Director Spike Lee is taking a page out of comedian Bill Cosby’s playbook.

The man who gave us “Do the Right Thing” and “He Got Game” is talking up the power of getting a good education and how the media makes gangster life far too appealing. Cosby said essentially the same thing a few years back, but members of the black community didn’t take kindly to the veteran comic’s message.

Despite 100 years of slavery, our ancestors were smart enough to know that education would be the thing to lead us out of bondage,” he said. “At a time when to learn to read and write was against the law for African-Americans, our ancestors risked life and limb to learn.”

He spoke of his parents’ and grandparents’ generations greatest mantra: “Education is the key.”

Then, he asked the crowd how, with such a rich history, fewer than half of Black males graduate from high school in America.

Lee blamed the influence that crack cocaine has had in poor neighborhoods and the influence that media have had in glorifying drugs and gangsters, whom he said are primarily portrayed by Black actors.

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Kevin Smith and Spike Lee have very little in common – on the surface.

Smith is the pudgy fanboy fave behind “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy.” Lee is the combustible auteur who gave us “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X.”

But both directors find their careers in serious decline, and they’re not going out without a fight. But instead of making great movies to smite their critics, they’re opening up their mouths far too often.

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THR:

In his opening remarks, Obama recalled how he took Michelle to see Lee’s movie Do the Right Thing on their first date, according to the pool report.

Lee quipped: “Good thing you didn’t choose Driving Miss Daisy.” …

Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon are among the 45 guests at the $35,800-per-ticket dinner in NYC.

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The New York Times piece Lee refers to here is the most appalling piece of race-baiting I’ve read in years. You can read my write-up about it at Big Journalism. The reaction the Times was looking for is exactly this kind of thing from Spike Lee. They want high-profile, left-wing black Americans to take after Herman Cain. They want to toxify him as a sell-out in order to hurt his standing among black voters. The Times also wants to make damn sure Tea Party Republicans get no credit for embracing a black man. That would kill a cherished narrative the corrupt MSM has spent two years creating about us being racist.

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Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

In many popular narratives of the period, it was the Baby Boomers (born 1943-1960) who “ruined” the movies. Here’s the pretentious film snob summary of the death of Hollywood’s alleged second Golden Age, as popularized by Peter Biskind. The seventies were filled with bold, dark art and transgressive intellectualism. Then the greedy Baby Boomers – like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas – made “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and “E.T.” All of a sudden Hollywood did not want to make serious, grown-up pictures. Now it was the age of blockbusters so simple that 3-year-olds can summarize them.

It was the 1980s when Boomer Blockbuster filmmaking would arrive in the event pictures of Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. We see this tendency further in the films of arch-Boomers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. For a definition of Boomer cinema just look at the output of their company Imagine Entertainment. These aren’t the New Wave-influenced pictures of Roger L. Simon’s generation.

It was the Boomers who also gave us our most strident and simpleminded cinematic leftists: Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, and Michael Moore. Think about these three careers. Over the past 30 years have any of them shifted an inch in their political thinking? Of course not and neither have most Boomers who are still arguing over sex, race, and the Vietnam War as though it were still 1975. (more…)

When I first started film school, it was frustrating to see specific movies vaunted for political reasons and others ignored because they didn’t adhere to that professor’s political agenda. Even films that weren’t overly political were avoided for other’s that had a specific (generally radical) political message. I recall sitting through films like Bamboozled in a course on writing about film where we were also told to emulate Pauline Kael (I didn’t want to adopt her condescending view towards cinema). The sanctimonious view of Spike Lee, Bob Rafelson and Robert Altman got old when I wanted to learn about John Ford, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock (oh you know – those guys who pioneered cinema as we know it).

Luckily, my experience in graduate school is a different story. My professors have been more concerned with historical relevancy and less about turning a film lecture into a civics lesson. One professor who does the field a favor by putting together a fair assessment is Drew Casper, the Alma and Alfred Hitchcock Chair of American Film at USC, with his latest book, Hollywood Film 1963-1976: Years of Revolution and Reaction. Casper takes on a time period of filmmaking very dear to him that he feels has been unfairly dominated by leftist praise that purposely ignores certain films. Exposing his frustrations, Casper says that “predictably, the [scholarly] discussions are rather obsessive, focusing on the same films time and again that fit the critically beloved template” (xvi). This is exactly what I went through as an undergraduate. Extra studying on my part had to be done to get a well-rounded view of film history.

