The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has been a commercial hit and a critical misfire.
In an era of declining Oscar telecast ratings, the new institution’s robust ticket sales — there have been nearly 2 million visitors since it opened in September 2021 — have turned it into a major Los Angeles draw, bolstered the Academy’s coffers and prompted inaugural museum director Bill Kramer’s ascension to CEO of AMPAS, the parent organization. Yet except for Regeneration, its lauded deep-dive showcase of Black American filmmaking through the early 1970s, the exhibits have been discourse duds, more fit for the local tourist attraction it is than the world-class institution it aims to be.
There’s been exuberant fan service (a sprawling tribute to Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki) and dutiful minor-key spotlights on illustrious yet lower-profile luminaries like editor Thelma Schoonmaker and director Oscar Micheaux. Then there was the museum’s debut survey of the film industry,...
In an era of declining Oscar telecast ratings, the new institution’s robust ticket sales — there have been nearly 2 million visitors since it opened in September 2021 — have turned it into a major Los Angeles draw, bolstered the Academy’s coffers and prompted inaugural museum director Bill Kramer’s ascension to CEO of AMPAS, the parent organization. Yet except for Regeneration, its lauded deep-dive showcase of Black American filmmaking through the early 1970s, the exhibits have been discourse duds, more fit for the local tourist attraction it is than the world-class institution it aims to be.
There’s been exuberant fan service (a sprawling tribute to Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki) and dutiful minor-key spotlights on illustrious yet lower-profile luminaries like editor Thelma Schoonmaker and director Oscar Micheaux. Then there was the museum’s debut survey of the film industry,...
- 7/23/2024
- by Gary Baum
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Following backlash from a group of Jewish activists, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles announced Monday it will revise its new exhibit on Hollywood’s Jewish roots.
The museum noted in a statement to the The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that it had “heard the concerns from members of the Jewish community” and that it was “committed to making changes to the exhibition to address them.”
“We will be implementing the first set of changes immediately — they will allow us to tell these important stories without using phrasing that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes,” the museum said, also noting they are “convening an advisory group of experts from leading museums focused on the Jewish community, civil rights and the history of other marginalized groups to advise us on complex questions about context and any necessary additions to the exhibition’s narrative.”
Days earlier, the institution had also noted...
The museum noted in a statement to the The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that it had “heard the concerns from members of the Jewish community” and that it was “committed to making changes to the exhibition to address them.”
“We will be implementing the first set of changes immediately — they will allow us to tell these important stories without using phrasing that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes,” the museum said, also noting they are “convening an advisory group of experts from leading museums focused on the Jewish community, civil rights and the history of other marginalized groups to advise us on complex questions about context and any necessary additions to the exhibition’s narrative.”
Days earlier, the institution had also noted...
- 6/11/2024
- by Zoe G. Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Academy Museum has vowed to modify language in its new “Hollywoodland” exhibit dedicated to the Jewish founders of Hollywood amid outcry labeling the exhibit antisemitic.
“We have heard the concerns from members of the Jewish community regarding some components of our exhibition ‘Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,’” the Academy Museum said on Monday in a statement obtained by IndieWire. “We take these concerns seriously and are committed to making changes to the exhibition to address them. We will be implementing the first set of changes immediately — they will allow us to tell these important stories without using phrasing that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes. This will also help to eliminate any ambiguities. In addition to these updates, we are convening an advisory group of experts from leading museums focused on the Jewish community, civil rights, and the history of other marginalized groups to advise us...
“We have heard the concerns from members of the Jewish community regarding some components of our exhibition ‘Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,’” the Academy Museum said on Monday in a statement obtained by IndieWire. “We take these concerns seriously and are committed to making changes to the exhibition to address them. We will be implementing the first set of changes immediately — they will allow us to tell these important stories without using phrasing that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes. This will also help to eliminate any ambiguities. In addition to these updates, we are convening an advisory group of experts from leading museums focused on the Jewish community, civil rights, and the history of other marginalized groups to advise us...
- 6/10/2024
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Imagine it’s 1920s Los Angeles. You’re driving around town in a Model T, cruising from Echo Park’s Edendale studios to Universal City to Musso and Frank on Hollywood Boulevard. That experience comes to life for visitors at the Academy Museum’s new permanent exhibit “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” which opens to the public on Sunday in Los Angeles.
The exhibit, housed in the museum’s Laika Gallery, opens more than two years after the Academy was criticized for not including much material covering the largely Jewish moguls who created the studio system.
The new installment seeks to remedy that with three exhibits that showcase the history of Hollywood, with an emphasis on how it was shaped by Jewish immigrants. Outside the gallery, a large Hollywoodland sign mural, red carpet and giant-sized Oscar statue provide a natural selfie spot for visitors, with...
The exhibit, housed in the museum’s Laika Gallery, opens more than two years after the Academy was criticized for not including much material covering the largely Jewish moguls who created the studio system.
The new installment seeks to remedy that with three exhibits that showcase the history of Hollywood, with an emphasis on how it was shaped by Jewish immigrants. Outside the gallery, a large Hollywoodland sign mural, red carpet and giant-sized Oscar statue provide a natural selfie spot for visitors, with...
- 5/16/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened in 2021, many Academy members and cultural critics were shocked and outraged to discover that one of the few marginalized groups whose contributions to Hollywood were not highlighted within its walls was the Jewish community, especially because most of the founders of the business were Jewish.
The leaders of the Academy and its museum heard the feedback loud and clear, and announced on Thursday that they will debut the museum’s first permanent exhibition, Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital, in its Laika Gallery, on May 19.
The exhibition, which “tells the origin story of filmmaking in early 20th century Los Angeles, spotlighting the impact of the predominately Jewish filmmakers whose establishment of the American film studio system transformed Los Angeles into a global epicenter of cinema,” was put together by Dara Jaffe, associate curator, with support from Gary Dauphin,...
The leaders of the Academy and its museum heard the feedback loud and clear, and announced on Thursday that they will debut the museum’s first permanent exhibition, Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital, in its Laika Gallery, on May 19.
The exhibition, which “tells the origin story of filmmaking in early 20th century Los Angeles, spotlighting the impact of the predominately Jewish filmmakers whose establishment of the American film studio system transformed Los Angeles into a global epicenter of cinema,” was put together by Dara Jaffe, associate curator, with support from Gary Dauphin,...
- 4/11/2024
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is unveiling the details of its exhibit, “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” that opens on May 19.
The exhibit, which will be the Los Angeles museum’s first permanent installation, comes after criticism that the Jewish executives and creatives who built Hollywood were not prominently featured among the Academy’s splashy exhibits after its 2021 opening.
