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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Dear Hot Blog Research Team

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82 Responses to “Dear Hot Blog Research Team”

  1. Jonko says:

    Hard to imagine it possible, but you forgot Piglet’s Big Movie

  2. lazarus says:

    Even harder to believe you forgot Home On The Range, AKA the last gasp of traditional animation at Disney.

  3. Joe Leydon says:

    When they say “releases,” do they mean “theatrical”? Because, remember, Disney produces scads of direct-to-video sequels.

  4. Josh Massey says:

    What about the immortal classic that is “The Jungle Book 2?” Or “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie?” Or multiple Oscar winner “Teacher’s Pet?”

  5. Josh Massey says:

    Ah, and “The Santa Clause 2.”
    I wish my brain would retain useful knowledge once in a while.

  6. Josh Massey says:

    Whoops, scratch one of those – “Teacher’s Pet” was, in fact, rated PG.

  7. Joshua says:

    Also add “The Rookie” and “Ghosts of the Abyss” … but not “Home on the Range,” which was PG, and “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie,” which was released in 2005.

  8. Don says:

    Pretty timely topic, David. For me anyway. I work with kids and we can’t show anything rated “worse” than PG. If we show a PG movie, we have to post a note saying we’re doing that. I actually got in trouble for showing KANGAROO JACK without posting that it was rated PG. i felt bad enough showing the film as it was…but the slap on the wrist was downright comical. All that being said, there’s hardly ANY “G” rated movies out there any more. HOME ON THE RANGE is PG for Chrissake.
    It’s funny because at another branch of where I work, my friend shows older PG movies like BACK TO THE FUTURE and GOONIES, etc. these films have swearing, violence, guns and so on…but they’re still rated “PG.” He’s technically “following the rules.” However, I have to make it a point to not offend parents by showing HOME ON THE RANGE without posting a warning that (gasp!) a PG film is heading our way. HOME is rated PG because it evidently has “brief mild rude humor.” I GUARANTEE you that said rude humor is some kind of animated animal fart. THAT needs parental guidance?? What the hell is a parent going to be there to explain that the kid doesn’t already know?? It’s a FART. I am guessing because I haven’t seen the film, but I think all kids movies are required to have farting of some kind in them. And kicking in the balls.
    My point is 2 fold. One- studios *are* making G rated films that politically correct America is deeming PG. It’s really silly and downright lame. I just don’t get what makes a movie PG or
    PG-13…aside from the obvious.
    two- the rating system is a disaster as is the PCing of America. I showed SANDLOT at work and someone says “shit” in it. I had kids coming up to me saying that there was bad words and that they can’t hear them. They were very, VERY upset to have heard the word. I appreciate that these kids are honest and don’t want to get in trouble when they know something is wrong…to them. However I’m more offended by the fact that kids can’t hear the word “shit” these days.
    Don’t get me started…

  9. Dan R% says:

    Shitballs, when kids can’t watch a great fun flick like ‘The Sandlot’ without worrying about consequences, we know that there’s a problem.
    What the heck? One day those kids are going to explode in a rage of fucks and shits and their parents are going to be left scratching heads saying, “But we raised ’em right?!”

  10. Dan R% says:

    Oh good Lord, now I read the report.
    I was going to write a bunch but I feel like lifting my laptop to my head and bashing myself with it…Michael Medved needs to be stopped…his sensibilities are that of an 18th century housemaid. No wait, even that housemaid wanted some sex…

  11. sky_capitan says:

    This is the part I just don’t get. If they’re so sure this is the way to make a profit, why don’t they make their own damn, errr, darn g-rated movies. Or is whining their favourite pastime?
    Surely there is some Christian billionaire who would be thrilled to write a few cheques. Perhaps devout Conservative Rupert Murdoch? Mel Gibson could spare a few hundred million I think.
    As far as studies go, I’m releasing my own study tonight that states gratuitous Jessica Alba nudity in Fantastic Four would increase the profits of Fantstic Four by 30 to 50 percent. What this means, and Michael Medved would agree, is that studios should consider gratuitous Jessica Alba nudity in all movies in which she stars. Thanks, Michael.

  12. KamikazeCamel says:

    Was Spirited Away PG? It probably was. We can’t expose kids to that kind of stuff can we?
    Man, Teacher’s Pet was pretty awesome!
    But, anyway, Disney does have a whole bunch of direct-to-video releases as somebody said up there…

  13. If they’re including documentaries:
    There’s “Sacred Planet” and “Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale”
    And according to IMDb, the theatrical version of “Ghosts of the Abyss” was rated G, while the extended DVD cut was rated PG.

