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Cale Boyter -- the guy responsible for the few flicks since LOTR that actually made money for New Line -- would have been a better hire.

Couldn't agree more re - DeLuca. He's the best and has been for over a decade. I'm still not clear on WTF happened at Universal, other than NBCU has become an unmitigated disaster under Zucker.

Save Iger, I cannot think of one person who has any semblance of a vision as to where to steer these companies.

Running Scared is not a horror movie.

... nor is it any form of "porn," in my book (although I guess that's a subjective term). I think it's pretty close to brilliant.

Worst of all, Toby hangs around while good people that have been New Liners for a long time get screwed on severance.

Once again Superman Returns gets lumped in with the bombs. Please don't do this as that's what has lead to lazy journalism and leads studios to thinking Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider are the way forward for comic book movies.

So, then, we're saying NOAH Emmerich's acting career can continue?

Whew. That was a close one.

Reginald... WB avoided the $50 million-plus financial hit on SR by laying it off on the private funder... but the movie was still a financial car wreck. There is no way to dispute it if you look at the real numbers. It lost significantly more than Golden Compass did for New Line, even with NL selling off foreign, where there was some real success.

And, however shitty they are, Ghost Rider and FF and Daredevil were profitable. Show BUSINESS.

Dave, sometimes you're just talking out of your ass. Running Scared "horror porn?" In what universe? Your beloved "The Departed" is more horror porn than RS. Despite your personal feelings toward Running Scared, are you aware how much money that movie has made on DVD for New Line? They bought it for 6 million and it's made over 40 million on DVD. Maybe more. They're even planning a direct to video sequel because of the strong numbers. Although New Line completely botched it's theatrical release (thanks to Russell Schwartz personal contempt for the film), it's become a cult film in a very short amount of time. It's frequently mentioned on myspace as an influential film for young filmmakers and the film's images are constantly the source for youtube fan edited music videos. Oh, and since your bum chum, Russell Schwartz got fired from New Line, I'm sensing a little less love for the joint lately. Wonder why that is?

I love when people sling shit but have no idea what they are talking about.

Yes, l-n-o, kids with guns, the comedy of child molesting murderers, slow-mo hyperviolence, etc is what we know as Horror Porn. There are cults for all kinds of porn. Enjoy it.

Suggesting that The Departed is closer to Horror Porn than Running Scared is so off the mark that there is no way to respond.

Eli Roth is endlessly mentioned as influential. If only he had as much talent as Wayne Kramer, he might be worth salvaging. (I still look forward to Wayne's next film, even if I think RS is a masturbatory mess.)

I can only assume that your ill-informed shot at the minimal relationship I had with Russell is personally driven in some way... perhaps regarding RS, about which I never had a single conversation with Russell. As always, I write what I think. But it sounds like your view of the range of my work has been severely narrowed by some kind of unfortunate rage.

DP, I'm sure you consider this a pointless tangent, but RS is not 'horror porn' because it's not a horror movie. If you wanted to call it 'action porn' I think you could get away with that.

RUNNING SCARED BITCH.

Movie fucking OWNS.

Seriously, FOUR-STAR MASTERPIECE.

Don't be a pussy, Poland, man up and recognize THE SCARED. I've seen it 20 times and usually crank that shit while LIFTING WEIGHTS, GETTING DRUNK, AND LISTENING TO SLAYER.

Why isn't Poland more METAL?

I didn't find anything comical about the pedophiles in Running Scared. I think it was some of the creepiest shit put on screen in a long while. You didn't think the Nosferatu shadows were innovative? Kids with guns - well, I guess City of God must be horror porn, too. There wasn't that much slow mo violence - most of it was real time. Did you count the head shots in The Departed. Scorcese splatters more brains than Kramer does in Running Scared. There are more people getting thugged up in that film as well. What about the dumb ass scene of Nicholson's mob boss waving around a big black dildo to his inside man Damon in a public movie theater? Besides defeating the purpose of a covert meeting, it was just Nicholson recklessly chewing the scenery - real quality there. Don't know anyone who thinks Eli Roth is influential. Eli is just seen as a Quentin hangar on who rips his shit off from lesser known Euro exploitation films. Wait a minute, that sounds like... Having been on the inside at New Line during the time of Running's release (and just prior), I happen to know that you did indeed see the film early and have conversations with Russell about it and you despised it from the word go. Are you aware that the film tested through the roof with 18 to 25's? Clearly, you made a bargain with the devil not to trash it until it was released. Bob, Toby, Kevin Kasha and some of his execs were big fans of the film - Tuckerman, Schwartz and Mittweg were not. We all know which side you usually camp with. I've never seen such a case of studio infighting over a single film. I'm glad it has caught on with a wider audience because it does deserve better - and props to New Line for being bold enough to release a theatrical film with real balls, even if they didn't have the slightest clue how to market it. And it has made boku bucks for New Line on DVD and pay TV. I have nothing personal against you - I think you're an interesting, if often misguided read, but certainly passionate about what you do. I think you need to lighten up on the politically correct shit. Maybe you should rewatch Running Scared with less prejudice against the film and its genre. It's not perfect, but it totally transcends the genre in my opinion. If the credits said directed by Tarantino, Scorsese or PTA, critics would have been creaming over it. And I think Paul Walker's rep really hurt the film. If Whalberg had played the lead, it would have opened big and audiences would have gotten on board. But Walker did a great job - too, bad, it hasn't helped his career.

