The 125 Best Books About Hollywood

"Movie Love goes deeper than just watching movies. Movie Love is something closer to obsession: thinking about films, talking about them, certainly reading about them. While writers have long been under-appreciated in Hollywood, there are scores of fascinating books about one of America’s most famous industries—and defining cultural exports." [Esquire]

The death of the DVD commentary

"And, perhaps best of all, there was the DVD commentary. This could be anything from a contractually obligated bore, in which the director occasionally offered bland comments as to what was happening on the screen, to fascinating and in-depth explanations of a filmmaker’s artistic choices and decisions. Sometimes, an articulate director or writer could even convince the viewer that they were watching a considerably better film than they were, so persuasive were their arguments. Or, on the other extreme, there could be a riotous party atmosphere, as on the commentaries of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, or Kevin Smith and his regular cast, in which the viewer at home could temporarily feel that they had been invited into a private gathering of famous friends and allowed to join in for a couple of hours." [The Critic]

How Scarecrow plans to share its vast library

"“It’s an illusion of endless content,” said John O’Connor, Scarecrow’s development director, of streaming offerings, “but there are so many holes.” Scarecrow, at the moment, has approximately 140,000 titles, on physical media. Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu — combined — have approximately one-third of that, and the ephemeral nature of streaming rights means that titles on those platforms come and go." [Seattle Times]

A Case for Physical Media

"But let’s be honest, it is not a film anymore – it’s ‘content’. I know this because I work in this business and that is what we call it. Films are no longer special, their shelf life is shorter – stream it, discard it and move on to the next binge. (...) I believe there is something to be said for that experience; picking up a tactile object, actually having to make the effort to go a store to rent and return a movie – it was a decided choice and when you got home to watch it, you were invested in giving the film your time because of that commitment. (...) The experience of watching a film no longer feels so special. And when it comes to digital libraries and streaming, you are not getting the best possible presentation, no matter how good your 4K TV is." [Dark Horizons]

A favor da liberdade do espectador!

"Queremos deixar o seguinte apelo: que todos os amantes da arte – começando por nós, espectadores – se reúnam e se constituam como força crítica – resistente porque desconfiada, desconfiada porque resistente – contra o extermínio dos suportes físicos. Pedimos aos nossos leitores que não se distraiam ou baixem os braços nesta luta pela defesa da maior liberdade de escolha, em nome de uma opção cinéfila mais instruída e de qualidade. Que ninguém sucumba à cegueira virtual. Let’s get physical. Uma e outra vez." [À Pala de Walsh]

Grandes Filmes, Grandes Flops @ Nimas

Nalgas Film Club

"(...) E eis que um dia a Mónica Freitas, a quarta Nalga que opera nas sombras mexendo os cordelinhos do controlo, sugere um clube de cinema. Como aqueles clubes do livro dos filmes Halmark, onde donas de casa entediadas e fartas do seu vibradores, double dongs e fistmaster 3000 discutem semanalmente um livro à volta de uma mesa a beber vinho branco que acaba invariavelmente em confissões de fantasias sexuais, onde trocariam de bom grado aquele traste que lá têm em casa por um gangbang com a equipa de basquetebol do Sudão numa cabine comboio embaciada de pecado que atravessa os Alpes cobertos de neve. (...)" [Cinema Xunga]

Nalgas Film Club

James Hong

"He spoke Mandarin with Keanu Reeves in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." He backflipped his way out of a fight in "Wayne's World 2." He was the supportive, noodle-loving Mr. Ping in "Kung Fu Panda." On television, he was the maître d' in the episode of "Seinfeld" titled "The Chinese Restaurant." Without exaggeration, Hong might be the most prolific actor in Hollywood history. With more than 600 credits to his name, he may lay claim to the most credits of any actor, living or dead." [CNN]

