The Ultimate DVD Geek
Ryan's Daughter
by Doug Pratt

Imagine the ‘straight A' student who receives, deservedly, a ‘B' on his term project and you will capture the quandary surrounding David Lean's 1970 mega-feature, Ryan's Daughter, which has been released as a fine Two-Disc Special Edition by Warner Home Video (65170, $27). Lean himself was devastated, as any over-achiever would be, by the reception that greeted the feature, and apparently went into a filmmaking funk that lasted more than a decade. Those who were jealous of his previous successes decried the film as an utter failure, though of course it is not, it just isn't quite as good as his other movies.

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Digital Dretzka
ShoWest & The Ghost Of Cinema Future
by Gary Dretzka

Judging from all the projections of doom and gloom that accompanied each new weekend's box-office reports last summer and fall, you'd think organizers of ShoWest would have staged the annual gathering of theater owners in a funeral parlor, and not within the faux-sunny confines of Paris Las Vegas. Apparently, with business up in the first-quarter of 2006, the chain-dragging Ghost of Cinema Future has decided to vacation in Florida this week.

Also: Cars Hits The ShoWest Track In Gary Dretzka's New MCN Blog, Digital Dretzka

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Pride, Unprejudiced
by Ray Pride

Two long interviews in this column: writer-director Gavin Hood talks about his Oscar-winning South African Tsotsi, and Eugene Jarecki talks about Why We Fight and its analysis of war, money and belief in the U.S. as well as his forceful reaction to a rancorous review by the New Yorker's David Denby.

The idea for the film began with Jarecki's first encounter with President Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address to the nation, in which he coined the phrase "the military-industrial complex," warning of the potential of its gathering power to bulldoze democracy.

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The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Expectations for the romantic comedy teaming of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey in Failure to Launch were modest and some trackers expected its furry canine competitor to have a better opening gross. To no one’s great surprise the picture’s core audience was older and female; it’s just that the sector came out in greater numbers than usual. There are encouraging signs the film might catch on with a younger crowd and prove to have very good commercial stamina.
Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Domestic Market Share

The Hot Button
Reverse Overanalysis
by David Poland

Reverse Overanalysis is the process of attempting to discover the technical principles of the film world through analysis of the structure, function and operation of certain occurrences in the film business. In Reverse Engineering, this analysis is usually done with the intention to construct a new device or program that does the same thing without actually copying anything from the original. In R.O., it is usually done with the intention of explaining something irritating and to offer a construction that will be less irritating, even exhilarating.
Part I
Part II
Part III

Gross Behavior
The ShoWest Must Go On ..
by Leonard Klady

Last year, NATO's John Fithian attempted to make lemonade from the fact that frequent film goers - people that went to the multiplex at least once a month - were going even more often. He also made mention that respondents in their poll that characterized themselves as "nevers" or "rarelys" were also on the rise. While the media generally bit hard on his spin, exhibitors were distressed that their audience was shrinking in numbers and there was a potential manifest destiny that favored younger viewers and that was alienating older customers.

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MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Walk The Line

June Carter and Johnny Cash led a far more complicated life than James Mangold's biopic would lead casual fans to believe, and their next 30 years together would supply more than enough material for a sequel … More >

MCN Review by David Poland: It is a movie about a princess and a prince, both of whom were also frogs and who could only become King and Queen by kissing one another.

MCN Review by Ray Pride: Cash poises his finger over the teeth of the blade of a table saw, a life on a string, soon to draw taut.

Plus: Ballykissangel, Bleak House, Dog Day Afternoon, Domino, Drew Carey Show, The Ice Harvest, Howl's Moving Castle, Jarhead, Lady & The Tramp, The Memory of a Killer, Network, Police Woman, Pornography: The Secret History of Civilization, Pride and Prejudice, Prime, , Where the Truth Lies, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 6:16 pm

More Tribeca Titles

Universal Stays The Course... Pretty Much
Shmuger & Linde Take The Reins

Star Wars: The Live Action TV Series

Auctioning Off George Clooney's Very Own Personal Oscar Gift Bag

Nudity As Art? More Like Proving "I Was Hot"

Talking With John Hurt, About V For Vendetta Second & Shooting Dogs, Still Without US Distribution First

"If any further proof of America’s obesity crisis were needed, representatives of seat manufacturers confirmed that the width of the average movie theater chair has expanded from around 18-20 inches, to 22-24 inches"

The FCC Fines CBS $3.6 Million For PG Sex At 10P EST... Oy!

