I don’t smoke weed, but if I did, I’d spend today getting high and watching a marathon of movies that are (supposedly) better when you’re stoned. Why? Because it’s 4/20, the high holy day for marijuana fans. You’ve probably seen a billion of these lists, which recommend the same bunch of psychedelic classics beloved by stoners everywhere. So, instead of including such obvious choices as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and other familiar titles, I’ve picked some alternatives to the usual 4/20 favorites, because after awhile, the same old visuals just don’t do it for me — I mean, those sick, degenerate reefer addicts — anymore. …Read more
The film related-events surrounding the 2008 Democratic Convention reached their zenith on Wednesday with a pair of sessions devoted to The People Speak, Project Greenlight/Good Will Hunting producer Chris Moore’s theatrical documentary inspired by the writings of Howard Zinn, which has its official premiere next week at the Toronto International Film Festival. The afternoon began with a panel on progressive media, featuring Moore, actor Josh Brolin (who commented extensively on his recent experience playing George W. Bush for filmmaker Oliver Stone), artist Shepherd Fairey (the man responsible for that screenprinted Barack Obama “Hope” poster, as well as a subject of the doc Beautiful Losers) and former Clinton operative Mike Lux. Then, after a brief intermission, Brolin and Moore were joined by a host of boldfaced names, including Ben Affleck, Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs and Kerry Washington, for a live presentation of the historical readings that make up the bulk of the film. …Read more
At a panel on progressive media (and specifically Chris Moore’s film based on Howard Zinn’s A Peoples History of the United States, Josh Brolin commented on his arrest earlier this summer at a bar near the set of W, in which he plays the title role.
“I was arrested, and it was basically because I was standing up for someone, speaking out on something I thought was wrong. And what happens when you speak out? You go to jail.”
“Lee Atwater destroyed the business of politics by going negative,” said Terry MacAuliffe yesterday, introducing an Impact Film Festival screening of Stefan Forbes’ Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story. “Democrats don’t fight hard enough. They play tougher on the other side. The bottom line is that these guys will do anything to win.”
Forbes’ film, which caused such a ruckus at its premiere in June at the Los Angeles Film Festival, essentially functions as an ideological ink blot––people see what they want in it. It’s possible (and, based on the director’s comments after the film, probably preferred) to see Boogie Man as a vicious indictment of the political operative who mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush whilst helping the latter’s father overcome the Iran Contra scandal to win the presidency, destroying Michael Dukakis’ political career in the process. But Forbes, to his credit, also clearly explicates Atwater’s appeal. You might need to put blinders on a bit, but it would be possible to walk away from this film cheering McCain to turn Obama into the new Dukakis
In fact, after the screening, Forbes acknowledged that there are lessons the left could learn from the enemy. “When a fight gets dirty, do you have to join? If you just play defense, you end up looking guilty. You have to turn the attacks into a referendum on the other party.”
Introducing a screening at the Starz! Green Room yesterday of a segment from In Their Boots, a new web-to-PBS series from Brave New Foundation, Jim Miller disclaimed that there were no ideological intentions fueling this new work from the production company that brought you Iraq For Sale and Fox News Porn. Though Miller, Robert Greenwald and their Brave New compatriots are very much in the business of attempting to bring down the modern conservative movement, Miller maintains that this series is “Totally non-partisan…we’re not taking a stance on the war, good or bad or anything.”
On a long enough timeline, this will probably turn out to be an indefensible statement, but as far as the quarter of an hour of reality TV-style footage shown here on Monday, it’s reasonably sound. …Read more
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Ben Affleck. Photo by Karina Longworth.
