The decline in screener leaks could be attributed to tighter controls — personalized watermarks, the aggressive prosecution of leakers, and greater awareness of the risks for Academy voters.

But the continuously shrinking window between theatrical and retail releases may be to blame. After all, once the retail Blu-ray or DVD is released, there’s no reason for pirate groups to release a lower-quality watermarked screener.

I’d be curious to see whether the small percentage of leaked screeners correspond with the small percentage of Oscar nominated films not yet released at retail yet. I can’t imagine this suddenly being the year that Joe Academy Member has the realization that leaking his screener discs could be detrimental to his future in the Academy.

It just goes to show, though, that even the most easily enforceable situations (screeners with personalized watermarks pretty much hands you over on a silver platter) do not prevent piracy.

via MPAA Wins the Oscar Screener Battle, but Loses the War | Epicenter | Wired.com.

Apparently, this video also doubles as the title sequence for David Fincher’s upcoming film, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Kinda reminds you of the now classic title sequence for Se7en, huh?

I see what they did there by setting the trailer to Nine Inch Nails’ “We’re In This Together.” (because they’re a team of super heroes.)

I’m a little disappointed that we don’t get a glimpse of Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill even though she isn’t a “name” actor like the rest of the star studded lineup, but what can you do. I’m also talking myself into ScarJo as Black Widow. Probably because she doesn’t speak at all in the trailer.  I don’t want to set expectations too high, but based on this trailer and Joss Whedon’s track record, I think we might all have good reason to geek out next May – comics fan or not.

Walter Murch, Oscar-winning film editor:

The biggest problem with 3D, though, is the “convergence/focus” issue. A couple of the other issues — darkness and “smallness” — are at least theoretically solvable. But the deeper problem is that the audience must focus their eyes at the plane of the screen — say it is 80 feet away. This is constant no matter what.

But their eyes must converge at perhaps 10 feet away, then 60 feet, then 120 feet, and so on, depending on what the illusion is. So 3D films require us to focus at one distance and converge at another. And 600 million years of evolution has never presented this problem before. All living things with eyes have always focussed and converged at the same point.

Read: Why 3D doesn’t work and never will. Case closed. – Roger Ebert’s Journal.

Pretty impressive stuff.

via Scott Pilgrim vs 60 Seconds : Edgar Wright Here.

The story-free modern blockbuster tends to default to the Star Wars settings; they plug in convenient pieces of Joseph Cambell’s The Hero’s Journey (look at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There’s almost nothing in the film that qualifies as an actual story (and no, a story is not just a series of events that occur in a linear format), but the little bit of story that is there is simply ‘Sam refuses the call.’ And that’s it) and then they plug in ‘types’ – rogue, idealistic kid, snarky sidekick – and they use these tired devices as ways to get from action scene to action scene.

It’s more of a problem with action blockbuster films than any other genre of film. Other than Inception, can you name many other blockbusters that have great stories to tell?

People are familiar with The Hero’s Journey template movie, and if a studio’s goal is to be non-offensive to the largest audience possible and make money by dazzling with effects and explosions, the formulaic story is an easy out to take.

It’s a shame, because we should hold our blockbusters to a higher storytelling standard.

Read: The Devin’s Advocate: James Cameron Calls Out The Story Crisis In Hollywood | Badass Digest.

You know, it wasn’t that bad. I mean you’re going to have to suspend copious amounts of disbelief, but if you try not to think about things too much, you might actually enjoy yourself. Don’t bother yourself with details like “Why is a giant software company policed only by one fat security guard?” or “How much are they paying that guy to chase Flynn to the roof of the building and balance on top of a beam to watch as he jumps off?” And let’s not get started about the rules of a world where software programs are anthropomorphized. Can you think of a reason why would software programs need to go to a nightclub?

Just enjoy the action scenes and amazing visual aesthetics. Don’t ask yourself why certain things are happening and what they mean. The basic story is a simple “chase the gizmo and escape” tale. If you just hold onto that, you won’t have any trouble following the plot.

I don’t think I’ve fallen with a movie world’s visuals this much since Blade Runner. It makes me wonder how jaw-dropping that movie would be if given the same visual treatment today.

This image of Olivia Wilde has been seared in my minds eye forever (in a good way):

Enter The Void’s credits scene is pretty bad ass, though.

1. Toy Story 3, 2. The Social Network, 3. Animal Kingdom, 4. I Am Love, 5. Tangled , 6. True Grit, 7. The Town,8. Greenberg, 9. Cyrus, 10. Enter The Void (“Hands down best credit scene of the year … Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.” – QT), 11. Kick Ass.

And the runners up are 12. Knight and Day, 13. Get Him To The Greek, 14. The Fighter, 15. The Kings Speech,16. The Kids Are All Right, 17. How To Train Your Dragon, 18. Robin Hood, 19. Amer, 20. Jackass 3-D

Read: The Quentin Tarantino Archives » Blog Archive » Quentin’s Favorite Movies of 2010.

Everyone considers themselves otaku about something—whether it’s the mythology of Lost or the minor intrigues of Top Chef. American Idol inspires—if not in depth, at least in length and passion—the same number of conversations as does The Wire. There are no more hidden thought-palaces—they’re easily accessed websites, or Facebook pages with thousands of fans.

I can’t argue with his observations on how pretty much anything is grounds for any number of people to “geek out” on these days. Talk to the millions of “twihards” or “gleeks” and you have enough proof you need.

The last half of the piece gets a little loopy ridiculous, though his point is made. I remember designing Zelda dungeons on notebook paper as a kid after school. If I had access to all the content I do now as a kid, I would have probably spent that time consuming content rather than doing that. After all, nothing’s more discouraging than seeing other people do things way better than you.

Read: Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die | Magazine.

Prima Cinema Inc. is the new start-up company behind the service, which would charge a one-time fee of $20,000 in order to install what they call a “digital-delivery system”, and then there would be an additional $500 fee per film. The Wall Street Journal says that Prima wants to attract “the world’s best-appointed living rooms”, which may limit the market a bit, sure, but, like Universal’s Adam Fogelson points out, it’s such a niche market that it shouldn’t harm “any of our existing partners or revenue streams.”

Read: Would You Pay $20 Grand to Watch Films at Home the Same Day They Hit Theaters? – The Moviefone Blog.