Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at the British Academy Film Awards in London, winning seven prizes including best film. Kate Winslet won best actress for The Reader. The late Heath Ledger was named best supporting actor for playing The Joker in The Dark Knight.
Tag: 02.08.09
Oscars’ “Best” Are Striking Out At The Box Office
The nominees for this year’s Academy Awards Best Picture have collectively had the worst box office of any year’s nominees. Does this mean no one will watch the telecast? And is Oscar’s future dimming?
New York’s Shaky Opera Landscape
The Metropolitan had seemed to have regained some of its glamor. NY City Opera looked as if it was staking out a new direction. Then the recession hit and some bumbling board decisions at City Opera showed just how precarious the Lincoln Center companies’ fortunes are…
The DreamWorks Phenomenon – It Grows While Others Shrink
“A television arm sprouted in recent months, with series built around Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda coming to Nickelodeon. Shrek the Musical opened on Broadway late last year. Theme parks are moving forward in Dubai and Singapore. And the company is making an all-or-nothing charge into 3-D movies.”
The Screening Of America
“Why is the newspaper business losing readers at an accelerated rate while television viewership is stronger than ever? Here’s a speculative idea: A tipping point has been passed in the competition between print and screen that has been under way since the beginnings of broadcast TV and now continues with video and other media.”
Erie, Pa. Theatre Roof Collapses
“A stone parapet on the roof of the Warner Theatre buckled and then broke loose Saturday, spilling bricks and snow onto French Street.” The hall is the home of the Erie Philharmonic and Lake Erie Ballet.
Singer Blossom Dearie, 82
“A singer, pianist and songwriter with an independent spirit who zealously guarded her privacy, Ms. Dearie pursued a singular career that blurred the line between jazz and cabaret. An interpretive minimalist with caviar taste in songs and musicians, she was a genre unto herself.”
Two Late Buñuels Emerge From The Vaults
“Long out of circulation, The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Simon of the Desert (1965) will be released on Tuesday by the Criterion Collection. They remain among the most free-spirited of Buñnuel’s films, fully recovering the nonnarrative liberty of his earliest work.”
Obama Poster Artist Arrested In Boston
No, it’s not over that copyright claim by the AP. Shepard Fairey was taken to jail Friday on his way to the kick-off party for his first solo exhibition – on charges “that he had tagged property in two locations with his street art campaign featuring Andre the Giant and the word ‘obey.'”
The Cuts Hit Kansas City Lyric Opera (But They’re Not Deep)
Faced with the economic downturn, the company has frozen administrative salaries, opted for relatively inexpensive works (not yet announced) to stage next season, and will give four rather than five performances of each opera. But there’s no reduction in the number of productions planned, and there are no salary cuts or layoffs expected.