For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
On the Internet I’m sure you’ve seen memes pop up on dates featured in popular movies. Some notable versions of the idea of a movie holiday are Mean Girls day, Back to the Future day, and Breakfast Club day. However, the dates that get viral or are pushed by social media teams aren’t the only ones worth noting.
One such date I noted last year and celebrated with a screening was the first story day of Halloween III: Season of the Witch. One reason this date is worthy of a screening and note because if you watch one (or more) Halloween movie on the day itself, this one doesn’t quite fit into that program for obvious reasons and because a lot of the film is about the lead-up to the day. And in that spirit you can also observe Season of the Witch day on the subsequent story days prior to the big day: the 24th, 27th and 29th.
So if you’re like me and have a fondness for this member of the series, mark this on day on your calendar yearly for a screening and countdown to a happy, happy Halloween.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
And it’s a great thing whether you consider yourself a Swiftie or not. An that’s because it’s both a telling and extraordinarily refreshing thing that the #1 movie at the domestic box office last weekend has a “-” in its distributor column. It’s an appropriate slap in the face to the studios in the AMPTP that Taylor Swift put her concert movie out there without even dealing with them for two reasons: first, because the AMPTP just walked away from the bargaining table with SAG-AFTRA, and were later called out by the entertainment unions as a whole for not negotiating in good faith. Second, because as many major releases have shifted on the calendar movie theaters need the boost of revenue that comes from any project–especially one without a distributor–with over $125M in presales. This means additional incremental revenue in fees for movie ticket apps like AMC Stubs, Regal or Fandango. After Barbenheimer was perhaps even more crucial to the box office than Top Gun was post-COVID because many movies this summer either bombed or underperformed. Following a summer where studios and many theaters were buoyed essentially by two films having two dueling strikes severely hurt the Fall and Holiday seasons would be two steps back, so something like this concert film that came seemingly out of blue is a great thing.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
As of this writing SAG/AFTRA and AMPTP are heading into a fifth day of negotiations in their current session. I’m more than a bit disappointed and flabbergasted the studios seem to still be playing hardball considering the season of scripted network television hangs in the balance. There was some news after day one of the clichéd “cautious optimism” after day one, but not much since. However, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been labor news.
Just recently Disney VFX workers joined Marvel (who were first) in voting unanimously for unionization through IATSE. It’s incredible to believe that these positions remained non-union for so long, but the fact that they were not led to hard deadlines and excessive hours leading to less-than-desirable work in both trailers and finished films. This move is a long time coming and could lead to more and hopefully better conditions and work product for an increasingly necessary tool in the gamut of filmmaking.
The Movie Rat 