Most people have a favorite place to sit when going to the movies. Some people like the back row; some people like the centermost spot (middle seat, middle row); some people like to sit near the front so that they can stare up at the screen and let the picture fill the limits of their peripheral vision.

I figure that last preference made more sense fifty years ago, when Cinerama and CinemaScope presented vast, expansively shot epics and westerns that were made to surround our senses and engulf our whole eye-span. Nowadays, most movies are too fast-cut and often the camerawork is too shaky to really work for close viewing. Have you ever been forced to sit in the first few rows when a movie is sold out? Wasn't it hard to tell what was going on most of the time?

Personally, I like watching movies close up, when it's appropriate. Unfortunately, it rarely is. But movie theaters can't just start removing those front rows because they aren't good for the moviegoer's eyes. No, that would mean a lot fewer tickets sold, a lot fewer popcorns sold, and a lot less money going to both the theater owners and the movie distributors. So, moviemakers should go back to making movies that are more accommodating to the theatrical audience, right? Yeah, that's not going to happen.

After a great starring stint as The Bride in Kill Bill, I thought Uma Thurman would be soaring upwards from her normal hot into super-hot. However, she followed Quentin Tarantino's ode to her with a number of less-than-inspiring roles, which was topped by the overly-advertised My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Just in case her two upcoming films, The Accidental Husband and In Bloom crash and burn, she's re-amped her action side in a long car commercial/short movie -- Mission Zero. Over at Pirelli Film, you can see the short that has her driving a Lamborghini Gallardo with PZero tires through L.A. streets while it seems like everyone and their mother tries to kill her.

It's really not a plot film, but some kind of next-generation advertising -- a way to show off the car and some saucy action scenes. Since that's the case, expect lots of action while you wonder just what in the world is going on. There's guns, speeding, chases and comedic moments -- the whole kit and kaboodle, all in about the length of two back to back movie trailers. That being said, the flick does have a wrap-up ending, which I assume is the filmmakers attempt to make some sort of plot out of the action scenes. Is this 'short film' going to be playing as pre-movie advertising in theaters any time soon? We have no idea at this point, but we will be keeping on top of the situation. The kicker -- this film is actually directed by Point Break and K-19: The Widowmaker director Kathryn Bigelow, and the director of photography is none other than Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who may have needed to give his action chops a whirl before he gets started on his next project, Indy 4.

[Via JoBlo]

The dedicated folks over at spielbergfilms.com have translated an interview with Janusz Kaminiski in a Polish publication, and they have a couple of things to report. First, what we already know, that the long-time Steven Spielberg collaborator will indeed be lensing the forthcoming Indiana Jones film. Second, Kaminski apparently told the publication that he is gearing up to film the movie in "jungle locales" in addition to Los Angeles and other places around the world. What exactly is Indiana Jones going to be doing in the jungle? Could be pretty much anything, I guess.

In other Indiana Jones news, normally I wouldn't bother posting unsubstantiated gossip that circulates in the British rags, but this little item going around really caught my eye, because it stinks of George Lucas. According to the source, Harrison Ford had to resist his bosses' idea to have him 'wield' a computer-generated whip in the new film. Ford supposedly branded the idea "ridiculous," which is a comfort if this story has a grain of truth. Filming on the fourth Indiana Jones adventure is set to begin in June.

Not many photographers get the chance to break into unit photography on a movie set by working with Steven Spielberg. It happened to Karen Ballard, though; the photagrapher shot 26,000 frames for Spielberg as his unit photographer on the set of Munich. Ballard, who started working as a freelance photog in 2001, wanted to break into shooting stills on movie sets. When she heard through a friend that Spielberg was looking for a photojournalist to be unit photographer for Munich, she threw her name in the hat. Spielberg liked her photos and hired her, and next thing she knew she was shooting in Malta and trying to avoid screwing things up or bumping into Janusz Kaminski, the Director of Photography for Munich.

Ballard has an amazing chronicle of her experience up on her website. If  you've ever wondered how cool it would be to work on a Spielberg film, Ballard can tell you - it's way cool.

[ via MovieCity Indie ]