First, let's recap: On May 21, Eugene posted about Spike Lee's continued criticism of Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima for not including African Americans. Lee was asked why Eastwood did it as he did, and I have to say, I don't blame him for responding: "If you reporters had any balls you'd ask him why. There's no way I know why he did that -- that was his vision, not mine..." Today, we got word that Eastwood has responded, with the eloquent "A guy like him should shut his face." He then went on to talk about revisionism.

So, MTV went back to Lee, who is taking, and I quote: "the Obama high road." (New political slang alert! What's next?) He continued: "I've said my statement. I have no ill will towards Mr. Eastwood. What I said to him was not a personal attack, it was an observation. So that's really the end of it."

Think what you will of Lee, but this whole thing is a little ridiculous. If you head back to Erik's 2007 post about Miracle at St. Anna, Lee discussed how he'd met a black veteran who fought at Iwo Jima and was disappointed in Eastwood's portrayal, and how this inspired him to make the film and pay tribute to African American soldiers. Now he's getting crap thrown at him about revisionist history, and all of this is stemming from people asking him to talk about it, and him saying he couldn't answer for Eastwood. Lee might say some controversial things sometimes, but he was really backed into a corner this time around.

When you're dealing with one of the most controversial figures of 20^th century counterculture, it's important to take your time and get things right. That's exactly what Steven Soderbergh appears to be doing with his two upcoming Che Guevara biopics, The Argentine and Guerilla. While both movies looked like they were set to premiere at next month's Cannes Film Festival just a few weeks ago, Variety now reports that Soderbergh is still tweaking the final cuts-and doesn't want to unveil one movie without the other.

Judging by the polarizing figure at the center of the story, that's probably a good thing. Since Soderbergh envisioned these two films as a single unit, it wouldn't make sense to reveal one half of the saga and let people start tearing into it. Considering Fidel Castro's recent retirement, this essential component of Cuban history seems especially relevant, but that's not enough to develop interest in it (topicality didn't help Steven Spielberg's Munich). It's hard to keep audiences interested in a story that stretches across two movies, as we learned with the muted reaction to Clint Eastwood's second Iwo Jima film. Soderbergh will need to get strong reactions to both movies early in the game if they're going to have any success in theaters.

Flags of Our Fathers, the newest film from Clint Eastwood, is a great demonstration of the fact that good intentions don't necessarily mean good moviemaking. James Bradley and Ron Powers' book told the story of the six men who made for one the most memorable human images of World War II -- the famous photo of the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima -- and contrasted the battle for Mt. Suribachi with the hero-making that came after, as the three surviving soldiers were sent on a colossal bond drive to help finance the war effort. As John Slattery's natty, chatty Treasury man puts it to the servicemen, Marines Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Navy Corpsman John 'Doc' Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), "You fought for a mountain in the Pacific; now you'll fight for a mountain of cash." War is hell, and so is selling it.

I'm as tired of "The Greatest Generation" hero worship as the next person who isn't Tom Brokaw, but that's not at the heart of why I was so unmoved by Flags of Our Fathers. The problem with this film is not the story of Iwo Jima; Bradley and Powers' book is fascinating and rich. It's not Eastwood's direction, which is as artistically stately and technically accomplished as you might hope. The problem with Flags of Our Fathers -- driven through every moment in the film as decisively and fatally as a stake through the heart -- is the scripting of Paul Haggis. Haggis adapted Million Dollar Baby for Eastwood and then went on to co-write and direct Crash. Haggis has never met a familiar cliché or a rousing 'big moment' he didn't like, and Flags of Our Fathers is dripping with them. As the three men appear at a bond rally in Chicago, flashbulbs lead to flashbacks; as the photo hits the press, newsboys sell papers that come hurled off the back of trucks in bundles; a mother, convinced that her son appears uncredited in the Iwo Jima photo, swats away the suggestion she's mistaken: "Oh, that's Harlon ... I changed his diapers. ..."

Confirming consistent internet rumors, it was announced yesterday that Ken Watanabe will star in the Japanese half of Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima project, Red Sun, Black Sand. Watanabe will play Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the general who led the Japanese forces on the island; the movie's story takes its inspiration from letters the general wrote during the battle. Also in the cast are Shido Nakamura, Kazuya Kazunari Ninomiya (who actually seems to be in some sort of a boy band), Tsuyoshi Ihara, and Ryo Kase.

The screenplay for Red Sun is almost entirely in Japanese (Yay! Thank the Lord they didn't take the ever-popular The Hunt for Red October approach, and have all the characters speak English - except not really.), and was written by Iris Yamashita after she and Paul Haggis (who wrote Flags of Our Fathers, the American half of the project) collaborated on a general outline. Eastwood, who is currently wrapping up post-production on Flags, plans to begin shooting next week in LA; the plan is to release both films later this year, with Flags coming first.