On Monday night, there was some sort of disconnect on the web… maybe it was just my service provider.  But I was unable to get onto any sites in order to do the column properly.  So, here is some older news.  There may be a update sometime on Tuesday, when I can get back online. 

In other THB news, mugs and hats are now being shipped.  T-shirts should be on their way by week’s end.  Thank you for your support and your patience.

C’EST LA VIE, C’EST LA AMOUR, C’EST LA GUERRE:  One of the “nice” things about Hollywood is that even the worst debacle can be turned inside out with the flick of a flack’s pen.  The beneficiary du jour is director Jean-Marie Poire, who directed Just Visiting, the English-language remake of Les Visiteurs, and removed his name from the picture before its release… if you want to call it that a release ($4.8 million total).  See, they took away his final cut and he just couldn’t stand for that, even after going wildly over budget…. like $50 million over.   According to Variety, “Today, French industry executives blame the debacle on Gaumont not assuming full control of the film, which was distributed in the United States by Disney.”  Uhhhh… they must not have seen the movie.  I loved Les Visiteurs.  Just Visiting made Charlie’s Angels look like Traffic.  This guy had NO idea what was funny in English.  The French version was just loaded with subtext.  In English, the Big Mac as a dick joke was about the level we were working at.  (Nope, I don’t think they actually did that joke.)  Anyway, Poire, who made a lot of money for Gaumont before this is back in the business of making money for Gaumont, moving onto his next project.  

ADDING BAD AD:  According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rush Hour 2 will premiere on United Airlines this Thursday.  The film will be shown uncut.  And they say Jackie Chan is known for his stunts!!!!

MORE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE:  I don’t know whether I was just not seeing these stories before or if something is going on out in the ozone, but there is yet another story of people taking film into their own hands against all odds.  This story took place in London, where Injustice, a documentary about eight policemen who the film calls murderers, screened last Wednesday despite threats from the police involved and even the efforts of the theater staff, who turned on the lights to try to stop the screening.  The organization behind the film, United Families and Friends, spent six years making the film, which focuses on the death of black inmates in police custody.  It’s an interesting First Amendment issue – however irrelevant in England – in that none of these officers have ever been convicted of anything, yet here they are being publicly accused of murder in this film.  What is actionable and what is not?  What is righteous and what is unfair? 

READER OF THE DAY:  The Skilled One writes:  “I most certainly will join the boycott as distributors in NZ have put up prices by $1.00 to $12.00 in the last week which seems far to expensive.  Mind you that works out at about $5.00 US in round numbers when converted so maybe we do not do to badly here.

On another note I see that the New Zealand government is in the hole to the tune of $500 million NZD if Lord of the Rings is a bust. I am very torn on this one as, as a movie lover I am happy to see Peter Jackson able to make bid budget movies but as a tax payer I am appalled that effectively I am taking all the risk for a US film studio.   And only getting 3 movies for $500 million!”

E ME:  What have I been missing?