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James Cameron's Avatar Is A Stylish Film Marred By Its Racist Subtext By Will Heaven World The Na'vi wear dreadlocks and African-style jewellery (Picture: 20th Century Fox) Avatar was a spectacle, I’ll grant you that. The film’s 230-million-dollar budget guaranteed extravagant and often beautiful 3D special effects. But as I left the cinema last night, I couldn’t help questioning the weird mind behind it all. Was it James Cameron’s intention to be so nauseatingly patronising? And how could the famously Left-wing director have failed to pick up on his film’s racist subtext? I won’t spoil the plot, but here’s the...

Filmmaker James Cameron is famous for blockbusters like Titanic and The Terminator. His latest movie, Avatar, just opened after a massive media blitz during which Cameron himself hit the talk show circuit, along with his on-screen stars. Since the high-tech 3-D film may have cost $300 million to make, Cameron is highly motivated to promote the film so as to recover the costs and make a profit. And herein lies the contradiction between the film's story and the filmmaker's own life.-- snip --Cameron's native Canada is one of Day's supplanting societies, just like the United States and Australia. Cameron is...

It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar� arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James.But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar� is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world. In Cameron’s sci-fi universe, this communion is embodied by the blue-skinned, enviably slender Na’Vi, an alien race whose idyllic existence on...

Epic sci-fi crap typically ain't my cup of tea. I get a lot of angry e-mails from people whose bottle of Mountain Dew it is. The notes are usually pretty threatening, as though me not liking something these people love is a matter of utmost importance. As though the fact some as***le with a web site doesn't care for what they do threatens the substance of their passion. My nephew Jimmy is one of these people. He is spurred to action only when someone insults the s**t he likes. Then, his first reaction is to insult whomever doesn't share his...

Connie Hines, an actress who portrayed Carol Post, whose husband Wilbur was the only person who could talk with Mister Ed in the 1960s television show, has died. She was 79. Hines died Friday at her home in Beverly Hills from complications of heart problems, said Alan Young, her "Mister Ed" costar. "I lost a great friend. She was always joyous," Young said Monday. In the show, which ran from 1961 to 1966 on CBS, the Posts moved into a rambling country home and found a horse in their barn. The center of the show became the banter between Young...

The entertainment media’s treatment of Sarah Palin and her family has been abhorrent. Like their biased and unjust hard news media brethren, entertainment outlets have gone out of their way to tarnish Palin’s image. While tabloids, semi-legitimate entertainment programs and celebrities issue incessant praise for President Obama and his leftist policies, Palin is showered with insults and inappropriate slurs. And let’s not forget the ongoing insensitive questioning about the birth of her special needs son, Trig. Since the end of the 2008 campaign, some of the most glaring examples of the entertainment media’s obsession with anti-Palin coverage have centered on...

Brittany Murphy's husband and mother made a frantic attempt to revive her before paramedics arrived ... this according to notes written by an investigator from the L.A. County Coroner's office. And, there were a shocking number of strong prescription meds on Brittany's nightstand. TMZ has reviewed the documents, written by Investigator Blacklock. According to his notes, Brittany Murphy "had been complaining of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pain" for 7 to 10 days prior to her death. According to the notes, Murphy went into the bathroom at around 7:30 AM Sunday and shut the door. A half hour later...

NEWTON, Mass. – Arnold Stang, a radio, theater, film and television actor famous for his nerdy looks and demeanor, has died. His son says Stang died of pneumonia Sunday at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts. He was 91. The New York City native started his career on the radio as a teenager. He played alongside Milton Berle in the 1950s, starred as Frank Sinatra's sidekick in the 1955 movie "The Man with the Golden Arm," and was a member of the ensemble comedic cast of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in 1963. He voiced the lead character in the...

Director James Cameron set himself up to fail with Avatar, his first feature film since 1997’s Oscar-winning Titanic. Cameron all but promised Avatar would reinvent the way we look at 3-D movies. And darn if he didn’t live up to his own hype. Avatar is a thing of beauty, a 3-D movie of clarity and power. And, at a time when the special effects bar is raised with every new blockbuster, Cameron’s film sends that bar rising through the rafters. So why did he retrofit his film with an immature Iraq war meme and, much worse, politically loaded dialogue that...

