Friday, November 20th, 2009

I was going to take off the day from blogging due to some school work and just consider it one proverbial long awkward pause in honor of The Twilight Saga: New Moon's release today, but then I read some good news at the hands of Cinematical to combat my rant against the local movie rental place I posted the other night. The article announces that Netflix will soon be streaming independent films for download while their still in theaters due to unavailability to most audiences due to the limited releasing. The new program will be implemented through IFC and their Festival Direct project, which shows the indie flicks that are making splashes at some of the bigger film festivals, including Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, Toronto, etc. as well as the In Theaters + On Demand service, which begins streaming certain films on the day they premiere in limited release. A lot of possibilities there, and with the rental company coming soon to Play Station 3 and my growing dismay towards Movies to Go, I'm sure I will soon be able to give a firsthand review of this.

Speaking of disappointment in the movie industry (that is, if you can consider my local rental store to be the movie industry), the short list for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature Award has been receiving more and more controversy. I included the story of the snubbing of Capitalism: A Love Story and Anvil! The Story of Anvil on my blog the other day, but I left one major contender that was snubbed out, that being the highly reviewed James Toback documentary on the infamously bizarre and misunderstood namesake boxer in the flick Tyson. Toback himself took notice of this, as he took to an interview with The New York Times to claim that the selections process borders close to "extortion". The article goes on to give the Academy's rebuttal of Toback's claims; however, I'm sure it will not quite squash the buzz and controversy as we move ever forward to the iconic award show.

And... today is Friday, so that means new releases. Among the films in theaters this week include what looks like one of the more overrated flicks in some time, especially in regards to Sandra Bullock's performance, which the trailer at least doesn't really wow me, The Blind Side, the true story of a mediocrely famous Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman. Also, The Rock's career continues to look sadder in the animated Planet 51. We also get a helping of Werner Herzog's take on Abel Ferrera's cult classic in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes, in a flick that most certainly has a better behind the scenes and back story than anything that will actually appear on the screen. And finally, yes, New Moon also made its debut last night at midnight. Instead of giving my take on how I feel about setting uncomfortably in a theater watching the only wet dream of Native Americans I've ever seen, I'll direct you to Roger Ebert's review, which includes the phrase "long pauses interrupt longer ones" while describing the plot. If that wasn't fascinating enough, to give a break of all the Twihard madness, here is a clip of Kevin Smith from this past San Diego Comic Con describing why we shouldn't hate the Twihards, and his feeling on the trailer of New Moon that debuted at the convention. Definitely worth a listen.