Category: media

“For decades, TV has depicted teens as angst-ridden and rebellious, and parents as out-of-touch and unhip.” Not anymore. “The new, more-sanguine shows still broach racy topics,” but “[p]arents typically have prominent roles and just as many tawdry story lines as the teens–and look almost like older siblings.”

One of the hottest YouTube memes of the past few years has been to post the big Hitler tantrum scene from the 2004 film Downfall with subtitles showing the Führer screaming about – oh, Kanye West cutting off Taylor Swift, or the US healthcare debate, or anything else irksome. Last week the movie’s distributor asked YouTube to remove all those videos, fair use doctrine notwithstanding. That wasn’t a wise decision.

“Next to ‘Glee’s’ supercharged vocals, over-the-top choreography and radiant glow of professionalism – not to mention white-hot record sales of late – those kids struggling away on ‘Idol’ are starting to look kinda … lame.”

“The Supreme Court’s decision on Monday to take up the issue … could provide the last word on whether video games should be given as much freedom as books and movies or whether the government has an interest in keeping violent games from children as it does with pornography.”

The stars of the CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory,” Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki, play physicist nerds but “said they did not understand any of the scientific dialogue in the show. … Mr. Parsons memorizes his lines by writing them out longhand and says he is astonished when people ask if the actors on the show ever improvise. ‘To veer away from the scripted dialog is a one-way trip to sudden death,’ he said.”

“For the first time, people with no stake in a film could be rewarded financially if it bombs. And futures contracts that sell poorly threaten to become self-fulfilling prophecies, as the news media spreads the word that ‘the market’ expects a film to tank.”

“If you want to see videogames considered seriously as true art, all you have to do is not die. Videogames are right on the cusp of being recognized as something that might be art sometimes. Another 75 years and all videogames will be considered art.”

The “new austerity has decimated the indie film business, ending with the collapse or downsizing of distributors like New Line Cinema, Picturehouse, Warner Independent Pictures, ThinkFilm and Miramax, all in the last few years. There are, however, signs of life…”

“There have been anxious mutterings in Hollywood for months, but the case has never been made definitively – until now. Looking ahead to the big films of the next few months, it doesn’t seem such an outlandish idea.”

“Jafar Panahi is not just one of Iran’s many political prisoners, estimated to be in the hundreds. He is one of Iran’s most internationally distinguished film directors. His films, including Offside, Crimson Gold and The White Balloon, have won acclaim in the West, including top prizes at the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals, while sometimes being suppressed at home.”