Category: media

As Hollywood continues to enjoy its ability to recast mega-stars as their younger selves, it has brought fears that younger and less experienced actors are being pushed out. At the same time, some experts fear the rise of the digital actor could one day threaten the livelihoods of all actors, with the possibility of a movie starring a fully artificial performer potentially just beyond the horizon. – CBC

While computer-generated suggestions aren’t going away, companies are increasingly looking for other means to help viewers discover shows and movies they might otherwise have missed in a world where something significant premieres almost every day. The industry calls this “human curation,” which is basically a fancy phrase for describing nonautomated ways of hyping specific content. – New York Magazine

“In 2010, Hollywood was drunk on the success of Avatar and decided 3D tech was the wave of the future. … Large ensemble Garry Marshall rom-coms like Valentine’s Day were still winners, as were Harrison Ford non-franchise thrillers and Nicholas Sparks movies with indistinguishable posters. None of these things are true anymore. Conventional wisdom around movies can turn on a dime, especially in such a volatile, transitional entertainment era. And nothing changes Hollywood’s tune quite like a big fat flop.” – Fast Company

“In television, film, literature, and other media over the past ten years, artists have presented information as though it is gospel, then reframed it in ways that force us to reconsider our assumptions. These cultural works challenged us to realize that there’s always something more to learn from every story, even the ones we think we know.” – New York Magazine

Yes, Amy March was a spoiled brat who burned Jo’s manuscript, and thus earned the ire of every creative person ever, and the films and series have reflected that. But Amy … was also a creative, complex person. “Siblings naturally compare themselves to one another—Jo, for instance, takes pride in not being as ladylike as Amy, while Amy judges Jo for her lack of elegance—and neither sister ‘wins’ the dispute.” This makes the newest movie richer and more realistic than the others. – The Atlantic

But let’s put it into context. “Just four percent down? At a time when the Star Wars franchise expanded into live-action television for the first time with The Mandalorian on Disney Plus? ‘Hallelujah,’ you can almost hear film executives saying.” – The New York Times

Basically, it’s always Christmas in July in British Columbia, complete with fake snow, fake characters, fake love stories, fake Christmas and … er … yes, the whole schlockfest (BELOVED schlockfest, we note) that is the Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movie production factory. “Picking out the locations has become a favourite pastime for locals. [One said,] ‘You get to see the locations on the movie and know exactly where that was and have attachment to it now, you feel like you were part of the movie in a way, which is pretty awesome.'” – CBC

Keita Takahashi, an artist and an “unconventional” game developer, is beloved for his game “Katamari Decency,” and now he’s got a new game out – ostensibly about golden poop. The game “was inspired by watching his two younger children play. He wanted to create something that presented a more hopeful view of the world.” – Los Angeles Times