Presented in English and Spanish, the exhibit will tell the origin story of early 20th century filmmaking in Los Angeles, with a focus on the impact of the predominantly Jewish filmmakers who created the studio system.
Neal Gabler, author of “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood” is an advisor for the exhibition, which is curated by Dara Jaffe, associate curator, with support from Gary Dauphin, former associate curator of digital presentations, and Josue L. Lopez, research assistant.
“The American film industry...
The exhibit, which will be the Los Angeles museum’s first permanent installation, comes after criticism that the Jewish executives and creatives who built Hollywood were not prominently featured among the Academy’s splashy exhibits after its 2021 opening.
Presented in English and Spanish, the exhibit will tell the origin story of early 20th century filmmaking in Los Angeles, with a focus on the impact of the predominantly Jewish filmmakers who created the studio system.
Neal Gabler, author of “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood” is an advisor for the exhibition, which is curated by Dara Jaffe, associate curator, with support from Gary Dauphin, former associate curator of digital presentations, and Josue L. Lopez, research assistant.
“The American film industry...
- 4/11/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has officially announced its first permanent exhibit, one dedicated to the Jewish history of the film industry.
The museum presents “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” which will be on view beginning May 19, 2024. Presented in English and Spanish, the exhibit tells the origin story of filmmaking in early 20th-century Los Angeles, spotlighting the impact of the predominately Jewish filmmakers whose establishment of the American film studio system transformed Los Angeles into a global epicenter of cinema.
“The American film industry began developing amid an influx of immigration to the United States by Jewish émigrés escaping European pogroms and poverty,” curator Dara Jaffe said in a press statement. “Most of Hollywood’s founders were among this wave of Jewish immigrants and recognized that the infant movie business presented an opportunity to raise their marginalized status in an industry that didn’t...
The museum presents “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” which will be on view beginning May 19, 2024. Presented in English and Spanish, the exhibit tells the origin story of filmmaking in early 20th-century Los Angeles, spotlighting the impact of the predominately Jewish filmmakers whose establishment of the American film studio system transformed Los Angeles into a global epicenter of cinema.
“The American film industry began developing amid an influx of immigration to the United States by Jewish émigrés escaping European pogroms and poverty,” curator Dara Jaffe said in a press statement. “Most of Hollywood’s founders were among this wave of Jewish immigrants and recognized that the infant movie business presented an opportunity to raise their marginalized status in an industry that didn’t...
- 4/11/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
In 1937, Walt Disney was desperate to find a way to make “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,”the first feature-length animated movie ever made, actually feel like a feature-length movie. He’d been doing his best to ignore the naysayers who christened the very idea of the film as “Disney’s folly.” But they did trigger a nagging concern for the 35-year-old studio chief: Audiences might reject an animated movie if it remained stuck in the realm of the flat, two-dimensional shorts that had propelled Mickey Mouse to worldwide celebrity.
“People said, ‘Nobody will sit through an hour-and-90-minute cartoon,’” Becky Cline, director of the Walt Disney archives, tells Variety. “‘Their eyes will start bleeding.’”
So Disney decided to do the thing that had served him so well since he and his brother Roy founded the Walt Disney Co. (originally the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio) in 1923: Innovate.
He tasked...
“People said, ‘Nobody will sit through an hour-and-90-minute cartoon,’” Becky Cline, director of the Walt Disney archives, tells Variety. “‘Their eyes will start bleeding.’”
So Disney decided to do the thing that had served him so well since he and his brother Roy founded the Walt Disney Co. (originally the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio) in 1923: Innovate.
He tasked...
- 10/11/2023
- by Adam B. Vary
- Variety Film + TV
(Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of The Walt Disney Company over the last century. Part 5, "Silly Symphonies: The Oscar-Winning Disney Animation Series That The Studio Forgot" looked at the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed shorts the studio produced in the '30s. In Part 6, we finally talk about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the first full-color animated feature film and arguably Disney's most important contribution to cinema.)
What can I say about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that hasn't already been said?
The 1937 film changed the world. Mere years after Walt Disney Productions shook up the animation industry by putting sound in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928 and then color in "Flowers and Trees" in 1932, the team set their sights on revolutionizing the world of cartoons once again: with a feature-length, full-color, animated fairy tale.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a sensation.
What can I say about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" that hasn't already been said?
The 1937 film changed the world. Mere years after Walt Disney Productions shook up the animation industry by putting sound in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928 and then color in "Flowers and Trees" in 1932, the team set their sights on revolutionizing the world of cartoons once again: with a feature-length, full-color, animated fairy tale.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a sensation.
- 3/25/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
(Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of The Walt Disney Company over the last century. Part 4, "Disney's Steamboat Willie Didn't Just Revolutionize Mickey Mouse — It Revolutionized Cartoons," examined the history of one of the most globally recognized icons ever created. In Part 5, we look at the next stage in Disney's history: the Silly Symphonies.)
As someone who is more interested in the history of the Walt Disney Company than its recent offerings, I've noticed some interesting gaps in terms of popular coverage. When people do talk about the company itself and its early contributions to the world of animation, the conversation is usually focused on the Mickey Mouse shorts and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." If a nerd film historian is really showing off their deep understanding of Disney lore, they may also bring up Oswald the Lucky Rabbit or even...
As someone who is more interested in the history of the Walt Disney Company than its recent offerings, I've noticed some interesting gaps in terms of popular coverage. When people do talk about the company itself and its early contributions to the world of animation, the conversation is usually focused on the Mickey Mouse shorts and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." If a nerd film historian is really showing off their deep understanding of Disney lore, they may also bring up Oswald the Lucky Rabbit or even...
- 3/5/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
(Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of Disney Studios over the last century. Part 3, "Walt Disney Hits The Jackpot With Oswald The Lucky Rabbit" summarized the dramatic rise and fall of Disney's first hit. In Part 4, we look at the creation of an even bigger icon: Mickey Mouse.)
On February 15, Disney100: The Exhibition — the celebration of The Walt Disney Company's history at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia — debuted a lifelike hologram of Walt Disney, fittingly brought to life by none other than Sorcerer Mickey. The video was shared by the D23 Twitter account. Social media took note: Some users made comparisons to imagineers famously "reanimating" assassinated president Abraham Lincoln at the 1964 New York World's Fair; others made jokes about Walt Disney's allegedly frozen corpse. The point is, most people respond by focusing on the hyper-realistic depiction of Uncle Walt...
