mia farrow Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When it comes to Michel Gondry films, I guess the wackiness just never stops. Cinemablend is now hosting the first poster for the comedy fantasy Be Kind Rewind and it's everything you would expect from the director who seems to have 'whimsy' as a middle name. Starring Jack Black and Mos Def, the film centers on two local video store employees who have to re-create an entire video store worth of films when Black accidentally erases all the tapes after a bout of 'personal magnetization'. Rounding out the cast is Mia Farrow as one of the store's most dedicated customers and Danny Glover as the owner of the struggling shop.

The first trailer for the flick arrived in August, and so far most of the marketing for the film has been stressing that same message of a fantastical 'DIY culture'. I guess in the end that is what I've always thought Gondry's movies were about; if you aren't happy with the way things are then create your own reality until you are. The official site for the film even gives you the opportunity to cut and paste your own face into some famous movie art. Ever wanted to be on the cover of Die Hard? Well, here is your chance. There is even a pretty elaborate gag involving a "homemade Internet". The poster for the film seems to keep the same feel as the website and even looks like it was made on the cheap with markers and pencil crayons -- but as anyone in the design business knows, sometimes it's the 'cheap' look that costs you the most. Be Kind Rewind opens in theaters on January 25th, 2008.

Check out the full-sized poster after the jump ...

Actress Mia Farrow is back in the news, accusing a high-profile film director of moral turpitude -- only this time it's not Woody Allen. In the Wednesday Wall Street Journal, Farrow slammed director Steven Spielberg and various corporate sponsors for supporting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, despite China's reluctance to pressure Sudan over the Darfur issue. Spielberg, of course, is a consultant to the games and Farrow feels that as an artist, he has a responsibility to voice concerns about China's horrendous human rights record. "That so many corporate sponsors want the world to look away from that atrocity is bad enough," she wrote, "but equally disappointing is the decision of artists like director Steven Spielberg -- who quietly visited China this month as he prepares to help stage the Olympic ceremonies -- to sanitize Beijing's image."

Farrow went further, asking the question: "Is Mr. Spielberg, who in 1994 founded the Shoah Foundation, to record the testimony of survivors of the Holocaust, aware that China is bankrolling Darfur's genocide?" And here's the kicker quote: "Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games?" The piece was co-signed by Farrow's son, Ronan, but it seems safe to say that the sentiment belongs to Farrow. Is China's human rights record really comparable to Nazi Germany's? That's obviously hyperbole on her part, but Farrow is also obviously correct that China is a monstrous abuser of human rights, and I personally want nothing to do with the inevitable wave of corporate-media hooey we'll be subjected to during the Olympics about how China and its vomit values are the future. I can see the Time Magazine cover already, can't you?

So I say kudos, Mia. It's nice to hear someone actually call Spielberg out on his hypocrisy in supporting the games. This is a director who has repeatedly put his name onto films with a very strong pro-freedom point of view, like Schindler's List, The Color Purple, and Amistad. He clearly wants to be viewed as an artist with a social conscience, and that is contradicted by his support of the games.