Free Republic

Michael Moore: Americans thinking more like me now By Eric Zimmermann - 09/07/09 04:21 PM ET When Michael Moore's new film premiered in Venice this weekend, the activist took the opportunity to express some vindication. From the Guardian: Moore admitted that he felt vindicated that George Bush had finally gone. "The American people are now thinking more like me," he said. However, he insisted that there remained more work to do before his vision of America can be realised. "The people can revolt in good ways, in non-violent ways, for what they believe is right," he said. "That revolt has...

Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2009 / 06:33 pm (CNA).- An upcoming pro-life documentary named “Blood Money” aims to shake the viewer “to the very core” and expose the “inconvenient truth” about the money involved in the abortion industry. The documentary interviews pro-life leaders, former abortionists, and women who have been harmed by abortion. One of the interviewees featured in the movie trailer, Carol Everett, was a part owner of several abortion clinics in the Dallas area who has repented of her involvement in abortion.In the Blood Money trailer she talks of the unsavory practices her clinics were involved in.“Our...

70 years ago today in Utah History --- Heber J. Grant writes Twentieth Century Fox "I hope we shall not appear to you to be over anxious ... but we are tremendously concerned..." But nearly a year later the Mormon church president declared "This is one of the greatest days of my life." His involvement in helping with the film "Brigham Young" influenced the making of the movie and subsequently the public perception of the LDS Church. Early movies depicting Mormons were not flattering. In 1910 the first anti-Mormon film, 'Victim of the Mormons' was "publicly condemned by Apostle David...

(Note: The following article about Inglourious Basterds contains spoilers. Significant spoilers. Giving-away-the-ending spoilers. If you intend to watch the film but haven't done it yet, see it before reading further. The article will still be here when you're finished.) With Inglourious Basterds, his genre-scrambling film about vengeful Jews killing Nazis, writer-director Quentin Tarantino has had his strongest opening weekend ever, finishing first at the box office and taking in about $37.6 million. His movie deserves to do well next weekend, too: It is witty and suspenseful, smart and entertaining. It is also controversial, which ought to boost its receipts even...

Nearly eight million euros. Or more than eleven million dollars at the current exchange rate. That is the total amount of subsidies that Quentin Tarantino received from German public sources for his Inglourious Basterds. The exact breakdown is as follows: €6.8 million from the German Film Fund, plus €600,000 and €300,000 respectively from the Media-Board of Berlin-Brandenburg and the so-called Middle German Film Fund. The German Film Fund (DFFF) is directly attached to the German government’s Ministry of Culture (or, more fully, Ministry of Culture and Media). Tarantino’s haul is even greater than the €4.8 million in subsidies that the...

If you're looking for another good Christian film for your kids you might want to check out: 'The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry' It comes out on September 18th. Gavin MacLeod plays Jonathan Sperry...

How far has our nation fallen? Read this for some insight… God is the bad guy in a movie coming out this January! The title of the movie is Legion and here is their official synopsis: “When God loses faith in mankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the apocalypse. Humanity’s only hope lies in a group of strangers trapped in a desert diner and the archangel Michael.” The archangel Michael voluntarily falls to Earth to save the savior of mankind who hasn’t been born yet. (The savior’s mom is a diner waitress.) Did you get the...

It was repeatedly panned by the critics. But movie-goers loved it. And thirty-five years later, it remains a cult classic. “Death Wish” celebrates 35 years, this summer. It was released in theaters on July 24, 1974, and was directed by Michael Winner and produced by the Dino De Laurentiis Company I watched it again over the weekend, and it stands the test of time (thought it’s funny to take Jeff Goldblum seriously as a murderous gang thug). In fact, now in the Obama administration–with police called “stupid” and impliedly racist by the President and our Second Amendment gun rights under...

"Mama Mia" is an okay musical, probably not for our heterosexual brethren. It does feature pop music from my era, has beautiful scenery, great acting, intriguing characters. Two things, "Dancing Queen" will roll around in your head for a month after seeing it and the plot line, folks, it's really, really uncomfortable.

Hollywood takes up a social issue, hard data and clarity can be elusive. My Sister’s Keeper, a drama in theaters this summer, provides a handy example of Tinseltown’s tendency to let tears trump truth. Told through a series of flashbacks, the plot is set in motion by a medical specialist’s shocking proposal to a mother desperate to save her gravely ill child: Create a genetically engineered sibling who can donate bone marrow and other vital tissue to cheat death. That suggestion would stop most parents in their tracks. But this mom grabs hold of the idea and runs with it....

Anyone who follows Hollywood at all should know that Quentin Tarantino’s newest film, Inglorious Basterds, is being released tomorrow. This film is a project that Tarantino had talked about making as long as I can remember, and he finally pulled the pin. Last night’s Red Eye shed some light onto the new film, explaining how it is a fantasy for Jewish people about killing Nazis. Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld said: “Do you have to go back in the past and find bad guys? Aren’t there people right now in the world that want to kill Jews that Tarantino could...

