In the last few months, it seems to have become common wisdom that traditional print media is in its death throes. According to every expert, all media is moving to the web. Yet you wouldn’t know it by looking at me. As somebody who works in the media, I’ve always considered that part of my job is to know what is going on the world…especially and specifically in the world of pop culture. On a daily basis, I read the New York Times, Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter. Every week, I read New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Weekly Variety, Entertainment Weekly, Screen International, Video Business and The New York Observer. And I also subscribe to Film Comment and several monthly tech magazines. I figure that single-handedly, I’ve killed a large number of trees in my lifetime. Continue reading “Confessions of an Old Media Junkie”
The Knock on the Door
I don’t usually write reviews of films I’ve seen, but after a public debate (on Facebook) with my son, I feel compelled to explain my feelings about the new Woody Allen film in a larger than Twitter-sized forum.
In the context of Woody’s career, it would be easy to dismiss “Whatever Works” as a minor piece. The plot makes very little sense, the characters are all “types,” and the world the film takes place in is as realistic as Seinfeld’s apartment building.
But that’s the point. Woody is just having fun. Continue reading “The Knock on the Door”
New Stadium, New Look Cubs?
Got my first glimpse of this year’s version of the Cubs at Yankees Stadium in the first game ever played in the new ballpark. It’s a good thing that the games were exhibitions because the Cubs were soundly trounced. Hopefully when these two teams meet in the Word Series (as predicted in last Sunday’s New York Times), the result will be quite different. In the game I saw, Lou didn’t start either Soriano or Ramirez, and he pulled Derrek Lee out after only a few innings, so it is pretty clear that he wasn’t playing to win…at least that’s what I was telling myself. And there were some bright spots, like seeing new acquisition Milton Bradley get on base several times and Micah Hoffpauer look like a hitting machine. But it was troubling watching the Yankees tee off on Ted Lilly like he was throwing batting practice.
The Yankees were clearly playing to win. They fielded their regular season starting line-up, including Derek Jeter’s debut in the lead-off position. They also seemed very pumped up to be playing in their new home, and wanted to put on a show for the home crowd. I have a feeling that Pinella, knowing this would be the dynamic, fielded the B team just so the Yankees couldn’t show them up.
So, what about the stadium? It’s VERY impressive, but not necessarily in the all the right ways. Continue reading “New Stadium, New Look Cubs?”
Steven Bach
I was very sad to read in the New York Times about the death of Steven Bach. Steven and I were colleagues at Columbia University, and we discovered we had many other things in common. We both went to Northwestern and we both worked at United Artists at the same time, although we didn’t get to know each other until we were at Columbia. Steven was instrumental in shaping what has become the producing program at the school, and even after he moved to Vermont, he came down for guest lectures a few times every year. The students loved his lectures on the history of producing and the origins of independent film.
The last time I saw Steven was at a lecture and book signing for his latest book about Leni Riefenstahl. Steven, as usual, was fascinating and entertaining, and he was genuinely pleased by the number of Columbia students who attended the event. Continue reading “Steven Bach”
Guadalajara rocks!
Just got back from the Guadalajara Film Festival, after gorging on undistributed Latin American films and tequila. There was a palpable sense here that filmmakers are opening up to alternate paths of distribution, and ready to do whatever it takes to get their films out to audiences. I walked away feeling that this new realism might actually lead to something interesting.
On my final night in Guadalajara, I went to see Emir Kusturica’s new doc about the Argentinan soccer star Maradona. As an American with very little interest in soccer, I found the film incoherent. But after the screening, Kusturica came on stage with his band–Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra–and it became the highlight of the festival. Emir plays a mean lead guitar, and the band puts on quite a show. I heard someone describe their music as Yugoslavian Punk, but to my ears it sounded more like Weimar Republic-era cabaret, as performed by Devo. An audience of around 4000 Mexicans went wild. It was a stunning example of cross-cultural communication—which after all is one of the missions of an international event such as this. Check out this crude video (taken on my Treo Pro) for a taste…
Film Critics List
Inspired by Gerald Peary’s new doc ” For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism,” and the current crisis in legit film criticism, I’ve compiled a page of links to the film critics that matter to me. You can find the page here. At some point I’d like to to develop this into a live feed that combines the latest articles by these critics in one place. If there’s anyone out there who would like to help me do this, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m open to suggestions about who is missing from this list. Are there archives on line of critics who are no longer with us? I’d like to make this as useful as possible.
UPDATE:
Just for the sake of clarity, these are not critics I necessarily agree with, but they are people I think are serious and worth reading. I’ve both loved and hated all of them at one point or another.
ANOTHER UPDATE:
The suggestions are flooding in, and it’s clear that this list is woefully incomplete. I’ll be adding all legitimate suggestions as I can get to them. This is no longer to be thought of as MY list.
Wavy Gravy…the real thing
I’d like to bring to your attention a movie that Emerging Pictures is repping which will have its world premiere next week at SXSW. It’s the life story of Wavy Gravy, a guy who I was vaguely familiar with from the movie “Woodstock.” Those of you who have see that film might remember him as a kind of goofy guy in a cowboy hat who ended up becoming the unofficial MC of the event. He mentions in “Woodstock” that he’s “from the hog farm,” which I always thought meant that he was from some hog farm in upstate New York. Little did I know.
Now that I’ve seen the film “Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie,” I know better. Wavy (as he is known) is the personification of the counterculture and proof that it is alive and well and having a true impact on the world we live in. The Village Voice once called Wavy a cross between Harpo Marx and Mother Theresa. I couldn’t have said it better myself. The only thing they left out is that he is also Zelig…somehow turning up at every significant counterculture event from the ’50s though today. Wavy’s story is the history of that culture, but more importantly, it is the inspirational story of someone who made up his mind to devote his entire life to doing good in the world…and has made good on that commitment. When the film is over, and you’ll be singing along with Wavy’s song “Basic Human Needs,” and you’ll want to get out and make a difference yourself.
Those of you who are going to SXSW, please make a point of checking it out. There’s a pretty amazing party planned for afterward…details to come.
Altman’s Birthday
On the eve of Oscar weekend, I just want to make note of the fact that today would have been Robert Altman’s 89th Birthday. I don’t have the heart to take this date out of my calendar. We all miss you, Bob.
Who collapses now?
I know it’s considered bad form to wish bad things on anyone…but I suppose everyone has their exceptions. For me it’s Republicans and the New York Mets.
Why the Mets? As we all know, our team affiliations are formed when we are young, and my formative years were spent in Chicago. These things become ingrained in ways that are unexplainable. Why are our emotions so wrapped up in what team we root for? In my case, being a Cubs fan became entangled in something far larger.
In 1969, I was just beginning to make friends at a new high school when my parents announced that we were moving to New Jersey. Continue reading “Who collapses now?”
Columbia Produces!
Congrats to our new Columbia producers. On January 31, four of our students presented their thesis films, the final step before graduating with their MFA in film with a concentration in producing. Our February graduates are Geoffrey Booth, whose thesis film is “Cemetery Club,” Molly Pearson with “Last First Kiss,” Sarna Lapine with “Sinkhole” and Shilpa Mankikar with “Security.” Watch for their films at film festivals throughout the world.