Actor Samuel L. Jackson isn’t as pleased with President Barack Obama as he expected he would be at this point in the Commander in Chief’s first term,

Then again, no one will give Obama any [expletive] credit for all the [expletive] things the president has [expletive] done so far.

Yes, Jackson’s intense screen persona occasionally bleeds into the actor’s off-screen life, if his chat with Newsweek/The Daily Beast is any indication. Jackson shared his disappointment with the Hope and Change Meets Reality Tour before resorting to standard celebrity form. Yeah, but he’s still great:

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, an early supporter of the president, freely admits his ambivalence. “Some days I agree with Dr. West and what he says about the president not dealing enough with the plight of the poor,” says Jackson. “Then I think about how they won’t give him credit for anything… The president got about a week of moderate applause for capturing the most-wanted man in the world. You ask me, he should have put that motherfucker on ice and defrosted his ass Nov. 1.

Actress/director Debbie Allen didn’t bother with any equivocations while endorsing Obama for four more years.

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It’s almost impossible to watch ‘Pulp Fiction’ today without mentally checking off director Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic tics.

Great soundtrack? Yup. Aging actors rescued from obscurity? Yes, indeed. Dialogue so quotable you could print bumper stickers from every other line in the script? Oh, yeah.

But back in 1994, when the film first rocked movie houses, ‘Pulp Fiction’ was simply Tarantino’s entrance into the upper echelon of movie makers. The film hasn’t lost its zip in its new Blu-ray incarnation. If anything, the giddiness Tarantino fuses to the action genre is more appealing in an era of shaky cams and uncertain plot twists.

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Expectations were sky high after Quentin Tarantino stunned the film world with the double barrel greatness of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction.’

It’s one reason why his third directorial effort, the slow and soulful “Jackie Brown,” was met with indifference in some quarters.

The 1997 film, out this week on Blu-ray, deserves a second, longer look. Tarantino had more up his sleeve than simply reviving the stalled careers of Pam Grier and Robert Forster. ‘Jackie Brown’ is a tribute to patient, clear-eyed storytelling as much as it is a wet kiss to the blaxploitation era.

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Via Fox Nation:

“Samuel L. Jackson, I guess, disregards the 16.7 percent unemployment rate in the black community, a 20 percent unemployment rate for black adult males and a 45-46 percent unemployment for black teenagers,” the Florida Republican said. “I think the racism that he is talking about is coming out of the White House and this administration.”

West warned Jackson against using the tea party movement as a “scapegoat,” insisting that conservatives are trying to fix the economy and turn around the unemployment numbers in the black community.

The perfect example? Herman Cain.

West said the Republican presidential candidate “negates” the recent comments by Jackson and Freeman.

“I think that what you’re seeing with Herman Cain is someone that is against the tide. He is not a career politician, he is coming forth with common sense solutions with what is happening in our country,” he said.

More at Politico.

Samuel L. Jackson is the latest actor of color to accuse the Tea Party of racism.

Late last month, Oscar winner Morgan Freeman blamed racism on the Republican party’s eagerness to see President Barack Obama defeated.

This week, Jackson told a reporter from New York Magazine (after said reporter used the scurrilous Washington Post story on Rick Perry’s so-called racist rock) that the reason Tea Partiers want Obama out because of his skin color, not his policies.

“The division of the country is not about the government having too much power. I think everything right now is geared toward getting that guy out of office, whatever that means,” he said, echoing Freeman. “It’s not politics. It is not economics. It all boils down to pretty much to race. It is a shame.”

Their collective proof is so poorly constructed even a half-asleep Chris Matthews could swat it aside without eyeballing a teleprompter.

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[CONTENT WARNING: This post contains harsh language.]

On Wednesday night, Quentin Tarantino was roasted at the New York Friars’ Club. Some of Hollywood’s most famous and talented stars were on hand, many of who did the actual roasting. Among them Samuel L. Jackson, Jerry Lewis, Sarah Silverman, Rob Schneider, Eli Roth, and Neve Campbell. One shameless roaster named Whitney Cummings, often seen on Chelsea Lately, delivered the most buzz-worthy/cringe-worthy line of the night:

[Tarantino has] produced more retarded things than Sarah Palin’s vagina.

Somewhere out there, Andrew Dice Clay is blushing. Not because the joke is off-color, he doesn’t care about that. He’s flushed because it’s unfunny, stolen hackery.

Let’s deal with the unfunny part first: Who is the butt of this joke? A toddler who suffers from down-syndrome and the mother that chose not to destroy him while he was in the womb. Yikes. Regarding Trig: Lay. Off. The. Kids. Okay? Regarding Mama Palin: Is it possible to write a more obvious joke on a more obvious target? I’m sure Ms. Cummings fancies herself irreverent; what would be truly irreverent is if she would harness a little of that hate that dwells in her dreary heart and direct it toward someone who is actually in power. Here are some possible targets she may want to consider: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, or Joe Biden (notice how I’m not mentioning Obama’s children?). If she insists on resorting to humor that’s main attribute is shock-value, why not try a target that might actually shock someone?

Now let’s deal with the hackery part. It’s one thing that Whitney Cummings is mean-spirited, vulgar, and boring, but it’s quite another that she stole this joke. Here’s a super-NSFW clip of Louis CK on Opie and Anthony going on a jag against Sarah Palin that ends with him referring to her vagina as a “retard-making cunt.” (more…)

The movie of the summer won’t be in theatres, going instead straight to DVD on June 15.

