The Magpie Bjournal

Beyond the College Degree, Online Educational Badges

mariusz182 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:43:23 +0000

With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses and other online programs offering informal credentials, the race is on for alternative forms of certification that would be widely accepted by employers.

“Who needs a university anymore?” asked David Wiley, a Brigham Young University professor who is an expert on the new courses, known as MOOCs. “Employers look at degrees because it’s a quick way to evaluate all 300 people who apply for a job. But as soon as there’s some other mechanism that can play that role as well as a degree, the jig is up on the monopoly of degrees.”

By the end of this year, Mr. Wiley predicted, it will become familiar to hear of people who earned alternative credentials online and got high-paying jobs at Google or other high-visibility companies. “Udacity may help that process along,” he said of the startup company offering two MOOCs this semester taught by prominent engineers.

Mozilla, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and others are working to devise a system of online educational “badges” certifying exactly which skills had been learned. Some companies, like Microsoft, already offer their own certificates for trained computer technicians.

Some educators doubt that such credentials will ever command as much respect as a diploma from a well-known college. And of course, to be trustworthy, alternative credentials would have to be at least as cheat-proof as traditional ones. And that is not so simple.

At Stanford University, where Jennifer Widom, the chairwoman of the computer science department, taught an online database course last semester to more than 90,000 people, some found a covert route to high scores.

“There were definitely people getting multiple accounts and using some to practice and the other to get a perfect score,” said Dr. Widom, who still has hundreds of assignments trickling in every day for grading. “There were some who completed the exam with a perfect score in three minutes and the only way they could have done that was if they had already done the problems in another account. My philosophy was not to be concerned in the least about people who cheat. But if there’s going to be actual certification that people depend on, those problems will have to be addressed.”

At Udacity, the plan is to deal with cheating — and help ensure the validity of the credential — by offering students a global network of in-person testing centers.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this semester’s pilot course in a new MOOC venture known as MITx, will be on the honor system, but officials have begun to explore the possibility of using proctored test sites.

In both cases, the courses will be free, but the testing — and the credential — will have a price tag.

View the original article here

After Ratings Drop, Ford Reworks Touch Screens

mariusz182 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:33:23 +0000

But after many buyers grew frustrated with flaws in the system, known as MyFord Touch and developed with Microsoft, Ford’s quality ratings plunged and a feature meant to increase loyalty instead damaged perceptions of the company.

MyFord Touch replaces many of the traditional knobs and buttons in a vehicle with touch screens, steering wheel-mounted controls and spoken commands.

“I think they were too willing to rush something out because of the flashiness of it rather than the functionality,” said Michael Hiner, a former stock-car racing crew chief in Akron, Ohio, who bought a Ford Edge Limited last year largely because he and his wife were intrigued by MyFord Touch.

Now Ford has issued a major upgrade that redesigns much of what customers see on the screen and tries to resolve complaints about the system crashing or rebooting while the vehicle is being driven. Ford said on Monday that the upgrade made the touch screens respond to commands more quickly, improved voice recognition capabilities and simplified a design that some say had the potential to create more distractions for drivers who tried to use it on the road. Fonts and buttons on the screen have been enlarged, and the layouts of more than 1,000 screens have been revamped.

“We expect that these improvements will put us back on track in the quality ratings,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president for global product development. “It’s more than just an update. This is a substantial upgrade.”

Ford is taking the unusual step of sending the upgrade directly to customers, who can install the new software in about an hour by plugging in a USB flash drive.

Dealers, which can perform the procedure if customers prefer, received the upgrade kits Monday, and the more than 300,000 customers with MyFord Touch in their vehicles can expect their USB drive in the mail later this week, Ford said.

Irritation with MyFord Touch was cited last week by Consumer Reports as a big reason that Ford fell to 10th place on this year’s Automaker Report Card, from fifth in 2011. Ford dropped 10 places in the publication’s predicted reliability survey last year and plummeted to 23rd place, from fifth, in the most recent initial quality survey by J. D. Power & Associates. Both surveys showed poor scores for models with MyFord Touch.

