Why 3-D Movies Make Some Viewers Queasy "The problem, studies indicate, is that the films often cause unnatural eye movements. ... [A] 3-D object flying off the screen causes sensory conflict. The eyes rotate inward to follow it, but they must also maintain a fixed focus on the display surface."

The New York Times 02/09/10

email this story | Posted 02/09/10@08:07AM

Tea Party Convention: Altman's Nashville Come To Life? The populist platform embraced by the presidential candidate in Robert Altman's 1975 movie "included forbidding lawyers from serving in Congress ('Did you ever ask a lawyer the time of day? He told you how to make a watch, didn't he?'), taking on oil companies, abolishing the Electoral College and eliminating farm subsidies."

Los Angeles Times 02/07/10

email this story | Posted 02/09/10@06:49AM

MTV Officially Isn't 'Music Television' Anymore With a redesigned logo unveiled Monday, "[t]he network -- known more for its scripted reality show programming these days than the music videos and industry it revolutionized -- dropped the 'Music Television' tagline from the Frank Olinsky-designed original."

TheWrap 02/08/10

email this story | Posted 02/09/10@05:54AM

Dante's Inferno, The Video Game "There is no reason this game could not be set in any of the hundreds or thousands of generic hells that have hosted video games over the years. What Electronic Arts has done, quite transparently, is appropriate Dante's brand to use as a light marketing skin on top of the God of War clone the company so clearly wanted to make."

The New York Times 02/09/10

email this story | Posted 02/09/10@05:15AM

Three Reasons Film Forum Survived As Others Failed "The largest is the creative freedom allowed by nonprofit status. Another is Film Forum's rigorous selection process. ... And then there is the emphasis on marketing."

Wall Street Journal 02/09/10

email this story | Posted 02/08/10@07:21PM

Readers' Tastes Have Been (What's This?) Underestimated "I would have hypothesized that there are two basic strategies for making the most-e-mailed list. One, which I've happily employed, is to write anything about sex. The other, which I'm still working on, is to write an article headlined: 'How Your Pet's Diet Threatens Your Marriage, and Why It's Bush's Fault.'" Not so, researchers have found.

The New York Times 02/09/10

email this story | Posted 02/08/10@06:45PM

Secrets Of A Good TV Theme Song "Whatever it is, many of us have a TV theme tune we cherish, in many cases more than the show itself. Getting it right is crucial for the army of composers who score music to fit the type of programme."

BBC 02/08/10

email this story | Posted 02/08/10@07:55AM

New Voting Procedure For Best Picture Is Complicated "Whereas all other categories will use the same system used in the past -- every voter gets to pick one of the five nominees, and the nominee with the most votes wins -- the 10-nominee Best Picture category will function differently."

Washington Post 02/07/10

email this story | Posted 02/07/10@09:53AM

The People Versus George Lucas "The upcoming movie The People vs. George Lucas gives disgruntled Star Wars fans a chance to vent their frustrations about the direction the franchise has taken over the years. Thousands of fans submitted video clips for the crowdsourced film, which will have its world premiere this March at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas."

Wired 02/05/10

email this story | Posted 02/07/10@09:52AM

Indignity: Other Cities Sub For Los Angeles In Hollywood Movies "Movie location shoots around Los Angeles fell to 4,976 days last year, down 29.9 percent from 2008 and off 64.4 percent from a peak of 13,980 days in 1996, according to FilmL.A., which monitors film permits in the area."

New York Times 02/05/10

email this story | Posted 02/05/10@06:38AM

Artist Screens Travel Doc Made For Audience Of Potted Plants Jonathon Keats, the conceptual artist who built a temple for the worship of science and founded the First Bank of Anti-Matter, has made his second film aimed at the vegetal demographic. The first was pornography (close-ups of bees pollinating flowers); the new release enables plants "to travel vicariously by showing them a selection of foreign skies."

Wired 02/04/10 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 02/04/10@09:44PM

Late-Night Shocker: Woman Lands Letterman Writing Job "The writers' rooms on several late-night shows -- including Mr. Letterman's, Jay Leno's and the one for Conan O'Brien's 'Tonight Show' -- were described as male enclaves in recent reports about the male dominance among comedy writers." Letterman's new writer has been a staffer since 2001.

The New York Times 02/03/10

email this story | Posted 02/04/10@07:41AM

Teens Don't Tweet "Think of the millions of text messages that teens send. Think of their endless hours on Facebook. Twitter has not caught on in nearly the same way -- and experts suggest the difference is that most teens want to socialize with their friends and peers, not broadcast to the larger world."

Washington Post 02/04/10

email this story | Posted 02/04/10@05:49AM

The Odd Situation Of The Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar Gone are the days when high-profile movies from the likes of Fellini and Bergman won the statuette. "Some Oscar-nominated foreign titles from the past decade will leave even committed art-house audiences drawing a blank." Due to the Academy's Byzantine nominating process, the category has also become notorious for glaring omissions.

