Here's an interesting Payola Six detail we haven't adequately examined, published last Wednesday in the Times:

Spotted by a reader last night:

At Tuesday's premiere of American Dreamz, the team behind the film tried to give a sense of what to expect from their upcoming incompetent-President-decides-to-judge-American-Idol flick:

Former mayor (and, arguably, former Democrat) Ed Koch has long had a little sideline as a movie critic. These days he's emailing his reviews to anyone who has made it onto his distribution list — including, apparently, the random journo type who forwarded last week's installment to us. The big news? Koch hated Basic Instinct 2. "It is the absolute worst," he declares.

So we were leafing through this week's new Time magazine, and we ended up getting drawn into its arts lede, "Let's Roll...," about the forthcoming film United 93, about the plane hijacked by terrorists on September 11 and crashed by the hostages into a Pennsylvania field so that it could not be used as yet another improvised missile. It's a good and compelling piece, about what sounds like a good and compelling movie, and it's got some interesting insight into how the film was made — all the victim's families approved, scenes were improvised, and it was cast in an unusual way:

A theater in New York City has yanked the trailer for Universal's United 93 over concerns that people aren't ready for Hollywood to lend its trademark delicate touch to a national tragedy still fresh in people's minds, even if the movie is being released later this month one way or the other. The studio, however, isn't planning to recall or alter the preview footage, feeling it's a "responsible" and "fair" representation of the totally non-exploitative entertainment product to follow. Reports the NY Times:

From the land of "Lazy Sunday," Saturday Night Live digital video wunderkind Andy Samberg has given himself over to the exotic lure of a "rowdy comedy" called Hot Rod:

· Warner Bros. sets a July 21st start date for Ocean's 13 (George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh can now start salivating over what crazy, artistic thing they're going to do with their dirty Hollywood money), with celebrity choking victim Ellen Barkin joining the cast as an urban cougar whose designs on lesser gang members Scott Caan and Casey Affleck will result in several loosely plotted double- and triple-crosses necessitating that one of the young thieves has to dance through a matrix of laser beams. [Variety]
· 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Fantastic Voyage director Richard Fleischer dies at 89. Hollywood braces for the sudden loss of two more of its own to complete the deadly rule of three. [THR]
· Apple Corps, the Beatles' record company, is suing Apple Computer for violating an agreement that Apple (Computer) wouldn't operate in the music industry, thereby threatening the Apple (the Beatles one) trademark. [Variety]
· Time Warner in talks with the Big Four networks to create an on-demand "hits" channel, which would give viewers too lazy to TiVo their favorite shows access to episodes they may have missed on their first run for a reported $10 monthly fee. [THR]

Today's Hollywood Reporter delves into the phenomenon of Snakes on a Plane's still-growing pre-release buzz, which has elevated the once-languishing turnaround project with a "stupid title" to beloved fanboy event movie. In fact, New Line seems so in tune with the internet chatter (amazing that this is the same studio that gave us Virtual Paul Walker going down on his digital wife, isn't it?) that they shot five days of additional footage, which they claim is to push the movie deeper into R-rated territory, but will also include more nods to SoaP's online fanbase:

Entertainment Weekly has been granted a first look at the official Snakes on a Plane logo (left, as if you couldn't tell on your own), which director David R. Ellis tells the magazine was based on fan art like the above example submitted by one of our readers back in September. (If you want one that's really similar—if much more psychedelic— take a look at this entry from a recent, brilliant Fark Photoshop contest.) Not that it takes a genius to throw together a couple of snakes and an airliner after the heavy conceptual lifting's already been done by the movie's self-consciously B-flick title, but at least the New Line folks seem to be paying attention to their potential audience, who may abandon their blogs long enough to show up on opening night wearing flight attendant uniforms and covered in rubber cobras.

The insomniacs at Open All Night didn't make it to the premiere of Steve Buscemi's Lonesome Jim in Chelsea last night, but they did make it to the after-party, at the nightclub Home. A bit of their report:

Movie site IESB.net corralled X3 director Brett Ratner at ShoWest, where the beloved fauxteur revealed his top-secret casting plans for the latest installment of the Rush Hour franchise:

At the risk of completely sacrificing this St. Patrick's Day on the altar of All Things Cruise-Related, an operative submitted this report from last night's premiere of Thank You For Smoking, which, of course, stars Cruise fianc e and onetime actress Katie Holmes. It seems that Holmes was too busy with JumboTron PDAs down in Anaheim to join her castmates at the event, and our man-on-the-scene speculates that the "Hollywood establishment" (and her director) didn't miss her one bit:

It's been over half a year since Samuel L. Jackson issued the famous words that ignited a very special kind of buzz for B-movie masterwork Snakes on a Plane: "You either want to see that, or you don t."

A pair of ex-Seinfeld writers, Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin, not suprisingly edged out Andy Dick's cinematic ode to caninelingus to win the top film prize at this year's South by Southwest festival. The movie, called Live Free or Die, was shot in New Hampshire under very State and Main-type circumstances: i.e., Hollywood descends on small town, culture clash ensues. Refreshingly, the filmmakers didn't honeydip their thoughts on the locals when they recently spoke with the AP:

Vin Diesel may play the clown at his premieres, but on the inside, he's a serious guy with big plans (he's still chasing his crazy, pachyderm-filled, eleventy billion dollar dream to get his Hannibal trilogy made—in Punic!) and who isn't immune to the pain of the oft-whispered speculation about his sexuality. He confides to Details, the go-to publication for men seeking to dispel dogged gay rumors:

There's something about movie premieres in early March that really makes Vin Diesel blossom. Last year, he was the excitedly-pointing-at-waterfowl life of the party at The Pacifier's bow, and at last night's NY celebration of Find Me Guilty's imminent release (pictured above), Diesel generously distributed the embarrassment of facial expression riches he so stingily withholds while the movie cameras roll.

Things have been eerily quiet on the Andy Dick front as of late (is he finally feeling his age since turning 40?), but Salon reports that Dick seems to be in classic, head-humping form down in Austin at the South by Southwest film festival, where he's showcasing his latest masterwork:

The dry, cracked riverbed of Hollywood inspiration has once again turned to the seemingly bottomless well of beloved sitcoms for creative irrigation: We can now look forward to our fond memories of Welcome Back, Kotter being irreparably soiled on its journey to the big screen, Variety reports, with the no-brainer casting of gangsta-rapper-turned-beloved-star- of-forgettable-family-comedies Ice Cube producing and starring:

· Coming soon to the chest of a nervous studio exec near you: The Paramount t-shirt.
· Tabloid Baby takes a fun little tour through the sordid pasts of the cast of Disney's wholesome The Shaggy Dog remake, including Tim Allen and Robert Downey, Jr's criminal records, and Kristin Davis and Annabelle Gurwitch's onscreen nude work.
· If DC is truly Hollywood for ugly people, be glad they don't have their own glossy rags.
· Nikki Finke presents When High-Powered Media Execs Leave Whiny-Ass Voicemails.
· Low Culture's got the virallest video ever viralled. Viraltastic!