Shorts, 4/18.

"[Cartoon] Brew reader Chris Olson found an old issue of Popular Mechanics with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Pinocchio, and he was kind enough to make scans of the article for other Brew readers to see. The PM issue (volume 1, no 73) was released in January 1940, a month before the film was released." Via Brendon Connelly.

"[I]t would be totally inaccurate to suggest that this is my first Jewish play," Mike Leigh tells Linda Grant in the Guardian. They're talking about Two Thousand Years, which opens, by the way, with a character reading an article in the Guardian. Leigh: "I don't think you can pull out any play or film from my canon that is not Jewish in its view of life and all its tragi-comic aspects."

Also: Amina Taylor talks with Jamie Foxx about his music. And: "Woody Allen jilts Paris for London."

"I approach the task without consciousness or deliberation." Tim Lucas's been thinking about the process of reviewing lately.

In the New York Times, Dave Kehr explains that, while there's no actual "complete" version of Mr Arkadin, Criterion's got a "captivating package" nonetheless (more from Susan King in the Los Angeles Times); and Lorne Manly: "As the recent coupling between the Smithsonian Institution and Showtime Networks continues to roil the documentary film world, more than 215 filmmakers, television executives and academics have signed a letter demanding that the Smithsonian, a publicly financed museum, not only reveal financial details of the joint venture but also abandon it."

Will Gong Li be in Tim Burton's Believe It, Or Not, wonders Mack at Twitch. Also: Todd reviews Christoffer Boe's Allegro, Peter Martin on Elevator to the Gallows and Sophie Scholl: The Final Days and X translates a great swath of a Film 2.0 interview with Son Jae-Gon (My Scary Girl).

"Which horror movie scarred you for life?" asks Looker. "Do tell."

Silent Hill director Christophe Gans picks seven favorite horror films. Also in the Los Angeles Times, Peter Lunenfeld reviews Broken Screen: Expanding the Image, Breaking the Narrative: 26 Conversations With Doug Aitken and Patrick Goldstein on the United 93 brouhaha: "Instead of asking 'Is it too soon?' I wish people would say, 'What took so long?'"

And Greg Krikorian and Andrew Blankstein: "Film director John McTiernan pleaded guilty on Monday to lying to the FBI about hiring Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap veteran film producer Charles Roven in the summer of 2000." Also, Deborah Netburn's 10 McTiernan factoids and again, the LAT's Pellicano file. Commentary: Nikki Finke.

Kimberly Peirce will direct Abbie Cornish in Stop-Loss; Tatiana Siegel in the Hollywood Reporter: "Penned by Peirce and Mark Richard, the story centers on a soldier who returns home from Iraq to Texas and is called to duty again through the military's 'stop-loss' procedure. The soldier then refuses to return to battle."

Lu Chuan's Mountain Patrol: Kekexili gets the three-angled Reverse Shot treatment at indieWIRE.

Mark Cuban spoke on a variety of topics on Monday night as part of John Pierson's University of Texas at Austin Master Class series and Matt Dentler took extensive notes.

Caveh Zahedi makes the mistake of taking Anthony Lane seriously; fortunately, he's got friends leaving comments urging him to lighten up and enjoy the ride. Related: The IFC's Alison Willmore points to AJ Schnack's breakdown of the Caveh-Cuban run-in. And of course, Caveh responds. More commentary: Ray Pride at Movie City Indie.

Posted by dwhudson at April 18, 2006 7:28 AM