December 26, 2012
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TEHRAN — Iran’s acclaimed movie industry is the latest sector to suffer the effects of economic sanctions over the country’s uranium enrichment program.
Christmas movies are a genre unto themselves: between live-action and animated features, there are literally hundreds of titles out there. Inevitably, some are pretty bad, others amusingly cheesy.
Films lasting more than 21/2 hours are proliferating this holiday season. These epics include ‘The Hobbit,’ ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Les Miserables.’ You can fly from Los Angeles to Seattle in less time than it takes to watch “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Elite runners can finish a marathon faster than the total time of “Django Unchained.” And you can roast and carve your Christmas turkey quicker …
Filmmakers raised the visual bar to stunning heights in films such as ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘The Master,’ while ‘Moonlight Kingdom’ played the less-is-more card to brilliant effect. It’s as if this year filmmakers remembered why God made movies. In a world of nonstop data where most of the static is gossip in 140 soul-destroying words or less, cinema has had a transcendent 12 months — a visual …
After the coffee. Before wishing I had submitted as a comedy instead of a drama.
The last 15 years have been, in some respects, the glory days of sports movies. I don’t mean this in a qualitative sense — “Remember The Titans” isn’t exactly “The Natural” — but it’s certainly a time when sports movies have prospered.
The acquisition of Disney movies puts Netflix’s video-on-demand service in direct competition with pay TV giants such as HBO and Showtime.
‘Brave’ stayed atop the DVD sales chart for the second week in a row, outselling newcomer “Expendables 2.”
The films that continue to resonate are more likely to speak to their times than to speak directly about their times. In December 2001, the original production of Tony Kushner’s globe-trotting drama “Homebody/Kabul” opened at a small New York theater.