Editor’s Note: Projecting features a selection of great film and television focused writing from around the internet.
Ben Kirby discusses the history of China and Hollywood and the box office push for more, for Empire:
It’s almost become old hat to bang on about the rise of China and its box office – but just because it’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s not true. Twenty years ago, Hollywood barely made a dent in China, with very few foreign films allowed into cinemas. Pirated videos did mean there was some access, but for the studios it wasn’t a market they could really exploit. Flashforward a few years and it’s a different story. In 1997, Titanic set the Chinese box office alight, and Hollywood sat up and paid attention. Now, more and more studios are building physical bases in Shanghai and elsewhere, while many a blockbuster’s plot has been retooled to include a handy sojourn to Chinese shores.
Scott Beggs looks at Kristen Stewart’s recent acting choices and the shaping of an era for actor rediscovery, for Film School Rejects:
It doesn’t really matter which it is because it depends solely on where you’re standing. The prevailing narrative is that she’s finally emerging from a cold winter although she’s been experimenting with different roles at least since Adventureland. Maybe she needed to get out of the shade of Twilight, or maybe the right blend of story and power hadn’t happened with On the Road or Welcome to the Rileys, but regardless of the hypothesis, the main point is that she’s the next actor in line for reconsideration.
Soraya Roberts explains what My So-Called Life taught her about beauty, for Bitch Media:
In 1994, that’s all I could think to ask when faced for the first time with Angela Chase. I was 14, and being pretty was important; that’s what TV told me. Around that time, I was starting to question just how important it actually was. Then Angela Chase came along. The awkward, Manic Panic–topped teen with pallid skin and lots of opinions seemed to confirm what I had already started to believe—that being pretty really wasn’t that crucial. But as a girl, pretty-or-not was the vocabulary I had automatically inherited from Hollywood. So I asked the question anyway.
Scott Mendelson covers why even if you hate it, Forrest Gump is deserving of your admiration, for Forbes:
Twenty years later, despite $677 million in worldwide grosses and six Oscars (included Best Picture), I now find myself in the critical minority and at the risk of critical wrath for admitting that I still rather love the Robert Zemeckis-directed and Tom Hanks-starring picture. I watched it again this week, for the first time in probably a decade, and I still feel it’s a movie worth championing, warts and all. Whether you like it or not, it still remains a unique bit of mainstream cinema. The fact that it existed, that it become an all-time box office champion, and that it still inspires fierce debates today, is but a testament to its legacy. You don’t have to love Forrest Gump to admire it and celebrate its success.