David Champion, the senior director of auto testing for Consumer Reports, said improving the software should resolve some customer issues, but he said he believed a touch screen would always be harder for drivers to use than traditional knobs and switches, even if it looked more exciting to shoppers.

“It’s an idea that I don’t think really belongs in a car to a certain extent,” Mr. Champion said. “It is a very complex system that they’ve put in, that works great if you’re in a showroom and not having to look where you’re going.”

Ford has been among the industry’s leaders in introducing communication and entertainment technology in recent years. Rivals like General Motors, Chrysler and Toyota have been adding similar features, though they are generally less complex and have not generated as much negative feedback.

Ford’s system incorporates the car’s climate controls, hands-free communication, navigation and entertainment into one screen on the console and has another customizable display where the speedometer and other gauges are usually located.

Ford insists it is committed to the touch-screen approach and that customers love it, aside from the issues targeted by the new upgrade. It said MyFord Touch and its underlying software, known as Ford Sync, were an important part of the purchase decision for 56 percent of Ford buyers and that 77 percent of owners now used voice commands to control their vehicle’s audio and information system.

Roughly four out of every five people who have bought a 2012 Ford Explorer or Edge chose one with MyFord Touch, which is available only on configurations that cost at least $5,000 more than the base model.

The basic version of Ford Sync, which was introduced in 2007 and does not use a touch screen, costs $295 and now comes standard on some models.

MyFord Touch is included in nearly 10 percent of the vehicles Ford has sold in the United States since introducing the system in late 2010. It is currently available on the Edge, Explorer and Focus and on the Lincoln MKX as MyLincoln Touch.

Mr. Hiner, the Edge buyer, said he had always driven and been involved with racing General Motors products, and his wife was loyal to Toyota. The couple considered a Toyota Highlander sport utility vehicle but settled on the Edge because of MyFord Touch. “It was the deciding factor in us buying that over the Highlander,” he said. “We just felt like the Edge offered more.”

But a year later, Mr. Hiner, now a stay-at-home father, has run out of patience with MyFord Touch, having taken the car repeatedly to his dealership for help, to no avail. He said the navigation system often malfunctioned, the rearview camera frequently stayed on while the vehicle was moving forward and the system randomly rebooted. The voice controls typically do not work until the vehicle has been on for five to 10 minutes, meaning short trips require dialing phone calls by hand, only to have the call cut off when the system finally starts up, he said.

Ford officials say they have listened to customer feedback in developing the upgrade, a process that started as soon as the system was introduced.

Graydon Reitz, Ford’s director for global electronics and electrical systems engineering, said the new software eliminated error messages and was now usually able to fix problems on its own when they occurred.

Another change moves the switch for controlling the heated seats onto the home screen. Previously, a driver had to press the screen several times to reach the correct menu option.

To ensure both the software and the upgrade process work as expected, Ford had 1,700 employees and dealers try it out for three months to collect feedback.

Ford is adding MyFord Touch as an option to seven more models this year. In doing so, it addressed another common problem that current owners cannot fix with new software: a touch-sensitive area under the touch screen that activates the hazard lights has been replaced with a mechanical button, because Ford learned that drivers were inadvertently turning on the hazard lights as they rested their hand while waiting for the system to respond.

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Digital Records May Not Cut Health Costs, Study Cautions

mariusz182 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:29:23 +0000

Industry experts have said that electronic health records could generate huge savings — as much as $80 billion a year, according to a RAND Corporation estimate. The promise of cost savings has been a major justification for billions of dollars in federal spending to encourage doctors to embrace digital health records.

But research published Monday in the journal Health Affairs found that doctors using computers to track tests, like X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging, ordered far more tests than doctors relying on paper records.

The use of costly image-taking tests has increased sharply in recent years. Many experts contend that electronic health records will help reduce unnecessary and duplicative tests by giving doctors more comprehensive and up-to-date information when making diagnoses.