  14. L&DB says:

    More G-rated movies would definitely kill American cinema. Sorry, but we just cant protect the kids forever. You cant. The Amish have figured this out, and let their kids go wild. Let them explore the world. IF they come back. They are welcomed back into the fold. If not, then they go off to the big city. Sure there are tears or what not, but come on. Why has this country all of a sudden got a hard-on for protecting the children? Kids are going to get into it rather the congress wants them to or not. The coolest things in life are never G-rated. Not that G-rated sucks, but you would not get Axel Foley with a G-rating. These media groups should just realize they cant win. They can fight, they can complain, but at the end of the day the adults want to see what they want to see. And usually, what they want to see doesnt suck.

  15. L&DB says:

    I also need to state that sky captain has a great point. More Jessica Alba nudity would not only be good for the Fantastic Four film, but good for the whole country.

  16. Using IMDb power search (production company: disney / cert. rating: USA-G / 2000-04 / excl. TV movies & DTV) I got 22 titles:
    101 Dalmations
    Brother Bear
    The Country Bears
    The Emperor’s New Groove
    Finding Nemo
    Ghosts of the Abyss
    John Henry
    The Jungle Book 2
    Lorenzo
    Monsters Inc.
    Piglet’s Big Movie
    The Princess Diaries
    The Princess Diaries 2
    Recess: School’s Out
    Return to NeverLand
    The Rookie
    Sacred Planet
    The Santa Clause 2
    The Search for Mickey Mouse
    The Tigger Movie
    Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale
    Young Black Stallion
    …and here’s something else that struck me as kinda strange:
    The MPPA.org site states that “Herbie: Fully Loaded” has been given a G rating.
    And an article at Zap2it.com says the following:
    “”Herbie: Fully Loaded” appears to have safely scored its G-rating from the MPAA despite a number of scenes implying that a 42-year-old Volkswagen Bug might be inclined to sex up a younger Bug (complete with engorged radio antennae to imply automotive erections) and moments of euphemistic dialogue that would make small children blush if they could possibly understand.”
    I’m no prude, but I think that even one BONER JOKE should warrant a PG rating. Just my .02.

  17. Eric Nelson says:

    Yeah, I’m guessing Disney cut a back door deal… Disney digitally reduces Lonhan’s assests (see here http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-06-06/#3)and the MPPA gives Herbie a G rating even if those jokes make the final cut.

  18. bicycle bob says:

    since lohan weighs 78 pounds now, i don’t think she really has to worry about cleavage in the future

  19. Dan Holden says:

    If G rated movies were actually more profitable then the business people would make them. Also movies are made by adults and therefore should entertain adults.

  20. bicycle bob says:

    this is a list of movies that which i’ll never watch

  21. Wrecktum says:

    Re that list: John Henry was never released theatrically (except in festivals), Lorenzo was a short attached to the PG-13 rated Raising Helen, Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale was released in about four theatres and The Search for Mickey Mouse doesn’t exist.

  22. Cryptic Ned says:

    As I recall, the original Transformers movie contained the S-word for the sole reason of getting a PG rating rather than a G rating and therefore being more appealing to kids.

  23. Wrecktum says:

    Update! Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale was released in many more than four theatres! It went out in a whopping 30 theatres!! But only in Colorado. Hmmmm…..

  24. Don says:

    That’s the true irony, cryptic ned. All the “other” kids that don’t freak out when they hear “the S word” are bragging to everyone that they get to see all the PG-13 horror films as well as R rated films. In the MPAA or whoever really is responsible for the ratings systems attempts to protect everyone, they’ve made hard PG-13 movies and R rated movies more sought out by kids. It’s all…so…silly.

  25. TheBrotherhoodOfTheLostSkeletonOfCadavra says:

    Another one everyone apparently forgot: AMERICA’S HEART & SOUL. Can’t imagine why.
    The rating system is ridiculously unstable. They gave LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA a PG for the word “jackass,” while FINDING NEMO, which opened with a mother-dying sequence that would’ve stunted my growth for years, got a G. And I can’t begin to count the horror films (like THE RELIC, whose wall-to-wall gore included bodies ripped to pieces, with internal organs literally splashing against the walls) that somehow squeaked by with an R.
    Of course, this whole nonsense is built on the premise that the sole idea of movies is to make as much money as possible. Granted, every studio wants to be profitable, but they still finance the Coen Bros. and Wes Anderson and other “pro bono” talents because it’s good for the soul.
    By the way, if you delete the Pixar titles from the list, I’d wager the profitability of the remaining G-rated titles drops markedly.

