The science-fiction hit “Looper” started off the new year by launching on the top of the DVD and Blu-ray sales and rental charts as well as the video-on-demand charts.
With big- and small-screen sensibilities merging, where does that leave film? Last month after a screening, even as the lights came up in the theater, I could feel “Zero Dark Thirty” fading, its images and impact already softening in my head. No, no, wait: not fading — mingling
Redbox Instant, the online-video service owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Coinstar Inc., has signed 10,000 users to its public test and is seeking 35 million customers overall.
Pop music + cartoon animation + pubescent audiences + sugary breakfast cereal ads = hit entertainment.
Plenty of films waffle toward the exit this season, much to filmgoers’ chagrin. Tom Hooper, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg have their own reasons
“Anna Karenina,†“Argo,†“Avengers†and more all earn an “A†from Seattle Times movie critic Moira Macdonald.
The raunchy adult comedy “Ted†beat a pair of action films in pre-holiday sales of DVD and Blu-ray discs, with humor trumping the final installment of director Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, “The Dark Knight Rises,†and newcomer “The Bourne Legacy†as well as the animated “Ice Age: Continental Drift.†But “Ted†barely cracked the top 10 when it came to DVD and Blu-ray rentals.
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 …