One of my Top 3 favorite movies of all time is Spike Lee’s provocative and controversial 1989 film “Do The Right Thing.” It takes place on the hottest day of the summer in one Brooklyn neighborhood and has more heart, laughs, tension, and drama than most movies today. This year marks its 20th anniversary.

If you’ve never seen it, now is the time to go out and rent the sucker. You’ll see early performances by Samuel L. Jackson, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, and Martin Lawrence. You’ll witness Spike Lee at the top of his game as a screenwriter, actor, and director. You’ll hear Public Enemy’s anthemic “Fight the Power” in the context that it was meant to be presented in. You’ll wonder at the vibrant colors in Ernest Dickerson’s cinematography.

You’ll see late actors Ossie Davis and Robin Harris, who have never been better. You’ll be presented with tons of likeable characters and watch the mounting racial tension with dread. You’ll ask yourself a lot of questions and struggle with the answers.

The Root has devoted a large part of its website to celebrating the film, and editor-in-chief Henry Louis Gates sat down with Lee for a series of interviews. It’s a great conversation (with clips from the movie), and I learned something else that people don’t talk about too much: Michelle and Barack Obama’s first date was a screening of “Do the Right Thing” at the Chicago Art Institute!

Fight the power indeed.

20 years later, the Obamas are in the White House, and “Do the Right Thing” remains one of the most influential of modern films. I have the Criterion Collection DVD, but it looks as if i might have to buy another one, because the new 20th Anniversary DVD contains a lot of the same extras and a new commentary track from Lee.

Have you seen “Do the Right Thing”? How recently?

Tags: 20th, anniversary, date, Do the Right Thing, First, interview, lee, obama, root, spike

Man, I hate watching trailers. There’s so much to glean from them in terms of plot and style that I almost just prefer to stay away from them. Every now and then, however, I am drawn to a trailer that I cannot turn away from. “Where the Wild Things Are,” directed by Spike Jonze, is such a trailer.

The CGI-infected special effects world makes everything look the same after a while, and the tactile “wild things” in this movie (despite the fact that their faces have CGI elements) will go a long way towards making us feel that Max is actually interacting with something. Cinematical has posted a gallery of images from the upcoming Maurice Sendak adaptation and–if you must–the trailer is right here.

Richard Kelly is back. You remember him, right? He was the next big thing after “Donnie Darko” finally caught on on DVD. Then he released The Director’s Cut and over-explained everything. Then he released “Southland Tales” and we all wondered what deep end he’d gone off.

He’s back with “The Box,” a thriller starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella that’s based on a Richard Matheson (”I Am Legend”) short story called “Button, Button.” I hope he can find the balance between explaining too much and not enough. It releases on October 30.

Kal Penn (star of TV’s “House” and the “Harold and Kumar” movie series) has joined the Obama administration. The Hollywood Reporter reports that he will “join the staff as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison. His role will be to connect Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts and entertainment groups.” Weird.

Twitter is the shit, simply put. Lots of celebs are using it, but “Iron Man 2″ director Jon Favreau is the only one working every day on a big-budgeted, much-anticipated sequel. He tweets a lot, and is constantly posting pictures from the set. Follow him here and see comments and photos from the “Iron Man 2″ set in realtime. His latest post refers to Garry Schandling, whose casting is very recent news: “Wrapped day two. Time for some sleep. So great to work with Garry.”

When I was at SXSW, Favreau was on a panel with the other stars of “I Love You, Man” and he was taking photos of Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones from the stage and posting them on Twitter. It’s a pretty unique way to experience life through the eyes of a newly crowned Hollywood giant. You can follow Jon Favreau’s Twitter account here.

The Playlist says that Overture Films has picked up the “semi-fictional/quasi-documentary” movie “Paper Heart,” starring Charlyne Yi (the crazy stoned-out chick from “Knocked Up”) and her boyfriend Michael Cera. The movie premiered at Sundance, and was directed by Nicholas Jasenovec, who co-wrote it with Yi. It sounds a like a weird mix of a travel documentary and the faux mocumentary style of “The Office.” “Paper Heart” will get a limited release on August 7 in New York and L.A. and will start expanding on August 14 everywhere else.

Is the box office disappointment of the rated-R superhero flick “Watchmen” to blame or was it a promotional tie-in with Pizza Hut? Whatever the reason,the latest chapter in the “Terminator” saga, “Terminator Salvation,” starring Christian Bale and directed by McG, will be rated PG-13 rather than the “hard” R the director originally promised.

Tags: iron man 2, Jon Favreau, kal penn, michael cera, obama, paper heart, poster, richard kelly, the box, where the wild things are

It is way to early to think about this (or maybe not, since Oliver Stone’s “W” dramatized the life of a sitting president), but I keep hearing the word “history” used over and over again today in the media. Barack Obama getting elected the 44th President of the United States is certainly historic. I even heard a caller on a talk show this morning talk about how tears were streaming down his face while he watched the TV last night.

“It was like the ending of ‘Ben-Hur’!” he said.

History being compared to movies. I think that’s a signal that now it’s time to think about who will play Obama in the eventual biopic of his life.

“Too soon!” you may say. And, technically, I might agree. But isn’t it fun to play the game?

It’s crazy how quickly current events are turned around into historical films these days. HBO’s recent “Recount” was about the fight over the 2000 election. Paul Greengrass’ amazing “United 93″ conveyed the immediacy and urgency of Sept. 11. On the less serious side of things, the usual turnaround of TV movies about sensational news stories like the Texas cheerleader scandal, the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan incident, or the baby caught in a well has been traditionally very fast. (And how many Amy Fisher/Joey Buttafuco movies were rushed into production?)

