Is There Racism On Movie Posters With Minorities?

Like movie trailers, posters or one-sheets are a form of advertising to get you to see a film. Designers and consultants are hired by the studios to fashion imagery that will catch your eye, hook you in and get you to think Gee, that looks hot, I'm gonna check that movie out without even knowing what the film is about and whether it's any good. Some of the most exciting movie posters are those created for action movies. The biggest and the best usually showcase the stars of an action film and in today's day and age, more and more minorities are thankfully achieving such status. They are as much a product being advertised as the movie is, but there was a time, when racist methods prevailed.Even though minorities have come a long way , there are still some unfavorable methods used when it comes to advertising. Sounds hard to believe, but its true and often right under our noses. I had to have it pointed out to me a few years ago when a friend asked, Ever notice how Jet Li is always wearing sunglasses on the posters for his movies? Li has come a long way from being a martial arts movie star in China to an international sensation thanks in part to producer Joel Silver who produced three of his major American films. Li didn't exactly appear on the original theatrical one sheet for his American debut 'Lethal Weapon 4' until the film arrived on video, but the two other films Silver produced, featured Li obscured by cheap sunglasses. Now I know what you're thinking. Sunglasses are used to make an individual look cool and above the rest. But it seems like every film he makes with a contemporary setting has a poster where he's wearing sunglasses. (I'm willing to bet you it the producers of 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' could have Li wear sunglasses for that one, they would.) There are only two where we see his full face and below is one of them. I started to notice that this was a trend that didn't only apply to Li, but just about any minority on an action film poster, especially if they were holding a gun. I don't know if its some type of fear, but when it comes to minorities on action movie posters there appears to be a quite a number of rules: It's okay for a minority to brandish a gun on a movie poster if they are a cop, FBI or secret agent. It's obvious that this 1987 film was an attempt to turn Carl Weathers into an urban James Bond type, but not only is he wearing a suit, his credentials are listed, including the fact he graduated from Harvard law school.The cop rule applied to Wesley Snipes as well and it better, because he's pointing a mighty big gun in your face.Not only is the fact that Jamie Foxx is part of an elite FBI team stressed, but he's wearing an FBI badge. Yet he's pointing the gun down in an non-threatening manner and surprise, wearing sunglasses. The star power of both Martin Lawrence and Will Smith does bring in box-office. And even though everyone links the title 'Bad Boys' to Inner Circle's theme song for the hit TV shop 'Cops', we still have to be reassured they are police officers on the movie poster. Notice for the sequel, they are wearing visible police shields around their necks. Eddie Murphy was once the biggest movie star in the world, so he got a pass to brandish a gun with his face un-obscured. The reason why says so in the title. Unfortunately Murphy's luck ran out and though his star power has surpassed co-star Nick Nolte by the time the '48 Hrs' sequel hit, the white guy got the gun on the poster for that one. Murphy played a hostage negotiator for 'Metro', but on the poster he looks the least threatening. By the time the dismal 'I Spy' remake hit theaters, Murphy's celebrity had waned and co-star Owen Wilson got a tuxedo, while he got the sunglasses even though he's not holding a gun.The only time Damon Wayans got to brandish a gun (and Adam Sandler played second fiddle). His older brother Keenan fared a little better.'A Low Down Dirty Shame' is a fun movie, and Wayans does look cool with the sunglasses. The fact that he directed