Hawaii Five-O goes under the political knife
gregfelton.com (October 4, 2010)
LANCE BOYLE: “Tonight in ‘The Cutting Room,’ we turn from the silver screen to the small screen to look at the new fall season. Joining us in the studio is WTFN’s resident critic Miriam Kale, and via satellite from Los Angeles, we’re pleased to welcome Larry Levy, CEO of Redundancy Entertainment LLP. (Lance Boyle turns from facing the camera to Miriam Kale. They are sitting in high-backed upholstered chairs across a black coffee table. All around are enlarged stills and posters of the new Hawaii Five-O.) Miriam, the pilot of the new Hawaii Five-O was easily the most hyped show this September. Did the hype live up to expectations?...read more

‘Oscar Preview’—with Lance Boyle
gregfelton.com (January 25, 2010)
“Good evening, and welcome to WTFN’s inaugural Oscar preview show. I’m your host Lance Boyle coming to you from Los Angeles. The ceremony may still be weeks away but there’s a lot to talk about. Joining us in The Cutting Room is veteran movie columnist and critic Miriam Kale.” (Lance Boyle turns to face Miriam Kale. They are sitting in high-backed upholstered chairs across from each other. A black coffee table is between them and all around are enlarged stills and posters of the nominated movies.) Before we get into the movies themselves, Miriam, what’s your opinion on the Academy’s decision to include 10 best-picture nominees instead of the usual five? ...read more

Hollywood’s most misunderstood genre deserves its own award category
Canadian Arab News (February 15, 2009)
The Academy Awards ceremony bears little resemblance to the relatively modest affair that began it all on May 16, 1929, in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel . Then, a mere nine categories were honoured. Now, scores of awards are given out in categories unthinkable at a time before “talkies” and colour film. Most of these new categories are in what might be called “movie science,” areas like special effects, animation and computer graphics. The other side of movie-making, the artistic side, has understandably suffered as a result; the more money that gets blown on artificial acting, the less money there is to invest in real acting, and that includes intelligent, meaningful scripts.” ... read more

Beware of Greek movies bearing bad history and jingoistic subtexts
Canadian Arab News (April 12, 2007)
Visually and aesthetically, 300 is an impressive movie. Unfortunately, it is also a jingoistic bastardization of history that, intended or not, reinforces our cultural prejudices against Iran and the Middle East. Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, it tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, but only in the broadest sense does Miller get the story right.… Like many ahtists, Miller was dissatisfied with the historical record and committed needless embellishments and distortions. The result is a falsified history remarkable mostly for its preposterous depiction of the Persian King Xerxes.” ... read more

U.S.’s political and cultural depravity now playing at a theatre near you
Canadian Arab News (February 22, 2007):
Time again for “the Oscars”—Hollywood’s annual ceremony to honour the best achievements in filmmaking. Doubtless two of the most anticipated categories are Best Actor and Best Director, since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to its shame has never honoured Peter O’Toole or Martin Scorsese with an award. If Scorsese doesn’t win for his direction of The Departed, he should formally boycott the proceedings. Better to tell the academy to go to hell than risk receiving a “pity Oscar” like Paul Newman’s Best Actor award for the 1986 film The Color of Money—a make-good for not giving him the award for The Hustler 25 years earlier. One subject not up for discussion this night, though, is the overall corrupt state of American filmmaking. ... read more

Hollywood’s licence to lie must be revoked
Vancouver Courier (July 9, 2000)
In the upper left-hand corner of every New York Times front page is the famous motto: “All the news that’s fit to print.” Even if the Times occasionally fails to live up to this ideal, as Noam Chomsky can attest, the motto reassures readers that the paper prizes accurate reporting over ideology, a boast the National Post certainly cannot make. If people don’t trust what you print, they won’t buy it, and if people don’t buy the paper, it won’t be around for long. Forthrightness is good economics, at least in the real world. ... read more

Universal studios loses its Silver lining
Vancouver Courier (December 13, 1998)
Have you ever left a theatre asking yourself: “Why did I waste $8.50 and two hours on this dreck? Who thinks that lame Saturday Night Live skits deserve to be made into movies? What studio exec is responsible for this abomination? If some or all of these questions apply, you likely won’t shed a tear for Casey Silver. The head of Universal Pictures was forced to resign after his Seagram’s boss, Edgar Bronfman Jr., had had enough of watching his pictures come in over budget and then lose money. ... read more

Movie fodder stunts mind and intelligence
Vancouver Courier (July 6, 1997)
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are billed as the stars of the current box-office hit Face/Off, but anyone who has seen the film might beg to differ. Though the two men do have the most lines in the film, the real stars of Face/Off are its implausible script and director John Woo. This is unfortunate, because Travolta and Cage end up playing second banana to cartoonish violence and gratuitous special effects. The result is a mess, but a mess that nevertheless tells us something about the poor quality of Hollywood movies, and the general contempt Hollywood has for its audiences. ... read more