Pants on fire.

We can be glad the 1980 Olivia Newton-John vehicle Xanadu was most definitely not a sign of things to come from producer and director Robert Greenwald. The Abby Hoffman flashback biopic Steal This Movie (2000) was more like it; more intriguing might be the one he's working on now, My Dark Places, based on James Ellroy's disturbing autobiographical book.

See Greg Allen's terrific recent entries on "Sforzian Backgrounds"

The project of greatest immediate importance, though, is Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War. The urgency is reflected in the way this documentary is being distributed. Sure, screenings are scheduled, such as the one yesterday in Washington hosted by Greenwald and Al Franken and the one tonight in New York hosted by George Soros. There'll be another in San Francisco on November 19, sort of a double launch for the Bay Area of the film and the Alternet book, The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq. But at the same time, you can buy the DVD now. 15 bucks for an hour of background and interviews with the likes of former Ambassador Joe Wilson; former head of the CIA, Stansfield Turner; CIA operative Robert Baer; weapons inspector David Albright; former Ambassador to Greece, John Brady Kiesling, who resigned over the war; and former anti-terrorism expert, Rand Beers.

Most Americans haven't been particularly interested in how or why we went into Iraq. Many simply assumed Saddam had something to do with 9/11, a nonexistent linkage the administration was careful and diligent about cultivating, and thought: Let's take him out. But now, as it becomes clearer that perhaps the greatest misconception - I wouldn't call it a lie because I think that the White House, in some perverse way, actually believed it - was that the war was over six months ago, that we're in deep and for the long, costly haul, maybe, just maybe there'll be a few more inquisitive minds receptive to a doc like this than there were back in the spring when, to hear Rummy, Cheney and Co tell it, we'd have the entire axis of evil whipped and the boys back home by Christmas.

Whether the current administration is one that actually believes its own rhetoric or one that cynically tells bald-faced lies without batting a lash (and it's probably a mix of believers like Bush and deceivers like Cheney), if you've had enough and you're a filmmaker or a filmmaker wannabe, you might be interested in entering the Bush in 30 Seconds political ad contest sponsored by Moveon.org and judged by the likes of Jack Black, Michael Moore, Gus Van Sant and several other illustrious lefties. Hurry, though. Just a few weeks left.

Short shorts:

Why publishing on the Net is still a fine, fine thing: Two Venezuelans, one leaning right, one leaning left, comment on Peter Brunette's review of Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Also in indieWIRE: Three series devoted to German cinema at MoMA.

Speaking of Revolutions, tomorrow's the big day. In Kung Fu Cinema, Evelyn Garcia de la Cadena looks forward to the fight scenes; Newsweek's David Ansen isn't looking forward to much about the closing chapter of the Matrix at all; on the other hand, philosophers are, according to Andrew Potter in the National Post. And finally, Josh Horowitz digs up a 1996 interview with Larry and Andy Wachowski for Movie Poop Shoot.

For Artforum, David Rimanelli reviews Art - A Sex Book, by John Waters and Bruce Hainley, and the 2003 edition of Waters's Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters.

We make no secret around here of our admiration for and appreciation of Jonathan Rosenbaum. Besides writing both intelligently and accessibly about movies, usually bringing along a political slant we happen to agree with, one of the things Rosenbaum does brilliantly is select which films to review when and then often juxtapose two or more films in delightfully enlightening ways. He's done it again: Sylvia and In the Mirror of Maya Deren.

The Joseph Cornell DVD-ROM.

Spike Jonze's next adaptation: a live action Where the Wild Things Are. Via Fimoculous.

The Salma Hayek versus Friedrich Hayek Scorecard. Via metaphilm.

Doug Cummings on Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story.

Today's best screener debate read: Gary Dretzka at Movie City News.

Producer Jonathan Black's dropped by to tell us Abby Singer has just won Best Feature Film and Best Independent Film at the New Orleans Media Experience Film Festival. Once again, congrats!

Posted by dwhudson at November 4, 2003 8:47 AM