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Remember when Hollywood big-wigs had character and class? Remember when they loved our country? Me neither. But this video will jog your memory, enjoy.

Since I am a certified sci-fi geek and most science fiction movies are quite bad this habit unfortunately forces me to watch a large number of bad movies. It’s one of my little perversions. I have just watched the most expensive B-movie ever made, the US$ 237 million Avatar by director James Cameron, famous for having produced films such as The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens and Titanic. Briefly summed up I would say that while it is visually spectacular, as is everything Mr. Cameron makes, Avatar has to be one of the most anti-Western and especially anti-white Hollywood movies I...

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah man who inspired Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie "Rain Man" has died. Kim Peek, 58, collapsed at his home in Salt Lake City on Saturday from what his dad says was a massive heart attack. Kim couldn't do simple things like turning on a light or dressing himself because the membrane that allows the right and left hemisphere to talk to each other was missing. Kim was a unique megasavant. He was able to recall most everything he read or heard -- from zip codes to historical events -- and he could do...

Avatarocious Another spectacle hits an iceberg and sinks. by John Podhoretz 12/28/2009, Volume 015, Issue 15 AvatarDirected by James Cameron Avatar, we are told, does things with cameras and computers and actors that have never been done before. Its painstaking combination of real-life action and animation has, we are told, taken cinema to a new level. It cost anywhere from $328 million to $500 million, we are told, and took four years to make. It is a breakthrough, we are told, the boldest step into the future of filmmaking, an unparalleled achievement. What they didn't tell us is that Avatar...

Dec 18 2009 10:38 AM EST 'Avatar': Pass The Kool-Aid, By Kurt Loder The greatest movie, uh, ever? James Cameron's "Avatar" is the most amazing ... no, wait: the most staggeringly amazing, jaw-droppingly triple-awesome unbelievable movie ever made. That's the feeling among the reviewers aggregated at Rotten Tomatoes, anyway. I quote: "An overwhelming feast of visual artistry unlike anything you have ever seen before." "Much more than a film. It's a prescribed cinematic experience." "An entertainment to be not just seen but absorbed on a molecular level." "Cameron has achieved no less than a rebirth of cinema." "Make sure you...

The advertising hits just keep on coming for TV stations, networks and programmers -- and not in a good way. Overall, broadcast television ad revenues were down 22.6% to $8.8 billion in the third quarter, versus the same time period a year ago, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. Local TV stations slipped 28.1% to $3.1 billion, with network TV off 21.5% to $4.7 billion. The best news came with syndicated TV, which dropped a modest 7.2% to $1.0 billion. The period was particularly rough compared to the broader nine-month period in 2009 to date, per TVB. Over this...

        All I can say is, “WOW”.         “Avatar” is a 3-D feast for the eye which should propel James Cameron to the status of legend. In fact, after a decade or two of perspective, I fully expect that this groundbreaking work will be studied in the best film schools, right about the time they are covering Riefenstahl.         Seldom has a film been made which combines cutting edge technology, the highest standards of quality, and a deep, self-indulgent loathing of all things which The Left despises about America. I honestly don't remember the last time I found myself booing and hissing at...

Saw Avatar tonight in 3D at the 4:20 showing. I was split between disgust with the "message" and curiosity about the CGI and 3D, and the latter won out. ( SPOILERS BELOW ) The 3D works very well, with only occasional funky edges to it in some of the busier scenes. I had read about people getting sick from it, and I did feel a little funny after just a few minutes of watching some of the 3D previews, but I got used to it after that. In the beginning of the movie I felt a lot of "Gee, this...

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like "Avatar"? Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it's about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy. Spoilers... Whether Avatar is racist is a matter for debate. Regardless of where you come down on that question, it's undeniable that the film - like alien apartheid flick District 9, released earlier this year - is emphatically a fantasy about race. Specifically, it's a fantasy about race told from the point...

Pics in URL SLIDESHOW: Photos of Brittany Murphy Actress Brittany Murphy died at age 32.

