MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Brokeback Mountain

DVD Review: Now that the Sturm und Drang over Ang Lee’s critically lauded New Age western has finally died down, all the defenders of Hollywood virtue and genre purity – especially those academy members paralyzed by the thought of pansy cowpokes lassoing a Best Picture nod-- now can get a copy of the DVD mailed to their homes in a plain red Netflix envelope.

MCN Review: . The gay content of the film is the central issue (pretty much the only issue) in a shockingly conventional love story narrative that just happens to feature two cowboys (at least, both are cowboys early on) and little more that qualifies it as a western, revisionist or otherwise

Plus: The Anniversary, Bee Season, Brokeback Mountain, The Chronicles of Narnia, Films of Faith Collection, Free Enterprise, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Left Behind DVD Collection, Love Me Tender, Nine to Five: Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition, Stalin's Bride, Thank God It's Friday, TV to DVD, Ushpizin

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The Reeler by S.T. Vanairsdale Coogan's Bluff: East Meets West at Film Forum, is Killed Instantly (4/4, 11:06a) While his contemporaries creatively reacted to Vietnam and other political threats stemming from communism, Siegel's cop trifecta takes it straight to the long-hairs

Digital Drezka by Gary Dretzka Regarding The Alleged Controversy Over The Dargis Pulitzer Nomination (April 4, 6:32p) Dear Mr. Dretzka, A small matter: Where was it "reported" that either I or Ben Brantley "have a beef" with the Times's nomination of Manohla Dargis for the Pulitzer?

Movie City Indie by Ray Pride Ken Russell: there was a naked lady running round the garden (April 4, 6:47p) "Russell starred in a real-life drama [Tuesday] when he plunged into his blazing thatched cottage to rescue his wife."

The Hot Blog by David Poland New Study Indicates Film Critics Bad For Business (April 4, 7:05p) The big question for those of us who make a living off of our opinions on movies is whether studios are helping themselves when they do schedule advance screenings.

The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

There's nothing quite like a hot movie to reinvigorate movie going and Ice Age: The Meltdown needn't have worried about a chilly reception. The very animated sequel arrived with an estimated $69.3 million that sent revenues and attendance airborne. The film also added $43 million from international bows. The competition was pallid using the Ice Age 2 yardstick but the urban drama ATL had a very good $12.2 million debut to rank third while the horror yarn Slither eked by with $3.8 million and Basic Instinct 2 undressed a flimsy $3.2 million. There was also an impressive two-screen opening for the American indie Brick.
Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Canadian Top Grosses
Domestic Market Share
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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Welcome To The Monkey House
by Doug Pratt

A good hour of King Kong, and maybe even more, does not belong in the theatrical release of what should have been a brisk, spectacular romp. Even some of the elaborate special effects sequences, such as the dinosaur stampede, could go and not be missed, and there are entire subplots involving secondary characters that could easily be excised. But that was the theatrical release. The King Kong DVD, on the other hand, is a thrilling achievement, and with the ability to hit the 'Pause' button whenever you wish, in order to take an intermission or move from the couch to the recliner, the 2005 production is a gripping, pulse-pounding way to lose an afternoon.

Gross Behavior
The Audience Is Listning...
by Leonard Klady

In theory at least there's an ideal, hip crowd out there that shares the same cinematic sensibility that have informed your likes and peeves on the big screen.

Of course the reality is generally quite different. Though composed of a not necessarily homogeneous quilt of individuals, the crowd experience can turn us into a single voice. It can also be an entirely surreal experience as the peripheral sounds of hysterical laughter or a sea of sobs leaves you with the somewhat perplexing question about why you aren't sharing the prevailing emotions in the theater.

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Digital Drezka
If The Seat Fits ...
by Gary Dretzka

Apparently, the shift toward larger seats began at approximately the same time that exhibitors finally acknowledged – duh — that their shoebox-sized auditoriums, with small screens, paper-thin walls, sticky floors, pre-fab popcorn and crappy sightlines, actually were a major factor in the abandonment of multiplexes by discerning viewers. By the late-’80s and early-’90s, the downturn had reached crisis proportions. Something drastic had to be done.

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 10:46 pm

Eventually, Paramount Classics Will Release The PsuedoSequel To March Of The Penguins... But The French Are Already Watching And You Can Watch The Trailer

Australian Screen Directors Association Honors Noyce

Australia's Favorite Home Town Twig Turns Producer

Take The Lead Takes Some Chances In Its Marketing

South Park Gets A Peabody... Tom Cruise Rooting For Sherman To March

Union Members Interrupt Crash Day Event In L.A... For No Apparent Reason Relating To The Film

John Lithgow Is A Little Curdled Cream In The Dreamgirls Coffee

It May Be "Indie," But It's Still About Maximized Revenues & Not About Movies
Mark Cuban Blocks IFC's Day-n-Date Product Because IFC's Day-n-Date Outlet, Comcast, Is Competing With Cuban's HDNet And Not Running His Channels
And - The Filmmaker Involved Offers A Series Of E-Mail Exchanges On His Blog

