Welcome back to The Morning Read.

Been a while, hasn't it?  Blame Comic-Con.  Blame Canada.  Or, hell, just blame me.  I find that when I'm on the road, the time and comfort level it takes to put together a Morning Read eludes me pretty much all the time.  I need to just realize that these most likely won't happen during festivals or special events, and that way, I don't stress out when I fail.

I bookmarked a bunch of stuff while I was gone and on the road, and some of it's out of date now, but I figure I'll burn through the most interesting of it this week, since news seems a little slow, as a way of getting back up to speed.

I love the idea of seeing "Iron Man 3" or, more specifically, "The Avengers" in IMAX 3D, and it sounds like Jon Favreau agrees with me.  If he actually shoots "The Avengers" in 3D, there's a very good chance he will cause comic geeks around the world of all ages to simply pop a blood vessel.  There may, in fact, be such a thing as too much cool, and this idea comes close to accomplishing it.

I think at this point, the "mockumentary" has become so ubiquitous that people don't even think about it.  When they see something that uses documentary language as a shorthand to reality, they pretty much just roll with it.  I love this article about 18 films that have been part of blurring that line over the years.

The landscape is changing, and there are watermarks everywhere.

[more after the jump]

I know this article's a month old, but after spending the last two weeks in the company of a lot of my online peers, this makes me smile more than ever.  When I say the landscape is changing, I don't just mean from print to digital.  I also mean that even for those of us who have been here a while, it's a very different internet these days than it was when we began.  The people I really respect are the ones who I can really get in there and tussle with about film, and who can hold their own and make their case because they're passionate about the art.  There are certain people I look forward to seeing because I enjoy the way they challenge my views on film or on this business, and I think that's crucial for any of us to stay good at this.

RT @james_gunn Just came across hireamidget.com online - "The Official Place to Rent a Midget." Wow.

As always, Roger Ebert's got more class in one square inch of his body than I have in my entire body of work so far.  I've railed in the past about the tyrrany of list-making in place of real conversation about film, but Roger's summed it up with grace and style in reaction to a recent list of "The 50 Greatest Films Of All Time" in The Spectator.  And although I don't think any list is definitive, I gotta admire any group that puts "Night Of The Hunter" as number one.

Richard Corliss really struck a nerve today with a piece about Netflix, of all things.  When you insult someone's Netflix or Tivo, it's like you're insulting one of their kids.  People take it personally.  It's amazing how quickly people snapped into action, writing angry editorials about how Corliss is just plain out of touch.  These days, it's not enough to have options in how you consume your media; anyone who consumes it differently than you is suspect.

I would be more excited by the news that Michael Moore is leaving documentaries behind to make narrative features if I hadn't seen "Canadian Bacon."

I would love to eventually visit each and every one one of these film festivals, but I'll settle for Fantastic Fest at the end of September.  Yeeeeehah.

Dear god.  "You don't have to balance on shit," indeed.

 

 

I really like these Cinemash shorts that MSN and Mean Magazine have been publishing, and I confess that I am positively dizzy to see the "Oldboy" they have planned for this coming week.

RT @robhuebel A sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is two guys fucking my wife.

There's a reason that this interview between Jack Nicholson and January Jones has been widely redistributed all over the place.  It's a great read, and it makes me wish someone would offer Nicholson a regular interview show.  He'd be an amazing host, and tell me there's anyone who would refuse an invite to go sit down with him.

You know what scares me about this article?  I've been to about a half-dozen set visits at these stages, and I've always thought that place looked like an abestos factory.  I hope this turns out to not be as bad as it sounds at first.

And finally, if you want to see some lovely new production art from Disney's "Rapunzel," the studio posted some at their official site, and it really does look like they're aiming for a movie that's styled like their classic hand-animated movies but created with cutting edge tools.  Very curious to see footage of this once it's ready.  Just click on "visual development" from that link, and then keep hitting "more" until you see images repeat.

I've got all sorts of Comic-Con coverage for you this week, as well as reviews for "Julie & Julia," "The Perfect Getaway," and new entries on the Motion/Captured Must-See List along with DVD reviews, the conclusion of my "Star Trek" series with Toshi, and much more.  It's great to be back at home and on my regular schedule again, and I'll see you guys back here later today.

The Morning Read appears here every day, Monday through Friday.  Except when it doesn't.

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