27 October 2000

THE BAD: Joe Lieberman opened the door and now John McCain has stuck his entire body in my business. This week, Herr McCain announced that he is going to be getting quarterly reports on how the studios are marketing their movies. Real censorship has begun, ladies and gentlemen, as the WAH! (War Against Hollywood!) becomes a HAH! (Hollywood Against Hollywood!). Studios are assigning compliance officers under the watchful eye of Jack "No, Really, I'll Take Care of It" Valenti.

You know, I tease Boom Boom Valenti, but the guy has been a great front man for the film industry in Washington and you couldn't ask for anyone to do more to watch your back. Not that I agree with him on everything… or even most things… that he says publicly. But this one I like: "Guardians of good are very nimble-footed. They leap from generation to generation. They believe that they and they alone are righteous enough to tell people how to conduct your lives." Damn skippy. They skip from left to right, too.

Coverage of the story on the Reuters wire included this note: "McCain cannot order the FTC to take on the new task, but only request such action." Exactly. McCain is a paper tiger. The law of this nation could never be allowed to be as restrictive as the industry will become, of its own volition, because of all this saber rattling. And in the WB stores… no more clips or trailers for R-rated movies… there could be children nearby. And how did those children come into existence?

THE UGLY: On Thursday morning, I had the opportunity to participate in a junket for Red Planet… an online junket. What a disaster. No, I'm not talking about the movie… yet. Just the junket itself. A company called Centerseat is one of the top propagators of this new technology… which could be fun, if it worked. So far, I've had two experiences with it. (The first was on Miramax's Scary Movie, which was okay until we got the links to the online video and the link never seemed to work.) In this case, I never saw Val Kilmer, Antony Hoffman or Carrie-Anne Moss for a single second. It wasn't my modem… I have a cable modem. It wasn't my browser… I tried both Netscape and Internet Explorer. And I wasn't alone… among the other eight people on the phone line with me, each allowed one question when called upon, I think only one saw a still image of the group.

You know, I have no problem with roughcut being stuck at an Internet roundtable at a junket. Yes, we all have the same interview, but that's always been the case. I am sympathetic to the studios, which are being overwhelmed by more movie-related dot coms than should exist. And the junket system has always had groups of people stuck with the same tape/transcript, etc. What is unacceptable is to use technology to limit the access of web outlets with which the studios do work. And even more so if the technology doesn't work. I don't know about the rest of the web sites, but my ego is big enough to think that roughcut deserves at least as much access as your run-of-the-mill quote whore.

RADIO RADIO: This weekend on The Movie Show on KABC, James Dean will be guesting… well, ghosting. Psychic Kenny Kingston will freak you out as our guest, 11 am PST on KABC-790 in L.A. or on kabc.com on the web.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: This weekend at the American Cinémathèque at Los Angeles's Egyptian Theatre, Ken Smith presents "Mental Hygiene: Classroom Guidance Films 1947–1961." Yes, these are those crazy high school films that make you giggle just thinking about them. Sound like fun? Check the program out by clicking here.

QUOTE WHORE EXTRA (please link): There's a new feature at The Hot Button. Every Friday and Monday, catch the latest list of the important work being done by the people most likely to enjoy the smell of napalm in the morning, post-Vietnam. There's no point in making fun of them anymore… so, we're just going to keep a list. Friday, I'll track the week in quotes. On Monday, the quotes from Friday and Sunday's special movie sections. You will believe that Maria Salas can critique! Click here for the first edition.

BAD AD WATCH: Two items… not that this section is not for whores anymore. 1) I don't think I've ever seen the trick that Universal uses in its Billy Elliot print ads, quoting David Ansen twice, separated by a Peter Travers quote, but marking the first quote "Newsweek" and the second quote, "David Ansen, Newsweek." Oh! One's from "Newsweek" and one is from "Neeeewwwsssweeekkkk." I get it.

2) I've recently dropped the "Don't Call Me Larry" from the middle of Laurence Fishburne's name. But one look at the ad for Fishburne's directorial debut, Once in the Life, which I am actually curious to see, and I want to start poking again. "A Laurence Fishburne Work." What the heck is up with that? Could it be any more pretentious? Well, I guess so… "A Laurence Fishburne Work of Art" would be worse. You know, I want to support the guy… he's a great, great actor. But, sheesh!

READER OF THE DAY: From The Crow—"I don't know if I'm misreading what you wrote in your Thursday roughcut column, but Leo DiCaprio is not gay nor is he a member of or believer in Scientology. Moreover, what a silly and idiotic idea that someone who believes in Scientology is using that as a shield to cover their homosexuality. Maybe yours is not a gossip column, but you are perpetuating the same rumors much in the same vein as the 'National Enquirer' in making such insinuations. Stick to talking about movies and actors, please. I'll buy the 'Globe' and 'Star' if I want to read gossip."

E ME: Thank you for your clarification on Leo… no such assertion was intended. Are you going to cough up for Movie of… I mean, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2?