Small wonder the White House has tweeted approval of Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl Chrysler commercial. From its calls for America to “be as one,” one wouldn’t know that Eastwood doesn’t approve of the Obama administration.

One also wouldn’t know that Eastwood calls himself a libertarian. For Eastwood’s speech, with its calls for unity and marching together from halftime to what I take to be a touchdown, is precisely the kind of collectivism libertarians shy away from.

This is at odds with Eastwood’s maverick persona. As a consistent Republican voter, he stands apart from the Hollywood liberal herd. When the country was cheerleading for an Iraq invasion, Eastwood opposed it on “practical considerations.” While Hollywood emptied their wallets for Obama, Eastwood criticized him.

Eastwood’s libertarianism has always slipped through via his film canon. With the sheriff bashing unarmed citizens in “Unforgiven,” Eastwood sounded a warning against gun control, then and now. In last year’s “J.Edgar,” Eastwood revealed that there was a decided terrorist threat from leftists in the post-World War I period, while at the same time showing the civil liberty abuses of Hoover.

But now, the actor’s message has moved from the honor of being one against the herd to urging us all to join one.

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Everyone knows that the typical advertisement on the Super Bowl goes for millions of dollars.  And we all wonder why the ads they produce for that money feature children peeing in pools, monkeys farting, and bungee jumping cars.  Those don’t seem like particularly good uses of company funding.

And they aren’t.  They’re commercials targeted to the younger demographic.  And as the Super Bowl itself shows, the younger demographic isn’t where the cash is.  The advertising agencies had better wake up and smell the coffee: older, more conservative audiences are the ones that should be targeted now.

The networks and the NFL get it: we’re getting old as a country.  Seven of the last eight Super Bowl halftime shows have featured Boomer and Gen X icons: Paul McCartney (2005), the Rolling Stones (2006), Prince (2007), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (2008), Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (2009), The Who (2010), and Madonna (2012)?  Perhaps the under-40 crowd remembers Madonna, but if they do, it’s in a very vague half-sleep state.

And yet America’s commercial advertisers seem to think that the most valuable audience is the 18-49 crowd.  For years, American advertising has been run on the notion that young audiences are more valuable than older audiences; that if you grab a youngster’s brand loyalty early, you’ll grab ‘em for life; and that older audiences are set in their ways.  That’s how so much liberal television has been sneaked past advertising honchos – young people tend to be liberal, and so the honchos figure that liberal television will appeal to the most lucrative demographic.  Even if more older people watch than younger people, the advertisers figure, they need to greenlight young-skewing programs to hit the target demo.

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‘BLADE RUNNER’ MAKERS AT ALCON SAY HARRISON FORD NOT IN TALKS TO STAR

But the scuttlebutt sure got the project a lot of attention. Well done, Hollywood. Well done.

AXL ROSE TURNS 50 TODAY

Which means I’m like a hundred or something.

You know, this whole passage of time thing is really starting to freak me out.

FILM SCHOOL REJECTS: IF REDBOX TAKES OVER THE WORLD, TITLES WILL BE LIMITED TO WHAT FITS IN A REDBOX

Interesting observation:

I can’t see these two stories happening [Redbox making a move on streaming and Blockbuster's kiosks] at the same time being seen as anything other than a stake aimed directly at the hearts of Netflix and Blockbuster, and as a play by Redbox to take over all aspects of the home video industry. The question I have to ask is, with a new streaming service and a lot more kiosk locations, does this mean Redbox has plans to diversify the titles that they offer the public in a given week, or are we going to see the model of everyone watching the same three movies at the same time become even more prevalent?

It would be easy for me to dismiss this as “the market at work,” but the selection at Redbox is, obviously, light, and should Redbox take over the world, then what?

For starters, I think the Redbox move into streaming is in part due to them recognizing that there’s money to made with more titles. I also think that Redbox jumping into streaming will be a net-plus for consumers and Hollywood — though Hollywood is too dumb to understand that now.

