npr Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Over at NPR.org, writer Linda Holmes dared to blog an open letter to Pixar, politely asking to see a few adventures with, maybe, girls as the main characters. Her tone was set nicely in the opening of her piece, titled "Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees":


Holmes points out that of the ten features that Pixar's released theatrically so far, all ten have been boy's adventures. She acknowledges that the movies "feature women and girls to varying degrees -- The Incredibles, in particular -- but the story is never 'a girl and the things that happen to her,' the way it's 'a boy and what happens to him.'" She mentions again that she loves Pixar's movies ... she'd just like to see a character like Up's Ellie or The Incredibles' Violet as the main character for a change.

There are over 100 comments on the piece and, this being NPR, the overwhelming majority of the responses are intelligently expressed and in agreement with Holmes point of view. But if you skip over to Jerry Beck's animation blog, Cartoon Brew, you'll find a lot of readers with a different perspective.

NPR talked about the onslaught of children's films at the box office lately on Day to Day last Friday and wondered about the quality control going on behind the scenes. They interviewed film historian Charles Solomon, who comments that the scarcity of animated and children's films used to make them an important part of a childhood experience, but things have changed. These days, the sheer amount of films pile on so quickly that before you blink, three different animated movies have been released at the box office. Suddenly you're buying everything from Flushed Away action figures to Over the Hedge video games, but your kids aren't getting the same messages and experience that you had when you saw The Rescuers for the first time.

It's no secret that kid's movies can rake in a ton of dough; the studios are busy falling all over themselves trying to make them. It seems like as more get churned out, fewer of them that have great stories and characters. They'll just market the hell out of them so that every box of cereal, kid's TV show, and billboard is plastered with images of the upcoming film and your children will refuse to eat anything green or brush their teeth until you take them to see it.

Now, I love animated films probably more than an adult should, but the problem is pretty rampant with the films aimed at children that are being released today, as we posted about previously on Cinematical. The trouble is that for every Spirited Away released, there comes a slew of films like Happy Feet, Barnyard, and The Ant Bully. These films took some critical hard hits, but they've made bags of cash (the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of Happy Feet has almost cleared $200 million already). Studios are more concerned with cranking out a product in a timely manner, even if it's sub-par and relies on fart jokes and recycled plots. As a result, quality children's entertainment is getting harder and harder to find. Parents may appreciate the fact that they can now take their kids to see a movie aimed at children almost any weekend now, rather than having to wait ... but at what cost?

What do you think, parents? Is the onslaught of animation worth the decrease in quality kiddie fare? Or is it enough just to be able to plunk your tot down for 90 minutes with a kiddie-pack combo, even if what they're seeing isn't quite up to the standards you remember from your own childhood hours at the movies?

Is Sacha Baron Cohen making a huge mistake by focusing on promoting his film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan solely in character? In a thoughtful piece for the AP, Ryan Pearson ponders this question, discussing Cohen's staunch refusal to step out of his Borat character for interviews, the practically unheard of insistence that print reporters pre-submit questions before being granted interviews, and the bizarre interviews themselves, at which Cohen-as-Borat reportedly reads his answers off a teleprompter. Pearson also alludes to what I see as the more important focal point of the press cult surrounding Borat: The willingness of people who are ostensibly journalists, playing along with Cohen hiding behind the Borat mask with all the tolerance of a benign parent sheepishly sitting there while their child hurls breadsticks and croutons in the general direction of other restaurant patrons, and shrugging as if to say, "Geez, what can I do? He just won't stop -- but he's so gosh-darn cute, isn't he?"

Movie marketing's a bit of a chess game for a lower-budget indie -- you want to always make tactical choices between advertising (which you pay for) and publicity (which you don't). For a great demonstration of this phenomenon, check out this press release from Newmarket films who picked up shock mock doc Death of a President at Toronto about how they are shocked, shocked that NPR and CNN won't run ads for the film.

Of course, this is the best of both worlds, as the Movie City News point out in their pithy headline -- now Newmarket doesn't have to pay money it probably doesn't have to run ads it can't afford ... and they'll benefit from some nice, juicy controversy. I think my favorite weasel-words in the press release come courtesy of Newmarket co-founder Chris Ball: "As everyone who has actually seen the movie agrees, Death of a President is the opposite of a call for violence – it's a powerfully cautionary tale about the pernicious effects of violence. ..." Take this the right way, Mr. Ball, but I don't think that a cautionary subtext about the pernicious effects of violence is what people go see DOAP for, anymore than they're watching porn for the safe sex message when the condoms come out. And also, let's not forget there's a fine distinction between censorship (which, to me, has always meant the government actively banning something) and the legitimate decision of a business to not accept an advertisement. Are NPR and CNN within their rights, in your eyes ... and will you go see Death of a President when it opens?

(Click here for Cinematical's Toronto Film Festival review of Death of a President.)

Remember back in the 1950s, when Edward Murrow ran his fantastic radio program This I Believe? Okay, neither do I (because I wasn't around until some thirty years later), but I've heard about it, and it sounds like it was a pretty sweet gig. In the intimidating days of the Cold War, Murrow had all sorts of people on the air reading short essays about their basic life morals and principles and whatnot. You get the idea -- and a good idea it is. Recently, NPR (that's National Public Radio, if you somehow don't already know) has revived the concept with great success; you can dig the archives of the new version here. Trust me, it is well worth your time.

Stepping up to the plate for NPR's This I Believe for the September 11th broadcast will be tremendously popular geek icon Frank Miller, the man behind many fantastic comic titles and the highly acclaimed Sin City movie, which was translated from his own books. Miller, like many other people, found his personal thoughts on a man's connection to his own country profoundly rewrought after the events of 9/11. It is an interesting change, and one he hasn't been shy to speak out about. If you remember, you can listen in for Miller's thoughts -- or check the archives a few days later and catch him on your own time.