I've got to agree that Running Scared was not Horror Porn. I do think it was over-rated, with some interesting stuff in it, but horror porn? That dilutes the meaning of Horror Porn and makes it easier for the Eli Roths of the world to deny it.

Well, Eli Roth isn't 'horror porn' either but that's another story. (I would say that the overrated Darren Bousman is, if you want an example).

Damn I hate Running Scared. A worthless piece of shit. Of course Lex loves it. Agreed about Bousman jeff. He is a hack.

SAW 3 OWNS.

Oh, yeah. SAW 4 OWNS, TOO.

So does SAW 2.

JIGSAW = AWESOME

Now I know you're full of shit. No one loves all the Saw movies. Probably not even the filmmakers behind them.

Stella, I have it on good authority that you are correct on that count.

If you can elaborate I'd love to hear it. They crank them out so quickly and feel so assembly line, it's hard to imagine otherwise.

A friend was a major crew member on Saw IV. He witnessed the director goofing off on his Myspace page, sending text messages, etc. during a large portion of the shoot, like when takes were rolling. The studio didn't want Bousman to shoot Saw II because he had no track record; it was a hit, so they demanded him back for III, then he didn't want to do IV so he made their financing of Repo! as his condition to come back.

Oh yeah I did hear that Repo! was contingent upon Saw IV. That makes sense. Thanks.

SAW, BITCH.

Paris OWNS. REPO 4 LIFE.

Emmerich? Why not Colin Callendar from HBO. Loyal to Bewkes. Classy. Long record of success at HBO.

l-n-o... I did see the movie early... and I agreed not only not to write about it, but not to tell anyone I had even seen it. And I didn't. Nor did I have a single word about it with Russell.

But you know, I had the same agreement on Little Children and History of Violence and Golden Compass and both Harold & Kumars and Wedding Crashers and Lord of the Frickin' Rings, etc, etc, etc. and often the same at other studios. It is not unusual for studios or filmmakers to ask me to see a film before they are prepared to deal with the press. My willingness has more to do with my interest in processing films before I am dealing with everyone else's opinion than anything else. I went into Running Scared with no opinion offered to me by anyone at the studio... and I came out laughing hysterically that they were actually going to release that thing. It was only then that I found out there some in the company shared my opinion... and then some. But the same deal with me writing was in effect if I loved it, by the way. And I never did review it.

On the other hand, you are completely right. With a bigger directing name or a bigger star in the lead, many critics would have creamed their jeans... but that is what's wrong with critics, not what is right with the film.

New Line, under Russell, has never been very good with that genre, as Shoot 'Em Up, which was a lot less accomplished, but a lot more commerical showed. Rush Hour was comedy more than action.

How are Nosferatu shadows innovative if they were stolen from Nosferatu?

I see the movie pass by on the satellite now and again. I will watch a bit, as I am always interested in considering and reconsidering all movies, if I feel anything much, good or bad, about them. And it is stylized (yawn)... it is arch (yawn)... and it is just so in love with itself. But all in, it would fit nicely as the third segment of Grindhouse. Paul is actually pretty good in the movie. Most of the performances are fine. But the thing is rancid in the soul.

I am no PC movie watcher. I will argue Fight Club and Irreversible - just a couple of examples - all day with anyone. But there is a line and RS crosses it for no reason. It is joyless. And joy is the only purpose I could ever imagine for a film that is all romp and no depth at all.

Not sure how you sit there and call me out for The Departed and then tell me I have a genre bias.

But you miss my point utterly... it doesn't matter what graphic images are on the screen. What matters is what the filmmaker does to give them power and depth. My favorite Kubrick has always been his most violent film, Clockwork, because it is really, really about something. The "shoot me" moment at the end of Full Metal Jacket is one of the most horrifying moments about war ever put on film... and you see nothing. People can't see the third act for the violence of the second in Fight Club... sad. I have no problem watching Divine eat shit or the ugly moment when a girl gets killed by a "donkey punch" in that film or what's excessive about Destricted... and on and on and on. But I like my horror to speak to what people face and survive (or don't) and you like it more soulless... ok.

I can live with you and I disagreeing about a movie... because in the end, that is most of what this specific discussion is. Where you draw the line... where I draw the line... what I might consider smirky, you might see as truly powerful and vice versa. But the drama about the conspiracy against this film... save me from the drama. I saw the damned thing without any influences at all - a rare and joyous commodity in my profession - and I offered an opinion... one I still hold.

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