Posts Tagged ‘film’

War movies and the Oscars: It’s always hell

If “The Hurt Locker” wins the Oscar for best picture Sunday night — and at this stage, the race is really down to either “Avatar” or the Kathryn Bigelow-directed film about bomb disposal experts in Iraq — it will be the first war film to earn the academy’s top honor in nearly 25 years. In the past 40 years, only three bona fide war films have won the top Oscar — 1970’s “Patton,” 1978’s “The Deer Hunter” and 1986’s “Platoon.” ... read more >>

How Danny Huston accidentally became a star

If you don’t already know whose son Danny Huston is, the fastest way to figure it out is to close your eyes and listen to him speak. The words waft towards you on a breathy cloud, lent colour and character by a ­detectable lifelong smoking habit (no emphysema like the Old Man had, though, not yet). In a faded American accent that sounds as if it’s been ­acquired or borrowed or even half-forgotten in ­exile. ... read more >>

Taiwan to include tobacco in film rating scheme

Taiwan is planning to change its movie rating system to take account of characters who smoke, the government said Saturday, as part of a bid to reduce the number of youngsters taking up the habit. The Department of Health wants to make tobacco use one of the criteria for deciding what age rating to give a film, a move that could mean some animated movies are out of bounds for children. ... read more >>

Study Says State Film Subsidies Underwrite Tobacco-Friendly Movies

A new report takes aim at state movie production subsidies for supporting films that depict smoking. Health researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, estimate that 60 percent of the $1.4 billion that states offered in 2008 to attract Hollywood filming went to movies with tobacco imagery. ... read more >>

Chinese tobacco control expert calls for smoking ban in TV, film

A Chinese tobacco-control expert has called for screens to be free of smoking scenes so as to better protect viewers, particularly the minors. ... read more >>

Smoking film villains ‘encourage well-behaved teens to light up’

Villains who smoke in films are enticing ‘good’ teenagers to light up, researchers claim. ... read more >>