More good news from Movieline’s parent company, Penske Media Corp. (PMC):
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BGR Website Launches THE NEW BGR, With Complete Redesign.
Leading mobile and gadget brand redefines the category with new look and remarkable user experience.
Today marks BGR’s third redesign since the site’s initial launch six years ago, though this redesign is noticeably its most thorough. Markedly apparent is the site’s sharp rebranding, with new logos, colors, and what Jonathan calls, “a new personality.” Jonathan and his team created a new logo to better reflect this site’s growth and evolution, with what Jonathan describes as, “Clean-cut, strong and powerful, but still with an edge and personality.”
Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Penske Media Corporation (PMC) Jay Penske said, “Jonathan has once again raised the bar in technology and gadget publishing—not only answering his users’ requests, but significantly enhancing BGR.com’s design and presentation layer on all platforms. The new BGR homepage design is second to none in one of the most exciting categories online.”
Jonathan and his team have created the new BGR to better reflect today’s internet experience, making its content clear and easy to navigate from a desktop, tablet and or mobile phone, with no redirects to a subdomain. Users will also find greater ease clicking through the site’s galleries, hubs, review pages, tip us box, search area, integrated Twitter feeds, mini hubs, featured section pages, and more.
The new BGR clarifies its verticals and categories with its new hubs layout, making it easier for users to navigate to the categories they most like to read about. Sidebars have been eliminated and each page is full with, allowing content to flow as users read – from left to right. Real-time information is an aspect of the site that will continue to be enhanced over the…
Full Story »Anna Gurji’s acting experience in Innocence of Muslims may turn out to be more frightening than any horror/fantasy genius Neil Gaiman ever wrote.
On Monday, the Sandman author posted a letter he received from Gurji on his website, Neil Gaiman.com. Gaiman explained that he met Gurji, who hails from the Eastern European country of Georgia, on the set of Michael Reaves film Blood Kiss, in which he plays a small role. During the first read-through of the script, Gurji read the part of the female lead in the film. “So I’ve acted with Anna and spent time with her,” Gaiman wrote on his site. “She’s a good sort.”
Under the title, “A Letter from a Scared Actress,” Gaiman explained that Gurji, who is portrayed as Muhammad’s child bride in Innocence of Muslims, reached out to him to explain how she’d been duped by the filmmakers. Gaiman asked her to write a letter that he could post in its entirety on his site. “The best weapon against lies is the truth, after all,” he wrote.
The letter can be read in its entirety at Gaiman’s site, but Gurji, who also spoke to the New York Post, and reportedly left a long passage about her experience on her Facebook page, noted that the filmmakers made “no mention EVER…of MUHAMMAD and no mention of religion during the entire time I was on the set.” Gurji added: “ I am hundred percent certain nobody in the cast and nobody in the US artistic side of the crew knew what was really planned for this ‘Desert Warrior’,” which was the original title of the movie.
“It’s painful to see how our faces were used to create something so atrocious without us knowing anything about it…
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And why? Because they’re based on hype. But that’s OK, Ben Zauzmer — Harvard freshman, analytical whiz kid and proprietor of the new “matrix algebra”-based awards prognostication site Ben’s Oscar Forecast! Movieline’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics has the science down and is soliciting interns for next year’s awards-season death march. Inquire within.
According to his site, Zauzmer’s predictions derive quantities for each film’s Oscar nomination (or non-nomination) showing, representation at other awards shows, and Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes data for the “major categories.” Next:
With all of these numbers in the chart for each nominee in the category over the past decade, using a formula from linear algebra, Ben derived the best approximation of the relative factors of each award and critic score. These factors were applied to this year’s nominees – one formula for each category – and the percentage was calculated as a movie’s score out of the total scores.
