2013 Jefferson Lecture with Martin Scorsese (text) [more inside]
posted by kliuless on May 9, 2013 - 3 comments

Via io9: "The first nine Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios from 1941 to 1942 are a wonder of animated retrofuturism, giving us a peek into a world that not only had a flying superstrong protector, but also filled viewers' heads with dreams of autonomous robots, comet-controlling telescopes, and machines that could shake the Earth. These films are in the public domain and have been available on the Internet Archive," but now Warner Bros. is releasing them (remastered) on YouTube. The first short, "Superman" (also known as "The Mad Scientist,") was nominated for an Academy Award. Also see: The Super Guide to the Fleischer Superman Cartoons. Find links to all nine episodes and more inside. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Nov 25, 2012 - 28 comments

In May, YouTube announced they would be hosting a lineup of original video channels, in a possible attempt to compete with network and cable television. Among the new offerings was WIGS, the (NSFW) brainchild of director/producer/writers Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia, of original, scripted dramatic series and short films exploring female characters. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jun 27, 2012 - 14 comments

Mythbusters' Tested Blog recently posted a special feature from the Toy Story 2 DVD, in which Pixar's Oren Jacob and Galyn Susman recounted how the files for the movie (just 10gb of data!) were almost lost due to both an erroneous Linux command and a bad backup. The folks at The Next Web: Media followed up with Mr. Jacob, and learned that the movie was actually tossed out and reworked from scratch again nine months prior to a release date that was set in stone, not by the computers, but by the filmmakers themselves: How Pixar’s Toy Story 2 was deleted twice, once by technology and again for its own good.
posted by zarq on May 20, 2012 - 63 comments

Kirby Ferguson's fourth and final installment of Everything is a Remix: System Failure has been released. (Also on YouTube.) It covers intellectual property rights, the derivative nature of creativity, patents and copyright. Transcript. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Feb 17, 2012 - 5 comments

Part 3 of the Everything is a Remix video series has been released, by New York filmmaker Kirby Ferguson. Previously on MeFi. See the entire series on Vimeo: Parts One, Two and Three. (YouTube versions and transcripts inside.) Official Site. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jun 23, 2011 - 31 comments

Hollywood shuns intelligent entertainment. The games industry doesn't. Guess who's winning?
posted by Artw on May 23, 2011 - 254 comments

A New Yorker profile of consummate dealmaker Irving 'Swifty' Lazar. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Feb 9, 2011 - 9 comments

It was not easy to get Terence Malick to direct again, as this article about the making of "The Thin Red Line" from Vanity Fair shows.
posted by reenum on Jan 24, 2011 - 27 comments

Death to the spoiler police! Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams takes a stand against people who insist on spoiler alerts: "[O]nce a work enters the pop culture vernacular, it is not society's responsibility to provide you with earmuffs until you finally get around to experiencing it. ... But for the love of God, if you really don't want to know about a book/movie/television show, do the rest of the world a favor and stop hanging out in the online discussion groups about it." Via Roger Ebert.
posted by mcwetboy on May 20, 2010 - 151 comments

The DiVincenzo Code [youtube trailer, geekery]. Faced with a strict demand from a funding agency to allocate research funds towards the dissemination of research ideas to the public, an experimental physics group at the University of Oxford produced a feature-length (55 min) action thriller about murder, ancient prophecy, tea breaks, and quantum computation. [more inside]
posted by fatllama on Nov 5, 2008 - 6 comments

The Oscars don't only breed argument about who should have won--but also about the speeches? Were they good? Did they suck? What are the classics? What's Memorable? What's Misquoted? How would your speech go? Would you thank your "makeup man"? Oprah? Complain? Or just go crazy? And here are some more top ones (1,2,3) and another bottom. And Oscar Night bingo in case it all gets to be too much, too boring or too damn long.
posted by FeldBum on Mar 2, 2006 - 17 comments

