Screening Gotham: "Fucking Liar" Edition

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

--It was only a few months ago that Michael Moore denied to The Reeler having any knowledge of Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk's critique Manufacturing Dissent ("I'm in a lot of movies," he told reporter Kate Meyer at the time). Bullshit or not, it was fun while it lasted: Moore is spitting mad in a piece published today in The Guardian, indirectly slapping a "fucking liar" brand on the docmakers and defending the assembly of his film Roger and Me. We'll have more from him next week, though it's a little likelier we'll stick with Sicko, which premieres tonight in New York.

--Evidently out of ideas, Anthony Lane spends half of his New Yorker review of A Mighty Heart breaking down the dynamics of Angelina Jolie's celebrity. He makes me so tired sometimes. He also makes David Denby look like Manny Farber.

--Also expanding on this site's recent Volker Schlöndorff interlude, Reverse Shot's Jeff Reichert went one-on-one with the German director about his latest, Strike, as well as the challenge of adaptations and the difficulty of finding a period hard hat.

--I've never understood why The Times bothers with throwaway B-movies like DOA: Dead or Alive, which wasn't even screened for critics. But Jeanette Catsoulis' review Saturday is a short but terrific read whose only consequence may be its exemplary crafting of something from nothing: "The multiplex is a beast that needs constant feeding, and sometimes the meal has to be cheese. ... Notwithstanding the success of Paul Verhoeven, (Corey) Yuen has yet to learn that all that jiggles is not cinematic gold." It'll take, like, 45 seconds; you might as well check it out.

Posted at June 18, 2007 8:43 AM