122 posts tagged with films and movies (View popular tags)
Who watches The Watchmen? Kevin Smith has, Dave Gibbons has, Alan Moore won't (Gibbons hopes he'll watch the DVD), and if Fox has its way maybe YOU won't either.
posted on Aug 20, 2008 - View this thread
The top 100 films According to The Times (UK) Another film list? The same old Citizen Kane? No - this one’s different, says The Times’s chief film critic James Christopher
posted on May 2, 2008 - View this thread
Cliffhangers "In Focus" is an entertaining, well-written overview of the rise and decline of action serial movies of the 1930s and 40s. It also includes rundowns of many major serial films of the time. Several of these serials are now available online. Links to them are inside.
posted on Mar 26, 2008 - View this thread
Indiewire put out their second annual film critic's poll recently. There Will Be Blood tops the list, with Zodiac, No Country for Old Men, Syndromes and a Century, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days following behind.
posted on Dec 28, 2007 - View this thread
Fox Searchlight has made the screenplays to The Darjeeling Limited, Juno, The Namesake, Once, The Savages, and Waitress available online. Paramount Vantage has done the same for A Mighty Heart, Into the Wild, and Margot at the Wedding. (Note: All links are to pdf files.) (Via.)
posted on Dec 18, 2007 - View this thread
Alain Robbe-Grillet's La Belle Captive, Andrzej Zulawski's 'comedy,' My Nights Are Better Than Your Days, Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Seance, Masahiro Shinoda's Pale Flower, Seijun Suzuki's Tattooed Life and Kanto Wanderer, Lucio Fulci's House by the Cemetery, Kinji Fukasaku's Blackmail is my Life, If You Were Young: Rage and Legend of the Eight Samurai, five films by Takashi Miike, the entire Ring series, thirteen(!) Zatoichi sequels, and 500+ other movies, streaming, online, free and legal. (Some links, NSFW)
posted on Nov 26, 2007 - View this thread
Sequel to Guy Catches Sunglasses With Face It wasn't too long ago that we had a look at Guy Catches Sunglasses With Face. Here is the sequel, Bobbing For Glasses. Both videos are from artist Ben Kaller, who has worked on most of Spike Jonze' best stuff, among other things. His brother Jeremy Kaller is also a talented director, who recently released a a documentary about the progressive recycling scene in San Francisco.
posted on Jul 17, 2007 - View this thread
Crazy 4 Cult is a new exhibit coming to Gallery 1988, the Los Angeles art gallery that hosts the annual (and always great) IAm8Bit exhibit. Just as IAm8Bit uses videogames of the 1980s as the theme for the artists, Crazy 4 Cult is using Cult movies. For fun, the exhbit poster features a huge number of movie references - can you catch them all? Via.
posted on Jul 16, 2007 - View this thread
Top 50 Horror Movies This is one blogger's opinion of the Top 50 horror movies. There are some expected (Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist) and some unexpected (Return of the Living Dead 3, Interview with the Vampire) choices for the top horror movies.
posted on Jul 1, 2007 - View this thread
Forget the film, watch the titles is a collection of high quality streaming video versions of graphically well-designed title sequences from a number of movies, both famous & less well known, with the only prerequisite being amazing design. My favorite from the collection is this one, which is very similar to my favorite title sequence ever. For rabid Title Sequence enthusiasts with 20 minutes to spare, these YouTube clips contained edits of the top 25 best title sequences ever, (as chosen by the guy who put the clips together).
posted on Jun 24, 2007 - View this thread
Todd Alcott, a screenwriter and Livejournaller, just sat down and watched every Bond film from Dr No to Die Another Day.
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread
Mediocre Films consists of films which are... mediocre, hence the name. Night of the Zombie. Batty Bat-Bat. Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. Granted, it's not LG15 but I think that's what I like about it most. These short subject films are made by some guy named Greg, with help from other people whom you may have never heard of before. Occasionally they also feature a guy named Adam whom you might recognize but you may not be able to recall from where. It's funny. Well. I liked it. My girlfriend didn't. She said they were mediocre; to which I said, "exactly!" Sheesh. Women.
posted on Mar 10, 2007 - View this thread
"A Ninja Pays Half My Rent" (YouTube 5:23) A short film directed by Steven K. Tsuchida.
posted on Feb 12, 2007 - View this thread
Pan's Labyrinth the new movie by director Guillermo del Toro (Devil's Backbone) is a fairy tale for grownups. Certainly not a new idea, stories like Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia have elements that appeal to adults, but Pan's Labyrinth is perhaps unique in that it's not at all suitable for children.
posted on Jan 28, 2007 - View this thread
Essay by David Denby on the future of our predominant art form: the film. Via Arts & Letters Daily.
posted on Jan 11, 2007 - View this thread
A new iteration of the Fun Movie Quiz has been posted. For those unfamiliar, single frames from films are shown, and the users must guess what movie the image comes from. Previously.
posted on Jul 27, 2006 - View this thread
Three new ways of thinking about David Cronenberg (director of Videodrome, Dead Ringers, etc.). A documentary filmmaker, an avant-garde filmmaker, or maybe just a guy who looks at couples and probably wonders what they look like having sex. Kind of par for the course.
posted on Mar 20, 2006 - View this thread
She made movies. They were cheap, They were shot in her apartment. She didn't film in sound, and so, when characters spoke, rather than sync the sound, she often cut away to objects in the room, or the feet of those who were speaking.
