Rod Dreher has just seen the excellent, Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, and he makes a provocative observation: What made “The Lives of Others” so astonishing was the complicated humanity of nearly all the characters. You could easily see how basically decent people could be compelled to collaborate by the secret police, who were experts at taking advantage of ordinary human weakness, and even ordinary human virtue, to compromise people. . . . I drifted off to sleep last night... Read more

I have deeply mixed feelings about The Golden Compass. The trilogy of which the book is the first part is deeply antithetical to my beliefs — just as author Philip Pullman intended it to be — and to make it worse, the trilogy gets more and more didactic as it goes. But the first book, which takes place in a parallel universe, is extremely well written, and a lot of its mystery and wonder and suspense hinges on a great... Read more

Song of the South (1946; my comments) makes the news again — this time via an article in Maclean’s magazine: . . . The ironic thing is that keeping Song of the South out of circulation may have caused Disney even more trouble. Because the company is so anxious to hide it, the legend has arisen that the film is some kind of white-supremacist movie, a suppressed example of Walt Disney’s racism. Many articles about the film claim that Uncle... Read more

The Globe and Mail has an article on Mennonite author Miriam Toews and her acting gig in Carlos Reygadas’s Luz silenciosa, AKA Silent Light, which premieres May 22 at the Cannes Film Festival: It all began when Reygadas was in Germany about a year ago, looking for actors (that is, non-actors) for his film, a love triangle set among the Mennonites of northern Mexico. A leading advocate of Plautdietsch, the archaic German dialect that originated in the country’s lowlands, gave... Read more

Some people find the films of Lars von Trier depressing. Now the director says that he himself is depressed — possibly so depressed that he will not be able to make what was supposed to be his next film, Antichrist. Reports the Associated Press: The Danish director Lars Von Trier said a period of depression has left him unable to work and he has doubts about when he will return to filmmaking. In an interview published Saturday in the Politiken... Read more

If you are at all interested in the possibility of a North American DVD release for Song of the South (1946; my comments), or if you are at all interested in the controversy that has flared up over the upcoming The Princess and the Frog — formerly known as The Frog Princess, until Disney changed the title to avoid offending people — then you have to read Jim Hill’s latest report. Read more

As if the American ratings system wasn’t politicized or puritanical or murky enough as it is, the MPAA says it will now “consider” all forms of smoking when rating films — but it is not at all clear what this will actually mean in practice. Variety reports: Responding to years of criticism from child advocacy groups and health organization, the Motion Picture Assn. of America announced Thursday it is expanding its current consideration of teen smoking to all smoking when... Read more

A few years ago, there was a kerfuffle in Christian movie-critic circles over the revelation that “Dr.” Ted Baehr is sometimes paid to promote films that he reviews for his magazine, Movieguide. I was reminded of that yesterday while watching the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which notes that the MPAA’s ratings appeal board includes two religious representatives, one Protestant and one Catholic. And while the film doesn’t mention it, both of these church representatives write film reviews,... Read more

The ever-vigilant Lou Lumenick says one of the films opening this week — Delta Farce, starring Larry the Cable Guy — “isn’t good enough to be screened in advance for critics”. That might be true in the States — and certainly the last live-action film to star Larry the Cable Guy, Health Inspector, wasn’t screened for critics — but for what it’s worth, there was a screening here in Vancouver on Monday. I might have gone, if it hadn’t been... Read more

… the result is Escape from Planet Earth. Saith the Hollywood Reporter: Ed Jones, an executive producer on feature animation Oscar winner “Happy Feet,” has joined Rainmaker Animation to produce “Escape From Planet Earth.” The Weinstein Co. is financing the comedy and will handle worldwide distribution. Additionally, Steve Nichols has joined Rainmaker as animation director. . . . The film marks the first theatrical animated feature for Rainmaker. Production began last week at the company’s Vancouver facility; voice talent has... Read more