Mike Lowrey

I just had a vision! Is it my imagination, or is it a 100% probability that Michael Moore's mug will make it onto the cover of every one of his "documentary" DVDs in some fashion or another?

And now for my opinion on the matter....does this not show a bit of Moore's ego? I mean, picture all of your DVDs with the director's face plastered on the front. People scream about the "floating heads" issues, but just imagine that every Oliver Stone or George Lucas film had their faces plastered on them.

You know what they say...only narcissist maniacal dictators have statues of them all over the place when they're alive and ruling...

madcougar

Yeah the guy's a monster. I'm sure he MADE the distributor include him in the marketing. It's not like he's technically the "star" of the movie or something right?

emhello

Who cares.

bboisvert

In an attempt to keep this on-topic and away from bashing... I'll point out that Moore actually appears prominently in all of his films.

People will buy it (or not) because it's a "Moore film" not really because of the topic.

The same could be said of Alfred Hitchcock... and you'll notice that he is featured on practically every DVD cover for his movies too.

JoeyOhhhh

Well, considering he stars in them, I think its appropriate to have him on the cover.

majorjoe23

If only there was a forum where we could discuss cover art. But then, this really isn't about cover art, is it?

Mike Lowrey

Well, I give you that, but I thought of that as well...however, there are other documentary films out there along the same lines in which the filmmaker is in the docu-film as well, yet, their likeness isn't plastered all over the cover.

Peter Jackson had several cameos in his LOTR trilogy, yet he didn't feel the need to put his face on the cover.

majorjoe23

The director of Supersize Me was on that DVD cover, if a film is "personality" driven, it doesn't seem out of line to have them on the box. If Rush Limbaugh made a movie, I would expect to see his face on the cover. I believe Sean Hannity is on the cover of the Hannitization of America DVD.
Tarrantino was on one of the Reservoir Dogs covers, and on one of the Jackie Brown DVDs.
Kevin Smith is on the cover of all his films, even Jersey Girl, which he didn't have a part in.
Bill Bixby is on the cover of the Hulk TV movies he directed.
Christopher Guest is on the cover of A Mighty Wind, Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.
Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones are on the cover of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Orson Welles is on the cover of Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil.
Mel Gibson is on the cover of Braveheart.
Woody Allen is on the cover of tons of his DVDs.
And now I'm tired of looking through my DVD collection.

WestEndRiot

thats a weak, weak comparison.

as majorjoe said, this isn't really about cover art.

mikewendt

It's the studio's choice. Like going with the Jersey Girl cover with the Kevin Smith photo in the corner. Even though Kevin mentioned on his own site he was agaist it.

Mike Lowrey

Yep, I know. Only example I could think of at the moment.

Sorry...matter of fact, it is. I mean that based on the subject matter of each of Moore's films, I could think of several other cover-arts that would have done the subject matter more justice, than just seeing Moore's face or fat ass on the cover.

Take for example, the FH-9/11 cover....you have a picture of the Whitehouse, a Top Secret dosier file, and Moore hiding behing the folder. For the film to be about what it is, I can think of many other pictures I would use. Something of perhaps a mural of Iraq and the Twin Towers of something, but the chosen cover-art is just *blah*.

DonnachaOne

The Moore covers are fine and justified. Move on.

majorjoe23

If Moore had put the two towers on the cover, it would have pissed off a lot of people on sight. Some people think he's exploitive now, that would have made him a ridiculously easy target.

WestEndRiot

your use of the phrase "fat ass" leads me to believe that this is about a little more than the cover art.

that aside, as mike said, this was likely a decision made by the studio. for all you know Moore might have fought tooth and nail to get it down to just the top half of his face. fact of the matter is, you don't know who made the desicion to include his head on the cover so i think your passing of judgement is questionable.

whoster69

Apprently people who are trying to grind an axe...

darkside

I just noticed he is on the covers of his books as well. What the hell is Michael Moore's problem?

Fucking egomaniac.

toccoa_winters

people recognize him now so its obvious that the studio would put him on the cover. i dont get what the big deal is.

SRotblat

The whole movie is about Moore showing things he deemed top secret and things hidden from the main stream public about the current government.....

sounds like the cover art is fine and your just pulling at straws

Numanoid

Michael Moore is also the host of his own television shows! What a gloryhound. This cannot stand.

Numanoid

Don't you? Let me explain:

1) Political axe-grinding member wants to bash Moore, but hide behind some lame pretext in order to avoid Moderator scrutiny.

2) So many other members' bullshit detectors go off simultaneously that it results in the deafening of small animals and children in the immediate vicinity of DVD Talk.

3) Original poster exposes his true bias through a clever turn of phrase referring to Mr. Moore's ample posterior.

4) Other members turn off bullshit detectors, roll eyes, and go about with their lives -- a little bit dumber for having bothered clicking on the thread.

PopcornTreeCt

C'mon Mike. You're making us Moore-bashers look bad. This thread wasn't necessary.

Matt

Yawn.

bboisvert

You "give me" my point, then dismiss it?

What, exactly, are these mysterious "other documentary films out there along the same lines"? There is not a single other documentary filmmaker out there with the recognizabilty factor that MM has. There are no other films out there "along the same lines".

And his flims/TV shows/books have a LOT of his particular brand of humor and politics in them. And -- a LOT of him in it. He essentially "stars" in his films (not a brief cameo ala Peter Jackson). That's why he's all over the covers.

But, you know that, don't you? I have no clue why I bother clicking on these fucking MM threads anymore... I suppose I thought there'd be some actual reasonable discussion here. My mistake.

madcougar

Of course this isn't about cover art. My problem with this is if you're going to attack Moore at least put together a better argument than this.

Bill Needle

I think Moore is a seditious propagandist, but I don't see the point of this thread.