What can be gained from sifting through the opinions of a million moviegoers? For Noi Sian Koh and fellow researchers, it was a revealing portrait of the cultural differences between Americans and Chinese, albeit one that confirms certain stereotypes of both societies' norms. In a paper in the journal Electronic Commerce research and Applications, they surmised that because of these differences, web-users in China and the United States would choose markedly different ways to publicly voice their opinions even about a benign topic like movies they'd seen. The study culled data from ... Read More
‘Harlan’ Documentary Examines Nazi-Era Film Director
March 6, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
If Jud Suss — Rise and Fall, recently shown at the Berlin Film Festival, takes the story of the most notorious anti-Semitic film ever made and paints it in melodramatic terms, then Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suss, a documentary currently opening around the country, is its historical antidote. Directed by Felix Moeller, the film is the mesmerizing story of Veit Harlan, the most famous director of the Nazi era, whose rabidly anti-Jewish 1940 film Jew Suss was not only a huge European hit, but was required viewing for all S.S. soldiers and has left a legacy that his children and ... Read More
How to Film Nazis
February 24, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
The big surprise last week during the Berlin Film Festival was a disastrous premiere for a long-awaited feature film, Jud Süß — Rise and Fall, by a talented German director named Oskar Roehler. The film took liberties with an otherwise true story from the Nazi era and ended its world premiere to a chorus of boos. It was a strange baptism. As pure moviemaking, the film isn't bad. Another film that takes even more outrageous liberties with Nazi history, moreover — Inglourious Basterds, by Quentin Tarantino — has been praised far and wide by German critics. The main difference appears ... Read More
Cloaking a No-No As a Win-Win
February 21, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
If The Art of the Steal sounds like the title of a caper flick, in a sense, that’s what Don Argott’s documentary is. The film, which opens around the country in late February, is definitely about a theft. But it is really about the way in which a city, state and billion-dollar charitable trust managed to legally steal the world’s most important private art collection and move it from the place where it had been housed for more than 80 years, so it could serve as a tourist attraction. “This story is a small example of what happens when we put money above everything else,” says ... Read More
Review: The Importance of Being Not So Earnest
November 17, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
As far as Philippe Diaz is concerned, the issue of world poverty is a simple mathematical problem. "If we consume 30 percent more than the planet can regenerate, it means for us in the Northern Hemisphere to maintain our lifestyle, we have to plunge more people in the Southern Hemisphere into poverty. We have [an economic] system that is digging a bigger hole every year." Diaz is the writer-director of The End of Poverty? a documentary that opens throughout the country over the next several months. His film spends 104 minutes attempting to explain how this all happened. In this case, that ... Read More
Film Critics: A Boys’ Club
July 22, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press all have female movie reviewers, but don't let that fool you: Film criticism in the nation's newspapers remains "largely a male enterprise," according to a new study. The study was written by Martha M. Lauzen, director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. It is available on the Web site of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Lauzen looked at film criticism in the top 100 U.S. newspapers by circulation in the fall of 2007. She found that 70 percent of the individuals ... Read More
‘Wall-E:’ Critique That Transcends Ideology
July 7, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
Science fiction stories are often allegories, so it's no surprise that political commentators have joined movie critics in critiquing the popular new Pixar film Wall-E. But while the ambitious, awe-inspiring animated feature has much on its mind, its underlying themes don't fit neatly on any ideological spectrum. Set 800 years in the future, the movie paints a grim picture of an earth that has been rendered inhabitable due to pollution, horrible storms (presumably the result of global warming) and literal mountains of garbage. Although life has long since vanished, a single automated trash ... Read More
