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Image via Wikipedia As trailers for James Cameron’s new epic blockbuster, Avatar, hit television and theaters, critics are becoming increasingly alarmed that the movie may not accurately portray corporations and the military as being evil enough.“I have some concerns about what I’ve seen so far,� said film critic Cindy Mattson. “The previews I’ve seen appear to show that a corporation has invaded another planet with the military’s help in order to mine a valuable resource, and they need to kill indigenous people to do so. That starts out promising enough, but this movie was really supposed to push the envelope....

'Land of the Lost's' dismal box office helped land star Will Ferrell at the top of our annual list of Hollywood's Most Overpaid Stars. Ferrell is no longer the sure bet he seemed after hits like 'Elf.' ($220 million worldwide box office) This summer's 'Land of the Lost' was one of those epic Hollywood disasters that makes outsiders question why anyone is in the movie business. The concept seemed like a good idea: pair funnyman Will Ferrell with a cult kids show from the '70s and hilarity is bound to ensue. Or not. The film ended up costing an estimated...

The “Precious Blind Side” By justinwashingtontheblogger Seeing these two movies one day apart was a major juxaposition — a clash of what the world can be in two completely different ways. “Precious” is a deeply dark and depressing world; a huge, young, black, underaged girl who finds herself pregnant for the second time (!) by her own father, living in a two-story, run-down Section 8 (government) housing project with an incredibly abusive “mother” (played beyond belief by actress Mo’nique who had better win an Academy Award for this indelible performance). Precious’ mother is supported by (government) welfare programs; she is...

We're In The Money

High definition, the final frontier. Where nerds can boldly go where no moviegoer has gone before. With the Blu-ray release of the "Star Trek" movie prequel, these brave fans can obsess over the film's tiny details, including whether or not a very famous robot had a cameo that nobody noticed.

Hollywood studios are now thinking twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions in reaction to the poor economy, but also because of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors.

I am Kiowa Winans, Executive Producer of the movie, "Ink," which was bit torrented by pirates and consequently became one of the top 20 most popular movies online. We are shocked by this whole thing. We made our movie in Denver, CO with a very small budget and have done all of the distribution ourselves, fighting to bring it to 15 cities for theatrical screenings. We figured it would be pirated eventually, but didn't expect it to happen so soon or for it to take off the way it has. We are indie filmmakers, have zero studio funding and are...

Roland Emmerich's new end-of-the-world disaster film 2012 has a rollicking good time destroying every monument to man's architectural genius in the world. The Sistine Chapel goes kablooie, as does the Vatican and the giant Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The White House gets flattened, too. All man's most well known landmarks get turned to dust by Emmerich's over-the-top movie effects team. But by the time the year 2012 rolls around, director Roland Emmerich is obviously saying that Islam has been wiped off the face of the Earth. There are no Saudi scenes of mayhem and destruction in...

Thanks to all those who replied. I received some very good nominations, also some names I wasn't aware of (and then there were the frivolous wastes of time). I still think popular culture is a battlefield for conservatives. One most don't realize. So it's nice to know who is already engaged. Here are my own choices. Tell me what you think: OK Here is my list of the ten greatest conservative filmmakers: 1 -Frank Capra 2- James Carabatsos (script writer as well as producer) 3- Lionel Chetwynde 4- John Ford 5-Elia Kazan 6- John Wayne 7- Clint Eastwood 8- John...

Paul Wendkos, who directed the 1959 surfing classic "Gidget" and two sequels, died early Thursday at his home in Malibu... His feature film credits include 1961's "Angel Baby," with George Hamilton and Mercedes McCambridge, and 1971's "The Mephisto Waltz," starring Alan Alda and Jacqueline Bisset...

Please name your top ten conservative film makers (fiction not documentaries) and top ten conservatives novelists (fiction only). I'll give you mine afterwards.

