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Why It’s Time To Reopen Movie Theaters

"Despite being indoors (a red flag), the sort of behavior engaged in at the movies is, relatively speaking, benign. Patrons who can and should wear a mask for the duration of their visit face the same direction and don't chatter much. … movie theaters in the age of the coronavirus have placed an almost disconcerting emphasis on safety."...

YouTube Chief Talks About What’s Next, Misinformation, And New Features

YouTube is planning an official rollout for “Applause,” a feature—already in testing—that lets viewers make cash payments to their favorite creators by initiating an on-screen clapping effect. Like existing features such as Super Chat, “it’s a token of my appreciation of some monetary value.” - Fast Company

Martin Scorsese: How Streaming Is Killing The Movie Art

Scorsese acknowledges streamers benefit his career (without Netflix there would be no “The Irishman,” and without Apple there would be no “Killers of the Flower Moon” on the way), but writes “the art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator” by conceptualization of films as “content.” - Harper's

Hollywood’s Hottest Young Director Is A Chinese Woman Who Makes Westerns

Chloé Zhao came to L.A. from Beijing to finish high school and go to college, got a poli-sci degree from Mount Holyoke, went to NYU film school, and ended up making three feature films at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. One of those caught the eye of Frances McDormand — and now Nomadland is a major Oscar contender, Zhao...

Why Disney Really Fired Gina Carano From ‘The Mandalorian’

It wasn't just because she likened being a conservative in America today to being a Jew in 1930s Germany on Instagram. "Carano had become a lightning rod among Star Wars fans and a headache for Lucasfilm, … had repeatedly been warned by those around her about her social media behavior." - The Hollywood Reporter

‘Drenching Richness’: Alex Ross Revisits The Films Of Andrei Tarkovsky

Ross fell under the director's spell upon seeing Andrei Rublev in college. "The long pandemic months seemed a good time to burrow back into Tarkovsky's world. Life was moving at a neo-medieval pace, and the aesthetic of slowness was all the more welcome in an age of frantic digital scissoring. I watched the films again … I emerged...

The Agents Behind Hollywood’s Book-To-Movie Boom

“The entire structure of the traditional book-to-film deal has changed. Our authors are now at the cutting edge of those deals, in the selling of their work and as producers.” - Los Angeles Times

Playing The Man Who Betrayed Fred Hampton Sent Lakeith Stanfield Into Therapy

Stanfield says it's not only therapy that has made the last year bearable. "The one good thing about this pandemic is being able to sit at home by yourself and deal with yourself and just your inner voice. And even though that’s annoying as hell, beautiful clarity comes out of it." - Level

Why ‘Nadiya Bakes’ Is Such A Big Deal In Foodie Shows

The new show demonstrates just how drastically far food shows have come - but reminds us of how far that had to be, especially when we can always rewatch Nadiya Hussain's GBBO flavors making Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry squirm. "It’s hard to imagine that a show like Nadiya Bakes could have existed in the same way even just...

When Science Doesn’t Cut It

Director Iram Parveen Bilal (I'll Meet You There) explains: "I'm the daughter of a physicist mother and a chemistry professor father. ... We were told from the get-go that education is your passport. And when I came to Caltech, I realized that even though I was good at science, it came naturally to me, it wasn't ticking the passion...

Will Covid-19 Kill The Pandemic Movie?

Maybe, but then again, the form has a way of shifting with new information to meet the times. However, it will have to be something other than documentary: "Unless there emerges a bizarre public hunger for films in which tired parents try to connect their tablets to Google Classroom during a phone call with their boss, it is hard...

Get Watching: The First Oscars Shortlists Are Out

Of course, we've all probably been watching quite a few things during the past year, but have those things included Academy-honored movies? Time to start, perhaps. - The Guardian (UK)

Pennsylvania Governor Proposes Zeroing Out Funds For Public TV

The state has issued $750,000 to seven stations annually since 2019. The funding, which is divided evenly among the stations, supports technology needs and operating expenses. It also covers program-related fees, production and distribution costs, and acquiring equipment. - Current

Empty Movie Theaters Are Being Rented Out To Video Gamers

The cinema chain Malco has been doing this in six Southern states since November, and the South Korean chain CGV started it in January. With prices for a small group of players running around $100 for two hours, it's not close to making up for the lack of moviegoers, but it's at least a bit of income. And the...

Did The BBC Censor This Play About Buckingham Palace?

"Peter Barnes had 14 soliloquies on BBC Radio 3 under the umbrella titles Barnes' People and More Barnes' People. They attracted remarkable actors, including Laurence Olivier (in his final role), Judi Dench, Alec Guinness, Alan Rickman, Janet Suzman and Jeremy Irons. Barnes wrote, though, a 15th monologue, which the BBC, in mysterious circumstances, withdrew from production in 1990....

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