Her films had titles like Nude on the Moon, Bad Girls Go to Hell, and Blaze Starr Goes Nudist.
She was Doris Wishman
posted on Mar 1, 2006 - View this thread
Fancy watching Star Wars? Foldsfive started and pushed forward the fantastic Pixelmash Experiment. Sit tight and also choose from The Empire Strike Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and now Ghostbusters. (via B3ta)
posted on Jan 6, 2006 - View this thread
Odd Films: Hungry for films on food? Pining for movies about dead pets? Can't get enough substance-abuse flicks? Perhaps you want to catch a glimpse of Elvis/Nixon/Nixon&Elvis? All these and many more are included in this somewhat crudely presented, but surprisingly comprehensive list of strange and/or indy cinema.
posted on Dec 10, 2005 - View this thread
The 25 Most Shocking Moments In Film History. Poop eating. Involuntary ear amputation. Shocking revelations. But did they forget any?
(Spoilers ahoy!)
posted on Oct 25, 2005 - View this thread
From Pitch to Premiere LA-based radio show The Business decided to track a film project from its earliest stages. Host Claude Brodesser began with an interview with the producer, the original screenwriter, and her agent, just after they had sold the project as a pitch.(RealAudio stream; interview starts at 11:08) Then he followed up with them as they were beginning their hunt for a director (RealAudio stream; interview starts at 2:51). And when they found a director, the director did an interview as well (RealAudio stream; interview starts at 9:20). It's an interesting look into how movies actually get made.
(Via John August, who is the current writer on the project.)
posted on May 5, 2005 - View this thread
Serenity The trailer online. This makes me soooo happy. I've been watching and re-watching the DVD set far too many times to be healthy.
posted on Apr 26, 2005 - View this thread
How do you say “Give me the bat, Wendy” in Italian?
posted on Mar 20, 2005 - View this thread
Cinema Therapy : I recently discovered that there is actually a field of study for something that I have long felt existed - a way to access blocked emotions and memories simply through movies. More info: Books, Newsletters, and an Index of films recommended by issues.
If movies can indeed "change the way we think and feel" for good, does this not lend credence to those who claim that movies contribute to negative behaviors ("inciting violence", "contaminating society's values") and even crimes? Or does the recognition of the good that films can do actually assist in the battle against those who blame films for negative influences? After all, "Courts do not award extra dollars to entertainers for the unforeseen positive byproducts of their work. Why penalize them for the less fortunate consequences of what they do?"
Have you ever felt a theraputic effect from seeing a film?
posted on Mar 11, 2005 - View this thread
Congratulations to the winner of this year's Sundance World Cinema Documentary Audience Award - The story of the Canadian general who, under the auspices of the United Nations, could only watch helplessly as the Rwandan genocide occured.
posted on Feb 1, 2005 - View this thread
filmaffinity.com looks like another useful tool to get recommendations for your viewing pleasure-once more of us start rating! It's in English and Spanish now (with more languages yet to come). Movielens seems promising as well. IMDb Pro looks cool too, though I haven't gone that far. However, this guy says beware!!
posted on Jan 30, 2005 - View this thread
Not another top 50 ! Movie deaths.
posted on Jan 25, 2005 - View this thread
xixax is a film community/bulletin board. In addition to forums for new films (released and rumored), stuff on DVD, and tech goodies for filmmakers, they've got director forums for Wes and PT Anderson, Scorsese, Lynch, the Coens, Soderbergh and many others.
posted on Dec 27, 2004 - View this thread
The American Film Institute, striving ever harder for relevancy, announces their latest movie list: 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, to be shown in June. Here's the list of 400 nominees [PDF]. What was unjustly left out? Let the debates begin!
posted on Nov 18, 2004 - View this thread
Michael Moore giving Farenheit 9/11 out for free October 26th to any participating independant video store. In other non related news, National Geographic calculates that 85% of young Americans cannot point out Iraq on a map.
posted on Oct 21, 2004 - View this thread
Screenhead: Funny web shit curated by Dong Resin. Also Jalopnik, concerning cars, and Kotaku, for gamers. All your vice are belong to Nick Denton. Dot com entrepreneurialism scaled to blog size seems to be working.
posted on Oct 4, 2004 - View this thread
With the DVD of Walking Tall hitting stores today, it might be nice to read the legend of the real sheriff Buford Pusser, six-feet and six-inches of Alabaman, two-by-four wielding, vigilante justice. Actually, it's not the first time this story's been told. The 1973 version of Walking Tall is now considered a classic (in some circles).
