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MCN Commentary & Analysis See All

Can TV Engage Racism Without Being Racist?

David Poland | April 18, 2021

The Gurus Predict Best Picture And Make Three Little Wishes

Ray Pride | April 16, 2021

13 Days To *Oscar

David Poland | April 12, 2021

The News Curated by Ray Pride See All

"Ninety seconds. That’s how quickly Steven Soderbergh believes the Academy Awards will convince viewers that this year’s telecast is different. The concept for the show, which Soderbergh is producing with Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins, is to treat the telecast not like a TV show but a movie. And he’s convinced he’s got a doozy of an opening scene. “We’re going to announce our intention immediately,” says Soderbergh. “Right out of the gate, people are going to know: ‘We’ve got to put our seatbelt on.’”

April 18, 2021

Paul Schrader on Facebook: “AN OBSERVATION ABOUT FILM ECONOMICS. The clever post-nickelodeon decision to monetize motion pictures (squeezing large numbers of patrons in un-air-conditioned large rooms with (for a time) intermittent vaudeville acts worked like a charm for decades. Then came TV. Yet movies survived. Became larger scope, racier subject matter, exploitation pix, women's pix, prestige pix, horror pix, genre pix, realistic pix. bigger in scope, racier in subject matter, newsreels. serious dramas, art films, European films—and air conditioned cinemas. But now comes Phase Three: BOOM! The growing desire of audiences to see film entertainment in theater like home entertainment at great discount, a transition 14 months in the training, but, more importantly, a shift away from the standalone 2 hr ‘important’ drama inspired by literature to the ongoing episodic dramas inspired by crime series (true or otherwise), telenovelas, expanded documentary and biographic sagas, stripping storytelling of its ability to compose concise stories which land like a punch in the face.”

April 18, 2021