June 12
Call of the Wild 3D
Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love
June 16
June 19
Dead Snow
Whatever Works
June 24
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
June 26
Cheri
Fireflies in the Garden
July 1
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
July 3
The Girl from Monaco
I Hate Valentine's Day
July 10
July 15
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
July 17
July 24
All Good Things
The Answer Man
In the Loop
July 29
July 31
The Cove
August 7
When in Rome
August 14
A Perfect Getaway
District 9
The Goods: The Don Ready Story
Ponyo
Pool Boys
Spread
The Time Traveler's Wife
August 21
Five Minutes of Heaven
Goose on the Loose!
It Might Get Loud
World's Greatest Dad
August 28
The Boat that Rocked
September 4
Amreeka
Carriers
Citizen Game
Shanghai
September 9
September 11
The Red Canvas
Tyler Perrys: I Can Do It All Myself
September 17
The Burning Plain
September 18
Brand New Day
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Jennifer's Body
Splice
September 25
October 2
A Serious Man
Toy Story/Toy Story 2
It is axiomatic that a major dramatic film about any ethnic group is going to draw the ire of some p.c. group claiming to defend the cultural-political interests of said group, blah blah, because of a perceived tribal slur, blah blah. Not interesting! I can feel the slumber instinct building inside as I write this. Fight it! Fight it!
So it really means nothing that the Council on American-Islamic Relations recently complained that Alan Ball's Towelhead (which I saw and reviewed at last year's Toronto Film Festival) is using a "racial and religious slur [that is] commonly used in a derogatory manner against people of the Muslim faith or Arab origin," blah blah.
The movie is a good sit, though. Intriguing, different, a head-turner. Based on Alicia Eran's period novel of the same name, Towelhead (Warner Independent, 9.12 in New York and LA) is "a sturdy, complex character drama that's 100% deserving of respect," I wrote last year when it was called Nothing Is Private. "It's obviously one of the most original, daring films about adolescent sexuality ever delivered by a quasi-mainstreamer. It's also a sharp look at racism (and not just the American-bred kind) and a sobering portrait of the rifts and tensions between American and Middle-Eastern mindsets.
"And all of this out of a fairly simple period drama, set in a Houston suburb around the time of the Gulf War, about a 13 year-old half-Lebanese, half-Irish girl named Jasira (Summer Bishil), and what happens as she gradually decides, under the fiercely oppressive watch of her Lebanese dad (Peter Macdissi), to explore/ indulge her budding sexuality with two older guys -- a randy but nice-enough African-American high schooler in his mid teens (Eugene Jones) and a sleazy neighborhood dad in his early 40s (Aaron Eckhart).

Towelhead "is not exploitation...not even a little bit. It's a smartly written thing with all kinds of intrigues and counterweights built into each character, and an earnest residue of humanity seeping through at the finish.
"Even Eckhart's character, scumbag that he is, has tics and shadings that make him more than just a thoughtless statutory rapist. Even Jasira's dad, a dictatorial racist thug of the first order, comes off as somewhat sympathetic at times. And each one is his own way cares for Jasira. And despite the dark sexual currents (and as odd as this sound), it's also a fairly amusing film. Really. It's really boils down to being a 'neighborhood folks and their quirks' movie that...okay, is a little bit icky in two or three scenes but isn't nearly as icky in a general sense as you might expect."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 26, 2008 at 7:38 PM
comment #1
Todd says ...
Towelheads? I refer to Islamist as Diaperheads because religion is such a shitty thought.
Posted by Todd at August 26, 2008 8:23 PM
comment #2
BurmaShave says ...
Maybe if those camel jockeys would stop grilling goats in their goddamn living rooms we wouldn't have to call them names. Oh, wait, the title is ironic? Haha then!
Posted by BurmaShave at August 26, 2008 9:19 PM
comment #3
EOTW says ...
Who gives a fuck? No one is going to see this so fuck what these people are pissed about. In other useless Ballnews, anyone else catch the pilot fo that TRUE BLOOD show he's doing on HBO. Christ, does it reek of shit.
Posted by EOTW at August 26, 2008 9:32 PM
comment #4
The Winchester says ...
EOTW, I couldn't agree more about that Tru Blood show. Every time I see an ad for it, I want to punch something in the face as hard as I can. (It doesn't matter what). But the show reeks of that "We're on HBO, so you KNOW that means it's gonna be the greatest thing on television EVER. "-vibe I get from most HBO shows.
(Which is sometimes a deserving accolade, but I have yet to find a show that makes agree with the sentiment.)
Posted by The Winchester at August 27, 2008 12:57 AM
comment #5
Josh Massey says ...
CAIR is complaining about something? Ooh, let me drop everything and listen!
Posted by Josh Massey at August 27, 2008 3:59 AM
comment #6
actionman says ...
True Blood looks terrible.
Towelhead looks great.
Can't win 'em all I guess.
Posted by actionman at August 27, 2008 5:44 AM
comment #7
Mark says ...
CAIR should be happy that the movie enters the mind of a sympathetic heroine through which the audience feel the pain of being called a towelhead.
I wonder if CAIR has even seen Towelhead, and if they are really upset that the arab-americans were made Christian instead of Muslim.
Nothing is Private is a terrible title, btw. If they are forced to lose Towelhead, but still wish to be in your face, i suggest Bloody Panties. I've never seen so many on the big screen.
Posted by Mark at August 27, 2008 9:05 AM
comment #8
The Hoyk says ...
All I'm saying is that you didn't see coalitions representing the interests of ugly people protesting when BAGHEAD was released.
Posted by The Hoyk at August 27, 2008 1:35 PM
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