Memo to the MPAA: Animal Cruelty Isn’t Kids’ Stuff
Scott Weinberg, February 4th, 2011 – Cinematical | Weinberg proclaims that the MPAA is too lenient on animal cruelty when it comes to ratings and ratings descriptors. The Roommate was given a PG-13 rating for “violence and menace, sexual content, some language, and teen partying”, but nothing about animal cruelty. Weinberg boldly challenges the MPAA to include “animal cruelty” to ratings criteria, and I agree.
The Social Network: Faces behind facebook
David Bordwell, January 30th, 2011 – Observations on film art | Bordwell uses The Social Network as a case study regarding how the eyes can emote much of the expression and drama to fuel the story. Using screengrabs from the film, Bordwell first crops the image to show just the eyes, then the eyes with eyebrows, then the entire face, and last, the entire frame. He takes a great deal of time to examine the eyebrows the most and even uses screengrabs from a documentary on The Social Network DVD. Lastly, Bordwell examines that the facial expressions are key to revealing the narrative of Facebook.
The day the New Wave came crashing down
Jonathan Romney, January 30th, 2011 – The Independent | Romney exposes the beginning of the friendship between Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, and later, the falling out between the two. The two seminal French New Wave figures once were at first the bad boys of French Cinema, Truffaut even getting banned from Cannes a year before his The 400 Blows lands on the screen.
Darren Aronofsky Reveals ‘Noah’ as Next Project
No Author Listed, February 5th, 2011 – The Film Stage | Claims that Aronofsky will be producing a comic book called ‘Noah’ as his next project in order to create visibility. The website quotes Aronofsky saying “it seems like if you come up with an original script, in Hollywood it’s not as effective as a comic book.” Aronofsky has been wanting to adapt a comic book for years, initially being attached to direct the reboot of Batman in the early 2000s. His quote speaks worlds about how Hollywood looks at films these days. If a film cannot be marketed with additional merchandise it often is given less priority.
