"Money was invented so that the people wouldn't have to look each other in the eye." - Film Socialisme (Godard, 2010)

I just printed out tickets for the early screening of Red State at the Wiltern Theater, April 9th! I don't even like Smith's recent movies.

So...there's a possibility that I might get to see a screening of True Grit tonight. All well and good, but it's at 10 p.m. at a theater in downtown L.A. that I'm not familiar with. Should I hold out 'til Christmas?

More AFI film fest titles are emerging: The King's Speech, Blue Valentine, Rabbit Hole...I'm gettin' a little excited.

AFI fest is back on schedule this year. My personal life was in a bit of shambles last year so I'm hoping to attend! The website just revealed opening night premiere is Zwick's Love and Other Drugs and the closing night film is Black Swan. I'll be coming in late to the game, after all, many schmoes have reported back from the TIFF and raved about Aronofsky's latest.

‎"The blogger/critic dust-up over Inception illustrates the divide between those who for whom love of a film means nothing less than full-throated devotion, coupled with a blindness to all its flaws — a kind of creeping politesse that insists on nary a bad word be said of the great and the good. The kind of writer for whom the words “genius” and “masterpiece” silence all internal debate." - Tom Shone

The local paper informs me that Pacific Theaters, a place which I frequent often, is henceforth set for remodeling and will be turned into an Arclight theater. Bittersweet, yet stunning. I didn't know anything about this, but if the film selection is as good as the Hollywood theater, then I'm all for it!

I've never followed the World Cup before, but I've gotten interested this past week. Don't really know the ranking breakdown, so I'll just randomly support any country/team...er, go Ivory Coast!

The current situation with Jafar Panahi is a troubling one, both on the human rights and the filmmaking front, both of which are intertwined in many ways. Read up on the latest at Indiewire; apparently, he's on a hunger strike, and there's no word as to when, or if, he'll be released. Thank goodness for the petitioning on behalf of filmmakers like Spielberg, the Coens, and the others.

Kirsten Dunst + Lars von Trier? Interesting casting...

[QUOTE]http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/lars-von-trier-taps-dunst-for-melancholia/#more-32443.[/QUOTE]

"The end of the Spider-Man franchise has created new opportunities for Kirsten Dunst. She's just been set by Lars von Trier to play the lead role in Melancholia that Penelope Cruz was negotiating before she jumped to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Melancholia is a sci-fi disaster film that will shoot July through September in Southern Sweden, with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, Alexander Skarsgaard, Stellan Skarsgaard and Udo Kier also attached to roles. Dunst is currently starring with Jim Sturgess in Upside Down. Bastard, the short film she directed and co-wrote, will premiere at the Tribeca Film Fest and was just accepted into Cannes."