Last month, the blogosphere was abuzz with rumors that the studio hated Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, possibly because it was too dark and not kid-friendly enough.  The last we heard from Warner Bros was the announcement of a much later than expected release date of October 2009. In a recent interview with MTV, Forest Whitaker, who voices the lead monster, defended Jonze’s original version, saying he took his children to see it, and they all liked it.

"I’m going to call Spike and find out what’s going on,” he promised. “The thing is, it’s one thing to read [scary stuff] in a book, but when you see an itty-bitty kid running alongside a 10-foot-giant on the side of a cliff, it gets intense. But that’s the point, because we’re representing the things inside of the kid. They represent his struggles, either him being too angry or being confused, or not feeling like he belongs."

…“[The dark scenes] are the point of the movie, and I hope that they maintain that point, because I think children can identify with a character who is upset,” …“[The main character Max] built this whole city, and nobody likes it, and he tears it all up. He’s like, ‘Well if you don’t like it, I’m just going to tear it up!’ because he wants so badly for someone to like it.”

“This kid rolls by himself, no father figure; this is a single family home,” he continued, with passion. “His mother ends up having a boyfriend that becomes like a monster to him…people have to build trust with the people their parent starts to date…These are real issues that the character deals with, and I hope that [the filmmakers] continue to explore them, because kids need to see that; they need to see that other kids are dealing with it.”

Wow, did an actor just say something semi intelligent?  I totally agree – it’s high time we stop treating children like idiots.  They’re more mature than we think.  Take the 15-year-old I’m dating – some would call her a child.  And to those people I pull up her shirt and say, “Your honor, do these look like the juggs of a child?”  

[Source]

The Great Debaters (watch the higher res trailer at Yahoo) is Denzel Washington’s sophomore effort (Antwone Fisher was his first) as a director; starring Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and… Denzel Whitaker.  No, Seriously.  And none of them are related. 

Anyway, it’s another heartwarming, based-on-a-true story tale, this time about Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College in Texas, who in 1935, inspired students to form the school’s first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.

It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from the trailer – Denzel and Forest Whitaker are two of the best actors working today, but movies like this range from great to diabetes inducing.  I’ll tell you this though, I saw this trailer this weekend when it premiered before American Gangster (which, as expected, was solid), and when the frame came up saying "From Producer, Oprah Winfrey", people laughed.  But maybe that’s unfair; James Frey didn’t write this one and Oprah has money – who turns down money?

The most appalling part for me was the end of the trailer when they announced the title: The Great Debaters.  Are you kidding me?  For once, both Master Debaters and Cunning Linguists are applicable and you pick neither?  It’s a slap in the face, I tell you. 

Vantage Point, starring Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, and Dennis Quaid, has a new trailer that’s playing before Michael Clayton in many theaters.   Official synopsis:

With a Rashomon narrative style, the attempted assassination of the president is told from five different perspectives.  

Yeah, like, Rashomon.  Totally.  Nice piece, man.  Kurosawa, he makes mad films. Or so the Barenaked Ladies would have me believe.

From what I can gather, Vantage Point is abot the president getting assassinated, only it’s not the president, it’s a double.  But then it turns out that the guys who did it knew all along!  And they were only assassinating the double to create a diversion, so they could assassinate the real President!  Holy crap, I need a cigarette ’cause my mind just got blown.