  26. Wrecktum says:

    America’s Heart and Soul was inexplicable rated PG.

  27. Lota says:

    AMERICA’S HEART & SOUL
    oh.my.god.
    that movie made me think Jerry Springer was a better ambassador of ‘real americans’. Or maybe the aliens do preferentially abduct people from certain parts of the U S of A. Excuse me, I have to go make a crop circle now.
    I wondered how FInding Nemo got a “G” I mean th word ‘shit’, every kid hears during their parents’ road rages, yet you can show a sharp-toothed barracuda taking out (by implication) a mommy and lots of baby eggs (except Nemo) creating a neurotic daddy fish for life, then his son gets kidnapped.

  28. jesse says:

    This is sort of off-topic, but does anyone else here love “The Emperor’s New Groove”? It’s often overlooked both critically and financially, but it’s very funny, and I believe it opened to something like $9 million and made like $90 million. It lost money because of its huge development budget, I think, but you must admit, a multiplier of ten is pretty damn good.

  29. Arc says:

    The Emperor’s New Groove was a favorite title to play in our video store for quite sometime. Saw it in the theater twice. It just has an focus to its manic energy that few other titles can match.
    The figures in the document are interesting… 50% of the market is R-rated titles, but G-rated titles make three times as much revenue? Ooooook. Most G-rated films DO have larger distribution. The Worldwide figures for BO/TV/Video at least make the document worth looking at. Video seems to always make more than BO by these figures.

  30. Joe says:

    The article itself is incredibly stupid to make blanket statements that G and PG movies make more than R rated movies. There are so many R rated movies made from independent film makers that are made not for the sake of making money. The G and PG movies are often produced by large studios with the underlying purpose of providing a return on the investment. The numbers don’t add up to a blanket statement, the way they made it.

  31. Arc says:

    Scratch that… This says that there are 12 times as many R-rated titles released as G-rated titles, but G makes 11 times as much revenue “on average”.
    And Holy CRAP it ends on a Mikey Medved quote. I need to take a shower. A loooonnng shower.

  32. Joe Leydon says:

    I was doing a live feed to MSNBC one afternoon during the holiday season when “Emperor’s New Groove” was released. Michael Medved was on at the same time. When the newscaster asked us what lesser-known, then-current movie we might recommend to audiences, I immediately said: “Emperor’s New Groove.” I couldn’t see or hear this at the time — I was in Houston, Medved was in L.A. — but when I viewed a videotape later, it was obvious that Medved pulled a face and made a gagging sound when I named the movie. Guess he didn’t like that one.

  33. PJ says:

    Interesting….the photo used in the Dove report on the last page….Welcome To Mooseport….rated PG-13 with a NAKED MAN running in the opening scene….just seems weird….
    But then again…they are all FOX titles on that page….Robots, Ice Age, and Mooseport

  34. LesterFreed says:

    I’m just not a G movie type fan. I need some action scenes.

  35. Chucky in Jersey says:

    The Dove Foundation is a Christian fundamentalist outfit. This group uses their non-profit standing to get around the national “Do Not Call” list. I should know — I got a phone call from their boiler room last month.
    Any time these prudes start to talk about “cleaning up Hollywood”, fire back at them about their political views. These pro-censorship outfits will shut up.
    BTW, the print ads for “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” have the Dove logo. That movie is rated PG.

  36. Mark says:

    This is America. See what you want. If you’re offended then don’t see it and don’t let your kids see it. It’s real easy.

  37. Joe Leydon says:

    Free sluts? Jeez, what is this blog coming to? Oh, wait: Free SLOTS. Never mind, my bad.

  38. KamikazeCamel says:

    “Also movies are made by adults and therefore should entertain adults.”
    That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read all week.
    I don’t have a problem with G movies, why shouldn’t kids be able to have perfectly harmless movies? I don’t agree with them saying that studios should stop making R movies just to appease them but I don’t really understand why people would be upset if there is a G or PG rated movie released.
    “I’m just not a G movie type fan. I need some action scenes.”
    That’s fine for you but I’m sure 7 year olds will be fine without some firey carnage.
    And to whoever mentioned the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, it was rated G in Australia! …not that you care though.
    And seriously, Emperors New Groove? EXCELLENT.

