Category: media

“A debate over whether Zoe Saldana is the right actress to star in a biopic of Nina Simone, the black singer, pianist and civil rights activist, has been reignited after a poster and trailer of the movie were unveiled online this week and a message from a Twitter account belonging to representatives of Ms. Simone’s estate attacked the actress.”

“Surely liberal and leftwing artists won’t be able to resist pointing out the monsterish qualities of Trump? We have, after all, already had the appearance of HP Lovecraft’s terrifying monster Cthulhu, who is apparently running for office, in a pulp-horror parody of America’s nightmare scenario.”

“Miramax, one of Hollywood’s best-known independent film and television labels, was acquired by the beIN Media Group, a sports and media company headed by the Qatari executive Nasser Al-Khelaifi.”

“Four of the six major studios posted profits exceeding $1 billion for the calendar year, based on newly released numbers, though only three managed to grow their bottom lines.”

“Before traveling to the United States for the Academy Awards ceremony, Ms. Obaid-Chinoy screened A Girl in the River at the official residence of Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif … [who later] announced that his government was ‘in the process of legislating to stop such brutal and inhumane acts in the name of honor.'”

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, director of A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, explains how the subject of her film came to be shot in the face and hand, put in a bag and thrown into a river; how she survived, and what she was coerced into doing afterward.

For better or for worse, the Oscars still stand apart from the year’s other awards ceremonies. Robbing them of their autonomy would take away a major reason for tuning in—and that’s the only ratings argument that should matter.

“Art is often the subject of philosophy. But every now and then, a work of art – something other than a lecture or words on a page – can function as philosophy. Son of Saul, a film set in Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Holocaust, is such a work of art. It engages with a profound set of problems that also occupied the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.”

“Do you think Pandora is radio?” I say, “no,” as Pandora’s model is opposite to my definition of radio: the infinite channels are not unique, they are generated by a computer, and the listener can control the experience.