Archive for Movie News

Michael Moore is at it again. According to an article released by Reuters, Michael Moore is in the beginning stages of a new documentary that will examine what has happened to the United States in the eight years that the Bush Administration has been in office.

Michael Moore is known for making controversial documentaries. He took on gun control with Bowling for Columbine, the Patriot Act and the war with Fahrenheit 9/11, and the healthcare industry with Sicko. He hasn’t named his newest film but admits that it is going to make a lot of people angry and that making it is probably a little “dangerous”.

Before Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore was not exactly a household name. People had vague ideas of who he was thanks to the success of Roger & Me, a documentary about GM, and its follow up, The Big One. He gained some notoriety after publishing his book Stupid White Men. It was Bowling for Columbine, however, that catapulted Moore into the “radical” spotlight.

The people who disagree with Moore say that they don’t like him because he “doesn’t tell both sides of the story,” or that his documentaries aren’t truly documentaries but slanted filmmaking designed to incite anger. The people who agree with Moore counter that his documentaries do not have to tell both sides of the story and that good filmmaking is supposed to elicit emotion in the viewer.

Both sides agree that the man certainly has guts. There aren’t too many people willing to take on the powers that be so brazenly.

Moore is adamant about making sure that the public knows that his newest film is not a sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11 and should not be viewed as such. He told the Associated Press that this film would have a broader scope but that it certainly wouldn’t ignore Bush or his policy makers.

While there is no official word on whether or not the members of the Screen Actor’s Guild will go on strike, things are not looking good for the movie-making industry.

The guild and producers in the industry started official contract talks on Tuesday, and everybody is hoping that these talks could head the strike off at the pass. The terms of the contract that are being negotiated are the same terms that sent the Writers Guild of America picketing in the streets, increased compensation for films and television shows online. There are other issues being discussed, but online revenue is one of the biggest sticking points.

After the WGA strike, nobody wants to see another walkout in the streets of Hollywood. The WGA strike crippled the Los Angeles economy, and nobody knows what will happen to the price of movie tickets if the SAG actors go on strike a mere couple of months after the WGA strike was resolved. Fans of television and movies might not see anything new until 2009, if the SAG actors strike.

Here is what we, as movie consumers, need to remember: the Hollywood life is not like the “regular” life people lead in other industries. An actor is lucky to make one film per year, there is no annual salary. The money he or she makes from one project (if he or she is lucky) needs to sustain that person until the next project comes along. It might be hard to feel much sympathy for the heavy hitting actors who make more than twenty million dollars per picture. Try to remember that these contract negotiations are also for the struggling actors who stil are trying to win roles that have more than one line.

There are valid arguments on both sides of the negotiation table but one thing is for certain: nobody wants to wait even longer for new viewing materials.