Shorts, 4/12.

"I think the Internet has changed the perception of movies and the way people relate to movies and understand them in enormous ways," critic Godfrey Cheshire tells Jeremiah Kipp at the House Next Door in the first half of a two-part interview sparked, appropriately enough, by a two-part essay, Cheshire's "The Death of Film/The Decay of Cinema," which appeared in the New York Press in 1999.

"It's been interesting how that piece has stayed alive in people's minds," he says now. Cheshire and Kipp talk at length about the ways the future has and has not (and/or has not yet) happened the way he thought it would six years ago; the piece itself is rich enough, but there are links throughout as well and Matt Zoller Seitz posts yet more in a followup comment. Related online viewing tip: Cheshire on Iranian cinema.

Scott Macaulay whets the appetite for the upcoming issue of Filmmaker with the opening of his interview with Hard Candy director David Slade. And Michael Guillen caught an advance screening of the film with Slade present and took lots of notes.

Meanwhile, Scott Macaulay's notes on the "Distribution Now... Distribution How?" panel: "I think the audience was surprised and perhaps a tiny bit bummed out [by] the financial bleakness of it all."

Jeffrey Wells: "Is Paul Greengrass's United 93 (Universal, 4.28) a knockout, a time-stopper, a mind-blower? It sure as hell is." Related, and via Movie City News: Richard Corliss's backgrounder in Time. Also related, of course: David Stout reports in the New York Times on the tape of the last 31 minutes of the real Flight 93.

Elsewhere in the NYT, Patrick Healy reviews Giuliani Time: "The two-hour feature is nothing less than a full frontal assault on the civic deification of Rudolph W Giuliani that occurred in the days after Sept 11, 2001, when much of the news coverage shined a spotlight on his steady hand." Also: Nathan Lee on Sisters in Law and I Am a Sex Addict. Caveh Zahedi objects - once again, eloquently - to a perceived dig and - once again - draws a slew of comments.

Filmmaker Sam Green (The Weather Underground) tells the story behind his new one, lot 63, grave c, at SF360.

Cheryl Eddy talks with Gretchen Mol about The Notorious Bettie Page. Also in the San Francisco Bay Guardian: Dennis Harvey introduces a most unusual double feature by looking into the mysterious disappearance of Chicago avant filmmaker Alex Ross.

Xan Brooks: "Feted by the critics and public alike, Palestinian cinema remains a culture in exile, an industry without a home."

Also in the Guardian: Charlotte Higgins peeks at portraits of actors by Stuart Pearson Wright, Geoffrey Macnab talks with Junebug director Phil Morrison and a rockumentary quiz.

Fabien Lemercier for Cineuropa: "Isabelle Huppert's schedule for 2006 will cross paths with three filmmakers from three different European countries, Belgium, Italy and France, respectively: Joaquim Lafosse, Alessandro Capone and Claire Denis."

In the Hollywood Reporter, Martin A Grove looks ahead to the summer. Of 2007.

Edward Copeland lists his choices for "the 10 best Oscar-winning best pictures ever." You can, too.

The AP: "Raj Kumar, a onetime child actor who became one of south India's most beloved movie stars and later was kidnapped by a notorious bandit, died Wednesday at age 77." More in the Hindustan Times and from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In the Los Angeles Times, Claire Noland remembers Oscar-winning set designer Gretchen Rau.

Online browsing tip. Book covers designed by Germano Facetti for Penguin in the 60s.

Online viewing tip #1. The trailer for the Journal of Short Film.

Online viewing tip #2. W's rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine." Wear earphones.

Online viewing tip #3. The teaser promo for Black Dahlia, the one Ramzi Abed started working on before Brian De Palma got going on his. Scroll down a tad; possibly NSFW.

Online viewing tips, round 1, all via Coudal Partners: Director Monkmus's commentary on his video for Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"; Charlie White's Pink; and, writes Jim, "Link of the month, maybe of the year. Gary Butcher's animated tribute to Josef Müller Brockmann. JMB fans, do not miss this. Damn."

Online viewing tips, round 2. Three need-to-know music video directors, courtesy of Blank Screen.

Posted by dwhudson at April 12, 2006 2:14 PM