Media

This isn’t the why, but a result: “Guy Williams and his fellow visual-effects artists have spent so much time staring at Will Smith’s face, they’ve practically memorized his every pore. ‘We joke sometimes that we probably know his face better than his wife does,’ Williams told me in September, laughing. ‘I can tell you exactly how he forms a smile. I can even tell you the 12 different flavors of Will Smith’s smile and the subtleties of each one. It gets pretty obnoxious.'” Indeed. – The Atlantic

Ironically, the New York Film Critics Online meet in person to vote on the awards. (Also awarded: Lupita Nyong’o, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, and Joe Pesci.) – The Hollywood Reporter

Films and filmmakers from Africa and the Middle East have had a good year at A-list film festivals, including Mati Diop and her Atlantics, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. “The ‘new wave’ of Arab and African cinema includes a small group of films that explore links with genre cinema – including fantasy, sci-fi and horror – which is related to a broader trend in literature and the contemporary arts in the Arab world that is exploring dystopias and fantasy settings.” – Variety

The styling is in the ties. And there are … let’s say a lot of different ties in this movie. Says one of the costume designers, “The language of how the tie greets the shirt greets the belt; the cut of the suit and how that translates across the years for each of these men, that was a real joy for me.” – The New York Times

Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Midge Maisel, says that season three changed things for her – and made the actor a better comedian too. “While the first and second season, most of the major stand-up was born out of something she was experiencing in her real life in real time, this new season takes me on the road. She’s a working comic now. And she’s having to learn to be a technically better comic, to write tighter jokes, to write jokes for different audiences who won’t necessarily understand or relate to what’s going on in her life.””- Los Angeles Times

The 72-year-old public radio and network television veteran has been alongside creator Jad Abumrad at the center of the popular podcast/radio series for 15 years. “No end date has been announced, with Krulwich hinting to one episode being finalized for ‘next week’ and an eventual super-sized episode about ‘a world population puzzle’ as his remaining Radiolab duties.” – Ars Technica

“For millennia, Indigenous Australian communities have been passing down histories, knowledge, language and customs, largely through oral storytelling. But in a world of digital addiction, where even the most remote parts of the country are being infiltrated by smartphones, telling stories via screens is the new necessary: a way to both preserve tradition and reach out to the young.” – The Guardian

“How is it possible that those of us raised on — or perhaps more accurately, raised by — Mister Rogers could have turned out to be so disengaged and sarcastic? Well, for starters, maybe because we are not as disengaged as we’re often described. (We are definitely as sarcastic.) But I think it’s also because the lessons Mister Rogers imparted are often placed, especially on the internet, into a general kindness and goodness box that doesn’t fully capture what he accomplished.” – New York Magazine

During its 11-year run, “unadorned” has been the name of the game at Tiny Desk Concerts, whose appeal lies in the nakedness of its setup: no backing tracks, no Auto-Tune, no frills. The resulting performances — each taking place at Boilen’s actual desk inside NPR’s Washington, D.C. headquarters — offer viewers an intimate look at artists both emerging and major. – Billboard

Composer Danny Elfman, who wrote the theme music for the long-running series, told an Irish podcaster that “from what I’ve heard, it is coming to an end. … I don’t know for a fact, but I’ve heard that it will be in its last year.” The Guardian picked the news up, and rumors spread quickly until showrunner Al Jean shut them down: “No disrespect to Mr. Elfman but we are producing season 32 starting next year and have no plans to end after that.” – Metro (UK)

“Sesame Street” was inclusive before anyone really knew what that meant, the first safe space. It is a friend to everyone, which has a lot to do with why it’s the first TV show to receive Kennedy Center Honors. – Washington Post

Was it Scorsese on Netflix? Just Netflix in general – and Disney Plus, and Hulu, and and and? Or the weather? Whatever it was, the Thanksgiving box office took a sharp hit this year. – The New York Times

Maybe not 29 movies in a row, of course. But. One writer explains that she opened Netflix in the depths of a serious depression and started watching Christmas Prince. “The movie was terrible. But it was also wonderful. Within a few minutes, I felt something bubbling in my chest. Something I hadn’t felt in weeks. A small spark of happiness. Soon it had grown enough that it actually burst from me in a smile, which became a laugh. I was actually laughing. Half an hour before that I’d been, to quote Anne Shirley (as I always try to do), in the depths of despair, and now I was laughing.” – BuzzFeed

To be blunt, well, ugh: “Beyond the curious clicks they draw, gift guides often allow publishers to sell outright sponsorships or subtly blend content and commerce through back-end deals with many of the stores they link to, pocketing a portion of sales.” – The Atlantic

“[This] is BBC Culture’s biggest and most international poll yet: 761 different films were voted for by 368 film experts – critics, journalists, festival programmers and academics – who came from 84 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. We asked the same number of women to contribute as men to create a gender-balanced poll.” (Click here to read why the number-one film on the list was chosen.) – BBC

Undoubtedly this will aid in the company’s recruitment of top shelf directors who yearn for that opening night vibe, especially at the spot where Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet played for an entire year back in the day. – The Guardian

Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott: “The most popular movies and the movies we love most aren’t always the ones that shape the industry, reflect the times or change the terms of cultural discourse — for better or worse. The films on the first list, whether we like them or not …, made a difference in the world of entertainment and beyond.” (also includes ten favorites from each critic) – The New York Times

“The massive cyberattack just before Thanksgiving 2014 crippled a studio, embarrassed executives and reshaped Hollywood. The FBI blamed a North Korea scheme to retaliate for the comedy The Interview, but many whose lives were upended have doubts.” – The Hollywood Reporter

On Monday, Netflix announced that it has reached an agreement to continue leasing the Paris Theater space and keep it open for special events, screenings, and theatrical releases. “After 71 years, the Paris Theatre has an enduring legacy, and remains the destination for a one-of-a kind movie-going experience.” – New York Magazine

Guy-Blaché is well-known among film scholars, but the film world and the world at large? Not so much. Quick summary: “Starting out as a secretary at Gaumont Studios in Paris, she began directing her own films in 1896 before taking on oversight of the company’s motion-picture production. She emigrated to the United States with her husband in 1907 to promote Gaumont’s Chronophone technology and, several years later, established and headed up her own studio, Solax, in Fort Lee, New Jersey.” – Los Angeles Review of Books

Americans deride dubbing, but for much of the world, it’s a lot more pleasant than subtitles. They’re extra good at it in Italy, and thus there are awards: “The dozen-odd categories recognized excellence in voice dubbing, but also sound mixing, and story and dialogue adaptations. Capturing nuances like jokes and figures of speech are key elements of successfully transposing an audiovisual product, whether it’s a film, a TV series, a cartoon or even a video game, from one language to another.” – The New York Times

And, obviously, blockbusters are killing them. (The cheap little awards-bait movies, the under-$20-million movies, might be OK.) – The New York Times

Until now, the honor had been thought to belong to Florence Lawrence (“the Biograph Girl”), who became famous under her own name following an outrageous publicity stunt by her new studio in 1910. But new research has found that a French slapstick comedian called Max Linder was marketed as “Max” by 1907 and under his full name by 1909. He became famous in both Europe and Hollywood, and Charlie Chaplin considered him a major influence — yet he was forgotten after his bloody death in 1925. – The Guardian

“Launched by Directors UK, the professional association for screen directors, the guidelines were, according to the organization, ‘born of the need to set clear and shared professional expectations that apply to everyone involved in making sensitive content, with the aim that they will become standard working practice within the industry.'” – The Hollywood Reporter