The study showed, however, that doctors with computerized access to a patient’s previous image results ordered tests on 18 percent of the visits, while those without the tracking technology ordered tests on 12.9 percent of visits. That is a 40 percent higher rate of image testing by doctors using electronic technology instead of paper records.

The gap, according to the study, was even greater — a 70 percent higher rate — for more advanced and expensive image tests, including M.R.I. tests and CT, or computerized tomography, scans.

“Our research raises real concerns about whether health information technology is going to be the answer to reducing costs,” said Dr. Danny McCormick, the lead author of the study, who is an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School and a member of the department of medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a health system north of Boston.

Dr. McCormick had three co-authors: Dr. David H. Bor, chief of medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance; and Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler and Dr. David U. Himmelstein, both professors at the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College.

The research was based on a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, which collected data from more than 28,000 patient visits to more than 1,100 doctors in 2008.

Health policy experts who have championed the adoption of electronic health records were critical of the study. They noted that the data came from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which is intended mainly for another purpose — to assess how medical care is practiced.

The study, they noted, included any kind of computer access to tracking images, no matter how old or isolated the function.

By contrast, modern electronic health records are meant to give doctors an integrated view of a patient’s care, including medical history, treatments, medications and past tests. The 2008 data predates federal incentive payments for doctors and standards for the “meaningful use” of electronic health records that began last year.

The new study, they said, was also at odds with previous research. It is “one of a small minority of studies” that have doubted the value of health information technology, said Dr. David Blumenthal, a professor at the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Blumenthal, the former national coordinator for health information technology in the Obama administration, was co-author of a study, published last year in Health Affairs, that surveyed articles in professional journals in recent years on electronic health records.

It found that 92 percent of those articles were “positive over all” about the prospect that technology would improve the efficiency and quality of care.

But Dr. McCormick said the previous research had been primarily statistical models of expected savings, like the RAND study, or research that looked at the use of electronic health records at a relatively small number of flagship health systems.

“We looked at not just a few cutting-edge institutions, but a nationally representative sample,” Dr. McCormick said.

Dr. David J. Brailer, who was the national coordinator for health information technology in the administration of George W. Bush, said he was unconvinced by the study’s conclusions because they were based on a correlation in the data and were not the result of a controlled test.

The study did not explore why physicians in computerized offices ordered more tests. Dr. McCormick speculated that digital technology might simply make ordering tests easier.

Dr. McCormick said he hoped the study would damp any inflated expectations about electronic records. But he added that the technology can improve the actual practice of medicine.

The Cambridge Health Alliance, where he practices, made the switch to electronic records in 2005.

“I’m a primary care doctor,” Dr. McCormick said, “and I would never go back.”

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Who’s Who in The Expendables?

mariusz182 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:04:23 +0000

The new trailer for ‘Men in Black 3′ has been released online and it provides us with a lot more of what we expected, which is no bad thing.

Showcasing more aliens than the first teaser trailer, it also gives us a better idea of the film’s overall story and the first glimpse of the film’s villain, Boris The Animal (played by ‘Flight of the Conchords’ Jermaine Clement).

There’s more of everything here. More gags, more Will Smith, more of Josh Brolin’s amazing Tommy Lee Jones impression, more Emma Thompson and a quick goof about Andy Warhol, who’s played by Bill Hader.

With some slick looking visuals, Will Smith apparently on fine form and a hint of alien invasion, ‘Men in Black 3′ is shaping up a lot better than expected.

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the film is set for release in the UK on 6 May.

Will Smith as J and Josh Brolin as a younger K

This is the back of Boris The Animal, who is incarcerated somewhere, probably because he is EVIL

Something funky (probably an everyday rip in space-time) appears in K’s living room

MIB’s 60s base of operations, now complete with retro aliens

We reckon this is that alien invasion that J mentioned. Probably not though…

Let us know what you think of the trailer below…

Read More »Yahoo! Movies is proud to present the WORLD EXCLUSIVE trailer premiere of ‘Now Is Good’.