Pretty cool, except… uh:
Best Picture
Winner: The Artist (18%)Best Director
Winner: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist (28%)Best Actor
Winner: Jean Dujardin – The Artist (28%)Best Actress
Winner: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady (24%)
Viola Davis – The Help (24%) [ED: Davis and Streep are separated by 0.7%, surprise]Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Christopher Plummer – Beginners (29%)Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Octavia Spencer – The Help (27%)Best Writing – Original Screenplay
Winner: Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris (27%)Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants (24%)Best Animated Feature
Winner: Rango (32%)Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: A Separation – Iran (27%)
…so on and so…
Full Story »You know how when you’re browsing around online, and you arrive at a news site or some other ad-supported publication that digs into your Web history for the most appropriate display ads to show you on your visit? Except they’re not appropriate, like, at all? Try this recent combo found by a Movieline reader in Australia:
I mean, sure! Sydney restaurateur survives 25-meter fall from balcony + your desirable age/economic demographic + Sam Worthington’s slow career suicide new film opening soon = Marketing genius. If only we’d had a guy plunge eight stories in one of our bigger American metropolises! This movie might have made some money.
Anyway, can’t wait to see Titanic 3-D ads automatically show up on every story about the Costa Concordia for the next two months. You’re welcome, James Cameron.
Full Story »The annual critical powwow that is Slate’s Movie Club is currently underway, with that site’s Dana Stevens leading a conversation between a redoubtable quartet also including Michael Phillips, Dan Kois and Movieline’s own Stephanie Zacharek. What’s on the agenda?
To date, topics discussed include:
· Goosebumps vs. nausea (looking at you, Melancholia)
· Great-looking mediocrity (cough, Tree of Life, cough)
· What if Fast Five is better than Drive?
· Charting a relationship between Bucky Larson and Shame
· Bridesmaids and the resuscitation of the rom-com
…and much more to come! Go! Read it!
· Slate Movie Club [Slate]
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Déjà vu all over again: A bit of maintenance around Movieline HQ means that our site’s content-management system — including its commenting apparatus — will be down for few hours starting at 1 p.m. PST. I apologize for any browsing or feedback delays during this time. Hold those thoughts, though; we look forward to your visits and notes as we come to on the other side. Thanks for your patience!
A bit of maintenance around Movieline HQ means that our site’s content-management system — including its commenting apparatus — will be down for an hour or so starting at 11:30 a.m. PST. I apologize for any browsing or feedback delays during this time. Hold those thoughts, though; we look forward to your visits and notes as we come to on the other side. Thanks for your patience! [UPDATE 2:10 p.m. PST: We are back! Resume commenting at will! We appreciate your forbearance.]
Alec Baldwin, one of our chirpiest and most opinionated tweeters, has apparently given up Twitter altogether. The 30 Rock star and Oscar nominee fled the site following an incident in which American Airlines booted him off a plane for playing Words With Friends and for being violent, abusive, and aggressive. All that remains of his Twitter is the handle name and the word “Deactivated.” Sad, sad day. Thrust your American flag at the sky and never forget his above-average GOP putdowns. [@AlecBaldwin]
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“Yes, I will bareback fuck you in a San Diego hotel room,” said Ashton Kutcher to the forever fan whose beautiful tattoo was obviously written by a spambot – Videogum
If you hate your job and are looking for a job that you hate more to show you that your current job isn’t that bad, go work for GOOP! - Lainey Gossip
The only thing this tells me is that Shia LaDouche needs a stunt double at all times – The Superficial
Weston Cage has a crazy way of showing the world that he’s not crazy – Celebitchy
Matt Bomer needs help with getting his goods into a thong – Towleroad
I am ashamed to admit how many times I called a 555 number as a child. And by “child” I mean yesterday. – The Daily What
Miranda Kerr uses that old trick of hugging her bare boobs to sell jeans – (site NSFW) Drunken Stepfather
Rosie Huntington-Whitely uses that old trick of cupping her bare boobs to sell magazines – (site NSFW) Hollywood Tuna
Zachary Quinto is not using that old trick of cupping his bare boobs to sell this picture, but I wish he did – Just Jared
Another day, another set of pictures of a knocked up Beyonce walking her unborn golden child
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Full Story »See the lush, handsome photos both inside and bordering our site today? Those are sweet, sweet advertisements paid for by FilmDistrict on behalf of its new film Drive. Let’s all join in thanks for the studio’s support of our endeavors by performing the ultimate gesture of gratitude: Click. There are even more lush, handsome prospects on the other side of those ads. Please go check them out, and than come back and close out the week with us!
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