Category: media

Is the traditional TV sitcom dead? Dome think so, and there hasn’t been a breakout hit now for a few seasons. So how do you reinvent the form? Or is it more a problem of writing?

Independent film is a serious genre in the marketplace these days. “But what does “indie” really mean – assuming it means anything at all in this age of globalized mass media? Opinions are varied, as are the movies grouped in its ever larger tent.” Is it a movie made outside the studio system? Or is it a “style” of filmmaking?

Australian films accounted for just 1.3% of the country’s gross movie revenues last year, even as the total Australian box office take rose 5%, sparking fears that the local film industry is in serious danger of collapse. “The highest-grossing Australian film was the Paul Hogan-Michael Caton comedy Strange Bedfellows which took $4.8million and the critically acclaimed drama Somersault with $2million. In comparison, Shrek 2 took $50million. American films were even more dominant than in the previous year, taking $780million or more than 85 per cent of box office.”

Movie ticket sales have been down in the Canadian province of Ontario. So Famous Players, the largest movie chain, is lopping off $4 from the cost of tickets. “Starting tomorrow, cinephiles will shell out $9.95, rather than the usual $13.95 for general admission, as part of a marketing ploy to lure warm bodies out of their homes and into the stadium-style seats.”

So what’s the buzz on Sundance at the halfway point? Ho-hum. “This is not to say that the 21st incarnation of Robert Redford’s independent baby hasn’t had its moments — the biggest thus far being Craig Brewer’s gritty urban drama “Hustle & Flow” — but the first half of the festival has been marked more by tame audience reactions and subdued wheeling and dealing than buzz, with films drawing more shrugs than love.”

Margaret Spellings, America’s new Secretary of Education, has denounced PBS for “spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles. The not-yet-aired episode of “Postcards From Buster” shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont — a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring. A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network had decided not to distribute the episode, called “Sugartime!” to its 349 stations.”

Even though PBS president Pat Mitchell viewed the episode of Postcards From Buster and called it appropriate, the network pulled it from the schedule after education secretary Margaret Spellings criticized it for portraying lesbian characters.

“Murdered director Theo van Gogh’s controversial film Submission has been pulled from the Rotterdam Film Festival because of security fears. It was one of three of his works to be shown as part of a freedom of expression event in tribute to the late film-maker’s life.”

“It’s a funny thing, but today’s movie studios are no longer in the Oscar business. If there’s one common thread among this year’s five best picture nominees, it’s that they were largely financed by outside investors. Most of the nominees aren’t even classic outside-the-system indie movies. They’re artistic gambles financed by entrepreneurs. If you want serious cash on the barrelhead for an Oscar picture today, you have to find yourself a cinematic sugar daddy willing to foot the bill.”

So where are the movie studios at Oscar time, asks Kenneth Turan? Off making money with the kids. “To see how completely the studios have abandoned the adult audience — for what are Oscar-type films, if not films made with those people in mind — just look at the origins of the five pictures with the most nominations. For the reality is that none of them have any but the most tangential relationships to the majors, if they have any relationship at all.”