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08 Sep 2009 11:06

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Culture, World: Daily Poll: Oliver Stone’s love letter to Latin America

  • Oliver Stone’s new movie, “South of the Border,” openly courts controversy in the way only an Oliver Stone movie can. It suggests that media outside of Latin America has been manipulated and that countries like Venezuela are really not that bad. It’s a big wet kiss to Hugo Chavez. Is he right? Is he wrong? Vote.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Sep 2009 13:28

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Politics: Michael Moore sticks his fat, grubby dagger into capitalism

  • Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. … You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy.
  • Michael Moore • In the ending monologue to his new movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which is hitting the Venice film festival today. His reasoning? Capitalism – at least the form practiced on Wall Street – is damaging to our economy, and bankers and investors are gambling with our money. He has a point in the midst of the rhetoric, but considering that we have a president who regularly gets called a socialist, it’s probably going to be lost on the American public. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 9 Comments • Permalink

01 Sep 2009 09:26

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Biz, Culture: Marvel is just more proof that Disney is out of good ideas

  • [Bob Iger] was watching all the classic Disney characters go by, and it hit him that there was not one character that Disney had created in the past 10 years. Not one. All the new characters were invented by Pixar.
  • John Lasseter • Discussing the turning point that convinced Disney to buy Pixar in 2006. Consider the Marvel deal to be in a similar situation. Marvel’s live-action properties are far more compelling than Disney’s right now, so much so that Disney’s struggling at the box office while other companies are doing really well. While Pixar can guarantee one solid animated movie a year, Disney’s live-action side has had diminishing returns since “Pirates of the Carribean.” Marvel provides the mouse with a shot in the arm. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2009 20:41

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Culture: Does “Inglourious Basterds” play too fast and loose with WWII?

  • The great, sick joke of the film’s grindhouse logic is that even though what it shows us didn’t happen, in a larger, almost abstract sense it did happen. (I mean, it’s not as if the Nazi high command, in the end, wasn’t destroyed.)
  • Entertainment Weekly film reviewer Owen Gleiberman • Discussing the possibility that Quentin Tarantino’s latest film might be the birth of a backlash. He notes that one of his reviewer friends found the end of the movie to be extremely offensive. Glieberman’s unnamed friend “thought Tarantino had stepped over a line of historical veracity, and that audiences, especially younger ones, might be led by Inglourious Basterds to embrace the idea that World War II was just another meaningless pulp fantasy.” Our thought? Tarantino’s only doing what his inspirations did – play fast and loose with history for entertainment’s sake. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

23 Aug 2009 21:14

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Culture: “Inglourious Basterds” easily Tarantino’s biggest opening ever

  • $37.6 million the box-office tally “Inglourious Basterds” drew this weekend source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Aug 2009 22:52

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Culture: Before seeing “Inglourious Basterds,” watch “Inglourious Plummers”

  • Anything is better with Mario. Including killing Nazis. Er, goombas.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Aug 2009 10:16

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Culture: Don’t let the marketing fool you. “Bandslam” is a good movie.

  • A movie that gets 80% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes — 90% from top critics — won’t see the light of day because Summit consistently made some of the worst choices, and their core audience summarily dismissed the movie without seeing it based on their sale.
  • A prominent filmmaker who wished to be anonymous • Regarding the outright bombing of the Vanessa Hudgens movie “Bandslam,” which was marketed like a Disney film despite the fact that the plot of the movie leans much closer to an offbeat indie flick like “The Commitments.” It just happens to feature teen pop icons Vanessa Hudgens and one half of Aly & AJ. Our thought on the matter: If you don’t wanted it marketed like a Disney flick, don’t cast Vanessa Hudgens. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Aug 2009 10:59

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Culture: Someone spent way too long researching “Groundhog Day”

  • 8 years – the time Phil Connors spent stuck on repeat in Punxsutawney source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Aug 2009 23:08

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Culture: Critics have a massively huge nerdgasm over “District 9”

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 23:27

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Culture: Is “District 9” really an “Alien Nation” wannabe?

  • District 9 is indeed pretty good. In fact District 9 is a lot of things, most of them very positive. One thing it isn’t, though, is original.
  • CinemaBlend writer Josh Tyler • In an article called “Too Close To Call: 10 Ways ‘District 9’ Is An ‘Alien Nation’ Knockoff,” where he dissects the similarities (and differences) between the two films – and in the case of “Alien Nation,” the spinoff TV series. Our question: Are there worse things to be than an “Alien Nation” knockoff? We’re not talking about the worst movie of all time here. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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