Category: media

“It’s an annual rite to comment on the increasing weirdness of the Academy Awards, which have seen a lot of upsets in recent years. Neither the Golden Globes nor the Director’s Guild are the reliable Oscar bellwethers of old. But this year seems even stranger than usual.”

“There is a species of movie buff so invested in the cinematic illusion that they actually care when a clock in one shot that reads 3:15 is preceded by a shot in which the same clock reads 3:20. A subset of this subculture is made up of another time-obsessed group, anachronism spotters. “Far from Heaven,” they are quick to point out, may take place in 1958, but the Tupperware Julianne Moore uses in it wasn’t made until four years later…”

Most publications top off movie reviews with a star rating. “Every reviewer I know hates the fiendish things, for the same reasons readers, editors, and publicists like them. Star ratings boil down critical analysis – the careful weighing of pro and con, the appreciation for the nuances of camerawork and performance, the baited hook of scorn – into a snap judgment that can be instantly grokked by a harried parent or slapped across a two-page ad spread. Gripe though critics may, unless we’re one of the dainty pashas at The New York Times or The New Yorker, the stars – or some system of dingbats like them – are a fact of the workplace, like spam or carpal tunnel.”

Ever wonder how the movie critics see movies? In luxury and comfort, right? “A tuxedo-clad greeter checks your coat, offers a hot towel, and escorts you to your enormous, plush red seat. Beautiful women in flowing gowns roam the aisles, offering Belgian-chocolate covered popcorn, warm spiced apple cider with top-shelf rum, foie gras hot dogs, and an assortment of light meals flown in from L.A.’s The Ivy–all for free. There is a cigar bar in the back, just under the projector, where single malt scotch flows like the ocean in ‘Waterworld.’ A direct line to Harvey Weinstein is always open and celebrities wander in and out, happy to answer any questions reviewers may have.” Not!

The movie industry, taking a cue from the success of the music industry’s hardline efforts to curb illegal copying and distribution, is lobbying for tougher laws against videotaping of films inside of movie theaters. “Offenders caught during the latest crackdown in Ohio could face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The penalty in Michigan, by contrast, is up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.”

“Ararat, the film by Toronto-based Atom Egoyan about the genocide of Armenians at the time of the First World War, can be shown in Turkey but at least one scene will be cut, a Turkish culture ministry official said yesterday. The film by Egoyan, a Canadian of Armenian heritage, tells of the plight of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey when a 1915-23 campaign to force them from the eastern part of the country left as many as 1.5 million dead. Turkey says the figures are inflated and that Armenians died during civil unrest and not as the result of a planned campaign.”

It is because women directors usually have such a difficult time getting movies made that it is worth noting that 2003 has been a good year for women directors…

CBS denies it paid Jackson for his 60 Minutes interview Sunday. But a Michael Jackson associate said that “in renewed negotiations, CBS agreed to pay another $1 million to the star to grant the interview so that the network could finally broadcast its entertainment special. It is now scheduled to be broadcast on Friday evening. ‘In essence they paid him, but they didn’t pay him out of the `60 Minutes’ budget; they paid him from the entertainment budget, and CBS just shifts around the money internally. That way `60 Minutes’ can say `60 Minutes’ didn’t pay for the interview’.”