ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

MEDIA

Expats In Paris Wish Emily Would Go The Heck Home Already

American expatriates know the French don't like Emily in Paris. Nor do they: They "complain that they have spent years perfecting understated elegance and the rolling of their R’s, only to have a brash Chicagoan ... swoop in and ruin their image." - The New York Times

The Ridiculousness Of Trying To Pick Oscar Nominees (And Winners)

Those voters can never quite decide how much heed to pay to a movie’s popularity or accessibility. That’s how you wind up with absurd best picture races like the one in 2010 between “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar.” (“The Hurt Locker” won.) - The New York Times

Film Festivals These Days Are Treating Controversial Movies As Radioactive

"For many in the indie film world, the drama surrounding Jihad Rehab (now titled The UnRedacted) marks a new status quo. ... (There's)  a new, unspoken modus operandi in which festivals — once the bastion of provocative, button-pushing fare — are desperate to avoid controversy and the wrath of any identity-focused Twitter mob." - Variety

28 States Have Banned TikTok From State Devices. Users Are Rolling Their Eyes

Some tech experts argue that the sudden explosion of the bans, coupled with doubts over TikTok’s actual harm, is more a reflection of government groupthink — and an overreaction to an app they don’t entirely understand. - Washington Post

New York City’s PBS TV Station Is Buying A Radio Station On Long Island

WNET, one of the flagships of the entire PBS system, will pay $100,000 for WEER, an FM station in Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island. The WNET Group already owns WLIW television and radio, the established PBS and NPR affiliates on Long Island. (sixth item) - Inside Radio

Alec Baldwin Will Be Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter In On-Set Shooting

"Actor Alec Baldwin, who fatally shot a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie Rust in 2021, and the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors said Thursday." - CNN

Existing Podcasts May Be Doing Okay, But Development And Release Of New Ones Is Plummeting

"The number of new shows created dropped by nearly 80 percent between 2020 and 2022. Some of that can be attributed to the pandemic — podcast creation peaked in 2020, when people truly had nothing better to do. But the number of new shows in 2022 was lower than pre-pandemic levels." - The Verge

Meta’s Advisory Board Says Facebook And Instagram Should Stop Banning Breasts

"More than a decade after breastfeeding mothers first held a 'nurse-in' at Facebook's headquarters to protest against its ban on breasts, Meta's oversight board has called for an overhaul to the company's rules banning bare-chested images of women – but not men." - The Guardian

A Most Unusual AM Talk Radio Station

"A talk outlet owned by a billionaire businessman for whom radio is a hobby. ... A station that airs an improbable patch-quilt of block programming on weekends and boasts a talent lineup that ranges from Rudy Giuliani to Cousin Brucie, from Sid Rosenberg and Larry Kudlow to Tony Orlando." - Inside Radio

Movie Theatres Are Forever Changed

This year's box office will tell us how much theaters must go big -- and, paradoxically, shrink down -- to make it through to their next era. - CNet

The Long Odessey Of Making “Tar”

 “Tár” not only got made and released—a fact that seemed to confound its writer-director—but has inspired vigorous discussion, whether about its insights into sexual abuse and cancel culture, or about the theory that its final act occurs in the protagonist’s mind. - The New Yorker

How Filmmaker Alica Diop Turned A Sensational Trial Into The Oscar-Nominated “Saint-Omer”

"When the French director Alice Diop attended the trial of Fabienne Kabou, a woman who left her 15-month-old daughter on a beach to drown, she wasn't intending to make a movie." - The New York Times

“Power Is Genderless”: Cate Blanchett Answers Back To Marin Alsop’s Criticism Of “Tár”

"I don't think you could have talked about the corrupting nature of power in as nuanced away as Todd Field has done as a filmmaker if there was a male at the centre of it because we (already) understand so absolutely what that looks like." - The Independent (UK)

The Smithsonian Is Restoring 300 Of The World’s Oldest Sound Recordings

"Now, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has announced a new project: restoring hundreds of never-before-heard sound recordings made by Bell and his fellow researchers between 1881 and 1892 at Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and Bell’s property in Baddeck, Nova Scotia." - Smithsonian Magazine

The Full List Of Critics Circle Awards

Cate Blanchett rolls on, and Everything Everywhere All at Once picks up critical steam. - Variety

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');