Posts filed under 'Controversy'
January 30th, 2009
According to Cinematical, mega-retailer Wal-Mart has urged Kevin Smith to remove the word “porno” from the DVD case of his movie, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, and Smith has agreed.
Sure, this keeps innocent young eyes from glimpsing the word “porno” in the title of an R-rated film, but as the article says, it raises another issue — “What happens when one of the unsuspecting few buy it and then get the rude awakening of a movie alllll about sex and porn?”
Thoughts?
November 6th, 2008
I haven’t seen the new movie ROLE MODELS yet (well, obviously — it hasn’t opened yet), but I’m already predisposed to like it, and a big reason for that is the prescence — both in front of and behind the cameras — of Paul Rudd.
Rudd (who co-wrote ROLE MODELS) is the sort of likeable, good-looking actor who could’ve amassed a small fortune by now playing it safe and starring in an endless series of bland, forgettable romantic comedies. Thankfully, he’s avoided that career path (well, for the most part) and instead decided to play likeable, good-looking oddballs in a series of comedies that do include romance, but always look at it from a decidedly skewed angle.
He was great as David, the lovelorn loser who got dumped (by Kelly from THE OFFICE of all people) and descended deeper and deeper into post-relationship madness. A lesser actor would’ve balked at videotaping his own butt in an electronics store and having it displayed on multiple screens, but clearly Mr. Rudd has no shame. In a comedic actor, that’s a very good thing indeed. He was also very funny — a bit more down to Earth — as Pete, the married dad who just wanted to sneak away for a little fantasy baseball with his buddies. Married life is a tricky thing to play onscreen, but Rudd (and co-star Leslie Mann) manage to make it funny and real. And really funny.
More? How about FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, where Rudd plays a blissfully stoned surfing teacher. Or WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY, where he kills as John Lennon, endlessly repeated his name and the names of his bandmates. Or ANCHORMAN, where he played the Sex Panther-doused field reporter Brian Fantana. Or numerous appearances on the underrated show RENO 911?
In short, he’s great in everything. Keep on keepin’ on, Paul.
September 18th, 2008
The Onion AV Club’s excellent New Cult Canon finally works its way around to David Fincher’s 1999 masterpiece about office drones, broken bones and DIY explosives, FIGHT CLUB. Writer Scott Tobias delivers a smart defense of the film, and the peanut gallery chimes in with hundreds of comments (some smart, some less so).
When FIGHT CLUB hit theaters nine years ago, many mainstream critics — most of them baby boomers — called it irresponsible, fascist and downright dangerous. These were some of the same writers who praised earlier controversial films, such as A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and STRAW DOGS, but having the message aimed at a younger generation apparently upped the fascism factor. Here, for instance, is what Roger Ebert said…
FIGHT CLUB is the most frankly and cheerfully fascist big-star movie since DEATH WISH, a celebration of violence in which the heroes write themselves a license to drink, smoke, screw and beat one another up.
What’s funny is how the condemnations of the boomers solidified FIGHT CLUB as a Gen X movie. (In his AV Club piece, Tobias calls it “the quintessential Generation X film.”) The DVD release, in fact, included many of those critical quotes in its self-aware packaging. Its cult has only grown in the last nine years, and though many people — even its fans — miss some of its complexities and ambiguities, it still ranks as one of the best films of the last 25 years.
September 11th, 2008
Apparently, things got a little heated in the audience during a screening of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE at the Toronto Film Festival. According to the New York Daily News…
“Soon after the lights went down, a source tells us, “a man in the audience started yelling, ‘Don’t touch me!’ People looked around and shrugged. Ten minutes later, the voice yells again, ‘I said don’t touch me!’”
Again, people shrugged off the disturbance. But a few minutes later, says our source, “the guy stands up in the darkness and thwacks the guy behind him with a big festival binder. He hit him so hard everybody could hear it. Everyone freaked out and turned around.”
Here’s the twist: The guy swinging the “big festival binder” was New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick, and the guy getting hit was none other than Chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert.
Reports say that Ebert, who can no longer speak due to throat cancer, was trying to tap Lumenick on the shoulder to ask him to move because Ebert couldn’t see. According to the Daily News, Lumenick didn’t realize who he’d whacked until the deed had been done, but didn’t apologize afterwards.
August 18th, 2008
That’s the tagline for Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic, W, which arrives in theaters Oct. 26. Here are the posters that go with it, featuring Josh Brolin in the big chair. (Images courtesy of Hollywood Elsewhere.)