This common template favors liberals, constantly overhyping films like The Graduate, Mash, and Five Easy Pieces with praise that is more suited for something like The Godfather. Casper’s problem is that in the usual  film history text, a film like the leftist McCabe and Mrs. Miller will take up an entire chapter while the conservative and more iconic True Grit (1969 version) goes overlooked. The pious view of some films like Dr. Strangelove will force the ignorance of an equally important film (even those with similar political leanings). This fidelity to the most radical films will create a predictable view of others, “sometimes a conservative film is noted, only to be vilified for its politics, such aspersion clouding any thoughts about its aesthetic merits” (xvii). This is the case with Dirty Harry, where the left loves to hold this film up as fascist (Casper describes the “self-righteous” vitriol spewed by Pualine Kael about this film).

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You have to wonder if Truthers Charlie Sheen and Rosie O’Donnell are mourning the death of a patsy this morning.

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You watch a few of these new “Lean Forward” ads and the approach becomes obvious, director Spike Lee and MSNBC are hoping to fool people into thinking  they’re all about ”The People,” “The  Kids,” and “The America.” An extreme left-wing message stewed in Hollywood magic for that home-grown, down-home, God-Bless-America flavor.

But if you look closely, what we’re being told is that it’s patriotic to take away people’s liberties with ObamaCare, truly American to spend our children and grandchildren into oblivion, and wholesome to punish prosperity.

In a nutshell: Government-enforced equality over individual liberty is baseball, hot dogs, mom, and apple pie!

This is all about 2012, folks. All about couching Obama’s extremist message and failed policies into something the independents he lost in 2010 can tolerate.  Everyone together now: Thanks Hollywood!

But this isn’t 2008 and we are on to you this time.

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Since exploding onto the nation’s movie screens from seemingly nowhere in 2005, Tyler Perry has created a media empire that has been nearly unprecedented in movie history. Certainly no other African-American filmmaker has ever attained his level of clout, as Perry has written, directed, produced and starred in 11 films since his first: “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

But with such wild success has come wild controversy, for the centerpiece of Perry’s success has been his portrayal of a character named Madea. She’s a wise-cracking, comedically abusive and pot-smoking older lady, which means that Perry is playing her in drag – a fact that some other black filmmakers like Spike Lee have criticized, accusing Perry of being too uncomfortably close to racial stereotypes of the past.

At a press event for Perry’s newest film “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” which comes out today, Perry addressed Spike Lee’s criticisms in a most unexpected fashion – by railing at me for a question I was making about a completely different kind of potential backlash. I wanted to know if the black churchgoing community that make up his strongest fan base – for Perry’s films are all rooted deeply in Christian themes and values – are likely to give him a backlash over the amount of marijuana use and comments about the drug in the new film. (Such material is rampant throughout the movie, as a new character named Aunt Bam smokes more pot here than is consumed in a Cheech and Chong movie.)

The movie itself is hard to review, as it’s filled with Perry’s usual mix of wildly conflicting emotions of happiness and sadness, faith and despair, and is often over-the-top due to its prior history as a stage play in which the actors all played loudly to the back seats of theaters nationwide. Basically, look at the commercials and trailers and you’ll know immediately if it’s for you or not.

But Perry’s outraged response – keyed to his misunderstanding my question – caused national news on countless film-related websites. So if you really want to know what went down, keep reading:

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When I read Sarah Silverman’s gushing description of a “private” meeting between her and President Obama in a hotel hallway, one in which he gave her “a big hug,” my first reaction was to laugh out loud. I found it hilarious that even amid crippling unemployment figures, skyrocketing energy prices, and foreign policies only Jimmy Carter could love, Hollywood elitism was still clinging to the dream.

Of course it went from hilarious to sickening when I read further into Silverman’s account of the event, and saw how she reacted to the “big hug” by equating Obama’s body with that of a thoroughbred. At this point I said to myself: “Silverman has obviously never hugged a thoroughbred.” (I grew up around racehorses, and Obama’s emasculated frame is by no means reminiscent of a thoroughbred.)

As a matter of fact, Silverman’s comparison of the two – Obama’s body with that of a thoroughbred – is so silly that one might call her sanity into question were it not for the fact that she’s not alone in speaking the absurd in relation to Obama. In other words, she’s not the only Hollywood celebrity to utter such imbecility; she’s just the latest one.

For example, during the 2008 campaign cycle, director Spike Lee said an Obama presidency would not simply bring “a new day, [but] a better day.” George Clooney said Obama possessed “the one quality you cannot teach…which is he is a leader.” And actor Josh Lucas described Obama as “a truly scholarly man.” (Pardon me while I throw up.)