  39. John says:

    I think what the poster meant was, movies are made by adults and therefore at least some should entertain adults.
    The poster was responding to the Dove report’s implication that PG-13 and R movies are made for one reason and one reason only: to tempt Christians to sin. Not for money (because it isn’t there), not for art (because trash isn’t art), for SATAN. Period.
    I saw a CBN report on this subject just the other day. It took a different angle from that of the Dove report: “red states” (in its words) want to see explicitly Christian entertainment, and Hollywood is interested but may not be bias-free enough to deliver.
    Of course, most “red states” are barely 50 percent pro-Bush, and none have fundamentalist majorities any more than blue states do. Material that has appeal only to conservative Christians is by definition not mass entertainment. CBN encouraged its viewers to believe otherwise.

  40. sky_capitan says:

    So I went to the dove.org site and surfed around. Here’s something interesting, a movie about the end of the world called “Apocalypse.”
    Let’s see, the movie is rated PG by the MPAA, but is rated by Dove.org as “Dove Family-Approved,
    Suitable for all ages”
    Hmm I wonder why
    How about a look at the plot, maybe an answer there…
    “Dove Worldview:
    This is another classic end-of-the-world movie brought to you by the same people that made the Left Behind movie series. It follows the Bible in the book of Revelation quite to the T. First there is the start of a war that threatens to wipe out all of mankind, and the whole world is at arms. Just as they are on the brink of total destruction, nearly half of the world’s population disappears into thin air. No one knows what happened and everyone is panicking. A man stands up to the world and says that he was responsible for the miracles and that he is the Messiah. There is resistance and the resistance is put down by this new leader’s minions. But in the end some good shines through when the very same broadcast that made Hannah a believer is shown to the whole world.”
    hmmm… and in the content description?
    “Violence: War like violence, people rioting in the streets. The whole movie is set up like a live news broadcast, so the violence you see is like that which you would see on the news”
    Well I can clearly see why Dove.org would rate “Apocalypse” as “suitable for all ages,” the same rating it gives “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.”
    Not that there’s any bias there
    _
    As for the Dove logo, I think a small encircled close-up of Ned Flander’s face would be much more effective instead.

  41. L&DB says:

    Poland has been scared today. Which could mean a few things, but Im feeling the brother has seen some of the Summer’s top films. Yes, Im fishing for something. If we could do a clip show around here. This would be the time to run a clip show.

  42. L&DB says:

    ‘scarce’ not ‘scared.’ Accursed typos. SHENANIGANS UPON THEM! Uh…back to the clip show.

  43. Dan Holden says:

    I must admit I am guilty of being curt in my response. Of course there should be some children’s movies just like there is children’s lit. I’m also sure that Green Eggs and Ham and Harry Potter have made significant profits. They did this however because they have crossover appeal. (Though I question adults who read Harry Potter) Should we get rid of Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Poe,Shakespeare or any of the other dead white guys because they have “strong thematic elements”?
    Another thought on the Dove study. They only look at actual dollar profits not percent profits. If you make an R-rated movie for 5 mil and only take in a box office of 15 you’ve just made 200% profit. When investing you have to take into the account how much you are risking not just the amount of the return.
    The Dove foundation has an agenda and it is clearly stated on their website. Organization such as ScreenIt do a good job of giving consumer a detailed description of the contents of the movie and then letting the parents decide. Dove and their seal of approval is just another attempt by lazy as fundamentalist to censure art.

  44. TheBrotherhoodOfTheLostSkeletonOfCadavra says:

    Oops on AMERICA’S HEART & SOUL. Coulda sworn it was G. Sorry.
    I too loved GROOVE. Had a real Tex Avery-ish manic energy, and probably a record amount of Yiddish in a Disney film. The reason it died is that Disney was still too busy promoting whatever its live-action Thanksgiving picture was (102 DALMATIANS?) to do any marketing on it–not even a McDonald’s tie-in.
    I deeply care about Australia!
    I am not Spam Dooley, but I am an adult who reads Harry Potter and loves it! Nyaah!

  45. bicycle bob says:

    ok i’ll see it. this is the most boring thread daves ever put up

  46. LesterFreed says:

    If I wanted to read about Christians I’d just go to Church and hear it from the horses mouth. Not from some two bit God hater. I don’t buy these big conspiracy theories about Christians. So we don’t like your movie and might not see it. That ain’t no conspiracy.

