5 Civil Rights Docs: Celebrating 50th Anniversary of March on Washington
Tomorrow marks the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. President Obama will deliver a speech on the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King gave one of the most famous, and moving, speeches in American History—his iconic “I Have a Dream” address.
This past July, Louis Menand wrote a moving, harrowing article for The New Yorker entitled “The Color of Law,” that investigated voting rights for African Americans,
The World’s End, Drinking Buddies, & You’re Next: Weekend Watch List
Movie calendars no longer really mean what they used to. Yes, movies with Academy Award aspirations do get back loaded and released during the fall and early winter. Yes, summer is still blockbuster season, a fact as immutable as gravity or Woody Allen releasing a movie a year. Yet assuming you can guess the relative quality of a film based on the date it was released is getting harder and harder to predict.
Take late August,
Creativity in Hollywood: Film Visionaries On Creative Process And Inspiration
Unlike most films and television shows, inspiration is not available on-demand. In the highly creative realm of movie-making, a good idea can catapult careers, spark motion picture franchises, and make cinematic history.
Inventing the next film can mean laying the groundwork for brilliant movies and television, from Inception, Taxi Driver, The Master, or Edward Scissorhands.
Of course, caveats abound.
Filmmaking 101: Vimeo’s Fantastic Video School
The Vimeo Video School is committed to helping budding filmmakers learn the tricks (and most importantly, techniques) of the trade through their series of lessons, tutorials, and advice. The Vimeo staff create the videos, as well as pulls tutorials, Q&As and films from the larger Vimeo community into their curriculum. They’re not only informative and fun, they’re also, blessedly, free.
A lot of the filmmakers we’ve spoken to over the past year said more or less the same thing at some point in the conversation—it’s never been easier to make your own film.
The World’s End: What’s Behind our Apocalypse Obsession?
Edgar Wright’s The World’s End (premiering August 23) is not the first, second, third or fourth film to come out this year about an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic world. A cursory glance of 2013's film slate would suggest we are currently suffering from a collective panic attack about our prospects on the planet. This is the End, World War Z,
Your Big Break: Hollywood Studio Programs for Emerging Writers
How hard is it to make it as a screenwriter in Hollywood? Watch the Coen brothers Barton Fink or Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard or last year’s Seven Psychopaths for a clue. All three films focus on a struggling screenwriter. All three, while wildly different and wonderfully perverse (in their own specific ways) get at the beating black heart of the unknown screenwriter’s soul—that your soul is for sale, so long as you can get your script made.
Breaking Bad, Austenland, JOBS: Your Schizophrenic Weekend Viewing Guide
Summer’s winding down, folks. So you really need to maximize all the relaxing you can do before the inevitable crush of obligations and stress that is fall, the holiday season, and the end of the year bears down on you.
August is the midday nap of the calendar. It’s a month for whiling away hours in repose. Movie theaters offer one of the last spaces on our hyper-connected planet where you’re obligated to silence your smart phone and be quiet for two hours.
Austenland Latest in our Centuries-Long Love Affair With Jane
Sony Picture Classic’s Austenland (coming out tomorrow), based on the novel by Shannon Hale (who also co-wrote the script with director Jerusha Hess), is the latest film to be inspired by the legendary 19th century English novelist. Austenland is about a woman named (naturally) Jane (Keri Russell) who is so obsessed with Austen (and “Pride and Prejudice” in particular, and Mr. Darcy very particularly) that she decides to spend her life savings on a trip to an English resort that caters to Austen-crazed women,
The Science of Streaming: How You’re Able to Binge-Watch Breaking Bad
We’ve come a long way since the days of rushing to Blockbuster on a Sunday evening to avoid paying the late fee on that VHS rental of Independence Day. Now, with a decent Internet connection and a few clicks of your mouse you can legally and easily stream and download movies to just about any device–something that your 90s-self would have probably assumed to be the sole reserve of science fiction.
“If you were to go back a decade and tell people that the Internet would be fast enough to stream video they wouldn’t believe it.
Meet the Makers Behind Disneytoon Studios’ Airborne Adventure, Disney’s Planes
Close your eyes. Imagine you’re in the air flying, not a cloud in sight. It’s just you and a blue pastel-colored endless sky and then, suddenly, you shift gears and enter a high-speed race with two fighter jets. You’re propeller-to-propeller with your opponents and just as you’re about to gain the lead, you smell… manure?
