Via Movie City News comes this link to McSweeney’s and a piece by J. Chris Rock and John Leary titled Reviews of DVDs that May or May Not be Pirated but Were Definitely Bought on the Street in Shanghai for About a Dollar.

Here’s an excerpt:

“The Clearing

Obtained: Wulumuqi Street, just past the #830 bus stop
Price: 7 RMB

One of the worst releases this year, in terms of DVDs bought out of a cardboard box on the street.

The colors are so blown out, we can’t see the pockmarks on either Willem Dafoe’s or Robert Redford’s face. The sound is all high-end hiss. (Is it really that hard to bribe a projectionist?) Turning on the subtitles does nothing, as they’re from a different movie, one that sounds much more interesting — a lot more swearing and mentions of Czech intelligence operatives.

Halfway through, the DVD hiccups and dies. A real disappointment to see Redford and company associated with such shoddy pirating.”
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