Featuring young starlets Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine, this touching film is already sending emotional ripples through movie fans all over the world — you can see why in the trailer.

The film follows 17-year-old Tessa (Fanning) who, after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, becomes determined to use every moment left indulging in such activities as losing her virginity and taking drugs. Falling in love with her new neighbour (Irvine) wasn’t on the list, but it proves to be the most exhilarating experience of them all.

‘Now Is Good’ is due to be released in the UK on 25 May 2012.

One of the biggest movie houses in the world has changed its iconic logo to celebrate the 100th birthday of the company.

Although the new logo is not exactly the dramatic makeover one might imagine, it certainly adds a touch of Hollywood glitz that you would expect from a giant movie studio.

The updated animated logo will be featured on all Universal releases from today, so expect to see it grace upcoming flicks ‘The Raven’, ‘Contraband’ and ‘Battleship’.

For the new animated logo, Universal teamed up with acclaimed visual effects artists from Weta Digital to create the contemporary design. The idea surrounding the new emblem was inspired by satellite imagery that illustrated a view of the world on a clear night from space.

The reincarnation of the pre-roll is the seventh in Universal’s history. Do you remember these previous versions?

Propah nawty… Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop here’s how he might have looked, Bat-nipples et all

Danny Dyer has spoken out about the movie roles he missed out on over years, saying that he auditioned for the part of Robin in the George Clooney-starring ‘Batman & Robin’ back in 1997.

Speaking to Popbitch, the star of ‘The Football Factory’ also said that he auditioned for ‘American History X’, “I got quite close to that. I mean, I totally understand that Edward Furlong was amazing in it, and he is American so they went down that route with it.”

At this point in his career, around 1997-98, Dyer was still primarily a TV actor, having had roles in ‘The Bill’ and ‘Soldier Soldier’ so a career in Hollywood blockbusters and smaller actor-driven flicks were never that likely.

[Related story: Dyer says Helen Mirren could play his mum]
[Related story: Dyer: Psycho role upset my partner]

“It’s strange really because for every one part you get, you lose out on 20 – rejection, you get used to that pretty early, but you still want to know why, you want to know details. Why? Why don’t they

Read More »Yahoo! Movies is proud to bring you the first ever trailer for Tim Burton’s stop-animation comedy, ‘Frankenweenie’.

Also, here is an EXCLUSIVE still from the movie, just to add a little extra for you!

Spooky… Frankenweenie

‘Frankenweenie’ is instantly recognisable as a concoction of movie wizard Tim Burton with its gloomy atmosphere and quirky premise. No stranger to stop-animation (he made the popular ‘Corpse Bride’), fans will be eager to see his latest movie creation.

[Related story: Exclusive 'Frankenweenie' poster]

After the death of his dog, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life — with a few ‘minor’ adjustments. The film follows the tale of Victor and his undead dog, Sparky, as he tries to hide his home-sewn creation.

But when Sparky escapes, the cheeky looking zombie pooch wreaks havoc and spooks the entire town.

‘Frankenweenie’ is due to be released in the UK on 5 October 2012.

View the original article here

… And We’re Back

mariusz182 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:39:23 +0000

Wow. I did not expect the site to be down that long. But Welcome to News in Film 3.0!

It has been a grueling two weeks trying to restore News in Film. Here’s the quick story:
Basically, the database ran out of room. The site’s previous web host, 1&1 (“the Walmart of web hosts”) had assured me this wouldn’t happen, of course. But clearly customer service is an afterthought to those people and I reached the day I feared the most. This size limit meant I couldn’t add any new posts and, due to the errors, I couldn’t edit old ones. So, right away, allow me to apologize to you for the lack of an official explanation on the front page until now. (Though I did explain what was happening on Twitter and Facebook, why aren’t you “following” and/or “liking?”) I’m sure there was someone out there wondering what happened (hi Mom).