EP3 Trailer Awesome.
posted by jimjam on Mar 10, 2005 - 87 comments

Indian Superman is a movie of questionable legality released in India in the mid eighties. Perhaps it should have had a wider release since it has a great deal of humorous appeal for Western audiences. Check out this review from Stomp Tokyo. I'm looking forward to a crossover when Indian Superman meets Indian Spider-Man. via Sepia Mutiny
posted by rks404 on Aug 17, 2004 - 10 comments

Pootie Tang Screen Test is an amusing four-minute video that includes a kick from Capoeira (images), a Brazilian Martial Art previously mentioned here. If you liked the screen test, you may enjoy the movie or the trailer.
posted by stringbean on Apr 10, 2004 - 13 comments

How do you mean, "Hee-Haw, Sam Wainwright?" A collection of film synopses for english as a second language students. Some folks have taken on the herculean task of explaining idiomatic language in some popular films. It's an odd collection with some - Dr. Strangelove, Animal House, etc. being explained about as well as one can explain comedy. And others that even folks who do speak english don't really care about.
posted by ice_cream_motor on Aug 21, 2003 - 9 comments

"Movies: They're worth it!" In a move to educate those darn thieving kids and their evil P2P file-sharing networks which are used to trade ripped movies, the MPAA has launched a public service campaign to explain, in layman's terms, why violating their copyrights is wrong. …Yes, these are the same people who have just brought us an entire summer of bloated sequels, shameless celebrity vehicles and uninspired hack-work. Respect!
posted by Down10 on Aug 3, 2003 - 81 comments

if you're in California you're undoubtedly aware of the bitter intrastate rivalry. if you're not here, now you can get caught up: Slowcal vs. NOcal
posted by donkeysuck on Oct 3, 2002 - 30 comments

It's the plot, stupid. USA Today runs their usual insightful commentary about the upcoming release of Lilo and Stitch. It obsesses over the absence of CGI graphics pointing to Atlantis as evidence for the failure of traditional animation to draw box office. Funny me, I thought that Atlantis bombed because of a plot better left in 50s serial format, a cast of sterotypes rather than characters, and no sense of humor beyind dirty French jokes repeated over and over again. And is huge success of Pixar due to their pioneering animation, or their brilliant comic talent? What causes FX myopia anyway? Granted I can understand why fanboys obsess over the wrong things in a movie. Do the studios set it up by trying to hype each new summer release as the next big technical development (while the artistic development gets trumped by Waking Life and Insomnia?)
posted by KirkJobSluder on Jun 18, 2002 - 7 comments

Cannes film sickens audience It proved so shocking that 250 people walked out, some needing medical attention. Good lord.
posted by Summer on May 26, 2002 - 21 comments

Has the Filthy Critic been reading been reading the NYTimes.com film forums? Probably a coincidence, but both notice a rather annoying trend. Present participle film titles. (referring to the "Kissing Jessica Stein" review by the Filthy Critic.)
posted by McBain on Mar 28, 2002 - 3 comments

Marketing the KKK? Is Tim Burton a racist or has his directing skills gotten so bad that movie critics are having to repent for previous words of kindness?
posted by kant breathe on Sep 6, 2001 - 24 comments

Jon Voight needs new management. Or maybe he just needs the money.
posted by donkeyschlong on Aug 1, 2001 - 10 comments

iPix Movies are cool interactive movies, you choose the angle you view while it is playing and you can turn to any angle, up, down, left, right and zoom. This is pretty wild but takes a broadband connection so if you are a dial up user, forget it. I want the little helicopter the camera is on, very cool.
posted by me myself and i on Apr 13, 2001 - 11 comments

Sure, you've seen Tie-Tanic, Troops and American Jedi, but is there room for another short spoof? Why yes, and I feel like I can watch them all day.
posted by plinth on Apr 10, 2001 - 3 comments

Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum whacks Pay It Forward. And I do mean whacks -- there's blood everywhere.
posted by highindustrial on Oct 20, 2000 - 18 comments

Dark Angel is a rip-off of Heinlein's Friday, which I completely agree with. Cameron has been successfully sued by Harlon Ellison before for blatantly ripping off his ideas. Then again the sci-fi word is a static world of either super-humans/machines/aliens/time-trave/alternate dimensions.
posted by skallas on Oct 19, 2000 - 13 comments