Update: Jamie Stuart‘s “Salo short” — a quasi-satire that made fun of ThinkFilm in a friendly joshing way — has been voluntarily pulled. Went up last night, was viewable for 15 to 16 hours, and now….phffft. Certain parties, I gather, could use more of a sense of humor.

Earlier posting: Stuart is calling his latest short film “an homage to early Bunuel.” But it’s really a demonstration of what good sports the people at ThinkFilm are, especially considering their recent press. Because Stuart is portraying them — satirically, of course — in very perverse terms. I would actually call his short an oblique homage to Pier Paolo Pasolini‘s Salo minus the graphic footage.
The highlight is a performance by Werner Herzog (who’s apparently looking to become the new Sydney Pollack in terms of side acting gigs) as a corrupt and congenial plunderer of young flesh.

The big thing about the just-announced iPhone 3G, apart from a guarantee that it’ll load websites twice as fast, is cost — the 8 GB version will retail for $199 and the 16 GB version for $299 vs. $400 for the current 8 GB version, which started out selling last June for $600 or thereabouts. A $400 drop in price plus improved features means every 8GB iPhone user in the world will give their ’07 phones to their kids.

The 16 GB version will come in solid black and white models. Here are the specs for both sizes.

Clint Eastwood‘s Changeling, a 1920s kidnapping melodrama starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, was going to open on November 7th. Now Universal is announcing a new date that’s two weeks earlier. The limited release will be on Friday, 10.24, and the wide on Friday, 10.31.

Angelina Jolie in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling.

There’s no ambiguity about the title, by the way, as was indicated during the Cannes Film Festival. Eastwood’s films will definitely be called Changeling, despite that festival rumble about a possible switch to The Exchange and producer Brian Grazer having told Variety‘s Anne Thompson during the festival that he “thinks” it’ll be called that.
My reaction after catching the Cannes makeup screening: “Longish and leisurely paced. Delivers a keen sense of humanity and moral clarity. Offers a complex but rewarding story. Really nice music, as usual, that lends a feeling of warmth and assurance. Superbly acted, shot, and paced (not every movie has to feel like a machine gun).
“More than a few top-notch performances — Jolie’s leading the pack. A movie that understands itself and its subject matter completely. Some overly black or white-ish characterizations, but not to the extent that they bug you horribly. Aimed at adults (i.e., those 25 and over with the ability/willingness to process this sort of thing). Not a great film, but a very fine one. Terrible last line, though.”

Count on it — Cameron Crowe will direct his self-written, Sony-financed comedy-adventure with Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon, which will roll early next year under producer Scott Rudin.

Ben Stiller, Cameron Crowe, Reese Witherspoon

Variety‘s Michael Fleming and Tatiana Siegel posted a story last night about Columbia’s Amy Pascal having beat out various bidders for a C.C.-authored “comedy adventure” project with Stiller and Witherspoon costarring and Rudin producing. Fleming/Siegel said the film, which will begin shooting in January ’09, is based on a Crowe script, and that Crowe will produce. But it didn’t say he’d be directing.
That seemed weird. Why wouldn’t the director of Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous want to take the reins on his latest creation? So I wrote and was told a few minutes ago by a Rudin spokesperson that Crowe will in fact be the helmer. Hooray — the post-Elizabethtown afterburn era is finally over (after two and a half years) and the Man Called C is again strapping on the leg irons, just like Gene Wilder‘s gunslinger did in Blazing Saddles.
Way back in April ’07 I wrote about the E-Town trauma and how the abysmal failure of that ’05 dramedy had affected Crowe’s rep around town.
I passed along a second-hand piece of information in that same story about Crowe having written a vehicle that he wanted Adam Sandler to be in — is this the same thing?

Courtesy of director-producer Andy Bouve and writer Chadwick Matlin for Slate — smartly cut, concisely narrated, clever effects, good job.

“Something’s Happening Here,” a CNN new special airing this weekend that compares 2008 and 1968 — unpopular war, unpopular president , change candidates (RFK, Barack Obama), etc. There are seven chapters available on YouTube.

A definitive explanation of the last few minutes of the final episode of The Sopranos, written by a guy known only as bmalen3@gmail.com and passed along by Jamie Stuart.

I’ve never seen a really good-looking 70mm presentation of William Wyler‘s Ben-Hur in a good-sized theatre, so I went to what I assumed would be a showing of same at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian (which has projectors than can show 70mm) last Friday night. There are two or three 70mm prints kicking around, or so I’ve heard. It stands to reason that at least one would be here, and viewable.

2.76 to 1 Camera 65 image copied from DVD Beaver’s Ben-Hur page

But they showed a 35mm anamorphic print, projected with a typical 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio. The problem was that every so often the framing looked wrong — slightly side-cropped — due to the film having been shot in MGM Camera 65, which ultimately allowed for a 2.76 to 1 aspect ratio (which you can see in the most recent four-DVD box set) which meant a portion of what was shot and obviously intended to be seen was missing at the Cinematheque.
The other issue, of course, was that a 35mm print can’t look as sharp and clean as a 70mm print. The sound was pretty good though.
The older crowd that attended the show (some looked like family types who’d driven in from Pomona) may have been content, but not this horse. It was like the Louvre hanging a photocopy of the Mona Lisa instead of the real thing. I don’t why I stuck around until the intermission but I did, sitting there with that sinking, suckered-again feeling that I’ve come to know all too well.

“At critical junctures of her life, Hillary makes the same mistake,” Maureen Dowd has written in today’s (6.8) N.Y. Times. “She comes on strong, showing an arrogant, abrasive side, gets brushed back, and then repackages herself in a more appealing way.
“It happened when she began as Arkansas’ first lady; when she campaigned with Bill in ’92; when she started as a ‘two for the price of one’ first lady; when she did health care; and when she started her presidential campaign wearing an off-putting ermine robe of entitlement and presumption. And it happened when she lost the nomination, refused to admit it and, instead of congratulating Obama, wielded her female fan base as a bludgeon over him so she could once more share a presidency.
“Now, as she transforms herself into a team player, she must again fake it till she makes it. She still doesn’t believe Obama can win, but she knows she can move ahead only as a beguiler, not a begrudger. Meanwhile, she wants another power-sharing arrangement. She will help Obama be king, if he lets her be queen of the women.”

A memorial gathering for the recently departed Jay Peckos, senior vp distribution of Magnolia Pictures, will be held at Landmark Cinemas (10850 West Pico Boulevard, West L.A.) on Thursday, 6.19.08, at 7:30 pm. Please rsvp to mjpeckos@sbcglobal.net.
“Jay was a distribution executive who passionately loved movies and a guy who would do all he could to help a friend,” says Bob Berney, president of the soon-to-be-defunct Picturehouse. “He hired me at Orion Pictures when I really needed a break and I will always be grateful to him. Working and becoming friends with Jay was wonderful because of his generosity, support and amazing sense of humor.”

The Religulous trailer in all sizes.