Where Did The Week Go…

影视帝国 tomove.com.cnMAP Last week I talked about Colton Harris-Moore, aka the “Barefoot Bandit” who was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for his adventurous and illegal escapades in the pacific northwest. This week another notorious criminal from the northwest was sentenced. He also caught national headlines for his bizarre behavior. But this criminal didn’t evade police in multiple states by stealing boats and planes. This guy thought he was Luke Skywalker. The force was not strong with this one. David Allen Canterbury went to a Portland Toys R Us store, grabbed a toy Star Wars light saber and started hitting customers with them. He then carried them outside the store and swung at police. Using the ways of the force, Canterbury was able to deflect a wire from one of the officer’s Taser guns. Officers eventually wrestled him to the ground before arresting him. Canterbury pleaded no contest to fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest. The judge sentenced him to 45 days in jail, two years of probation and a mental-health evaluation that could call for treatment. Canterbury has been banned from Toys R Us and will no longer receive training from Yoda since he couldn’t fight off police officers. No doubt George Lucas is in his office somewhere smiling because Star Wars was involved in this national news story and he’s undoubtedly made even more money. Redbox snubs Warner Brothers’ 56-day restriction. Will this end up hurting Netflix? It was announced on Thursday by the Los Angeles Times that Redbox, the red movie-rental kiosks found at grocery stores and fast food restaurants, had decided to ignore Warner Brothers 56-day plan that would restrict when a consumer has access to renting a new release movie on DVD or Blu-ray. Company officials at Redbox decided to purchase all new Warner Brothers releases in bulk through retailers like Amazon and Wal-Mart, but at a higher cost than the company would pay directly through the movie studio. The extra cost of obtaining Warner Brothers’ inventory may lead to a raise in prices. The current rate is $1.20 a night per DVD. But despite the potential raise in prices, Redbox might just have an advantage over rival Netflix. Netflix doesn't like discs anymore. Last month Netflix agreed to Warner Brothers’ new release window in exchange for continuing to get the discounted rate on new releases. The two month delay of Warners’ titles for Netflix customers seems like a stiff penalty that may cause customers to leave, but Netflix is looking to save money wherever they can in physical DVD expenses. Over the past year Netflix has made it clear that they are emphasizing more on the streaming aspect of their business than the DVD-by-mail service. Warner Brothers was the first movie studio to introduce the rental delay penalty against Netflix two years ago with a 28-day delay and they are the first to double the delay. Other studios followed two years ago and they may follow Warner again. Netflix has reluctantly conceded to these studio giants demands many times to ensure their customers are happy. But with all of these delays and penalties, who knows how long Netflix will continue renting discs to customers. It’s proving to be a troublesome and expensive aspect of their business and eventually, they might just wave the white flag and become a streaming-only service. It’s what they’ve already been pushing, so it’s just a question of when. Local Eugene man featured on American Idol. Ben Harrison, a 28 year-old-man and current UO student appeared on the Portland auditions episode of American Idol Wednesday. Harrison made it through four rounds and eventually made it in front of the show’s three judges: Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson. Unfortunately, the three hosts said no to the Oregon Duck who in the past, has traveled to Los Angeles and San Francisco to audition. But Harrison was still upbeat about the whole experience especially since this time was the furthest he’d ever gotten in the audition process. Appearing on KMTR, Harrison said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? In show business, at least. I’m going to keep trying, I love to sing.” Netflix Instant Pick: Kicking and Screaming Not to be confused with the Will Ferrell soccer comedy from a few years ago, Kicking and Screaming was released in 1995 by first-time director Noah Baumbach who has since directed notable films such as The Squid and the Whale and Greenberg. Despite it being his first film, Kicking and Screaming remains Baumbach’s best film to date. Featuring a young and mostly unknown cast, the film is both funny and accurate in its portrayal of people trying to figure things out when they graduate. After college graduation, Grover’s girlfriend Jane tells him she’s moving to Prague to study writing. Grover isn’t quite ready to make such a drastic change in his life so he decides to continue living with his college buddies. Together this group of over-educated, under-qualified graduates deny adulthood and responsibility as long as they can. A comedy about avoiding responsibility. The film isn’t driven by plot, just smartly written characters who say things like, “I’m nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday” and “You have two emotions, antsy and testy.” The film keeps track of the college schedule by informing the audience when winter break is and how long until finals despite the fact that these characters are no longer in school. But they hang out at the same places, run into the same people and eventually some of them find themselves eating in the school cafeteria. A group of likable young actors and a funny and smart script make Kicking and Screaming both entertaining and timely despite its mid 90s release. Anyone who has graduated knows the feeling of the daunting postgraduate, welcome to the real world life we all eventually must face. This is a film that joins Clerks, Slacker and Reality Bites as smart commentaries on Generation X in the 90s. A time when young people didn’t want responsibilities or families or mortgages, just an extension until that reality kicks in.