Shorts, 3/17.

"More than by chance than design, this February issue of Offscreen coincides nicely with Black History Month, by presenting three pieces which, to varying degree, look at various aspects of African American popular culture." Yes, February's long past, but the issue's just up now.

Sara Vilkomerson may have thought she'd be talking to Spike Lee about Inside Man, but instead gets much livelier copy on his Katrina doc, When the Levees Broke, and the state of things in general. Also in the New York Observer: Scott Eyman reviews Tullio Kezich's Federico Fellini: His Life and Work. Related: Lucinda Evans for the Guardian on the destruction of Fellini's villa, which the mayor of Fregene calls "a historic mistake."

"Apropos of nothing but affection," Matt Zoller Seitz offers a few passages from Ray Carney's Cassavetes on Cassavetes.

Then, in the New York Press:

• MZS on V for Vendetta: "No matter how much spectacular mayhem occurs onscreen, the movie remains flat, schematic and, well, comic-bookish." Similarly, Scott Foundas in the LA Weekly: "I'm not quite sure what's more contemptible - that V for Vendetta wants us to take all of this seriously or that, on some level, it doesn't." More from Peter Keough in the Boston Phoenix, featuring audio clips from the cast and crew, from Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times, from Russ Breimeier for Christianity Today, and from Roger Ebert, David Poland and Cinematical's James Rocchi. Related: Jeffrey Overstreet points to the Beat's interview with a frustrated Alan Moore.

• Also: Duck Season is a "master class in doing more with less."

• Armond White explains why color is so important to Don't Come Knocking. More from a far less enthusiastic Ella Taylor and, at Slant, Dan Callahan. Related: Daniel Robert Epstein interviews Wim Wenders for SuicideGirls.

• Also: "[Paul] Walker confirms his movie star status with Eight Below."

• Jennifer Merin talks with Jason Reitman about Thank You for Smoking. Related: Joe DiMento interviews Aaron Eckhart for Salon and the LAW's Ella Taylor finds the film "as sleek, clever and cocky as its anti-heroic protagonist."

• Jerry Portwood on The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.

• Jim Knipfel on Paolo Cavara's 1972 giallo, The Black Belly of the Tarantula.

Latest "Film Focus" at Cineuropa: Pedro Almodóvar's Volver.

At the AV Club, Nathan Rabin interviews Robert Towne and Keith Phipps lists "14 Exceptionally Memorable Movie Robots."

Back in the LA Weekly, Foundas talks with Claire Denis about The Intruder.

Campaspe and her commentators decide you must be of a certain vintage to fully appreciated Dodsworth.

Dante A Ciampaglia: "[Thomas] Edison cannot be judged as an artist. He never created anything for art's sake." Also in PopMatters: Mark H Harris's amusing riff on wiggas and Marco Lanzagorta on a slew of recent soundtracks.

In the New York Times: Laura Kern on Beautiful City, Jeannette Catsoulis on Hate Crime and Sharon Waxman on the industry's thoughts on the decline in moviegoing. More from ShoWest from Gary Dretzka at Movie City News and, nicely referencing A Prairie Home Companion, Anne Thompson.

More SXSW reviews at Cinematical: Jette Kernion on A Scanner Darkly and Karina Longworth on Old Joy.

Via Ed Champion, Bee Wilson on Stephen Youngkin's The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre.

Anthony Kaufman points to James Christopher's piece in the Times of London on Sophie Fiennes's potentially intriguing made-for-TV doc, Artshock: The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, featuring Slavoj Zizek.

"Marshall McLuhan should have been living at this hour." For the Times Literary Supplement, Paul Barker reviews Marshall McLuhan Unbound: "None of the essays will, or did, set the world on fire, but they demonstrate that nothing McLuhan said sprang out of nowhere." Somewhat related: Nick Rombes: "Today, mass culture is not ephemeral, but a permanent fact. Theory has become yet another function of the database."

Jürgen Fauth & Marcy Dermansky list their top ten movies about writers.

Lance Mannion talks with Chris Hansen about The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah.

Solvej Schou reports for the AP on the George Clooney and Arianna Huffington scuffle.

"The time has come to take William Shatner seriously," argues Jonathan Kiefer in Maisonneuve.

Online viewing tip. Jonathan Glazer's video for Massive Attack's "Live With Me," Glazer's first music video in six years. Via Ben at the Whine Colored Sea.

Posted by dwhudson at March 16, 2006 9:26 PM