Category: media

“Catherine Breillat is probably better known in mainstream media for the controversies that surround her often sexually explicit films, as opposed to the more subtle, cerebral details of her work celebrated by serious critics and cineastes.” But her latest film represents a departure from the norm, and reflects the tumult that has been the filmmaker’s life in recent years.

The new Batman movie is set to shatter multiple box office records this week. “The Dark Knight, which opened last weekend to a record $158.4 million and piled up big numbers all week, could add on $75 million or more this weekend.”

“This week, Roeper and Roger Ebert both left the show, whose format has survived since its beginning on public television in 1975 to its latest incarnation through Disney-ABC Domestic Television, with Roeper hosting with a rotating partner in Ebert’s health-related absence.”

“To a man who in his prime won Academy Award after Academy Award, and whose CV includes such modern classics as Shakespeare In Love, The English Patient and Pulp Fiction, that is quite a comedown. Yet Harvey Weinstein is no ordinary film mogul. This week, in defiant mode, he went on a PR offensive, claiming that malicious rumours about the alleged demise of his Weinstein Company were being gleefully exaggerated by jealous former rivals.”

In a move that could have a big impact on indie film sales and distribution, online film rental service Netflix is shuttering its film financing and acquisition arm Red Envelope Entertainment.

“More than 30 actors dissatisfied with stalled contract talks said Wednesday they have joined to campaign for seats on the Screen Actors Guild’s board of directors, a move that could eventually break the stalemate with Hollywood studios.”

“The deal to take Clear Channel Communications Inc. private, disclosed 20 months ago, has been the subject of a lot of static from rankled shareholders, company officials, and lenders. Delayed and downsized, the $17.9 billion deal for the nation’s largest owner of radio stations and a global power in billboards will finally close a week from today if shareholders approve the $36-per-share offer tomorrow.”

The network seems a mite discombobulated heading into the fall season. At a major press tour, “NBC played clips of series it says were not complete, and certainly not ready to ship to critics. One series… showed clips that the executive producer suggested might be reshot at a later date.”

Ben Lyons of E! Entertainment Television and Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies have been named to replace Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert on At The Movies. Ebert and Roeper “each announced [Monday] they were disassociating themselves from the movie-review program citing changes Disney planned to make to the long-running series.”

“Though an intrepid A-section reporter might be able to turn up names, ranks and serial numbers by pushing sources and insisting everything be said on the record, in proper English and for attribution, I’ll never accomplish all that with the crazy stuff on boards.”