The guy's had a past, and a substantial one at that: Among his troubles: two warrants for his arrest in Virginia for alleged credit-card theft and fraud; an unpaid $6,087 legal bill, and a $502,910 judgment against him by a British investment firm. And Us Weekly reports in its new issue that Monjack gave his former fiancée, British film producer Taira Rafiq, an engagement ring he had told her was a diamond but was, in fact, cubic zirconia. "Taira tried to get in touch with Brittany to warn her," a Rafiq pal tells Us. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Murphy...

I had intended to spend this time of my life writing a review for James Cameron’s “Avatar,” but there is a bit of news involving a protect surrounding the film that I feel needs to be addressed. But instead of listening to me talk about it, let’s let the folks over at the Stop Avatar Movie blog: --------------------------------------- On Friday, December 18, 2009 thousands of people will be protesting the release of the James Cameron movie, Avatar. The purpose of the protest is as follows: 1) To make all people aware that heterosexual arrogance, assumptions or exclusions of alternative sexualities...

Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy has died in Los Angeles. PHOTOS: Life and times of Brittany MurphyMurphy died at 10.04am on Sunday, Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre Spokeswoman Sally Stewart said. She would not provide a cause of death, or any other information. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Devon Gale says crews responded to a call at 8am on Sunday from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to British screenwriter Simon Monjack, who is married to Murphy. TMZ claims Murphy's mother discovered the actress unconscious in the shower. She was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center but pronounced dead...

Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy has reportedly died in Los Angeles. Murphy, 32, went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived, entertainment website TMZ reports. An emergency call was made about 8am Sunday morning (3am today AEDT) from husband Simon Monjack's home, the Los Angeles Fire Department was quoted as saying. She was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center but pronounced dead on arrival. Murphy was born in Atlanta and began acting as a young teenager in a series of television appearances. Her breakthrough role was in the 1995 teen hit Clueless alongside Alicia Silverstone. She went on to...

Brittany Murphy, the actress who got her start in the sleeper hit "Clueless" and rose to stardom in "8 Mile," has died in Los Angeles. She was 32. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Spokeswoman Sally Stewart said Murphy died at 10:04 a.m. Sunday. She would not provide a cause of death, or any other information. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. Sunday from a home that is listed as belonging to British screenwriter Simon Monjack, who is married to Murphy, spokesman Devon Gale said. Gale said one person was transported to a hospital. Messages left for...

Movie star Brittany Murphy is dead of a heart attack at 32. She went into full cardiac arrest early Sunday and could not be revived, the Website TMZ reported. The Los Angeles City Fire Department got a call from the home of Murphy's husband Simon Monjack about 8 a.m., fire officials told TMZ. She was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival Murphy starred in "8 Mile," and "Don't Say a Word." The starlet became a household name among teens in 1995 as the sidekick in "Clueless," who went from awkward wall flower to snotty...

Brittany Murphy died early this morning after she went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived, multiple sources tell TMZ. She was 32. A 911 call was made at 8:00 AM from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to her husband, Simon Monjack, the Los Angeles City Fire Department tells TMZ.

ames Cameron decade long production of Avatar finally came to the big screen on Friday. With the cutting edge technology and 3D special effects, Cameron tried to bring the alien world of Pandora from his mind's eye to the movie theater.

The Editors of The Fashion Time Magazine search for a glamorous Hollywood starlet was met with a startling success … Blake Lively was an example of a head-to-toe perfection at the New York premiere of “Sherlock Holmes”.

Watched the movie '2012' (John Cusack/Amanda Peet movie). Awesome. Especially when Los Angeles, broke apart into great big gaping holes swallowing everything. Then, in LA too, the land tipped up in the air and everything slide right into the sea. Oh and then, when the USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House with the gigantic tsunami. Poetic justice! Real poetic justice. We'll I thought so. All apologies to my CA and DC FReeper friends. Just thought it handled some problems well.

Jennifer Jones, the beautiful, raven-haired actress who was nominated for Academy Awards five times, winning in 1943 for her portrayal of a saintly nun in "The Song of Bernadette," died Thursday. She was 90. Jones, who in later years was a leader of the Norton Simon Museum, died at her home in Malibu of natural causes, museum spokeswoman Leslie Denk told The Associated Press. Jones was the widow of the museum's founder, wealthy industrialist Norton Simon, and served as chair of the museum's board of directors after his death. Known for her intense performances, Jones was one of Hollywood's biggest...