I wish my brave, tough Holocaust survivor grandfather, Isaac, was alive to see “Inglourious Basterds.” He would love it even more than I did. So would my dad. And they would be cheering and laughing along with me. Because the movie debuts at Midnight screenings tonight, I am posting this review early, and you’ll note that I was entirely wrong in my expectations for this movie when I first wrote about it, back in February. The movie is riveting. It’s fun and serious at the same time. It’s not usual that I praise a Quentin Tarantino film or a flick...

Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp’s Malthusian fable of post-Apartheid Johannesburg: District 9, a violent science fiction movie set in a Johannesburg slum inhabited by 1.8 million feckless refugee space aliens, is the critical and commercial ($37 million opening weekend) hit of the moment. Yet, few Americans (except the black critic Armond White, who has made himself wildly unpopular with fanboys of District 9 by pointing out the film’s strikingly caustic portrayal of black Africans) seem to grasp writer-director Neill Blomkamp’s subversive perspective, even though the exiled Afrikaner keeps giving interviews more or less spelling it out. The American press constantly...

Note to Val Kilmer: avoid playing roles in global warming movies because they are doomed to fail. Kilmer acted in one global warming movie, "The Thaw," which was chronicled by your humble correspondent in both NewsBusters and in the Wall Street Journal which is scheduled to go straight to DVD in October without even a quick pit stop in movie theaters. This time around, Kilmer was a bit luckier. The Steam Experiment, in which he portrays a mad scientist who traps six people inside a Turkish steam bath in order to illustrate the horrors of global warming at least appeared...

Typical hollywood trash-no redeeming value except to (unintentionally) show what happens when you have no discipline in the home. SPOILER ALERT: SPOILER ALERT: SPOILER ALERT: The movie in 3 sentences: Failed writer and teacher(Robin Williams) has a jerk for son who is addicted to porn and accidentally dies while hanging himself in a bizarre masturbation attempt. Dad writes fake suicide note for the son to cover up the embarrassment that is so well written that the entire school begins to worship the dead kid. Dad uses son's new popularity to publish a fake journal (supposedly written by the son) to...

"This may be the summer blockbuster we have been waiting for. District 9, directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson is now in theaters. This film is intense for the entire 2 hours. Chock full of unbelievable CGI effects that interact seamlessly with their surroundings and the actors around them."

    The best religious films, and therefore the best Catholic films, convey the great truths of Christianity implicitly rather than explicitly, not unlike the mystery of incarnation itself, in which the Word became flesh in the person of an obscure carpenter from a hick town in a minor province. In addition, this list consists primarily of films that deal with Catholic characters, Catholic society, and the Bible in ways that are not hostile to the Church. Most of them were made by Catholic directors.   It is interesting to note that the three best directors who ever worked...

Apparently unconnected items appeared within two days of each other in the Los Angeles Times, and together confirmed my fear that American movie-going is entering into a Dark Age. The first was in a blog by Patrick Goldstein, who said: "Film critics are in the same boat as evening news anchors -- their core audience is people 50 and over, and getting older by the day. You could hire Jessica Alba to read the evening news -- or review 'G.I. Joe' for that matter -- and younger audiences still wouldn't care." The other was in a report by John Horn...

Paramount was so worried the critics would hate G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra—and with good reason, it's awful—that they decided not to screen it for anybody. Just one problem: the first showing was at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, which means I have all night to tell you how bad it is. Bad. Bad. Bad. It's excruciatingly bad. Gigli bad. How bad are we talking? I chronicled my night: 11:40 p.m.: I arrive to the theater, a little sleepy and slightly giddy that the movie could be so bad that it's good. I ask the older couple on the escalator...

Julie & Julia, an unbearably cute movie from Nora Ephron, hangs all of its laughs and most of its tears on absurdly small obstacles, aiming at an audience for whom the idea of taking a year to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking — why, that’s almost one and a half food items a day! — seems a really interesting and daunting challenge. Julie Powell (played by redhead Amy Adams, who stuffs her performance with Meg Ryan perkiness) is a bored worker whose job is to field complaints about Ground Zero for the Lower...

Last night’s Red Eye show discussed the upcoming film, GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra. It’s no secret that the film is drastically different from the show’s patriotic history. Host Greg Gutfeld said of the film: “The characters are no longer a typical American soldier. Instead he’s part of an elite international force. MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch calls this a business decision; I call this a wussy decision.” Of course, Hollywood does not want American heroes. They would give everyone else credit for doing good in the world before allowing our heroic soldiers a title outside the realm of “murderer.”

