Fox Searchlight sent me eight featurettes for the movie Mr. Fantastic Fox. I found this one to be the most interesting of them all, so enjoy!
Then, I watched this one, below, and found it to be the most interesting one of all. Which one do you like?
Archive for behind the scenes
Today I want to personally thank the Miller-McCune Group for blowing a whole lot of time and personnel dollars to engage in some serious spreadsheet fun, all meant to reveal one of the greatest truths of the media universe–not all critics are created equal, and some of them just love or hate things unaccountably.
As a token of my appreciation, the Miller-McCune Group will be receiving a large novelty pre-voided check for one hojillion dollars.
Anyway, they’ve built a whole lot of interesting graphs here revolving around a smattering of data from Metacritic, the critic amalgamation site that gives you a general idea of what a whole bunch of critics said. On a side note, as though anyone would want that–I mean, come on…half the point of reading film criticism is to enjoy the wordplay and the clever comparisons and whatnot. If you wanted raw numbers you’d play with a calculator. You want the advance word from a person you can trust.
Some other interesting points include that Michael Wilmington might want to sleep with one eye open lest he be branded a quote whore sometime in the future (most of his work seems to be positive, and interestingly, so does Roger Ebert’s! Ebert a quote whore? Say it ain’t so!), Marc Savlov is a tough act to please, and Rene Rodriguez and Mick LaSalle seem to have the best balance of positive and negative work.
Look, I’ve said it before–the best thing you can do is find a critic you can trust. And the only way you can do that is not with charts and graphs, but rather with a long term commitment and regular readings. Find the one you know you can trust, and stick with them. It doesn’t matter if it’s here at Screenhead or somewhere else (though we’d prefer it if it were here at Screenhead), just as long as you can trust it.
This was a point advanced in Cinema Blend that I just about dropped my jaw when reading. See, I had forgotten that, way back in the long long ago, the brothers Weinstein owned Miramax, but they sold it to Disney back when it was doing a lot better. Now that Miramax is bleeding cash like a stuck piggy bank, are the Weinsteins plotting to buy the name off Disney’s hands?
There’s no doubt they’d get a bargain for it–with Miramax putting out just a handful of titles a year and generating precious little revenue for Disney, a cash infusion would probably be welcome there. And if the Weinsteins want it–and it’s been suggested that they definitely DO want it–now would be the prime time to get it back for a song.
Does that mean they’d make it better? Well, considering that it’s currently been hobbled and is only putting out slim numbers to begin with, chances are the Weinsteins would crank it to full production again, and considering some of the awesome pieces it’s come out with since they sold it to Disney, they might be able to get something good out of it again.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are set to host the 82nd annual Academy Awards live on the air March 7, 2009 on ABC.
Sounds like quite a gig for Baldwin while Martin has hosted the celebrated show twice before.
I don’t think either one is much of a song and dance man, perhaps Martin is a bit.
Should prove to be an interesting match.
Martin and Baldwin star in the movie It’s Complicated with Meryl Streep. Enjoy this interview — funny!
(HQ) Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin – Interview on the Set of “It’s Complicated” – The best bloopers are here
In Contention brought this clip of Gabourey Sidibe on “Ellen” to my attention. What a great interview that shows the difference between a character and the real person who plays that character on the silver screen.
Okay, remember when I talked about how Miramax was pretty much getting castrated by Disney, seriously downsized, with only one release every other month? Well, it’s getting worse out there. A lot worse.
Miramax’s current president, Daniel Battsek, recently announced that he would step down as the head of Miramax following the recent defanging of same. Disney had said that Battsek would remain in charge of day to day operations, but Battsek wasn’t having it, and left after a month.
Excuse me if I don’t smell a rat bugging out of a sinking ship. After all, Battsek’s career looks pretty prime right now; he DID release No Country For Old Men, after all, not to mention Gone Baby Gone, so if this isn’t a move to go find greener pastures at another studio, I’ll be plenty surprised.
Stranger things have happened, of course, so it’s a move worth keeping an eye on.
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Playing for a Change: Peace Through Music is an award winning documentary that brings music to the heart of the world.
With its stirring call for reconciliation and cross-cultural unification, the global music collaboration/multi-media project, Playing For Change has struck a deep and powerful chord world-wide. “Playing For Change is an exploration into the human spirit,” stated founder and film co-director/producer Mark Johnson. “It demonstrates the power of music to unite us as a human race.” “The project brings an insight into humanity,“ adds co-director Jonathan Walls. “It’s my wish that audiences around the world absorb this musical essence and become inspired to participate and celebrate its manifestation.”
I’ve enjoyed the CD/DVD and now the documentary brings the whole message together as a complete thought, bring peace to the world.
You can win Playing for Change: Peace Through Music DVD by posting your name now and we will pick the winner Saturday, November 21, 2009.
Here is a wonderful featurette about James Cameron’s Avatar. The featurette offers more details about the story, how the story developed and where the characters have been and where they are headed.
No song and dance man — Hugh Jackman will not host the Oscars a second year in a row.
The actor, who’s starring on Broadway with Daniel Craig in the drama “A Steady Rain,” quietly turned down the job sometime during the past few weeks.
I liked Jackman as the song and dance man of the Oscars. He drew praise from others as well. He says he’ll host the Oscar show again in the future, but is not certain.
After his Broadway run, Jackman plans to take time off and prepare for The Real Steel, the Shawn Levy-directed DreamWorks drama that starts production in the spring.
(Source)