Shorts, 7/1.

The July issue of News Reel at Wim Wenders's site has appeared right on schedule, but this month it happens to coincide with the release of the DVD version of probably his most popular film, Wings of Desire. There's a major pointer there to p.o.v., a Danish film journal published in English. Issue Number 8 (December 1999) is devoted exclusively to Wings of Desire with no fewer than five interviews and nearly twice as many articles. Heavens.

Werner Herzog is gearing up to shoot a doc (laced with a few dramatic reenactments) on the Loch Ness monster. He tells Scotland on Sunday: "It's not so much the so-called monster that's important in this, it's more the question why is it that we need a monster." He goes on a bit about Scottish and Celtic culture, but actually, the most fun quote comes from Willie Cameron of Loch Ness Marketing: "It's probably one of the most important events that's happened in the Scottish film industry for a long time as far as world-recognised names go... The last time must have been Mel Gibson coming to make Braveheart." Via Weblogsky.

"Now officially hip, documentaries are gaining more and more converts among aficionados of fiction. For New York City-based First Run/Icarus Films, commitment to docs started long before they were cool." At indieWIRE, Howard Feinstein helps the distributor celebrate its 25th anniversary. So does Anthology Film Archives.

A. O. Scott perfectly captures a movie lover's end-of-summer weariness (and it's only July 1!): "For all the hype and the inevitable (and most likely short-term) box office bonanza, Terminator 3 is essentially a B movie, content to be loud, dumb and obvious, and to leave the Great Ideas to bona fide public intellectuals like Keanu Reeves and the Hulk."

So I follow the Movie City News link to the trailer for Mona Lisa Smile, watch it and think: Thanks, Sony Pictures. You've now not only shown me the entire movie in two-and-a-half minutes but also convinced me that I have no interest whatsoever. Moving along...

Pieter Kramer's Yes, Nurse! No, Nurse! wasn't much of a hit in Berlin, but it seems to have been warmly embraced at the 27th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Also via MCN, a long and rambling yet thoroughly absorbing and entertaining transcript of an evening with William Goldman, still one of the most sought after (and highly paid) screenwriters/screen doctors in the business. If you know his books, there may not be a whole lot of news here, but it's fun nonetheless. If you don't know his books, you'll likely be tempted to go out and find one after breezing through this chat.

Speaking of screenwriters, David Newman, who wrote Bonnie and Clyde ("Memorable Quotes"), has died. Also in the LA Times: Wayne Kramer's The Cooler has William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello and "critical plaudits" but it's also been smacked with the "kiss of death," an NC-17 rating. Patrick Goldstein argues that it's high time the MPAA ratings board catch up with the 21st century.

Along the same lines, MCN's Patricia Vidal celebrates July 4: "I am happy to be an American.  Our moral safety is kept locked up so that a woman pointing an unloaded breast at a man’s head gets an R rating and a man pointing a loaded submachine gun at a woman’s head gets a PG-13." Also: Gary Dretzka interviews Ludivine Sagnier. Posted by dwhudson at July 1, 2003 7:39 AM