“There’s definitely a stigma now – in recent years romcoms have become conflated with ‘chick flicks’ and the idea that it’s gangs of women that go to see them – they’re seen as throwaway films for a not particularly discerning audience.”
Category: media
Hemingway Biopic ‘Papa’ Is First Hollywood Feature Film Shot In Cuba Since Revolution
“Papa came to Cuba under a U.S. Treasury Department license exempting it from most embargo restrictions. … For licensing purposes the movie qualified as a documentary, since it depicts a firsthand account of real events that took place here. So it’s unlikely just any Hollywood blockbuster would get the same permission in the future.”
American TV Shows Can Be Popular Or Written About, But Not Both
“[With] television, the world of criticism and the world of viewership aren’t merely askew; they’re mostly on different planets. No self-respecting TV critic writes about NCIS: Los Angeles, ever – ever – even though the all-time most-popular episode of Game of Thrones (which is, itself, the all-time most-popular HBO show) got fewer viewers than an NCIS: LA rerun.”
The Heroic Rebellion Portrayed In ‘Battleship Potemkin’? Never Happened
“[Eisenstein’s film], including its massacre scene on Odessa’s famous outdoor steps, … was in large measure a fabrication.” (What actually happened in Odessa in 1905 was rather less glorious.)
Why Atom Egoyan Is So Frustrated Over His West Memphis Three Film
Critics have suggested that, with three or four documentaries on the case already out there, Devil’s Knot didn’t need to be made. Says Egoyan, “Journalists forget people haven’t seen the documentaries and don’t need the documentaries. … For people who don’t know the case, it’s a powerful experience. And it’s a huge risk dramatically, using a huge number of genres to tell the story – murder mystery, courtroom drama, procedural … It’s all over the map.”
New Hollywood Production Company Plans Films Based On Hard-Hitting Journalism
“An Oscar-winning screenwriter, a billionaire film financier and a well-known magazine editor have come together to form a movie and television company built on a journalism foundation.”
In Defense Of ‘Star Wars’ (Yeah, It’s Not Great Art, But It Is History)
“In some ways, it did suck. The dialogue was awful, the acting was mediocre at best …, and there are some glaring plot holes. We can debate whether its ultimate influence was positive or malign, but even with its weaknesses, the film’s success, and its persistence, were no accident.”
Six Degrees Of Disney (How The World Of Disney Animation Is All Connected)
“Welcome to the esoteric and frankly mind-boggling world of Disney fan theories, which posits that all of Disney’s animated movies take place in the same universe and characters from different films interact in ways you have to squint to see.”
The Japanese Filmmaker Who’s Greater Than Kurosawa Or Ozu
Richard Brody: “There’s no way to say this without sounding derivative, but I consider [Kenji] Mizoguchi to be not just the greatest Japanese director but one of the handful of the greatest filmmakers ever.”
BBC Chairman Chris Patten Resigns After Major Heart Surgery
Best known to the world at large as the last British governor of Hong Kong, the 68-year-old Patten has had a stormy three years at the head of the BBC Trust, and he was already planning to step down at the end of his term next year. On the advice of doctors following a bypass and angioplasty, he is stepping down immediately.