The inepti-Trons at 1&1 suggested copying everything from one database to another. I thought, “While I’m at it, why don’t I move the database to a web host that isn’t complete garbage?” So I did. And you can tell by how quickly the page loads we’re already in good shape at our current host, InMotion.

Of course, anyone who has ever moved can tell you not everything survives the trip. The old, dark layout is gone. It never loaded correctly any way. I hope you like the newer, cleaner look instead. (It’s a modification of the excellent Leetpress theme, for any other WordPress dorks.)

Be sure to leave a comment if you notice something isn’t working or looks off.

I still have a lot of work to do on the new layout, but, most importantly, I intend to start filling the front page with fresh content starting Sunday. Then, in less than a week(!), I’ll be making my fourth trip to the South by Southwest Film Festival down the street from my humble abode. So expect a steady stream of reviews and dispatches from the trenches. (Fair warning, they will likely grow more incoherent over the nine days due to sleep deprivation.)

Last but not least, I just wanted to thank you for reading News in Film.

Thank you,

Jeff Leins

View the original article here

‘The Evil Dead’ Remake: Cast and Plot Details

mariusz182 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:01:23 +0000

Production on The Evil Dead remake is ramping up with shooting scheduled to start next month in New Zealand. Casting is officially underway, reportedly adding Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez last week to lead the potential series reboot.

Lynn Collins, who stars in next month’s Mirror, Mirror, was originally announced for the female lead, but dropped shortly thereafter due to “scheduling conflicts.” Sam Raimi, who directed the original that launched his career, is producing the redo. Relatively unknown Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez is directing, after getting Raimi’s attention with his four-and-a-half minute short “Panic Attack!”

Alvarez co-wrote the script, which Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) polished last summer. Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News has read the October 2011 draft and provides some plot details, but he’s not the only one who has seen it. Minor spoilers incoming:

Deadline confirms Levy will play Mia a drug addict who agrees to a three-day detox at the family cabin. The cabin, for those who have seen the original where a group of filmmakers unleash evil spirits. Raimi’s trademark ’73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 is even parked next to it in the remake. But characterizing Mia as “the new Ash” (referring to the role Bruce Campbell played throughout the trilogy), is misleading. Sure, she wields a chainsaw against evil in a fit of fed-up rage, but Ash’s beloved wit is sadly missing from this spook-a-blast script.

Fernandez will play Mia’s estranged brother David, reports Variety, who noted the competition for the role was tough. Still unannounced are the actors for Natalie, David’s mannered fiancee; Olivia, a nurse; and Eric, a teacher and friend stupid enough to read a black book found in a creepy cellar with demonic images and scrawled warnings inside.

Hallucinations, like an undead coyote, allow the characters to explain away the early supernatural stuff as withdrawal side effects and allow the fillmmakers to make jump cuts to horrific imagery. Next, some demon possession madness and Rami’s history of characters vomiting, often on someone, or watching victims nearly escape… only to fall back into the devil’s grasp. Then, it’s all-out bloody, disturbing, “hard R” rated mayhem.

It goes without saying, but this is a huge break for Levy, whose IMDB page started in 2011 with a small recurring role on Showtime’s “Shameless” before quickly landing the lead on ABC’s critically-acclaimed “Suburgatory.” This will only be her third feature. Impressive.

And it’s a major move for Fernandez, who starred in the under-seen Skateland. He also auditioned for the Edward Cullen role in Twilight and wound up working with its director, Catherine Hardwicke, on Red Riding Hood. I interviewed them both for that release — a faulty hard drive destroyed the evidence of my awful questions — and after it was over, I ran into Fernandez outside. He could not have been nicer, but I was more impressed with his infectious excitement and hunger for better roles. (Especially since I saw the exact opposite from another actor about his age at the same festival.) So, good for Shiloh.

However, even with Raimi on board, Alvarez and company face an uphill battle against a horde of discerning Evil Dead followers. For starters, Raimi’s ’81 original was discovered and adored by horror fans because it was new and different…

The Evil Dead remake is scheduled for April 12, 2013.

