| Filmmaker Magazine

AN IDEAL FOR LIVING

Novelist J.G. Ballard (Crash, Empire of the Sun) has penned one of his periodic pieces for The Guardian, a meditation on modernist architecture coinciding with a giant gallery exhbition at London’s V&A. Here, excerpted, are his thoughts on the relationship between modernism and its ideals and the horrors of the 20th century: Modernism’s attempt to build a better world with the aid of science and technology now seems almost heroic. Bertolt Brecht, no fan of modernism, remarked that the mud, blood and carnage of the first world war trenches left its survivors longing for a future that resembled a white-tiled […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 19, 2006

GUN CRAZY

Did you know that there was an awards show devoted solely to trailers? And that it has a prize for the best trailer made without an accompanying feature film? Neither did I until I read this profile in the Gothamist of Veronica Varlow, model, retro fashion doyenne, and now actress. Along with photographer and director Burke Heffner (who shot the picture here of Varlow) she’s made a very slick trailer intended as a fundraising tool for a feature, Revolver (pictured below), which she describes in Gothamist as ““a romance in exile . . . rumbling down the lost 2 lane […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 19, 2006

WHAT IS A DARKNET?

A bit of advocacy and image rehabilitation for underground file-sharing networks by mash-up editor JD Lasica can be found here.

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 19, 2006

CRICKET’S CLUB

If you want to be your own film cricket, as Ray Pride would say, then check out Criticker, a new “personalized search engine” in which you record your numerical scores on a number of movies and then sit back as the site predicts what else you might like. The difference between this site and others seems to be a very healthy representation of independent and foreign films.

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 19, 2006

A FAITH-BASED CINEMA?

Opus Zine links to this article by Barbara Nicolosi in Christianity Today in which the author discusses the advice she gives to young Christian artists who want to be “the next Mel Gibson.” The advice contained in the article, itself an adaptation of material from her book Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith, Film and Culture, is not what you’d expect. She disses A Walk to Remember (“…a banal, predictable story with underdeveloped characters, pedestrian acting, and saccharine dialogue”), praises In the Bedroom (which “deals with the spiritual and psychological urgency of forgiveness”) and offers — after answering the […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2006

SO YOU WANT TO BE A PRODUCER?

The bloggers at Spin and Stir have been writing about the Bob Yari vs. the Producers Guild of America lawsuit and in this post offer perhaps a more nuanced account of the reality of the producing business today than the PGA’s more idealistic definition. The end of the post has a hilarious producer breakdown comparing a good independent film (Capote, 12 producers) and a bad studio film (Pink Panther, 3 producers), countering all those Variety reviews that love to count off producer credits as if a lot of producers is a bad thing. Here’s from the end of the piece: […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 17, 2006

LINDE GOES TO UNIVERSAL

Both Indiewire and The Hollywood Reporter reported today that Focus Features co-president David Linde will become co-chairman of Universal Pictures, effective immediately, and Mark Schmuber has been appointed chairman. Shmuger has served as the studio’s vice chairman since 2000. Variety posted a longer article on the story later in the day that reports that the two jobs are equal in stature and that Shmuger received the “chairman” title due to his “longer tenure at Universal.” The two will work collaboratively and replace Stacey Snider, who recently announced her departure to become co-chair and CEO at Dreamworks. From the Hollywood Reporter: […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 16, 2006

A FIVE SPOT DON’T COME FOR FREE

Tne NYC production community, which, for the purposes of pitching projects and raising money, has gotten used to automatically knocking off 15% from its production budgets may have to revise its spreadsheet calculators. Articles in The New York Times and Gothamist both reference an upsetting development: the New York City tax credit program for film has been a victim of its own success. The $50 million allocated by the legislature for four years of the program has run out in only 13 months and, for now, producers aren’t guaranteed it will be renewed. (It is due to come up for […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2006

JARECKI/DENBY DUST-UP

Ray Pride’s column over at Movie City News contains a long interview with Why We Fight director Eugene Jarecki in which he takes issue with David Denby’s recent review of his film: PRIDE: I’m not asking you to respond to this specific review, but I was floored by the incredibly jejune review that David Denby wrote in the New Yorker of Why We Fight. This is merely a collage film; this guy went in with a point to make; this is not true filmmaking. Does that trouble you when a reviewer is so obstinate, so resistant to whatyou’ve made? JARECKI: […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2006

THE FIRST $20 MILLION GROSSING SXSW HIT?

Over at the Movie City News “Hot Blog”, David Poland reports on what he predicts could, with the right distributor, become the first big hit to get picked up out of the SXSW Festival. The film is Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, and here’s what Poland has to say about it: First time director Scott Glosserman was here with his entire family for the premiere of Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon. Title sucks. Poster looks like a conventionally crappy cheapo horror film. The only two acting names you’re likely to recognize are Freddy Englund […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2006

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