G.I. Joe’s Benetton Moment Posted By Greg Gutfeld On August 5, 2009 @ 11:41 am In Daily Gut, Entertainment, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 72 Comments So the latest GI Joe flick is creating controversy, because the character is no longer portrayed as a typical American soldier. Instead he’s part of some elite murky force of international fighters - a Benetton ad with rocket launchers. On MSNBC, Donny Deutsch tried to take John J. Miller to task over his objections to the change – pointing out that the shift from an iconic American character to a mushy international delight is...

Emotions ran high at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival over the showing of Rachel, a film that looks at the International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie and her death in Gaza in March 2003. The controversy had been brewing for some time, concerning both the showing of the film and the invitation to Rachel's mother, Cindy Corrie, to speak at the festival. In the wake of protests against the showing of the film last Saturday, Peter Stein, the festival's executive director, invited Dr. Mike Harris, one of the leaders of the local Stand With Us chapter, to speak in...

By far the movie’s gravest insult to posterity, however, is its treatment of the Texas Ranger captain, Frank Hamer, who may (or may not) have been instrumental in bringing them down. As seen in the movie, Hamer (played by Denver Pyle in an uncharacteristically dour performance) is a kind of harsh Puritan ideologue, so righteous that when Bonnie (whom Dunaway has made us love) flirtatiously poses for a funny snapshot with him, he spits savagely in her face. He considers her so morally tainted that he is sickened by her. Then later, like a serpent in a garden, he coos...

- Klavan On The Culture - http://pajamasmedia.com/andrewklavan - Cohen Goin’ GonePosted By Andrew Klavan On July 20, 2009 @ 3:52 pm In Uncategorized | 3 Comments Am I alone in harboring a secret pleasure at the death of Bruno?  The much-hyped follow-up to Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit Borat opened big at the box office then rapidly plummeted over 70 percent to fourth place – and when I heard about it, I smiled.  I didn’t see the film and have no comment on its quality and I don’t care if it’s anti-gay since gays, God love them, should be fair targets...

As censors approve a movie that plumbs grotesque new depths of sexual explicitness and violence, one critic (who prides himself on being broad-minded) despairs... A film which plumbs new depths of sexual explicitness, excruciating violence and degradation has just been passed as fit for general consumption by the British Board of Film Classification. They have given the film an 18 certificate. As we all know, this is meaningless nowadays in the age of the DVD because sooner or later, thanks to the gross irresponsibility of some parents, any film that is given general release will be seen by children. You...

Man's first step on the moon nearly stumbled on earth. Plot: A remote Australian antenna, populated by quirky characters, plays a key role in the first Apollo moon landing.

Battling the dark forces takes a back seat to romance and Quidditch By Alonso Duralde Film critic msnbc.com contributor updated 4:25 p.m. ET, Tues., July 14, 2009 Call it the calm before the storm, but “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” goes out of its way to balance its own dark doings — to say nothing of the dire events to come in the two upcoming movies based on “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” — with more character and atmosphere than we’ve seen in the last few movies. If you’ve been missing Quidditch matches, love triangles, hanging out in...

What is the difference between art and entertainment? There is, obviously, some overlap: Not all art entertains (though some does); not all entertainment is art (though some is). At bottom, it seems, the difference is one of intent - the artist seeks to connect us with larger meanings, larger truths about the world, about ourselves. The primary focus of art is therefore to illuminate, with any entertainment had in the process merely a bonus. The goal of the entertainer, on the other hand, is perhaps less sublime, though no less worthy - to distract, to tickle, to stimulate the fancy....

You thought his outreach to the Iranians was a disgrace: Variety's David Cohen saw the latest "Transformers" movie --- "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" --- and filed this report on its reference to President Obama, but not, at least in his eyes, in a good way. Cohen writes, "So as usual in these movies, the federal bureaucrats are portrayed as annoying if not villainous. The President's man, "Galloway," is a bespectacled blowhard who becomes an obstacle to our brave fighting men and their alliance with the noble Autobots. Operating specifically under presidential authority, he makes all kinds of mischief. He...

A couple of years ago the television show “South Park” put out a 3-part episode entitled, “Imaginationland” that went on to win an Emmy. In the episode, terrorists have taken over our imaginations in Imaginationland and the US government enlists the help of some Hollywood filmmakers to help come up with ideas to help stop the terrorist. One of the directors they enlist to try to help them was Michael Bay. Michael Bay offers some great actions sequences which anger a general to say, “Those aren’t ideas. Those are special effects!” A confused Michael Bay replies, “I don’t understand the...

