Movie City Indie Archive for March, 2010
Is there a Hollywood remake for The World's Loneliest Border Terrier?
[PR] Sony Entertainment CEO Lynton asks moviehouses to offer healthier concessions
Las Vegas, NV – March 15, 2010 – The nation’s theater owners were asked today by the head of a major Hollywood studio to have healthier snacks at their concession stands in addition to their traditional offerings of candy, popcorn and soda. 
In a speech at ShoWest, the nation’s largest convention for the movie theater industry, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton said, “adding healthier options to your existing menu is the right thing to do for our industry, for audiences and for our country.” Lynton said a poll of moviegoers commissioned by Sony Pictures revealed:
* two-thirds of moviegoers and three-quarters of parents are more likely to buy healthy snacks at theaters if they are offered;
* 42% of parents said they would buy concessions more often if healthy options were available;
* 60% of parents said having healthier snacks in theaters would enhance their overall moviegoing experience;
Lynton said he was not asking theaters to stop selling popcorn, soda and candy. “Audiences love them,” he said. “I’m just talking about adding some healthier items to what you already sell.
Jon Reiss offers the wisdom on an Austin streetcorner at SXSW
“Last year, 17,000 feature films were made, so even on a good Sundance year, even back in the good ol’ days, when a hundred films were bought, there are still 16,900 films that aren’t bought… You can’t think anymore think you’re going to sell a film… Hello? Haven’t you been reading jack-shit for years?” More straight talk ahead.
Godard's salute from Cinémathèque française's "Night in Homage to Eric Rohmer"
Jean-Luc Godard (3’26”). There’s more video at the link, including from Chabrol and Barbet Schroeder, if you follow French. There’s a collaborative attempt at translating the narration at The Auteurs; the intertitles are names of Cahiers du Cinema essays by Rohmer.
Craig Keller translates a lovely thought from coverage of the event in Les Inrockuptibles: “the shock of the evening came with the unveiling of a small film by Jean-Luc Godard created for the occasion. Over a black screen, the titles of Rohmer’s most famous articles from the Cahiers appear one after another. In voice-over, Godard evokes images pulled from the ether: two young friends, speaking to one another through the night; the same pair in the kitchen of one of their mothers, making food, going back and forth discussing films… Rarely have we heard Godard speak of such personal things, very simple and very exposed. The film closes with a furtive shot of the filmmaker, face slightly haggard in his webcam. With that, he’s gone. You want to hold onto him. You want to hold onto both of them.”
Of all Mothers: Dargis on Bong Joon-Ho
I shouldn have known better than to click on the link before finishing my own review of Mother: sample this graf from Manohla Dargis‘ review in Friday’s Times. “You watch the accident unfold alongside Mother, who busily chops herbs with a big blade in her darkened shop while casting worried glances at Do-joon as he goofs off across the street. From her vantage point, he looks as centered within the shop’s front door as a little prince inside a framed portrait. The dim interior and bright exterior only accentuate his body—the daylight functions as a kind of floodlight—which puts into visual terms the idea that he is the only thing that Mother really sees. Mr. Bong may like narrative detours, stories filled with more wrong turns than a maze, but he’s a born filmmaker whose images — the spilled water that foreshadows spilled blood — tell more than you might initially grasp.” Um… yes.
Paragraph of the week: Manohla Dargis' Sunday piece on Kathryn Bigelow
The best piece of film writing I’ve come across in a while, partly because the essay aims at so many targets and hits them all, is Manohla Dargis‘ piece for the March 14, 2010 New York Times, “How Oscar Found Ms. Right.” Pungent, urgent, never earnest or strident, Dargis considers the weight of Kathryn Bigelow‘s Oscar wins. (While Dargis published a rare profile admiring Bigelow back in June, she’s after more here. The closing paragraph blooms from what came before, which is a must-read in its entirety. The ending (below the fold) is rational as well as Utopian.
Seeking Fiscal Fix, Made Trade Nix Crix
Variety is housed on the top 3 floors of a lovely building on Miracle Mile but first reports on the firing of chief theater critic David Rooney and chief film critic Todd McCarthy indicate that it’s not a place for staff anymore: “In a telephone interview, Mr. Stiles said the critics were cut as a cost-saving measure. “It’s economic reality,” Mr. Stiles said. He said the paper will continue to carry the same number of reviews, but he expects them all to be done on a freelance basis. Many of the trade paper’s reviews are currently done by freelance writers.” The paywall is one kind of black curtain: this is a more deadly one. Sime., Skirt. and Mosk. were unavailable for comment. Twitter comments follow. Roger Ebert: “Variety fires Todd McCarthy and I cancel my subscription. He was my reason to read the paper. RIP, schmucks.” OregonianShawn Levy: “Variety has let go of Todd McCarthy, its chief (and solid) film critic. This is huge…and awful.” LA journo Chris Willman: “Not to be a drama queen myself, but this feels like the end of the world as we know it. I can’t even comprehend.” LA Times media blogger Joe Flint: “Big bummer! Longtime Variety film critic Todd McCarthy let go.” IndieWIRE’s Anne Thompson: “Todd McCarthy out at variety I am shocked dismayed and disturbed. very sad day.” Media Studies prof Alisa Perren: “That’s insane.” Eric Kohn: “Wow, Variety’s Todd McCarthy is the latest full-time film critic casualty.” Jim Emerson: “Variety dumps Todd McCarthy? Because it wants more critics like this?” [Emerson links to Derek Elley’s pan of the Venice premiere of The Hurt Locker, which is behind the paywall.] Bumble Ward: “This is hideous news.” Salt Lake Tribune’s Sean P. Means: “Probably Variety’s smartest voice. WTF?” Toronto Int’l’s Cameron Bailey: “Shocking.” Writes FishBowl LA’s Tina Dupuy: “Variety has let go their last staff critics Todd McCarthy and David Rooney. They will be replaced by “freelancers.” We hope that won’t become code for crowd-sourcing student labor and Twitter reactions. Hm. Chills.”
Alice In Wonderland (1903, Cecil Hepworth)
Details of the find here.
Exhibiting "Homework: Modern Polish Poster Design"
Cool posters: at London’s Kemistry Gallery, “Homework: Modern Polish Poster Design” runs through 17 April. “Since forming in 2003, Warsaw-based studio Homework has been creating posters for cultural events. Aware of Poland’s renowned legacy in poster design but with no intentions to be part of it, the work they create nods to the simple visual puns of Mieczysław Wasilewski and the playful illustrative style of Witkor Gorka. However, rather than exist in homage to their predecessors, Joanna Gorska and Jerzy Skakun have created a distinctive style that has seen them garner prizes at poster biennials across the world as well as gallery exhibitions in Paris and Berlin. Credited by design writer Ellen Lupton with “bringing the medium [of the Polish poster] back to life, and updating it for the twenty-first century”, Joanna and Jerzy just want their posters “to set themselves apart from the masses, simply through their quality”. Working for small theatres and independent film distributors, Homework’s client roster is enviable and allows them to continue to create work that is quickly becoming well-known outside of their native Poland.” A selection is available to buy online from the gallery.
