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Sunday, February 29, 2004

Indie Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards have been handed out. Lost in Translation cleaned up, winning everything it was nominated for, including best picture, director, screenplay and best actor for Bill Murray. Roger Ebert's coverage is here.
The emcee for the 10th year was director John Waters, he of the famous pencil mustache, whose opening act got a laugh as big as anything Billy Crystal may inspire tonight. Waters began a rant against the MPAA's policies on academy screeners and piracy, and just as he was hitting his stride, MPAA President Jack Valenti marched onstage, handcuffed him, and dragged him away.
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 2/29/2004

Friday, February 27, 2004

NYT on DVD Collecting
Here's a good article from Wilson Rothman in the New York Times on DVD collecting.
"Nobody saw this coming," said Jan Saxton, Adams vice president and media analyst, who attributes the boom to several factors, from the low prices of DVD players to the higher quality of video and sound on the discs. "No one anticipated how much consumers would feel the pull of the $9.99-to-$14.99 impulse buy at Wal-Mart. They didn't anticipate how ready the American consumer was to collect films."
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 2/27/2004

Monday, February 16, 2004

The Ever-Shifting Perceptions of Films
Roger Ebert's review of West Side Story is a great read, and a wonderful example of how perceptions of a movie can change over time.

Although "West Side Story" was named the best picture of 1961 and won 10 Academy Awards, it is not much mentioned by movie fans these days, and the old warhorse "Singin' in the Rain" is probably more seen and certainly better loved... I hadn't seen it since it was released in 1961, nor had I much wanted to, although I've seen "Singin' in the Rain," "Swing Time," "Top Hat," "My Fair Lady" and "An American in Paris" countless times during those years. My muted enthusiasm is shared. Although "West Side Story" placed No. 41 in the American Film Institute's list of the greatest films of all time, the less industry-oriented voters at the Internet Movie Database don't even have it in the top 250.

I'd venture to guess that it's the only film in his great movies series that he hadn't seen since it's first release. It's also evidence that a "great movie" doesn't have to be a perfect movie.
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 2/16/2004

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Archives prior to April, 2005 are from Donald Melanson's personal film blog.

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