You may have noticed that many tickets for the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival are $18, which indieWIRE notes is a 50% jump. The TFF says, "In an effort to continue to provide the best possible experience, we have raised our prices, which have until now been lower than most other festivals." A spokeswoman tells the Post that the festival must spend "a significant amount of money to outfit all theaters it uses with digital projection equipment, and to fly in top-tier talent for personal appearances at screening Q&A's." Plus, people who live in the 'hood can get discounts. more ›

While the September 11 movie Flight 93 may be opening the Tribeca Film Festival in just a matter of weeks, the film's trailer has been playing. And some viewers are not exactly ready - the Lincoln Square Loews actually pulled the trailer and some NYC moviegoers covered their eyes when it came on. The trailer is effectively chilling, reminding us of how it was just a beautiful September day that turned into scary chaos. Director Paul Greengrass secured the approval from all of Flight 93 victims' families to make the film, and Universal, the studio that produced the film, says it's "not shocked to hear that some people find it uncomfortable." more ›

Call it sensitivity or call it fear: Olive Stone's much talked about September 11 movie, based on the rescue of two Port Authority officers, is shooting only a few scenes in New York, with most of the filming on Hollywood soundstages. The movie is based only on the accounts of Sergeant John McCouglin (to be played by Nicolas Cage -yes, that's why he's been sporting the 'stache) and Officer William Jimeno (played by Michael Pena), who were trapped under World Trade Center debris for 22 hours. Producer Michael Shamberg says, "We're not doing the `Towering Inferno-Titanic' version...we just felt after discussing it that frankly, it's easier to do it in Los Angeles." Yeah, like the September 11 miniseries was easier to film in Toronto. But the film is shooting until mid-November, with a tentative release date of August 11, just in time for the fifth anniversary. Director Paul Greengrass's film about Flight 93 (titled Flight 93), the flight that crashed in Pennsylvannia, may be released before the Stone movie, which means it'll be the summer of 9/11 - just in time for the midterm elections. more ›

Gothamist is excited about Team America, the marionette movie from Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park that will spoof both left and right wing Americans, as well as world leaders in rude and hilarious fashion (purposefully bad accents for Kim Jong Il, for starters, let alone the marionette sex issue). But we don't know exactly why composer Marc Shaiman left the film Or that's what we thought we heard. Marc, a film and musical composer (he won a Tony for Hairspray and kissed his partner on live TV), was working on Team America and actually was blogging about working on the film's score. It's not up anymore, but Gothamist had the foresight (okay, we were going to do a post ages ago but never got around to it) to copy one entry:

But on TEAM AMERICA, I finally got them to write MY titles on the music, so, taking important lines of dialogue from the movie, I had the joy of watching these virtuosic musicians see they were playing a piece of music entitled "SURPRISE, COCK FAGS!" or "HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A MAN EAT HIS OWN HEAD?" some bowed their heads in shame, while others played with a brand new intensity!! On this score, I have gotten to write a much more muscular score than I am usually given the opportunity to do. And none of the usual kooky comedy flourishes. There has not been one measure of pixilated pizzicato strings or wacky woodwind passages. Oh no, it's all low brass and blaring horns here today. And banging ethnic and techno drums. And even better, NO PRODUCER or DIRECTOR!! They're too busy elsewhere!! Whheeeeeee!!!!

Getting ready to close out our NY Film Festival viewing with 21 Grams tonight. Elvis Mitchell says it may "well be the crowning work of this year." more ›

From Chick Lit to Chick Movie
Gothamist and its readers try to cast The Parker Grey Show.
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