The Ultimate DVD Geek
Halloween Resurrection
by Douglas Pratt

Keeping in mind that they are following a predefined set of rules and situations, Halloween Resurrection, is an entertaining and fairly satisfying entry in what one hopes will continue to be a perennial series. The premise in the 2002 feature, the eighth effort in that series, is that the house of the original murderer has been wired with cameras and a group of victims has been hired to spend the night for a reality TV and Internet program. Ah, but of course, the murderer then decides to come home. Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks are featured in the cast, with Jamie Lee Curtis coming the closest yet to imitating her mother's most famous film role. What the movie does is follow the basic formula with just enough of a fresh variation to make the inevitable mayhem worth waiting for. It's another treat for the slasher thriller goody bag, and one that you won't want to toss out.

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Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Gee, or to be more precise, PG, or to be precisest, PG-13.

Scary Movie 3 sliced through the power tools and Bushido blades in the marketplace and debuted with a staggering estimated $50.2 million opener. It repped Miramax's biggest ever premiere weekend and set a new benchmark (previously held by Red Dragon) for the top grosser in October.

The weekend also featured good results for the bow of Radio, a wow two-screen teaser for Disney's animated Brother Bear and several very good exclusive openings.
Weekend Finals
Market Share
Top Domestic Grosses

Pride Unprejudiced
by Ray Pride

Just as the credits to Scary Movie 3 ended, my date turns to me, says, "Did we just see a movie?"

Paramount Pictures has got a lock on a certain kind of supremely machined women's picture, the sort of strenuous love story that parallels the kind of "suffering Christ" roles historically favored by the self-absorbed likes of Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner.

The performances in Peter Hedges' Pieces of April, however, have an authentic vitality that makes a few iffy and forgettable comedy routines forgivable.

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Digital Nation Goes
To The Races
by Gary Dretzka

On closer inspection, it could be argued that the 20th edition of the World Thoroughbred Championships will have nearly as much in common with the bright lights of the Sunset Strip as the bluegrass of Kentucky. Typically, the horses and humans who gather each October, at the finest racing facilities this country has to offer, do so in pursuit of a classic Hollywood ending to that year's campaign. Thanks to the movie Seabiscuit and a 3-year-old gelding named Funny Cide, however, all of the drama leading into this weekend's eight races is the result of a nearly perfect Hollywood beginning.

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Voices
Jose Padilha
Documents Bus 174
by Andrea Gronvall

No TV stations gave me the rights to begin with. But Global Network was the most important: it had more than 70% of the footage available, its headquarters were physically close to the hijacking, they had four different cameras there. I kept pestering them first to let me research the film. They are a news organization, and not in the business of making dubs of footage. But I kept coming back at them. It took me six months before I could get a VHS copy. They gave me two days over a weekend to duplicate the footage I needed. When I got that, I assumed they would give me the rights. That was my argument: you gave me the footage, why won't you sell me the rights? Once I got Global, the others followed.

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20 Weeks To Oscar
by David Poland

The most repeated phrase of the day was “I/We wish this would all go away.”

Should any film ever be made so that it can chase Academy Award nominations? Does the American independent film movement want to go the way of the documentary and become a primarily television genre? Are the indies better off building the value of the Independent Spirit Awards instead of vainly chasing Oscars which, even in the best of years, are not terribly accessible? And who is going to stand up for world cinema, which is overlooked for the most part, by both the Oscars and the ISAs?
The Charts
All The Indie Nominations In The Past 15 Years

Updated throughout the day
Last update: 6:11 pm

MCN Flash - The Alamo Moves To April 2004, Changing Oscar Picture / Press Release

Nixing Jinx - Bond Takes Priority

Listen To The Sound Of The Rings

"Everyone’s fiending for DVDs. Publicists and artists are bucking for prizes. They want personal acclaim–not lower ticket prices to attract more viewers, not improved theater conditions for maximum presentation, not even more serious film criticism. They want praise–which they cravenly think translates into money. And money, they feel, is all that criticism–and media attention–is worth."
Armond White's Must-Read Look At The Screener Debate, East-Coast Style

The First Troy Poster is Here!

