Let’s start with a list. Here are the movies currently playing at my local independent movie theater: Blue Jasmine, Before Midnight, The Attack, Fruitvale Station, and The Way, Way Back. Earlier this summer, it screened The Bling Ring, Frances Ha, and Much Ado About Nothing. Tastes may vary, but I saw most of those, and…
Studio execs call it “counterprogramming.” Summer blockbusters typically dominate ticket sales on the weekend they are released, so when a highly-anticipated movie is being released, other big movies stay out of their way and find their own weekend to dominate. Instead, you’ll often find a smaller movie with a niche demographic opening against the biggest…
And suddenly the world opened up. This morning, actress Kristin Bell and television writer Rob Thomas announced a Kickstarter campaign for a movie based on their cult show Veronica Mars. Thomas, who created the show, struck a unique deal with Warner Brothers: the studio agreed to greenlight the movie and pay for marketing, promotion, and…
Well, it had to happen. Time relentlessly marches on, and now it is officially awards season again. The critics’ boards are making their choices, Top 10 lists are filling my Twitter feed, and we even have our first front-runner controversy. Of course, all of the awards are just appetizers for the Oscars (which will air…
A summer movie and a presidential campaign have at least one thing in common: it is the job of each to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Neither is trying to push the envelope or engage us in creative discussion; they are both trying to sell us on a narrative that reflects a…
To go forward, we must first go back. Here’s what I wrote two weeks ago about “Mirror, Mirror” and “The Hunger Games.” The heroine of “The Hunger Games” has a lot in common with the Snow White of “Mirror, Mirror.” Both are teenage girls, abandoned by the death of their fathers and by mothers who…
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