(See related pages)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Film Web Sites | ||
| Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | ||
| This is the official web site for the Academy and the Academy Awards. "It's best known for the Oscars, but the Academy is busy year-round with a wide array of educational, outreach, preservation and research endeavors. " ( http://www.oscars.org/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Bright Lights Film Jounal | ||
| This is a "popular-academic hybrid of movie analysis, history, and commentary." A very useful feature is a list of links that lets visitors search past and current issues by subject matter, including actor profiles, animation, book reviews, director profiles, documentaries, experimental and avant garde films, exploitation films, film festivals, film noir, film reviews, gay and lesbian films, and much more. ( http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Cannes International Film Festival (Festival de Cannes) | ||
| This is the Festival's official site, with information on upcoming competitions and nominees. Founded in 1946, the Festival de Cannes is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, and it is the most prestigious. It bills itself as "the most important film event in the world," and it may be right. More than 4,000 journalists are among the 30,000 accreditees, "representing the entire spectrum of the motion-picture industry." The most prestigious award given out at Cannes is the Palme d'Or ("Golden Palm") for the best film, limited to twenty nominees. There are other categories, including those for actors, screenwriters, directors, and short films. In 1998, the Prize Un Certain Regard (meaning "a certain outlook," or, literally, "a certain glance") was introduced to recognize young talent and encourage innovative works by awarding one of the films a grant to aid its distribution in France. ( http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Cinetext | ||
| This is a "bilingual internet forum for film and philosophy located at the University of Vienna (Austria) addressing students, researchers, scholars, and anyone's contents include a collection of writings about film, including reviews, articles, papers, and essays; an annotated bibliography of books about film; links to online film journals; and a links section with "some of the richest and most useful film related sites and resources on the web." Visitors can subscribe to a mailing list, which "provides subscribers with a quick and easy way to exchange views, commentary and criticism, announce upcoming events and publications or point to other relevant resources available on the web." ( http://cinetext.philo.at/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Drew's Scriptorama | ||
| This site provides links to hundreds of movie scripts. The links are in alphabetical order by movie title, and the site has a number of other features, such as a page with "Best New Scripts," a page with links to unproduced scripts by Internet screenwriters, and a guide to anime. ( http://www.script-o-rama.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Film-Philosophy | ||
| "Founded in November 1996, Film-Philosophy is an international academic journal dedicated to philosophically reviewing film studies, philosophical aesthetics, and world cinema. The email salon encourages discussion of related topics. The journal is published three times per year and is fully peer-reviewed." The journal includes articles and film and film-related book reviews. ( http://www.film-philosophy.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Filmmakers Against War | ||
| "Filmmakers Against War is a "collective of activists, filmmakers and artists who are using their creative skills to help raise the awareness of UK and International War Laws." Their site provides articles, links to various films, newspaper articles, reports, book excerpts, downloadable films, and video clips, including one of Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize speech. ( http://www.filmmakersagainstwar.org/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Film Comment | ||
| Film Comment is a periodical produced by The Film Society of Lincoln Center, which was founded in 1969 "to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new filmmakers, and to enhance awareness, accessibility and understanding of the art among a broad and diverse film going audience." The site provides information about the current issue and houses an archive of information on back issues, including tables of contents and selected articles available online for free. ( http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/fcm.htm ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Filmmaking.Net | ||
| This site, in operation since 1994, provides resources and a community for new and independent filmmakers from around the world. It includes an Internet Filmmakers FAQ, with a "constantly expanding list of answers to over 207 of the most frequently asked filmmaking questions," and an annotated database of over 530 film schools. ( http://www.filmmaking.net/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Guardian Film Page | ||
| The film site of this British newspaper features film news, the Film Weekly podcast, columns, film reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, blogs, video, quizzes, multimedia clips, box office analysis for films in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and more. ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/film ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) | ||
