Category: media

At a Sundance post-screening talk, Smith “announced plans to leverage his own cult-fanbase to break out of the studio distribution system and put [his latest] film out there for audiences on his own.” He also said that his next film would be his last; he will “focus on his fledgling distribution company, helping other indie filmmakers get their films to an audience without going through Hollywood.”

“How is it possible that an American-made product can be rejected by its home-grown consumers, yet embraced by moviegoers elsewhere? Everyone has a theory about what’s going on, but it turns out that…”

The 10 films that will be vying for best motion picture at the 83rd Academy Awards are “Black Swan,” “The Fighter,” “Inception,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The King’s Speech,” “127 Hours,” “The Social Network,” “Toy Story 3,” “True Grit” and “Winter’s Bone,”

“Advocates for low-power FM, or LPFM, as it is called, say the stations are a slight corrective to the consolidation of commercial radio. Soon there will be more: this month President Obama signed the Local Community Radio Act, which repeals restrictions on such stations and allows the Federal Communications Commission to give out more 100-watt licenses.”

“Over the last 10 years or so, amid rising controversy, the BBC has spent £1.04bn refurbishing and extending its ocean-liner-like HQ in central London. With its vast pillars, spiralling staircases, and towering lift shafts painted red and orange, this cavernous, boldly modern space seems more like a submarine dock, the sort of place you might expect a James Bond shoot-out to take place, rather than somewhere for Huw Edwards to calmly read the news.”

“Up to the week before we shoot, the whole thing can collapse and there’s no protection. You have to make this imaginative commitment to the idea that your film is going to happen, when there are a myriad of possibilities that it’s gonna fall apart. So you have to take this leap of faith. It’s only the act of starting that will make it real.”

“Here’s an insider’s tip on how to put an end to these long, boring and ridiculous self-congratulatory awards shows: Stop watching them. Also stop talking about them, even in a negative way; Hollywood lives on buzz, especially when it’s negative. Just look at Gervais’ pal Charlie Sheen.”

“Attendance was down 5 per cent across North America, making 2010 the worst attended movie year in a decade. Most recently, we’ve now seen a 10-week run where the box office has fallen below last year’s levels. The diagnosis? A mild case of the jitters, exacerbated by hypocrisy. Last year the Hollywood box office saw the second highest annual box office in its history.”

“The brainchild of actor and director Robert Redford, Sundance is best known for putting great film artists on the map. But because so many show business eyes are focused on so few films, Sundance also can facilitate résumé rewrites.”

He “will star in a Hollywood adaptation of Zabibah and the King, the tender tale of a wise and good Iraqi leader who falls in love with a humble peasant girl.” New title: The Dictator.