Category: media

Ken Russell, pondering the imminent release of the film version of Ian McEwan’s “Atonement” and looking back on the books he’s turned into movies, writes: “There’s no formula and no guarantee. There are a million more ways an adaptation can go wrong than right. … At heart, the two forms, movie and book, are irreconcilable.”

“In what could be an exciting new development in New York radio, the listener-supported station WFUV (90.7 FM) will use a $500,000 grant to run an alternative rock station targeted at young listeners in their 20s and 30s,” and featuring local bands. “New York has long been a radio anomaly. It’s home to one of the world’s biggest and most influential music scenes, yet no major radio stations exist to support it.”

“As anyone who has been within shrieking distance of a sixth grader during the past year knows, ‘High School Musical’ is more than a movie. It’s a crucial way station on the developmental road between ‘Powerpuff Girls’ and ‘Mean Girls.'”

“In barely two weeks, a rat has managed to seduce the French and convince them that perhaps not all Americans are gastronomic louts, and that there might be hope yet for bridging the transatlantic cultural divide. ‘Ratatouille,’ the animated Hollywood movie starring a rat who overcomes all odds to become a chef in a venerable Paris restaurant, is defying stiff odds itself. Its Aug. 1 premiere in France drew the fourth-highest opening day attendance in French movie history.”

A large fire burned through part of Rome’s famous movie studios. “The studios, which celebrated their 70th anniversary in April, were created by Italy’s wartime Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. But they became most famous as a symbol of the country’s postwar rebirth and were closely associated with the work of the flamboyant and iconoclastic director Federico Fellini.”

“True, all the big tentpoles have been released already, a lot of sequels sank, most of the pics faded faster than expected, and these numbers aren’t adjusted for ticket prices or inflation. Nor can summer 2007 touch record-setting summer 2002 for most tickets sold. But there were so many blockbusters crowded in weekend after weekend that summer 2007 looks good to set a new Hollywood record by Monday, September 3rd.”

Most kids say they download illegally because “everyone” is doing it. “Other excuses included: the download is for personal and private purposes; the Web sites presumably remunerate the artists; claims of harm inflicted on artists lack credibility; and DVDs and CDs are simply too expensive.”

Novelist and short-story writer Amy Bloom has gone Hollywood, creating and scripting a Lifetime series about therapists in a New Haven group practice. “She turned to what she knew, which included more than 20 years as a therapist (she has a master’s degree in social work) in a group psychotherapy practice in Middletown, Conn. … Ms. Bloom, 54, said goodbye in May to her writing students at Yale, found a small apartment in West Hollywood….”

Ten years ago, the movie musical was dead and buried, according to everyone in the know. “Conventional wisdom suggested that musicals were appealing to a niche audience, that mass audiences no longer could stomach people breaking into song.” Now, musicals are once again big box office business, and the industry is poised to take full advantage.

New Line Cinema just released its biggest hit of the year, but the bigger picture is grim. “Though New Line made a big fuss celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the studio has been mired in a horrific slump… Relations have been rocky with parent company Time Warner, which many people believe is eager to turn New Line into a less autonomous production entity. For now, the studio ranks last in box-office revenue among all majors.”