| This is one of the most extensive film resources on the web, with mirror sites in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany. It is a searchable online database primarily devoted to information about movies, but it also includes information on actors, television shows, production crew personnel, video games, and fictional characters. The information about movies includes awards, reviews, production and distribution companies, box office performance, filming locations, technical specifications, links to official and other websites, unaccredited personnel, and filmographies and photos for people in the casts and crews of listed films. IMDb also tracks movies in production and projects in development. ( http://www.imdb.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Left Field Cinema | ||
| This covers world cinema and alternative and independent films. It "provides alternative analysis of mainstream films, unearths hidden masterpieces in world cinema, and examines the works of the greatest and most influential film makers." It includes articles, reviews, podcasts, and a forum. ( http://www.leftfieldcinema.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Moviediva | ||
| This site is maintained by the Film Curator at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina. "Moviediva provides thoughtful writing about classic films, with reviews containing biographical and production details, critical opinion from old and new sources, photos from a collection of vintage movie-star scrapbooks and the moviediva's own definite point of view." There is also a searchable index of reviews for over 200 classic films. ( http://www.moviediva.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The National Film Board of Canada | ||
| Viewers can watch hundreds of films free online. NFB.ca's online collection includes documentaries, experimental films, animation, and alternative dramas. "We showcase films that take a stand on issues of global importance that matter to Canadians--stories about the environment, human rights, international conflict, the arts and more. Works that push the boundaries, give a voice to the underrepresented, and build bridges between cultures." ( http://www.nfb.ca/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The New York Times Movies Section | ||
| Here, visitors can search through more than twenty years of New York Times movie reviews. They can also read current reviews and recommendations, see movie clips, learn what the top five box office hits are, and read a list of what the New York Times film critics consider "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made," organized alphabetically. Their "More News and Features" section includes articles, profiles, obituaries, and more. ( http://movies.nytimes.com/pages/movies/index.html ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Reel.com | ||
| This Hollywood Entertainment Corporation web site describes itself as a "premiere destination for film-related content and commerce. . . . consumers can access an entertaining environment filled with a wide variety of film-related information designed to help consumers select and view movies in theaters, at the video store, or for purchase. . . . [it] was named the most popular Web site for gathering information about films playing in movie theaters, according to a consumer survey conducted by Greenfield Online and ASI Entertainment (March 2000)." ( http://www.reel.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media | ||
| While this online journal's primary focus is film, contributors also write scholarly articles on computer and console games, comic books, animated movies, the Internet, music, "franchise icons," and even theme parks. ( http://blogs.arts.unimelb.edu.au/refractory/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Scope | ||
| This peer-reviewed online journal is edited by staff and students in the Institute of Film and Television Studies at the University of Nottingham. According to the website, Scope "provides a forum for discussion of all aspects of film history, theory and criticism. Given contemporary film studies' varied concerns, it is our belief that we can best serve our readers interests by promoting as wide a range of approaches and critical methodologies as possible." ( http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Screening the Past | ||
| This is an international, refereed, electronic journal of film history. It includes articles and book reviews, as well as calls for papers. This site is for serious scholars of film. ( http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/index.html ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Screenwriter's Utopia | ||
| This site has articles, interviews with screenwriters, essays by industry professionals, script reviews, opinion pieces, agent listings, chat rooms, and Q & A forums. The webmaster also examines industry trends, such as web-based script sales and "spec script tracking sites where development executives secretly share the scoop on submitted scripts." ( http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Senses of Cinema | ||
| This site bills itself as "an online film journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema." Sections include general articles, festival reports, great directors, book reviews, and Cinémathèque Annotations on Film. ( http://www.sensesofcinema.com/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Sundance Film Festival | ||
