Luis Buñuel Is 122

WashPost Contributing Writer Contemplates The Demise Of Mediocre “The Capitol Steps”: “Political humor had changed. It was less lighthearted, more snarky and sarcastic. Washington had changed, no longer a place where Democrats and Republicans would rib one another without too many hurt feelings. Moreover, America had changed, probably forever… It was corny. Gen Z might call it ‘cringe.’ But it was also clever and creative. They prided themselves on being able to bring Republicans and Democrats together to laugh at their leaders and themselves… I’d be up for seeing them one last time—a proper send-off for these goofy government nerds who helped make me who I am.”

“With Omicron numbers trending down, Academy sources leaked the notion that they might demand attendees show a negative Covid PCR test to gain entrance, not proof of vaccination. (The Academy has not made a formal announcement.) Those traveling from overseas will need both to enter the country, but Belfast‘s Van Morrison, a Best Original Song nominee, is outspoken in opposition to vaccinations.”
Anne Thompson On Old Marrieds, Oscar And ABC

“Village Roadshow this month sued Warner Bros. for breach of contract, accusing the studio of ‘deliberate and consistent coordinated efforts’ to ‘eviscerate the significant value of Village Roadshow’s intellectual property in order to prop up’ its sister streaming service HBO Max. Warner Bros. denies any wrongdoing, calling Village’s actions ‘duplicitous.’ The widening dispute is a window into the dramatic company overhauls and strategic shifts that have defined the entertainment business during the last several years. Those include the race to streaming, changes in company DNA and the unwinding of traditional co-financing deals as studios increasingly want to control established franchises for reboots and spinoffs. As these trends accelerate, such fights likely aren’t going away.”
Burly Brawl From Down Under After The Matrix: Resurrections

Tim Grey: “The Academy declared 276 films from 2021 as Oscar-eligible, and much of the responsibility for spotlighting films falls on bloggers and columnists.”

Irwin Young, 94, Patron Saint To Independent Filmmakers

The Times Discovers Women Directing Horror

“In a course I teach on feminist film, I have taught Ducournau’s Raw, with uneven success. Centered on a young woman veterinary student who goes from vegetarian to cannibal, the film is ‘about’ hazing on campus, female sexual desire, sister solidarity, racial tensions in contemporary France, and more. Many (not all) of my students get turned off by the body horror of seeing the heroine snack on the finger of her sister or cause car accidents in order to feast on the bodies of the victims. We discuss the monstrosity of female desire, its dangers, its posing of trouble for rules of gender and racial binaries and the ways we organize and structure our world. But I am struggling now as I think of how to teach Titane on my eclectic and constantly changing feminist film syllabus. In conversations with my students, we ask whether a film is feminist if it flips the scripts from male to female, if it helps us get inside the heads of women characters, if it helps us understand women’s subjectivities and perspectives, or something else. Sometimes we are stymied by the rules for feminist film and the ways certain films both fit and resist.”
Teaching Titane

The Amazing Life Story Of Filmmaker Orwa Nyriba, Artistic Director Of IDFA

RIP David Brenner, Editor On Avatar Sequels

A History Of KTLA At 75

“We will forever be grateful to have been able to bring affordable movies to the big screen for the Madison area for over 30 years.”
Madison’s Budget Movie House, Landmark-Owned Market Square Cinema, Closes Abruptly

Kristen Stewart Named 2022 Indie Spirit Awards Honorary Chair

An Economist Studies The Effect Of Sideways On The American Wine Industry (NPR, nine minutes)

“The Oscars will require all nominees and invited guests (2,500 people) to show proof of vaccination. For onstage performers and presenters, vaccines are not required but strongly encouraged.”

The Economist: “Disney, Netflix, Apple: is anyone winning the streaming wars? Investors are terrified that the prize may not be worth it”

“Warner Bros. has publicly stated its control over film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings amid rumblings in the industry that a clutch of LOTR and Hobbit rights are being shopped by longtime owner, the Saul Zaentz Co. The companies are in the middle of a private mediation process to help settle their differences about whether the studio has met its obligations to hold onto the license.”

Guilds Will Require Proof Of Vaccination At Awards Shows

Frank Pesce Was 75

“Usually, if there’s a couple of great scenes in a movie, that movie can almost work. But this movie has so many great scenes, and I felt deeply for all three of the main characters, which is a really hard thing to pull off. It made me excited about the potential of movies again…  I read that you watched Diane Keaton movies and interviews to help you prepare. I’ve made four movies with her, and the first time I saw your movie, I texted her the next morning and said, ‘Hey, I just saw a movie, and there’s an actress in it that reminds me of you.'”
Nancy Meyers And Renate Reinsve Talk The Worst Person In The World