“Blazing Saddles” (1974) “Airplane!” (1980) “There’s Something About Mary” (1998) “Caddyshack” (1980) “Love and Death” (1975) “Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977) “Team America: World Police” (2004) “Porky’s” (1982) “Song of the South” (1946) “Bad Santa” (2003)

A short video of sets and action from the upcoming Red Dawn remake being filmed in and around Detroit. These shots are from the filming in Pontiac, MI. NSFW WARNING: The background music contains some vulgar language and may not be safe for work or around younger children. Viewers with concerns should mute the sound before playing the video. Note: I am not affiliated in any way with Contrafilm, MGM, or anyone else involved in the production or marketing of this film.

Some reviewers have called "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's World War II film about D-Day and the search for a soldier, one of the greatest war movies. Military historian Antony Beevor begs to differ. Not only is it not the greatest war movie, it's not even the best cinematic depiction of D-Day, says Beevor, author of the newly published "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy" (Viking). He admires the famed Omaha Beach opening -- "Probably the most realistic battle sequence ever filmed," he said -- but described the rest of "Saving Private Ryan" as "ghastly." "It's sort of a 'Dirty Dozen'...

The 13th Day The True Story of Fatima See it on the big screen! Show it on the big screen! HomeBuy DVDAbout Film SynopsisAbout FatimaCast & CrewInterviewsIgnatius PressOther ResourcesEndorsements Movie EventsPromote Facebook & More!Web ExtrasPhoto GalleryClipsDownloads Latest NewsPress Room      Pre- Order the DVD! Includes Fatima featurette and 24-page booklet with interviews, timeline, and more! Visit Us on Facebook Get exclusive updates and more when you become a fan of The 13th Day on Facebook! Click here Join Our Lady's Foot Soldiers Become a foot soldier in Our Lady’s Army to spread the message of Fatima through a remarkable filmClick here Host a Movie Event! Be the first to show...

In the new movie The Men Who Stare at Goats, which opens today in the United States, George Clooney plays a former member of a secret sect of soldiers trained by the U.S. military to deploy a host of paranormal weapons against the enemy. Their deadly talents supposedly include the ability to kill a goat via psychokinesis—by staring at the beast they can make its heart stop with thought alone. The movie takes some liberties in the name of comedy, but the program it's based on is real. During the Cold War, the U.S. military became convinced it was losing...

Robert Zemeckis’s A Christmas Carol opens today to a chorus of negative reviews and a rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A particularly harsh assessment comes from Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal: To put it bluntly, if Scroogely, Disney’s 3-D animated version of “A Christmas Carol” is a calamity. The pace is predominantly glacial—that alone would be enough to cook the goose of this premature holiday turkey—and the tone is joyless, despite an extended passage of bizarre laughter, several dazzling flights of digital fancy, a succession of striking images and Jim Carrey’s voicing of Scrooge plus half a dozen...

The film, The 13th Day, distributed in North America by Ignatius Press, continues to earn rave reviews from viewers. Sr. Helena Burns, FSP, who authors the "Hell Burns" blog, writes: This is a triumph of a film. And I don’t think I’ve ever used that word for a film before. “The 13th Day” was screened here at the 1st Annual John Paul II Film Festival in Miami: http://www.jp2filmfestival.com/. British producer Natasha Howes (birthday: May 13, feast of Our Lady of Fatima) was present. I was prepared not to like this film, and very apprehensive about not liking it because...

Just got hold of the latest issue of the magazine my old alma mater in Spain sends me regularly. A feature about a movie actor, now also a producer, immediately got my attention. First, a magazine that tries to be serious in character would normally not talk about actors and celebrities. Second, though I’ve heard of the story before in a tangential way, I thought it would just have a short shelf life, just a flash in the pan, you know. In short, the article broke my guiding principles. It deserved to be read. And I did. Now, I feel...