In case you were wondering, “misunderstimated” is a word (or non word) our president has used. More than once.
So what do you think of this ad campaign — and, more generally, this movie? Obviously Stone is no Bush fan, but I thought his underrated 1995 biopic NIXON was surprisingly sympathetic. NIXON, by the way, arrives on DVD tomorrow in a new edition, and is worth another look. I’ll probably review it in the next few weeks.
June 9th, 2008
If you thought Oliver Stone’s upcoming biopic of our commander in chief, W., is going to be the fall’s most controversial movie, think again.
Here’s the trailer for RELIGULOUS, the new movie from Bill Maher and Larry Charles that does for religion what FAHRENHEIT 9/11 did for the Bush administration.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/qB8fPJ6zds8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Any comments?
May 9th, 2008
Josh Brolin had a heck of a year in 2007, with strong performances in AMERICAN GANGSTER, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, GRINDHOUSE and IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH. But have you seen what he has planned for 2009?
Yes, that’s Brolin as none other than our president. Brolin has the title role in Oliver Stone’s new movie, W, which also stars Elizabeth Banks as Laura. I’d say in Brolin’s case, the resemblance is pretty strong, though Banks looks a little young to play Laura. (She’s 27 years younger than the real First Lady.)
What do you think? With Oliver Stone behind the camera — his flag-waving 2006 movie WORLD TRADE CENTER aside – anything is possible. Though his output in recent years has been a bit lackluster, I’m a big fan of both JFK and NIXON. Be interesting to see him apply his talents to another U.S. President.
April 10th, 2008
There’s trouble in Hulk-land, according to this article from the New York Times.
For one thing, the recently unveiled trailer got a decidedly mixed reaction from fans and critics. As the article says, “The look of the new Hulk — meaner and greener — won praise from some fans online, but several influential tastemakers held their noses. Entertainment Weekly pronounced the computer-generated effects ‘totally fake-looking,’ while obsessedwithfilm.com deemed the project ‘just hideous.’ ”
To add to the troubles, the movie stars Edward Norton — a very talented actor, but apparently not the easiest guy to work with when the movie isn’t what he wants it to be. (See also AMERICAN HISTORY X and THE ITALIAN JOB). Asked to respond to reports of friction between the studio and Norton (who is also working on the script), the Times article quotes Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel, then offers a helpful explanantion of Hollywood-ese:
“When you get to this point in the process, there are always lots of passionate discussions,” he said. “Edward is very passionate. He is as passionate about the Hulk as we are.” (For those unaccustomed to Hollywood speak, “very passionate” roughly translates to a seven on the “he’s a difficult person” scale.)
THE INCREDIBLE HULK is set to open on June 13, and it’s far from the only game in town. THE DARK KNIGHT (the new Batman movie), IRON MAN (also based on a Marvel Comics character), SPEED RACER (from the Matrix boys, the Wachowski brothers), HANCOCK (Will Smith’s movie about a down-and-out superhero) and, of course, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL will all be competing for the same audience, and bad word of mouth combined with the lackluster reception to Ang Lee’s 2003 HULK movie could spell Doom for this Marvel movie, and I’m not talking about Dr. Doom.
Here’s the trailer. What do you think?
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ia3uPDuojmU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
March 31st, 2008
Yes, that’s Robert Downey Jr. between Ben Stiller and Jack Black.
Heard about TROPIC THUNDER, the upcoming movie written and directed (and starring) Ben Stiller? The plot has great potential — a group of self-obsessed actors filming an APOCALYPSE NOW-type war movie wind up in an actual war zone — but the most intriguing part of the movie is Robert Downey Jr.’s role: He plays a dedicated (white) method actor who undergoes an elaborate physical change to play a black character (in the movie within the movie). Here’s what Downey himself says about the role:
““At the end of the day, it’s always about how well you commit to the character,” he says. “I dove in with both feet. If I didn’t feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I’m just C. Thomas Howell in SOUL MAN, I would’ve stayed home.”
Downey is, of course, referring to the awful 1986 “comedy” where Howell played a student who pretended to be black to get into college. The premise was offensive and, even worse, the movie wasn’t funny. TROPIC THUNDER looks like it’s going to be a lot funnier — and address the racial issue in an intelligent, amusing way. Here’s the trailer…
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/-5xUx5GA4YU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
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