blogging for film preservation

Like old movies? Don’t want to see them disappear? Then join me and a whole bunch of film critics in the fundraising blogathon For the Love of Film, taking place from February 14-21, to support the film preservation efforts of the National Film Preservation Foundation. Learn more — including about how you can participate or … more…

trailer break: ‘The Lovely Bones’

Take a break from work: watch a trailer… I can’t wait to see what Peter Jackson has done with this book, which is, well, lovely and perfect and just a delicate wonder that could so easily be smashed (like the ship in a bottle that figures so powerfully as a metaphor in the story). This … more…

question of the day: Did Peter Jackson just ruin ‘The Lovely Bones’ as a movie by giving in to test audience?

The Guardian is reporting that Peter Jackson has ramped up the violence in The Lovely Bones after test audiences demanded more blood: Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson has revealed that he had to shoot new footage for The Lovely Bones after early test screening audiences complained that a death scene was not violent enough. The film … more…

Fantastic Mr. Fox movie review: trip the dark fantastic

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach looked at a sweet-and-sour children’s story through a peculiarly skewed eye and said, This can be so much more. And they turned it into something touching and funny, and magically absurd and at the same time pointedly real. They turned it into something genius.

more from Neill Blomkamp on ‘District 9’

I’m totally obsessed with District 9, and I don’t care who knows it. I haven’t been this gripped by a movie in years: it’s almost like being in love: I can’t wait to see it again. (I’m gonna have some time to kill on Thursday evening before my midnight show of The Final Destination, and … more…