I wonder what the people represented by the approximately 10% unemployment figures in this country would say about Obama’s new day? I wonder what Gulf of Mexico residents who watched Obama play golf in 2010 instead of taking a hands-on approach to the BP oil spill would say of his leadership? And since when does thinking the United States has 57 states or stuttering through speeches on a teleprompter or spending a country into oblivion by running a 3 trillion dollar deficit up to 14 trillion in 2 years seem scholarly?

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1989 remains a notable year for movies, one in which we learned that you couldn’t cure Mel Gibson’s case of the crazies, and that Kim Basinger weighed a little more than 108 pounds. The world was introduced to at least two filmmakers who would become unlikely mainstream mainstays: a jolly fat man whose wildly imaginative comedic fantasies would redefine a genre, and a sensitive geek who went and made a damn movie about a guy who videotapes women talking about sex.  Finally, it was the year that our angriest black filmmaker achieved mainstream success with a slice of life drama whose climax would have everyone talking and Roger Ebert crying.

None of these movies sniffed the Oscar. The nominees for Best Picture, please…

“Driving Miss Daisy”: Morgan Freeman’s performance approaches greatness, and I’d love to go to bat for a movie filmed and set in Atlanta, but like “Batman,” the movie may have won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1989 but it feels like a relic.

“Dead Poets Society”: Some really great performances, but the ending seems more manipulative the older I get.

“Born on the Fourth of July”: Stunning, great film.  Nolte nails it here.

“My Left Foot”: I know that I really loved this movie when it came out, especially Daniel Day Lewis’ Oscar-winning performance, but I have never felt the desire or need to see it again since.

“Field of Dreams”: A tricky one. The premise is goofy, the movie is corny, but…(continued below)

What Should’ve Been Nominated

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As a political music blogger with no political credentials and horrible musical taste, it was a huge deal when I found the very first straw-man Daily Kos rebuttal to an article of mine.  According to the author “jethrock,” I hopped on “the false narrative that reverse racism exists and scary Black people hate you (if you’re white) and are out to get you.” 

Note the progressive buzzwords:  “reverse racism,” which I never mentioned and is a silly concept (racism is racism, no matter from whom), and “scary Black people,” which I never mentioned either, yet seems to be the default spin thrown at Andrew Breitbart for pointing out racism in the NAACP.  The point of the article was that comments and actions which would have drawn the ire of the NAACP if made by white entertainers (can you imagine the response if Lady Gaga made a video where she wore a pointed hood and rallied a mob with torches and lead pipes?) were ignored when they were made by black entertainers—entertainers lauded at the Image awards. 

As some in the comments suggested, however, these entertainers cannot be racist, because racism is not about race but about power; only whites can be racist because only whites have the power to oppress.  Ridiculous as that is, let’s just assume that it’s correct for the sake of argument.  So if it’s not wrong for Ice Cube to refer to white people as his “enemy” and to rap about shooting white people– since as a black man, he cannot oppress a white man—is it wrong for Ice Cube (an Image award recipient) to rap, “Fuck and get up is how I do them stank hoes”?  Regardless of race, the Left cannot deny that men are still in a position to oppress women (just ask about Clarence Thomas), and the NAACP has been woefully silent on the open advocacy of misogyny and sexual violence amongst its Image award nominees and winners. (more…)

So what gives? Are these areas just not glamorous enough? Do celebs not want to further highlight The One’s pathetic response?

Celebrities love causes. They love them for a couple of reasons: one, it makes them seem like “serious” people despite making a non-serious living as entertainers – or, as in the case of “professional reality show stars,” making a living by leeching off the system. Two, it’s free publicity. After all, you aren’t a celebrity if you aren’t being “celebrated” by an adoring public.

As such, celebrities often embrace “feel good causes” that enhance their PR value and their egos. Take “green living,” for instance. Why all the Hollywood hooh hah about carbon footprints and other such nonsense? Christopher Grey of WND has a theory:

Celebrities want attention, but they also want credibility because they typically don’t have any. Environmentalism is an easy cause for them to promote to get attention and at the same time appear somehow thoughtful and even educated because it is allegedly based on science. Of course none of this has anything do with reality, but this is the entertainment business. Reality is not important at all. Image is everything. Talking about recycling, stopping offshore drilling, solar power, and electric cars is a lot easier than really trying to do something for people in the world like feeding the hungry, helping abused children, or building houses for the homeless.

