Michael Moore hoping for a Slacker Uprising

Michael Moore has annouced plans to release his latest film as a free download (but only to residents of Canada and the US). Slacker Uprising follows the director's tour through a number of US states during the 2004 election and is intended to act as a spur to persuade younger members of the American electorate to go out and vote. It will be interesting to see if it can have the desired effect on a generation who have been labelled apathetic about politics - although personally, I think the same can said about a lot of older people too, but that goes beyond the scope of this blog.

Wanted is not wanted

Following complaints from 18 people, the Advertising Standards Authority have banned the publicity posters for the film Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie.

I can appreciate they have a job to do, and, that they have to consider the feelings and reactions of the population as a whole, but surely this is a case of locking the stable door after the horse has not only bolted, but has headed for Dover, caught a ferry to Calais and set up home in the Dordogne. The film came out in June. It is now September.

Surely they jest

Apparently, fans are not keen on the idea of Simon Pegg appearing in the latest Star Trek film as the character of Scotty because of his background as a comedy actor. There's a certain irony in that because anyone who has ever heard a real Scottish person speak would say that James Doohan's accent was pure comedy.

As a child I was very stupid and only did things if actors told me to.

For some reason, the British Medical Council object to the depiction of Geoff Goldblum and Will Smith smoking cigars in Independence Day, yet say nothing about the scene where an elderly man (Judd Hirsch) encourages his son (Goldblum) to drive above the speed limit. Do they not realise that is probably directly responsible for the rise in joy riding?!

And what about Jeff Pullman's portrayal of the American president as a tough, macho man with not much between the ears? I think we all know where that led.

Are remakes always rotten?

There is a scary rumour doing the rounds that Madonna plans to remake Casablanca. I must admit, as a rule, I'm not a fan of remakes of films which were actually good the first time round. It just smacks of arrogance. Obviously, some films do benefit from advances in technology - for example, John Carpenter's 1982 remake of The Thing from Another World, does improve on the original - but many do not, and Casablanca is in the latter category. So why bother?

I agree with Filmstalker that the idea does sound like a good one but will it work? Maybe it will be a good film, but even so it will still suffer from constant comparisons with the original which is so enormously popular.

What do you think? Are remakes always bad? Do you think this particular one will work? What are your favourite or most disliked remakes?

This Week's Question: Controversy

Some films attract an air of controversy, for example Reservoir Dogs because of the ear lopping scene, or more recently, Hard Candy in which a young girl turns the tables on a child molester. What effect does this kind of publicity or subject matter have on your decision to actually watch such a film? Would it make you more or less likely to go and see it? Do you think some films are deliberately controversial to cover up other inadequacies?

If you want to take part, post your response to your blog, then come back here and leave the url so we can pop over and take a look. If you don't have a blog, that's no problem, just leave your answers as a comment.


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