Madonna & Whore
Paris Hilton As Mutha Theresa

McGurk's Back!
IDT To Snap At Lionsgates Tail

IMAX Continues To Build Out Variations On Its Original Business Model

John Turturro On Federico Fellini And Nights Of Cabiria

Test Marketing Lord Of The Rings: The Musical, $5 At A Time

Disney To Offer A New Kids' Cellphone Product... Which Is Actually A Concept That Has Been Available, Unbranded, At Cingular For Months

A French Writer Claims 15-20 Scenes Of Syriana Came From Her Spec Script

AOL's Daily Pulse Suggests That At Least Webheads Are Ready For U93

Jack Black Is Not Hairy Enough For His Chest & Belly Waxing To Be Virgin Funny...Or Really, Very Funny At All... But Seeing Him This Uncomfortable On Camera Is Unique

Fox News Bumps American Dreamz... Too Much Bush Bashing Or Simon Says "No?"

"But can anybody be certain of anything but life and death?"
Redstone & Freston Back Their Grey In Black & White Via Claudia Eller

Patrick Goldstein's The Big Picture Column... On Sunday And On Books

Mel "There's No Such Thing As A Dead Language" Gibson On Apocalypto
""The fearmongering we depict in this film reminds me a little of President Bush and his guys."

Meirelles & Lund's Brazilian Series, City Of Men Premieres On Sundance Channel Tuesday Night

Awards That Matter... "Justin Timberlake beat Hugh Jackman in the burping contest."

The Pellicano Case Drags In John McTiernan

Via GreenCine - Relaxing From Grind House, Robert Rodriguez Paints Salma Hayek As An Aztec Goddess

Extra! Extra!! Universal Does Business As Usual!
The Paper Of Wreckord Hypes One Incident Of A Compaint About The United 93 Trailer in NYC Into A Serious Corporate Dilemma

Mo'Nique Gets Phat In Philly

The Paper Of Record Finally Reduced To Writing About Old Films With Topless Scenes

A New Site For The Film & Faith Critics Circle

David Thomson Does Ava Gardner And Neil Norman Does Timothy Spall

Didn't They See The Squid & The Whale?
Brokeback Mania Lives On As Dave Cullen & His Merry Men Start A DVD-To-Library Drive

35 And You're Flippin' "Ass To Mouth" Jokes And Featuring Rosario Bouncin' In A Tank Top?
Clerks 2 Has A No Band Trailer Up On The Web

Ebert On The Great Night Moves

Which Is Least Likely?
A. A 900-Word USA Today Story On A Short Film
B. A $100,000 Budget For A Short Film
C. A Short Film Being Pulled From Its Premiere At The Philadelphia Film Fest Because It Isn't Factually Accurate
D. All Of The Above

Variety On Simpsons Movie Teaser Trailer Launch... And Unlike This Web Wonks, They Would Rather Credit Ain't It Cool News For Breaking News Of The Teaser Being On Ice Age 2 Instead Of Sheigh Crabtree At The Competitor, Hollywood Reporter
Earlier - Our Ms Crabtree May Be Pulling Our Legs A Day Early With This The Simpsons: The Movie Trailer Report, Dated April 1

The Studios Announce An Insanely Overpriced Experiment In Below-DVD Standard Movie Downloading Which Already Has Proven to Be Of Little, If Any, Interest To Consumers
Here Too (Free)

Last Century's Story Of Studios Investing In Overseas Films And Infrastructure Finally Reaches The Paper Of Record

Emily Yoffe Tries To Shoot Celebs

The Woz Surveys CGnamation

Patrick Dollard Goes To Iraq

You've Got Your Natalie Portman In My Video Game... You've Got Your First Person Shooter In My Jedi Council Meeting!
Lucas Companies Integrates Movies & Games

Ron Grover Joins The Crowd Wondering How The DreamWorks Library, Minus Animation & Various Rights, Is Worth $900 Million

The Da Vinci Code Already A Big Preseller Down Under

Budget Battle Bumps Baz But Beautiful Battler Blows Bugle

"I wanted to take the blond out of my career, kill the direction it was going... I got to the point where it worked: nobody wanted to work with me. I'd finally - whether consciously or unconsciously - perfectly sabotaged any studio interest in working with me."

Bettie Page, Mary Harron & El(le) Durbin

The Ligher Side Of Denzel Washington

Jane, Lily And Dolly Reminisce About Working 9 To 5

A Breakthrough For Getting Endless Publicity For A Movie That Wouldn't Have Gotten A New York Times Review Six Months Ago And Will Likely Be Forgotten Six Minutes From... Now!

Do Not Ask For Whom The Bong Tolls...
Playboy Mansion Benefit For Pot Legalization Warns That Pot Smoking Won't Be Tolerated In The Grotto Or Any Other Orifice