Lastly, here is a shot of the road to the cabin in New Zealand, from Alvarez’s Twitter account:

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Harrison Ford May Return for More Blade Runner

mariusz182 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:29:23 +0000

Harrison Ford may be returning as Deckard in Ridley Scott’s follow-up to Blade Runner, thirty years after the original.

Scott committed to the revival, unspecified as a prequel or sequel, in August 2011, while shooting was underway on his other revisit, the Alien prequel Prometheus scheduled for this summer. At the time, producers told the story of how Scott became involved in Blade Runner 2 (money) and said things like “new,” “fresh,” “total reinvention” and “stand as separately as possible” to the LA Times. Apparently a few details have changed, like how Prometheus started as a straight prequel and became an almost prequel with the same “Alien DNA.”

Twitch reports Ford is in early talks to join the new Blade Runner. This indicates Scott is thinking of continuing his own universe, not rebooting it or diverging from the first entirely.

Update: The producers deny Ford is in talks (Deadline).

The 1982 original, which starred Harrison Ford, centered on Los Angeles in 2019 after the ban of genetically-engineered organic robots called replicants. Those robots who defy the ban and return to Earth are tracked and killed by bounty hunters called “blade runners.” Ford played Rick Deckard, a veteran blade runner tasked with uncovering a group of hiding replicants but falls for one instead. Ridley Scott’s bleak film, based on the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick (along with George Miller’s Mad Max trilogy), became the seminal inspirations for a flood of bleak dystopian futures in sci-fi.

Scott is committed to several projects, including Cormac McCarthy’s The Counselor, so it’s unclear if this sequel will be his next film. However, if casting is truly being considered, his Blade Runner follow-up could very well be next, perhaps for a possible 2014 release.

Update: Scott clarifies the project is only in the conceptual phase to USA Today, meaning a 2014 release is unlikely. He doesn’t rule out Ford or the return of Rick Deckard.

Meanwhile, Ford has been embracing his genre fans a bit. He starred in Cowboys & Aliens recently. He is set to appear in Ender’s Game, an adaptation of a beloved sci-fi book. Plus the starring role in an upcoming Wyatt Earp western titled Black Hats.

View the original article here

Rediscovering the Beauty in Disney’s ‘the Beast’

mariusz182 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:28:23 +0000

The success of Disney’s live-action resurrection of Alice in Wonderland has sparked a new trend in Hollywoodland. In keeping with the last decade, it is still one where stories are recycled. Risk still reigns, but there’s a surge coming from studios to rediscover fond fairy tales, with a modern twist.

It’s the reason there are two Snow White modernizations in theaters within ten weeks (and another on the way). Why we’ve seen the return of Red Riding Hood, Alice, Sleeping Beauty and more, and why we’re expecting live-action adaptations of Hansel & Gretel (“witch hunters”), Tinkerbell, multiple Peter Pans, Maleficent, and more Snow White.

And, if you trace them back, many of them point to Alice in Wonderland super producer Joe Roth, who was chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1994-2000. Roth Films is behind Snow White and the Huntsman, Oz: The Great and Powerful, Maleficent (starring Angelina Jolie), and Peter Pan Begins (Channing Tatum’s origin story idea where Hook and Pan are brothers). For Roth, this sure beats directing Christmas with the Kranks.

Meanwhile, the tradition of Beauty and the Beast is being expanded for the small screen. The CW is preparing a pilot episode of “Beauty and the Beast,” a modern reboot of the ’80s romance series, with a procedural twist. Meanwhile, Disney-owned ABC ordered a pilot for their own “Beauty and the Beast,” a medieval period drama that reads like a network “Game of Thrones.” (I can’t wait for the New York Times review from the clueless Ginia Bellafante.)

Just this week, filmmaker Christophe Gans (The Brotherhood of the Wolf) announced a French-language re-telling starring Parisian beauty Léa Seydoux (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and reuniting him with French chameleon/actor Vincent Cassel. (Variety)

These remakes, reboots, and re-tellings beg the question: Can you improve on a classic?

