You might have seen the “Don’t Vote” PSA featuring Hollywood celebrities ranging from Leonardo DiCaprio to Jonah Hill attempting to use reverse psychology in an effort to get lazy, apathetic Americans to register and then take part in this year’s presidential election. It’s a bit long for something so urgent and potentially influential, but it’s cool that so many unrelated famous people came together for something so important. Anyway, the guys at MagicHugs.com have now re-edited some of the footage from that PSA to create their own campaign regarding the films of Nicolas Cage. And while I doubt Leo or even Jonah appreciate being made to appear so critical of their peer’s career choices, it’s pretty funny. The only thing I don’t understand, though, is if I’m supposed to come away thinking I should watch Nic Cage movies. After all, the other “Don’t” PSA is meant to actually get me to vote.

Also related to the “Don’t Vote” PSA is another political ad featuring another movie star who represents that apathetic young American demographic the other celebrities are speaking out to. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has created his own little commercial for Barack Obama, a candidate he considers to be that rare politician who isn’t “bullshit.” Levitt claims not to be a Democrat or Republican, and he admits he’s never really cared about anybody running for president before, but he just had to tell us that he’s “feeling pretty strongly on this one.”

I wonder which ad will speak most to the typically indifferent, the one from the famous people who simply want people to get up and vote, no matter how potentially uninformed they may be, or the one from an apolitical peer who wants others to notice a specific hopeful’s distinction.

[via Anne Thompson]

No, I don’t yet have any footage from the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. But at least you didn’t get Rick Roll’d, like I unfortunately did while optimistically searching for a leaked copy (actually getting Rick Roll’d at your lonely home office isn’t too bad. In fact, I got up and danced. Because I can).

What I do have for you instead, while you wait for the trailer to premiere on AOL tonight at 9pm EST, is a new clip related to Harry Potter, courtesy of MTV Movies Blog. It’s a Street Team news report on the HP Alliance’s Wizard Rock the Vote movement (aka Wrock the Vote), which helps Harry Potter fans register to vote.

…Read more

I’m sure I’m not the only one raising a glass to the good news that indieWIRE’s Undiscovered Gems film series is on for a second year. The New York Times and Emerging Pictures came through again with the support to make it happen.

For those who aren’t familiar with Undiscovered Gems, for ten years now indieWIRE has been making an annual list of films they love that have not been distributed in the US. This year, for the first time, critics from all over participated in the voting through indieWIRE’s online critics poll. (Here’s the resulting list of “best undistributed films.”) While the list has always created awareness of the films, in 2006 the films on the list became a film series, with one film shown per month in selected venues.

This year, as indieWIRE’s announcement says, “the series will bring one film per month from indieWIRE’s annual list to theaters in a minimum of 15 cities, including New York City; Wilmington, DE; Ft. Lauderdale, Lake Worth and Key West, FL; Martha’s Vineyard, MA; Buffalo, NY; Tulsa, and Oklahoma City, OK; Scranton, PA; Cary, NC; Ann Arbor, MI; and Washington, DC.” Audience members will vote at each venue, resulting in a winning film, which will be announced in December 2007 at an award presentation in New York City.

Steve Barron’s Choking Man will kick off the series next week. The film was awarded “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” at the 2006 IFP Gotham Awards ceremony.

The obvious thing to love about this series is that great films are getting an audience and at least some of the attention they deserve. But I also love the choice of cities for the series. Some are obvious (umm, New York and Washington?), but how great to live in Buffalo or Scranton or Tulsa and get to see these films! I realize resources are limited, but that’s what I would like to see more of in the future–more small cities in out-of-the-way places getting access to great undiscovered films. Wouldn’t it be cool is we could vote for cities next year, like Four Eyed Monsters did in its DIY distribution efforts?