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09/27/10--09:00: Famous Movie Locations: The Ballpark From 'Bull Durham' (Durham, NC) (chan 1091605)

Filed under: On the Scene







On shopworn minor-league catcher Crash Davis' list of things he believes in: the small of a woman's back, the hanging curveball, good scotch, outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter, and the sweet spot.

Atop many critics' lists as one of the best sports flicks of all time, 'Bull Durham,' the 1988 box-office home run, catapulted its stars' careers into the majors and sparked a national resurgence for minor-league baseball -- so much so that the historic Durham Athletic Park, where much of the movie was shot, was abandoned by the real-life Durham Bulls just a few years later for a shiny, new stadium down the road.

Kevin Costner stars as Crash Davis, who's knocked around the minors for a dozen years before being sent to groom the Bulls' hotshot, dumb-as-rocks pitcher Ebby LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) for an anticipated major-league career. Mentoring Ebby off-field is sex-oozing local Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon), who traditionally targets one Bulls player per season to nurture in rather, um, untraditional ways. (Always wanted to see Tim Robbins don a garter belt? Here's your movie.) As the season journeys on, Crash and Annie's rapport becomes the stuff of real romance, while Crash and Ebby's mutual dreams of making it to "the show" -- as Crash reverentially refers to the majors, where he once spent "the 21 greatest days of my life" -- only manifest for one of them. (The runner-up, though, gets to paint Susan Sarandon's toenails while she's tied to a bed, so it's all good.)

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11/05/10--11:40: Best Todd Phillips Scenes: The 10 Funniest Moments from His Movies (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Features, Best Movies Ever







Todd Phillips might not qualify for "auteur" status, but the director of such dude-centric hits as 'Old School' and 'The Hangover' has nonetheless been churning out dependably funny features for more than a decade. To celebrate the opening day of 'Due Date,' his latest comedy, we look back on scenes from other Todd Phillips movies that deserve induction into the comedic canon.

10. THE WRONG DOUG
'The Hangover' (2009)
From Mike Epps' deadpan-desperation delivery of the line, "I'll be your Doug," to Zach Galifianakis' description of the real Doug as "a white," every beat of this desert-nowhere scene is a laugh-getter. And then there's Ken Jeong as Mr. Leslie Chow -- an unforgettable bit character who, best we can tell, is what you get when the teenage houseboy setting off firecrackers at the end of 'Boogie Nights' grows up and sucks down a helium balloon.

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11/24/10--06:00: Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway's Onscreen Reunion -- Plus 9 Other Romantic Rendezvous (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Features







In 'Love and Other Drugs,' Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway play opposites who attract and then undress one another with pretty steamy frequency. It's a stark departure from their previous onscreen coupling, in 'Brokeback Mountain,' in which the pair first gets busy in the backseat of a car, before dwindling into a loveless marriage.

How does Jake and Anne's romantic reunion stack up compared to other leading men and ladies who've taken a second shot (or shot a second take) at love, Hollywood-style? We're not talking about when characters stay together for the sake of the sequel, but when two movie icons double down on their onscreen chemistry in completely new roles. Here's nine more of them, with our take on which films sizzle or fizzle.

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12/29/10--04:00: Who Will Be the Breakout Star of 2011? (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Features, Hot Topic, Coming Soon







Ready to call it a wrap on all the year-end, best-of-2010 wrap-ups? Us too -- especially when 2011's shaping up to bring us a bevy of Next Big Things. Whether they're starring in reboots, remakes or really edgy indie flicks, the following six actors and actresses are poised to push through big-time by this time next year.

Of course, as much as we love laying bets on who will be the big box-office breakthroughs, we also admit that this is fingers-crossed speculation on our part. In fact, considering how Tom Hardy, our 2010 breakout-star pick, came out of nowhere in 'Inception' to take that title, we'll be just as happy to find in 12 months' time that we've been surprised yet again.

