Odds: Monday - An Aussie controversy, and Kim Ki-duk is sorry.

By Alison Willmore on 08/21/2006

Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE notes that IFC Films First Take will release "The Wind That Shakes The Barley." Via Borys Kit at the Hollywood Reporter, our beloved Polish brothers have sold two upcoming projects to Warner Brothers, heist movie "Loot" and philosophical time-travel flick "How Time Flies." Their most recent project, "The Astronaut Farmer," was oddly upgraded from Warner Independent to Warner Bros. proper and will come out next year. At Empire, Steven Soderbergh confirms rumors that Al Pacino will play a "monster" bad guy in "Ocean's Thirteen." And, by way of Movie City News, a UK trailer for Broadway play adaptation "The History Boys" is here.

Elsewhere, "Snakes on a Plane" does a disappointing $15.3 million at the box office (via Dean Goodman at Reuters). What does it all mean? We don't care, we're too busy singing "Ding dong, the witch is dead..." Take that, user-generated content!

David Thomson at the Independent writes in praise of Alan Arkin, "an actor in that tradition of craftsmanship and dedication that likes to fill in small holes." Dave Kehr at the New York Times writes in praise of Frank Tashlin, "a filmmaker of Swiftian gifts." And A.O. Scott at the New York Times writes in praise of Matt Dillon: "Mr. Dillon, now 42, has grown up into one of the most resourceful character actors in American movies."

Meanwhile, over at the Boston Globe, Dillon confides to Steven Rosen that he likes the sauce:

"I know a little bit about drinking...I heard that Richard Burton -- he drank all the time -- said the only time he didn't drink was when he played a drunk. That was the case with me; I never drank on the job." Then Dillon calls a halt to where this conversation is leading -- his drinking proclivities. "I'm only kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he animatedly repeats, smiling. "I'm not like Hank. What I mean is I have enough experience that I don't need to go out and do that to get into the character."

At Chosun Ilbo, Kim Ki-duk apologizes for his remarks earlier this month hating on "The Host" and threatening to no longer release his films in Korea, statements that clearly didn't go over well with the public:

"The scolding I got from the public made me look back at my films, and I’m starting to think that I made miserable, self-regarding films and exaggerated the dark and ugly side of Korean culture in an overbearing manner and so made audiences uncomfortable," he said. "I became aware of the fact that I’m consciousness-disabled, and that makes it very difficult to live in Korea."

Somewhere, Tony Rayns is laughing.

The critics at the London Times pick out the 50 most controversial films, splitting them up into subcategories of "Sex," "Drugs," "Violence," "Religion" and "Others" and offering interesting side tidbits, e.g.

SEBASTIANE (1976) Derek Jarman’s homoerotic movie, shot in Latin, sees St Sebastian going gaily to his martyrdom at a remote Roman outpost. Features the first erect penis approved by the British censor.

Michael Bodey and Michelle Wiese Bockmann at The Australian take a closer look at the controversy surrounding Murali K. Thalluri's "2.37" and the young director's claims that the film was inspired by the suicide of a friend:

Another director, Daniel Krige - whose brother committed suicide two years ago - has told The Weekend Australian he heard 2.37's producer, Nick Matthews, boast in a Sydney bar two months ago that they fabricated the story of Thalluri's friend's suicide, the dedication of the film and Thalluri's own depression and suicide attempt, to give Thalluri and the film more credibility.

And there's an excerpt of Toby Young's new book, "The Sound of No Hands Clapping," at the Telegraph, for those of you who are into such things.

And before we forget, the True/False Film Festival has brought three films to New York (to, yes, the IFC Center): "Chalk," "The Last Supper" and "Someday My Prince Will Come" will screen over the next two nights, and are all worth checking out. Just don't say hi to anyone in the street — they might be armed with a kitchen utensil.

+ IFC Buys "Barley" (indieWIRE)
+ Brothers line up pair of pics at Warner Bros (Hollywood Reporter)
+ Steven Soderbergh Talks Ocean's Thirteen Pacino to play a "monster" of a bad guy (Empire)
+ The History Boys movie, in cinemas October 2006 (National Theatre)
+ "Snakes on a Plane" fails to charm moviegoers (Reuters)
+ Film Studies: The sad face in the madhouse (Independent)
+ Unmanly Men Meet Womanly Women: Frank Tashlin’s Satires Still Ring True (NY Times)
+ An Everyman’s Pretty Face Grows Ever More Complex (NY Times)
+ Heady times for Matt Dillon (Boston Globe)
+ Kim Ki-duk Eats Humble Pie for Dissing Korean Viewers (Chosun Ilbo)
+ Director's suicide claim 'fiction' (The Australian)
+ The frighteners (London Times)
+ Stalking Mr Hollywood (Telegraph)
+ TRUE/FALSE GOES NEW YORK (IFC Center)