On February 15, Disney100: The Exhibition — the celebration of The Walt Disney Company's history at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia — debuted a lifelike hologram of Walt Disney, fittingly brought to life by none other than Sorcerer Mickey. The video was shared by the D23 Twitter account. Social media took note: Some users made comparisons to imagineers famously "reanimating" assassinated president Abraham Lincoln at the 1964 New York World's Fair; others made jokes about Walt Disney's allegedly frozen corpse. The point is, most people respond by focusing on the hyper-realistic depiction of Uncle Walt...
- 2/24/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
(Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of The Walt Disney Company over the last century. Part 2, "The Dream Comes True: The Birth Of Disney Brothers Studio," investigated the animator arriving in Hollywood and founding the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy. In Part 3, we explore the rise and fall of Walt's first breakout hit, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.)
When we think "Walt Disney," one iconic cartoon character comes to mind -- the shrill-voiced optimist, Mickey Mouse. Much like Kermit the Frog is to Jim Henson, the squeaky lil' anthropomorphized rodent is a reflection of his creator. Mickey Mouse is humble, yet bold. He works hard. He loves his friends and family. He's distinctly American. Heck, Mickey was even voicedby Walt Disney initially. It's no wonder that mouse ears became a trademark icon for the Disney brand as a whole, appearing on T-shirts,...
When we think "Walt Disney," one iconic cartoon character comes to mind -- the shrill-voiced optimist, Mickey Mouse. Much like Kermit the Frog is to Jim Henson, the squeaky lil' anthropomorphized rodent is a reflection of his creator. Mickey Mouse is humble, yet bold. He works hard. He loves his friends and family. He's distinctly American. Heck, Mickey was even voicedby Walt Disney initially. It's no wonder that mouse ears became a trademark icon for the Disney brand as a whole, appearing on T-shirts,...
- 2/16/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
(Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of The Walt Disney Company over the last century. Part 1, "How Walt Disney's First Cartoons Drove Him To Bankruptcy," followed the animator's early life and first forays into the business. In Part 2, we explore the founding of Walt's second — and much more successful — company, Disney Brothers Studio.)
The Walt Disney Company is arguably the most influential media empire of the 21st century, enjoying a firm hold on the public's attention. This is a studio that is a true market maker. People care so much about the Disney business that social media was set ablaze in 2022 by the news that Bob Iger would return as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. With the possible exception of Warner Bros. (and the DC Films IP), what other company has so many non-industry people invested in the corporate leadership?
Yet,...
The Walt Disney Company is arguably the most influential media empire of the 21st century, enjoying a firm hold on the public's attention. This is a studio that is a true market maker. People care so much about the Disney business that social media was set ablaze in 2022 by the news that Bob Iger would return as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. With the possible exception of Warner Bros. (and the DC Films IP), what other company has so many non-industry people invested in the corporate leadership?
Yet,...
- 2/9/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
Welcome to 100 Years of Disney Magic, a series examining the history, achievements, and legacy of Disney Studios over the last century.
The Walt Disney company is now a centenarian. First founded as the Disney Bros. Studios in October 1923 — a partnership between Walt and his older brother Roy — the animation company would go on to change the media landscape in ways that would have shocked even the forward-looking, ever-ambitious Uncle Walt himself.
The studio is a cultural behemoth, thanks to its years of box office dominance, cross-media strategy, and massive library of highly valued IPs. Disney was the first studio to have two billion-dollar movies in one calendar year in 2010, and then was to have a total gross of 3 billion at the domestic box office in 2016. After buying up Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, the company officially acquired the juggernaut 21st Century Fox, a studio with roots going all the way back...
The Walt Disney company is now a centenarian. First founded as the Disney Bros. Studios in October 1923 — a partnership between Walt and his older brother Roy — the animation company would go on to change the media landscape in ways that would have shocked even the forward-looking, ever-ambitious Uncle Walt himself.
The studio is a cultural behemoth, thanks to its years of box office dominance, cross-media strategy, and massive library of highly valued IPs. Disney was the first studio to have two billion-dollar movies in one calendar year in 2010, and then was to have a total gross of 3 billion at the domestic box office in 2016. After buying up Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, the company officially acquired the juggernaut 21st Century Fox, a studio with roots going all the way back...
- 2/2/2023
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
Here’s something we’re not allowed to say about Ye/Kanye West’s recent series of antisemitic tirades: there’s a small grain of truth in them.
No, obviously not the conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, or downright fascistic claims that people who don’t believe in Christ shouldn’t hold public office. Ye has clearly crossed over into either profound mental illness, or hatred, or both.
But it is true that Hollywood has a lot of Jewish people in it, right?
It should not be controversial to admit this.
No, obviously not the conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, or downright fascistic claims that people who don’t believe in Christ shouldn’t hold public office. Ye has clearly crossed over into either profound mental illness, or hatred, or both.
But it is true that Hollywood has a lot of Jewish people in it, right?
It should not be controversial to admit this.
- 12/11/2022
- by Jay Michaelson
- Rollingstone.com
Fashion, of course, is rarely just fashion — it tells a story about whoever’s wearing it. And in the ’90s and 2000s, the preppy youthquake mall-fashion outlet Abercrombie & Fitch told a very big story. It was a story of where America — or, at least, a powerful slice of the millennial demo — was at. As recounted in the lively, snarky, horrifying, and irresistible documentary “White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch” (which drops April 19 on Netflix),
As a company, Abercrombie & Fitch had been around since 1892. It originally catered to elite sportsmen (Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway were loyal customers), but after falling on hard times and kicking around as an antiquated brand, the company was reinvented in the early ’90s by the CEO Mike Jeffries, who fused the upscale Wasp fetishism of designers like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger with the chiseled-beefcake-in-underwear monochromatic sexiness of the Calvin Klein...
As a company, Abercrombie & Fitch had been around since 1892. It originally catered to elite sportsmen (Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway were loyal customers), but after falling on hard times and kicking around as an antiquated brand, the company was reinvented in the early ’90s by the CEO Mike Jeffries, who fused the upscale Wasp fetishism of designers like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger with the chiseled-beefcake-in-underwear monochromatic sexiness of the Calvin Klein...
- 4/17/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
It was an imposing opening, and Hollywood loves openings that are grand in concept, star-studded and famously over budget. The new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures finally is complete, and key industry players have paid homage and faithfully scrutinized its exhibits.
But they’ve also pondered the key question that has hovered over the museum from its inception: What story should it tell?
Up front, the museum’s auteurs let it be known they did not want to present a chronological history of the movie industry, with its fables and foibles. The museum would not be a re-creation of, say, Neal Gabler’s An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.
The upshot: The industry’s assessments seem to be playing out on two levels. Official Hollywood is grateful that diverse and creative voices such as Spike Lee and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki are awarded important billing. But...
