Some things I've been thinking about movies, in procrastinating my reading of Othello:
I watched The Hudsucker Proxy, again. I really like this movie. It is smart with a great Art Deco sense and a unique humor. What surprised me in this viewing was how many parallels exist between Brazil and The Hudsucker Proxy. Both films went over budget, Hudsucker's mail room is a great homage of Brazil, both films didn't do well in theaters, both apparently due to lackluster support from a publishing studio that just didn't "get it". I was surprised to learn that Sam Raimi has a co-writing credit, but that just further adds to Hudsucker's weird mystique. Hudsucker's DVD packaging is disappointing. First of all, Warner Brothers is the cheapest studio bar none when it comes to DVD packages. The whole "use as much cheap cardboard as we can get away with" packaging thing just irritates me. Browse through shelves and you can point out the WB DVDs. Then there is the fact that the only "special feature" is "Interactive Menus!". I would have loved to hear, at the very least, Joel Silver whine about how much he hated working with the Coens. (Silver removed all of his own credits other than his Production Company logo.) Particularly after hearing him spend a half hour kissing the Wachowskis' asses on the Matrix DVDs.
Death to Smoochy is just a classic. So funny and Danny DeVito really gave the movie a high class style. A couple days ago I added myself to the Lebowski Fest mailing list. I'm contemplating attending this year.
Sort of movie news, but Fox Television pulled a huge surprise and announced ahead of time that it was renewing Arrested Development for a third season. It credits the website it created for word of mouth buzz, Get Arrested!, for proving the show was worth renewing. Fox seems to be learning its lesson from the untimely cancellations of Firefly (coming soon to movie theaters), and Family Guy. Now if all of the networks paid attention to grassroots movements and did more astroturfing!