Category: media

“There were shocks and surprises – and even talk of a renegade jury – at the closing ceremony for the 69th Cannes film festival. Few of the perceived favourites picked up prizes, while some movies derided as turkeys triumphed – and the one-award-per-movie rule also appeared to have been torn up.”

“‘I thought, oh my God, what is this we’re hearing here?’ Ms. Shetterly said, recalling the moment a few years back when her father, a retired research scientist, casually mentioned Ms. Johnson’s life work. Her next thought: Why haven’t we heard about it before?”

“Inspired by the theories of Janusz Korczak, a Polish educator who understood children’s need for freedom of expression, Ms. Lockhart brought in a movement therapist, a theater director, a philosopher and a curator, among others, to hold creative workshops to help the girls develop their voices. Ms. Lockhart filmed them speaking intimately about topics she knew they valued.”

“Over the course of her 40 years in the gossip industry, Barrett became known as a ball-buster, an indefatigable reporter, and a legitimate pioneer. Her name has faded from national consciousness, yet her innovations remain: She was Barbara Walters and Nikki Finke and TMZ all rolled into one, and she did it first.”

Aziz Ansari “thanked the Peabodys for recognizing titles that other awards groups didn’t. ‘Let’s be honest: So many awards shows f— up,’ he said. ‘They don’t give people awards that probably should get awards and the Peabody is great because it seems like you guys actually watched all of our shit and decided it was good.”‘”

“A documentary feature must be released in L.A. County or the borough of Manhattan in New York City and play at least four times a day within a certain window of showtimes on those days. (This is to prevent someone potentially renting a theater to play to empty houses early in the morning or the middle of the night.) And a feature documentary must also get a review from a movie critic — ‘a television critic review will not be accepted,’ read the rules — in either the L.A. or N.Y. Times.”

“More than three years of dedicated devotion to The Angry Birds Movie is finally reaping rewards.” Thanks, Canada?

“[Guy] Brunet makes his own actors and builds his film sets from found cardboard boxes that he cuts and paints. He paints film posters on old architectural plans and other large paper scraps that he tapes together. He also writes his own screenplays, lends his voice to all the characters in his movies, and even draws the DVD covers for his films.”

Joshua Rothman: “The Good Wife has never just been a show about power; it has also been about knowledge and the ways it can change an argument, a court case, a life. … Alicia’s insistence upon the truth (for, it must be said, her own practical ends) was part of a larger debate, staged in the final episode, about the question ‘How much do you want to know?'”