But they’ve also pondered the key question that has hovered over the museum from its inception: What story should it tell?
Up front, the museum’s auteurs let it be known they did not want to present a chronological history of the movie industry, with its fables and foibles. The museum would not be a re-creation of, say, Neal Gabler’s An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.
The upshot: The industry’s assessments seem to be playing out on two levels. Official Hollywood is grateful that diverse and creative voices such as Spike Lee and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki are awarded important billing. But...
- 11/12/2021
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“We are questioning a canon and creating a canon.”
Thus did Doris Berger, senior director of curatorial affairs at the Academy Museum, explain when asked by Sharon Rosen Leib of The Forward why Jews had what seemed to her a disconcertingly small place in this new shrine to the movies.
The exchange was reported in an October 14 piece entitled: “Jews built Hollywood. So why is their history erased from the Academy’s new museum?”
In truth, Jews and their work have an inevitable presence throughout the museum, though their contribution doesn’t get a tribute on the order of those afforded Haile Gerima, Hayao Miyazaki, Sophia Loren, Satyajit Ray or Jane Campion. Billy Wilder, Michael Curtiz, King Vidor, Howard Koch and other Jewish filmmakers certainly make appearances.
Moreover, the museum seems to promise something for almost everyone over time.
“The Academy Museum is deeply committed to presenting a holistic and...
Thus did Doris Berger, senior director of curatorial affairs at the Academy Museum, explain when asked by Sharon Rosen Leib of The Forward why Jews had what seemed to her a disconcertingly small place in this new shrine to the movies.
The exchange was reported in an October 14 piece entitled: “Jews built Hollywood. So why is their history erased from the Academy’s new museum?”
In truth, Jews and their work have an inevitable presence throughout the museum, though their contribution doesn’t get a tribute on the order of those afforded Haile Gerima, Hayao Miyazaki, Sophia Loren, Satyajit Ray or Jane Campion. Billy Wilder, Michael Curtiz, King Vidor, Howard Koch and other Jewish filmmakers certainly make appearances.
Moreover, the museum seems to promise something for almost everyone over time.
“The Academy Museum is deeply committed to presenting a holistic and...
- 10/19/2021
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Last week, just before the President’s diagnosis consumed us, Hollywood leaders joined in asking that Congress send coronavirus relief funds to exhibitors. Those were described as a life-and-death issue for theaters. A mortal threat. And who can doubt it? If the White House isn’t safe, movie houses are certainly still a question mark.
But the dramatic language of the plea—“our country cannot afford to lose the social, economic, and cultural value that theaters provide” warned a joint letter—couldn’t help but recall a peculiar truth about the movie business. That is, it is usually dying of something.
Strikes. New technology. Piracy. Star salaries. Something.
In fact, morbidity is an old habit in Hollywood. The trick is to know what is really an existential threat—this one certainly seems real—and what is just another stage death in an industry that is forever deciding the show is finally over.
But the dramatic language of the plea—“our country cannot afford to lose the social, economic, and cultural value that theaters provide” warned a joint letter—couldn’t help but recall a peculiar truth about the movie business. That is, it is usually dying of something.
Strikes. New technology. Piracy. Star salaries. Something.
In fact, morbidity is an old habit in Hollywood. The trick is to know what is really an existential threat—this one certainly seems real—and what is just another stage death in an industry that is forever deciding the show is finally over.
- 10/4/2020
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Tom Hanks considers Fargo the “perfect movie.” But Alec Baldwin feels Chinatown is the “perfect movie,” as does Morgan Freeman for Moulin Rouge. And Steven Spielberg always felt Lawrence of Arabia represented perfection, until he saw The Godfather.
I elicited these random superlatives from CNN’s star-laden, six-part series The Movies, whose initial run concludes this weekend. Arriving at a moment when some gurus are predicting the demise of theatrical films, the series represents a smart, passionate if occasionally repetitive exercise in cinematic hubris.
Executive producers Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog have managed to assemble a world-class array of film clips, which are duly applauded by a blur of top actors, directors and critics. Not only applauded but adulated. The litany of “greats” ranges from pre-war King Kong through West Side Story in the ’60s to Jaws ’70s, Et ’80s, Titanic ’90s and Harry Potter post-2000 — every clip accompanied by its superstar advocate.
I elicited these random superlatives from CNN’s star-laden, six-part series The Movies, whose initial run concludes this weekend. Arriving at a moment when some gurus are predicting the demise of theatrical films, the series represents a smart, passionate if occasionally repetitive exercise in cinematic hubris.
Executive producers Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog have managed to assemble a world-class array of film clips, which are duly applauded by a blur of top actors, directors and critics. Not only applauded but adulated. The litany of “greats” ranges from pre-war King Kong through West Side Story in the ’60s to Jaws ’70s, Et ’80s, Titanic ’90s and Harry Potter post-2000 — every clip accompanied by its superstar advocate.
- 8/8/2019
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
In our noisy, toxically divided, my-way-or-the-highway political culture, you’re on one side or the other, and there’s almost no middle ground left — no place where liberals and conservatives can overlap without feeling like they’re betraying their own cause. “Chappaquiddick,” the deep and gripping new docudrama about the tragic incident that took place on July 18, 1969, when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy drove his car off a bridge and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, died by drowning, is a more probing drama of corruption than any movie Hollywood has released in years. As I said in my review, it’s a movie made in the spirit of open-eyed — and, yes, liberal — inquiry. Yet is it a film that liberal moviegoers are ready to embrace? The critics have mostly been kind, but the tone of the media coverage has been cautious, reserved, a tad skeptical; the movie is going after a sacred cow.
- 4/7/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
In the early part of the 20th century, a handful of larger-than-life hustlers came together to create “an empire of their own,” as the writer Neal Gabler has described it. They were mostly immigrants, many of whom had fled either the pogroms or the East Coast establishment that had little room for these fire-breathing, patent-busting, nouveaux riches entrepreneurs. Instead of trying to make a name for themselves in New York, they went West, where they could build businesses in their own image. The studios they created not only survived them, but became the nexus of the
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- 8/1/2016
- by Stephen Galloway
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the early part of the 20th century, a handful of larger-than-life hustlers came together to create “an empire of their own,” as the writer Neal Gabler has described it.
They were mostly immigrants, many of whom had fled either the pogroms or the East Coast establishment that had little room for these fire-breathing, patent-busting, <em>nouveaux riches</em> entrepreneurs. Instead of trying to make a name for themselves in New York, they went West, where they could build businesses in their own image.
The studios they created not only survived them, but became the nexus of the global film industry....