What's cool is that Alabama-bred country rockers Drive By Truckers have devoted not one, but two songs on their new album The Dirty South to debunking the myths surrounding this folk hero
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - View this thread
The evocation of dystopian space with contemporary settings. One of the many challenges faced by directors of low- or no-budget SF films is the convincing depiction of futuristic space, especially where it needs to appear oppressive or totalising. What are you to do, when you lack the wherewithal to create elaborate sets, and even the cheesiest CGI is well out of reach?
You use extant buildings and artifacts, and you crop carefully. But which ones? Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin County Civic Center appears particularly popular in this context: here it is in THX1138, and here in Gattaca - the latter a film which also featured the Citroen DS and Studi Avanti to precisely evocative effect. (What's so sinister about this poor building? In real life it's stunningly pretty.)
Jean-Luc Godard had a field day in Alphaville, with the anomic architecture of mid-60s, high modernist Paris, and again with the same sorts of mainframe installations Lucas relied so heavily upon in THX. Even (cough) Logan's Run found low-rent dystopia in various Dallas and Fort Worth settings, here Fort Worth's Water Gardens.
Maybe the poor Marin Center's a bit played out, huh? As an aid to future directors, then, let me ask you: What are some dystopic settings near you?
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - View this thread
After swearing off his (five-part) "Jersey Trilogy" forever with the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in 2001, Kevin Smith (already busy with Fletch Won and The Green Hornet has announced that View Askew is preparing a Clerks sequel, entitled Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks. The movie "is about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s."
Since many of us were among those the "lazy 20-somethings" that launched Smith's career, this raises a few questions, most of which are inside. The simple one, though, is this: Is anyone still buying what he's selling? For what it's worth, I am.
posted on Sep 1, 2004 - View this thread
Sure it looks just like just another promotional site for a movie, but then you realize that you can send phone messages from Hillary Duff. And sure, that seems lame at first but these are personalized messages that involve names and characteristics like "braces" or "big head." It really CAN be very amusing.
posted on Jul 15, 2004 - View this thread
Why I made that film. The Guardian gets the first interview with the unknown, female, 21-year-old American star of "the most explicit mainstream movie ever" (copyright all newspapers, everywhere).
posted on May 20, 2004 - View this thread
How the Left views the Right, as viewed by the Southern Baptist Press. “I don't get it,” said the movie critic, “the people aren't listening to us... don't all those unwashed cretins out there in flyover country understand that we're the ones who tell them what they can watch?”
posted on Mar 9, 2004 - View this thread
Iranian actress, Hedieh Tehrani, is one of the most popular stars who, unlike the previous actresses, usually portrays a strong and independent women in her works (See more). On the other side is Niki Karimi who once was the hottest actress in the country, showing a rather traditional image of the Iranian women. What is this change of taste telling about the Iranian society? See more stills from Iranian movies.
posted on Mar 8, 2004 - View this thread
the separate cinema archive has for almost three decades been the only source dedicated to the art and fascinating history of African Americans in film. The archive of over 25,000 movie posters, lobby cards, stills and material from over a dozen foreign countries, spans the past century of important historic black cinema.
posted on Feb 5, 2004 - View this thread
indieWIRE's Top 20 Undistributed Films and Film Threat's 10 Best/Worst Unseen Films of last year.
posted on Jan 7, 2004 - View this thread
Every year we seem to get a few horror or sci-fi movies featuring aliens. What happened this year? I may be missing some, but the only 2003 major release movies that had some aliens in them were Dreamcatcher, Good Boy! and Scary Movie 3. One horror movie and two comedies. Just a coincidence or are aliens no longer cool?
posted on Dec 30, 2003 - View this thread
Taking it public. Ethan Hawke is looking for investors for his new movie, "Billy Dead". For $8.75 a share of preferred stock (and only in blocks of 100 - ticker symbol "BILLY"), Hawke hopes to raise about US $7.3 Million through his broker, Civilian Capital. According to a consultant with Civilian, potential investors will be able to "invest in a film maker, a story or a star."
Is this ushering in a new golden age of public media ownership, or an age of increased corporate hegemony? Also, for what other artforms would you like to see such investment opportunites? Finally, in what directors/actors/storylines etc. would you like to invest?
posted on Nov 19, 2003 - View this thread
A normal person wouldn't steal pituitaries, and other actual Hong Kong film subtitles. T-shirts, too. How can you use my intestines as a gift?
posted on Oct 28, 2003 - View this thread
Another Top 100 films, but this is the product of Tv Cream and is more special (and I'd hazard closer to our opinions) than the usual lists. I won't give away the top film but if I mention that 'Psychomania', 'The Belles of St Trinians', 'The President's Analyst' and 'Time Bandits' are all in there you'll get the idea. Purposefully obscure at times? Sure. After all, there are still no places for 'Krush Groove' or 'Electric Dreams' ...
posted on Oct 4, 2003 - View this thread
Paging adrianhon ... Everyone's favorite soulless cubicle farm, Metacortex, now has a web presence. You can also visit their strategic ally Underscore Hosting, and even see a currently functionless homepage for their forthcoming Metadex product. In fact, you can even check the status of their Greek fabricated-island resort Aquapolis. Should you need to contact Metacortex or Underscore, their websites offer both e-mail and telephone numbers, both valid.