New York Times 01/31/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@09:44PM

A Lost Tati Script Arrives On Screen At Last "An unfilmed Jacques Tati screenplay, L'illusionniste, will finally make it to the screen after 54 years, when director Sylvain Chomet's animated version has its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale, next month. But the occasion threatens to be overshadowed by a story of pain and scandal from the real life of the French comedian."

The Observer (UK) 01/31/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@09:32PM

On YouTube, Prop. 8 Trial Reenactments Fill A Video Gap "Frustrated by a Supreme Court decision barring broadcast of the trial, two Los Angeles film types are translating the courtroom testimony into elaborate YouTube re-enactments, complete with professional actors, realistic sets and a budget that might buy you lunch."

The New York Times 02/03/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@06:45AM

Groundbreaking Oscar Nods Don't Indicate Wider Trend "In terms of both box office and public awareness, 2009 might seem a particularly fruitful year for women directors," but one expert says that "the percentage of women directors has been virtually unchanged since 1987, at 7% to 9%. ... For African Americans, the percentage is even smaller, about 4%, according to the DGA...."

Los Angeles Times 02/03/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@05:19AM

Kathryn Bigelow Is Poised For A Hollywood First "Because it's so rare that the DGA winner doesn't go on to win an Academy Award - only six times in 61 years - odds are Bigelow could be the first woman director in the Academy's 82-year history to crash the celluloid ceiling. ... But I'm skeptical that Bigelow's ... possible win will represent any substantive change for women in Hollywood."

Philadelphia Inquirer 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@07:20AM

Miramax May Yet Rise From The Dead As Disney shops the remains of the label, "initial discussions indicate a price of over $700 million for the Miramax name and its 700-film library.... Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, who founded Miramax in 1979, are not among the bidders -- so far."

The New York Times 02/01/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@06:47AM

Some Push For Nielsen To Measure Online Viewers, Too "[A] consortium of powerful ad agencies and TV networks [is] pressuring Nielsen to evolve along with the habits of television consumers, who don't just watch shows on their television sets, but also on their laptops and other mobile devices. Right now, advertisers must cobble together data from a number of sources."

NPR 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@06:25AM

When Hollywood Bothers To Depict The Working Class "[T]he lead character ... is usually played by a jaw-droppingly attractive star, who wins positive press for being willing to subvert her beauty in order to portray one of the great unwashed doing whatever it is they do out there in the dull diabetic landmass between Los Angeles and New York City. (Hiring ugly people to play working class is a job best left to the English.)"

Slate 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@06:03AM

Is It Really Necessary To Attend Sundance In Person? "Between Google alerts and Twitter, [a non-attendee] can get immediate feedback on his iPhone about what films and performances are generating buzz. More films than ever are quietly traded on DVD in Los Angeles before or during the festival, or screened outright for distributors in Hollywood. ... [E]ven some of the bold-face names who had films screening at this year's festival were absent."

The New York Times 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@05:23AM

Irony Alert: Summit Of Documentarians Bars The Media "RealScreen said that press would be confined to a press room, and any attempt to take cameras or recording equipment outside of it 'will be monitored and any instances of transgression will be met with expulsion from the event.' Further, reporters 'will not be permitted to chase potential subjects down in the halls -- that too will lead to expulsion.'"

Washington Post 02/01/10

email this story | Posted 02/01/10@07:41PM

Protesting Language Quota, Catalan Cinemas Go Dark "More than 70% of cinema screens in Catalonia, one of the richest regions in Spain, were dark Monday as exhibitors staged a one-day strike in protest against the regional government's move to force them to screen more films in the Catalan language."

Variety 02/01/10

email this story | Posted 02/01/10@06:40PM

Uh, Tech Companies? Women Don't Need Stuff To Be Pink "Diamond encrusted phones, pink fairy princess laptops, pink headphones... The list goes on. ... So why do technology companies still think the way to attract women is to 'pink it and shrink it'? How do we put an end to the genderisation of technology?"

The Times (UK) 02/01/10

email this story | Posted 02/01/10@06:12PM

The Top-Selling Movies Of All Time (Sorta) "Of the top 25 grossing films of all time on Hollywood.com's U.S. box-office ranking, 18 were released in the past decade. Adjust the totals for higher admission prices mainly due to inflation, and "Avatar" would be the only one of those 18 to make the list--at No. 24, as of Thursday."

The Wall Street Journal 02/01/10

email this story | Posted 02/01/10@06:24AM

Winter's Bone Big Winner At Sundance "Writer/director Debra Granik's mystery-tinged tale about an impoverished teenager (Jennifer Lawrence) searching for her missing, meth-cooking father in the wooded Missouri Ozarks, won both the grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic category and the prestigious Waldo Salt screenwriting award."

