Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, and other highlights from our colleagues across the Internet — and, occasionally, our own writers. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
At The Dissolve, David Ehrlich on the death of the summer movie season:
The Summer Movie Season as we know it died on November 7, 2013. That was the fateful day on which it was announced that Star Wars Episode VII: The Phantom Click-Bait was being delayed from May 2015 to December 2015, making J.J. Abrams’ sequel the first mainline installment not to open during Hollywood’s most lucrative stretch on the calendar. Effectively, the release plan heralded the end of the frenzied blockbuster crunch that George Lucas’ original space saga helped carve out and define.
Joe Swanberg list hits top 10 Criterion films:
. For the early part of my life, I was almost exclusively interested in sports (basketball in particular). I wanted to play professional basketball, and I really couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. My love of the game never quite recovered after viewing Hoop Dreams near the end of eighth grade. It exposed something fundamentally flawed about organized athletics. I still tried out halfheartedly for the high school basketball team, but when I didn’t make the cut, I never looked back. My obsession switched almost overnight from sports to films. I wound up, coincidentally, studying film at Southern Illinois University, where Steve James had studied almost two decades before. The school hadn’t changed much, and I had many of the same classes and professors that he did. I have gotten to know Steve over the years, but I don’t think I’ve ever told him that he might be responsible for leading me from sports to films.
Watch a video tribute to the cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantle:
Spike Lee on the loss of Ruby Dee:
“People, I Just Found Out The Loss Of Spiritual Mother, The Late, Great Ruby Dee. I’m Crushed By This Bad News And I Know Ruby Has Already Been Embraced In A Warm Loving Hug From Her Life Partner Of 57 Years, Mr. Ossie Davis.
It Has Been One Of My Great Blessings In Life To Work With Two Of The Finest Artist And Activist. Ruby And Ossie Were In The Battlefields With Paul Robeson, Malcolm X And Dr. Martin Luther King. Ruby And Ossie Served As A Living Example That One Could Be An Artist And A Activist Too,That One Could Be An Artist And Still Deal With What It Means To Be A Black Woman And A Black Man In These United States.
God Bless You Ruby Dee. God Bless You Ossie Davis.
The Both Of You Told Us ‘To Always Do The Right Thing’.”
Spike Lee
Fox Searchlight tease something LEGO-related for The Grand Budapest Hotel:
