Shorts, 4/15.

Here comes an untenable statement I nonetheless regard as unassailable fact: Chinatown - directed by the great Roman Polanski, written by the great Robert Towne, and starring the great Jack Nicholson - is the greatest film of all time. Not "one of," not "arguably among," not "probably" - but undoubtedly, empirically, categorically the greatest film that has ever been made, ever. The end.

Of course that's pretty out there, but now that Nelson's got your attention, you can appreciate his appreciation. Also: Andrew Wright on Turtles Can Fly.

"None of Godard's features made before 1968 is devoid of formal interest, but Masculine Feminine is missing many of the things that tend to make the others pleasurable," writes Jonathan Rosenbaum, who prefers the "flaky, funny and sexy" The Girl From Monday and maps that film's Godardian elements.

Also in the Chicago Reader: More notes on the weekend's offerings at the Chicago International Documentary Festival, the Chicago Palestine Film Festival, opening today and running through April 28, and the Chicago Latino Film Festival, through April 21.

"Tuesday night's panel at the Museum of Radio and Television in New York had more than a few memorable moments," notes moderator Steve Rosenbaum.

Before Morgan Spurlock, there was Franny Armstrong, whose doc, McLibel, has been updated, expanded and re-released. The BBC's Neil Smith reports. Speaking of the Corporation: "Free internet access to thousands of clips from public service radio and TV programmes is a step closer after the launch of the Creative Archive Licence."

The International Edition of Kateigaho gathers the thoughts of director Hideo Nakata, producer Roy Lee and writer Koji Suzuki on the international appeal of Japanese horror. That's via Filmmaker's Steve Gallagher, who also points to Stefan Lovgren's J-Horror overview for National Geographic.

Wild Japan film festival is touring ten cities in the UK and iofilm has collected its batch of reviews.

Filmbrain on Failan: "First things first... Choi Min-sik is without any doubt one of the greatest actors working today."

Steve Erickson previews the Tribeca Film Festival (April 19 through May 1) for Gay City News.

For Film-Philosophy, Kenneth MacKinnon reviews The Trouble With Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema, edited by Phil Powrie, Ann Davies, and Bruce Babington: "There are no dud essays in this collection. There are also some outstandingly interesting ones."

Todd Solondz is still talking. Still making sense much of the time, too. Today's batch of questions this time come from Matthew Scott Kelemen at Alternet, Matthew Plouffe at indieWIRE (where Hugo Perez files a report on the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival) and Geoffrey Macnab in the Guardian, where you'll also find:

• Nick Paton Walsh explains why Russian cinema is booming. Set that piece next to this one: "The British film industry may not exist now, but - with a little government help - it's a success story waiting to happen." Jonathan Gems presents a solid argument. Also in the Independent: Tiffany Rose interviews Andie MacDowell.

• John Patterson profiles Ice Cube.

• Peter Bradshaw pans The Interpreter, New Town Original and Chain, mildly approves of The Edukators and recommends Anatomy of a Murder.

• Andrew Pulver is pleased by neither The Amityville Horror (although, to hear Matt Dentler tell it, the preview in Austin must have been fun) nor Wild Side.

At Movie City News, David Poland looks ahead to the summer season and finds we'll be "in a near-permanent state of déjà vu."

The Telegraph's David Gritten chats up the team behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also: "It is incredibly cold, -20C on a good day. But it's beautiful." SF Said visits the set of Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's follow-up to Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). Via Movie City Indie.

Broken Saints: It's a blog now, too.

Renai LeMay at CNET: "Hollywood is anxious to embrace BitTorrent as a method of movie distribution, according to the father of the Internet, Vinton Cerf."

Online viewing tip. Jeremy Harrison's When the Dog Barks.

Posted by dwhudson at April 15, 2005 8:16 AM