Movies

'Truth' Well on Its Way to Deserved Box-Office Oblivion
November 3rd, 2015 12:59 AM
Truth, the cinematic attempt to make heroes out of the agenda-driven journalists who produced and broadcast the fraudulent 2004 CBS News story about George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, went into wide distribution this past weekend, with utterly disastrous box-office results.
Readers, in between moments savoring the film's apparent descent into oblivion — though it will almost…

Variety: Charlie Brown Could Really Use a 'Non-White Love Interest'
November 2nd, 2015 10:33 AM
Peter Debruge, the “international film critic” at Variety, proclaimed himself mostly bored by The Peanuts Movie, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to micromanage the classic cartoon into being more “progressive” about introducing a greater “diversity” into the classic cartoon.
Charlie Brown should go black? "While Franklin remains Charlie Brown’s only brown friend, a non-white love interest…

Lefty Professor: ‘Transparency Threatens’ the Power of Conservatives
November 1st, 2015 2:16 PM
In the week when a new James Bond film is coming out, it’s fitting that two lefty writers are both shaken and stirred by recent Republican blasts at media bias. In a Sunday article for Salon, Boston College history professor Heather Cox Richardson charged that “since the 1950s, Movement Conservatives have fought the fair examination of their ideas. They embrace a worldview in which a few wealthy…

Actress Julianne Moore Responds to MRC Study
Culture
October 8th, 2015 10:34 AM
An MRC study published yesterday was the subject of a piece in The Hollywood Reporter. The study analyzed the violence in the top 10 movies currently in theatres to showcase the hypocrisy of celebrities demanding gun control after the Roseburg shooting.
(For the record: 334 separate violent acts; 121 acts of gun violence; 39 dead out of 142 total victims.)

After Oregon Shooting: Top 10 Movies Show 121 Acts of Gun Violence
Culture
October 7th, 2015 5:59 PM
Like clockwork, before anyone had time digest the horror of the latest mass shooting, the left started finger-pointing and demanding more gun control – whether it would have prevented the crime or not. From President Obama on down, they immediately began railing against the NRA and gun owners.
Not surprisingly, entertainment industry liberals were among the most vocal. That also made them among…

WashPost Coos Over 'Half-Legend, Half-Saint' Communist Screenwriter
October 1st, 2015 1:22 PM
Longtime Washington Post book reviewer Michael Dirda broke out the superlatives on Thursday for communist screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, and the Bruce Cook biography that served as the basis for a new Trumbo-glorifying movie starring Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, geopolitically).
Dirda oozed “by the time of his death from lung cancer in 1976, Trumbo already seemed half-legend, half-saint: To Cook,…

Conservative Filmmaker Challenges Anti-Fracking Short with 'GasHoax'
Business
October 1st, 2015 8:05 AM
Conservative filmmaker Phelim McAleer has a new film challenging Josh Fox and his claims about hydraulic fracturing. McAleer’s GasHoax will be released on October 1, the same day as Fox’s latest short film, GasWork, will be aired on MSNBC.
The head-to-head match up is intentional. McAleer said GasWork is “a zero credibility film because it comes from filmmaker Josh Fox who has a history of…

Salon Writer: Goebbels Would Have Been ‘Proud’ of GOP Debate
September 20th, 2015 4:18 PM
A common allegation against Ronald Reagan during his White House years was that he confused movies with the real world. According to Chauncey DeVega, the current Republican presidential candidates do somewhat the same thing, and have added video games and a bit of Comic-Con to the mix.
“Wednesday night’s CNN debate showed the American people an alternate reality where Chuck Norris movies are the…
Salon Writer: Freddy Krueger Antidote to ‘Repressed’ Reagan Era
September 5th, 2015 1:26 PM
Gordon Gekko of Wall Street would be a popular choice of liberals for the 1980s movie character who best illuminated the supposedly ugly truth about the Reagan era, but he’s not Andrew O’Hehir’s choice. In a Monday analysis of the films of the late Wes Craven, O'Hehir stated that Freddy Krueger, from Craven’s 1984 movie A Nightmare on Elm Street, was “the most potent pop-culture signifier of the…

Redford Takes Potshot at W, But Reveals Truth Not Rather’s Motivation
September 2nd, 2015 1:21 AM
A Tuesday USA Today preview of the movie Truth, which presumes Dan Rather’s 2004 “Memogate” hit piece against President George W Bash was accurate, conveyed the hostility of actor Robert Redford, who plays Rather, toward Bush. But Redford also undermined the “truth” premise by relaying that “loyalty” was Rather’s main motivation in defending his flawed story.

Video
Halperin: 'Not Saying Rendell Woke Up With Horse Head in Bed, But'
August 28th, 2015 9:49 AM
So who's Hillary's enforcer? Last week we asked "who got to Donny Deutsch?" when he suddenly became supportive of Hillary whereas just the week before he had been very critical of her.
The same thing has happened with Ed Rendell. Just yesterday, the former DNC Chairman and Pennsylvania governor was quoted in the New York Times saying Hillary has handled the email scandal "poorly, maybe…

USA Network Postponed ‘Mr. Robot’ Finale over Virginia Shooting
Culture
August 27th, 2015 10:27 AM
Viewers looking forward to the season finale of Mr. Robot on USA Network last night were disappointed to find a rerun of last week’s episode. The network postponed the final episode until next week because “The previously filmed season finale of Mr. Robot contains a graphic scene similar in nature to today’s tragic events in Virginia,” it said in a statement.
So the Mr. Robot season ender…

Tarantino Hates U.S. ‘Racism,’ Loves Obama
Culture
August 24th, 2015 10:13 AM
Quentin Tarantino: Dumb as a post or incredibly dishonest? Both?
The “pornographer of violence” (Chuck Scarborough’s term) takes umbrage when asked about the impact of violent films and TV on society. “Obviously, I don't think one has to do with the other,” he once sputtered when pressed on the issue. “Obviously, the issue is gun control and mental health.”

NYT's Dargis Offers Summer Movie Bummer: 'Wide Diversity Gap' in Films
August 6th, 2015 11:03 PM
Thursday's New York Times delivered yet another summer-movie bummer from Manohla Dargis, the paper's most doctrinaire liberal movie critic. Dargis, previously stuck on counting the number of women in movies, is expanding her film interests to include counting old people, gays, and minorities. Yes, it's a non-stop thrill ride in "Report Finds Wide Diversity Gap Among 2014’s Top-Grossing Films."