Category: media

“We expect documentaries to engage issues in a heads-on fashion. But fiction films can afford fresh opportunities to ruminate and grapple. They offer, if not hope or certainty, deeper insights into the human saga. They are shot through with authentic feelings, relatable feelings.”

“The program, which offers a 20% to 25% tax credit on film and TV productions, has so far allocated $300 million in tax credits to 113 film and TV projects, generating 41,000 jobs and $2.2 billion in spending, including $728 million paid in wages to below-the-line film crews.”

“Why isn’t the United States also part of that same emerging global cinematic conversation? Why isn’t Hollywood also making movies that grapple with the issues that are provoking filmmakers elsewhere? And when Arab and Muslim characters do appear on screen, why are they presented in such simplistic and stereotyped ways?”

The prime-time drama about Suleiman the Magnificent has “attracted a wave of protests from irate viewers and even government officials” for depicting the sultan drinking alcohol and cavorting with his harem. “Still, despite warnings from the government media regulator, or perhaps because of them, ratings remain sky high on Wednesday nights as each colorful chapter of fictionalized history unfolds.”

“Malaysians who tune in to popular stations hear edited versions of ‘Born This Way’ that use indecipherable garble to replace the lyrics: ‘No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I’m on the right track, baby’.”

“It’s kind of hilarious to think that this arrangement is the solution to the future of online movies: data centers stacked to the ceiling with DVD players.”

“If Netflix goes forward, it could be the most prominent test of whether a traditional multimillion-dollar star-laden show can succeed on an Internet platform where people watch when they please and may only learn about the show if a computer algorithm recommends it.”

Matt Zoller Seitz: “Simply put, this crap is transparently cynical and opportunistic and has become totally played-out since 1999’s The Blair Witch Project … But 12 years later, directors who keep treating it as an aesthetic security blanket – especially at the big-budget level – should be required to get a tattoo across their foreheads that reads ‘Hack’.”

“The Booker Prize winner is developing Next People, a fictional story which dissects the ‘radical pace of transformation in contemporary American life – from politics and race to technology, science and sexuality.” The series will air on the Showtime network.

“If such a deal were to come to fruition it would add a new competitor to the television industry by increasing the degree to which Netflix vies with premium-cable television channels like Time Warner Inc.’s HBO.”