If the name Metacortex only rings a vague bell, it might help to recall their most, ah, celebrated ex-employee, Thomas Anderson. (more inside)
posted on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread
The Horror Channel A 24-hour, all-horror, uncensored, digital cable channel plans to be launched for Halloween 2004, with programming to include classic and contemporary movies, specials, documentaries and original series’ each season. CEO and founder Nicholas A. Psaltos (former Director of Acquisitions and Program Administration at Bravo Television Networks) hopes the new genre network will capitalize on the success of other genre channels like Comedy Central and The Sci-Fi Channel. Psaltos has even put together a creative advisory board of genre legends and newcomers including John Carpenter, Roger Corman, Wes Craven, Guillermo del Toro, Tobe Hooper, Stuart Gordon, Lucky McKee, Eli Roth, George Romero and Rob Zombie. Starting a TV network is risky business and The Horror Channel is petitioning horror fans to help with programming by providing a survey on their consumer website. (Via Rue Morgue)
posted on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread
This is not a love song - The new movie written by The Full Monty creator Simon Beaufoy distributed over the web. Though before you download you may want to read a review. The future of movie distribution?
posted on Sep 5, 2003 - View this thread
Critics Gone Wild. Rarely do entertainment journalists have as fine an occasion to cut loose and shower their barbs as the opening of Gigli: "I fought the urge to punch someone once it finally ended." Not that anyone's surprised! Enjoy, if you get a kick out of scalding prose.
posted on Aug 1, 2003 - View this thread
Watch this trailer and see if you can guess who made this movie. And if you check imdb, you'll also see that the one of the stars isn't shown or mentioned anywhere in the trailer or on the site. Interesting marketing tactic. I wonder if it will pay off.
posted on Aug 1, 2003 - View this thread
"V" -- a science-fiction allegory for World War II -- may return to television. NBC has commissioned a three-hour movie script from writer-director Kenneth Johnson (who was responsible for the excellent first miniseries, but not the second miniseries or the dreadful series) that promises "a metaphor for the new millennium." Will Johnson might tackle unilateralism and WMD? And might a letter-writing campaign be in order to encourage production?
posted on Jun 10, 2003 - View this thread
Here's a fine way to start a Thursday: pour a cup of joe, settle into your ergonomic chair, and enjoy 80s Ending, a funny little film by Douglas Jordan. Six minutes long, well worth the watch.
posted on Jun 5, 2003 - View this thread
Review on SF Site Here’s a question: what if the Wachowski brothers’ 1999 film The Matrix was not just an entertaining piece of sf-action-adventure hokum. What if, instead, it is all true? Imagine it as a message sent via the medium of the Matrix itself (Hollywood cinema) from someplace outside the Matrix, to wake us up to our human condition, to alert us all to the fact ‘that we are slaves’. If so, then we are not living the lives we thought we were living; we are instead inhabiting a virtual reality composed by oppressive machine-intelligences. What if this were literally true? How would it appear to us? Well, clearly, it would appear exactly as our lives presently appear to us. Unless we get ‘unplugged’, unless we become enlightened, we cannot see past the illusion that has been created for us.
What should we do in this circumstance? Should we collaborate with the machines and not rock the boat? Or should we fight, free ourselves and eventually free everybody else? Clearly, says The Matrix Warrior, this latter. This is a book that proceeds from the assumption that the situation described in The Matrix is real, and tells you where to go from there.
posted on Apr 20, 2003 - View this thread
Famous SPUN Cook Show
quicktime link:
High Bandwidth
and
Low Bandwidth
posted on Apr 7, 2003 - View this thread
Vertigo then and now is a collection of pictures from Vertigo, then and now. [via Scrubbles]
posted on Apr 5, 2003 - View this thread
The return of the Movietone? "We fell on this idea of recreating films that looked like and were the length of the old Movietone forms of the 1940s," said Marine Lt. Col. Jim Kuhn, military producer for the undertaking called the Movietone Newsreel Project. Kuhn says the objective is to put together a short film that combines the commentary of real-life soldiers with the kind of footage civilian journalists would be unable to get. (more inside)
posted on Mar 13, 2003 - View this thread
Posters of Toei Yakuza Movies.
posted on Mar 4, 2003 - View this thread
HULK SMASH!!! Now check out Hulk's wish list!! In advance of his upcoming summer movie, the Incredible Hulk has taken the time out of his busy smashing/crushing schedule to jump on the blog bandwagon. Note for the sarcasm impaired: Blog not actually written by The Incredible Hulk, who is, in fact, fictional.
posted on Feb 22, 2003 - View this thread
If you like movies, and you like to watch them on DVD, and appreciate in-depth, thoughtful analysis of various features on a particular DVD, then you need The DVD Journal. And nothing else.
