Somebody had to make this obvious joke video; it might as well be me.

Open Thread below....

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Good God, what is this country coming to?

It seems the film Creation, a major-production biopic about Charles Darwin starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, won't be seen in the United States because no distributor with the guts to stand up to the religious right in this country can be found:

The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated.

The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying".

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

"That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said.

"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

"It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

"Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion', he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people."

No wonder conservatives believe liberals lack the courage of their convictions. We prove them right every other day.

From "Thank You for Smoking" (2005). Open Thread below.

Michael Moore sets his sights on Wall Street.

I am in the middle of shooting my next movie and I am looking for a few brave people who work on Wall Street or in the financial industry to come forward and share with me what they know. Based on those who have already contacted me, I believe there are a number of you who know "the real deal" about the abuses that have been happening. You have information that the American people need to hear. I am humbly asking you for a moment of courage, to be a hero and help me expose the biggest swindle in American history.

All correspondence with me will be kept confidential. Your identity will be protected and you will decide to what extent you wish to participate in telling the greatest crime story ever told.

If you have any info that would help, please contact me at my private email address: bailout@michaelmoore.com.

With the end of the year in front of us, it's natural that we look back at 2008 and reflect. Each day, we'll do another Ten Best list and ask for your picks. Today, it's the Best Movies of 2008. From NowPublic, here is the consensus list of critically acclaimed movies:

1 Slumdog Millionaire
2 Wall-E
3 Milk
4 The Wrestler
5 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6 The Dark Knight
7 Frost/Nixon
8 Doubt
9 Revolutionary Road
10 Rachel Getting Married

I am probably the worst person of the C&L team to do this, since I rarely see movies in the theaters and when I do, they are invariably kid movies that usually don't make anyone's ten best list. This year, however, I can say that Wall-E is deservedly on that list with stunning animation and a surprisingly sophisticated and progressive underlying message. I just saw The Dark Knight on DVD, and thought that with the exception of Heath Ledger's performance, the movie was really overrated. Being from San Francisco, I am really looking forward to seeing Milk (although the events precede my residence here); from the clips I've seen, it's really uncanny how well Sean Penn has channeled Harvey Milk. And although not on this list, just from word of mouth from people whose opinions I respect, I'm also looking forward to the DVD release of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Doubt.

My list of favorite films of 2008 (in alphabetic order): The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Gone Baby Gone; In Bruges; Iron Man; Mamma Mia (yes, I'm the demographic for this movie and I love Greece and the male eye candy as well -- sue me); Persepolis; Taxi to the Dark Side; The Visitor and Wall-E.

What were your favorites of the year and what films did you think were overrated?

You've got to be kidding me.

DISGRACED evangelical leader Rev. Ted Haggard will finally break his silence - to promote an HBO documentary about his own fall from power.

The coming out is set for next month at a convention of TV critics in LA.

"We look forward to presenting the film, Ted Haggard and his family at a press tour in LA next month," said a spokeswoman for HBO.

In 2006, Haggard was fired as the senior pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and lost his post as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals after a former male prostitute said the reverend had been a regular customer for sex and methamphetamines.

When the scandal broke, Haggard was paid a year's salary, about $130,000, and agreed not to talk about it publicly...read on

What could we possibly learn about this religious hypocrite other then the fact that he embodies many of the qualities that inhabit Conservatives today.

Ringu aka The Ring was a very creepy film and spurred on a series of movies known as J-Horror that are very cool, but what's happening now to our economy is a little bit scarier. Maybe Miike will come out with a film called ZIRP.

Krugman:

That’s zero interest rate policy. And it has arrived. America has turned Japanese.

This is the thing I’ve been afraid of ever since I realized that Japan really was in the dreaded, possibly mythical liquidity trap.

ZIRP, it has a nice ring to it. Will Wall Street execs climb out of our TV's and try to kill us all?

I never get tired of watching this. Anyone here think we're done now?

Remember that at least 18 Republicans (including John McCain) are up for reelection in 2010 and if any of them participate in filibusters in the next two years, we in the blogosphere will be doing more than shouting from our windows.

Open thread below....

Dirty tricks, wedge politics, class warfare. Push polling and playing to racist instincts of voters. All's fair in political battles. If reading those things makes you think of Karl Rove, then you have forgotten the godfather of those tactics: Lee Atwater. Atwater was the originator of the winner-takes-it-all tactics, something that still reverberates today within the Republican Party. Wikipedia:

Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was also a political mentor and close friend of Republican strategist Karl Rove. Atwater invented or improved upon many of the techniques of modern electoral politics, including promulgating unflattering rumors and attempting to drive up opponents' "negative" poll numbers with the aggressive use of opposition research. He has been characterized as the "happy hatchet man" and "Darth Vader" of the Republican Party. In spite of criticisms of Atwater's tactics as unethical and dirty tricks, he was widely regarded as a near-brilliant political operative who helped candidates to win.[..]