They were mostly immigrants, many of whom had fled either the pogroms or the East Coast establishment that had little room for these fire-breathing, patent-busting, <em>nouveaux riches</em> entrepreneurs. Instead of trying to make a name for themselves in New York, they went West, where they could build businesses in their own image.
The studios they created not only survived them, but became the nexus of the global film industry....
Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford famously played love interests in the 1973 classic The Way We Were. But if it were up to the actress, their romance would have continued offscreen - or so a new biography claims. In the upcoming Barbra Streisand: Redefining Beauty, Femininity, and Power, published by Yale University Press and out April 26, author Neal Gabler chronicles the two stars' time together on set, asserting that Streisand had quite the crush on the actor. "It was obvious Barbra was just too, too crazy about Bob. She had a hard time controlling her emotions, and when she played scenes with him,...
- 4/6/2016
- by Jodi Guglielmi, @JodiGug3
- PEOPLE.com
If you have been living and routinely interacting with other human beings over the last month, you’ve probably heard one or two words involving this year’s Academy Awards and the heated controversy over the startling lack of both films and people of color among the nominees. Personally, I think that the real focus of concern ought to be less on the back end-- awards handed out for films which were financed and/or studio-approved, scheduled for production and filmed perhaps as much as two or three years ago-- and more on addressing the lack of cultural and intellectual and experiential diversity among those who have the power to make the decisions as to what films get made in the first place. This is no sure-fire way to ensure that there will be a richer and more consistent representation of diverse creative voices when it comes time for Hollywood...
- 2/6/2016
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
'The Dark Knight' actor released an apology to the Anti-Defamation League, and also apologized on 'Kimmel.'
After a controversial interview with Playboy magazine, Gary Oldman not only released an apology to the Anti-Defamation League for his comments on Wednesday, he also spoke about it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
"I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy interview were offensive to many Jewish people," Oldman wrote in his apology to the Adl and the Simon Weisenthal Center.
Related: Gary Oldman Defends Mel Gibson, Alec Baldwin: 'Take a F*cking Joke'
In the article, which Oldman gave to promote his new film Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, the 56-year-old Oscar-nominee made a number of comments that have come under fire for being disparaging to the Jewish community.
Goldman had defended actors Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin for their infamous outbursts, saying that people...
After a controversial interview with Playboy magazine, Gary Oldman not only released an apology to the Anti-Defamation League for his comments on Wednesday, he also spoke about it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
"I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy interview were offensive to many Jewish people," Oldman wrote in his apology to the Adl and the Simon Weisenthal Center.
Related: Gary Oldman Defends Mel Gibson, Alec Baldwin: 'Take a F*cking Joke'
In the article, which Oldman gave to promote his new film Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, the 56-year-old Oscar-nominee made a number of comments that have come under fire for being disparaging to the Jewish community.
Goldman had defended actors Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin for their infamous outbursts, saying that people...
- 6/26/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
Stars constantly complain about being misrepresented in the press, and the latest actor eating his words is Gary Oldman.
The “Dark Knight Rises” hunk spoke out against political correctness in his interview with Playboy magazine, however it seems he took things too far.
In a just-released apology, Oldman declares, "Dear Gentlemen of the Adl: I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people.”
"Upon reading my comments in print—I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter. If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An Empire...
The “Dark Knight Rises” hunk spoke out against political correctness in his interview with Playboy magazine, however it seems he took things too far.
In a just-released apology, Oldman declares, "Dear Gentlemen of the Adl: I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people.”
"Upon reading my comments in print—I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype. Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter. If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An Empire...
- 6/25/2014
- GossipCenter
Update: Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (Adl), has declared Gary Oldman's "apology" insufficient saying, "We have just begun a conversation with his managing producer. At this point, we are not satisfied with what we have received. His apology is insufficient and not satisfactory." Original post follows... Gary Oldman has issued an apology for his comments in a recent "Playboy" interview he gave while on his Dawn of the Planet of the Apes PR tour. Comments, of which, made waves all over the Internet yesterday. The apology is aimed directly at the Anti-Defamation League (Adl) who came out yesterday afternoon saying Oldman "should know better than to repeat tired anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish control of Hollywood." The chief comment, I assume, that got him into the most trouble in this instance was in his defense of Mel Gibson when he said, "Mel Gibson is...
- 6/25/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The media cycle continues.
Gary Oldman has released a statement following the publication of a Playboy interview where he said a bunch of things about political correctness, Jewish people, and seemed to defend Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirade.
Following a statement earlier today by the Anti-Defamation League, Oldman has released his own statement, where he says, in part, “Upon reading my comments in print—I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype.”
Read the full statement from Oldman, courtesy of Deadline, below:
Dear Gentlemen of the Adl:
I...
Gary Oldman has released a statement following the publication of a Playboy interview where he said a bunch of things about political correctness, Jewish people, and seemed to defend Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic tirade.
Following a statement earlier today by the Anti-Defamation League, Oldman has released his own statement, where he says, in part, “Upon reading my comments in print—I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype.”
Read the full statement from Oldman, courtesy of Deadline, below:
Dear Gentlemen of the Adl:
I...
- 6/25/2014
- by Erin Strecker
- EW.com - PopWatch
Update: The Hollywood Reporter obtained a statement from Adl national director Abraham Foxman, who said, "We have just began a conversation with his managing producer. At this point, we are not satisfied with what we received. His apology is insufficient and not satisfactory."
Gary Oldman has issued his inevitable apology for (some of) the controversial statements he made in a candid Playboy interview posted on Tuesday. In a statement obtained by Deadline, the actor reaches out to the Anti-Defamation League, expressing remorse for perpetuating stereotypes about Jews in Hollywood.
Gary Oldman has issued his inevitable apology for (some of) the controversial statements he made in a candid Playboy interview posted on Tuesday. In a statement obtained by Deadline, the actor reaches out to the Anti-Defamation League, expressing remorse for perpetuating stereotypes about Jews in Hollywood.
- 6/25/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Gary Oldman recently sat down for an interview with Playboy to promote his upcoming "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes." It is in this interview that the actor decided to defend Mel Gibson and reveal his own racist and anti-Semitic views. As a reminder, when Gibson was arrested, he was heard saying: "F*cking Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Oldman feels there's nothing wrong with these comments, mostly because he uses language like that himself. "[Mel] got drunk and said a few things, but we've all said those things. We're all f*cking hypocrites," Oldman told the magazine. "The policeman who arrested him has never used the word n*gger or that f*cking Jew? It's the hypocrisy of it that drives me crazy. I don't blame him. Mel Gibson is in a town that's run by Jews and he said the wrong...
