Movies

I can’t wait to see Her. Opening in limited release next week (and already getting rave reviews and year-end awards), Spike Jonze’s newest movie is set in the “near future” and stars Joaquin Phoenix as a lonely man who falls in love with a Siri-like A.I. system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. She’s specifically designed to Continue Reading →

Digital media pioneer Jeff Einstein started writing about media as addiction in 2004. Back then, he observed how our fealties and addictions to the media and digital devices in our lives had already begun to turn against us, like an addiction to any other narcotic. Of course, back then almost everyone thought he was crazy. Continue Reading →

Netflix’s first original series for kids, Turbo Fast, will debut on December 24th. The show is a collaboration between Netflix and DreamWorks Animation, borrowing characters from the studio’s feature film Turbo. But with its latest original programming, Netflix is deviating from the all-at-once release strategy it’s followed for House of Cards, Orange is the New Continue Reading →

Entertainment executives meeting privately with President Barack Obama Tuesday asked him to ensure copyright protections are enshrined in new trade agreements and help facilitate better relations between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, according to people familiar with the discussions. Mr. Obama spoke with a who’s-who of major studio and network leaders, including Walt Disney Co. CEO Continue Reading →

Amazon has announced a content deal with fledgling film studio A24, one that will see Amazon’s Prime Instant Video gain first and exclusive access to all A24’s current and upcoming movies after they hit DVD and Blu-ray. Launched a little over twelve months ago, A24 is a New York-based company that distributes, finances and produces Continue Reading →

Comcast plans to start selling movies for download and streaming through the cable operator’s set-top boxes and its Xfinity TV website, according to people with knowledge of the plan. The effort, which would offer a new path for Hollywood studios to generate revenue from films after they leave theaters, could start by the end of Continue Reading →

First there was the Boy Scouts’ “Respect Copyrights” activity patch, backed by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. Then there was “Crime-Fighting Canines,” a weekly anti-piracy comic strip series for children in which two black Labrador retrievers named Lucky and Flo sniffed out bootleg DVDs. The series was part of a school education campaign led Continue Reading →

I go to see a lot of movies in theaters. I’ve seen 28 different movies in theaters since the start of August. That’s a lot of movies to see in theaters in a short amount of time, but I chose the August 1 cutoff for a specific reason: It was the first day I was Continue Reading →

Netflix is quickly following through on its promise to expand into original documentaries, announcing on Tuesday that its very first one will premiere online just over a month from now on Thursday, December 12th. The documentary is called The Short Game and follows a number of seven-year-old golfers as they compete in the World Championships Continue Reading →

Netflix has acquired the first-run rights to a documentary on the Egyptian protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, signaling a new push by the subscription company to program movie premieres. “The Square” will debut exclusively on Netflix early next year, Netflix announced Monday. Jehane Noujaim’s documentary depicts the tumult of the Egyptian Revolution beginning in 2011. Continue Reading →