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The Blurb Racket is a weekly roundup of movie blurbs put back into context. “…Travolta is as smooth as ever…” is actually “…although Travolta is as smooth as ever, the picture is a bust, a grimly unfunny comedy with no connection to reality, and worst of all, running on and on for two dismal hours”.
If you’re going to see Revenge of the Sith again, look for these easter eggs. Both the Millennium Falcon and George Lucas have cameo appearances.
Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock has a book out about fast food.
“A sampling of what prominent film critics wrote in their reviews of the earlier ‘Star Wars’ films”.
The blog for Me and You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July’s acclaimed new movie. The most recent entries are about the film’s win at Cannes.
Mr. Sun goes to Revenge of the Sith with his youngling. “Why didn’t Obi-Wan finish off Anakin? That weakness of the mind cost millions of lives. Put down the coffee, Master Kenobi — coffee is for closers.”
The public choice economics of Star Wars: A Straussian reading. “The core point is that the Jedi are not to be trusted”.
The top 100 movie voices. Peter Sellers should really be higher on the list.
Movies that have been considered the greatest ever.
Why we shouldn’t pay that much attention to the box office gross. “Ticket sales from theaters provided 100 percent of the studios’ revenues in 1948; in 2003, they accounted for less than 20 percent.” And he doesn’t even mention inflation…Gone With the Wind is still the highest grossing film in history when you adjust for inflation.
Anthony Lane slams Revenge of the Sith in the New Yorker this week. “The general opinion of ‘Revenge of the Sith’ seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, ‘The Phantom Menace’ and ‘Attack of the Clones’. True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion.” Ouch.
The NY Times is keeping a Cannes Film Festival weblog.
Trailer for Rize, David LaChapelle’s film about krump dancing.
There’s a rumor that Blockbuster may stop offering online rentals. The folks at Netflix must be beside themselves with glee.
Microsoft is sponsoring a short film contest called Thought Thieves about intellectual property theft. And the entry form states: “I will formally license on terms acceptable to Microsoft, all intellectual property rights in my film and agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do so”. Heh.
Free movies in NYC’s Bryant Park all summer; here’s the schedule. Ooh, Touch of Evil.
Pixar’s profits tripled since last year. And it sounds like a Disney reconciliation might happen as well.
Great rant about George Lucas and Star Wars. Warning, some spoilers for Revenge of the Sith in the last few paragraphs.
Michael Moore made himself and Disney lots of money by stirring up controversy for Fahrenheit 9/11. I’m confused though…where’s the link between Disney and Fellowship Adventure Group? Surely the Weinstein’s didn’t purchase the film from Disney for the $78 million? How did Disney get that money back?
100 people who are qualified to carry the “Bad Mothafucka” wallet besides Pulp Fiction’s Jules Winfield. The list includes Cartman, Hemingway, Bruce Lee, Lt. Uhura, Mercutio, and Emma Peel.
Ridiculously comprehensive movie genre primers from GreenCine. If you’ve ever wanted to know what French New Wave films to watch or what “Hammer Horror” movies are, this is the resource for you.
Terry Gross interviews The Incredibles director Brad Bird on NPR. “So, what does the director of an animated film actually do?”
Henry Blodget goes DVD shopping in Shanghai at a fake restaurant. That reminds me, I should write up my Beijing CD-ROM shopping experience sometime.
Sofia Coppola’s next movie will be a Marie Antoinette bio-pic.
I’ve got a new idea for a web site. Actually, it’s really a variation on an old theme, but it won’t be a part of 0sil8. I’m going to become one of those people with multiple concurrently updated personal web projects.
I also started working on a new episode of 0sil8 last night. Unfortunately, I didn’t get too far before I scrapped the whole idea. I’ve never done that before. Usually, I muddle through until something halfway decent pops out. Not this time. The question is: am I getting smarter about choosing projects or just impatient and lazy?
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