Filed under: Foreign Language, Celebrities and Controversy

In a classic case of Arthouse vs. Grindhouse, Academy Award-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has taken Academy Award-winning American director Quentin Tarantino to task for criticizing Italian films. You might have heard that Tarantino made disparaging remarks about the current state of Italian cinema last month ("Just depressing ... recent films I've seen are all the same") and that the film industry hit back (typical response: "Tarantino is a brute"). Even the classy Sophia Loren was quoted as saying: "How dare he talk about Italian cinema when he doesn't know anything about American cinema?"

In a delayed reaction, Almodovar has also stuck up for the Italians, reportedly saying: "Quentin is a good director, a passionate cinema enthusiast and great expert on all the world's trash. But you shouldn't take his comments too seriously because he suffers from a form of verbal incontinence and he is nostalgic for the Italian cinema of [Umberto] Lenzi, [Mario] Bava and [Lucio] Fulci. I don't think he was comparing the best auteur cinema of yesterday and today. I doubt he had the cinema of Luchino Visconti, Pietro Germi and Pier Paolo Pasolini in mind. And I don't think he knows Italy's auteur filmmakers of today."

The occasion was a ceremony in which Almodovar was awarded the title of Commendatore, a high honor in Italy, so maybe he felt it was incumbent upon him to defend the industry. It's all well and good that Almodovar is defending the Italians -- who doesn't like a little verbal scuffle between world-class film directors? But his argument appears to be more about sensibility than nationality. To take just one example, Almodovar appears to call Mario Bava a director of "trash," while respected critics like Tim Lucas have fought for many years to establish Bava's artistry. No doubt Tarantino will have more to say when he serves as "patron and presenter" of a retrospective of spaghetti Westerns at the Venice Film Festival in a couple of months.

Filed under: Drama, Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand

So you're probably wondering -- what in the world did Tony Kaye do this time? Although the man seemed to be taking it all down a few levels in a recent interview, controversy once again swirls around one of his films. This time it's Black Water Transit -- Kaye's first feature narrative since American History X -- and a film that has had one helluva rotating cast. And although it heads into production this week, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson (the two leads attached for some time) are no longer involved. Instead, Variety tells us that Laurence Fishburne and Brittany Snow have hopped onboard the crime drama, which was written by Matthew Chapman, and revolves around a shipping company owner who attempts to get his junkie son freed from prison.

Now, this is an odd little story, because based on the way Variety makes it sound Willis has been off this project for awhile. In fact, when all that talk about Vin Diesel bailing on Transit surfaced, Willis was already gone. Furthermore, they make it seem as if Diesel and Jackson were brought on as possible replacements for Willis, and not additional co-stars -- even though Sam Jackson is listed as a totally different character from Willis on IMDb (who, by the way, still have Willis and Jackson down as cast members). Meanwhile, all I want to know is whether Kaye dropped a piano on someone's head? But regardless of the entire musical chairs conspiracy, all three of those guys are now off the project, and Kaye will have to find a way to get through it all without losing Fishburne, as well as his sanity. It's a shame this guy can't keep it together because I really enjoyed American History X, and would've loved to see more work from him in the narrative department. Kaye's abortion documentary, Lake of Fire, is currently making the festival rounds. And based on his track record, Black Water Transit will be released sometime within the next 10 years.