Category: media

With “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and the remake of “The Manchurian Candidate,” it has been a summer of political relevance at the multiplex. But will any of that have an impact on the presidential election? Not likely, Jon Margolis contends. “Let’s face it, the number of times a movie has altered public opinion on any issue can be counted on the fingers of no hands.”

Miramax has cut 13 percent of its employees. “The company said it is laying off 65 staffers because it had too large a staff given that its output has shrunk. This is not a reflection on anyone’s performance, it was simply an effort to bring our staff levels in line with a smaller release slate’.”

A new Korean study finds that “regions near AM radio-broadcasting towers had 70 percent more leukemia deaths than those without. The study also found that cancer deaths were 29 percent higher near such transmitters. Two years ago an Italian study found death rates from leukemia increased dramatically for residents living within two miles of Vatican Radio’s powerful array of transmitters in Rome.”

What’s a movie critic to do when he/she is reviewing a film with a strongly political slant? Should the critic’s political bias be prominent in the review? “The question of a critic’s bias is especially controversial with feature-film documentaries, which are not bound to reflect both sides of an issue; but even many works of fiction get assessed on the correctness of their worldview as much as on the quality of their aesthetics.”

In south Florida, pirate radio – unregulated stations – have become popular, especially in ethnic communities. “Renegade radio operators have become successful through personal relationships with immigrant small-business owners and concert promoters. ‘The Haitian population has a lot of small business. Their ad budgets are not as large as those of corporations. Corporations will not be attracted to the underground stations.”

What will the sale of the small classical music station WCAL to Minnesota Public Radio mean? “WCAL is no ordinary radio station, even among its classical genre peers. With WCAL in the house you can wake up to the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet one day and duo harpists the next. Hosts explain and present bassoon concertos and string quartets, early music and contemporary, lute solos and choral works (whole pieces, not just snippets!) — and feature performers as varied as the Estonian National Male Choir and Yo-Yo Ma. This freshness comes from a commitment to taking programming risks, and they have the talent to pull it off.”

The new Alien Versus Predator movie is about as critic-proof as it gets; sci-fi fans have been anticipating the movie for a long time. So why did the movie studio not allow critics to see the movie before it opened today? This tactic is usually only used when a film is so bad, the critical word will sink it… Instead, banning the critics ensured AVP would be the subject of stories around America with critics speculating on how bad it must be.

“TV Networks love their clip shows, those pastiches of film and TV footage that are wrapped up into programs in their own right, sometimes with a nostalgic spin, sometimes with a more current-events-oriented one. It’s a genre that has proved to be as addictive as it is unchallenging. And it’s yet more evidence that, while TV might not rot your brain, it certainly can massage it by playing to our celebrity and mass-media obsessions, occasionally mocking them and inviting us to mock along.”

What do movies cost to make? The short answer is that nobody but the studios know for sure. But reporting movie budgets is a hot sport. “Today’s budget reporting is truth-or-dare journalism, shaped by constant manipulation and gamesmanship. The issue has become a sore subject because it reinforces the most negative stereotypes about journalists and film execs — that the former are inaccurate and the latter are liars.”

The UK film industry has been operating at record levels. “During 2003 the industry boasted record levels of production spending, with £1.16bn spent making 173 features in, or involving, the UK. And the industry now employs 57,429 people – a whopping 77% increase in the past 10 years.” But some are warning that this boom could bust, like many booms before…