Category: media

Mark Fiore: “Looks like some guy named Steve Jobs was able to nudge my app past the gatekeepers.”

“Reflecting the more austere climate, there were a few notable absences” from the annual Locations Trade Show, “including film commissions from South Africa and China,” yet “there were several new foreign participants eager to tout their locations and new film programs” — such as Abu Dhabi, which helpfully pointed out that it has both “modern architecture and desert islands.”

“Even you must admit that you are not what you were. Anyone whose memory reaches back even as far as the mid-’90s, when the theme to ‘Friends’ gave the Rembrandts a brief career in real-world pop, knows that. Recall the effervescent Latin pop of ‘I Love Lucy,’ the dark march of the ‘Dragnet’ theme, the hopeful soft-rock of the theme to ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show.'”

Andrew O’Hehir: “If film criticism really is dying, it’s doing so with all the dignity of a bunch of clucking old hens, squawking in despair while the fox gnaws his way through the wire. … [The recent round of film critic layoffs] has occasioned more thoughtful thumbsucking than you’d find in a Montessori kindergarten.”

“Boston-based CatholicTV has gone 3-D. … But — and here’s the trouble — there’s no storytelling. CatholicTV’s website is mostly travelogue showing off architectural marvels such as St. Peter’s Square and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.”

“Although not yet a big money maker for the major chains, theater operators are betting that it will be one day, and are booking more such events on slow weekday nights in hopes of coaxing consumers to leave their homes and pay $20 for a premium ticket.”

“Integrity and credibility are two primary factors that let a show sink or swim — without both, ratings slip. TV viewers are on some level aware that reality shows are scripted, cast and otherwise finessed, but competition programs that invite viewer participation through voting are particularly susceptible to appearances of impropriety.”

“The company faces a challenge in persuading a very vocal and high-profile lobby, led by the Motion Picture Assn. of America, that it will not only include effective safeguards, but also that the plan will be beneficial to Hollywood. There’s also the political landscape.”

“The top 10 actors with top billing with the largest number of movies over the past five years are interestingly not on the list of Hollywood’s highest-earners, according to data from the box office analysis of Exhibitor Relations.”

“Whereas the early wisdom of Web series was that no-names would use them to achieve mainstream fame, now it’s equally common to find recognizable faces using the Web as a playground for creative experimentation. Web video is the new Sundance. You can tell stories that wouldn’t necessarily be sold right away — stories that are much more personal. Niche is king.”