Category: media

Rex Reed has had it with the new generation of supposedly brilliant young filmmakers, a “group of anarchists that includes Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze, freaky Todd Solondz and the dismally overrated non-writer Charlie Kaufman, who wins critical praise for writing incoherent movies about why he can’t write coherent movies.” The movies made by such arrogant youngsters are something of the Hollywood equivalent of the Washington politician who gets branded early on as a whiz kid, and spends the rest of his career insisting that he’s the smartest one in the room, rather than actually doing anything to justify the label.

This year, the Federal Communications Commission has devoted an astonishing amount of energy to targeting and punishing radio stations which violate the commission’s “decency” standards. So why is it that Spanish language stations are free to say whatever they wish, regardless of how vulgar it may be? It’s simple: the FCC “employs only two Spanish-speaking investigators to deal with 705 Spanish radio and TV outlets in the United States.”

“Starting next week, when Bob Edwards, the longtime host of National Public Radio’s ‘Morning Edition,’ returns to the radio, he will be heard not over the air on the FM band, but on the $10-a-month XM Satellite Radio service… But for most of the public radio establishment, Edwards’s new gig is a harsh reminder that the future of public radio is very much in flux. If listeners prove willing to pay for satellite radio, much as viewers decided a generation ago to shell out for cable TV, then NPR and other programming providers will be sorely tempted to follow the money.”

What has made the Toronto International Film Festival such a major event, while other large fests remain decidedly second-tier? “Over the years, Toronto has become a kind of Canadian Cannes equivalent for North American journalists and moviegoers. It’s a great, awesomely packed film soiree that brings together movies, moviemakers, critics, reporters and audiences for a contemporary world film smorgasbord. It’s also a more accessible festival. Cannes, the queen of the fest circuit, is a professional festival that doesn’t sell tickets to the public. Toronto does — and it also allows the paying audiences to choose their most important prize.”

The San Sebastián International Film Festival made its name with a willingness to push the envelope and present works at which more prominent fests turn up their nose. But with reputation comes commercial viability, and Hollywood has begun to “discover” San Sebastián. The result, say observers, is a decided uptick in the festival’s glitter factor, and a noticable downplaying of the feistiness for which it is known. Still, San Sebastián continues to fill a unique role in the development of new and innovative film artists, and no amount of Hollywood involvement seems likely to change that overarching mission.

Most critics agree that HBO has raised the bar for quality television in recent years, and a slew of awards back up the theory. But how did a pay-TV network created to show commercial-free movies become the official breeding ground for groundbreaking original shows? And more importantly, how long can its place at the top of the heap last, given the industry’s notorious habit of copycatting?

Hollywood may be giving conservatives fits these days, but the new energy amongst filmmakers is downright inspiring to critics, who haven’t seen such a sense of commitment to the importance of the medium since the Vietnam era. “With rare exceptions, movies in the post-Vietnam and post-Watergate era have been dominated by the ‘me’ ethic, concerned more about individual struggles than global ones. When filmmakers have dared to tackle broader social concerns, outside of straight documentaries, they more often than not have done so through the use of symbols or allegory or other distancing devices. God forbid you should actually say what you mean, or wave a fist in somebody’s face.”

Nearly everyone claims to want better television and less sex and violence (especially parents), and in the mid-1990s, the protestations hit such a fever pitch that Congress mandated the creation and installation of a controllable “V-chip” that can block objectionable programs in all new TV sets by the year 2000. Nearly five years after the law took effect, a study shows that an underwhelming 15% of parents actually use the chip, even though the outrage over programming continues unabated. Interestingly, the same study revealed that most parents who want program content policed don’t see any need to regulate the advertising aimed at children.

The FCC’s decision to fine CBS a record $550,000 is getting plenty of press. In fact, it’s such a hot topic that if you didn’t know better, you’d assume that the fine actually heralded some sort of substantive change. But surveys show that a vast majority of Americans couldn’t care less that Janet Jackson’s breast got a second of airtime, and are far more concerned about the overall quality level of TV than they are about tightening the decency screws. Still, in the months following the Super Bowl flap, 5-second delays abound and some Hollywood producers are complaining that their shows are being sanitized.