this film is probably why he looks so lethal and has two women on either side of him. Unfortunately he didn't have a hand in producing the superior chase thriller 'Most Wanted' and even though he plays a Marine framed for murder, he didn't get a gun or even a girl.When Wayans teamed with Steven Seagal he fared a little better than Seagal's 'Exit Wounds' co-star DMX. At least his eyes are somewhat visible behind the sunglasses, but there is no denying that he is a cop.Minorities brandishing weapons will have their faces partially obscured.Denzel Washington may be a self-made drug kingpin, Alicia Keys and Common may be gangsters and Laurence Fishburne may be a freedom fighter, but if they're carrying weapons, you're not allowed to entirely see their faces.Speaking of Laurence Fishburne, I never felt he was given his due on those Matrix posters. It's okay for Neo to brandish an assault rifle, but Morpheus has to stand behind him barely hiding a pistol. For the international poster he didn't get a gun at all and appears to be smiling about it. On the teaser poster for the final film, you can barely see the weapon in his right hand, but Trinity gets to wave hers around.The Bruce Willis factor.Willis has been successful in every genre, none more so than action films. Unfortunately if you're his co-star, you get pushed to the back.At least Damon Wayans wasn't holding a basketball or stuck in the background wearing sunglasses like Michael Clarke Duncan. As for Benicio Del Toro, sure he's holding a gun, but you barely recognize him or Rosario Dawson who's stuck in the back. Del Toro didn't fare too well for 'The Way of the Gun' either. I was surprised and pleased how he was presented on the original theatrical one-sheet. That is until the home video cover came out. Not only is he made to look less menacing by pointing his gun down, but Taye Diggs, one of the chief villains in the picture gets no gun at all and two more white actors are added.The Bruce Willis factor doesn't just apply to Willis films. Like Willem Dafoe, the late Gregory Hines was a cop in this one and got stuck with a pair of Jet Li's shades.Depp's sunglasses are actually part of the plot and being he's a white guy (technically, so is Banderas), the rules don't apply. But why is Banderas, the star of the film stuck in the background unarmed? Well at least in the next film he got some eyewear of his own, but any weapons are in the hands of an Oscar winning actress.Poor Lou Diamond Phillips. The Filipino actor has also been a victim of the Bruce Willis factor. Except for 'Renegades' where he played a cop, he's always either shifted to the back like the 'Young Guns' poster or the only one not packing like the one-sheet for the sequel.Even for his first major starring role in 'The First Power', Phillips is made to look real small with his name under the title. At least he lucked out and was made to look heroic for the international poster.Can't say the same for Andy Garcia. He's the good guy, playing an investigator in 'Internal Affairs', yet the villainous Richard Gere gets the gun. As one of Eliot Ness' Untouchables he's not featured as prominently as Charles Martin Smith who dies early on in the film. As for Jimmy Smits I don't know what the hell he's doing.Even the biggest stars are not immune.Will Smith is perhaps Hollywood's most bankable star at the moment with ten action films under his belt. But even he is the victim of many of these rules. Many of Smith's biggest hits have featured him having gunplay, but hardly brandishing a gun on a movie poster. Even though he brandishes weapons on the posters for the two 'Men in Black' films, the sunglasses he wears are part of the plot. But what about his other films?Yes, spectacles did exist in the 19th century, but who wears them to a gun fight? For 'I Am Legend' Smith does carry a rifle, but there's not threat of him going postal since he's the last man on Earth. For 'Hancock' he' s a God-like super-hero. Yet with no gun and the ugliest sunglasses available, he looks like he's constipated.Will Smith may be the biggest star, b

