Yawn, right? But there were two highlights this weekend during the Academy Awards and Spirit Awards that will stand out for at least the next few weeks.
First, at The Spirit Awards, which are basically like the Oscar’s nerdier, Proust-reading sister who is totally deep, Mickey Rourke got the award for Best Male Lead due to The Wrestler. And then this:
Not to be outdone, the Academy Awards were all, “wtf. What kind of crazy-ass shit do we do to top that? Make that Stiller guy wear a beard? Pretend Anne Hathaway is the old dude from the Ron Howard movie?” And then someone stood up and they said, “No. We let the Japanese guy who refused to do press–true story–for weeks leading up to the Award Show get on stage, blow everyone else away and talk in engrish.”
Writing by Dave on Monday, 26 January, 2009 at 4:31 pm
You know what I did today? I downloaded Slumdog Millionaire. Since it’s already Oscar front-runner, I figured owning it now will save me having to peel the “Winner: Best Picture” sticker from the eventual DVD case.
For those familiar with the Torrenting world and other high seas of internet pirates, the availability of 24 of the 26 nominated films online is probably no surprise. Especially since 20 of the nominated films were distributed to Academy members as screeners, and there is an average time of 6 days from screener release until DVD-quailty torrents pop up online.
Another interesting change from years previous: there were fewer camcorder leaks of the nominated films, suggesting either that theaters’ stricter “no cameras” policy is working or that the average movie goer/pirate doesn’t want to fully sacrifice the medium just to stick it to the man.
The data is surprising when three things are kept in mind: 1) these are Academy Award nominated films, therefore certain quality of product is expected. 2) the popular films exist in DVD rips, so picture quality is still valued by pirates. 3) Academy screeners show up online, so this is movie lovers sharing with everyone, free of cost.
Writing by Dave on Monday, 26 January, 2009 at 1:02 pm
One of the major problems with web video in general is what people expect to get for free versus what companies logically have to make a profit on. Internet users aren’t stupid, we know that it costs money to make things and if those things don’t make their money back, we’ll either get less things or things that are so consumer-motivated that they end up being complete crap (oh, hello Hancock).
The problem with YouTube, the flagship of all web video sites, is that people are so used to the internet being free that YouTube constantly has problems monetizing themselves. Downloadable content? Why not? HD view with 16:9 aspect ratio? Maybe that won’t lead to HD videos of people getting kicked in the nuts.
YouTube isn’t a website, it’s a market. Until Google’s video search function gets a more user-friendly interface, it’s the index of all video content on the web.
That’s why this was so surprising:
And what’s more surprising? This balls-out effort was the digital manifestation of Monty Python realized they were being robbed blind. Then, they took their built in audience and said: “Okay, you’re going to do this anyway, will this lead to sales?” And what’s cooler, they came right out an said it: “Buy our stuff if you like the free stuff.”
Writing by Dave on Monday, 26 January, 2009 at 11:35 am
I don’t really cover Sundance. While film blog editors around the US all pile into Park City, Utah to get the skinny on the upcoming “indie” film slate, I stay in Brooklyn, frantically buying new hats to keep my damn ears warn during this period of increasingly brisk wind. But, that doesn’t mean I’m not reading and opinionating (I would like to coin this term as the present participle of being opinionated) throughout the whole experience.The problem with Sundance is that it is increasingly becoming an event so crowded with D-List celebrities (once again in attendance this year: Paris Hilton) that has actually had trouble in the past few years launching long lives for movies that screen there.
Last year saw Frozen River wind the Grand Prize for a dramatic film, but even Melissa Leo’s nomination from that film for the Academy Awards was largely unpredicted (though not undeserved). Man On Wire also stood out for winning the documentary Grand Jury Prize, and the first film to get sold, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, aired on HBO. It was great, but it wasn’t a huge landmark in documentary cinema.
The relevance of Sundance is debatable in the sphere of movies most interesting because of their completely absurd and illogical twists and turns (this covers most sequels and blockbusters), but two events this year should be highlighted; one because of it’s new media relevancy and the other because it’s just so f-ing ridiculous.
I’m talking about Mystery Team and the fistfight between Variety critic John Anderson and producer Jeff “The Dude” Dowd…
Writing by Dave on Friday, 23 January, 2009 at 11:17 am
In the fall of 2008, AMC, Cinemark and Regal - the three largest theater chains in the United States - were trying to set up a deal to get millions of dollars in credit to finance the conversion of more screens into digital 3D projection theaters. Of course, we all know what else happened in the early winter: credit-freeze, financial meltdown, and mystery government bailouts.
As a result, of the 5,620 digital screens currently established nation-wide, only 22% - or 1,250 screens - have the capability for Real 3D, or other types of digital 3-D projection.
With about a dozen 3D films bowing into the box office this year, notably December’s Avatar from James Cameron, studios have started to worry that the distribution net isn’t wide enough to net the desired B.O. from expensive blockbusters (like Avatar).
DreamWorks Animation prez Jeffrey Katzenberg says he wants 2,000 digital 3D screens ready to roll out his Monsters Vs. Aliens 3D print in March, so Paramount is stepping in…
Writing by Dave on Tuesday, 20 January, 2009 at 12:04 pm
The New Frontiersman, a website we told you about when it launched, has now opened it’s file.
I’m a big fan of this stuff, back in the days when I used to read old police reports on The Black Dahlia and other noir-ish police files. It looks like this is going to be the direction the New Frontiersman is taking.