| The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent cinema festival in the United Sates. It showcases new work from both American and international independent filmmakers. There are sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, including both feature-length films and short films. Many now-famous independent filmmakers got their breaks at Sundance, which is also responsible for bringing national and international attention to films like Garden State, Little Miss Sunshine, Clerks, Thank You for Smoking, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape. ( http://festival.sundance.org/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| WordPlay | ||
| This site houses a series of columns and advice for beginning screenwriters and playwrights. The site owner states, "If you've got it all figured out, if your writing is happening, then you don't need to be here. . . . this site is about discovery--that search to find one or two tools or techniques that are in fact helpful in the terrible, terrific effort it takes to complete a script. . . . Use the material as a challenge, a springboard for your own critical thinking." The site also includes a forum for asking and answering questions and a section called "Indy Pros, " with "essays and opinions from industry professionals working in Hollywood--including writers, directors, producers, agents, and development executives. Practical advice and real-world perspectives from people doing the jobs today." ( http://www.wordplayer.com/welcome.html ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Yahoo! Directory of Movie Directors | ||
| This site provides a list of links to sites about directors. Visitors can sort it by popularity or alphabetical order. ( http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Movies_and_Film/Filmmaking/Directing/Directors/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
|
|
| Documentaries | ||
| This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) | ||
| This documentary exposes the hyper-secretive, sometimes self-contradictory process used by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate films. Why is this important? The MPAA exercises a great deal of power over the films that we get to see. If they give a film an NC-17 rating, the mainstream media won't deal with it, and it has a good chance of sinking quickly into oblivion. The director, Kirby Dick, actually had to hire a private investigator to find out who sits on the board since this information isn't made available to the public. The film suggests that certain studios get preferential treatment and reveals the discrepancies in how the MPAA treats sex and violence. Not incidentally, the MPAA branded this documentary with an NC-17. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Monster That Ate Hollywood | ||
| This is a PBS-produced Frontline documentary about Hollywood in the corporate era. "Have risk-averse MBAs killed Hollywood's magic? Studio executives, producers, filmmakers, and critics talk about how the movie business, and movies themselves, have changed." The documentary's web site includes transcripts, clips, and more information from the television documentary. There are also links to articles on how the public views Hollywood and how Hollywood views itself after 9/11. ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hollywood/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
|
|
| Feature Films | ||
| And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) | ||
| This HBO-produced movie was nominated for a Golden Globe. It is based on the true story of how Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa financed his war with the General Porfirio Diaz's military-run government by convincing legendary director D. W. Griffith to send a crew to film him and his followers in real battles. The Life of General Villa became the first feature-length movie ever produced; movie executives had long believed that no audience would consent to sit through a movie that ran over an hour long. The Hearst media empire's press campaign against Villa had cost him American support, but the film's release helped change public opinion in Villa's favor. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337824/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Aviator (2004) | ||
| This film covers the early years of legendary director, aviator, millionaire, and eccentric Howard Hughes' career, spanning the late 1920s to the mid-1940s. The young Hughes made a fortune with his design for oil-drilling bits, which enabled him to go Hollywood to break into the budding movie business. His first project combined his love for film with another great love: aviation, and he directed Hell's Angels, an extremely successful World War I air epic. but he was never fully accepted by Hollywood insiders, and he turned once again to aviation, designing new planes, pursuing speed records, and flying around the globe. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338751/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Baadasssss! (2003) | ||
| In 1971, actor Mario Van Peebles's father, director Melvin Van Peebles, directed an X-rated "blaxploitation" movie titled Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. He couldn't attract any African American stars to the project, so he cast himself in the title roll, playing a "bordello stud performer" who kills two corrupt white police officers and gets away with it. He also wrote, produced, edited, and scored the film, which became a landmark in American independent cinema. In Baadasssss! Mario Van Peebles follows in his father's footsteps, writing, directing, and starring in this film, which is all about the making of the 1971 movie. The movie charts the difficulties of making the older film, as well as the troubled father-son relationship. But what ultimately emerges is a portrait of a committed idealist up against the Hollywood establishment's lack of interest in black cinema. The film's alternate tile is How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367790/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Barton Fink (1991) | ||
