News, links, etc:
-China is such a big deal at the box office, Speilberg wants to make a movie there with Zhang Yimou (Hero). (The Film Stage)
-LGBT films like Weekend and Jack & Diane can make it on home video and streaming platforms, but why can’t they make it at the box office with any kind of regularity? (IndieWire)
-Sophia McDougall has a crazy good take on the “plague” of the one-dimensional “strong female character”. It kind of reinforces the idea that The West Wing’s C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) is probably the best dramatic TV character ever written. (The New Statesman)
-There is a plague of the “magic-feather syndrome” in animated films too. The only framed poster I own is an original A Boy Named Charlie Brown poster that sits over my desk, so it’s fair to say I agree. (The Atlantic)
-Steve Wozniak weighs in with his thoughts on Jobs. (Gizmodo)
-Ashton “Chris” Kutcher responds. (Moviefone)
-Simon Pegg, Ant Man? There are other nerdy actors you know, he doesn’t have to be in every nerdy movie. (HitFlix)
-Dave Chappelle is back. He’s returning to stand up, but there are no dates near Orlando right now. (NY Times)
-Angry Nerd rants about how tv and movies graphically depict hacking and doesn’t even touch on the worst crime ever: the reflection of the words on the screen being projected onto people’s faces, as in Jurassic Park and Hackers (and even on the Cylon baseships in Battlestar Galactica) (Wired)
-HBO should absolutely keep the boobies and add some cross-dong action. Cheesecake for beefcake is only fair. (i09)
Short film:
-Wilt Chamberlain was a bellhop in the borscht belt as a kid. (Grantland)
Trailers, posters, etc:
-Woody Allen is a pimp for writer-director John Turturro in Fading Gigolo. (The Wrap)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJai18eys0M
–Good Ol Freda, a documentary about Freda Kelly, who was the Beatles secretary and fan club president for most of their existence. (Apple)
-My brain wants to immediately reject Vampire Academy, but the director of Mean Girls and the writer of Heathers (Mark and Daniel Waters) makes me think twice. (io9)
–Blue Caprice, about the beltway snipers. (Apple)
-A new shorter trailer for JGL’s Don Jon. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get past the Godawful fake NY accents. (First Showing)
–How I Live Now sees Saoirse Ronan on the run looking for her first love after a nuclear attack. (The Wrap)
-Adam Scott and Amy Poehler in A.C.O.D., which played Orlando already as part of the Sundance USA tour earlier this year. (IndieWire)
This article appears in Aug 14-20, 2013.