Lists and shorts, 12/31.

If we were ranking the year-end lists, this whole lot of them from Masters of Cinema with contributors such as Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ray Carney, Martin Koerber and Robin Wood and a sharp accompanying piece by Nick Wrigley, would certainly be right up there: "In late 2003 we asked a number of our favourite film critics, restorers, authors, curators and scholars for their lists of 'most wanted films on DVD'. The idea here, six years into the format's life, is to catch a glimpse of what the next six years could hold if these dreams were realised." As for the four editors of the site themselves, they've collected their own votes and discovered that the most wanted list is topped by "everything by Kenji Mizoguchi."

As for what is available, DVD Talk picks the top DVDs of 2003 - several times over. Scroll to the bottom of the motherlist to find 15 more lists: Genres (anime, docs, etc.); columnists' faves (Cinema Gotham, DVD Savant) and the quirky ones like "Top Ten DVDs You Won't Find On Any Other Top Ten List in 2003."

How was it for you? asks indieWIRE of 25 independent and Indiewood distribution companies. Overall, Wellspring's Al Cattabiani seems to have summed up their responses: "The core economics of the business are getting progressively tougher. Theatrically, it's harder than ever to break through the clutter and find a niche." The juice is in the details of the individual responses.

"Indian Cinema... known for its over the counter melodrama, loved for its talented celebrities, but remembered for its cultured yet cordial music." For Planet Bollywood, Aakash Gandhi selects "the top 15 music releases of the year 2003, with the music director and specific highlights for each."

David Poland's "Ten Movies That You Didn't See... But Should Have - 2003."

In the Telegraph: Tim Robey looks back at a year of mainstream cinema in the UK; Sukhdev Sandhu covers the others.

"If one could resurrect actor-filmmaker Orson Welles for an afternoon and put him on a festival panel with B-movie mogul Roger Corman, one might be amazed at how much they had to talk about." Matt Zoller Seitz reviews Peter Conrad's Orson Welles: The Stories of His Life and Beverly Gray's Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Life in the New York Press.

Brandon Judell rounds up a more eclectic selection of film books in indieWIRE.

"Even as this country of 127 million has lost its status as a global economic superpower and the national confidence has been sapped by a 13-year economic slump, Japan is reinventing itself - this time as the coolest nation on Earth." Not news, of course, but Anthony Faiola's Washington Post round-up of why and how this is so is a fine little primer on "Japan's Empire of Cool."

In the New York Times:

Elvis Mitchell: "[I]t is unfortunately necessary to point out that 2003 was a strong year for women as directors."

"When he died on Saturday, the question remained: what was an Alan Bates role?" asks Mel Gussow.

Luisita Lopez Torregrosa talks to Benicio Del Toro.

Ken Belson on the next generation of DVDs and the "multibillion-dollar fight over whose technology will become an industry standard."

From the Media and Technology in 2004 package: flat-screen TVs, music DVDs and personal video recorders.

Sarah Lyall meets Mike Newell: "I hate doing the same thing twice."

Now this is a surprise. John Schwartz reports that movie studios have actually been paying attention to how the music industry has completely botched its battle against online piracy. What's more, Hollywood's less harsh approach actually seems to be working.

"What's the difference between all the cinematic groups that dole out end-of-year awards, and which ones are best at prefiguring the Oscars?" Slate's "explainer," Brendan I. Koerner sorts 'em. Meanwhile, Ben Williams gathers "the biggest stories, best writing, nastiest insults, most hyperbolic raves, and oddest theories of the year in cultural criticism."

"Who would have thought a 47-year-old gay socialist from New York and a 72-year-old German immigrant would be the ones to bring television back down to earth, and knit up HBO viewers from both the red and blue states into the serious business of American viewership?" Tom McGeveran announcing that Mike Nichols and Tony Kushner are the New York Observer "Media Mensches of the Year."

Posted by dwhudson at December 31, 2003 11:06 AM