August 2, 2016

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Today in Movie Culture: Honest 'Watchmen' Trailer, How Pixar Makes You Cry and More

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Movie Takedown of the Day:

In anticipation of the relesae of Suicide Squad, Honest Trailers watches Watchmen and pulverizes it:

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Fan Theory of the Day:

Also in anticipation of Suicide Squad, the Film Theorists address the fan theory that there are three different Jokers:

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Fan Art of the Day:

Quentin Chaillet created this digital art piece titled Little Batman, showcasing a version of the character antithetical to the one on the big screen lately (via Geek Tyrant):

Movie Scoring Lesson of the Day:

If you want to make animated films like Pixar’s, watch this video on how the studio uses music to play with our emotions (via Sploid):

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Screenwriting Lesson of the Day:

In the second new video essay on the script for American Beauty, Lessons from the Screenplay focuses on the 27 pages director Sam Mendes cut out:

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Movie Editing Lesson of the Day:

CineFix spotlights two brilliant moments in editing, one from Ida and the other from No Country for Old Men, to illustrate the ideas of holding long and cutting short:

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Movie Craft of the Day:

Get a peek at the world of casting in the Academy’s video on David Rubin, who shares the story of discovering Hairspray‘s Nikki Blonsky:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Myrna Loy, who was born on this date in 1905, with William Powell and Skippy the dog (aka Asta) reading their scripts behind the scenes of The Thin Man in 1934:

Cosplay of the Day:

Cosplayer extraordinaire Ryan Wells shows off his costume for the Garthim from The Dark Crystal (via Fashionably Geek):

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of Doc Hollywood. Watch the original trailer for the Michael J. Fox comedy below.

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For Cars, The Good Old Days Are Today

A Nissan Titan rolls off the line in Canton, Miss., in April. Truck and SUV sales were strong again in July.

A Nissan Titan rolls off the line in Canton, Miss., in April. Truck and SUV sales were strong again in July. Rogelio V. Solis/AP hide caption

toggle caption Rogelio V. Solis/AP

For six years, the auto industry has been on a sales streak. July was no different. It was the best July since 2005, with sales up .4 percent over last July. Much of the growth was in trucks and SUVs. The three top-selling vehicles were trucks (Ford F Series, Chevy Silverado, Ram).

While sales generally were strong, some of the big names were down. General Motors fell 2 percent; Ford, 3 percent; Toyota, 1 percent. Those numbers are compared to the same month last year.

The industry is on track this year to sell 17.8 million vehicles.

The question for those watching the economy is: Has the car industry peaked? “It’s clear the industry is plateauing,” says Akshay Anand with Kelley Blue Book, “as we’re now seeing signs of SUVs slowing down for several brands, while sedans continue to struggle.” Anand isn’t alone in his analysis. Last week on Ford’s earnings call, the company said it likely slow production in anticipation of a weakened automotive economy in the fall and winter.

For much of the last half decade, the auto industry has been the bright spot in a tepid economy. And Anand says that’s not likely to change for a while. He says “sales are near all-time highs, and should continue to remain strong regardless of the flattened [economic] growth for the rest of 2016.”

The auto industry is and has been cyclical. But since the bailout of GM and Chrysler, the automakers have been looking to improve profitability during the downturns. Jessica Caldwell analyst with edmunds.com says with sales volume cooling, the car companies can “focus on profits instead of volume. And if you’re selling SUVs and trucks then that’s not a bad strategy.” Trucks and SUVs tend to have much higher profit margins.

Also since the downturn, the car companies have been able to reduce costs. And the recent sales growth is real, not inflated by incentives. “Interest rates are higher than last year and consumers bought at a higher rate,” says Caldwell. While car company helped the economy recover most analysts don’t see an automotive slowdown being the spark that ignites the next recession.

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No Dorms For U.S. Basketball Teams; They'll Stay On A Cruise Ship In Rio

The U.S. men's and women's basketball teams will reportedly stay on the Silver Cloud cruise ship rather than the Athletes' Village during the Olympic Games that start in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. The cruise ship is shown here on Monday at Rio's Maua Pier.

The U.S. men’s and women’s basketball teams will reportedly stay on the Silver Cloud cruise ship rather than the Athletes’ Village during the Olympic Games that start in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. The cruise ship is shown here on Monday at Rio’s Maua Pier. Vanderlei Almeida /AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Vanderlei Almeida /AFP/Getty Images

In a move that could be interpreted as indulgent or prescient — or both — the U.S. men’s basketball team at the Rio Olympics will stay aboard a luxury cruise ship rather than the spartan facilities at the Athletes’ Village.

It appears the U.S. women will also be living aboard the Silver Cloud, according to media reports.

The men’s basketball team, made up of 12 highly compensated NBA stars, has a tradition of opting for upscale digs ever since professionals were allowed to play in the Olympics in 1992. And the men’s team even stayed on a cruise liner once before, at the 2004 Games in Athens.

Meanwhile, Olympic organizers have been dealing with complaints of incomplete or malfunctioning facilities in the dormitory-style apartments that will house the more than 10,000 athletes at the Games. As Merrit Kennedy reported for The Torch, the Australian team has dealt with several problems, from plumbing and lighting issues to a fire and theft.