I'm amazed by the soothsayers: Ayn Rand, for instance, who warned us fifty years ago of the risk of dictatorship or civil war if collectivism persisted. Or economist Friedrich Hayek, who wrote in the 1940s that we'll become serfs if we move toward big government. However, what feels most prophetic lately is an obscure movie from the l970s called Little Murders. The writer, Pulitzer-Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer, predicted that the '60s would unleash a feral, primitive society. The movie has a checkered history. It started out as a play on Broadway in the mid-'60s that was such a bomb, it...

What is your favorite movie theme tune? Mine is definitely the "Third Man" theme from the movie of the same name. Interestingly the director of that film didn't originally intend for music to play such an important part of that movie but Carol Reed was doing location scouting in Vienna and heard the zither sounds of Anton Karas at a beer garden. Reed loved the sound and brought Karas to London to compose a tune for his movie. Even before the movie was released, then tune was a big hit. When the movie was released, it too became a big...

There’s something weird about Law Abiding Citizen, and it isn’t simply the movie’s attempt to gussy up the legal thriller genre with gruesome, Saw-style theatrics. No, the most notable thing about the film is how it appears to inadvertently channel the recent, inchoate Republican anger at the Obama administration and use it to power a violent revenge fantasy. Don’t believe me? Here are four ways Law Abiding Citizen feels like a Republican wet dream. Mild spoilers ahead: Sympathy with the Devil Jamie Foxx’s district attorney Nick Rice is ostensibly our hero, struggling to put an end to the murderous schemes...

SAN FRANCISCO, OCT. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A new film on Mary’s apparitions in Fatima is being offered with an advance screening program for groups before the DVD is available to the public in North America. "The 13th Day" tells the true story of the May 13 - Oct. 17, 1917, apparitions to Lucia Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. The film is based on the memoirs of Lucia after she became a nun. Ignatius Press, the North American distributor of the film, is offering dioceses, parishes, schools and other organizations an opportunity to show "The 13th Day" before...

The 13th Day: The True Story of Fatima See it on the big screen! Based on the memoirs of Sister Maria Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, and thousands of independent eyewitness accounts, The 13th Day is a dramatic retelling of the experiences of three shepherd children between May and October 1917. (Read more...) "The 13th Day is a powerful presentation of the events surrounding Our Lady's apparitions. I believe this film will assist the cause of the world's peace and the salvation of souls."

For a myriad of reasons, I have spent the last few months watching a movie most every weeknight. I have finally gotten my money’s worth from my Netflix account. But, lately I have had trouble finding movies I think I will like. I scour Netflix and am having a hard time finding movies that interest me, though I know they are out there. My interest runs from war movies to action flicks to quirky indy films to foreign art things. Some of my favorite movies I have seen the past few months are Defiance, all of the Sean Connery Bond...

Donors got access to bowling alley, WH movies, Messina It turns out that the White House-complex bowling alley might be the new Lincoln Bedroom. [Getting Dem pushback on the lede -- the argument being that the perks weren't part of a formal fundraising program like the Clintons' Lincoln bedroom arrangement.] Matthew Mosk of the Washington Times sifts the records and finds that President Obama's high-rolling donors got access to a ten-pin alley, the White House movie theater and the Oval. The big shots were also treated to an in-person West Coast briefing on health care reform by Jim Messina, one...

Charles Bronson is dead. But if he were still with us, where would he find roles to play? Now many movie heroes are cartoon characters like Spiderman, or magical characters like Harry Potter. Young people may be entertained, but they cannot emulate such fantasy heroes. Many people have become pacifists. They sit on the sidelines of life, watching with smug indifference. They are apathetic spectators, both in our struggle against violent criminals at home, and in our war against terrorists abroad. Many people have been taught not that they should fight evil, but that it is evil to fight. But...

MEXICO CITY -- When the Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez penned his most recent novel, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores," he was being provocative. The book begins with this line: "The year I turned 90, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." But there is art and there is life. And so just as an international cast and crew were about to begin filming a movie adaptation of the 2004 novella, the plug was pulled as the filmmakers and García Márquez were denounced as aiding and abetting perverts....

