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The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors’ former ties to Hollywood’s unions are coming into question in light of its recent decision to stand by its award to ultra-conservative presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz. The decision to give the Texas Republican its American Spirit Award had polarized the caucus’ membership, with internal objections leading to an emergency meeting of the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors executive committee Monday, which upheld the decision to honor Cruz. The caucus traditionally hands out American Spirit Awards to a Republican and a Democrat (California Governor Jerry Brown appears to be the choice on...

[SNIP] The exchanges are just the latest eruption in a long culture war, analysts said, with lines clearly demarcated. “As screenings have sold out, conservative media has manned barricades against liberals who have attacked the movie or the idea of lionizing Kyle,” conservative David Weigel wrote for Bloomberg. He noted that much of the controversy involves the extended battle over guns — and gun control — and pits pro-Iraq war conservatives against anti-war liberals. But it also hints at another gulf in American politics: the plummeting number of Americans who serve in the armed services, which has given rise to...

On Monday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blasted Hollywood liberals for denigrating the late Chris Kyle after American Sniper shattered records at the box office over the weekend.

Not all snipers, he’s quick to add. The ones shooting at our guys are pretty cool. I’m too lazy to sift through his archives on Iraq to see if he ever claimed “I support the troops but not their mission,” but if he did, it sounds like he’s past it now. Michael Moore ✔ @MMFlint My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse 2:40 PM - 18 Jan 2015 Michael Moore ✔ @MMFlint But if you're on the roof of your home...

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will get an award from a Hollywood honor society despite objections from some of its liberal members, insiders said Monday. The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors had seemingly settled on one of its American Spirit Awards going to Cruz until some members threatened to quit over the selection because they deemed him too partisan. Some members of the organization met Monday to discuss the situation and decided that Cruz would get the award, and the senator is expected to attend a ceremony in April and address the group. As is customary, the Caucus will also...

RUSH: The primary criticism of American Sniper ran in the New Republic, and it's what's feeding all the other criticism. The criticism in the New Republic is written by a guy named... What's his name? Dennis Jett. He admits he's not even seen it. He hasn't even seen it. The criticism of American Sniper is that Clint Eastwood has written and directed a movie that's celebrating a murderer -- a racist, bigoted murderer -- Chris Kyle who murders innocent Iraqi brown people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99k3u9ay1gs We in America, by going to see this movie, are celebrating barbarism. We are celebrating murder. We...

RUSH: Here we are at what many people think is the most depressing day of the year, Blue Monday. And, no, it's got nothing to do with Martin Luther King Day. By the way, I may be engaged in one of the greatest career risks ever taken. I mean, given all this controversy out in Hollywood, showing up here on Martin Luther King Day could be seen as an act of disrespect. What I'll do is just fall back on the idea I had no idea, the staff didn't tell me again that this was a celebrated Monday holiday, and...

I must admit to experiencing schadenfreude (feeling pleasure from the misfortunes of others) upon learning that Oprah's movie Selma was snubbed by the Oscars, receiving only two nominations. As a black conservative Tea Party activist, I knew that the movie was simply another propaganda tool for the Democratic Party and America-hating leftists – a part of their ongoing hideous campaign promoting the lie that America sucks and blacks are still victims of an eternally racist country.  Sure enough, as I predicted, the usual suspects who produced Selma are being criticized for blatantly rewriting history. Using my 1970s heyday lingo,...

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and given the context, it is an interesting moment to ask whether it really matters that the Motion Picture academy failed to nominate the black director and the black lead actor of “Selma,” the King biopic, for Oscars. The Oakland Tribune went there and then some on Friday, topping its article about the awards with the headline, “And the Oscar for the best Caucasian goes to ...” While the snubs may sting and point toward a broader blindness, it’s still more important in the long run that a young female black director received...

Some members of a Hollywood organization are questioning whether to honor Ted Cruz. The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors this year chose the conservative Senator from Texas as one of its recipients of its annual "American Spirit Award." Another is to go to liberal Calif. governor Jerry Brown. The Caucus, founded three decades ago by Norman Lear, Aaron Spelling and others, has set a meeting Monday to determine whether to stick with its plan to give a Spirit award to Cruz after some of its more liberal members objected to the selection, and some threatened to quit if the...

...While the controversy-generating doc director doesn’t like Sniper or snipers, he is a big supporter of fellow Best Picture nominee Selma..."

But Academy members seem to be paying attention to the criticism that Eastwood and star/producer Bradley Cooper shouldn’t be celebrating a man who wrote that killing hundreds of Iraqis was “fun.” “He seems like he may be a sociopath,” one Academy member told TheWrap, adding he had not yet seen the film but had read the article, which is being passed around. Neither distributor Warner Bros. nor the filmmakers have responded to TheWrap’s request for comment, though the studio said they intended to make someone available. A piece in The Guardian by author Lindy West was an early critic of...

Canadian entertainment icon died Saturday after a battle with cancer

UPDATED: Following the success of Fox’s 24 limited series, the network is looking to bring back another iconic drama series, The X-Files. Fox TV Group chairman Gary Newman today confirmed chatter that the network is in talks for a new installment of Chris Carter’s cult supernatural drama, which starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Newman went on to say he was “hopeful” about the outcome.

The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “shocker” that a patriotic movie by one of the best directors working today, about an American hero who kills jihadists, is really, really popular. To me, that sounds like a formula for success, but Hollywood still thinks tender stories about gay males coming of age are what the public demands, along with cartoonish special effects-laden, nine-figure-budget mind candy.

The creative team behind the Oscar-nominated film will march in Selma on Monday, as an homage to the events depicted in the film.The filmmakers of “Selma" will celebrate civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday by marching in his honor. The creative team behind the drama, which received an Oscar nod for best picture but was snubbed in other major categories, will march in Selma, Ala., on Monday to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Considering that the movie American Sniper written about Chris Kyle, and directed by Clint Eastwood has been out since the last week of December, I may be late to the game expressing an opinion. I'll say it anyway, this is one of the best movies I've ever experienced. Notice I say, 'experienced, vs just 'seen', because the film becomes exactly that, something anticipated, tolerated, endured and later celebrated. Certain portions of the film resemble riding along with the police during their night shifts, or at least what most people expect these shifts to be like. I know very little about...

Bogie, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Errol Flynn, Claude Rains, Kay Francis, Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, George Brent, Merle Oberon, Patricia Neal, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart

In director Clint Eastwood’s best films (“Gran Torino,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Unforgiven,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales”), the multiple Oscar-winner is able to make us feel both the righteousness of justified violence and the heavy emotional price paid by those committing it. “American Sniper,” which is undoubtedly Eastwood’s best picture since “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), and might just be his best since “Unforgiven” (1992), faithfully constructs and respectfully deconstructs “The Legend”: Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in the history of the U.S. Military. “American Sniper” opens during the worst days of Fallujah in Iraq. Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is the eye in...

War movies often focus on battles over personalities. In great films like Lone Survivor (2013) and Saving Private Ryan (1998), some of the battle sequences are so real and devastating that it’s easy to get lost in them and lose focus on the individual soldiers trying to survive. Those films often attempt to show viewers what it must be like to be in the midst of an intense and devastating battle. American Sniper, which only yesterday was nominated for six Academy Awards,is different. It’s more of a character study than a war film with the main character being a Texan...