Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, War

First, let's recap: On May 21, Eugene posted about Spike Lee's continued criticism of Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima for not including African Americans. Lee was asked why Eastwood did it as he did, and I have to say, I don't blame him for responding: "If you reporters had any balls you'd ask him why. There's no way I know why he did that -- that was his vision, not mine..." Today, we got word that Eastwood has responded, with the eloquent "A guy like him should shut his face." He then went on to talk about revisionism.

So, MTV went back to Lee, who is taking, and I quote: "the Obama high road." (New political slang alert! What's next?) He continued: "I've said my statement. I have no ill will towards Mr. Eastwood. What I said to him was not a personal attack, it was an observation. So that's really the end of it."

Think what you will of Lee, but this whole thing is a little ridiculous. If you head back to Erik's 2007 post about Miracle at St. Anna, Lee discussed how he'd met a black veteran who fought at Iwo Jima and was disappointed in Eastwood's portrayal, and how this inspired him to make the film and pay tribute to African American soldiers. Now he's getting crap thrown at him about revisionist history, and all of this is stemming from people asking him to talk about it, and him saying he couldn't answer for Eastwood. Lee might say some controversial things sometimes, but he was really backed into a corner this time around.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom

Here's a funny one for your Friday: Remember that MTV Movie Awards spoof featuring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black? If not, head here to refresh your memory. In said video, Stiller was using his two Tropic Thunder co-stars to shoot a "viral video" for the upcoming flick; one to impress his consistently bored nephew. It was a funny video, and arguably the best spoof of this year's awards show. Of course, kids everywhere wanted to share the viral video featuring three of their favorite actors making a viral video -- but the only problem is that Viacom has forced YouTube to not only remove all uploads, but also suspend the YouTube account of the person(s) who uploaded it.

They've pulled the viral video they made! Looking around, the video is still available over at sites like Funny or Die, so perhaps this has more to do with Viacom's lawsuit against Google (who own YouTube) than it does pulling the video from all similar sites so that folks can only watch it on MTV. Because that would be weird ... and sorta ironic, don't ya think? Ahem.

[via Matt Griswold]

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, Celebrities and Controversy, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

What Silent Bob giveth, Silent Bob taketh away... or, at least, taketh down, which is why one can no longer give the Zack and Miri Make a Porno teaser a look-see until the MPAA gives it the once-over.

The online-only teaser, while filled with writer-director's Kevin Smith expectedly raunchy dialogue, does not actually feature any footage from the finished film, but according to Smith's recent News Askew post, that is a stipulation unseen by the Ratings Board, which must approve all marketing materials for any film.

"We're now officially submitting the teaser to the MPAA for rating," said Smith. "If they approve it, we'll put it back up." He does make a point of mentioning how a mere two years ago, he posted similarly crude internet-exclusive trailers for Clerks II with nary a complaint.

Until the MPAA hands down its formal red-band (or is it yellow-band?) decree, here's a link to our initial post on the teaser's arrival last week -- a post on which the teaser just so happens to still work...

[via /Film]

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Boston International Film Festival kicks off today at the AMC/Loews Boston Common, running through the 14th. The Globe's Ethan Gilsdorf breaks down some of the offerings. What makes the BIFF different from the Boston Film Festival, the Independent Film Festival of Boston, the Boston Underground Film Festival, and the New England Film and Video Festival? Basically this: over 100 films that have been made with love, family money, and skill, that weren't accepted into the top tier of the festival circuit (Sundance, Toronto, New York, Boston Independent, etc), and that most likely won't find the light of theatrical distribution. Doesn't mean they're bad -- on the contrary, there will be some finds here if you're willing to roll the dice and pluck one or two of the "Sessions" on the BIFF schedule. What it does mean is that there are increasingly more filmmakers in the world than there are mass distribution points; the bazaar that is the Boston International Film Festival is a welcome annual attempt to correct the situation.

But you probably just want to know if the new Adam Sandler movie is any good. Fair enough. Wesley thinks so, Tony Scott really thinks so, and I think so too. There are some of you who can't countenance the thought of Sandler in anything; fine, be off with you. There are others who'll recoil from the notion of the star and screenwriters Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel addressing events in the Middle East with a comedy about an Israeli counterterrorist who really wants to be a New York hair stylist (see photo above). You're right, it's a dreadful idea. No, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" does not represent nuanced political discourse. But Sandler is disarmingly sweet and so's the movie's overall tone. Also: knuckleheaded, sloppy, crass, politically naive, extremely silly, and funny in any scene that does not involve Rob Schneider, a vast forcefield of humor-suck who negates any and all comedy ions simply by showing up.

As Wes notes, they should have hired more Middle Eastern actors to play Middle Easterners -- one of the smaller but richer delights of this splattery farce is actor and stand-up comic Daoud Heidami as one of Schneider's more easygoing accomplices. Like I said, you already know whether you're interested in this, but it stands as one of Sandler's better entries, precisely because it doesn't go the "Click" route and take itself seriously.

If you have young kids, you already know you're going to "Kung Fu Panda," so all I'll say is that the story is a retread that will have your brains oozing out your ears while the visuals are lush and inventive, even beautiful. Except for Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman, the all-star vocal cast (Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane) is woefiully underutilized.

It's a weirdly martial arts/kickboxing weekend all around, though. There's Sandler's action stunts in "Zohan," the regurgitated Shaw Brothers CGI of "Panda," some real Shaw Brothers classics at the Harvard Film Archive, the low-budget North Carolina tae kwon do farce "The Foot Fist Way" at the Kendall, and the surprisingly sharp and funny "Bigger, Stronger, Faster," a documentary in which bodybuilder Chris Bell looks at America's steroid addiction through the bulging, abused muscles of his two brothers. That's at the Kendall and the Coolidge; over at the Museum of Fine Arts is what's probably the single best movie of the weekend: "Up the Yangtze," a gorgeously shot documentary (see photos below) about a few of the lives being affected by China's massive Three Gorges Dam project. I know, sounds like medicine, right? It's not -- it's transfixing, emotionally haunting stuff, and Canadian director Yung Chang is one to watch.

If you're of a certain age -- like, old -- you may have cut your adolescent movie teeth on "Harold and Maude," the 1971 cult Hal Ashby comedy about a suicidal young man (the great Bud Cort) who falls in love with a feisty old lady (the even greater Ruth Gordon). The movie's certainly an artifact of its day, but I must have seen it 25 times back when it played the Allston Cinema for two years.

Now comes word that the film's Cat Stevens soundtrack is finally available after all these years -- on vinyl. Sort of. Per this Variety blog posting, filmmaker and "H&M" fan Cameron Crowe issued a 2,500 run of the soundtrack on his Vinyl Films imprint last December. It quickly sold out but you can find it with a simple eBay search. So if you want to sing out sing out -- and be prepared to pay up.