The State of the Movie Industry

Last week, James referenced a long New Yorker article about Hollywood and the changing face of movies. He said “I’ll say that it’s one of the best articles about the business of the pictures that I’ve read”, and I agree.

David Denby’s article veers all over the place–from star salaries to HD displays to movie marketing–but manages to keep an insightful eye on the prize. He’s a clever, funny writer and has produced an exceptional, state-of-the-nation piece. Here he describes watching a movie on a video iPod:

The skeletons danced on shipboard; their bones looked like pieces of string dipped in Elmer’s glue. With a groan, I tried to suppress memories of a camel train making its stately way across a seventy-foot-wide screen in “Lawrence of Arabia.” On the iPod the camels would traverse my thumb. Where, I wondered, were movies going? Were they going any place good?

Amen. He makes a very useful point on the iPod–where do you put the thing when you’re watching a two-hour movie. In your lap is too far away. Do you just hold it twelve inches from your face for two hours?