June 12, 2005 by s.z.

Manos, the EW Article of Fate Last week Entertainment Weekly featured an article about Manos, the Hands of Fate.  It was entitled "The Worst Movie Ever Made." Here's part of the introductory paragraph:  Thirty-nine years ago, among the prickly pear cacti and mesquite trees — and just a stone's throw away from Mexico — a ragtag group of Texans banded together to make their own little horror picture. Little did they know they would end up creating what is widely regarded as, quite simply, the worst movie ever made. It is even ranked as such on IMDb.com, the encyclopedic Internet Movie Database. But this is a story about more than mere incompetence. It's about hope, possibilities, embarrassment, humiliation, tragedy, and — finally — redemption. It is the story of Manos: The Hands of Fate. 6:59:39 PM

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Cinema Sunday So, Tom Cruise's remake of War of the Worlds comes out at the end of the month.  Is that why he's dating a "Dawson's Creek" teen, jumping on couches, and telling clinically depressed people to avoid taking anti-depressants.  You know, to get people excited about the movie? In case you haven't been following the Hollywood gossip, here's a brief recap of the Tom Cruise meltdown, courtesy of the London Free Press: Tom cruisin' for a reputation bruisin' Hollywood is wondering if Tom Cruise has gone bonkers over both his Scientology beliefs and new girlfriend Katie Holmes. In addition to leaping about on Oprah's couch professing his love for Katie, he's also converting her to the controversial religion of Scientology. Additionally, Tom is reportedly preaching Scientology on movie sets. He gave the cast and crew of War of the Worlds plaques setting out his strange Scientology beliefs: "Never need praise, approval or sympathy; Never fear to hurt another in a just cause," and "Don't desire to be liked or admired." Meanwhile, it's said Tom and Katie, who now attend Hollywood events on his motorcycle, with him in black leathers, will soon be married in a Scientology ceremony. PREDICTION: Tom's weirdness is going to hurt his career; studios become wary of his cult preaching. Per the LA Times, Tom suggests the journalists take a introductory class on Scientology before they interview him.  LAT also provides a quote from Tom's "Acess Hollywood" spot: "You have to understand that with psychiatry, there is no science behind it, and to pretend that there is a science behind it is criminal."  There is, of course, lots of science behind the Scientology claim that it can cure mental illness through driving out the dead aliens that are clogging up your brain. And here's more on Tom's Scientology-inspired beliefs on psychiatry via a recent interview he gave to Entertainment Weekly (the link is AOL-only -- but if you ARE an AOL subscriber, you can also read this EW article about "Manos, the Hands of Fate").  Your comments about antidepressants on Access Hollywood — do you think going after Brooke Shields for her book about postpartum depression might have made the argument a little too personal?It's not a matter of making it personal. I care about Brooke. I want to see her do well. I think she's really talented. But she's misinformed. And, you know, from that Access Hollywoodinterview, I've gotten over 154,000 responses from people thanking me. You should see some of the letters I get. People go for help but their lives don't get better because of these drugs. They get worse. They feel numb and they're told that's a good thing. It's becoming like Huxley's Brave New World. It's like what the English did to China with opium [in the 19th century]. How is this different? It's how you degrade a society — by drugging the piss out of it. Yeah, but Scientology textbooks sometimes refer to psychiatry as a ''Nazi science''...Well, look at the history. Jung was an editor for the Nazi papers during World War II. [According to Aryeh Maidenbaum, the director of the New York Center for Jungian Studies, this is not true.] Look at the experimentation the Nazis did with electric shock and drugging. Look at the drug methadone. That was originally called Adolophine. It was named after Adolf Hitler... [According to the Dictionary of Drugs and Medications, among other sources, this is an urban legend.] So, watch for Tom's next movie to be a remake of Marathon Man, this time featuring Josef Mengele torturing the protagonist (Tom) by giving him Adolophine, and subjecting him to psychoanalysis instead of the dentist's drill ("Babe, you loved your mother and hated your father --- now tell me, is it safe?")  And then Fu Manchu shows up with a plan to dump Prozac in New York's water supply.  And somewhere in there, Tom is forced to take Soma, and have recreational sex with a pneumatic babe (Angelina Jolie).