Shorts, 3/31.

Sin City roundup:

• Burned by Hollywood, Frank Miller had been refusing bids for rights to the series for years. In Wired, Brian Ashcraft recounts how Robert Rodriguez won him over in a single day; and that's just the first chapter in a most unusual making-of story.

• Chris Garcia interviews Rodriguez for the Austin American-Statesman. Via the IFC Blog.

• Filmrot demonstrates just how closely he's stuck to the books. Via the Movie Blog.

• "Try this for range: cannibalism, castration, decapitation, dismemberment, electrocution, hanging, massacres, pedophilia, slashings and lots and lots of torture." David M Halbfinger sets the film's gore and the Disney-Miramax divorce next to each other to see what they look like together. (Also in the New York Times, Caryn James: "Pick your examples shrewdly enough and it can seem as if all of culture, high and low, is awash in colorblind casting.")

• David Poland has fired up a hopping discussion: "Are fetishizing filmmaking tools instead of drama?"

• Ella Taylor in the LA Weekly (where she also reviews Look at Me): "I found the movie every bit as sickening as its creators intended it to be, minus the kicks they so palpably got out of making it."

Some might prefer to get their thrills from Dana Brown's Dust to Glory, which LAW's Scott Foundas finds "absolutely exhilarating." Filmmaker's Steve Gallagher: "If the film is half as cool as its Web site, IFC Films has a hit on its hands."

The Weinsteins' plans encompass more than movies, reports Bob Tourtellotte for Reuters: "As they build Weinstein Co by first focusing on movies, reinvigorating book publishing, then branching into cable television, the Internet and other digital media, they hope to raise up to $1 billion, although that may take years." More from Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE, which leads us to:

"The move by the IFP/Los Angeles to pursue a name change and distinguish itself from the other 5 IFP chapters stirred strong reactions from leading independent film producers Ted Hope and Christine Vachon Wednesday, a day that also saw organization Executive Director Dawn Hudson compelled to explain the reasons behind the potential move while IFP/LA board member Marcus Hu also weighed in." Eugene's piece has already sparked considerable commentary and he spots a trend: "The reactions underscore the widening gap that exists within the aging independent film community."

Also at iW: Lisa Bear files from one of the world's toughest beats, the Bermuda International Film Festival, which wrapped on March 24.

Filmbrain: "Clean is one of those films you wish was better than it is."

Featured in Andrew O'Hehir's "Beyond the Metroplex" column: Kontroll, The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Nowhere Man. Also at Salon: Heather Havrilesky on HBO's Air America Radio doc, Left of the Dial. More from Nikki Finke in the LA Weekly, who asks AAR CEO Danny Goldberg what he thinks about the film.

Besides the narrowing window between the theatrical and DVD release of a film, Gary Dretzka considers other issues on the collective mind of the industry for Movie City News. And via MCN: 15 bad scenes in great movies and 15 great scenes in bad movies, two excellent lists from the Onion AV Club.

Ray Pride points to Greg Mariotti's ptanderson.com, where we learn that PTA is adapting Upton Sinclair's novel, Oil!. The film will likely feature Daniel Day-Lewis.

In more adaptation news, Gus Van Sant is shooting for Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, notes André Soares at Cinema Minima.

Jeffrey Wells discovers Kung Fu Hustle to be "easily the funniest and most imaginatively nutso chop-socky flick I've ever seen."

Fat City: Lawrence Levi, writing in Stop Smiling, likes the film but loves the book.

Spencer Parsons: "A little less than a year since the first public screenings, Warner Bros. has called the kibosh on performances of Brad Neely's Wizard People, Dear Reader, though no official legal action has been taken, and none appears imminent." Still, he's stopping. Illegal Art, however, is not.

Also in the Austin Chronicle: Joe O'Connell reports that the release of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly will be pushed from this September to March 2006 and Stephen Macmillan Moser wallows in the "fabulous extras" adorning the Special Edition of Carrie, wherein we learn that much of the cast originally auditioned for Star Wars: "It is a film of many firsts: Stephen King's first novel (as well as first film adaptation of a Stephen King novel), Brian De Palma's first mainstream effort, Piper Laurie's first film in 15 years, Betty Buckley's first film, Travolta's first film, PJ Soles's first film, and Amy Irving's first film."

"Remember when people watched pornos in movie theaters?" asks the cinetrix.

Berlin Super 80. Yes, it's an ad, but maybe you won't mind. What it is: A package - CD, DVD and book - a "flashback of early 80s Berlin subculture featuring output by virtuosos of the city's underground movie scene who rediscovered Super 8 as an adequate outlet for their creative endeavours." Einstürzende Neubauten, Die tödliche Doris...

CNET's Stefanie Olsen: "Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment is trying to develop and own the next iTunes - but for films."

Chuck Olsen launches the Digital Television Blog.

Online viewing tip. Via Todd at Twitch, naturally (where, by the way, logboy points to Warp's interview with Chris Cunningham; careful, it's bordered by some rather disturbing artwork). Anyway: "Horseplay is an odd little three-minute absurdist piece chock full of fantastic cinematography while Mr Theobald is... well... hard to describe.... The host site is well worth kicking around in as well."

Posted by dwhudson at March 31, 2005 1:51 PM