  47. Joe Leydon says:

    I think a lot of what is said and done supposedly in the name of Christ, or by so-called Christinas, would sorely piss off The Man Upstairs. On the other hand, too many folks are all too quick to paint all Christians with the same brush as intolereant yokels.

  48. bicycle bob says:

    people that hate religion and religious people really hate them. with more of a passion than those people love god. its weird.

  49. Joe Leydon says:

    Bob: I’m hardly what I would call a deeply religious person — at this point in my life, I suspect the most I can hope for is an air-conditioned room in hell — but even I feel uncomfortable with the way religious folks are routinely caricatured in mainstream movies and TV shows. Sure, there are hypocrities and self-serving hucksters, and a fair number of perverts, who do nasty stuff and spread hate in the name of God. (These are the vermin who have turned far too many people away from Christianity, Judaism and every other kind of religion.) But I’ve also had the great good fortune to know truly godly people — people who are more saintly than I could ever hope to be — who rarely, if ever, are represented in contemporary cinema.

  50. LesterFreed says:

    Religious people like msyelf don’t really care what others think but we hold grudges. Hard and long grudges that last a lifetime. My mother still won’t see R rated movies because of the nudity. She won’t even see a disney film because they release movies with too much nudity. Is it because she worships God everyday? Nah. Just her personal own thing. But you alienate one religious person you end up alienating the whole congregation. The point of this mess is. Don’t mess around with making fun of people who go to Church.

  51. Terence D says:

    Bashing religious people is not a good strategy. It really doesn’t work.

  52. Mark says:

    Welcome to a Jew’s world.

  53. Blau says:

    Mark: Nice of you to reveal your anti-Semitic colors.

  54. joefitz84 says:

    Another bashing comment for Blau. This time at Jewish people. At least hes keeping up his 100% streak. Keep up the great work, big boy.

  55. Mark says:

    Considering I am a Jew, I would take offense at the comment that I am anti-Semetic. But coming from a hateful person like Blau? I take it with a grain of salt considering the hatemonger can’t even post his real email address. It would mean more to me if Hitler called me anti-Semetic. But I am glad he continues his hateful perfect streak. He’s the Cal Ripken of hate.

  56. Angelus says:

    I have gone through 4 postings where this one person has continually cursed and dodged and poked at people for no good reason. If you don’t have anything nice or productive to say then please for the good of all who read here and love movies, Keep it to yourself.
    You’re just being looked upon as a joke. I could see if you had a point but to just to try and antagonize people.
    Not the way to go about it.

  57. Blau says:

    Oh look everybody, the gang of assholes all disappeared about two hours ago and came back within the same two minutes! What a coincidence!
    So please enlighten us, Mark, as to how we should have interpreted your incongruous inflammatory comment, “Welcome to a Jew’s world.”

  58. Mark says:

    Don’t worry. Everyone who doesn’t agree with hating Jews, gays, religion, conservatives, baseball, and apple pie is part of the gang. Fight on, Blau. Fight on.

  59. Blau says:

    What’s the matter, Mark, you can’t explain your own fucked-up statement? Shit, you and your crew have been hounding Stella’s Boy for over a month for refusing to play along with your Star Wars harassment, and now you can’t answer one simple question! I ask again: How should we have interpreted your incongruous inflammatory comment, “Welcome to a Jew’s world”?

  60. Joe Leydon says:

    Jewish hospitality?

  61. Blau says:

    You can almost see the gears turning ever so slowly in Mark’s puny brain as he struggles to figure out how he’s going to spin this one.

  62. LesterFreed says:

    Is there anything you won’t degrade? Or any person? Just let me know so I can be ready for it is all.

  63. BluStealer says:

    When did you appoint this Blau as your defense attorney, Stella’s Boy? He’s giving you Michael Jackson type representation over your Star Wars hatred. I thought you would at be able to get a Johnny Cochoran type of guy.

  64. Mark says:

    I’m a Jew. We’ve been dealing with anti-Semetic jerks like this since the beginning of time. I think I can handle an anonymous Jew hater. I’ll send you some of my mothers famous Matzoh.

  65. L&DB says:

    Man. You go a way for a few hours, and this sort of garbage breaks up. Blau gets upset at a JEW for stating the truth about how his people are treated. That makes no damn sense. If you want to be an asshole at least be a consistant asshole.

  66. joefitz84 says:

    I kinda know how the Jews feel now. Persecuted for no reason. Long live Moses.

