FilmDistrict recently allowed “interview press” to see Spike Lee‘s Oldboy (11.27), and one result of that largesse is a four-day-old L.A. Times Steven Zeitchik interview with the film’s star, Josh Brolin. I read it because FilmDistrict is being a little cagey about screening Oldboy, which indicates, of course, that it blows. Zeitchik’s piece contains three tell-tale hints. Zeitchick describing Brolin’s character, Joe Doucett, as “an unrepentant jerk” is an obvious red flag. Ditto when he says the film has “a dark baroque quality that will likely alienate some critics.” (I thought “dark and baroque” tends to attract critics, no? Guys like Aaron Hillis, I mean.) And it definitely means something when Brolin himself says of Oldboy that “I have opinions, but it’s better to bite my tongue“…aarrrgghhh! He also tells Zeitchik “he was more enamored with Lee’s earlier three-hour director’s cut that was both quieter and filled with more character-centric moments.” Maybe the three-hour Oldboy will turn up on Bluray some day? Is Lee’s Oldboy the new Once Upon A Time in America — a film that was much better before the distributor stepped in and removed the poetry and basically dumbed it down? The campaign to persuade FilmDistrict to release the three-hour cut starts here.