Catching Up With an 1856 Melville Story. Jonathan Parker's sorrowful and hilarious film transports Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" into a surreal contemporary nowhere world. By A. O. Scott. [New York Times: Movies]

Politics and Power, Done as Myth. Dani Kouyaté's film is a reconstruction of a myth of the Wagadu people of Western Africa dating from the seventh century. By Dave Kehr. [New York Times: Movies]

An Avenger Rampages, and Chop! Chop! Heads Roll (or Rather, Fly). For those unfamiliar with this 1975 martial-arts-and-mayhem adventure, catching its rerelease will be like discovering a vinyl 45 you've heard sampled your entire life. By Elvis Mitchell. [New York Times: Movies]

Now, that's parody!. Parody is a fair use. That means, in a nutshell, that you can use something to make fun of itself without infringing on its copyright. This principle exists so that authors can't use copyright as a club to stifle criticism; without it, Mad Magazine wouldn't be able to use caricatures and exaggerated plotlines to show how bad a movie is, etc.

Now, satire is another thing altogether. A satire is a humorous work that uses one thing to make fun of something else, like Weird Al Yankovic's "Like a Surgeon." Weird Al has a bone to pick with the medical profession, not Madonna, so using her copyrighted "Like a Virgin" without her permission is an infringement. Think of it like this: Madonna isn't responsible for the excesses of the medical establishment; why should the fruit of her labor be used in a ridiculing manner without her permission?

It's amazing how many people just! don't! get! this! Once you've got the distinction, it's pretty easy to grasp. Here's a perfect example: The EFF has just released an high-larious Flash video of "Tinseltown Club," a parodical musical animation that uses the Mickey Mouse Club themesong to draw attention to Disney's involvement with the Hollings Bill, which will put Hollyweird's technophobic studio heads in charge of all new technology. This is a parody (we actually had to go back to the drawing board once or twice and make this more like Disney's own song and iconography, otherwise, the parodical link wouldn't be clear enough).

And it's fab. Got a Gnutella node or a Kazaa server? Put it up—the more, the merrier. In an age where everyone is terrified that if they utter the True Name of some big company's invention that they'll be sued into smoking rubble, it's way-refreshing to be able to shout the copyrighted words-of-power joyously and freely. [Source] via [Boing Boing Blog]

For Alan Bates, a Role's a Role. For Alan Bates, A Role's a Role. By Dave Kehr. [New York Times: Movies]

To Stay Young Always, a Lost Cause Even at 30. Gabriele Muccino's stinging contemporary comedy "The Last Kiss" opens series "Open Roads: New Italian Cinema," presented the Film Society of Lincoln Center. By Stephen Holden. [New York Times: Movies]

Going Backstage at Two Operas. Documentaries about musical productions don't come along every week, but now there are two. In both cases, extravaganza would be a better term. By Peter M. Nichols. [New York Times: Movies]