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Books
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Posted by Emily Zenker
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08:00 AM Saturday, 12 January 2008 |
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We all have different favorites, but last year these titles were consistent top-sellers, right into the final moments of 2007.
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Bale to Join Depp in Mann's 'Public Enemies'? |
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Movies/DVD
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Posted by Samuel Gaines
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05:00 PM Friday, 11 January 2008 |
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 Johnny Depp's already on board to play John Dillinger in Michael Mann's upcoming film, Public Enemies.
Now Christian Bale is negotiating to play Melvin Purvis, the G-man who led the FBI's manhunt of Dillinger.
The film is based on Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43, Brian Burrough's nonfiction account.
Mann also wrote the script.
The film is scheduled to start production in Chicago in March.
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WGA Reaching Separate Agreements with Indies |
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Posted by Samuel Gaines
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03:57 PM Friday, 11 January 2008 |
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 It's been a wild week in the wacky world of labor agreement negotiations in Hollywood.
As the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP, negotiating on behalf of the major motion picture studios) get closer to starting their own negotiation track, the chill between AMPTP and the striking Writers Guild of America (WGA) continues, with neither side proposing anything to break the current impasse.
But individual movie production companies are following the path blazed by TV talk-show production companies in negotiating independent agreements with WGA. Tom Cruise's production company and United Artists both reached interim working agreements with WGA earlier in the week, and the Weinstein Co. joined the fray yesterday by signing one of its own with WGA to get back to work on a full schedule of projects. Among the projects the Weinstein Co. has current designs on is a film version of the Broadway musical Nine, itself based on Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2, and a remake of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai.
This stratagem by WGA could increase pressure on the studios to reach a deal that will give writers more of a cut from new media revenues, the chief sticking point in current negotiations.
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New Marvel Videos On-Line |
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Movies/DVD
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Posted by Samuel Gaines
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10:23 AM Thursday, 10 January 2008 |
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 Joel and Ethan Coen ( No Country for Old Men)), Paul Thomas Anderson ( There Will Be Blood), Julian Schnabel ( The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Sean Penn ( Into the Wild), and Tony Gilroy ( Michael Clayton) will contend for the Directors Guild of America award, according to the DGA.
Except for Joel Coen, all are first-time nominees. Joel and Ethan Coen are officially recognized as a directing team as of 2004's The Ladykillers. It's the second straight year a directing team has been recognized among the nominees; Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) were nominated last year.
The DGA winner is almost always the winner of the Best Director Oscar, as well. Only six times in the award's 60-year history has the DGA winner for feature film direction not duplicated the feat at the Academy Awards.
The 60th annual DGA Awards will be presented Jan. 26.
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Warner Bros. Set for Up to 1,000 Layoffs |
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Posted by Samuel Gaines
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12:04 PM Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
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 Warner Bros. could lay off up to 1,000 of its lot employees after Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Warner Bros. production studio lot sent out pre-layoff warnings, called WARN mailings, to 1,000 of its lot employees on Nov. 12 to alert them of imminent layoffs. The slips don't guarantee layoffs, but they are required by California state law to be sent 60 days in advance of layoffs.
Warner Bros. has not confirmed it will in fact lay anyone off, or how many will be let go if it moves forward with layoffs. Warners spokesperson Stacey Hoppe said that the studio hopes "to bring them back to work once the WGA strike ends."
The studios aren't alone in feeling the pinch. Several companies that serve the movie production industry in Hollywood, including Axium, a company that provides payroll services and production funding, have closed their doors indefinitely and laid off staff.
The strike is now in its 66th day. Expect more layoff announcements in the coming weeks.
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Golden Globes Telecast Cancelled; Oscars Next? |
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Posted by Samuel Gaines
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11:00 AM Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
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 It's official: There will be no Golden Globe Awards telecast, according to Variety.
With negotiations at a standstill for over a month now between the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Produces (AMPTP) and the striking Writers Guild of America (WGA), there are many doubters as to whether the Oscars telecast, scheduled for Feb. 24, will be cancelled soon, as well.
One note of optimism in all this is the ongoing negotiation between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the AMPTP, which could spark renewed talks between WGA and AMPTP. Complications abound, but while DGA has solid leverage in the talks given the stalemate between writers and studios, the directors are also under pressure to come up with an agreement that won't rock the boat too hard with WGA and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Both DGA and SAG contracts expire June 30.
There are several possibilities that could save the Oscars telecast. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences could approach WGA for a waiver, or could proceed with unspecified contingency plans. In the meantime, the Academy and broadcaster ABC are assuming there will be a show and a broadcast, and are proceeding accordingly. Stay tuned!
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North Wind Trailer On MySpace TV |
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Study Asserts Link Between Movie Violence, Decline in Real Violence |
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Movies/DVD
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Posted by Samuel Gaines
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04:06 PM Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
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 The long-running controversy over what effect on-screen violence has on the viewer's own propensity for violence got another jolt last week, when two economists published research results that assert a negative correlation between movie violence and the real thing.
At the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, Prof. Gordon Dahl of the University of California, San Diego, and co-author Stefano DellaVigna of the University of California, Berkeley, presented research documenting a decline in assaults specifically in those areas where violent films are being shown. Their research points to a decline of 1,000 per weekend, or 52,000 per year, in assaults.
Dahl and DellaVigna traced crime figures in communities showing violent films in the days and weeks following showing, then compared those figures to the rest of the year. They found no spike in incidence of violent crime even weeks after violent films were screened. "From 6 p.m. to midnight on weekends -- when the largest numbers of people are in theaters -- violent crimes decreased 1.3 percent for every million people watching a strongly violent movie, the study found," reports The New York Times. "Violent crimes dropped 1.1 percent for every million seeing a mildly violent film." Those figures dropped further in the hours following the theaters' closing for the night.
One interesting possibility Dahl raises: Those who are watching violent films at the theater on a Friday night aren't engaging in behavior likely to lead to violence, such as drinking alcohol or using drugs.
The new research seems at odds with a growing body of evidence that shows a strong link between onscreen violence and a desensitization toward real violence, among other negative effects. Prof. Dahl was quick to point out that their research did not contradict those findings; rather, it addressed more specifically the immediate effects, on a broader social level, of showing violent movies at local theaters. Left unaddressed by this study, Prof. Dahl noted, are the long-term effects of viewing on-screen violence, or the specific brain responses involved in individual viewers.
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New Release Tuesday: Jan. 8th |
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News 
For your weekend viewing pleasure 
Five thousand views in fourty-eight hours. That was the final result when the trailer for