The stage and screen star was cast as the sinister title character in 1962's 'Dr. No'. Joseph Wiseman, a stage and screen actor who played the sinister title character in "Dr. No," the 1962 film that introduced Sean Connery as James Bond, has died. He was 91. Wiseman, who had been in declining health in the last few years, died Monday at his home in Manhattan, said his daughter, Martha Graham Wiseman. The Canadian-born Wiseman already had appeared on Broadway numerous times and in films such as "Detective Story" and "Viva Zapata!" when he was cast as the mysterious villain...

Scene from One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest

COLUMN Character AssassinationHollywood Kills Off the Movie HeroInterview with Barbara Nicolosiby Bobby Maddex In Salvo 7, we asked our resident film critic Barbara Nicolosi about the essential elements of good storytelling, as well as the egregious manner in which contemporary filmmakers tell their stories. What we didn’t get to discuss was the importance of character. Specifically, we failed to explore the concept of the hero and speculate on why the franchise hero has all but disappeared from Hollywood. Can you start by identifying the qualities of a hero? What attributes must a hero possess? I’m going to defer to Aristotle...

The Expendables Trailer

Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies SuckPosted By John Nolte On October 13, 2009 @ 2:31 pm In Entertainment, News | 163 Comments Everyone seems to have an opinion as to why DVD sales have cratered since hitting their peak in 2006, but no one’s looking at the obvious answer. Plunging sales have been blamed on piracy [1], competing technologies such as video games [2]and low-priced rental outlets like Redbox [3]… everything but the quality of the actual films. First and foremost, I’m a movie lover. Nothing competes for my attention in this regard, including dollar rentals and the like. But...

...Say what you will about the roughly 150 black action, horror and comedy films that came out between 1971 and 1976, the height of the blaxploitation era: that they were cheaply made, poorly acted, hyper-violent and glorified pimps, prostitutes, criminals and con men -- all those things are true, to a certain extent. But they were also utterly empowering, gobbled up by African American audiences desperate for strong, and recognizable, working-class heroes... Howard believes that '70s cultural references have stuck with us -- afros are popular again, and there are countless music videos that reference "Superfly" and "The Mack" --...

Call it delayed reaction. A year after Madonna called him "emotionally retarded," former husband Guy Ritchie said in an Esquire magazine interview that hit the Web on Wednesday that he still loves her, but that she is "retarded" herself. The 41 year-old British director said Madonna "makes things happen" and works hard at her career. "And, of course, here you go: I still love her," Ritchie told the magazine. "But she's retarded, too." The couple finalized their divorce in a U.K. court last November, after eight years of marriage. They have a 9 year-old son together, and also adopted a...

"Your Freedom Has Been A Lie. Liberation Is Here." [ US flag with People's Liberation Army red star insignia superimposed ] "We Are Here To Help"

classic Gang Fight from A Clockwork Orange...

Quick Name three Roman Polanski films. (Don't use IMDB.com) Rosemary's Baby Chinatown and...... Thought so. These movies, plus many others in subtitles, seem to excuse this man of raping a 14 year old girl. Debra Winger complains "the whole art world suffers" in such arrests. I beg to differ. Polanski should be in prison for subjecting the movie viewing world to the abomination that is Rosemary's Baby, an absolutely horrible horror film. I'm seen it twice hoping that after a second viewing it would get better. It Doesn't Read more HERE

Compass? We Don’t Need No Stinking Compass! by Big X Before Big X achieved fame, glory and untold wealth as a writer-producer, he spent a decade or so  as an executive in the financial industry. So when I read Mr. Weinstein’s comment that “Hollywood has the best moral compass, because it has compassion,” I couldn’t help but choke and spray a fine mist of Starbucks all over my laptop screen. In comparison to “real” businesses, I think I can say from personal experience inside and outside the bubble that Hollywood is the most systemically ruthless, amoral, deceitful, cruel and thuggish...