#IOCLuxuryLodging. Putting together a shower curtain so we can shower and not flood the place. pic.twitter.com/omaBJ7Dlje

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) August 2, 2016

NBA player Andrew Bogut, who’s in Rio to play for his native Australia, tweeted a photo of himself “putting together a shower curtain so we can shower and not flood the place.”

U.S. players are not anticipating any such problems.

“USA Basketball teams haven’t stayed in the Olympic Village since the 1988 teams did,” says the federation’s chief media officer, Craig Miller. He adds, “Our teams are extremely active in supporting their U.S. teammates.”

Many players, including LeBron James, a veteran of the past three Olympic teams, but not this one, took part in off-the-court events, attended other competitions and hung out with athletes at the Olympic Village.

The basketball team’s plans have been known since at least February, when The Sporting News cited Brazilian news agency UOL:

“Rio tourism official Nilo Sérgio Felix told UOL two transatlantic liners will be used to host high-profile guests during the games. One will be home to the so-called Olympic family — International Olympic Committee members and insiders — and the other to guests of a ‘multinational company’ and the group many around the world still refer to as the ‘Dream Team.’ “

Miller confirmed that the male basketball players aren’t the only ones who’ll be staying on what’s now been identified as a cruise ship with nearly 200 rooms. He says the ship was retained by food distribution giant Cisco, which sponsors both USA Basketball and the International Olympic Committee.

From the news agency EFE:

“The Silver Cloud, which docked at the city’s port at the weekend, can accommodate up to 400 people in its 196 cabins, some of which have already been allotted to the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball teams, the general directorate of the Maua port terminal said.”

We contacted USA Basketball’s women’s team to ask about their housing arrangements, but got few details, with a team representative citing security policies about lodging.

The U.S. men have their first game on Saturday, when they’ll face China. The women’s team will play their first game on Sunday, against Senegal.

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Latitudes: Hear Great Global Music Right Now

A still from the Brazilian band Cabruêra’s video for their song “Beira Mar” (Seashore). Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption Courtesy of the artists

With the Olympics beginning soon, we’re all probably about to hear a lot of bossa nova and samba. But let’s head instead to Paraiba, in Brazil’s Northeast, for the band Cabruêra and their wistful song “Beira Mar” (Seashore), in which they layer rock with percussion and accordion that bear a local accent. This animated video, with its trippy concept and supersaturated color scheme, is just dazzling.

And if you’re in New York this coming weekend, you can catch Cabruêra during the Brasil Summerfest — just in time to get you in the mood for Rio 2016.

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Tumi Music YouTube

Sometimes, all you need in the summer is a song that transports you somewhere else — and “Palermo Hollywood” by French singer/songwriter (and actor and record producer) Benjamin Biolay provides just that thing. Hardly a newcomer, Biolay likes to immerse himself in a particular theme or soundscape for each project. For his latest, he takes listeners to Buenos Aires, whose Palermo Hollywood neighborhood provided the name for both his latest album and its title track.

Some of the other songs on “Palermo Hollywood” bend more toward Latin inspiration, including several tunes co-written with Uruguayan/Argentine musician and actress Sofia Wilhelmi. The title song, however, is a melange of ideas and influences, between Biolay’s darkly Serge Gainsbourgian vocals, a gritty bass guitar riff and lush strings.

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Benjamin Biolay VEVO YouTube

The next Sia or Rihanna? That’s how singer Era Istrefi is being pitched to an international audience. With more than 119 million page views as of now on YouTube, her smash “Bonbon” — sung mostly in Albanian — came to the attention of Ultra Music, and the label has been busy having her remake the song in English and German as well. But Istrefi, a Kosovar Albanian, isn’t the only pop star right now who speaks (at least some) Shqip; Rita Ora‘s family left Kosovo when she was a baby.

As with some of Istrefi’s earlier regional hits, like the reggae-soaked “Mani për Money” (Crazy for Money) — which features patois-style lyrics that some may well find startling and even objectionable, especially coming out of Istrefi’s mouth — the dancehall-based “Bonbon” owes a significant debt to Caribbean music.

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Ultra Music YouTube

I’ve had my eyes and ears on the Korean group Jambinai for a few years now. Their mix of traditional Korean instruments and an aesthetic steeped in noise, metal and hardcore is incredibly intense and bracingly new. And their driving, pummeling energy is in plain view on their new album, A Hermitage, and on this song, “They Keep Silence.” It’s post-rock by way of Eunyong Sim’s geomungo (a long zither), Bomi Kim’s haegum (a bowed fiddle) and vocals and guitar by Ilwoo Lee (who also plays a traditional Korean bamboo flute called a piri on the album), rounded out by bass and drums, played respectively by Jihoon Ok and Jae Hyuk Choi.

As Lee recently told Vice, the inspiration for “They Keep Silence” is an expressly angry response to the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014, in which 304 people died. “The people in the government did wrong,” Lee said, “and those who know are keeping silent about it.”

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Jambinai YouTube

Finally, one more pick that features a very sweet moment in a summer when tempers are at a boil. When the Haitian band Lakou Mizik, now touring the U.S., got stuck on a flight out of Chicago that was delayed for nearly six hours, they decided to serenade the other passengers. Not only did their fellow travelers respond to their impromptu gig with cheers, but the Facebook version of their video has been picked up by outlets from Mashable to ABC.

Lakou Mizik has a strong sense of community in any setting. This nine-member group, ranging in age from their 20s to late 60s, came together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti.

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Lakou Mizik YouTube

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