| In the forties, Hollywood executive lured many of the nation's most promising young playwrights and novelists to Hollywood to write motion picture scripts. Once there, they were often shut away in little offices and given little to do but turn out clichéd, formulaic scripts tailored to the specifications of the executives who stifled the very talent that they had courted. Barton Fink is a fictional playwright brought to Hollywood in 1941. Suspicious of movie executives, he wants to write a movie that reflects his idea of a "Theater of the Common Man." This black comedy satirizes a number of targets, including the Hollywood studio system and the men who controlled it. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101410/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Big Picture (1989) | ||
| This spoof is about an aspiring filmmaker whose student movie wins a national award and an invitation to Hollywood. Studio executives, producers, and agents treat him like the young genius he imagines himself to be--until he actually starts trying to make a movie. In order to please them, he gives up more and more of his original ideas until all that is left is another formulaic collection of clichés. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096926/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Bollywood/Hollywood (2002) | ||
| The Indian film industry is nicknamed "Bollywood" (Hollywood's "H" having been replaced with the "B" of Bombay), and the vast majority of Bollywood films are musicals that are quite over the top from the perspective of Western audiences, with characters breaking into song and dance and big production numbers at often random-seeming moments that have nothing to do with the musical numbers. This film is a parody of Indian and American film musicals, skewering the cinema clichés of both. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303785/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Chaplin (1992) | ||
| Charles Chaplin was one of film's greatest pioneers. He was an actor, director, screenwriter, and editor who created an iconic character, "The Litle Tramp," as well as classic movie masterpieces, including The Kid (1921), Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator (1940). His work inspired and shaped the work of many who followed him. His life was more dramatic than any of his films, and this film looks at his creative methods, his personal life, and his public triumphs and scandals. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103939/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Day of the Locust (1975) | ||
| An innocent and idealistic young college graduate, Tod Hackett, wants to be an art director in 1930s Hollywood, but his innocence crumbles under the weight of unsatisfying, trivial work and the tawdry private lives of studio bosses and film industry workers. An exploration of Hollywood's decadence during this period, it is based on a book by Nathanial West. ( http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0072848/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Ed Wood (1994) | ||
| Edward D. Wood, Jr., is known among movie buffs as one of the worst directors of all time, and one of his movies, Plan 9 from Outer Space, regularly tops worst movies lists. Although this actor writer-director-producer was a hack who exhibited only minor moments of talent, he genuinely loved films and filmmaking. Tim Burton has directed a comical and endearing movie that focuses on the eccentric Wood's continuing optimism (he leaves out the man's last bitter years). The look at "B Movie" making in fifties Hollywood is inspired, and a talented cast includes Johnny Depp as Wood and martin Landau, who won an Oscar for his role, as Bela Lugosi, who had become an elderly junkie by the time Wood met and tried to save him. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109707/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| For Your Consideration (2006) | ||
| Three minor actors learn that a rumor is circulating on the Internet that the performance of one of them in an indie film they are working on, Home for Purim, might generate an Oscar nomination, and everybody--especially the unit publicist and the film's producer--goes crazy. As the screenwriters look on helplessly with growing horror, their debut film adaptation morphs into something unrecognizable. When the hosts of an entertainment TV show get involved, new levels of ludicrousness are reached. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470765/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Front (1976) | ||
| During the Communist Witch Hunts of the fifties, many Hollywood actors, directors, and writers were blacklisted by studios because of accusations of being communists, knowing communists, being sympathetic to communists, or even having names resembling those of suspected communists. Actors and directors had no recourse whatsoever, but writers were sometimes able to submit work under pseudonyms or have their work submitted by "fronts." In the comic film The Front, Woody Allen plays a restaurant worker who pretends to be the author of a script for a TV series in order to help a writer friend who has been blacklisted. He ends up handling the work of other writers, getting paid a percentage of what they earn. He soon becomes very well off and widely admired for his amazing talent and incredible productivity. Lacking any scruples or idealism himself, he finds himself in a position where he will be forced to take a moral stand. Even the credits for this film are worth watching, as they list all the people involved with the film who were once blacklisted and the years that they were unable to work. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074554/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Hollywood Shuffle (1987) | ||
