XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.fan.barbra.streisand, alt.fan.j-garofalo   
   XPost: alt.fan.julia-roberts   
   From: hpgoldfinger@N0SPAM.C0M   
      
   Moore is shameless in feeding his own ego!!!   
      
      
   Observer film writer Mark Kermode on the controversial filmmaker   
   behind Fahrenheit 9/11   
      
   Sunday June 27, 2004   
   The Observer   
      
   The most annoying sound at this year's Cannes Film Festival was the   
   incessant drone of Michael Moore telling everyone in town that he had   
   been silenced. If only. For almost two weeks you couldn't turn on a TV   
   without hearing Moore spouting off about how Disney was censoring him   
   by refusing to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11. Of course, it was all   
   nonsense. Despite the fact that Moore had apparently long known about   
   the 'Disney issue', he chose to wait until the eve of Cannes before   
   screaming to the press, thereby generating the kind of frenzied   
   festival publicity money can't buy.   
      
   Moore played the victim; the world's press acted outraged; and the   
   Cannes Jury duly handed over the coveted Palme d'Or, insisting its   
   decision had nothing to do with politics. 'It was the best movie we   
   saw,' jury president Quentin Tarantino blubbed unconvincingly. Fast   
   forward a month and, hey presto, Moore's documentary finds itself   
   enjoying the kind of high-profile US opening usually reserved for   
   star-studded blockbuster action movies. With censorship like that, who   
   needs publicity?   
      
   According to legend, Fahrenheit 9/11 was made to topple George W Bush   
   and thereby save America from the grip of an evil tyrant. It was also   
   made to prove that Moore was right for attacking 'Dubya' from the   
   Oscar stage last year, labelling him a 'fictitious president' who was   
   leading his country into a 'fictitious war'.   
      
   'When I gave that speech,' Moore said later, 'it wasn't embraced by   
   majority opinion. I needed to clarify myself.' In fact, what Moore   
   needed to do was to convince everyone that he wasn't a loud-mouthed   
   winner (anyone clutching an Oscar sounds smug) but the loveable   
   underdog of yore. It's a role he has played to the hilt, with winning   
   results; the glittering likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Demi Moore and   
   Sharon Stone have recently been snapped at screenings of Fahrenheit   
   9/11, while Madonna has urged her fans to see the film, insisting: 'I   
   don't think I ever cried so hard at a movie in my life!' (Clearly, she   
   never saw her own stinker, Swept Away.)   
      
   Amid this hectic round of celebrity back-slapping and public   
   congratulation, Moore has still found time to remind us just how   
   silenced and censored he is, most recently complaining about the 'R'   
   rating awarded to Fahrenheit 9/11, which he insists will prevent   
   teenagers from hearing his message - and presumably prevent him from   
   pocketing their lucrative demographic dollars. 'Come see my movie by   
   any means necessary,' Moore told young punters, adding, 'If you need   
   me to sneak you in, let me know.' Gee, thanks Mike.   
      
   All of which would be far more amusing if Fahrenheit 9/11 was   
   genuinely something to get excited about. I'll be reviewing the film   
   in full when it opens here in a couple of weeks, but suffice to say   
   that it was neither the sharpest, the funniest nor the most   
   politically potent documentary screened at Cannes this year. That   
   award goes to Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, a stomach-churning   
   attack on the fast-food industry which has all of the bite of Moore's   
   work with none of the self-righteous sanctimony.   
      
   Yet in the area of shameless self-publicity, Moore remains   
   unsurpassed, finding a way to turn every situation to his egotistical   
   advantage. If Bush loses the next election, Moore will doubtless claim   
   credit for his downfall, thus making him an international superhero.   
   If Bush stays, Moore can just go on blaming all those people who   
   'censored' his movie, from Disney, to the Ratings Board, to the dopes   
   of the 'Move America Forward' organisation who tried to get theatres   
   to boycott Fahrenheit 9/11. Haven't they heard that there's no such   
   thing as bad publicity, particularly where our Mike is concerned?   
      
   Whoever wins the election, you can be sure that Michael Moore won't be   
   a loser. Nice campaign, Mike. Shame about the film.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)