Free Republic

This week we cover everything from the futility of New York State's Conservative Party-from William F. Buckley's idealism to a third rate patronage mill-to the phone hacking scandal roiling Hollywood, to the reason why Corey Booker might not have done such a swell job as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

I am looking for the best (easiest to use) free video editing software. I used to use Windows MovieMaker but I recently got a new laptop (Windows 7) and it has no video editing program.

Runaway production costs pushed the number of feature film shoots in metropolitan Los Angeles to a record low in 2008 as studios sought cheaper locations out of state, an industry tracker said Tuesday. The report from FilmL.A., which coordinates location permits in the region, said feature filming for the year tumbled 15 percent from 2007. The fall was especially steep in the last half of the year - down an annual 38 percent in the third quarter and 47 percent in the fourth quarter. There were 7,043 feature production days last year, the fewest since the nonprofit FilmL.A. began to...

Cannes' Voyage to Neverland By Yervand KocharDuring the 1963 Moscow International Film Festival, few had a doubt that Federico Fellini’s “8 ½” was not just a masterpiece but a milestone achievement that will signal a new epoch in filmmaking. The film was not merely contending for the Grand Prize; it was clear that no conventional prize can put a tag on the sheer artistic genius and refreshing power of the movie. Threatened by Fellini’s highly formalistic language, the Communist party’s movie department that was behind making the decisions of the festival, as usually, suspected something potentially harmful for the cause...

New Zealand filmmaker Lee Tamahori, who directed the James Bond movie "Die Another Day," has been arrested in a Hollywood prostitution sting while dressed in drag. Tamahori, 55, was arrested on January 8 when he allegedly sought sex with an undercover policeman while clad in women's clothes, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. "Mr Tamahori was arrested for soliciting. I can confirm he was dressed in women's clothing at the time of the arrest," Officer Jason Lee of the Los Angeles Police Department said. Prosecutors confirmed they had filed two misdemeanour charges against the...

(New London-WTNH, Jan. 24, 2006 4:29 PM) _ Move over Hollywood, Connecticut could soon be the next major player in the movie business. There's a growing movement to encourage filmmakers to call Connecticut home. Stage fifteen at Sonalysts Studios in Waterford is where the courtroom scenes in the movie "Amistad" were filmed. It may be known for its sound stages used by many musicians and its animation department, but most of what Sonalysts does is for the defense industry, and it is hoping new state tax incentives will also boost its work in the film industry. "It will give us...

Thanks to the adoring press, Robert Redford recently got to remind the world that he's not a reporter but played one in a film. Redford, of course, was in the flick "All the President's Men," which co-starred Dustin Hoffman. While receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Czech Film Festival, the Sundance CEO remarked: "There are deep similarities going on, but where is the press? Where is the press?" The actor was chiding the news media for not pursuing a sequel to the investigation of Richard Nixon by launching a probe of President George W. Bush. "There are strong similarities...

Through false stories such as Newsweek's account of U.S. personnel flushing a Koran down a toilet, our media have done a good job of recruiting more members for the hate-America terrorists. But they have done enormous damage to U.S. military recruiting in the global war on terror. Bill Maher of Time Warner's HBO epitomized this trend when he referred to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as low-hanging fruit. Popular radio host and author Michael Medved points to another ominous trend: the failure by Hollywood to celebrate the sacrifice and heroism of our troops fighting Islamic terrorism. He says it...

This is for all of the FReepers out there who might know a thing or two about the business of documentary filmmaking, and those who might have an interest in doing documentary films. An opportunity has presented itself to me, an opportunity that is proving difficult to ignore. I'm currently working on editing some footage that has been taken in the Amazon river area, and I'm looking at the possibility of getting into the business of making documentary television shows. The person I'm working with has already made a month long trip into the Amazon armed only with a GL-1...

Six hundred and six takes it took, and if they had been forced to do a 607th it is probable, if not downright certain, that one of the film crew would have snapped and gone mad. On the first 605 occasions something small, usually infuriatingly minute, went just slightly awry and the whole delicate arrangement was wrecked. A drop too much oil there, or here maybe one ball-bearing too many giving a fraction too much impetus to the movement. Whirr, creak, crash, the entire, card-house of consequences was a write-off and they had to start again. Honda's latest television advertisement,...