Jack Black Marries A High School Pal

Nikki Finke Gets Bernie Brillstein On The Record Clarifying That The NYT Pellicano/Grey Story Was Old, Boring News And That Putting Linda Doucette Into The Center Of Things Was A Joke (The Only Significant Thing About The Story Was That The NYT Named Grey In Reference To Pellicano Instead Of Avoiding It)... But Still Nikki Can't Stop Yammering About Her Favorite "Important" Story Since The Gay Mafia

Richard Corliss Looks At This Week's Idea Of The Future Of Cinema Through The Eyes Of Six Directors Who, For Corliss, Represent All Directors
And Selling That Digital Future At SXSW

"How ironic that people on the right are angry about V for Vendetta when they are, in general, the same people who might argue that America should use its might to keep the world safe from, say, communism, or these days, angry Middle Easterners on the political fringe."

Lincoln Mercury Follows In The Footsteps Of BMW, VW, And Ford With Online Shorts As An Eyeball Draw

Horn Reports Last Year's News Out Of This Year's ShoWest

Tribeca Announces Its Competition Titles, Featuring Color Me Kubrick's US Premiere And The Hope That The Third Jake Kasden Movie Will Be As Good As His First

Dave White Has A List Of Ten Talented Names You Should Know (If You Are Reading This, You Likely Do Know) And Why You Should Know Them

MGM Studio City: The Korean Theme Park

Bald And Beautiful Natalie Portman

The Winners At SXSW

Corliss Talks To George Lucas On Indy 4, Digital Cinema And Why Big Screens Are Better

Ralph Fiennes' Conscience In The Land Of The Blind

Li'l Ol' Peter Bart Answers Some Li'l Ol' Questions From Li'l Ol' SXSW

The Genies Spell C.R.A.Z.Y.

Empire's Best Picture Of The Year Award Goes To King Kong
"It doesn't say Brokeback Mountain. It says Best Film King Kong. You've given it to us. What insanity is this?"

The Launch Of HD-DVDs Allegedly Pushed Back Due To Technical Difficulties

If It's John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, Luke Wilson And Shirley MacLaine It Must Be Dallas: The Motion Picture

Sharon Stone's Baser Instincts
"I wanted a lot of sex in the sequel, and I wanted more nudity. I was coming from a really kinky place."

Looking Back At Ingrid Bergman

At 82 Bettie Page Is More Famous Now Than Ever

Trailer du Jour
Jeff Bridges' The Amateurs

Richard Corliss Dives Into The Film Vs. Digital Debate

Cate Blanchett Will Revisit Elizabeth 15 Years Later

The Hells Angels Call Disney Out

Maureen Stapleton Passes On At 80
"I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake."

The Grey-Pellicano-Shandling Connection
And - Nikki Finke Blogs It

Sharon Waxman Continues Rumor Of Shmuger To Universal's Big Chair, Likely With A Partner
Munoz/Eller Says Linde/Shmuger

Roger Ebert Remembers Cat People

And When Will They Start Looking Hard At Pixar/Disney?
The Paper Of Record Catches Up With New Media On The Paranoiamount Deal
December 12, 2005 - "Paramount is not buying DreamWorks. They are renting the cachet of Steven Spielberg & David Geffen for a few years."

A Prickly But Charming John Hurt
"'If'' and 'only' are the two words in the English language that should never be put together."

One Man's Disaster Is Another Man's V For Vendetta

Gore Vidal On Capote And Match Point
"Oh, Capote. [Sighs.] I spent half a century trying to avoid him, in life, and now suddenly I’m surrounded by him."

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Broadway Musical

Alan Moore's Problem With V For Vendetta A DC Issue, Not A Warner Bros Issue... Except That Time-Warner Is Parent To All

A Chat With Regal's CEO, Who Points Out What MCN Readers Know... Business Is Up And The Press Suddenly Has Forgotten To Notice

The Hell's Angels Exchange Blackjacks For Lawyers In Disney Dispute

Annie Proulx Offers Anyone Who Voted For Something Other Than Brokeback Mountain A Free Pass On Guilt... And Forces Anyone Who Did To Reconsider Who They Were Throwing Their Kit In WIth
The Ugliest Oscar Speech Ever?

Will Studios Sell DVD Quality Downloads On Amazon.com?

"Brokeback is a holy grail now."
Advocate Op-Ed Discounts Homophobia As Source Of Brokeback Mountain Oscar Loss, Points The Finger At Gay America For Not Being Militant Enough About Defending The Film From Parody

ThinkFilm Tries An In-Theater Premiere Event For The Beastie Boys Doc

The Calgarians Take A Look At The Future Action Heroes