Disney thought they could, in a way. Still leading the fairy tale charge after Alice, the studio recently resurrected The Lion King, my personal favorite, and made a mint by digging into their magic vault, producing a timeless story, and slapping an unnecessary third dimension onto a theatrical re-run. Everything old is new again, right? Just a dimmer version filtered through reusable plastic shades in this case.

(Though I suppose this 3D retrofit isn’t as egregious as this weekend’s re-release of The Phantom Menace, another excuse for Fox and George Lucas to roll out his tarnished saga and shake down the loyal, again. And James Cameron’s Titanic in 3D is on deck for April.)

The success of The Lion King only encouraged Disney, who promptly scheduled 3D returns in the U.S. for two of its classics a year through 2013, including The Little Mermaid and Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Next up was Beauty and the Beast though, itself a retooling of a classic fable and resurrection of a dormant Walt Disney dream, come true through ground-breaking computer animation in 1991 (an early Pixar contribution, four years before Toy Story). Beauty and the Beast reopened wide on January 13, to the tune of $22 million and over double that in total thus far. (Disney spent less than $10 million on the conversion.)

Personally, I was just grateful for the opportunity to watch it again on the big screen (and maybe a little curious about the 3D conversion), so my better half and I caught a matinee. $22, nine trailers, and a cute, cartoonish Tangled Ever After short later, a simple title card welcomed us to a special 3D presentation.

Then there it was again. The stained glass prologue. The arrogant prince, the unforgiving enchantress and her elaborate curse. Belle’s operetta-style opening. All in 3D, of course, though the retro-fitted depth looks more like cascading cut-out layers than the promised immersive experience. Plus the occasional stutter and proportion issues of traditional hand-drawn animation.

But I loved it all the same. Even because of its minor imperfections, not in spite of them, like a worn book with a cracked spine and dog-eared pages. A story about a bookworm who wanders into one of her fairy tales, and it transforms a provincial girl into a radiant princess. “A tale as old as time” with Broadway sensibilities and anthropomorphic household objects voiced by Angela Lansbury and the late Jerry Orbach. A Stockholm Syndrome musical!

Then there is Beast, an amalgam of mammals with a ferocious underbite, a handsome mane, and a wild, unpredictable temper. Never referred to by his given name, Beast is the quintessential bad boy. Dangerous, but with a quiet, resolved sadness and an eerie sense of foreboding. He’s a more complex male figure than Disney’s stable of dashing Prince Charmings, even if he’s essentially tamed in the process. As much as the fable is about Belle realizing a fantasy and recognizing inner beauty, the fierce Beast is the one magically, tragically condemned, not a somnolent or helpless princess.

The message of not judging a book by its cover is important, now more than ever, when media and pop culture “role models” skew personal body image and “regular” models look like they haven’t eaten in days. Belle’s brains and modesty and Gaston’s ill-fated vanity are welcome antidotes to the look-at-me poison of those vapid Kardashian dolts or the fake plastic egotism of “Jersey Shore.”

The re-watch was also a bittersweet reminder of Oscar’s first animated “Best Picture” nominee… in a year when a Disney/Pixar feature could not crack the top 5 in the animation category they regularly dominate. It was also a fond re-listen to the extravagant “Be Our Guest,” Gaston’s boastful solo, and the titular ballad… in a year when there are only two measly song nominees. (One is from Disney’s revival of The Muppets.)

Does this story still hold up a (magic) mirror to society? Maybe it’s the afterglow, but I believe it can. The core morality of Beauty and the Beast still applies to today’s audiences, and Shakespeare’s tale of forbidden love continues to be remixed. For years, it has been humans and vampires/werewolves, or super-men and beautiful damsels. Comics aren’t going anywhere (they’re just being rebooted), but stories about verboten young lovers will continue (and star Kristen Stewart), only in the form of familiar fairy tales… with a twist.

