Danny Baldwin

Danny Baldwin has been writing about film on the Internet for over a decade, initially for BucketReviews and now for Critic Speak. He holds a Master's degree in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California and in past years served as a member of both the Online Film Critics Society and the San Diego Film Critics Society. Danny's favorite films include “The 400 Blows,” “Imitation of Life" (1959), “My Neighbor Totoro” and “The Silence of the Lambs.” He lives in Los Angeles.

Avengers actor Hiddleston defends superhero films as art in Guardian editorial

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Tom Hiddleston, star of THOR and THE AVENGERS.Writing in his native England’s The Guardian, actor Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in Thor and the upcoming The Avengers, published a passionate editorial defense of superhero blockbusters as legitimate works of filmmaking, not simply fun and games. That Hiddleston believes superhero pictures are still marginalized in this way surprises me; after all, Christopher Nolan’s Batman epics and the first Iron Man, for instance, were heralded by critics and audiences alike for being great films. But whether or not a snooty bias against these popular entertainments really exists or not, Hiddleston has thoughts on the genre that are well worth reading. Read the highlights after the jump…

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Box Office Beat: Weekend of April 19

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Danny Baldwin's Box Office BeatHello and welcome to the inaugural Box Office Beat column here at Critic Speak, a weekly post in which I will predict/analyze the monetary prospects for the upcoming weekend’s crop of new films. To those of you who have read variations of this column in the past at BucketReviews.com and on the Hollywood Stock Exchange forums, I’m glad we have been reunited here, where I plan to crunch the numbers for some time to come.

This weekend, three new films open in wide release, two of which have a strong shot of unseating The Hunger Games from the #1 slot, where it has dominated for a stunning four weekends straight. They are the Zac Efron tearjerker The Lucky One and the African-American targeted comedy Think Like a Man. Joining them on the marquee is Disney’s annual nature documentary, Chimpanzee, which is unlikely to be a real competitor.

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Francis Lawrence offered director’s chair for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

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Francis Lawrence is set to helm "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire".We posted earlier this week that Francis Lawrence, the director of such films as I Am Legend and Water for Elephants, was reportedly one of Lionsgate’s top choices to direct the sequel to the year’s biggest film so far, The Hunger Games. Well now, it’s official, as Lawrence has been extended (and will presumably accept) the offer today.

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Scorsese, DiCaprio ink deals, make The Wolf of Wall Street official

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Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprioFans of the Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio partnership need not wait much longer for another picture from the duo. After months of speculation, Scorsese and DiCaprio, who last worked together on 2010’s Shutter Island, today officially signed on to make The Wolf of Wall Street, marking their fifth collaboration. The New York production will begin shooting in August.

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Lionsgate not laughing about Cyrus’ LOL

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Miley Cyrus stars in Lionsgate's LOL, which probably won't be released in your city.Almost four years ago, I settled into a post-Comic Con screening of the horror film Midnight Meat Train, which was being introduced by source author Clive Barker and director Ryuhei Kitamura. I expected a fairly standard speech from the duo — perhaps an anecdote about the production process and then a generic “We hope you like the movie!” Instead, Barker immediately launched into a verbal tirade against the film’s distributor, Lionsgate, who decided that the film had limited commercial prospects and that they would save money by not advertising, releasing it in the bare minimum number of theaters allowed in the contact.  Two weeks later, Midnight Meat Train opened in 102 theaters–mostly second-run locations–and grossed a predictably disastrous $83,000 total.

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ARRI pledges to support 35mm film for at least a decade more

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Photo from ARRI newsletter.This past Monday, I wrote a piece entitled “Making Sense of the Digital Conversion“, which dealt with the ramifications of the widespread digitization of movie theaters. The other element of the digital conversion, of course, is taking place on the production side.

Doomsdayers seized the opportunity to lament “the death” of film production last year when popular manufacturer ARRI ceased production of 35mm cameras. This was no doubt a significant news story, especially considering that ARRI makes the industry’s preeminent digital alternative, the ALEXA, used on dozens of film and television projects in 2011, including Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and HBO’s Game of Thrones.

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Hannity, O’Reilly near renewal deals at Fox News

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Sean Hannity (left) and Bill O'Reilly (right).In a development that should surprise no one, Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva is reporting that the mega-successful Fox News broadcasters Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly are finalizing new “multi-year, multi-million dollar” deals.

Hannity and O’Reilly, who appear on Fox News at 9 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET, respectively, have consistently trounced all cable news competition for years. Last night, for instance, O’Reilly beat all four other cable news nets combined in both total viewers and viewers aged 25-54. Hannity nearly pulled off the same feat.

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All 10 episodes of new Arrested Development season to hit Netflix at once

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The cast of "Arrested Development"At the ongoing National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurtwitz and Netflix chief Ted Sarandos confirmed what we already knew: Season four will premiere exclusively on Netflix Instant Viewing sometime next year. But they also announced something that had not yet been discussed: All 10 episodes of the season will be released simultaneously.

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Bennett Miller, Francis Lawrence in contention to direct The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

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CATCHING FIRE is the second installment in the HUNGER GAMES series.As if the unexpectedly enormous success of the first film in the Hunger Games franchise wasn’t enough, Lionsgate is keeping its Katniss publicity machine in full-gear, spilling to The Playlist that Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote) and Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine) are in contention to direct the sequel, Catching Fire.

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