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01/03/11--10:35: 47 Facts About Nicolas Cage (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Features, New Releases







Coming up with a list of "didja know?" weirdnesses pertaining to oddball Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage might seem like shooting very strange fish in a very abnormal barrel. But how better to kick off our long-overdue Nicolas Cage Week than by assembling the most peculiar minutiae we could round up about one of Hollywood's most eccentric thespians?

To celebrate the actor's 47th birthday this Friday (which also happens to be the very day his new movie, 'Season of the Witch,' is released), Moviefone hereby presents 47 titillating Cage tidbits -- many of which prove that this A-list actor is only getting nuttier with age.

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02/02/11--01:31: 'Groundhog Day' Cast: Where Are They Now? (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Where Are They Now?, Features, Best Movies Ever






Because we're huge fans of the real Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil (especially since that furry rodent has predicted an early spring, despite blizzards galore), today feels like the right time to get super-obsessed with a certain Bill Murray comedy.

That movie, of course, is 1993's 'Groundhog Day,' in which Murray plays a TV weatherman named Phil Connors, a curmudgeon forced to relive the same 24-hour period over and over. It's one of our all-time favorites -- and we're not just saying that because cast member Stephen Tobolowsky, aka Ned Ryerson, is a Moviefone columnist.

Tobolowsky writes today about the lasting effects of his memorable, scene-stealing role. But here, we take a fond look back at where Murray, Tobolowsky and the rest of the cast were in 1993, and catch you up with what they're doing now.

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03/01/11--22:00: Best Music Scenes in Movies: 50 Clips That Totally Rocked Our World (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Top 25, Features, Best and Worst







They say music soothes the savage beast, but it seems to us that the best musically-driven movie scenes do just the opposite: They get our toes tapping, our hands clapping and our rumps shaking. When executed the right way, scenes that heavily involve music -- such as the 'Tiny Dancer' sing-along in Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous' -- can leave unforgettable impressions for decades to come.

Just how near and dear to cinephiles' hearts are such scenes? Well, take it from us: They are very important. As we set about to determine our list of the 50 all-time best music scenes in film history, the arguments that erupted around the Moviefone office as we whittled down our list were more contentious than a Rabbit vs. Papa Doc rap battle.

Yet even with our impassioned back-and-forths, we're sure our list omits some cinematic contenders that you love. We encourage you to argue along with us in the comments section. Before we begin the countdown, however, let's discuss the two rules that guided us as we shaped our list:

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03/01/11--22:00: Best Music Scenes in Movies [25-1] (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Top 25, Features, Best and Worst





SEE LIST HOME PAGE




SEE 50-26 IN THE LIST



25. 'Young Frankenstein' (1974)
The scene: The Monster does the ol' soft-shoe
How best to describe the comedic climax to Mel Brooks' classic horror spoof? Easy -- "sooper dooper." Dr. Fronk-en-steen (Gene Wilder) and his man-made monster (Peter Boyle) soft-shoe their way through an old Fred Astaire standard -- until a shorted-out stage light threatens to ruin their budding showbiz career. Thanks to this flick, who today can recall the chorus of songwriter Irving Berlin's chestnut with a straight face? (On the flip side, let's not blame Brooks for Taco's 1983 synth-pop cover/hatchet job of 'Puttin' on the Ritz.')

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03/08/11--03:00: 'Fargo' Cast: Where Are They Now? (chan 1091605)

Filed under: Where Are They Now?, Features







Here's a scary thought, folks: That child of Marge and Norm Gunderson's should now be a teenager.

Yes, it was way back on March 8, 1996, that the Coen brothers unleashed 'Fargo' on unsuspecting audiences, which means that the then-expecting lady cop Marge (indelibly played by Frances McDormand) would today have a 15-year-old on her hands -- well, if the characters were real and all.

Times have certainly changed in the decade and a half since the unflinchingly grisly black comedy, purportedly based on real events, hit the big screen and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress (McDormand) and Best Original Screenplay. But what has changed in the lives of the cast and crew of 'Fargo'? Moviefone brings you up to speed as we celebrate the the film's 15th anniversary.

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