Category: media

A.O. Scott: “A movie like Where the Wild Things Are or Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox play a kind of reverse dress-up, disguising adult anxieties in the costumes of innocent make-believe and fanciful spectacle. … [T]oo scary for youngsters? Too confusing? Maybe, for some. So is The Wizard of Oz and half the books in the children’s section of the library.”

Rex Reed called it “a film without a single redeeming quality”; Chuck Palahniuk called it “the best date flick ever”; professors write about its “rhetoric of masculinity” and “economics of patriarchy”; Dennis Lim says it “is surely the defining cult movie of our time.”

“Some members of the European Parliament felt nobody should lose their connection until after they had been prosecuted in a court for illegally downloading content. The new rules take the form of an amendment to a much wider revision of all Europe’s telecoms regulations.”

“For decades, the Walt Disney Company has largely kept Mickey Mouse frozen under glass, fearful that even the tiniest tinkering might tarnish the brand. … Now, however, concerned that Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people, Disney is taking the risky step of re-imagining him for the future.”

In a move that “sets up an immediate conflict” with film exhibitors, “[t]he Motion Picture Assn. of America is seeking government approval of technology that would allow Hollywood studios to deliver firstrun movies directly into American households on their televisions, perhaps even while a film is still in theaters.”

With St. Louis poised to lose its sole classical station, officials at Southeast Missouri State University “say that with a power increase and antenna upgrade at a repeater station in Farmington, the goal is to get classical music to the St. Louis region.”

Barrie Osborne is planning a $150 million production, funded by a holding company in Qatar, that “will educate people about the true meaning of Islam.” The scholar “Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi [will] oversee all aspects of the shoot. In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen.”

“Fox on Saturday launches a weekly showcase for African-American comic Wanda Sykes. Next week” on TBS, “George Lopez becomes the first Latino to host a nightly late-night comedy series on a major network…. And last month saw the arrival of ‘The Mo’Nique Show’ on BET. Is this the Obamafication of the late-night wars?”

“Regulated by the government, Gaul’s release window schedule ensures that theater exhibitors, DVD distribbers and TV channels each have their own window of exclusivity.” Exhibitors say their new, smaller window “will cause the downfall of cinema attendance in France and the ‘degrading of theater owners’ economic conditions.'”

“An imagined conversation in a movie theatre last night…”