Atwater rose during the 1970s and the 1980 election in the South Carolina Republican party, working on the campaigns of Governor Carroll Campbell and segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond. During his years in South Carolina, Atwater became well known for running hard edged campaigns based on emotional "wedge issues".

Atwater's aggressive tactics were first demonstrated during the 1980 congressional campaigns. He was a campaign consultant to Republican incumbent Floyd Spence in his campaign for Congress against Democratic nominee Tom Turnipseed. Atwater's tactics in that campaign included push polling in the form of fake surveys by "independent pollsters" to "inform" white suburbanites that Turnipseed was allegedly a member of the NAACP.[4] Atwater also highlighted that Turnipseed had been "hooked up to jumper cables" as a teen undergoing electroshock therapy for depression.

In 1990, Atwater was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. On his deathbed, Atwater had a famous epiphany where he renounced and apologized for his toxic contribution to politics:

My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring — acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul

.
The Emmy-nominated filmmaker Stefan Forbes is here to discuss his new documentary, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, still playing in limited release around the country and available on DVD.

Please join me in welcoming Stefan and learn how the ghost of Atwater still haunts the Republican Party.

From Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939). Open Thread below...

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It's stories like this that really are incredible. I know it's been around for a while, but I never saw it before. A couple raised a lion cub in the UK and eventually he got too big to handle so they brought Christian back to Africa. A year later they visited him even though there was a great chance that he would have---forgotten them---and not been very kind since he lived in the wild and all, but surprisingly he remembered them. The affection he showed was pretty remarkable. Here's more on the story. "Christian, the lion who lived in my London living room"

"Christian stared at us in a very intense way," says Rendall. "I knew his expressions and I could see he was interested. We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly.

"Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders."Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying."...read on

I loved this movie. It's all about steroids, steroids, steroids. As it began I thought---you know---I'm really not that interested in this topic, but as the movie unfolded, I have to say I was completely sucked in by the twenty minute mark. It's funny, sad, fascinating and informative. Arnold, Bush and Orrin Hatch all have prominent roles to play. Did you know that 25% of all " vitamin supplements" are made in Utah? And guess how that happened?

Here's the website.

I think the above picture says it all. Sgt. Brent Sammann took this from his overseas Army base, location not divulged, where he wrote in to congratulate Cusack and Co. about the movie. NOTICE THE KBR FLAG, just under the American flag. You gotta be kidding me. On an ARMY BASE? And a very humble thank you for your service, Brent. It took a lot of courage to do this, but hey, you're a soldier. A very excited John Cusack emailed C&L from London yesterday to thank us bloggers and readers, for supporting War, Inc. in NY and LA. The ticket giveaway really helped. Apparently the movie is, so far, a phenomenal success that is shocking both the film's distributor and the industry. The film had no real advertising, just bloggers and it ran all viral baby–and yet the per screen numbers of War, Inc. have consistently been close behind the two big budget blockbuster movies of the summer. The producers emailed me this info:

Continue reading »

From what I'm hearing the screenings of "War Inc." are doing very well so far this weekend. If you're in the area, check it out.

This clever new movie takes the next logical step in the evolution of the Bush Doctrine. Instead of sending the US Armed Forces to conquer oil rich Middle Eastern countries, we now have the Tamerlane Corporation leading the charge to fulfill a Dick Cheney-like CEO's wet dream. John Cusack plays a hit man hired by the corporation to make sure their bottom line is met at all costs. His conscience has had about enough of the carnage left in his wake in this sobering, yet funny look at war profiteers. Blackwater's got nothing on Tamerlane Corporation.

Here's John Cusack with Bill Maher talking about his new picture.

Download | play Download | play

And John on Democracy Now talking to Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill.

(h/t Heather) 

I've been posting about John Cusack's new film (War Inc.) including a very cool live chat over the last few weeks because I loved it and think it deserves a much wider audience. It's the story of a disillusioned hit-man that works for a Blackwater-type corporation on steroids that attacks a country, sets up a profit-based green zone and gives away complimentary gift bags to every journalist they meet.

C&L--along with New Crime Productions--is offering a free ticket giveaway for an advance screenings in NY and LA on Monday---May 19, at 7:30 PM. It's important that we have those theaters filled to the max so the film will get distributed to a much wider audience.

<correction> The Opening of the film is May 23rd

NY Screening: *** Air America's Rachel Maddow will be doing a Q&A with writers Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser. after the film so stick around.

7:30pm

New York Film Academy

100 E. 17th Street

New York, NY 10003

LA Screening: 7:30pm

Laemmle Music Hall 3

9036 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Please email your name to: newcrime@aol.com and we'll randomly select the winners for this night of fun.