What will happen to “In Other Blogs” when all the other blogs disappear? There’s probably no danger of that happening anytime soon, but another week brings another one of our regular sources to an end, or at least an uncertain future. In the Company of Glenn, Premiere film critic Glenn Kenny’s hangout, is now in limbo as Kenny has lost his job. “I've just been informed that my position at Premiere.com is being terminated. What this means for this blog is still up in the air; I've got meetings this afternoon in which such things are to be negotiated. In any case, I now join the ever-growing ranks of film critics without staff positions. I very much hope to keep this blog going...and get some good freelance work, quick.”
Beyond the Multiplex laments this turn of events, along with other doom and gloom for indie film fans. “I am not the first to ask what the doggone heck the point of that site is without Kenny on it. And Warner Bros. announced, also on Thursday, that it will close down both Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures, its two semi-autonomous ‘specialty’ divisions…Kenny is one of the finest, most erudite and funniest commentators in the business, and I can't imagine he'll remain unemployed for long. (I consider Glenn a buddy, though we don't hang out away from our interlocking professional lives.) But this is clearly another illustration of the precarious status of film criticism, and all other forms of independent critical intelligence, in a rapidly changing -- and perhaps rapidly imploding -- media universe. It's too early to evaluate the effects of the Warner news, but it ain't good.”
The House Next Door, now under new management, has an account of legendary screenwriter Robert Towne’s appearance at the San Francisco International Film Festival. “Still sharp as a shiv and filled with ideas for projects, he is nevertheless weary of the way things have changed since ‘the old days,’ and, following frustrating experiences directing his most personal projects, has apparently accepted the role of Hollywood’s resident script-doctor. The clip reel preceding the interview tells the tale: Spiky, expansive dialogue in iconoclastic films (a sort of pungent poetry voiced by Jack Nicholson as a sewer-mouthed sailor or as a shamus digging for rot) segueing into tidy jobs in Tom Cruise blockbusters (included in the montage is, tellingly, a passage from Mission: Impossible with barely a word in it).”
This week in List-o-mania, Cinematical has a sort of cousin to our own TV-to-movie list; it’s the Cinematical Seven: When an Animated Series Goes Live Action ... and Gets it Right. Honestly, I wouldn’t touch most of the movies on the list with a ten foot pole, but it’s always nice to see Popeye get some love. “Robert Altman's offbeat ode to the famous Fleisher cartoon starring the spinach-eating strongman and his darling Olive Oil is the great misunderstood work of the director's career. Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall manage to bring utterly ridiculous characters into a realm of believability that you could never imagine when watching the show. Suddenly, Popeye made sense -- goofy, almost surreal sense, but sense nonetheless -- in the real world.”
Finally, a call to action! If you have a favorite film blog you feel we’ve been neglecting, even if it’s your own blog, let us know in the comments. After all, if our usual resources keep shutting down, pretty soon we’re going to have to devote this column to mushroom blogs.