When it comes to a Christmastime movie, a perennial favorite of most everyone is It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart made no secret it was his favorite film and favorite role as George Bailey. The poignant slice of Americana is on the Vatican’s film list and No. 5 on the Register’s 100 best films list. No matter how many times we watch it, the story remains fresh and remarkably uplifting. And with strong spiritual implications whose foundations were laid before filming began. Before Stewart became George Bailey, his guardian angel surely watched over him during harrowing combat missions in World...

Lieberman Criticized For Health Care Reform Opposition HARTFORD, Conn. -- Filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore threatened to boycott Connecticut if Sen. Joe Lieberman is not recalled. Moore made the threat on Twitter Wednesday. In his Tweet, Moore said, "People of Connecticut: What have u done 2 this country? We hold u responsible. Start recall of Lieberman 2day or we'll boycott your state." Politico reported Tuesday that Rep. Rosa DeLauro called for the recall of Lieberman. DeLauro said, "No one should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be...

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney whose powerful behind-the-scenes influence on The Walt Disney Co. led to the departure of former chief Michael Eisner, has died. He was 79. The company announced that Disney died Wednesday in Newport Beach, Calif., after a yearlong bout with stomach cancer. Company president and chief executive Bob Iger said Disney was much more than a valued 56-year company veteran. "Roy's commitment to the art of animation was unparalleled and will always remain his personal legacy and one of his greatest contributions to Disney's past, present and future," Iger...

The Editors of the Fashion Time Magazine on a mission to locate the most glamorous, stylish, fab looking celebrities, chose Fergie and Naomi, as our couture heroines of the day… You can never go wrong wearing goddess like Marchesa gowns.

Roy Edward Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney whose commitment to his uncle's creative spirit prompted him to mount revolts that led to the unseating of two of the company's chief executives and a revival of the studio's legendary animation unit, has died. He was 79. Disney, who had been battling cancer, died this morning, according to Clifford A. Miller, a spokesman for Disney's company Shamrock Holdings. Disney toiled for years in the shadow of his famous uncle and his father, Roy O. Disney, who behind the scenes ran the business side of the Walt Disney Co. for his brother....

London, England, Dec 16, 2009 / 02:18 am (CNA).- Actor Sam Elliot has blamed the Catholic Church for stopping sequels from being made to the Golden Compass movie based on the first book of Philip Pullman’s atheistic trilogy His Dark Materials. The film, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Eva Green, grossed more than $380 million worldwide after its Christmas 2007 release, but took in only $85 million in the U.S. According to the Internet Movie Database, the film had a budget of $180 million.The 65-year-old Elliot, who played a Texan “aeronaut” in the film, charged that a Catholic-led...

ATHEIST author Philip Pullman yesterday spoke of his “disgust” at the triumphalism of America’s religious right following its successful campaign to sideline attempts to dramatise the last two books in the writer’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Actor Sam Elliott, who starred in the film version of the first novel The Golden Compass, that grossed £230m, says a campaign by conservative Catholics has halted plans to complete the trilogy.

The Editors of The Fashion Time Magazine on a constant search for celebrities boldly expressing an award-winning elan and couture gravitated towards… Nicole Richie, who attended House of Harlow 1960 Holiday Collection Launch in LA.

“Obstructing Obama Care is like obstructing the abolition of slavery!” Are them fightin’ words, or what?! And we, who want to “abolish” the tax-funded abortion contained in Obama Care, are the bad guys. We are apparently the Confederate States challenging the authority of our President of the United States. Of course, Obama is Abe Lincoln, women are enslaved by pregnancy and we are the rebels who keep them there, right? That, at least, is how Senator Harry Reid is setting things up for this showdown at the Barack Obama … uh … B.O. Corral.Isn’t there something rather wrong with this...

Hollywood, Calif., Dec 14, 2009 / 05:37 pm (CNA).- A new independent film explores the issue of a woman's ability to chose to have an abortion, using a blend of the drama and documentary genres. “South Dakota: A woman's right to chose” isn't in theaters yet, but it has riveted audiences at a series of screenings in California.Bruce Isacson, director of “South Dakota,” began with the idea of making a documentary on the subject of abortion.” However, Isacson knew that he couldn't reach large numbers of people with the documentary genre. Historically, he notes on the movie's website, “documentaries draw...