It also deflects attention from the obvious fact that celebrities are often some of the most wasteful, energy inefficient, materialistic, shallow, and superficial people in our society. A classic recent example was James Cameron, who talked about how his film, Avatar, was a shining example of environmentalism. Obama echoed this praise. This was the most expensive movie ever made about a war on an alien planet. What exactly about this movie helped to conserve resources or save our planet? The answer is absolutely nothing.

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You know what I do when I’m confused about an issue?

I turn to Ashton Kutcher. And whatever he says – the opposite is true.
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Click image to play

Leave it to Ashton to use catastrophe as a club to beat Republicans with – although the last time I checked Obama favors drilling – and most of America agrees. Except of course those shallow, stupid celebs who think their private jets fly on pixie farts.

But hey, if it hadn’t been for greenies, this whole mess might have occured in shallow water, and it’d be fixed. But maybe there are rare snails there that require space for Pilates.

At any rate, buyer’s remorse is now flooding the airwaves faster than oil from that busted rig: On CNN, director Spike Lee cries, “If there’s any one time to go off, this is it, because this is a disaster.” (more…)

Did you know celebrities have a right to speak their minds about politics courtesy of The First Amendment? Or that the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon televised debate changed the way we saw politicians forever? “Poliwood,” a new film “essay” from director Barry Levinson, uncovers those nuggets and much, much more.

The film, set to bow at the Starz Denver Film Festival this weekend and already airing on Showtime, does offer more than just those recycled themes. It’s an occasionally fascinating look into the modern actor’s mindset as well as the anger the general public feels when they hear celebrities pontificating on events of the day.

Director Barry Levinson

We’re also given a peek at the passions driving some celebrities to speak out on the issues. Yet the film is emblematic of Hollywood productions which strain to achieve balance but come up mostly empty.

The bulk of the film features liberal celebrities from the Creative Coalition, a nonpartisan group, maneuvering around last year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. (more…)

Other than the National Endowment for the Arts’ already tenuous reputation, the only casualty in the NEA conference call episode has been Yosi Sergant, the former Director of Communications for the public agency charged with funding arts organizations in America.

On September 10, the NEA announced that Sergant would be re-assigned with this curious statement accompanying the move:

“On August tenth, the National Endowment for the Arts participated in a call with arts organizations to inform them of the president’s call to national service. The White House office of public engagement also participated in the call, which provided information on how the Corporation for National and Community Service can assist groups interested in sponsoring service projects or having their members volunteer on other projects. This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false. The NEA regularly does outreach to various organizations to inform of the work we are doing and the resources available to them.”

This statement leads any objective and reasonable observer to wonder why Mr. Sergant would be “re-assigned” if there was nothing wrong with this purely “information/outreach” conference call. As has often been the case with this, the most open and transparent administration in history, it is very difficult to get a straight answer. We can’t even learn WHAT Sergant’s new position is, let alone why he was asked to step down from his role as Communications Director. (more…)

Spike Lee … profile in courage: [emphasis added]

Filmmaker Spike Lee championed a free press Friday during a visit to Venezuela, where broadcasters are under pressure to avoid criticizing President Hugo Chavez’s leftist government.

The director didn’t directly refer to the dispute in Venezuela, but he said there are “no circumstances” under which news media should be silenced.

Lee’s never had a problem “directly referring” to America or Bush, so why do Venezuela and Hugo Chavez rate a pass?  (more…)

“I’m looking through you, where did you go? I thought I knew you, what did I know? You don’t look different, but you have changed. I’m looking through you, you’re not the same.” — Lennon/McCartney: “Rubber Soul,” 1965

When Sonia Sotomayor was nominated in May, I wrote a satirical essay for Big Hollywood called The ‘Magic Latina’. The title was a send up of the “Magic Negro,” or “Magical Negro,” a fictional stereotype common in film and literature. The “Magic Negro” has been criticized by white and black commentators alike. Blacks, most famously Spike Lee, but many others, view the role as ultimately degrading. As Rita Kempley, writing for DVRepublic, said about the “Magic Negro,” “What’s the deal with all the holy roles?” The core of the critique is that the characters are given special powers and/or underlying mysticism. It is not that the characters per se are so bad.  The perception is that this kind of character, the selfless and powerful, insightful, and sometimes magical being, is always black, has no “interior life”, and is always serving white people. To name a few at random, they include such famous stars as Hattie McDaniel (“Gone with the Wind”), Sidney Poitier (“The Defiant Ones”), Morgan Freeman (“Shawshank Redemption,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Bruce Almighty”), and Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix”). (more…)

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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…)