TV / Film News

A Second Look: John Ford's 'Stagecoach'

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2010

The director's iconic western, now on a restored Criterion DVD, made John Wayne a star. “Stagecoach" is agnostic on the matter of social progress, which brings with it a wealth of hypocrisy and corruption.

At a Directors Guild meeting in 1950, a tense session on the subject of anti-Communist loyalty oaths, John Ford began his dissenting statement thus: “My name's John Ford. I make westerns." Typically for Ford, the assertion was both unassuming and calculated, grounding his patriotic bona fides ...

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Jazz War, Anyone? Jason Marsalis vs. 'Jazz Nerds International'

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2010

Have you, as a listener, been suffering under the influence of Jazz Nerds International?

Jazz critic and blogger for the Ottawa Citizen Peter Hum wrote a terrific post Thursday on the latest installment in what's become known as “the jazz wars," a long-running culture clash pitting the music's traditionalists -- personified by nearly any member of the gifted Marsalis family -- versus what could be considered jazz's new guard.

A little background This new guard encompasses some of ...

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Timothy Brock Keeps the Score in Frame for 'The Cameraman'

Source: Michael Ricci
May 23, 2010

The composer will conduct the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in playing his new music for the Buster Keaton silent film.

Silence has been golden for conductor and composer Timothy Brock. For nearly 25 years, he has made a name for himself as one of the few composers and conductors who specialize in silent film. He has composed new scores for and conducted orchestras around the world at screenings of such silent classics as “Nosferatu," “Sherlock Jr.," “The General," “Steamboat Bill ...

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What Does Google TV Do for Sony?

Source: Michael Ricci
May 21, 2010

Quick, which company is bigger: Google or Sony?

If you answered Google, you'd be wrong -- at least when it comes to sales. Google pulled in $23.7 billion in revenue last year compared with Sony's $77.6 billion. But if one judges it by the amount of press generated by Thursday's announcement that Sony would be the first to come out with a television set incorporating the Google TV platform, the reverse is true. News hits generated by a (Google) search ...

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Google to Announce Smart TV

Source: Michael Ricci
May 19, 2010

Google to debut Internet TV software in joint initiative. The Web search giant, through an effort with Sony, Intel and Logitech, is expected to showcase technology enabling users to flip seamlessly among shows, YouTube videos and home videos on their sets.

Google Inc. will make an ambitious bid to extend its reach into the living room when it debuts its Internet television software this week.

Through a joint initiative with other prominent technology and consumer electronics companies, the Web search ...

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YouTube Overtakes Networks' Primetime Viewership

Source: All About Jazz
May 17, 2010

Americas Funniest Home Videos may have pioneered the YouTube concept, but as the site reaches the five-year mark, its audience size is no laughing matter.

YouTube's viewership now exceeds that of all three networks combined during their primetime evening time slot, with over two billion views per day, Google announced on Sunday. Granted, YouTubes numbers come from worldwide views, while ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast their primetime channels within the United States. But this is a significant milestone nonetheless, and ...

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Old Music, Via New Technology

Source: Michael Ricci
May 16, 2010

The Sag Harbor-based filmmaker Joe Lauro knows there is no shortage of time-tested music to be heard, and seen, on TV. As the president of Historic Films Archive, a stock-footage film library specializing in music from 1922 to 2000, Mr. Lauro has even packaged and rebroadcast some of it; his film “The Howlin' Wolf Story" appeared recently on the Starz network, for instance. But some opportunities to see clips of famous musicians warrant leaving the living room sofa behind, he ...

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Jazz as a Global Language, Captured on Film

Source: Michael Ricci
May 16, 2010

JAZZ is an improvisatory art, evanescent at its core, and films that capture its spirit can be difficult to find. But the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville is presenting a series of four films that, coupled with some distinguished live commentary, musical and spoken, promise to do just that. The series, “Jazz Sessions: The Greats on Camera 2010," began with an enthusiastic sellout crowd on Thursday for “Jazz on a Summer's Day," about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Music ...

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