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We Need to Talk About Kevin Bacon’s TV Series

mariusz182 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 04:55:23 +0000

Last week, Deadline reported Kevin Bacon will star in a primetime serial killer drama on FOX, marking his first major TV series role in his 34-year career. One that started with Animal House and eventually, famously extended to everyone else, to a degree.

Now Bacon is headed to the small screen, where FOX entertainment president Kevin Reilly is trying something different. Cable networks have been dominating dramatic content with shorter, “more compelling” seasons, Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva notes, meaning AMC, HBO, FX, and Showtime. Meanwhile, FOX dramas like “Terra Nova” have struggled with filling 22-episode seasons and “Fringe” has found only a cult following. Neither are likely to survive. Reilly even acknowledged the latter was “losing money” at TCA.

Reilly’s answer is to try shrinking the seasons and compete with cable. “Tighter” stories, like the 13-episode seasons of AMC’s “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.” This also frees up the budget to bring in bigger stars, like Bacon, who wants to keep doing movies. Take a look at the scheduling freedom of AMC stars Jon Hamm and Bryan Cranston, who are great but popping up in everything else. But enough about the business, what about the show?

The untitled series was written by Kevin Williamson, screenwriter of the Scream series, creator of “Dawson’s Creek,” and co-executive producer of The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.” Marco Siega, who appropriately worked on nine episodes of “Dexter,” will direct the pilot.

Despite playing the villain in higher profile movies like X-Men: First Class and the upcoming R.I.P.D., Bacon will play the flawed hero in this slasher drama. According to our sources, Bacon will play Ryan Hardy, an ex-FBI agent who chased, profiled, and captured an infamous serial killer named Joe Carroll years ago. Hardy is a retired alcoholic who lives off profits made from his best-selling book on Carroll. (Hints of Scream‘s Gale Weathers.)

Our source couldn’t say who will be playing Carroll, but likens the character to Hannibal Lecter (sophistication and insanity), with the cult following of Charles Manson and an obsession with Edgar Allen Poe. If the hook in Scream was referencing scary movies, the pilot’s hook is anything Edgar Allen Poe ever said or wrote. Plus an Internet angle and a cult following of killers to expand the story beyond the manhunt for Carroll when he escapes.

The Hannibal Lecter comparison is especially intriguing since NBC was preparing a series around the character immortalized by Anthony Hopkins, which would have chronicled his face-off with Will Graham — an FBI specialist played by “CSI” star William Petersen in ’86′s Manhunter, pre-Silence of the Lambs. Petersen starred in 1992′s Passed Away with Blair Brown, who was in Bacon’s feature directorial debut, Loverboy. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

It’s unclear if the Lecter series is dead, since Bryan Fuller (“Pushing Daisies”) is focused on NBC’s reboot of The Munsters. A&E is developing a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

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Joel Kinnaman Confirmed to Star in MGM’s RoboCop Reboot

mariusz182 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 01:19:23 +0000

MGM has closed a deal with “The Killing” star Joel Kinnaman to star in RoboCop, a remake of the 1987 original and a reboot of the crime thriller series.

Deadline first reported the Swedish actor was offered the role two weeks ago and broke the confirmation Saturday morning. It goes without saying, but this is a major career boost for Kinnaman, who starred in Swedish hits like Snabba Cash and the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo before crossing over to Hollywood. The second season of AMC’s “The Killing” premieres on April 1.

Michael Fassbender and Russell Crowe were both erroneously rumored for the role.

Kinnaman is the fourth actor to play RoboCop on screen, following in the footsteps of Peter Weller, Robert John Burke (RoboCop 3), Richard Eden (a shortlived Canadian TV series) and Page Fletcher (“RoboCop: Alpha Commando” miniseries).

José Padilha (Elite Squad, Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within) is directing after the flirtation of filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. However, the financial meltdown at MGM shook up many of its projects, and an Aronofsky-directed RoboCop reboot did not survive the studio’s resurrection. Joshua Zetumer, who penned unproduced scripts for a fourth Bourne and a Dune remake, wrote the latest RoboCop draft.

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