How the DVD and Blu-ray market is facing a very tricky winter

"It’s no secret that the last three months of the year are by distance the most lucrative for home entertainment sales, when the gifting market is in full flow. As such, studios over the past years have made sure that their core titles are pretty much all out by the end of October (the biggest film of last year, Avengers: Endgame, was on sale on disc by the end of August, giving it a four month run-up to Christmas). Here, in the best case scenario, the first big new disc release won’t be until mid-November. Something like Wonder Woman 84, now due in cinemas at the start of October, won’t under the existing agreement be able to be released on disc in the UK until January 1st 2021. And by then, most of us have put our credit cards away. Add in the impact of a global recession expected to take a firm grip, and it’s all a bit melancholy." [Film Stories]

Os 10 Melhores Filmes Portugueses de Sempre

VHS Vault

"An organization called Vista Group recently uploaded dozens of VHS and cassette tapes from the 90s and early 2000s to the Internet Archive, and the content within is worth a retro-nostalgia trip back to a simpler, weirder, more wavy time. Vista Group uploaded nearly 200 in the last two months, most of which were uploaded on January 5—a rate noticeably higher than their usual 50-70 per month. They're being added to the VHS Vault, an Internet Archive collection of more than 17,500 VHS scans." [Vice]

Nas Nalgas da Academia

Cliquem aqui para criar um cartão aleatório.

Sr. Joaquim @ Lisboa

CinemaXunga @ À Pala de Walsh

Joker na linha de Sintra

The Death of DVD

"Since 2008, DVD sales have declined more than 86%. A combination of the Great Recession, a rise in customers buying on-demand and digital copies of films and the launch of streaming services is what has caused DVD sales to plummet. Since 2011, platforms like Netflix, Hulu and HBO have seen sales balloon 1,231% to $12.9 billion." [CNBC]

Boas causas!

Go Fund Me

Geeks vs Loneliness

Porque os geeks podem ajudar. Após Robin Williams ter tirado a sua própria vida em 2014 - não resistiu a uma depressão relacionada com uma doença degenerativa que lhe tinha sido diagnosticada -, o site "Den of Geek" criou uma rubrica semanal no seu site intitulada "Geeks vs Loneliness", onde partilha artigos que visam abrir uma linha de conversa, privada ou publica, com pessoas que podem enfrentar problemas diversos na sua vida. Falem com alguém, um familiar, um amigo ou um estranho numa thread de comentários. Partilhem a vossa dor e não vivam sozinhos com ela. Deixem outros seres humanos ajudarem-vos. A vida é, claro, quase sempre muito mais complicada do que estas simples linhas aparentam; mas há sempre alguém a torcer por vocês por mais escuro que o céu esteja. Well done, Den of Geek.

Festival Podes

Imagine 2084

"Em que mundo viverá um adulto de setenta anos que é hoje bebé? Em "Imagine 2084", pensa-se o tempo da próxima filiação humana, escutando ideias activamente comprometidas com o futuro dos indivíduos, das sociedades e do planeta. Vamo-nos debruçar especificamente sobre o impacto de tecnologias emergentes na vida de todos os dias, ouvindo pessoas que, a partir das suas áreas de estudo, pensam e idealizam a nossa existência comum. Vivemos numa era de oscilações, com tanto de admirável como de temível. Talvez a qualidade do nosso futuro dependa fortemente de escolhas que temos de fazer já hoje. Propomos assim uma série de entrevistas em torno de interrogações contemporâneas: Se os robôs tomarem conta de nós, de que tomaremos nós conta? O desenvolvimento tecnológico isola-nos ou irá aproximar-nos de modos nunca antes imaginados? Irá este desenvolvimento promover a igualdade ou dar origem a clivagens sociais mais acentuadas do que nunca? O que se pode esperar da nossa relação com a inteligência sintética – separa-nos ou sintoniza-nos com a natureza? De que modos poderá a realidade virtual interferir na realidade emocional dos indivíduos? Como poderemos hoje educar crianças para desígnios que desconhecemos? Pode a ligação das pessoas em rede dar origem a sociedades mais cooperantes? Irá a tecnologia mudar a nossa fisiologia? Estamos à beira de um admirável Mundo Novo, ou criámos um mundo que, de uma forma imprevisível, ameaça superar-nos?" [CCB]

"Imagine 2084", todas as terças-feiras, as 23:30 na RTP3.