  67. Blau says:

    Mark: You said, “I’ll send you some of my mothers famous Matzoh.” Now we have proof positive that you are a burn-in-hell liar. As a knowledgeable Jew myself, I can tell you that virtually no one on Planet Earth makes their own matzohs. Probably haven’t been too many homemade ones since the Jews traversed the desert from Egypt. You are nothing but a fucking anti-Semite who still hasn’t explained your Jew-hating quote above.
    LDB: Exactly what truth did Mark supposedly provide about how Jews are treated? The only thing he said was the completely out-of-the-blue “Welcome to a Jew’s world,” which any sensible person would take as anti-Semitic in the context presented. Or is that OK with you?

  68. joefitz84 says:

    Keep digging that hole you racist Aryan. Keep on diggin

  69. L&DB says:

    Hey, stop with the racist stuff. I know I called Leydon racist, sexist, and a donkey lover. Yet, we all know none of that is true. Blau just overreacted, but this is the hot blog. Crazy shenanigans always break out at the HOT BLOG…

  70. Blau says:

    Once again, same old subhuman shit from this blog’s Republican faction of liars. They get called out for saying something unquestionably racist, anti-Semitic, misogenistic or homophobic. Then they just falsely hurl it back in their accuser’s face. Total right-wing scum-sucking maggots.
    Everybody can see what these clear-cut motherfuckers are doing all over this site, yet nobody seems able to deal with the problem. As soon as anyone says anything challenging to them, they gang up like relentless Terminators to annihilate him or her. Look at all the intelligent people they’ve chased from here in just the last couple of weeks alone. They apparently did in jeffmcm and Chester. Even Stella’s Boy seems to have lost most of his interest.
    Mr. Poland: You seem unable or unwilling to keep order around here, and it’s past time you considered the consequences. I suspect you find all of this amusing, especially since these lowlifes make a point of constantly kissing your ass, but make no mistake about the fact that eventually they are going to drag your good name down. They will then move on — like all scavengers do — and you will be left alone with every bit of the ruinous carnage.

  71. KamikazeCamel says:

    “Religious people like msyelf don’t really care what others think but we hold grudges. Hard and long grudges that last a lifetime.”
    Trust me, WE KNOW.
    I’m sure Mel Gibson had a grudge on the ENTIRE MOVIE-GOING PUBLIC by giving us The Passion of the Christ!
    And LostSkeletonofCadavra, good to know! I loved the box art for that movie, but the movie itself I give a C+ to.

  72. HeadmasterCharleston says:

    Man, Jesus would never be down with a grudge. People who hold grudges are just bloody weak. Forgivenes people! FORGIVENESS!

  73. KamikazeCamel says:

    šŸ˜

  74. bicycle bob says:

    to go to a movie site and be a jewish hater? real smart move. as smart as it gets. its like going to the puerto rican day parade and complaining about spanish people.

  75. BluStealer says:

    I think Blau is Howard Dean. Even with his loud screams.

  76. bicycle bob says:

    ur right blau. its a republican conspiracy that ur a racist. i can’t believe they finally got u. that karl rove.

  77. joefitz84 says:

    He’s made one film I’ve watched in ten years. One.

  78. LesterFreed says:

    While I have zero use for a spy kids film I did like Sin City.

  79. kat says:

    I found this blog while looking on the Net for opinions on the Dove Foundation.
    Well, here’s my opinion.
    They suck.
    If parents (and I am one) can’t monitor what their kids see, read and hear, something is wrong. I guess the Dove Foundation thinks they have to step in and police things for parents, like it or not.
    Maybe I’m being extreme, but I feel like their dove logo is a feel-good, sneaky image hiding their right-wing, ultra-religious right bent and wanna-be political influence. I sure hope they don’t have much power.
    I shouldn’t have been a hippie.

  80. jeffmcm says:

    Wow, blast from the past. The most entertaining part of this old threat is certainly the argument above where two (or six) different people were fighting about NOTHING!

  81. jeffmcm says:

    Thread, not threat.

The Hot Blog

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” ā€” some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it ā€” I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury ā€” he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā€” and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā€” I was with her at that moment ā€” she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy namedā€”” “Yeah, sure ā€” you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that Iā€™m on the phone with you now, after all thatā€™s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didnā€™t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereā€™s not a case of that. He wasnā€™t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā€” if that were what the accusation involved ā€” the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. Iā€™m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, ā€œYou know, itā€™s not this, itā€™s thatā€? Because ā€” let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatā€™s what it lacked. Thatā€™s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon