No "R"Spartanburg, South Carolina theater owner David Crenshaw, says he's fed up with the Hollywood gore. He's banned all R-rated films at the Crenshaw 7 Cinemas. Musca thinks he's gutsy to oppose Hollywood trash, but can he stand up to the pressure they're going to put on him? And whether you like the idea you must admit it's a stand that's been made for moral reasons - something Hollywood will have trouble grasping. (AP)
HEY BIG SPENDER! Is investing in `indie' films a good gamble? Can be says WSJ. Example: for every $1 invested in "The Brothers McMullen" you'd get back $6.90; for "Slingblade" $4.20, for "Metropolitan (1990) $8. Those are the winners but things can go in both directions remember. (Oh and don't be fooled! by the term `Indie'. A lot of so-called indie films are backed by Corp. Art just like all the other Hollywood Films. Example: "Pulp Fiction" was
financed by DISNEY and "THE FULL MONTY' by News Corp/Fox.)
VAUDEVILLE JOKE:
Actor 1= I haven't got a part in FOUR years.
Actor 2= I haven't auditioned in TEN!
Actor 1= We've got to get out of this business!
NEW FILM TECHNOLOGY: A quote from director Robert Zemeckis (Forbes ASAP) on 'Forrest Gump", "Contact', "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." etc. "Something else I see in acting is, say you have Matthew McConaughey. In the next 5-10 yrs.
he'll go into an image-scanning facility and run through a series of emotions: all sorts of different
sounds and different facial expressions. This will be done every five years, so there'll be a library
of images. Okay, so when the older McConaughey does a young performance, his image is manipulated to look like he looked when he was 25, and then he ages perfectly and gracefully and wonderfully, rather than the way we have to do it now, which is always to take a young actor and put makeup on him to make him look old. Imagine if Marlon Brando could do a performance and we could scan in his entire career."
WHEN IT OPENED IN `27 Mann's Chinese Theater was the place for movie premieres. And footprints of the stars. But recently, its been owned by Paramount Pix (Viacom is the Overlord) and Warner Bros, both of which let it run down. Now the new owner, of this
showcase theater and the others in the Mann theater chain, Jeffrey Lewine, is bringing it back to snuff for a purchase price of $165 mill. It was originally called Grauman's Chinese Theater. We wish him well and hope he can save and nurture this film landmark.
THE CHI-TOWN UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL was held in August at the Theater Building In Chicago. Their purpose was "(to) seek the best cutting-edge, subversive,
controversial, and defiantly independent films and videos of all kinds: features, shorts, animation, documentary, experimental, 35mm, 16mm, Super 8 and video." It's an annual do, so check it out next summer. (Zine World Summer `98)
ON PRESERVING THE MEGAPLEXES: "These cineplexes. - 10 years from now who's going to care about them? They're going to be bulldozed over for a Wal-Mart." -Scott Crow, Musea Reporter~at~large.
A NEW MAGAZINE FOR FILM LOVERS may not be as indie as its name professes. In June `98 "INDIE" magazine began publishing. To start things off, the monthly was sent free to 250,000 independent-film enthusiasts (and how did they get their addresses?) Anyway, beware of the underground label. Proof is in who's advertising: Sony, General Motors, Dockers,
etc. I think we're being conned here (MediaWEEK) Now if there was NO advertising.. -sign me UP!
LYRICS FROM A NEW SONG BY HUNKASAURUS CALLED "How Beautiful (Girls Are)" :
How beautiful, in black and white, Hedy Lamarr
As she walks through the maze, of the streets,
Of the Casbah
& how beautiful girls are..."
BLOCKBUSTER BEWARE - YOUR DAYS OF EDITING MAY BE OVER
Cable operators are now making serious inroads in the Video-store-on-cable biz. And in the new system you can watch them whenever, even rewind, fast-forward, the works. The cable companies claim that by the year 2000, the majority of U.S. homes will have access. (USA,
Today). But will they edit out the bad parts like Blockbuster does?
LAST COMMENTS Warners Film Division co-chairman Robert Daly, when asked if Warners would be willing to spend $200mm to make a movie (like Titanic), replied, "Not on purpose." (WSJ)