That’s a shame, because Unthinkable, a ripped from the headlines suspense thriller, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Ann Moss, Michael Sheen and Brendan Routh, asks the sorts of questions we should be asking in our era of terror. It has all the hallmarks of an excellent 24 episode, save one — the threat seems far too real and it isn’t clear that the FBI is tough enough to save us.

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The movie opens to grainy footage of Sheen in a warehouse.  The camera flickers on, Sheen stammers something, grows dissatisfied and the he turns the camera off. At first blush, these seem like outtakes, until he regains himself. “In the name of Allah, the merciful, and his Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, my name is Yousef Atta Mohammed. My former name is Stephen Arthur Younger.”

It’s a scene we’ve seen before – on the news, but never from Hollywood. Younger is all American: ex-military, a Muslim convert, and a nuclear weapons specialist, who has placed three nuclear weapons in three American cities. Paid by Iran to smuggle fissionable material out of Russia, he went rogue, surfacing once more in America where he allowed himself to be captured. He is our very worst fear, a fear which seems all too plausible after Ft. Hood. (more…)

[Ed. Note: "Unthinkable" went straight-to-DVD and hits stores tomorrow. Here's a sneak peek so you know better what you're spending your hard-earned money on.]

I’ve only been in “Hollywood” the past few years. My experience is limited to a couple of TV writing credits, serving as the technical advisor for two series, consulting on several projects, and pitching a spec pilot around town. I’ve found a little more success in having two books published: a recently released thriller and a true-crime autobiography of my undercover work in the FBI. But even with my limited experience, I realize what you read in a script is not necessarily what makes it to the big screen. All this to say, I have not seen “Unthinkable” starring Samuel L. Jackson, but I have read a late version of London-born and British-educated Peter Woodward’s script. 

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I always hated it in high school English when the teacher wanted to know the poet’s intent for a particular verse. I never saw any deeper meaning than he wanted the words to rhyme, so I don’t pretend to question why this script was written or produced. The screenplay has a lot of action and will probably stimulate controversy on both sides of the aisle. It asks the question “to what length do we go to obtain information which will potentially save hundreds possibly thousands of lives?” 

Maybe as a caveat before reading any further I should tell you: my son is a Marine; I have no problem with the enhanced interrogation techniques as employed by the Bush administration; there is a lot I would do to save the lives of our servicemen and women who risk their lives daily because our nation asked; I have fired my service weapon in the heat of battle; and have absolutely no issue with defending myself or others who are in grave physical danger.  (more…)

Director Spike Lee’s third film, “Do the Right Thing,” hasn’t aged a day since its 1989 release. The film’s misguided views on violence were wrong-headed the second it hit theaters. And the election of President Barack Obama surely puts some of the film’s victimization subtext in fresh perspective. But as sheer entertainment, “Thing” remains a blistering experience, the culmination of every one of Lee’s unique gifts as a filmmaker.

The film’s re-release on DVD June 30 reminds us Lee hasn’t come anywhere close to matching “Thing’s” raw power in the intervening years.

“Thing” stars Lee as Mookie, a disinterested pizza delivery man working on the hottest day of the summer in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. Pizza shop owner Sal (Danny Aiello) is thoroughly old school, and his bickering sons (John Turturro and Richard Edson) are hardly paragons of virtue. But Sal doesn’t have hate in his heart for his customers, who are almost all black. His food has fed them for years, he says with pride. (more…)

Over the weekend, I was pondering why the low budget, standard genre pic The Haunting in Connecticut (Lionsgate) has become a nifty little box office hit. The film added almost $9.5M over the weekend for a new 10-day cume of $37M, and the only conclusion I have been able to reach is that it’s all about the poster.

Creepy, right? I have not seen Haunting and will probably wait for DVD or pay cable, but that is a weird, startling, attention-grabbing image. As a movie junkie, I love good movie art. The best movie posters are evocative. They capture what a movie is all about without giving away the mystery. There are certain movie posters that instantly put me back in that theatre experiencing the film for the very first time. The best movie posters are not just promotional tools. They stand as a work of art on their own. These are my favorites, buit it is by no means a definitive list. Feel free to add your favorites (and subtract any of mine).

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Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.

SUNDAY MORNING: Dog lovers everywhere united to make Fox’s Marley & Me the #1 Christmas weekend movie with an expected $51.18M in the Thursday-thru-Sunday period for a Per Theatre Average of $14,888. Pre-opening industry tracking pointed to a clear win for Bedtime Stories (Disney), but it was the lovable lab who finished on top.

As an aside, all of us who read John Grogan’s extraordinarily well-written novel should have seen this coming. The book is a joy, and anyone who has a dog, or has ever had a dog, could easily identify with the struggles and pleasures of having a 4-legged member of the family.

The success of Marley slightly mitigates a disastrous year for Fox. Its year started out well enough riding the huge success of 2007 release Alvin & the Chipmunks into January ($70M of Alvin’s gross landed in this calendar year). The January 18 release of chick-flick 27 Dresses scored for Katherine Heigl ($76.8M in the US), then Jumper was a good solid February hit, topping $80M, followed by the wildly successful Horton Hears a Who ($154.5M domestic). Little did Fox know that when the Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz comedy What Happens in Vegas played solidly to the tune of $80.2M domestic starting in May, it would be its last legit hit until Christmas’ Marley & Me. This is a huge, redemptive win for Fox, and its sentimental tear-jerker of a dog movie could near $100M domestic by Sunday.

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