New LOTR: Return Of The King Desktops

Trading In Hollywood To Work In A Cambodian Sweatshop

Mickey Kaus On The Value Of Web Blogging Vs. Print Media
Also - The Popularity Of MCN Fave, The Guardian

The Two Jacks - Matthews Kicks Valenti When He's Down

The Return Of The Dumb Blund... Bland.... Blonde

Come On Up! - MCN Headline Writer Can't Resist Writing Snarky Headline In Light Of Rod Roddy's Passing

"My arse comes out pretty quickly in most movies"

The Brits Weigh In: BAFTA Says Screener Ban Is "Catastrophe"
And None Of The Screeners Sent To Their Members Have Ever Been Pirated
The Screener Ban Story Archive

NY Post On New Roles For Maximus & Anakin

Cherin Agrees To Ban Compromise, But Doesn't Seem Too Happy About It

Spike Jonze Meets Maurice Sendak.. Bjork To Star/Self-Costume?

Elvis Takes His Braids To The Hamptons

Anne Thompson On 20 Million Dollar Pete

What Is The Screener Ban All About?
Look To Televsion And The MPAA Fight For "Broadcast Flag" Legislation

Time Does Love Actually
Emma and Hugh and Liam and Richard Make Each Other Laugh
** Schickel Is Tickled

Hollywood And Sex: Meg Ryan Blows It For The Rest Of Us

You Got Served The Trailer
Low Res | High Res

Faramir & Away! David Wenham Q&A Hits The Rings Site

Lions Gate Sucks Up Artisan & Most Importantly, The Artisan Video Library

There's More To Viggo Mortensen Than Being King

Talking To Weir, Kassovitz And Morton

News On Russell Crowe, Catwoman And A Singing Detective

Rich Is A Bitch

Disney Says Reports Of Affleck Film Being Shut Down from Bad Buzz Are Phantoms

"Dependents" Chill... But Still More Whiners Whine

Valenti Says He Wants To Leave While He's On Top

All Time Creepy Movie List

Director, Vintner And Crusader Sam Neill

The Necessity For Love And The Human Stain

Peter Bart Has Written A Book

The Sunday Papers
The New York Times
Lebowitz Shoots Celebrity
Elvis On QT's Beautiful Music
Eyes Without A Face... Franju's, Not Idol's
Liz Garbus Goes To Jail... Again
Caryn Calling The Potter Black

NY Daily News
Jack Hammered On Penn, Hits QT
Up Against The (Shattered) Glass
Passing - Sociology & The Human Stain
The Rich Are Not TV, Are HBO

Globe And Mail
Bright Days For Horror
The Angel Behind The Party Monster

Guardian/Observer
Figgis Fights to Be Figgis
Phillip Frenches The DVD
Wm H Macy Raises The Bar
Seabiscuit Reviewed By A Former Jockey
A Disabled Perforance By An Actual Disabled Actor

LA Daily News
Strauss Dies Laughing

NY Post
Musetto Goes to Cairo

Ebert And Alien

Newsweek Goes Early, But Seems To Withhold Universal Love, Actually

Keeping The Blood Below The R Line

No More Stories About Pianos For Jane Campion

The "Japsploitation" Of Kill Bill And Lost In Translation

For Everybody Who Doesn't "Get" Quentin Tarantino

George Clooney's Undimmed Point Of View

Leth v. Von Trier, Five Obstructions, And The Human Heart

Catering To The Film Crowd

''There is a direct correlation between your box-office profile and being able to make films that wouldn't get made if you didn't have a passion for them."

Rob Marshall Goes Public In Trying to Break Indentured Servitude to Miramax

"I made this movie because Irish people are addicted to the death culture"
Jim Sheridan In America

Nikki Finke Reports First - Waxman To NYT "Lyman/Weinraub" Slot

The "Frodo Economy" Continues To Rock New Zealand

More Whining By The Screener Have Nots

Hollywood Accountant Who Wanted To Pay Too Much

The MPAA Takes The Piracy Fight To The Classroom

The Men Of Matrix Revolutions
Earlier The Women Of The Revolution

Plath: The Crown Princess Of Fetishized Writers

Picture The Book: Lost In Translation

USA Today Forecasting Movie Weather
Claudia / Scotty / Alamo / Samurai / M&C / Rings / Chilly Mountain