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Not sure what director Marc Webb’s reboot offers that’s much different than the three that came before, but that’s probably the idea. No sense in fixing what isn’t broken.

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***ADDED: Fascinating read on how, contrary to Obama/media spin, the auto bailouts failed and cost the taxpayers billions.

How did Clint Eastwood and the people around him not see the partisan storm coming with this ad? Eastwood’s a smart guy, as a Hollywood survivor and former mayor, he understands how politics works.

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Because Obama’s decided to eliminate moral hazard and socialize losses for anyone who employs the unions who fund his campaigns, Chrysler obviously wrote a thinly veiled thank you in the form of a reelection ad for their benefactor, and convinced a Republican icon to deliver  it.

Reuters:

Before he emerged in a controversial Super Bowl ad as the gravelly voice of Chrysler’s resurgence, Clint Eastwood was a critic of the government bailout that saved the U.S. automaker.

“We shouldn’t be bailing out the banks and car companies,” actor, director and Academy Award winner Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times in November 2011. “If a CEO can’t figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn’t be the CEO.”

The two-minute Chrysler ad “Halftime in America” won attention for its focus on American resilience, but raised eyebrows for the way critics said it echoed one of the central themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection bid.

Eastwood, a longtime Republican who now describes himself as a libertarian, told Fox News on Monday he was “certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama.”

The ad was meant as a message “about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it,” Eastwood said, according to a transcript on Foxnews.com.

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“You can fool all the people half the time, and half the people all the time.” That quote has been attributed to everyone from Abe Lincoln to P.T. Barnum. Whoever said it doesn’t matter. It’s true. Polls show that about half the people still believe in man-made global warming, despite Climategate and despite an avalanche of evidence to the contrary.

What we found in our movie “An Inconsistent Truth” is that belief in man-made global warming is wide but very shallow. Ask people on the street, as we did, if they believe in global warming and you’re likely to get a confident affirmation. Ask them why they believe it and you’re likely to get the dull stare of a dairy cow or the puzzled and confused gaze of Edith Bunker.

The trouble is most people have been spoon-fed only half the story and as Thomas B. Macaulay once said, “Half knowledge is worse than ignorance.” Indeed. People have taken Al Gore’s claims of global calamity at face value despite his propensity to lie. Remember, he’s the man who once claimed to have created the Internet.

It’s a shame but most people are simply incurious creatures. Some may call it intellectual laziness but the fact is people are just too busy living their own lives to devote any serious study to global warming. Being a talk radio host I do nothing but study the issues, and we spent two-and-a-half years researching and filming “An Inconsistent Truth.” We learned there was actually more time spent by the global warming alarmists trying to scare away the curious than actually cementing their argument. Phrases like “settled science” and “consensus” are the parlance of
politicians and political hacks, not scientists.

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The onscreen Catherine Zeta-Jones is quite the contrast to the off-screen one. While off screen, she prefers 67-year-old hubby Michael Douglas; on screen she prefers her 25-year-old nanny. Or, at least, her character Sandy in “The Rebound,” a mother of two and recent divorcee, does.

There’s a lot to like about “The Rebound,” available on DVD and Blu- ray tomorrow, but it ends up too much like typical rom-com fare than it needs to be. Director Bart Freundlich (who has directed some great episodes of Showtime’s “Californication”) talks about how he was inspired by the New York set films about relationships by Woody Allen in an interview on the DVD, but “The Rebound” never lives up to that kind of potential. It’s tame when it needs to be excessive and excessive when it needs to be tame.

Sandy (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is living a typical suburban life with her two kids and husband when she stumbles across a tape of her husband cheating on her with a neighbor. After packing up the kids and heading to the city, she meets Aram (Justin Bartha), a young coffee shop employee living in the apartment beneath hers who agrees to start babysitting for her as she works late and goes on disappointing dates. As Aram becomes more and more responsible for the children, Sandy realizes she enjoys spending her late nights at home with the mature-beyond-his-years nanny than spending them with dates who have a bad habit of talking to her while they utilize a porter potty (Eh, it’s the city. Who can judge?).

