Well done Texas!
by Martin Williams, June 8th, 2011
In this day and age most people have at least one mobile phone, and the majority of those that do are addicted to whatever app they have just downloaded.
However what mobile phone owners seem to have completely failed to develop is any sense of etiquette in public mobile phone usage. Examples of this include loud business discussions on trains (not only annoying, but pretty stupid as you never know who is listening to conversation about commercially sensitive information); maddening sound effects for the latest game; people updating their Facebook status whilst at a gig to say how great it is…if it is so great get off your phone!
A cinema in Texas has said enough is enough – although apparently this rule has been operational since 1997 – and has clamped down on using mobile phones during the screening of a film. The cinema recently forced a text-happy customer to leave the screening, leaving the customer so incensed that she left a colourfully worded complaint on the cinema’s answering machine. Instead of taking offence, the cinema now plays the message in full before each screening.
Fantastic move in my view, and this is a policy that should be applied to all cinemas.
By Rebecca Pitt
Tintin’s back!
by Martin Williams, May 25th, 2011
I am so pleased that Steven Spielberg has finally brought Belgian cartoonist Hergé’s Tintin to the big screen. I read all the books as a child although I had to read them in French so as to give the reading of comic books an educational edge. So Thompson and Thompson were called Dupond et Dupont; the mad scientist was Professeur Tournesol. Snowy was called Milou.
Spielberg has had the rights to the comic adventure series for around 26 years so it was about time he got cracking on this project. And even better, he has teamed up with Peter Jackson, the genius behind the Lord of The Rings trilogy in the direction of this project.
As a director, Spielberg has a fantastic repertoire of adventure films, and I am certain that with Tintin it will be no different. However it is his first film that has been shot digitally and subsequently animated with motion capture. It is also his first 3D film – although I am sure he would have tried 3D with Indiana Jones from the outset had the technology been available.
By Rebecca Pitt
Cannes Can’t!
by Martin Williams, May 25th, 2011
The Danish director, Lars von Trier, is probably feeling a little Melancholia himself after hitting the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons.
He has been banned from the Cannes Film Festival after commenting during a press conference that while he is “not against Jews…Israel is a pain in the ass”. He did try to backtrack by later stating that he is not a Nazi, or ant-semitic but it seems that the damage has already been done.
Lars von Trier’s films are well known for their controversy. However it is one thing to be creative in a controversial way, and a completely different thing to make comments to the public which suggest intolerance and an attitude “contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity”, as the Cannes’ board of directors said.
His film, Melancholia, nevertheless remains in the competition at the festival. It has big names, including French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland.
Perhaps Lars’ comments have simply served to raise interest in his film. However whether his comments were intentionally inflammatory or not, it would seem that no matter how much he tries to apologise for the comments, it is unlikely they will be forgotten, let alone forgiven.
By Rebecca Pitt