I recommend a Slate article of all things, a roundtable of film critics on this years films. It's at:
http://www.slate.com/code/MovieClub/MovieClub.asp?Show=12/13/99&idMessage=41 68&idBio=134
They have a great discussion arguing whether 1999 is the best year for film innovation since the legendary year of 1974, from how SOUTH PARK compares with the innovation of THREE KINGS, along with a discussion on the merits and dangers of moving from film to video projection in production and theatre projection. The themes of the discussion include:
-- the rise of ensemble acting over stars -- the disappearance or at least subversion of formulas in scripts -- the collapse of old stars (Harrison Ford) or their non-star turns (Bruce Willis) -- the role of digital editing in the new innovation -- the coming into its own of animation in film -- the "reverie" state of watching a film versus the "hypnosis" of watching video
Well worth checking out.
-- Nathan Newman