posted on Feb 17, 2003 - View this thread
At the time of posting, Rotten Tomatoes has 1 'rotten' review and 76 'fresh' reviews for Peter Jackson's The Two Towers. I thought it was a superb film, but I hardly thought it would unite the critics like this. This has got to be one of the most universally praised films of all time!
posted on Dec 18, 2002 - View this thread
eddie bracken, 1940s slapstick comedian, passed on over the weekend. the star of hail the conquering hero and the controversial miracle of morgan's creek, bracken was often regarded as the onscreen alter ego of pioneering writer/director preston sturges. unfortunately, he correctly predicted that his appearance at film forum would be his last.
posted on Nov 20, 2002 - View this thread
The Son of God and Mexican wrestler El Santos team up to fight evil in Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter!
posted on Sep 19, 2002 - View this thread
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is still in theatres three months after its release. After seeing it last night I understand the hype and great word of mouth it continues to receive. Will Hollywood wake up and take notice?
posted on Sep 3, 2002 - View this thread
On The Road... coming to a theater near you (scroll down in link). Francis Ford Coppola is working on a film adaptation of Kerouac's classic (?), starring Brad Pitt. Genius? Heresy? I can see the Barnes & Noble tie-ins now...
posted on Aug 29, 2002 - View this thread
"I have been an accomplice to the murders of untold numbers of human beings..." One of Hollywood's most notorious screenwriters claims he and Hollywood are partly responsible for the cancer deaths of smokers. Doesn't Hollywood usually claim they are not responsible for their viewers' actions?
posted on Aug 9, 2002 - View this thread
British Film Institute Top Ten Poll for 2002 is out. Compiled every 10 years by the folks who publish the Sight and Sound magazine, it asks 145 critics and 108 directors for their top 10 films ever. Both top 10s are filled with the usual suspects - yes, we all know who always wins. It's more interesting to browse the full list of films voted for. Or read the individual top 10s and occasional comments by directors who voted, such as Michael Mann, Jim Jarmusch, and Roger Corman.
posted on Aug 9, 2002 - View this thread
Freddy vs. Jason. Batman vs. Superman. It seems Hollywood is done mining lame cartoons for movie fodder and has moved on to pitting tired franchises against each other. What's next? Hercule Poirot vs. Indiana Jones? (Actually, that'd be good.) Personally, I'd like to see Bugs Bunny vs. Sauron. We know who'd win that battle. What movie battles would you like to see?
posted on Aug 5, 2002 - View this thread
Don't watch this. Dreamworks is starting up the hype machine for their remake of the Japanese horror film Ringu (aka The Ring), and it looks like they're taking the A.I. route with it. The movie centers on a mysterious videotape that causes those who watch it to die seven days later. Websites are popping up all over the place that seem to connect to the 'mystery'. The first link up top goes to a flash teaser of the actual video from the film, but if you're brave, you can watch the whole thing at iFilm. I'm curious if this will indeed turn out to be an online game like the Evan Chan mystery from A.I., or just some better-than-average Web marketing for what looks to be a damn creepy movie.
posted on Jul 31, 2002 - View this thread
Every wonder why most Hollywood movies completely stink? It's 'cuz all the decent writers get put through the wringer like this guy, and give up. He hasn't given up yet, and does seem to at least be getting a lot of free Evian at the production companies pitches at.
posted on Jul 18, 2002 - View this thread
Director John Frankenheimer is dead. I don't want to make this out to be one of those "random celebrity dies and is suddenly hailed as a genius" things, but Frankenheimer's made quite a few damn good movies (and, yes, some bad ones). While his later works weren't nearly as great as some of his earlier films, his gift for filming action never went away: his 1998 film Ronin wound up on several lists of the "best car chases on film". He was supposed to helm the upcoming Exorcist prequel, but failing health forced him to step aside. Despite the dodgy source material, I would have really liked to see Frankenheimer's take on it. He'll be missed.
posted on Jul 6, 2002 - View this thread
The industry-standard effects magazine Cinefex has made some articles from their archives viewable online. One of them is this lengthy and fascinating look at E.T. from a 1983 issues.
posted on Jul 2, 2002 - View this thread
Spider-Man "too violent for kids" The British Board of Film Classification has given the Spider-Man film (which opens here in the UK today) a '12' certificate because of its violence, meaning no one under that age can see it. Some local authorities have exercised their power to reclassify it as a 'PG' to open it up to younger viewers.
The BBFC's argument runs that "The violence is set in a modern urban setting with a clear message that the use of violence is the normal and appropriate response when challenged." In fact, I'd say, the film suggests that an appropriate response when challenged is to put on an armoured exo-skeleton and fly around on a jey-powered glider. How can the BBFC not get the concept that this is a fantasy?
posted on Jun 14, 2002 - View this thread
Digital projection coming to a theater near you. "Lucas says the new format is cheaper and easier on viewers' eyes because it eliminates the pops and scratches from film wear and tear. He accuses the industry of resisting change the same way it snubbed talking pictures until "The Jazz Singer" signaled the end of the silent era."