- 6/25/2014
- WorstPreviews.com
Gary Oldman received ample backlash on Tuesday after he came out in defense of Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant in an interview with Playboy. Drawing criticism from fans and groups such as the Adl alike, Oldman has reached out with an apology.
Gary Oldman Apologizes
“I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print — I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype,” Oldman wrote in his apology to the Adl. “Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter.”
Oldman continued, “If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An...
Gary Oldman Apologizes
“I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print — I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype,” Oldman wrote in his apology to the Adl. “Anything that contributes to this stereotype is unacceptable, including my own words on the matter.”
Oldman continued, “If, during the interview, I had been asked to elaborate on this point I would have pointed out that I had just finished reading Neal Gabler’s superb book about the Jews and Hollywood, An...
- 6/25/2014
- Uinterview
Gary Oldman has apologised for offending the Jewish community in a controversial interview with Playboy, saying he has an "enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people".
The actor, who gave the interview to promote Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, was accused by the Anti-Defamation League of spreading anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Oldman appeared to defend Mel Gibson in the article and suggested that Gibson was unfairly punished for making anti-Semitic remarks as he lived in "a town that's run by Jews".
8 most explosive comments from Gary Oldman's Playboy interview
Oldman has now released an apology to the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Weisenthal Centre:
"Dear Gentlemen of the Adl:
"I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print - I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed...
The actor, who gave the interview to promote Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, was accused by the Anti-Defamation League of spreading anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Oldman appeared to defend Mel Gibson in the article and suggested that Gibson was unfairly punished for making anti-Semitic remarks as he lived in "a town that's run by Jews".
8 most explosive comments from Gary Oldman's Playboy interview
Oldman has now released an apology to the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Weisenthal Centre:
"Dear Gentlemen of the Adl:
"I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people. Upon reading my comments in print - I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed...
- 6/25/2014
- Digital Spy
Some of you (hopefully) may have noticed my recent profile on the late, great Robert Mitchum. In the course of researching the piece, I came across the fun tidbit that Mitchum had been a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert.
The mind rarely works in linear fashion, and I suspect mine may even be more chaotic than most. That item pinballed around the ol’ noggin, and, somewhere in all that bouncing here and there, triggered a bit of nostalgia. Probably because I was working on the piece during Oscar week, the mention of Ebert reminded me that there had been a time when this would’ve been the point in the year I’d be looking forward to the annual “If We Gave Out the Oscars” (or something like that) show done by Ebert along with his on-screen partner of nearly two dozen years, fellow film critic Gene Siskel.
That...
The mind rarely works in linear fashion, and I suspect mine may even be more chaotic than most. That item pinballed around the ol’ noggin, and, somewhere in all that bouncing here and there, triggered a bit of nostalgia. Probably because I was working on the piece during Oscar week, the mention of Ebert reminded me that there had been a time when this would’ve been the point in the year I’d be looking forward to the annual “If We Gave Out the Oscars” (or something like that) show done by Ebert along with his on-screen partner of nearly two dozen years, fellow film critic Gene Siskel.
That...
- 4/4/2013
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
The commander-in-chief's turn as entertainer-in-chief is a David and Goliath plot for the ages, and we're only halfway through
How's the election been for you? On a scale of one to 10? Great? Just Ok? Would you recommend it to a friend? Not to trivialize the historical crossroads at which we find ourselves, still less the opportunity for a frank and rigorous exchange of ideas over the best policy with which to lead this great republic into the 21st century, but: have you had fun? Did it suck? Were you on the edge of your seat? Or was it a complete waste of your TiVo?
That America's political machine is an ever-growing subsidiary of its entertainment industry has long been remarked upon. "All campaigns are movies now, consisting of competing narratives with competing stars," wrote Neal Gabler in his superb 1998 book Life: The Movie, a radical expansion of Norman Mailer's famous comment,...
How's the election been for you? On a scale of one to 10? Great? Just Ok? Would you recommend it to a friend? Not to trivialize the historical crossroads at which we find ourselves, still less the opportunity for a frank and rigorous exchange of ideas over the best policy with which to lead this great republic into the 21st century, but: have you had fun? Did it suck? Were you on the edge of your seat? Or was it a complete waste of your TiVo?
That America's political machine is an ever-growing subsidiary of its entertainment industry has long been remarked upon. "All campaigns are movies now, consisting of competing narratives with competing stars," wrote Neal Gabler in his superb 1998 book Life: The Movie, a radical expansion of Norman Mailer's famous comment,...
- 10/31/2012
- by Tom Shone
- The Guardian - Film News
There is a brilliant new article by Neal Gabler over at the La Times regarding how the majority of the Millennial Generation (people born in the late 1980s through the 1990s) doesn't care about old movies. Now, I am not talking about silent cinema here, I mean Scorcese and Coppola and even Raimi. If a movie was not made within the last five years, it is not worth watching. I am 31 years old and I have loved movies since I was a little kid. I took film classes in...
- 7/17/2012
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Well, time to get our plane tickets in order: next year, according to the Independent, London’s English National Opera is set to stage an opera by super genius composer Philip Glass about the fictionalized last days of Walt Disney. They’re also debuting an experimental new work by “Cloud Atlas” author David Mitchell.
The Glass piece is based on “The Perfect American,” a novel by Peter Stephan Jungk (translated by Michael Hofmann) that centered on the relationship between Walt Disney and Wilhelm Dantine, a young Danish story artist who worked on “Sleeping Beauty” and who desperately fought for Disney’s attention (as far as we can tell, Dantine is an invention of the author but undoubtedly stands in for many artists in similar situations). It’s through Dantine that you get a glimpse of some of Disney’s late-era obsessions, including the Epcot project in Florida, and focuses on...
The Glass piece is based on “The Perfect American,” a novel by Peter Stephan Jungk (translated by Michael Hofmann) that centered on the relationship between Walt Disney and Wilhelm Dantine, a young Danish story artist who worked on “Sleeping Beauty” and who desperately fought for Disney’s attention (as far as we can tell, Dantine is an invention of the author but undoubtedly stands in for many artists in similar situations). It’s through Dantine that you get a glimpse of some of Disney’s late-era obsessions, including the Epcot project in Florida, and focuses on...
- 4/29/2012
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
To paraphrase a thought put forth by film critic Richard Schickel and recently utilized by Neal Gabler, Hollywood knows how to make only two types of movies - Oscar movies, and movies for teenagers. Generally speaking, that's true. Thankfully, however, the same isn't generally true about Great Britain. But if it were, Terence Davies staid adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Deep Blue Sea would certainly belong to the Oscar-esque variety. The film is categorically righteous with high culture in some of the best ways - brilliant performances, historically attuned (and post-war at that), intimate, and as British as the day is long....