Here is a scene from the 1979 cult classic The Warriors...

Ok People...Being that it's Friday and the latest news has basically elated most of us....I decided to take a que from some of the recent zombie threads to start a strict Horror movie post as there seems to be a few pretty die-hard Horror fans here! What are your top ten Horror flicks? Likes and Dislikes about the genre? Classics and Failures? Genre Icons? Discuss it all my friends!

Hollywood Activists, Or How Norma Rae Got Norma Raed by Ned Rice The cruel exploitation of the impoverished masses has been a staple of Hollywood storytelling since the earliest days of movie making.  In fact, thanks to big-screen classics from The Grapes of Wrath to Slumdog Millionaire you might say that grinding poverty has been a real gold mine for Tinseltown.  Given Hollywood’s progressive politics you might also think that a good chunk of the vast box office earnings inspired by the world’s poor might by now have filtered down to the same unwashed throngs who are, in a sense,...

Movie critics are, by definition, folks with strong opinions about movies. But opinions are personal and subjective, so usually critical response to any movie is split between the positive and the negative. Still, there are a few extraordinary films every year that unite reviewers. When they all uniformly praise a movie, it's probably close to a masterpiece. When they all hate a flick, it probably stinks worse than week-old Limburger. RottenTomatoes.com, which aggregates the opinions of over 100 professional movie critics and distills them down to a single numeric "freshness" rating, has compiled the "Worst of the Worst," a list...

We've seen it before. Hollywood seems to need to find a way, any way, to jab Governor Palin as much as possible. Case in point we have the soon to be released movie titled "Did You Hear About The Morgans?" starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker. Right in the trailer for this new laugh riot film is a jab at Palin. But it is a typically illogical jab, one that makes no sense at all. But it IS a jab and I guess logic isn't necessary to the good folks in Hollyweird if it results in a jab at...

opening scene of Trainspotting...

The surprise hit "Inglourious Basterds" appears to have breathed some life into Weinstein Co., but the independent movie studio is still facing a serious cash squeeze. Several people familiar with the finances of the company, founded by independent film producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, said it needs a fresh capital infusion or successive box-office blockbusters to ease the growing pressure. snip The four-year-old film company has burned through most of the roughly $1.2 billion in debt and equity financing raised for its launch in 2005, these people said. Now, these people said, the company likely has to do one of...

TimBurtonJP Exclusive! Tim Burton's "Superman Lives" : Nicolas Cage Costume Test

Just like the film, the making of 'The Godfather’ was an ugly story of fear and dysfunction. What was the formula that made The Godfather one of the most successful films of all time? Surely it would take an unusually harmonious combination of talents working in concert, a rare balance of commercial entertainment and artistic challenge, a run of luck those involved couldn’t miss. Related Articles The Godfather - memorable lines But all wasn’t plain sailing on Francis Ford Coppola’s film in 1972. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning three, and on its $6 million budget grossed $101million for...

If you're buying fewer DVDs and renting more of them -- especially from automated Redbox kiosks -- you've got the Hollywood studios scared. DVD sales fell 13.5% to $5.4 billion during the first half of 2009, according to the Digital Entertainment Group. During the same span, DVD rentals rose by 8.3% to $3.4 billion. Digital sales and rentals -- such as those conducted over online stores like Amazon.com and Apple's iTunes -- jumped 21% to $968 million. The studios know that DVD sales have been in decline since at least 2005. Now, however, a depressed economy, convenient rental options and...

Arnie starred in a LOT of great action/sci-fi flicks in his day. I'd like the FReepers who watched these flicks to weigh in on this (a friend of mine and I got in an argument today about the best one - I won't reveal my pick just yet). The Terminator Total Recall Predator Commando Terminator 2 The Running Man