Any other mefites planning on seeing Episode II at a DLP theater? [DLP theater list]
posted on May 14, 2002 - View this thread
French politicians polish cultural credentials. France's presidential hopefuls have begun pledging to defend the country's cherished culture, hoping to drum up support from artists worried that American films and music will steamroll finer French productions.
This rhetoric makes it sound like American films are picking up guns to massacre poor defenseless French culture. Maybe American films are so successful because they give people something that the "finer French productions" don't, and if so, then is that such a horrible thing? After all, we are just giving the people what they want, right? And if that takes money away from more artsy productions, then whose fault is that anyway?
posted on Apr 8, 2002 - View this thread
I was watching Charlie Rose this afternoon and to my delight, he was interviewing my old favorite James Garner. Since I was young, I've considered Mr. garner to be the walking epitome of cool. He's been Bret Maverick(twice!), Jim Rockford even God . I always conside Burt Reynolds to be an pale imitation of Garner. Don't tell me I'm the only Garnerite in MeFi land.
posted on Mar 27, 2002 - View this thread
Is President Bush Gay? (Answer: No, but he says "fabulous" a lot.) Is Billy Joel washed up? (NYT required) (Answer: Sounds like it.) Is Star Wars Episode Two any good? (Answer: Yes, beyond your wildest dreams.)
posted on Mar 18, 2002 - View this thread
Neo-Nazi movie reviews, because neo-Nazis need culture, too. It's not all slurs against Jewish and black people (although there is a lot of that); there's also deep cultural insight, like:
Here’s a nice addition to your movie memorabilia collection. Would that I had the spare £15,000 lying around. If you could owe one little piece of a favorite cult film, what would it be?
posted on Mar 12, 2002 - View this thread
Lord of the Rings sweeps Baftas It must be wierd for Peter Jackson to be working on the final two acts of his trilogy when the first part is winning awards. I think this is what can be termed 'pressure to perform'.
posted on Feb 24, 2002 - View this thread
Apple announced QuickTime 6 today with MPEG 4 support but refused to release it. Apple, along with other members of the Internet Streaming Media Alliance are not happy with the the MPEG-4 licensing scheme. And they have good reason, among other fees, the plan includes per minute charges for viewing content, with no maximum amount.
Is this the Moving Picture Experts Group and their licensing partners admitting that content will be worthless in 5 years? Is the financial future of the entertainment industry modeled on the utility companies?
posted on Feb 12, 2002 - View this thread
Jennifer Connelly Happy With Nude Scenes Hey, if she's happy, I'm happier. Actually, this is the happiest headline I have seen in a while.
posted on Jan 22, 2002 - View this thread
"We're fighting our own terrorist war," says Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America. David Rocci conters: "There's a huge difference in what people think copyright is and what the corporations think copyright is. I'm not so sure it's morally wrong for someone to go [see] 'Lord of the Rings' in the theater two or three times and then download it because they like it." (NYT link)
posted on Jan 17, 2002 - View this thread
So what are your Top Ten movies for 2001? The NYT's Elvis Mitchell cites "In The Mood For Love" as the best and David Kehr chooses "The Royal Tenenbaums." Then there's Roger Ebert who's #1 is "Monster's Ball" and Harry Knowles who picks, surprise surprise, "The Lord of the Rings."
posted on Jan 2, 2002 - View this thread
This year's Oscar race is shaping up to be populated entirely by dark horses. In the absence of any clear shoo-in nominees, the disputes among Oscar voters (as well as the marketing campaigns mounted by the studios) are growing increasingly heated.
posted on Dec 31, 2001 - View this thread
The real hero of "It's A Wonderful Life" as viewed through neo-conservative goggles.
posted on Dec 21, 2001 - View this thread
Christmas movies: I have noticed that Christmas movies, especially made-for-TV Christmas movies, come in two flavors: someone discovering the "true meaning of Christmas", or somebody saving Christmas. Sometimes the two are combined. Are there Christmas movies out there without these plots?
posted on Dec 18, 2001 - View this thread
The Godfather Mystery Goof is now solved. Thanks to Roger Ebert, Francis Ford Coopola, and Mike Spearns from Newfoundland.
posted on Dec 16, 2001 - View this thread
The Oracle of Bacon is prehaps the greatest waste of time ever. Go from Akira Kurasowa to Kevin Bacon in just three degrees of seperation.
posted on Dec 11, 2001 - View this thread
Is Amelie a racist tract? Yes, it paints a homogenous portrait of Paris, but it's also obviously a fairy tale. Jeunet's other films have had a similar cultural makeup yet were never decried as racist - but they were not this successful. Does the outrageous success of the film mean that it should be more representative of France? Should we demand a retroactive revision of a film's intent as it does more business?
