Countless film bloggers post their lists of best films of the year “so far” at the end of June, because it’s “halftime.” While the occasion may be convenient, it’s also arbitrary — the year being halfway over coincides with nothing relevant to the film industry. Thus, I’ve decided to buck the trend and do three […]
Pre-Summer Top 5: The best films of the year so far Read More »
“Over my dead body will I introduce texting into the movie theater. It’s our job to understand that this is a sacred place,” said Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League at a recent CinemaCon panel on theaters potentially allowing texting during movies, a comment that has been championed by blog after blog in the days since.
Consider the Contrary: Why theaters allowing texting might actually reduce distractions Read More »
Last week, the trailer for Rian Johnson’s (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) highly anticipated new film Looper hit the web. I watched once out of curiosity and it solidified the movie’s place on my personal list of Fall must-sees. I was prepared to not think any more of the trailer — after all, why should I? The purpose of a trailer is to convince you to buy a ticket and this assemblage of Looper did exactly that for me.
But over the next few days, it seemed like my Twitter and Facebook feeds were crowded with nothing but re-posts of said trailer, with friends and colleagues practically analyzing it frame-by-frame. At the very least, some had watched it dozens of times. My big question was: Why? Surely, the trailer is expertly edited enough that it gets your adrenaline pumping as you watch it… But don’t repeat viewings of promotional materials ultimately take away from the experience of watching the movie once it’s out?
Trailer Overkill: Taking the Mystique out of Looper Read More »
Over the past decade, the movie theater industry has spent millions of dollars converting their traditional 35mm film projectors to digital projectors. Saturday, at the NAB’s Technology Summit on Cinema, it was announced that 50 percent of screens worldwide had made the switch to digital, 70 percent in the United States.
On film blogs, this conversion has largely been derided and smeared — “How can they get rid of 35mm? It’s the best way to watch a movie!” While I understand the sentiment behind this protest, it seems to me that the approach is rather narrow — Hollywood isn’t going to fix the “problem” just because a niche group of purists say it exists. There’s too much money to be saved by going 100 percent digital. What is necessary to actually create positive change is for the everyday moviegoer to join in the fight to keep 35mm alive. Which first requires them to understand what’s at stake.
Making Sense of the Digital Conversion Read More »
