In this morning’s roundup of movie news ‘n’ notes from around the web, Norman Bates has an anniversary and CAA’s Young Turks aren’t young any more.
A classic film turned 50 on Wednesday: Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was released on June 16, 1960. (The story says February 16, but that’s wrong.) Joseph McCabe salutes the film by pointing out that Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates is much wittier than Freddy Krueger – which is true, I suppose, but isn’t that setting the bar awfully low? (Fear.net)
Anne Thompson listens to the buzz that started when CAA confirmed that it was looking to sell a minority stake, and wonders if the once-young Turks atop the agency – Richard Lovett, Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Doc O’Connor – are on the way out, and who’s in line to replace them if they are. Her conclusion: they’re not going anywhere. And even if Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts does buy in, it’ll probably be with the understanding that the partners remain in charge. (Thompson on Hollywood)
Eugene Hernandez reports on film critic Peter Brunette, who died of a heart attack on Wednesday while covering the Taormina Film Festival in Italy. “A fixture at international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and others,” he writes, “Brunette could often be found at the center of a discussion about the movies, in passionate discussions before or after screenings among a circle of colleagues.” Further tributes came in from Jeff Wells, Anne Thompson, Joe Leydon and Sean Means. A sample of Brunette’s reviews is available on the website of Wake Forest University, where he directed the film studios program.
Well, this is one hell of a headline: “How Toy Story 3 Will Make You Think About Auschwitz.” Jordan Hoffman proceeds to make the case for the new Pixar movie as Zionist text, as Marxist text, as existentialist text, and as “a panoply of world religions.” As someone who saw “Toy Story 3,” loved it and never once thought of the Holocaust, I was prepared to roll my eyes, but you don’t have to get too far past stuff like “These toys are left behind, just as host nations left behind the Jews as the Third Reich conquered Europe” to figure out that he’s doing a decent job mocking the over-intellectualizing of pop culture. But if you haven’t seen the movie, the jokes probably aren’t worth the spoilers. (UGO.com)
Would you pay $35 to see a movie if you didn’t know where you were seeing it, or what you were seeing? That’s the concept behind Secret Cinema, a British film club that announced an expansion this year. Totalfilm has the details: Patrons buy tickets for 23.50 pounds without knowing the location, or the film; they’re told where to go a few days later, but aren’t told what they’ll be seeing until “seconds before the film starts”; in the past films have included “Ghostbusters,” “Wings of Desire” and “Alien.” And the Secret Cinema website explains the rest, including that patrons should go to the Canary Wharf tube station in London with goggles, which they should wear when exiting the station “to identify other travelers.” Acceptable clothing, they say, includes “Cyberpunk, Future Neon, Arabian, African, Oriental, Indian, Haute Couture, Futuristic 40s, Electric, PVC, Bleach, Dark Reds , Overcoats, Vagabond Hats.”
Cinematical’s Best Summer Movie of All Time Tournament is now down to the elite eight, and here are the match-ups: “Star Wars” vs. “Batman,” “The Dark Knight” vs. “Jurassic Park,” “Jaws” vs. “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” vs. “Back to the Future.” In voting so far, the original “Star Wars” is destroying Tim Burton’s “Batman,” while Chris Nolan’s Batman (i.e., “The Dark Knight”) has a significant lead over “Jurassic Park.” (Cinematical)
