In this morning’s roundup of movie news ‘n’ notes from around the web, Oliver Stone and Mel Gibson keep those headlines coming.
Patrick Goldstein reads Haim Saban’s comments about Oliver Stone on theWrap (that Showtime ought to pull its planned showings of Stone’s 10-part series “A Secret History of America”) and raises the B word. You know: blacklist. “[G]etting a network to pull a show simply because its producer has espoused some crackpot conspiracy theories opens the door for all sorts of unsettling decisions,” he says. He also calls the notion that Jews dominate the media “transparently dumb on every level,” using Rupert Murdoch, Brian Roberts and Phil Anschutz as exhibits A, B and C. (The Big Picture)
Rope of Silicon posted the latest batch of MPAA ratings, which include a PG-13 tag for Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver,” starring recent TMZ poster boy Mel Gibson. Movieline noticed the rating and commented, “good news, parents.” And then New York Magazine noticed Movieline’s notice, paid special attention to the MPAA explanation of the rating – “For mature thematic content, some disturbing content, sexuality and langage including ga drug reference” – and added the punchline: “Add cursing and panting, and you have a fairly accurate description of the Mel Gibson tapes, though, obviously, those come with an R rating.” (Vulture)
Eric Snider wrote a review of the trailer for “The Town,” directed by Ben Affleck and starring Affleck, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall and Jeremy Renner. He doesn’t particularly like the trailer, which he says raises some red flags about the movie. (Cinematical) Jeff Wells, however, likes Snider’s review, which he calls “hilarious” and quotes at some length. (Hollywood Elsewhere) James Wolcott, on the other hand, doesn’t like Snider’s review at all: he quotes some of the same passages that Wells quotes, but instead of calling them “hilarious” he says they’re “insipid.” Gotta love all these reviewers reviewing reviews. (Vanity Fair)
Jonah Weiner holds up Robert Duvall as the examplar of a new breed: the actor who suffers “little or no career slowdown” as he nears the age of 80. The members of that exclusive club: Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins. (Gene Hackman would be on the list, but Weiner says he’s retired.) Duvall insists the end of his end of that run is coming (“It’s got to be”), though for now he’s got a few more films he’s excited about. (The New York Times)
Nigel M. Smith has the lineup for the San Sebastian Film Festival, which runs from September 17 – 25 in the Spanish city. His focus is on the participating directors, who include John Sayles (“Amigo”), Peter Mullan (“Neds”), Naomi Kawase (“Genpin”) and Raul Ruiz (“Mysteries of Lisbon”). The festival promises its complete list soon, but Smith has the first 11, at least. (indieWIRE)
