MovieCityNews Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The nomadic DVD peddlers in Chinatown and other urban areas seem virtually unstoppable, but that hasn't kept Hollywood studios from launching various attempts to prevent movie piracy. Boing Boing reports on the rumor that at least one theater has been silencing the soundtrack in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull throughout the film in order to mess with potential bootleggers trying to record the thing. If true, it's got to be one of the most brain dead attempts at security since the rise of quart-sized bags. When you really get down to it, most two-bit criminals with camcorders in their laps don''t really care if the quality of the movie they're recording suffers, since the resulting product will already feature lo-fi video, the overlapping sounds of laughter and other audience reactions, and silhouetted cameos from patrons venturing to the concession stands or taking bathroom breaks. With all that, the intermittent exclusion of music doesn't sound like a major concern for the bad guys.

Studio anti-piracy measures are notoriously ill-conceived. Premieres and all-media screenings often force critics and even the filmmakers themselves to undergo intense evaluations before they're allowed to enter the theaters, while films open to the public, where pirates are more likely to show up, don't take any precautions. Granted, multiplexes wouldn't help their business if attending them felt like entering an airport terminal, but that doesn't mean there isn't a better way to prevent the crimes from taking place. Anyone care to offer some ideas?

[Via Movie City News]

As happens so often, David Poland says it best: "I have to say, after feeling like it was a very soft year in Toronto, looking through the book makes me hungry for another week of screenings from the festival." And that's the thing -- I'm stressing with an inner voice that looks and sounds like Don Knotts gulping how my Toronto reviews are late, late, late -- and in many cases, these are for movies that won't be opening up in the world for months. Why is it that living in the future -- in the small way that film festivals let you -- isn't seen as a gift, but as a crisis? Natural pessimist, I guess. Or just feeling old.

I got a great, dumb piece of promo this week -- not the Thank You For Smoking smoking baby doll or the Nightmare on Elm Street 'stay awake' kit, nice as they are. I mean, I get this stuff rarely, and I can't imagine what I'd do if I got more -- there must be a dumpster out back of Entertainment Weekly like the Vatican of some t-shirt and frisbee cargo cult -- but a lot of the time, it's stupid: A cat carrier and stuffed ferret for a lame rom-com? (See, I didn't even mention it! Take that, backers of Along Came Polly ... oops.) But this week, I get ... a belt. Whose big-ass buckle is the stylized 'X' of the X-Men films, to promote the upcoming DVD release of X-Men: The Last Stand. (I guess graphic design is one thing even Brett Ratner can't screw up.) It has the mutant power to hold up my pants. I'm wearing it right freaking now. I may be old, but I was 14 once, too, you know.

J.