Screen Rush is the blog of film critic and journalist Eric Kohn, whose work regularly appears in indieWIRE, New York Press, Filmmaker, Moviemaker, Heeb Magazine and a half dozen other outlets. A true twenty-first century movie buff, his writing centers around the impact of new media on the moving image, the changing face of film criticism, and the tempestuous relationship between pop culture and independent artistry. This site includes links to his recently published work and allows for additional thoughts on cinema's modern state. E-mail Eric at erichkohn(at)gmail(dot)com.
Earlier this year, I was contacted by a start-up called Filmmortal that had an interesting agenda: The site serves as a middleman between filmmakers and companies interested in product placement. It helps producers build their budgets with sponsorships while connecting companies selling products that might fit the movie environments. Naturally, the driving motive here is capitalistic rather than creative, but it does help filmmakers in desperate need of financial assistance—and there are ways to place a product without necessarily degrading the quality of the movie itself (as far as I know, only Wayne’s World got away with combining sly self-parody and actual product placement).
Well, I think the folks at Microsoft could use a service like Filmmortal. First, they hired Bobcat Goldthwait to direct a series of hilariously over-the-top browser commercials, and wound up deleting one that contained a porn element. Now, they’ve retracted a decision to sponsor a commercial-free episode of Family Guy because they found Seth McFarlane’s comedic tendencies to be distasteful.
Seriously, Family Guy? Was nobody able to clue them in?
It’s less surprising that McFarlane would allow his program to become a tool of corporate machinations (but I don’t think The Simpsons would ever sell an entire episode like this). If Family Guy is up for grabs, the right people ought to grab it.
The door to a Gamespot in Brooklyn showcases new competition.
Microsoft and Sony have been competing for a long time over gamer interest in their respective platforms, the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3, but the battle just went up a notch. Last week, Sony dropped the price of the PS3 by $100, down to $299. Yesterday, XBOX decided to follow suit.
Now, there are two high-priced entertainment consoles available for the same amount. That means we can play the compare-and-contrast game! At this point, the appeal of these systems goes far beyond which games they play (especially since most of the good ones are available on both of them). While both systems offer video on demand content, the PS3 appears to have a leg up by offering Blu-ray compatibility, although many users probably don’t care, since it’s more cost-effective to watch streaming content.
As holiday season approaches (yes, already!), consumers must determine which all-purpose entertainment consul they want in their households. Of course, anyone with $600 to burn can easily avoid this question (or just get a Wii, which is a lot cheaper).
Studio-produced American comedies rarely leave me satisfied these days. It often seems as though Hollywood has outsourced its sense of humor to the indies: Humpday and Big Fan both contain observant portraits of flawed personalities capable of generating serious pathos without disabusing viewers of the right to laugh at their true-to-life flaws. But The Ugly Truth and Post-Grad are gleefullyoblivious.
Greg Mottola’s Adventureland, which hit DVD today, briefly restored my faith in big budget comedies when I saw it at Sundance in January. Mottola, the director with Superbad and Daytrippers on his resume (not to mention the recently completed Paul), might be one of the last hopes of genuine humor-filled entertainment in the American film industry. Mike Judge comes right behind with his upcoming Extract, and Bobcat Goldthwait would make that list, too, if he had the opportunity to stop making indies and direct a studio comedy with the ability to have final cut.
But Goldthwait’s movies are liberating simply because his stories’ dark, subversive tendencies reflect the freedom behind the camera. Mottola doesn’t need freedom. He only requires a moment of your time to catch you off guard and deliver smart, believable coming-of-age dramedies that put his original benefactor (rhymes with “Shmudd Shmapatow”) to shame. Here’s the Adventureland trailer. Check out the DVD, which contains a nifty behind-the-scenes doc and commentary from Mottola and star Jesse Eisenberg.
Although I haven’t played Splinter Cell, I understand that the hyperrealistic action and nail-biting black ops drama had its cinematic moments. Still, “video game” is frequently used as a derogatory term when applied to movies. It usually means the title in question lacks intelligence, places spectacle over substance, etc. That’s a troublesome comparison, since many video games possess fantastic storylines, performances, and other important forms of engagement. This has been the case at least since text adventures in the eighties. But I’m wondering if we’ve reached a point now where actually promoting a movie on the basis of its director’s video game experience gives people a sense of whether that movie is worth their time. Could the proverbial “Next Spielberg” get his start in games? Why not?
The theatrical experience is in a unique state of evolution, both technologically and financially, causing the industry to continue experimenting with new ways of getting audiences into seats. While not perfect, James Cameron’s “Avatar Day,” wherein 15 minutes of his 3-D sci-fi action movie were previewed for audiences around the country, may actually qualify as a greater nugget of history than the supposedly groundbreaking technology behind the production. Here are my thoughts on the footage and the event from The Wrap:
The man who famously declared himself King of the World on Oscar night 10 years ago has now become the ruler of an entire planet. Directing his first feature since “Titanic,” James Cameron appears to have gone in a similarly epic direction with “Avatar,” a technologically audacious 3D sci-fi production—predominantly set on an alien planet—that was previewed for audiences on IMAX screens around the country on Friday—a day he dubbed “Avatar Day.”
Attendees eagerly reserved their free tickets for the 15-minute preview well in advance, crashing the site on multiple occasions. Nevertheless, two of the four screenings that took place at the AMC Empire in Times Square Friday evening contained dozens of empty seats, an absence that Fox representatives blamed on the rainy weather.For such a highly ambitions marketing scheme, there seemed to be a fair amount of confusion among casual moviegoers.
Read the rest of the dispatch here and check out the Avatartrailer.
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