Category: media

Time Warner’s throwing ABC off its cable system in dozens of cities a few weeks ago ranks as one of the all-time stupidist corporate decisions. “What the company said, at a time when people everywhere expect to be able to get what they want when they want it, was, We won’t let you have it, if it doesn’t suit our corporate agenda. Disney took out ads in the papers, offering free installation of satellite television to Time Warner cable systems customers. Over twenty-five thousand Time Warner customers took them up on the offer. – New York Press 05/22/00

Movie names sound so much alike these days, how to keep them straight? “Was ‘American Psycho’ the sequel to ‘American Beauty’? Was ‘Waking the Dead’ the follow-up to ‘Bringing Out the Dead’? – Philadelphia Inquirer (Entertainment News Service) 05/21/00

This year audiences at Cannes have sat through a phalanx of French films and a good sampling of the best Asia has to offer. And from Hollywood? Flops and second raters. “Cannes is in crisis. The Hollywood studios prefer to advertise their films here rather than show them, and nobody seems to know where the festival is headed.” – The Sunday Times (UK) 05/21/00

Not a lot of consensus about the offerings at Cannes this year except for this: many of the films are too long. “It’s like that old joke, I didn’t have time to write a short speech, so I wrote a long speech,” filmmaker Brian de Palma said here last week, commenting on the increasing length of movies. “If you’re not sure what you want to say, it takes longer to say it.” – National Post (Canada) 05/19/00

Time Warner chairman Gerald Levin announced at Thursday’s annual shareholders meeting that he has reached an agreement with Walt Disney Co. that should end the dispute between the two companies over program transmission on Disney-owned networks. – New York Times 05/19/00 

Sega’s soon-to-be-released video game “Shenmue,” has been in production for 6 years and cost millions to design. But will it turn any heads in the art world? “There is no real concept of the video game artist, and hence no one to wax pretentious about their work. Games will at some point become more a point for artists to gather about and discuss in the way that they now make work relating to film and cinema.” – The Times (UK) 05/19/00

Asian and Middle Eastern films are making a particularly strong showing at Cannes this year, with several vying for the Palme d’Or. – BBC 05/18/00

Blockbuster Video has refused to promote the video release of Oscar winner “American Beauty” and is hiding the majority of its copies behind its store counters to protest DreamWorks’ refusal to meet proposed revenue-sharing terms. But resourceful customers are already flocking to other chain stores to get the film. – Variety 05/18/00

A burgeoning number of web sites that showcase short movies – like ifilm.com, atomfilms.com, and Spielberg’s pop.com – are helping unknown first-time filmmakers reach Hollywood. Forty-eight hours after two novice filmmakers aired their nine-minute film “Sunday’s Game” on the web, Hollywood execs and producers started calling. “I don’t think our ideas are any better than they were six months ago, but now people are listening.” – The Age (Melbourne) 05/18/00

No need for a cast of thousands for today’s blockbusters. Just push a button and the computer fills in the crowds. But is something artistic being lost? “Is this wizardry being used promiscuously, or is it just a new color on the special-effects palette that audiences will learn to accept, much as they accept the painted backgrounds of Rome in movies such as Ben-Hur?”– Philadelphia Inquirer 05/18/00