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Under discussion:

Knocked Up  (2007)

Superbad  (2007)

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?  (2007)

After explaining why Lionsgate declined to screen the film for critics, Armond White begins his review proper of Why Did I Get Married? on contrarian autopilot: “Most critics don’t ‘get’ Tyler Perry basically because most critics are whites who are not only clueless about Perry’s African-American culture, but unsympathetic to his particular expression.” Okay, probably. But isn’t that obvious? I started to wonder if old Armond wasn’t losing his touch.
Oh, but wait! Further down the page, he hits us Whiteys where it really hurts, by attacking sacred dude-com cow Judd Apatow. “Nothing in Knocked Up is as meaningful as Perry’s spectacle of men who must restrain their anger physically or his politically incorrect fashion show of women proudly, luxuriously wearing furs as signs of pleasure and achievement,” White sniffs. It gets better, when White insists that the derogatory terms most commonly used to describe Trapped in the Closet would be better applied to SuperBad. And I could go on. Just read it in full.

Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee has crafted an open letter to George Lucas, re: eventual distribution options for his in-the-works Star Wars TV series:

Mr. Lucas, take a cue from Radiohead, and tell the networks to take a hike.

Why bother with traditional TV? You own the one of the biggest brands in the, well, universe. The shows are already being produced without a network commitment. Avoid the hassle of negotiating terms with networks around the world (and dealing with their marketing and promotions).

But most of all, it would give you what you are famous for — control.

The reference to Radiohead seems a little bit off the mark, as Albrecht doesn’t seem to be suggesting that Lucas set up his own storefront and/or allow fans to set their own price. It’s also worth noting that Radiohead’s price-it-yourself experiment has not been an unqualified success: though 1.2 million copies were legitimately purchased last week, another 500,000 were downloaded illegally. But if Georgie were to follow one of Albrecht’s suggestions and broadcast his series via an ad supported video sharing network like Brightcove, piracy wouldn’t be an issue, and he’d be able to keep all ad revenue for himself.

It would be a very, very encouraging sign if someone like Lucas were to wake up to the fact that the internet is where his fan base lives, and subsequently take the initative to come to them. But even if Albrecht is right in that an online-self release would actually give Lucas *more* control over his content, I think the perception amongst traditional media producers is still that the internet is the wild west, and that releasing content in this world is equivalent to giving up control. Isn’t that why Video ID exists?

Under discussion:

Planet Terror  (2007)

The NY Observer says Robert Rodriguez has lost Universal’s backing for his Barbarella remake, over the filmmaker’s insistence that his fiancee, Rose McGowan, play the title role. Rodriguez and McGowan “fell in love” on the set of Planet Terror, which led to the end of Rodriguez’s 16-year marriage to his producer, Elizabeth Avellan. According to the story, when the studio was first informed that Rodriguez intended to cast McGowan over “more famous names [like] Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and Jessica Alba”, they re-calibrated Barbarella’s budget from $100 million to something “in the double-digit millions.” Rodriguez denies this; he says Universal will give him $60 million to make the film, no questions asked, but he thinks he needs $82 million, so he’s shopping the project around to other studios.

Of note: McGowan face was injured in a car accident earlier this year, leading to actress to obtain major plastic surgery. It’s possible that the studio is worried the 17 Cherry Darling obsessives that might pay to see McGowan in a Barbarella outfit may not even be able to recognize her (see this related rumor about the actress’ reported post-surgery trouble landing work). Also of note: not one of the three “more famous” actresses listed above has proven that she can actually open a movie.