edited by Jonathan Doyle

Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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Black films don't travel

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"I always call international the new south, " says House Party director Reginald Hudlin (also the current entertainment president of BET Networks). "In the old days, they told you black films don't travel down South. Now they say it's not going to travel overseas." -- from Michael Cieply's N.Y. Times piece about the legend of films with African-American casts, backdrops and storylines being weak overseas. It's a situation that "may" be changing, Cieply says.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 28, 2007 at 04:19 PM

comment #1

Josh Massey says ...

Calling it a "legend" implies that it isn't true. It's not prejudiced to point out a fact - black films don't play nearly as well overseas as they do here.

Posted by Josh Massey at February 28, 2007 04:34 PM

comment #2

Peter T Chattaway says ...

FWIW, my immediate thought was that Jeff meant to type "legion".

Posted by Peter T Chattaway at February 28, 2007 05:43 PM

comment #3

ymmv says ...

I dislike the suggestion in the article that international audiences have racist tendencies because movies with black lead actors or urban themes don't do as well overseas. Race has nothing to do with it, it's just that urban themes and stories are too particular to a segment of American society to travel across international boundaries. Why is anyone surprised that a movie like Barber Shop didn't do well in Europe or Japan when it even had trouble reaching white audiences in the US? The reason why Denzel Washington and Will Smith are bankable stars abroad is because they make movies for a general audience, the reason why Ice Cube and Martin Lawrence don't have much succes overseas is because their movies are aimed at black audiences first.

Posted by ymmv at March 1, 2007 01:52 AM

comment #4