Los Angeles Times 01/31/10

email this story | Posted 01/31/10@09:04PM

The Collapse And Rebirth Of The Indie Film Industry "[Even] as the studio-indie model disintegrates, a new nonstudio model appears to be emerging from the rubble. In recent years, for instance, novice filmmakers and longtime independent insiders have begun experimenting, and finding some success, with new approaches to releasing movies, including self-distribution."

New York Times 01/31/10

email this story | Posted 01/31/10@11:15AM

Why Do Late-Night Talk Show Hosts Always Sit On The Right? "Because it makes them seem powerful. In Western culture, we read from left to right, and we watch theater and television that way, too. … In the theory of stagecraft, it's understood that a rightward placement telegraphs royalty. So no matter how famous the guest may be, sitting to the left makes him or her seem subservient."

Slate 01/28/10

email this story | Posted 01/31/10@10:49AM

Movie Box Office Soars In Sweden "2009 was a record year at the Swedish box office with the total gross up 22% at $212 million. U.S. films had a market share of 54%, with Swedish films coming in second with a record 33%, according to figures from the Swedish Film Institute."

Variety 01/29/10

email this story | Posted 01/29/10@05:37AM

Indie Film Biz At Sundance: No Longer Manic, But Healthy "[T]he dealmaking at this year's Sundance, which concludes Sunday, reverted to what one producer with a film in play called a 'rational approach.' It's the start of a new decade, and patience and thoroughness have become the catchwords in the condos, theater lobbies and lounges here."

Hollywood Reporter 01/27/10

email this story | Posted 01/28/10@07:21AM

Miramax Is No More As Disney prepared to shutter its art-house company Thursday, people in the movie business mourned. "When we think of the movies that defined the latter part of the 20th century - the movies that mattered, ... that hit pop culture like a hammer and left a dent - more often than not they came from Miramax."

The Wrap 01/27/10

email this story | Posted 01/28/10@06:50AM

Take That Avatar Box-Office Triumph With A Grain Of Salt Yes, "Avatar" has just become the highest-grossing movie ever -- but the inflation of ticket prices is a big factor. "Given the current estimated average ticket prices of $7.46, 'Avatar' still needs to sell about 50 million more tickets before it matches the inflation-adjusted domestic gross of 'Titanic.'"

Los Angeles Times 01/26/10

email this story | Posted 01/27/10@06:11AM

If Only Google Would Do All Our Social Interfacing For Us The prank site Google Xistence "resembles a Google product page, complete with YouTube instructional video, and purports to let users plug in their Facebook, Twitter and blog log-in credentials. The service supposedly lets Google live your social life for you -- so you can 'play World of Warcraft or Tower Defense.'"

Los Angeles Times 01/26/10

email this story | Posted 01/27/10@05:28AM

Why Conservatives Should Love Avatar "The film is a perfect souffle of left-wing attitudes. But conservative critics are missing the conflict at the heart of the movie," which champions a cause dear to them. Central to the plot is "a stark violation of property rights, the foundation of the free market and indeed of civilization."

Los Angeles Times 01/26/10

email this story | Posted 01/26/10@05:19AM

Banksy Film Is A Hot Ticket At Sundance "'Exit Through the Gift Shop' is a work that's nearly impossible to categorize. The movie that's both about -- and made by -- the controversial and hugely popular artist grapples with a separate series of contradictions about the competing themes of fame and privacy."

Los Angeles Times 01/26/10

email this story | Posted 01/26/10@05:10AM

A Decade's Worth Of Déjà Vu: 1980s Return At The Movies "The children who grew up watching the big, pre-irony 1980s movies -- where all was black and white, good was good and evil was evil, before Tarantino and Soderbergh came and blurred all the lines -- are now the directors and studio bosses, and they're making the movies they used to watch."

The Sunday Times (UK) 01/24/10

email this story | Posted 01/25/10@07:45PM

Load The 3-D Glasses Into The Dishwasher, Please "What happens to all those 3-D glasses after they've been used to goggle at floating mountains and blue aliens? They usually get washed or recycled." Unless, of course, they don't.

Slate 01/25/10

email this story | Posted 01/25/10@05:27PM

Performance Art Gets Its Own TV Channel OntheBoards.tv, is "the first online, pay-per-view series dedicated to presenting progressive contemporary performances from around the world."

The New York Times 01/24/10

email this story | Posted 01/24/10@06:10PM

How Dumb - Protecting Kids From The Movies "Social scientists doggedly pursue evidence of correlations between on- and off-screen behavior, while some commentators insist that no such connections could possibly exist. The rest of us know perfectly well that we don't play with anvils and dynamite just because we see Wile E. Coyote do it, though perhaps those Looney Tunes are cautionary tales."

The New York Times 01/24/10

email this story | Posted 01/24/10@06:09PM