- 4/20/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Disney Unveils Traveling "Fanniversary" Theatrical Roadshow Featuring Rare Clips, Photos, Art & More
According to Variety, Disney is planning a showcase of "rare and never-before-seen clips, photos, and art," during its first ever "Fanniversary" show, a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience that will roll out this spring/summer. The concept behind the awkwardly titled "Fanniversary" is to celebrate shows, cartoons, movies, and theme park attractions that are experiencing their anniversary this year, the biggest being the 30th birthday of the opening of Epcot Center in Florida.
Other events worth celebrating are the 1937 debut of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," the first-ever feature length animated movie (derided at the time of production as a costly folly but now seen as a groundbreaking, magnificently entertaining classic) and the launch of the George Lucas/Disney simulator ride Star Tours (Variety erroneously reports its opening of 1997; it actually debuted at Disneyland in 1987, a year after the first Lucas/Disney collaboration, the 3D Michael Jackson sci-fi musical "Captain Eo...
Other events worth celebrating are the 1937 debut of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," the first-ever feature length animated movie (derided at the time of production as a costly folly but now seen as a groundbreaking, magnificently entertaining classic) and the launch of the George Lucas/Disney simulator ride Star Tours (Variety erroneously reports its opening of 1997; it actually debuted at Disneyland in 1987, a year after the first Lucas/Disney collaboration, the 3D Michael Jackson sci-fi musical "Captain Eo...
- 3/28/2012
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
Lady and the Tramp
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don DaGradi
Starring Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Verna Felton
Whether you’re a Disney nut like me, a film buff, an animation buff, or just interested in 20th-century Americana, you’d do well to read Neal Gabler’s biography of the late Walt Disney, called Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Though it’s an unauthorized work, Gabler had a high amount of access to the official Disney archives, so the book is well-sourced, detailed, and a compelling read. Gabler digs deep into Disney’s childhood, the tough times he had as an animator and businessman before creating Mickey Mouse, one of the truly seminal icons of American history, as well as the difficulties he faced and sometimes created once he became a household name. And yet, despite...
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don DaGradi
Starring Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Verna Felton
Whether you’re a Disney nut like me, a film buff, an animation buff, or just interested in 20th-century Americana, you’d do well to read Neal Gabler’s biography of the late Walt Disney, called Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Though it’s an unauthorized work, Gabler had a high amount of access to the official Disney archives, so the book is well-sourced, detailed, and a compelling read. Gabler digs deep into Disney’s childhood, the tough times he had as an animator and businessman before creating Mickey Mouse, one of the truly seminal icons of American history, as well as the difficulties he faced and sometimes created once he became a household name. And yet, despite...
- 3/10/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
"The Artist" has been the Oscar race's presumed frontrunner for so long that it seems only one thing could doom its chances for an Academy Awards sweep this Sunday. No, not the fact that it's silent or shot in black-and-white; rather, it's a hidden bias that has marked the Oscars for its entire 84-year history, a bias against the very town where most Academy members live and work. In its eight and a half decades, the Academy has never awarded Best Picture to a movie about Hollywood. There have been only a handful of Best Picture nominees set in the movie industry (1937's "A Star Is Born," 1950's "Sunset Boulevard," and 2004's "The Aviator"), but no winners. In fact, it's not just their own industry that Academy voters have snubbed, but their own town. Only two Best Picture winners out of 83 so far have been set in Los Angeles. (Can...
- 2/25/2012
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & The New Land
edited by Harvey Pekar & Paul Buhle with Hershl Hartman
Abrams Comicarts, 240 pages
It always seemed to me like mine was the last secular “Jewish generation” in America. Born in the mid-1950s, in the depths of Brooklyn in a neighborhood adjacent to the heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Crown Heights, surrounded on all sides by three generations of family, including grandparents and great-grandparents born in the old country, the entire world seemed Jewish. Even when my family moved (briefly) to West Virginia (population 5,000, only seven of which were Jews), then back to Brooklyn, to Canarsie and East Flatbush, the feeling of Jewishness never went away. The neighborhoods were now a mix of Irish, Italian, and Jewish, even a sprinkling of Afro-Americans, but when the family gathered, Yiddish was still spoken among the adults when the topic wasn’t fit for kinder, children. As a result,...
edited by Harvey Pekar & Paul Buhle with Hershl Hartman
Abrams Comicarts, 240 pages
It always seemed to me like mine was the last secular “Jewish generation” in America. Born in the mid-1950s, in the depths of Brooklyn in a neighborhood adjacent to the heavily Orthodox neighborhood of Crown Heights, surrounded on all sides by three generations of family, including grandparents and great-grandparents born in the old country, the entire world seemed Jewish. Even when my family moved (briefly) to West Virginia (population 5,000, only seven of which were Jews), then back to Brooklyn, to Canarsie and East Flatbush, the feeling of Jewishness never went away. The neighborhoods were now a mix of Irish, Italian, and Jewish, even a sprinkling of Afro-Americans, but when the family gathered, Yiddish was still spoken among the adults when the topic wasn’t fit for kinder, children. As a result,...
- 9/1/2011
- by Paul Kupperberg
- Comicmix.com
Via FILMdetail, a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse of how cartoons were made at Walt Disney Studios circa the late 1930s:
Disney loved to self-mythologize its production process -- and still does to this day -- but this is decidedly less hyperbolic than something like, say "The Reluctant Dragon," the 1941 Disney feature that's partly about the making of a Disney feature. To me, the whole message of this short is summed up by Walt Disney's signed card in the "Snow White" credits.
Disney was an incredible creative force, but aside from a hygiene film made near the end of World War II, he never directed a film after 1935. Though Disney himself cast every deciding vote, his films were incredible collaborations between all the various aspects of production we see on display here (there are no less than six credited directors on "Snow White" alone). I think I've mentioned it here before, but...
Disney loved to self-mythologize its production process -- and still does to this day -- but this is decidedly less hyperbolic than something like, say "The Reluctant Dragon," the 1941 Disney feature that's partly about the making of a Disney feature. To me, the whole message of this short is summed up by Walt Disney's signed card in the "Snow White" credits.
Disney was an incredible creative force, but aside from a hygiene film made near the end of World War II, he never directed a film after 1935. Though Disney himself cast every deciding vote, his films were incredible collaborations between all the various aspects of production we see on display here (there are no less than six credited directors on "Snow White" alone). I think I've mentioned it here before, but...
