The "White Obama" Makes the Case Against "Don't Ask Don't Tell"

No one, least of all Sacha Baron Cohen, expected that Borat would become such a beloved character after his movie's huge success back in 2006. 

Instead of enjoying the mainstream success, Cohen made Brüno, another fake documentary that replaces Borat's clueless foreigner lead character with a desperate gay fashion reporter. 

Snoop Dogg describes Bruno as the "white Obama" in a "We Are the World" parody that also features Bono, Sting and Chris Martin from Coldplay.

Bruno's attempts to seduce Congressman Ron Paul end with Paul storming out of the room, declaring that Bruno is "queer as the blazes."

When the movie was released in theaters last summer, the box office numbers took a nosedive after the first weekend. The DVD came out this week and the bonus features included a detailed commentary from Cohen and director Larry Charles where they explain exactly how they set up each scene and what happened after the cameras stopped rolling. 

Cohen doesn't seem to have any regrets about the film's commercial failure and takes some real pleasure in how much Bruno pisses everyone off.

There are lots of extras, including this deleted scene where Bruno convinces Pete Rose to use his gardener as a chair.

Charlie Sheen Demands that President Obama Face the Truth About 9/11

Most Americans don't realize that Two and a Half Men actor and noted Hollywood john Charlie Sheen gained extensive foreign policy and national security experience from his roles in the classic '80s films Red Dawn and Platoon.

Sheen has put that experience to good use as one of America's highest-profile spokesmen for the 9/11 Truth movement. In a compelling post for Alex Jones' Prison Planet blog, Charlie transcribes an imaginary interview with President Barack Obama where Sheen both confuses and dazzles the President with his irrefutable logic. Obama eventually promises to take him seriously and hints that a new investigation just might be forthcoming. 

No word yet as to whether real-life President Obama plans to listen to Charlie, even though Sheen has assured the White House that Obama's alternate-reality predecessor Jed Bartlet would have surely taken the meeting by now.

(Military.com has a new blog from former CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre called Line of Departure. Jamie's talking about the 9/11 conspiracy theories today with posts titled What Really Happened 9/11 and Will the Conspiracy Theories Ever Die?)

Mouse Eats Spider

Anyone who grew up in the '60s and '70s can remember that kids chose Marvel Comics to get away from the clean-scrubbed world of Disney. Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk and the X-Men all questioned the natural order of things, while Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck were cartoon characters every parent could love. 

That's why today's Wall Street Journal report that Disney has paid $4 billion for Marvel Entertainment comes as a total shock. The recent success of Spider-man and Iron Man movies (and the OK performance of the Incredible Hulk movie) have made Marvel the most successful independent company in Hollywood and a valuable property, but Disney seems like an uneasy fit. Captain Jack Sparrow might cut it as a Marvel character, but there's not much else in the Disney universe that seems to fit. Let's hope they know what they're doing here. No one wants to see the Hulk make a guest appearance on Hannah Montana to sing a duet with Miley.

How Realistic is Portrayal of EODs in The Hurt Locker?

The Pentagon Channel talks to Kathryn Bigelow, director The Hurt Locker, about her efforts to accurately portray the efforts of Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams in Iraq.

The Long-Overdue Return of James Cameron

Director James Cameron (Terminator and Titanic) has spent the last ten years making Avatar, a movie that uses a new 3-D capture technology that the movie studios hope will "revolutionize filmmaking." If you didn't get a ticket to one of this weekend's sold-out sneak previews (featuring 15 minutes of footage from the film), you'll have to wait until December to see the whole thing.

Quentin Tarantino Has Some Suggestions for Your Netflix Queue

Inglourious Basterds director Quentin Tarantino recommends the Top 20 movies released since 1992, the year his first film Reservoir Dogs hit theaters. Highlights from his list include Dazed & Confused, Lost in Translation and Team America: World Police.

The Ballad of G.I. Joe

What really goes on after hours back at G.I. Joe Headquarters and the Terrorodome? Who could've known that COBRA Commander was such a fan of Three Dog Night? (Extra points for casting Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins as Duke.)

Searching for the Real Inglourious Basterds

At The Daily Beast, Hollywood reporter Kim Masters tells the true story of her father's role in X Troop, a band of Jewish commandos in the British army who landed at Normandy on D-Day.

The Greatest Fun You Ever Had in Playing Soldier

For the release of the G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra movie, Bam! Kapow! has put together a post featuring what it thinks are the best G.I Joe TV commercials all time. 

Paramount Pictures decided against screening the film for mainstream critics (usually a sign that a company thinks it has a dog on its hands), but this time the studio decided that the "chasm" between the negative reviews and box office success of Transformers: Rise of the Fallen suggested a different approach for a $170 million movie they believe in. G.I. Joe premiered at Andrews Air Force Base, sponsored this summer's Lynyrd Skynyrd/Kid Rock Tour and is being heavily marketed in heartland America while the studio is virtually ignoring New York and Los Angeles. 

If G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra succeeds without the publicity that comes from advance reviews, expect studios to pay even less respect to film critics in the future. Check in Monday for the results or give us your own review in the comments.

First-Person Nazi Killer

Quentin Tarantino's new picture opens August 21st, and the film's co-star Eli Roth (best known as director of the "Hostel" movies) has leaked "Inglourious Basterds: The Game" on his MySpace blog. 

You're armed only with a baseball bat and Roth himself does the voiceover, shouting things like "Outta Fenway Park!" or "Suck my schnitznel!" when you kill a Nazi. We can't confirm but there are rumors that you get a free copy of the movie soundtrack if you make it all the way to level 7.