Category: media

“I’m going to set aside the question of ‘Slumdog’s’ cinematic merits (which I and many film critics worldwide agree are numerous) and focus on the charge that has been popping up on a number of blogs: that the movie is ‘poverty porn.’ As I understand it, this accusation boils down to three issues, all of which have misconstrued the nature of art.”

“The prognosis for the medical facility depicted for the past 45 years on ABC’s ‘General Hospital’ isn’t good. The daytime soap’s long-standing hospital set is flat-lining as part of an explosive story line. Following a fiery crisis, producers plan to construct a totally new interior.” Happily for the hospital’s fundraisers, “the wealthy Quartermaine family will donate the cash necessary for the hospital’s plastic surgery.”

“The motion picture industry’s record-setting month at the box office may have cost it $246 million in tax breaks, as the Senate on Tuesday stripped a provision from the economic stimulus bill that critics derided as an unnecessary Hollywood bailout. In denying the tax breaks on new film projects, senators cited the $1.03-billion haul from movie ticket sales in January, a 19% year-over-year increase,” though the Motion Picture Assn. of America argues that the reality isn’t so rosy.

“After the 3-D commercial triumphs of 2008 – among them the Hannah Montana concert film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Bolt – Hollywood is readying more than a dozen 3-D titles for release in 2009, not all kiddie fare.”

“Disney and Time Warner were hot companies in the nineties. Now they are being overshadowed by newer ones like Amazon and Google. Part of the reason is that those companies have a better idea where the media business is headed in the digital age. How much are their CEOs paid? Nowhere close to the old media guys.”

“In the latest stunning twist in the SAG saga, the guild and the congloms have delayed the relaunch of their contract talks because guild prexy Alan Rosenberg is going to court today to demand the reinstatement of ousted national exec director Doug Allen.”

“Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Medical School looked at the media habits of 4,142 healthy adolescents and calculated that each additional hour of TV watched per day boosted the odds of becoming depressed by 8%. Other forms of media, such as playing computer games and watching videos, didn’t affect the risk of depression, according to the study published in the Archives of General Psychology.”

“Some of Hollywood’s most prominent players — including several with films in this year’s race — are privately grumbling that the rituals of Oscar night have outlived any real sense of excitement about the event. After the American audience for last year’s Oscar show hit an all-time low of about 32 million viewers, ABC cut its rate for a 30-second ad on this year’s broadcast to $1.4 million from $1.7 million, according to Advertising Age.”

“An Italian woman filed a lawsuit on Friday claiming the 13-time Oscar-nominated film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on a short story she wrote in 1994 called ‘Il ritorno di Arthur all’innocenza’ (Arthur’s Return to Innocence).”

Audiences have become more demanding, acclimated to dramas that tell multifaceted stories. The uncomfortable corollary is that popular series can quickly unravel under the weight of missteps