What about duty, honor, country? What about comradeship? What about loyalty unto death? That about Semper Fi? What about it, Hollywood? Even liberal President Obama used his Nobel Peace Prize address to praise the role of the U.S. military in overcoming tyranny. Why can’t you find a good word to say about those who are risking their lives for us all? Now that would be news.

<p>In 1997, Matt Damon played the part of a janitor who turned out to be not only a math wizard, but one of the most brilliant men you could find anywhere. Trying to impress an arrogant Harvard student, who thought he knew everything, Damon’s character quotes from Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. He tells the Harvard kid and a psychiatrist at the hospital he works at that “you’re surrounding yourself with all the wrong fuckin’ books. You wanna read a real history book, read Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States. That book’ll [explitive deleted] you on your [explative].”</p>

SALT LAKE CITY -- David Austin's two-day visit to Utah was packed with meetings, presentations and discussions about finding and producing Mormon-made films that might appeal to the general Christian inspiration market. A blizzard hit on the first day, Dec. 8, messing up the tight schedule. But Austin didn't mind. "I'm from Michigan, so it feels like home," Austin said of the weather. Austin is vice president of sales and marketing at Bridgestone Multimedia Group and was here at the invitation of filmmakers including Lyman Dayton and BYU's Dennis Packard. Bridgestone distributes family-friendly Christian movies and music to Christian bookstores...

Clint Eastwood’s Invictus: A Colossal Bore South Africa is plagued with astonishing levels of crime and poverty, its peoples segregated and suspicious of one another. But the new Clint Eastwood-directed movie Invictus says that’s all okay, because the country’s rugby team won a few games in 1995. Coming off last winter’s excellent and far more challenging Gran Torino, Invictus is shockingly pedestrian and cliché-ridden. Its level of racial naivety makes it a sort of Driving Mr. Damon, with Morgan Freeman accepting a demotion from his usual roles as God or the president of the United States. This time he merely...

Watching "Avatar," I felt sort of the same as when I saw "Star Wars" in 1977. That was another movie I walked into with uncertain expectations. James Cameron's film has been the subject of relentlessly dubious advance buzz, just as his "Titanic" was. Once again, he has silenced the doubters by simply delivering an extraordinary film. There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely. "Avatar" is not simply a sensational entertainment, although it is that. It's a technical breakthrough. It has a flat-out Green and anti-war...

"So many big name stars, singers and sports legends have visited Washington over the years, the city is often referred to as “Hollywood on the Potomac.” So, that’s the title of my new book (available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders) featuring over 200 photographs and stories that detail the fascination between Hollywood stars and Washington power-players — from Presidents Truman through Obama." "Somehow late night talk shows became a logical first step for politicians to reach voters. Somehow rock stars became a political voice of the disenfranchised. Somewhere along the way, American politics and pop culture personalities...

Scientists stirred to ridicule ice age claims   19:00 15 April 04   NewScientist.com news service   Climate scientists have been stirred to ridicule claims in an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster that global warming could trigger a new ice age, a scenario also put forward in a controversial report to the US military.The $125-million epic, The Day After Tomorrow, opens worldwide in May. It will show Manhattan frozen solid after the warm ocean current known as the Gulf Stream shuts down.The movie's release will come soon after a report to the US Department of Defense (DoD) in February predicting that such a shutdown...

If this man is correct, then you may be reading the most important story in today's paper. I have no way of assuring you that the bleak version of the future outlined by Michael Ruppert in Chris Smith's "Collapse" is accurate. I can only tell you I have a pretty good built-in B.S. detector, and its needle never bounced off zero while I watched this film. There is controversy over Ruppert, and he has many critics. But one simple fact at the center of his argument is obviously true, and it terrifies me.

Has James Cameron, Hollywood's Scariest Man, Blown £200 Million On The Biggest Movie Flop Ever? NICOLE LAMPERT 11th December 2009 One of James Cameron's favourite phrases is: 'I eat pressure for breakfast.' He likes to shout it at the worried film executives who see the budgets for his films spiralling out of all control and are pleading with him to stop the spending. He barks it at the exhausted, tearful actors who beg for a break and the put-upon designers who have made an alien slightly the wrong shade of blue. And he is probably muttering it to himself several...