posted on Dec 6, 2001 - View this thread
Real Cinephiles Prefer Reading "Cahiers du Cinema" to Going to the Movies: I stopped reading Cahiers du Cinema - the famously dogmatic French film journal where Godard, Truffaut, Resnais and Rohmer cut their teeth - a few years ago, when it got too arty-farty for its own good. Well, it's slowly becoming essential again. Their website is trés chic, intelectually challenging and a welcome antidote to the usual online movie-reviewing clowns. Or is it still a load of pretentious rubbish? (In French, but with a lovely intro, lots of cool stills and a Quicktime interview, in English, with underrated director Paul Verhoeven)
posted on Dec 5, 2001 - View this thread
Holy Torgo! When did this come out on DVD??? Manos: the Hands of Fate is the best movie ever made by a fertilizer salesman, which makes it one of the worst movies ever made (and therefore perhaps the best MST3K episode). If, like me, you are tired of waiting for the 30th Anniversary Edition of this "movie," be sure to read this fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the world of Torgo, with the movie's cinematographer and stunt coordinator (ha HA!) as your guides. ("ThE MASter wouLD't ap-p-pROVE of iT!")
posted on Dec 5, 2001 - View this thread
Channel 4 (in the UK)'s 100 Greatest Films of All Time. Star Wars at Number 1 - it's a great film, but is it really *that* great? This is not the only recent poll to place it there. (Sorry - the link's a little flaky at the moment - I'm sure they'll sort it out.)
posted on Nov 25, 2001 - View this thread
Escapism, Star Wars style - The new Star Wars Ep II trailer, "Mystery" is out there - not the 'breathing' teaser, but a longer one. It's supposed to be unlocked by EP I DVD owners only, but of course there are mirrors. Post others inside if you find them. Star Wars haters can just move along, there's plenty other news today.
posted on Nov 12, 2001 - View this thread
The Movie Spoiler is a good site that'll save you a few bucks. [Warning: It contains spoilers and does reveal movie endings.]
posted on Sep 4, 2001 - View this thread
Filmmakers let the Pentagon edit their scripts in exchange for rights to use government land and military equipment. Great article complete with hilarious "military mind" quotes. Need more government/pop culture collusion? N'SYNC is getting $800,000 in tax payer's money for an anti-drug campaign.
posted on Aug 31, 2001 - View this thread
Online petition to bring Spirited Away, Japan's currently largest grossing film, to thje states. Disney owns the domestic rights to all of Hayao Miyazaki's films (think Princess Mononoke) and has no plans to release Spirited Away.
posted on Aug 30, 2001 - View this thread
Daema kicks some serious ape butt The sequels to Pierre Boulle's original Planet of the Apes novel are, apparently, leaving something to be desired. Lets invent some and raise the tone, shall we?
Planet of the Jeeps: An astronaut lands on a planet and gets rammed in his Nissan Micra at an intersection by a Simian driving a Sport Utility Vehicle. Director Tim Burton gets slated by the critics - "Good Science Fiction should show us things we've never seen before".
posted on Aug 26, 2001 - View this thread
As the expression goes: what one person finds sexy is vulgar to another. This piece form the NY Times (you'll need $#%$#% password!) explores films that contain explicit sex, but have merit beyond their sex appeal. I think it’s refreshing that these directors are not afraid to unapologetically use sex as part of artistic filmmaking and interesting story telling.
posted on Jul 2, 2001 - View this thread
Disney's Atlantis ripped from the anime movie Nadia. Talk about role reversal (you see, a lot of anime creators style comes from trying to emulate Disney style in the early days of the genre) this site presents some interesting evidence that Disney's summer blockbuster is a complete copy of an earlier film released in 1990 in Japan.
posted on Jun 23, 2001 - View this thread
Studios are coming clean about TV testimonials consisting of actors. Messy quote: according to the Washington Post. Universal did so for U-571 TV spots, as did Artisan for Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and 20th Century Fox for Anna and the King. No! Not for Blair Witch 2!!!
posted on Jun 21, 2001 - View this thread
Spielberg bizarrely philosophizes during a press conference about playing god and technology "becoming our masters." I can't imagine 2 issues that couldn't take a bigger backseat to the most pressing concern of how government uses said technology. Steve, the bogeyman isn't The Matrix its Uncle Sam.
posted on Jun 19, 2001 - View this thread
Voices In My Head... Call me crazy, but I think casting "celebrity voices" in animated flix is counter-intuitive. Think back to the classic Disney movies - "Pinocchio" and "101 Dalmations" come to mind - and the fact that they regularly used professional voice-actors, not a cast of celebrities-du-jour. With the new trend in animated movies, I find myself picturing the celebrity doing the voice, not the animated character of the story. Quick - what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the movie "Aladdin?" Robin Williams as the Genie, I'd wager. Your thoughts on this weighty matter?
posted on May 18, 2001 - View this thread
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is being released in theaters this summer. "Come and see the violence inherent in the system! 'Elp, 'elp, I'm being repressed!"
posted on May 17, 2001 - View this thread
As noted earlier this month, there are slew of websites connected to Spielberg’s AI. As it turns out, they are all part of an intricate game that stands to last long after the movie comes out. That game is called “movie marketing,” albiet terribly engrossing marketing.