That’s how Dusty Crophopper, star of Disneytoon Studios’ new animated feature film, Disney’s Planes,
From Kathryn Bigelow to Martin Scorsese, Filmmakers & Their Inspirations
In 2010, the British Film Institute published a wonderful book entitled “Screen Epiphanies: Filmmakers on the Films that Inspired Them.” We found this book after one of those rabbit hole web searches that began with this fantastic article by Martin Scorsese in The New York Review of Books that began with a recollection of the film that made him want to devote his life to the medium.
HBO’s Casting By Shines a Light on Casting Legend Marion Dougherty
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently announced the creation of a new casting director’s branch, finally elevating the women and men who provide films with that somewhat vital ingredient—the cast—to full membership. This comes after years of lobbying on the part of filmmakers and actors themselves to give casting directors their due.
The Academy's decision means that casting directors will get three seats on the board of governors,
Disasters in Space: Hollywood’s History of Co-Opting NASA’s Real Fears
In a way, outer space is like a vast movie screen–we project our hopes, our dreams, and our worst fears onto it. A lesser species might stare into the glittering stars and see randomness—we have been looking up at the night sky for millennia and have seen a near endless array of characters; lions, bulls, twins, a sea monster, a chained princess, a centaur–gods.
It’s no wonder, then, that space has been the setting for some of Hollywood’s most iconic movies—Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey,
The Rise of Shailene Woodley:The Spectacular Now Star Shines Bright
There are two actresses you want in your movies right now: Jennifer Lawrence, and Shailene Woodley.
While the former heads off once again to the Hunger Games, (Catching Fire premiers November 22) and rejoins her Silver Linings Playbook co-star Bradley Cooper in Serena (premieres October 31), the latter is poised to potentially follow in her footsteps.
Woodley stars in three upcoming films—each based on a young adult (YA) novel—and each offering her a very different character to inhabit.
From Gene Kelly to The Smurfs 2: A Brief History of Live Action & Animation
The Smurfs 2 , out today, is the latest in a long (very long) line of live action/animation films.
Sony Picture’s 3D family comedy centers on the evil wizard Gargamel’s (played in live action by Hank Azaria) most grotesque transformation yet—he’s become a celebrity (we jest). The newly famous Gargamel creates a host of Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties (including Christina Ricci, below, as Vexy), in order to harness that magical Smurf essence he’s coveted forever.
Comic-Con 2013: Meet Alan Villanueva, Costume Illustrator of Ender’s Game
Alan Villanueva is a costume illustrator who appeared on the Costume Designers Guild panel to talk about the changing world of costume in an era of HD and 3D. His first feature film was Oz the Great and Powerful, where he worked on Michelle Williams’ dress for the early black-and-white scenes, knowing that what she was wearing would have to translate into the color costumes she would wear in Oz.
Comic-Con 2013: The Iowa Caucus of Popular Culture
Comic-Con is the Iowa caucus of popular culture. Devoted fans gather to get an early look at what the entertainment media will have to offer in the next few years. Producers of movies, television, games, books, and more share early glimpses of what they will be offering, hoping for feedback and the kind of credible viral support that is more valuable than millions of dollars worth of advertising.
Some of the highlights of the presentations on upcoming films included:
Comic-Con 2013: A Superhero’s Secret Weapon? Music
Iron Man’s got the Mark 42 armored suit and Wolverine has the claws, but both of these bad boys have something else to help them wow fans time and time again—great music.
Comic-Con started off, if not with a bang, with something better — a grand, sweeping, orchestral superhero movie score. The men who put music behind Marvel characters like Iron Man, Kick-Ass, Wolverine, and The Avengers spoke to the fans about the challenges of finding a musical equivalent to the grand sweep of characters and stunts that are themselves bigger than life.
The Conjuring Joins The Ranks of Iconic Haunted House Horrors
In honor of today’s highly anticipated premiere of The Conjuring, we take a look at the ‘haunted house horror’ genre of film and bestow the Warner Bros. flick an official place among creepy cinema classics.
Admit it: you have distinctly crossed a house or two that you will never ever set foot in. Maybe it was an old boarded up rambler in your childhood neighborhood,
From Turbo to Monsters University, Actors Relive Juicy Past Roles via Animation
DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo, which opens today, is a veritable who’s who of serious actors lending their voices to a selection of mollusks and another animated characters. Paul Giamatti, Luis Guzmán, Michelle Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins and Samuel L. Jackson are a few of the no joke actors involved in this film about a snail named Theo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of being as fast as his favorite IndyCar driver,