LOS ANGELES, June 23, 2009 – “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hits theaters nationwide tomorrow as the culmination of more than a year of Defense Department support, ranging from script and uniform notes to C-17 aerial maneuvers and jumps from the Army's Golden Knights parachute demonstration team. The first Transformers film released in July 2007 used a variety of Air Force assets. In the latest film, DreamWorks and Paramount studios partnered with all four services to highlight America's military members and combat power on the big screen. Deciding how and why to work with the services was essential in making...

Would you believe President Obama called Michael Bay, director of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, "a big-ass director"? Neither would we, but the director insists it happened. And to return the favor, Bay put the new prez in his upcoming giant-robot movie. OK, not exactly: He put references to the real-life president into the story, including images on a few background TV monitors. But the message is clear: If giant robots fight on Earth, Bay wants Obama in the Oval Office. In a press conference Friday in Beverly Hills, Calif., Bay explained that he was inspired to put Obama in...

This sequel starts relatively modestly with the revelation that Transformers have been around since 17,000 BC (cue cavemen fighting alien robots), before switching to a less-nerdy-than-before Sam (LaBeouf) getting ready to go to college. Mysteriously, his supersexy girlfriend Mikaela (Fox) is still with him - though naturally neither can quite bring themselves to say the 'L' word. Sam accidentally touches a shard of the ancient Transformer technology and finds his mind flooded with hieroglyphics.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican lauded the latest Harry Potter film on Monday, saying "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" made the age-old debate over good vs. evil crystal clear. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano even gave two thumbs up to the film's treatment of adolescent love, saying it achieved the "correct balance" and made the stars more credible to the general audience. The newspaper said the film, which opens Wednesday, was the best adaptation yet of the J.K. Rowling series about the adventures of the bespectacled child wizard Harry Potter and his Hogwarts chums as they battle Harry's nemesis,...

Movieguide® has sent a letter asking local government officials throughout the U.S. to consider stopping the screening of the controversial movie "Brüno" starring comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, Movieguide® Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr announced today. In the letter, Movieguide® asks officials to get an injunction against screening the movie on Friday until officials can look at the movie and determine whether it should be banned because it does not fit the "community standards" in their area, as defined by U.S. Supreme Court rulings on obscenity and pornography. "This movie has been cut to get an R rating," Dr. Baehr said, "but...

Every lightning bolt Sacha Baron Cohen caught in a bottle with Borat three years ago turns to static in Bruno. The new film, which backstrokes into theaters on a tidal wave of publicity over its coarse material, proves just how rare a cinematic feat was Baron Cohen’s breakthrough role . Borat blended scripted sequences with Candid Camera-style pranks into one hilarious romp across America. Bruno attempts the same formula, but the staged sequences fall pancake flat while the Punk’d moments feel equally hollow. For the uninitiated, Bruno is Baron Cohen’s gay Austrian fashionista, an irrepressible elf desperate for fame and...

Our organization has just viewed the upcoming “R-rated” movie “Brüno,” which is scheduled to come out in local movie theaters Friday, July 10. Having attended a screening of the movie, we can factually state that the movie contains the following obscene, pornographic and offensive material (and more besides): • Extremely graphic sex scenes (including depicted heterosexual intercourse, depicted oral sex (including anal licking), depicted homosexual sodomy, and sadomasochistic whipping of a homosexual in his bikini briefs by a fully nude female “Dominatrix”); • Scenes of full frontal male and female nudity (including extended close-ups of a man swinging his fully...

1. African-American people: For a brilliant writer and perceptive chronicler of the human psyche, there’s a whole lot that Woody Allen, or at least the Woody Allen we know from his movies, just doesn’t seem to understand. Allen’s charming, maddening new movie, Whatever Works, provides another in-depth glimpse into the strengths and weaknesses of his neurotic, acerbic, New York-centric worldview. Allen is a whiz at exposing the anxieties and desires of the upper-middle-class Manhattan smart-set, but his blind spots are legion. Take African-Americans for example. Allen named his son after the great pitcher Satchel Paige and has a deep abiding...

I cannot stress enough how important it is for Americans to watch the TV show from the BBC "House Of Cards" to see and understand how politics really operates..... The sinister activities that we never talk about here in State controled media is layed bare for all to see in this incredible TV series.... Having stumbled upon it by accident I cannot tell you what watching only 1 episode did to me in underscoring the corruption that works hand in hand throughout the media and government and how it can be maipulated for personal gain when the "people" just follow...

A powerful new film, The Stoning of Soraya M., is calling public attention to the Islamic practice of stoning adulterers in a way that only Hollywood can; while at least eight women await death by stoning in Iran today, none of their cases have drawn any significant protests from human rights organizations, and Western governments have remained largely indifferent. With a genocidally inclined nuclear Iran looming on the international stage, the victimization of women by Islamic laws prescribing stoning for adultery and other sexual crimes may seem to be the least of our worries. The Stoning of Soraya M., however,...