Sandy and Aram begin seeing each other but have to face a world that scoffs at the idea of their 15-year age difference. Sandy’s friends see Aram as nothing but a rebound, and she becomes confused as to whether he is or isn’t. Thus, “The Rebound” presses forward trying desperately to be the next Woody Allen pic; the problem is there’s none of the subtlety or depth of Allen’s work. (more…)

Acting legend Clint Eastwood has already tried clearing the air regarding any political fallout from his two-minute Chrysler Super Bowl ad.

Now, it’s Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne’s turn.

Marchionne told WJR radio in Detroit this morning “politics had nothing to do” with the instantly controversial clip.

Democrats and the White House embraced the ad narrated by actor Clint Eastwood that said the United States could learn from the Motor City’s economic woes, while a former adviser to President George W. Bush criticized it….

“It has zero political content,” Marchionne said. “It was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part. We are as apolitical as you can make us… I wasn’t expressing a view and certainly nobody inside Chrysler was attempting to influence decisions.

Actor Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl ad for Chrysler got a quick and hearty welcome from Obama administration officials who saw it as an unofficial endorsement for the president’s auto bailout.

But the 81-year-old screen icon worked nearly as fast to shut down the notion his ad was meant to be taken that way.

Here’s the erstwhile Dirty Harry setting the record straight to a producer from Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”:

I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.

l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK.

I am not supporting any politician at this time.

Chrysler to their credit didn’t even have cars in the ad.

Anything they gave me for it went for charity.

If any Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it.

Judge for yourself:

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“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe “opened” his first post-boy wizard film over the weekend with “The Woman in Black.” The horror movie hauled in a very respectable $21 million, not bad for a project without built-in brand recognition or sequel pizazz.

Now, Radcliffe is opening his mouth on politics and likely losing a few admirers along the way.

First, the actor slammed the GOP presidential candidates for their stances on gay rights. Next, he applauded President Barack Obama on the issue even though Obama holds the very same position on gay marriage as his ideological opponents. He’s against it.

[Radcliffe] went on to say that he has been “disgusted, amazed, stunned” by candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, such as Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann, who have been openly hostile to gay rights.

“But they disgusted me less than candidates like Rick Perry, who made that ridiculous advert wearing ‘the Brokeback jacket’, and I think pretend to be homophobic just to win votes.”

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The Onion is at it again.

Rather than trying to spoof, mock or even gently tease President Barack Obama–the man who actually holds the highest office in the land–the paper is targeting the administration’s out-of-power critics.

The Onion’s latest Obama humor article taunts those who note how a leader who rails against the rich routinely enjoys the perks that come with his wealth, power and status:

Obama Criticized For Living In Lavish Mansion While Most Americans Struggle To Make Ends Meet

WASHINGTON—Over the past three years, as the sluggish economy has forced many Americans to tighten their belts, President Obama has reportedly enjoyed a lavish personal lifestyle, residing with his family in a 132-room house staffed by a 24-hour security detail, five full-time chefs, and a live-in maid service.

In recent weeks, many of the president’s critics have seized upon the issue, arguing that anyone who sleeps in a sprawling six-level neoclassical mansion covering 18 acres of Washington, D.C.’s most valuable real estate is clearly out of touch with the lives of ordinary citizens.

You see, those silly Obama critics will attack poor Barack on just about any charge. So we should simply ignore them, right?

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HARRISON FORD IN EARLY TALKS FOR ‘BLADE RUNNER’ SEQUEL

If Ford plays Deckard 30 years in the future, that would answer the question of whether or not he’s a replicant. Hard not to be excited about this, especially if Ridley Scott returns. There are so many possibilities, so many places to go with the character and the world.