Especially in this lightning-fast communications age, we are also able to see history as it happens. What’s bizarre is how quickly an event can be registered as “history.” No doubt, yesterday was one of those days. And movies and TV played a huge part in the making of yesterday’s election results. Don’t think that they didn’t. Besides the fact that Americans had two full years to observe the way Obama carried himself as a public figure, we also had two years to get used to the idea of a black president. It wasn’t that hard; it’s something that has been out there in the culture for quite awhile.

It’s often said the Hollywood is extremely liberal, so black actors portraying the President in movies like “Deep Impact” (Morgan Freeman) or “Head of State” (Chris Rock) are no surprises. (Not to mention “The Fifth Element,” “Idiocracy,” “The Man,” although those weren’t necessarily game-changers). Probably the role with biggest cultural effect, however, was from Fox’s “24,” a TV show created, ironically, by a conservative writer/producer.

David Palmer (played by Dennis Haysbert, the reassuring presence from those Allstate commercials) was one of those tough presidents who tackled problems with an equal amount of smarts and morality. He was the kind of president you’d wish we could have in the White House one day, and his run on that popular TV show did a lot to get the country used to the idea of a black president, I believe. He was assassinated after he was out of office, and his brother Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside) was elected not long after that. Two black presidents. One show. Plus lots of sketchy, scheming white men swirling around them…

Now that the moment is upon us, let’s get hypothetical. What current actor has the range, gravity, and physical characteristics to play President-elect Barack Obama in a movie?

My top choice would be Jeffrey Wright, who was so good as the moral compass in “W.” He played Colin Powell as a character, not an impersonation. His conflict and conscience were guiding lights in a movie where virtually everyone else had their own agendas. He’s proven in tons of great supporting roles (Bill Murray’s loquacious best friend in “Broken Flowers” and the uber-confident villain in “Shaft” leap to mind) that he’s got the chops and I think he could portray Obama’s tenacity in all the key moments in his life.

Will Smith would obviously be any movie producer’s first choice due to his box office clout, and I think he could handle it. He made me forget he was Will Smith in Michael Mann’s flawed-but-interesting “Ali,” and would have the same uphill battle portraying another very famous face were he to tackle Obama.

Terrence Howard, recently let go as Jim Rhodes in the “Iron Man” series, might be a good choice. He was totally convincing in his Oscar-nominated role as the pimp-turned-rapper in “Hustle and Flow,” and that same year played a successful yuppie TV producer in “Crash.” (Though I hated the movie, his performance was quite good.)

Lastly, I think British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is a true chameleon. Having appeared in everything from “Children of Men” down to “Love Actually,” he is probably the most versatile actor on this list. Plus, he is not a household name or a bankable actor yet, so his personality won’t get in the way of Obama. Right now, especially with his hard-to-pronounce name, he is still “that guy who’s always good in everything he does.” He also has a history of choosing really risky roles with great directors over more commercial work,

Now it’s time to hear from you all. It’s probably too early, but we all know it’s a great story, and Hollywood loves great stories, especially the against-all-odds “only in America” kind.

Who do you think should play President-elect Barack Obama in the inevitable movie biopic?

Tags: actor, barack, biopic, Chiwetel, dennis, Ejiofor, film, haysbert, hollywood, howard, jeffrey, life, movie, obama, play, president, should, smith, terrence, who, will, wright

Have you seen the stickers and yard signs that read: “Colbert ‘08 (and so can you)”?

Heard enough of Obama/McCain?

A fictional presidential campaign for Stephen Colbert has been brewing in the backdrop of many prominent Marvel comic books for the last 10 months. Over a dozen of the comic industry giant’s titles have featured “easter eggs”–subtle visual hints–at Colbert the Marvel character’s candidacy since Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada appeared on “The Colbert Report.”

Here’s a video of Joe informing Stephen that he’s running for president in the Marvel Universe.

An Oct. 15 “Amazing Spider-Man,” the Wall Street Journal reports, was the first to go farther than graphic mentions in the background and actually feature Colbert as a character. The issue saw a 10 percent increase in sales.

I love that Stephen Colbert the person has gone from being a talking-head correspondent on “The Daily Show” to becoming an egocentric right-wing character whose fictional traits give him the ability to make insane wrongheaded statements and do insane publicity stunts. It’s the ultimate satirical tool because it fits in perfectly with the kind of bloated idiots he’s making fun of, while at the same time, it’s also a great promotional tool. The crazier it is, the funnier.

It turns out that the Marvel publisher is a big fan of Colbert’s and Colbert is a big comic nerd. There is no money being exchanged, but the deal is mutually beneficial.

Having not been an avid comic reader for a long time, I’m wondering how has this “campaign” been sitting with Marvel fans? Does it cheapen the titles or is it a mildly amusing thing, kept rightly in the background of your favorite books?

Colbert himself even worked hand in hand with the writers to craft the storyline of his fictional campaign for president in the comic books, which also include “X-Factor,” “She-Hulk,” and “Punisher War Journal” Marvel has also posted election reports on Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 blog. Each of these entries features the Colbert campaign cameos and links to all the issues containing said comic panels.

Soon the winner of the Marvel Comics presidential race will be decided (in the comic world, Nov. 4 is also election day) and we will see whether Obama, McCain, or Colbert emerges victorious.

Tags: 2008, campaign, central, colbert, comedy, comics, indecision, marvel, mccain, obama, president, spider-man, x-men