| Filmmaker Magazine

AMERICAN PANOPTICON

There’s been much in the mainstream media this week about the New York Times reporting that Bush via executive order — and not judicial warrant — authorized the wiretapping of American citizens. The political blogosphere, such as Kevin Drum, is discussing the issue in greater detail, commenting on the obvious conclusion that the spying Bush authorized is probably part of some new data-mining system of surveillance, something quite different than garden-variety phone tapping. Forgive my lack of surprise, but isn’t this what the NSA has been in the business of doing for years? And yes, the focus on American citizens […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 20, 2005

AN X-RATED OPTION

While movies are becoming more like videogames, journalism seems to becoming more like the movies. Or, rather, one often can feel the movie-option ambition embedded in print journalism published by Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and, today, The New York Times. The Grey Lady’s latest must-read is the shocking and strange tale of Justin Berry, a 13-year old California teen who, over the course of the six years chronicles in the paper’s very long story, goes from innocently flirting with other kids on the Internet with a $20 webcam to running a child porn online empire with himself as the […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2005

IT’S CHEAPER THAN THE ZIEGFELD

Albert Brooks premiered his new movie, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, in Dubai last week. In the film, Brooks’s character is sent by the U.S. Government to Hindu India as well as predominantly-Muslim Pakistan to learn more about Muslims and their taste in humor. From Heba Kandil’s Reuters piece: “Audiences in Dubai gave mixed reviews of the film, which Brooks wrote, directed and starred in. But for the most part, they welcomed it, saying it was refreshing to see a U.S. production that did not vilify Muslims. ‘It was different from the usual movies we see from America. […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 18, 2005

MOODY ON BROKEBACK

Author Rick Moody, whose novel The Ice Storm was adapted by James Schamus for an Ang Lee film, discusses Brokeback Mountain in the pages of The Guardian. I wish he had gone a bit more into his thoughts on Lee and the process of adaptation informed by his own first-hand experience, but his is a good take on Lee’s artistic intent: “There is also the question of whether or not Lee’s film is a genuine western. The western, in American cinema, is one of the foundational genres. It’s the bedrock on which the language of film was constructed. It’s the […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 18, 2005

Sundance Screenwriters Lab, 2006

The Sundance Institute has just announced the 12 projects selected for the 2006 Screenwriter’s Lab, which takes place in January the week before the Sundance Film Festival at the Sundance Resort. From the press release, here are the attendees and their projects: “Kit Hui (writer/director), U.S.A./China, A BREATH AWAY: As Typhoon Ellen approaches Hong Kong, the residents of a high-rise apartment complex struggle with their individual emotional demons, not realizing they are connected by more than the increasing swarms of flies invading their homes. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Kit Hui emigrated to the United States at age 16. […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 17, 2005

OH, TO BE A BLOGGER (PART TWO)

I’ll be sitting on a panel tonight at 7:30 at the Apple store on Prince Street organized by our friends at Indiewire. A sort of “meet the bloggers,” the panel brings together a bunch of us who write about film here in the blogosphere — mostly people who do it far more diligently and conscientiously than I: Karina Longworth (Cinematical), Alison Willmore (IFC News), Andrew Grant (Like Anna Karina’s Sweater), Aaron Dobbs (Out of Focus), S.T. VanAirsdale (The Reeler) and Michael Koresky (Reverseblog: The Reverse Shot blog). Eugene Hernandez of Indiewire moderates. Aside from the inevitable shop talk — blog […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 16, 2005

HELL’S BELLS, THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION

“In 1989… at the peak of the Satanic Panic, a small media company called Reel to Real Ministries began selling a video documentary called Hell’s Bells: The Dangers of Rock and Roll,” writes Stephen M. Deusner at Pitchfork Media of the anti-rock music doc that was shown in public schools around the time of various “metal-inspired” teen killings in the late ’80s and early ’90s. “Taking its name from the AC/DC song, Hell’s Bells was produced, directed, and hosted by Reel to Real’s founder, Eric Holmberg, an amiable emcee and a mid-life convert whose self-confessed gods had once been John […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 15, 2005

DICK’S MPAA ADVENTURE, PART 2

The Reeler has a piece up today following up on the IFC press release blogged below regarding Kirby Dick’s upcoming Sundance doc This Film is not Yet Rated and its MPAA controversy. It’s all a bit more complicated than the release made it sound…

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2005

MOVIE POSTER WORD BALLOONS

I saw one for the first time while walking past a poster of the Jennifer Aniston pic, Rumor Has It, yesterday: a big empty white word balloon coming right out of the Friend’s mouth. I thought it was part of the poster, its blank space some sort of Kaufman-esque pitch having to do with the vapidity of celebrity culture. But at the 14th St. station tonight, I saw a few more, on different posters, and I realized that these professionally printed stick-ons are some artist/prankster’s works of media detournement. Amplifying the intention of the movie poster — to “draw you […]

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2005

TEN BEST… LATER

Now that Matt Ross has thrown down the “10 Best” gauntlet, below, I guess I have to make a list. It’s a seemingly mandatory task required of all participating in the film blogosphere, but mine will have to wait until I see a few more films, including Matt’s #1, King Kong. So expect mine sometime before the end of the year.

by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2005

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