Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore spoke with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC yesterday, offering his take on the auto industry’s request for a bailout. At first, he seems to be defending the automakers, but that stance is just an excuse to be critical of Washington’s handling of the situation. He really has no sympathy for the big boys from Detroit at all, and he submits his own solution to Congress: give the Big Three their $38 billion, but tell them you own their ass and make them build hybrids and mass transit options instead of gas-guzzling SUVs.

As a onetime fan of Moore’s work, I have to admit this clip presents some of the smartest words to come out of the guy’s mouth in years. I’m not saying I agree with his proposal to Congress for basically nationalizing the automakers, but he definitely carries himself on Countdown quite intelligently. Obviously it’s a subject he’s very familiar with, having started his film career with the GM-criticizing Roger & Me. So, should Washington follow his advice?

Check out Moore’s appearance after the jump.

…Read more

• The Dark Knight has been disqualified from the race for the Original Music Score Oscar. After four hours of discussing the matter, the executive committee of the Academy music branch non-unanimously deemed the score, which was technically only co-composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard yet which credited three others on sheet music for royalty purposes, ineligible on account of the inclusion of these partial collaborators.
• Michael Moore claims his Fahrenheit 9/11 follow-up (once titled Fahrenheit 9/11 and a 1/2) has become less like a sequel to that film and more like “a bookend to Roger & Me.” The new doc will focus more on the financial crisis than on foreign policy and will feature an “end-of-the-empire tone.”
• Meryl Streep may finally be upstaged. She’ll star opposite a cute little feline in a movie based on the non-fiction book Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.
• The less feel-good true story of a 1987 prison riot will be the subject of an untitled film referred to as the “Delta Force prison project.” Unfortunately, that name isn’t necessarily a hint that Chuck Norris will star.
• It was only a matter of time: a high school-set retelling of The Scarlet Letter involving a teenage girl who thinks it’s beneficial to have the reputation for being a slut. It’s called Easy A.
• “Urkel” wrote a romantic comedy about a texting-based love affair.

I saw Christmas decorations in a storefront Sunday, so I guess it’s already time to break out the holiday movies. And it’s evidently time for distributors to release holiday fare to theaters, even if Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël), which hits theaters this Friday, isn’t exactly the latest crowd-pleasing installment of the Santa Clause franchise. In fact, with such ingredients as estrangement, mental illness, alcoholism and cancer, it doesn’t seem like a very happy holidays kind of film. Even if it is actually a comedy.

But then how many holiday movies are completely void of depressing themes and scenes? I’m sure to have grown up thinking more about the homeless, suicide and family dysfunction from films set at Christmas and Thanksgiving than I did thinking about the happiness that comes with these holidays. One of the most tearjerking moments for me as a kid was certainly seeing Mickey Mouse crying over his dead son in Mickey’s Christmas Carol. It’s no wonder so many people get sad this time of year. Movies are influential, and for every bit of slapstick we see this season, there’s potentially room for thoughts of abandoned children to go along with it.

Worse for our tearducts are the films that aren’t necessarily thought of as “holiday movies,” which are typically more honest about how much of a bummer holidays can truly be. So get out your hanky and check out our list of ten most depressing holidays in movies:

…Read more

While watching Zack and Miri Make a Porno, it is possible to occasionally forget that you are watching a Kevin Smith movie. Mainly because he doesn’t show up in the film, a rare and appreciated move for the guy who has played “Silent Bob” in 6 out of the 8 theatrical releases he’s directed. Then there’s the cast that is involved, which makes Z&M seem like the offspring of Judd Apatow and John Waters. But there are a number of things that do make it clearly a Smith joint, such as the obligatory employment of Jason Mewes — in the role he was born to play, even moreso than “Jay” — and the potentially pitying use of Jeff Anderson, who may have been the only actor to agree to receiving that accidental Hot Carl.

And then there’s the most recognizable element: Smith’s inability let the poop jokes go in order to concentrate on his characters, and the relationships between them. It’s the filmmaker’s Achilles heel, and it’s one of five we at SpoutBlog have noticed are holding back the esteem of five would-be better directors.

…Read more