posted on Apr 30, 2001 - View this thread
Filming for Spiderman, the Movie, is underway and going on all this week at various spots in New York. Here are some set pictures of Peter Parker's house and shots of Spiderman saving a baby from a burning building. (clicking links will lead to spoiler pictures and a few plot summaries.)
posted on Apr 29, 2001 - View this thread
Center of the World , a new film by director Wayne Wong has a really immersive, erotic website. There seems to be an increasing number of film sites like these that don't just post the trailer and a film information but extend the viewers experience by actually making the site an extension of the film itself.
posted on Apr 24, 2001 - View this thread
Nice backgrounder for Hannibal. No spoilers.
posted on Feb 4, 2001 - View this thread
Tom Hanks = the Jimmy Stewart of our day? one of Salon's useful popular media pieces, but nothing you couldn't read on Sunday Arts section of the Times, such pieces being the Holy Ghost of Salon's Trinity (see inside for the Father and the Son)...
posted on Jan 12, 2001 - View this thread
A modern Dr Bowdler... (yeah, I know it's Salon, but...) A video-rental store in Utah offers "cleaned up" versions of modern films. First thought: is it legal? Post-DeCSS, one would think not: after all, the MPAA has done its best to protect its right to control the manner of reproduction. But are the studios not jumping to litigate, because they're happier to alienate Linux users with DVD drives than the LDS contingent in UT?
posted on Jan 11, 2001 - View this thread
Not a terribly serious topic, but I saw the Grinch movie on the weekend and hated it savagely. Just deplored it from beginning to end. And as time has passed and I've thought more about my extreme reaction, I've grown to hate it even more. This dude at Entertainment Weekly makes a pretty good case for why this blockbuster is a big chunk o' crap. Thoughts?
P.S. I did see Quills last night however, and it was amazing.
posted on Nov 29, 2000 - View this thread
With all the recent MeFi Flash-trashing and usability-ranting in mind, I am just now getting around to the viewing the website for Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (Flash required). Aronofsky defends the site in a brief interview with the online version of print mag Entertainment Weekly. It certainly could be classified as annoying, but then, that appears to be Aronofsky's point. Coming from anyone less talented than he, I'd say it was just posturing; here, I'm not sure...
posted on Nov 27, 2000 - View this thread
Can a sequel be so bad that it could stop studios from producing them? Are remakes ever justified? Do we even want to stop the what mutations appear outside of the movies? All this as we may experience the most horrid sequel of all!
posted on Nov 9, 2000 - View this thread
Scour goes bankrupt. Where am I going to get my copy of X-Men the movie now? Don't tell me I have to dust off my FTP client!
posted on Oct 13, 2000 - View this thread
Potential Spoiler Warning: If you're the sort who believes discussing a film before seeing it spoils it, please do not participate in this thread. Seen it yet? What'd ya think? Haven't seen it? Why or why not? I almost wasn't. till I heard Singer spoke with Stan Lee about what inspired X-Men and what makes it really tick. I'll see it tomorrow. Willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
posted on Jul 21, 2000 - View this thread
Three words: Charlie's Angels Trailer. This looks pretty funny, especially with Bill Murray involved. I guess the real question this movie raises is "are the re-makes of yesteryear successes going to continue in the 00's?" Personally, I thought it was a 90's thing, which I often call the "recycled decade." Side question: why don't the angels have guns in the ending silhouette? Is that because of the current anti-gun climate? [thanks Kristin]
posted on Jun 23, 2000 - View this thread
Reel.com is dead. Anyone care to speculate why they failed?
posted on Jun 12, 2000 - View this thread
The future of filmmaking? These guys shot a short film, and posted it on the web. Most importantly (to me) it's downloadable and not streamed which retains the quality of the filmmakers work without hackin' the heck out of it with Real and Windows...
posted on Jun 7, 2000 - View this thread
The next wave in Internet Advertising in the post Blair-Witch era.
posted on May 12, 2000 - View this thread
This article describes what is purportedly the world's first "100% motion capture animated feature" -- and in none too glowing terms, I might add.
posted on May 4, 2000 - View this thread
Parker Posey - Pussycat
She's going to be Alexandra in the live action Josey and the Pussycats with Rachel Leigh Cook. I'm not sure how I feel about a live action JatP, but Parker Posey is a fun choice.
posted on Mar 30, 2000 - View this thread
If you're in or around LA this weekend, you might want to check out all the academy award nominated documentary films being screened at the Director's Guild theater.
posted on Mar 23, 2000 - View this thread
This year's list of Oscar nominees seems way, way off. But here's my big five predictions given their lame choices (along with my personal faves if I could choose anything): best pic: American Beauty (Magnolia), Actor: Denzel Washington (John Malkovich), Actress: Hilary Swank (same), Supporting Actor: Tom Cruise (Philip Hoffman), and Supporting Actress: Angelina Jolie (same, she was amazing).
posted on Feb 15, 2000 - View this thread
