edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

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Fanboys vs. Harvey (Cont'd)

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Stream's Eric Kohn summarizes and comments about the Harvey Weinstein-produced Superhero Movie vs. the rage and the rebellion of the Fanboys contingent.

"Dismayed that The Weinstein Company was tearing up a paean to what many fanboys considered to be a variation their own story, the real fanboys turned to their best resource -- the internet," he says. "At Stop Darth Weinstein!, visitors are greeted by [the] Weinstein Company head honcho dressed up as Darth Vader, and threats from the fanboy community that if Fanboys doesn't get a proper release. they'll boycott TWC's upcoming release of Superhero Movie!, which is targeted at their demographic

"The Weinstein Company has listened to the outburst of anger, kinda. Various news stories cite a press release from the company explaining that they're considering releasing two versions of the film (one with the cancer, one without). Both versions will see a DVD release -- and the possibility of two theatrical releases is a 'maybe.'

"Obviously, "maybe" isn't enough for the diehard supporters of the original cut. '[The Weinstein Co.] appears to have completely MISSED THE POINT OF OUR ENTIRE BOYCOTT!,' screams an administrator on the main page of Stop Darth Weinstein. "The reason we're boycotting your studio is because you have taken Fanboys away from the Star Wars fans who made it and given it to a director who has publicly declared his hatred for Star Wars fans! Against the wishes of the original filmmakers and your entire target audience, you have mutilated the original story to turn it into a movie that ridicules Star Wars fans!"

The reference is to Fanboys director Steve Brill, hired to reshoot several scenes in the film, which was originally directed by diehard Star Wars fan Kyle Newman with help from several cohorts. The poster goes on to say that the fanboy boycott of Weinstein Company's films will continue."

"If I Misspoke..."<< previous | next >>Straight Pitch

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 25, 2008 at 01:33 PM

comment #1

The Winchester says ...

I just checked out Moriarty's review of all versions of Fanboys at AICN. It lends some insight. Particularly that all versions of the film don't really work at all.

Just sayin...

Posted by The Winchester at March 25, 2008 02:11 PM

comment #2

actionman says ...

I am so sick of hearing about this movie and all of the delay issues. If the movie worked it would have been released by now.

Posted by actionman at March 25, 2008 02:17 PM

comment #3

Rich S. says ...

And elsewhere in the country, fans of Jericho are preparing once again to send tons of peanuts to CBS, rather than to some charity group that might actually need them.

And so it goes....

Posted by Rich S. at March 25, 2008 02:20 PM

comment #4

Gnome de Guerre says ...

I'm amazed at how much energy and effort fans put into this kind of thing. Half the time I can't even bring myself to write a blog comment.

From the number of YouTube views of the Darth Weinstein video, it wouldn't seem to me to have made much of an impact. I didn't bother counting the myspace hits, or the traffic and noise on any other sites. But let's say even 20000 people would have boycotted Superhero Movie... would anyone care really? Would Weinstein?

And where's the 5-25-77 movie? That always seemed to be the real paen to Star Wars.

Posted by Gnome de Guerre at March 25, 2008 02:39 PM

comment #5

Chinaski says ...

I bet you none of these people have seen either version of the film. And when they will they'll most likely be fairly embarassed about this whole thing.

Posted by Chinaski at March 25, 2008 02:53 PM

comment #6

Edward says ...

I don't care. I won't see it (them). I'm done with this.

Posted by Edward at March 25, 2008 02:57 PM

comment #7

Jay T. says ...

Have these fanboys ever considered that maybe, just maybe, the film sucks ass and doesn't deserve much of a release?

Posted by Jay T. at March 25, 2008 03:04 PM

comment #8

D.Z. says ...

If it sucks ass so much, then why pay for it in the first place?

Posted by D.Z. at March 25, 2008 03:20 PM

comment #9

lesterg says ...

I'm really wondering how much of this is being fueled by the Weinsteins behind the scenes? Seems like a cheap, easy way to build awareness for something they probably wouldn't spend two cents promoting otherwise.

Posted by lesterg at March 25, 2008 03:21 PM

comment #10

Aladdin Sane says ...

Superhero movie will make more money cos of this I'd think...Oh someone's pissed off the nerds. Let's support their movie to further piss off the nerds.

Honestly, I'd much rather see 5-25-77. That always looked and sounded more promising. Still I can see what Fanboys represents - that glimmer of hope that Episode I was going to be worthwhile after all those years. Had I the opportunity to see it a year in advance, I would have done so.

Posted by Aladdin Sane at March 25, 2008 03:33 PM

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

lester: I doubt Harvey's that smart, or he wouldn't have lost his last company.

Posted by D.Z. at March 25, 2008 03:36 PM

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

Kyle Newman was taken off the abortive version or what? I'm asking non-rhetorically, I can't remember.

Posted by BurmaShave at March 25, 2008 03:55 PM

comment #13

corey3rd says ...

how can you boycott something that you would never ever want to see?

why do you buy something that's bad? launder drug money?

Posted by corey3rd at March 25, 2008 03:57 PM

comment #14

lesterg says ...

I believe Newman was taken off the original version as well. Considering he was subsequently fired off Revenge of the Nerds at FOX, I'm thinking his future in Hollywood is looking a bit bleak...

"lester: I doubt Harvey's that smart, or he wouldn't have lost his last company."

While they're a shadow of their former selves, this is exactly the type of stuff the Weinstein's would have done back in the day..

Posted by lesterg at March 25, 2008 04:06 PM

comment #15

p.Vice says ...

Jeff, are you running continual stories on a movie nobody cares about as some sort of quid pro quo for that Harvey shill quote on the masthead?

In other news, lesterg has this right on the money. This Fanboys story has been going on for years and now somebody finally decides to stage a cute lil boycott? I wouldn't be surprised if Harvey has been engineering this "battle" over which cut to release since he took a look at Newman's original and saw there was no way to get anyone interested in paying to see it other than to create this little drama and along with it the implication that one of the cuts must have some credibility to it.

Posted by p.Vice at March 25, 2008 04:59 PM

comment #16