- 4/5/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
I'd seen Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success only once before receiving Criterion's immaculate Blu-ray release of the once ignored now revered late '50s film noir. This is a nasty story of two loathsome characters who deserve everything they get and then some. It's one of those films that makes you feel dirty while watching it as you bask in the deplorable behavior on screen and Criterion has delivered a beautiful achromatic picture for the drama to play out on.
Centering on the powerful New York gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (played like a dictator by Burt Lancaster) and Sidney Falco, a weaselly press agent played by Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success is remembered as much for its content and performances as it is for the fact it didn't earn a single Oscar nomination. This is a film long desired by cinephiles to come to the Criterion...
Centering on the powerful New York gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (played like a dictator by Burt Lancaster) and Sidney Falco, a weaselly press agent played by Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success is remembered as much for its content and performances as it is for the fact it didn't earn a single Oscar nomination. This is a film long desired by cinephiles to come to the Criterion...
- 3/7/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
A refusal to heed the advice of highbrow cultural critics is nothing new. But when the public can quickly share their own - different - views on Twitter, Facebook, myDigg and other social media, is criticism dead?
● To read critics' responses to this essay and to add your own comments, click here
Late last year there was a confluence of critical opinion in America the likes of which the nation hadn't seen in years. Every single film critic in the traditional media – 350 "best" lists, the ads boast – seemed to anoint The Social Network, director David Fincher's semi-fictionalised account of the founding of Facebook, as the movie of the year, maybe even of the decade. Every single literary critic in the traditional media seemed to agree that Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, his saga of a dysfunctional American family, was the novel of the epoch. And just to make it three for three,...
● To read critics' responses to this essay and to add your own comments, click here
Late last year there was a confluence of critical opinion in America the likes of which the nation hadn't seen in years. Every single film critic in the traditional media – 350 "best" lists, the ads boast – seemed to anoint The Social Network, director David Fincher's semi-fictionalised account of the founding of Facebook, as the movie of the year, maybe even of the decade. Every single literary critic in the traditional media seemed to agree that Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, his saga of a dysfunctional American family, was the novel of the epoch. And just to make it three for three,...
- 1/31/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Critics reflect on how social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and myDigg, fit into the perennial debate on cultural elitism
Miranda Sawyer, broadcaster and Observer radio critic: 'Twitter has made it easier for critics to hear other people's opinions. Even then, though, you tend to hear similar views to your own'
When I was writing for the Face, during the 1990s, I went to interview some boy racers: young lads who spent all their money souping up their cars in order to screech around mini roundabouts or rev their engines in supermarket car parks until their tyres smoked. The kids asked me who I was writing for. When I said the Face – a magazine that prided itself on representing all aspects of British youth interests – every single one of them replied: "Never heard of it."
The point is that most people – especially those outside the high-culture capital of London – are...
Miranda Sawyer, broadcaster and Observer radio critic: 'Twitter has made it easier for critics to hear other people's opinions. Even then, though, you tend to hear similar views to your own'
When I was writing for the Face, during the 1990s, I went to interview some boy racers: young lads who spent all their money souping up their cars in order to screech around mini roundabouts or rev their engines in supermarket car parks until their tyres smoked. The kids asked me who I was writing for. When I said the Face – a magazine that prided itself on representing all aspects of British youth interests – every single one of them replied: "Never heard of it."
The point is that most people – especially those outside the high-culture capital of London – are...
- 1/30/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
The Paul Sharits memorial website, run by his son Christopher, is looking for articles to post on art and music. Congrats to Stuart Simpson’s fantastic El Monstro Del Mar!, which has been picked up for distribution by IndieFilmNet. Careful, this one’s “dirty”: The great cartoonist/reviewer Rick Trembles covers Usama Alshaibi’s hilarious short film The Amateur. Then, Usama Alshaibi tackles the myth about Muslims not being able to render images of the prophets. J.J. Murphy tackles one of the most controversial movies of the last year or so, whether you knew it or not: Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers. Always a cause for rejoicing: Jonas Mekas announces a new film debuting in Feb.: Sleepless Nights Stories! A little background on the film from Jonas here. SXSW interviews fellow festival founder Lisa Vandever of Cinekink four questions about her upcoming interactive panel in Austin, TX. Professor...
- 1/23/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Since moving to New York one year ago, it has become more and more apparent to me how much I value my relationships with my family and friends. But as much as I miss their physical presence, I honestly don’t have much time to miss them because I talk to them all the time — on the phone, over Im, via video chat, and text. And more often than not, we talk about and bond over TV. According to this recently published L.A. Times essay, this does not count as bonding.
In addition to criticizing television shows with (what...
In addition to criticizing television shows with (what...
- 10/18/2010
- by Sandra Gonzalez
- EW.com - PopWatch
This week is the final airing of the syndicated movie review program At The Movies, marking a true end-of-an-era for those of us who grew up eagerly anticipating the weekly thumb wrestling of critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
In September of 1975 Chicago Tribune writer Gene and Chicago Sun-Times writer Roger were reluctantly paired for the monthly PBS show Opening Soon at A Theater Near You, which ran for two seasons before being renamed Sneak Previews.
The show became a huge hit for PBS, which decided to syndicate it with Gene and Roger remaining as hosts until 1982, when contract negotiations fell through. They were replaced by liberal commentator Neal Gabler and human block of wood Jeffrey Lyons, who would become best known for siring a quote whore (more on that later.)
Gabler left after three years, unhappy with the direction of the show, and was replaced by Michael Medved, who...
In September of 1975 Chicago Tribune writer Gene and Chicago Sun-Times writer Roger were reluctantly paired for the monthly PBS show Opening Soon at A Theater Near You, which ran for two seasons before being renamed Sneak Previews.
The show became a huge hit for PBS, which decided to syndicate it with Gene and Roger remaining as hosts until 1982, when contract negotiations fell through. They were replaced by liberal commentator Neal Gabler and human block of wood Jeffrey Lyons, who would become best known for siring a quote whore (more on that later.)
Gabler left after three years, unhappy with the direction of the show, and was replaced by Michael Medved, who...
- 8/23/2010
- by michael
- The Backlot
For certain movie stars, the elevation of gossip culture has changed the meaning of what gossip is. In the ancient old days (like, you know, 1992), a star's off-screen life was a carefully baked confection of reality and sugarcoating. When you read about her affairs, break-ups, marriages, new babies, or work-out routines, it all added up to a vision of the star that served the purpose of buffing and enhancing her on-screen image. These days, a star's off-screen life is still a carefully baked confection of reality and sugarcoating (though, at times, a little more reality does poke through). Only now,...
- 4/24/2010
- by Owen Gleiberman
- EW.com - The Movie Critics
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