| Bobby Taylor, an African American actor, dreams of starring in mainstream Hollywood movies and winning an Oscar. Instead, he must endure humiliating auditions for a series of minor and stereotypical roles: slaves, street hustlers, and pimps. As he tries to maintain his self-respect, he retreats into comic fantasies, such as going to "Black Acting School, " where, white teachers try to show their black students the right way to do "jive talk" and street moves. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093200/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Living in Oblivion (1995) | ||
| This independent film is a satire about independent filmmaking. It follows one day in the life of a director whose current film seems destined never to be made due to the disasters he encounters every step of the way. He must contend with inept crew members; moody, narcissistic, and untalented actors; faulty equipment; and general chaos. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113677/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) | ||
| Dorothy Parker was a famous author and wit and a member of the "Algonquin Round Table," a group of writers, actors, and critics that met almost daily from 1919 through 1929 in the restaurant of Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel. Though famous as a humorist, Parker had a sad life. This biography charts that life, including her years in Hollywood, where she collaborated on screenplays, many inconsequential, but others outstanding, such as the script for the 1937 film A Star is Born, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. This film was an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d'Or. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110588/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Player (1991) | ||
| This movie was adapted from a novel by Michael Tolkin, but it is infused with independent director Robert Altman's own negative experiences with the Hollywood studio system. Part satire, part murder mystery and suspense film, it attacks Hollywood's ruthlessness, superficiality, deceit, and corruption. Ironically, its commercial success endeared Altman once again to some of the very people he lampooned. The movie is also noteworthy for over sixty-five celebrity cameos, many of the stars playing themselves--and not necessarily very flatteringly. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105151/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) | ||
| It is the Great Depression, and Cecilia is a sad young woman married to a brute who doesn't understand her and living a dreary life working as a waitress in a tacky little diner. The only times she is truly happy are when she can escape into a movie. One day at a matinee, one of the characters escapes from a movie, and he declares that he has been watching her watch him so long that he has fallen in love with her. Worried about law suits, Hollywood executives must find a way to convince the young man that he has to go back into the movie. ( http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0089853/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Stardust Memories (1980) | ||
| When Woody Allen, loved for his comedies, moved to serious cinema, he was castigated by fans and critics. Stardust Memories is a wickedly, even savagely, funny look at what happens when a famous comedy film maker, loved for his comedies, moves to serious cinema, and he is castigated by fans and. The fans, critics, friends, acquaintances, movie executives, actors, extras, and, most importantly, the director himself, are all subjected to harsh and hilarious scrutiny. ( http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0081554/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| The Stunt Man (1980) | ||
| This comic and suspenseful movie about filmmaking follows an escaped fugitive from the police as he stumbles across a crew filming a movie on location and pretends to be a stunt man--a bit of luck for the director, who has just lost his in a fatal accident. As the stunt man performs increasingly dangerous stunts, he begins to fall in love with the lead actress and becomes increasingly suspicious that his director is actually trying to kill him. Danger and fantasy begin to blend for both him and the audience. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081568/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| Sunset Boulevard (1950) | ||
| "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." No list of movies about movie making would be complete without this classic of popular culture, a black comedy that takes aim at the darker side of "Hollywoodland." Joe, a cynical, broke young screenwriter on the run from repo men finds himself at the decaying mansion of a decaying silent-movie star with an outsize ego and the unlikely dream of a come back. Catering to her fantasies, the ambitious Joe moves in with her, but nothing turns out the way he it expected to--the movie opens with his corpse floating in the mansion's pool, and the dead Joe himself narrates the story... ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014/ ) | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||