PM

| Tags: aretha franklin, beatles, cornershop, echo & the bunnymen, elliott smith, julie taymor, rufus wainwright, sonic youth, stevie wonder, the breeders, the libertines, wilson pickett

The Buddy List: The Fifteen Most Dynamic Duos in Pop Culture History

8/ 9/07

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2:32 PM

| Tags: andre 3000, artists and models, big boi, bill watterson, butch cassidy and the sundance kid, calvin and hobbes, danny glover, dean martin, elaine may, geena davis, gene wilder, j.r.r. tolkien, jerry lewis, laverne and shirley, lethal weapon, mel brooks, mel gibson, michael chabon, mike nichols, nichols and may, outkast, patrick o'brian, paul newman, peter jackson, richard pryor, ridley scott, robert redford, samuel beckett, sesame street, stir crazy, susan sarandon, the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay, the lord of the rings, the producers, thelma & louise, waiting for godot

Third Time's the Charm: The Best Part Threes in Movie History

8/ 2/07

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9:21 AM

| Tags: a close shave, alfonso cuaron, chanwook park, day of the dead, final destination 3, george romero, harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, j.k. rowling, krzysztof kieslowski, lady vengeance, matt damon, movies, nick park, once upon a time in mexico, paul greengrass, peter jackson, robert rodriguez, sergio leone, the bourne ultimatum, the good the bad and the ugly, the lord of the rings, the return of the king, three colors red, wallace and gromit

The Ten Lil Wayne Songs You Need to Download

7/31/07

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Our Hit List: Ten Fictional Characters Who Must Die

7/24/07

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9:00 AM

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