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Jet Li Going Back To China

It's tempting to beg Jet Li not to go back to China, to stick around making American films because we need him so badly. But really, we haven't been treating him so well lately-- his two most recent English-language films were The Forbidden Kingdom and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and the next project on his list is the cameo-packed but sure to be ridiculous The Expendables. So back to China Li goes, with plans to star in ...

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage Gets a New Director

We heard last year that Vin Diesel had signed on to reprise his role [1] as secret agent/extreme sports enthusiast Xander Cage in a new xXx flick, and that Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) would be returning to direct as well. Both of them skipped the original xXx sequel, xXx: State of the Union, which starred Ice Cube as the slightly less athletic spy Darius Stone. However, a couple of months ago Rob Cohen dropped out of the project [2] in order to take on Medieval, a movie he describes as "The Magnificent Seven in the Middle Ages". Now a new director has been named as his replacement. According to The Hollywood Reporter [3], Ericson Core will direct xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, which Columbia is hoping to shoot early next year. Core directed the Mark Wahlberg football drama Invincible, and also an upcoming film called The Prodigy starring Richard Gere. He has a background as a cinematographer, having worked as DP on such movies as Payback, Daredevil, and The Fast and the Furious (where he previously worked with Vin Diesel). That's not much to go on, but in general I don't think losing Rob Cohen as director is the worst thing in the world. Do you think this be a solid return to form for Vin Diesel, or is it just going to be another half-assed sequel? [1] http://www.filmjunk.com/2008/09/15/vin-diesel-signs-on-for-xxx-sequel/ [2] http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118004740.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 [3] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i63041d69a51cc0fdd880b924c37ba703

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Discuss: Is August No Longer Bad Movie Month?

It wasn't long after I became a critic that I realized how the month of August tended to collect bad movies, like dust. Every year, the studios roll the dice on stupid-sounding ideas and come up, surprisingly enough, with stupid movies. They know it and we know it, but they have to try to get their money back anyway, so these movies get released, and they generally get released in August. I could go back and list dozens of examples -- OK, here's one example: Gigli, in August of 2003 -- but suffice to say that the last of the eagerly anticipated blockbusters opens in July and then the junk opens in August, clearing the way for awards season in the last four months of the year.

Now, last summer in my humble opinion was one of the best movie summers of my life, starting with Iron Man and powering through things like The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Hellboy II, etc. Regardless, I expected things to slow down and get stinky in August, and indeed the month got off to a bad start with the godawful The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Then there was the latest from Ben Stiller, whom I generally can't stand, but I quickly signed up as a lifetime member of the Tropic Thunder fan club. Pineapple Express made me laugh just as helplessly, and Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona made #1 on my year's ten best list. We even got the exemplary horror film The Midnight Meat Train, even though I didn't get to see that until DVD.

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Gratzner Abducted by UFO

Visual effects supervisor Matthew Gratzner, who has worked on films as varied as Shutter Island, Iron Man, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, will be making his directorial debut on the feature-film redux of the 1970s TV show UFO.

Trivia: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

If you have seen The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, come test your knowledge of the movie. Play our trivia games, collect points and win prizes. Compare your results to others and see if you can become our next champion.

Rob Cohen to helm "Medieval" for New Regency

Rob Cohen Goes Medieval, Drops xXx Sequel

In March it was announced that McG had signed on to develop and possibly direct Medieval, a spec script by Mike Finch & Alex Litvak sold for $800,000 against $1.6 million.  But McG has too many other projects on his plate, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Captain Nemo at Disney, a big screen adaptation of the musical Spring Awakening for Warner Bros and possibly fifth Terminator film. So who is going to take over for McG? Super duper hack director Rob Cohen. You know, the guy who directed The Fast and the Furious, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Stealth and xXx. Speaking of xXx, this move also means that Cohen will not be reteaming with Vin Diesel on the previously announced sequel xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. Diesel is free to explore other options. It was a tough decision about xXx," Cohen told Variety. "I talked to Vin over the ...

Rob Cohen No Longer Reviving xXx Franchise

Rob Cohen has backed out of re-teaming with Vin Diesel on "XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, report the trades. Cohen, who also worked with Diesel on the original The Fast and the Furious, helmed the first xXx flick but passed on the Diesel-less follow-up, xXx: State of the Union. Cohen, whose other credits include The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Daylight, is instead set to direct Medieval for New Regency. The project is an event-sized action film that the filmmaker describes as The Magnificent Seven in the Middle Ages. Cohen, who studied anthropology and European history at Harvard, said he was drawn by the opportunity to tap into the historical period and create a heightened reality with big action pieces. Regency has kept the script hush-hush, but sources said the action brings together warriors from disparate cultures. "It was a tough decision about 'XXX,' " Cohen said. "I talked to Vin over the weekend and said I hoped they would wait, but that if they find another director who's right for the sequel, I certainly wouldn't be angry. But I could not let something like this go." The aim is to get Medieval into production by October.