movies

Jan 23, 2016 ∞

No Rey, No Way

Michael Boehm at Sweatpants and Coffee:

The insider, who was at those meetings, described how initial versions of many of the products presented to Lucasfilm featured Rey prominently. At first, discussions were positive, but as the meetings wore on, one or more individuals raised concerns about the presence of female characters in the Star Wars products. Eventually, the product vendors were specifically directed to exclude the Rey character from all Star Wars-related merchandise, said the insider.

I want to be infuriated and surprised by this revelation, but I’m just infuriated.

Apr 8, 2014 ∞

“Notable toupee”

I wanted to share this because it’s a funny phrase, and I think it’s important to keep an eye out for humor, intentional or otherwise, in civil litigation filings.

Film studio Paramount Pictures, in its motion to dismiss a defamation suit by a plaintiff alleging the film The Wolf of Wall Street, via the book on which it’s apparently based, defamed him:

The Book did not have only one dishonest executive with a notable toupee.

That’s a sentence that only lives its best, strangest life outside its original context. But, if you’re okay with dispelling some of the magic, read the rest of the motion at Scribd, or embedded below.

Aug 10, 2013 ∞

Honda Launches National Campaign to Save Drive-In Theaters

Great idea but, more to the point, brilliant marketing.

Jan 22, 2013 ∞

'Escape from Tomorrow', filmed in Disney World without permission, debuts at Sundance

‘Escape from Tomorrow’, filmed in Disney World without permission, debuts at Sundance

Steven Zeitchik of the LA Times:

To make the movie, [Randy] Moore wouldn’t print out script pages or shot sequences for the 25 days he was filming on Disney turf, instead keeping all the info on iPhones. This way, when actors and crew were looking down between takes, passersby just thought they were glancing at their messages.

The films plot, such as it is, sounds as intriguing as its method of creation.

If it does get a distribution deal, Disney will most likely brings its formidable legal resources to bear upon it, and they’ll most likely succeed.

But I predict that the company will trigger a Streisand effect, perhaps as much to the filmmaker’s detriment as anyone else’s (to the extent that he hopes to recoup his investment), that will drive people to seek out and, in the era of digital file sharing, inevitably find the film.

Jan 5, 2013 ∞

CIA Comments on Zero Dark Thirty

Deborah Pearlstein of the law blog Opinio Juris shared the statement of Michael Morell, the Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, on the film Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for and capture of Osama Bin Laden. Its interesting that he would feel compelled to comment at all, especially in a press release.