Knowing Hollywood, they will muck it up immediately by casting Shia LaBeouf, or something.

HUGE NEWS:  VERIZON, REDBOX TO LAUNCH STREAMING SERVICE THIS YEAR

One cannot overstate how big of a deal this is or how symbolic it is within the context of Hollywood standing at the station not even knowing they’ve missed the train:

The joint venture plans to introduce the product portfolio in the second half of 2012. It will offer subscription services and more in an easy-to-use, flexible and affordable service that will allow all consumers across the U.S. to enjoy the new and popular entertainment they want, whenever they choose, using the media and devices they prefer. Additional brand and product information will be revealed in the coming months.

Redbox understands that New Product is no longer king. Hollywood can’t hold Redbox or the customers hostage by withholding this product because the product is so unappealing. People want the value and convenience of streaming — and people will watch whatever is provided via streaming.  The bottom line is that Hollywood can either go to where the customers are (and are headed) and try to better monetize that reality, or they can continue to pretend they hold all the cards with their lousy product.

Everyone complains about Netflix Streaming lacking in product, which I find absurd. What’s happening is that my wife and I (and, I think, millions of others) are discovering programming to enjoy on streaming we might have otherwise dismissed. Right now, she’s hip deep in British television imports and I’m finding that without commercials, all kinds of Discovery Channel programming is truly addicting.

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After a heated exchanged opened the 1985 Geneva Summit, Ronald Reagan suggested to Mikhail Gorbachev that the two leaders take a break and walk together along a nearby lake. Even in this informal setting, Reagan’s unyielding support for the SDI initiative remained a major sticking point. But the conversation assumed a more congenial tone when Gorbachev began to ask Reagan about the president’s movie career.

While it may be difficult to pinpoint a precise moment when Cold War tensions began to ease, it is evident that Gorbachev’s interest in Hollywood helped foster a human connection that advanced negotiations and solidified relations.

By all accounts, Reagan was proud of his Hollywood career, which began on April 20, 1937 the day he signed a contract with Warner Brothers. While political opponents and hostile media personalities have made a sport out of demeaning Reagan’s acting ability, he was actually quite accomplished in his own right and cultivated a strong following.

A good source here is Marc Eliot who authored “Reagan: The Hollywood Years,” a well-researched, highly readable yarn that highlights some of the former president’s best performances on screen and on television. Reagan co-starred alongside some of most talented stars of his era including Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Ginger Rogers, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn.

While Reagan may not have achieved lasting fame as a leading man, he did carve out a strong niche as a supporting actor in films that attracted critical attention, as Eliot explained in an interview with Reason TV. He was widely viewed as the reliable “best friend” standing behind
the big names of that time, Eliot notes.

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***ADDED: Would Dirty Harry ask for a handout?

“The Obama reelection campaign couldn’t buy a better endorsement.”

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THR:

The Super Bowl is televised advertising’s equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, so White House political strategists must have been smiling when what’s generally being hailed as this year’s best spot — the Chrysler “Halftime in America” commercial — subtly echoed the themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

Just to ice the cake, the gritty two-minute spot featured actor/director Clint Eastwood, whose politics usually put him on the Republican side of the aisle. In the spot, Eastwood’s voice narrates an account of Detroit’s comeback and, then, when his unmistakably craggy face appears on screen, talks of how America has arrived at half-time in its struggle back from the financial precipice with good things to follow in the coming second half.

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The ads are always a major draw when the Super Bowl plays. Some of those advertisements rely entirely on a major celebrity appearance and the advertisement usually succeeds epically or fails disastrously based on that appearance. Let’s take a look at three advertisements from last night’s Super Bowl and which ones were winners and which ones were losers:

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The clear winner is easy. When I heard Clint Eastwood would appear in a car commercial and have a pep talk with America, I expected something a little more light. Maybe they’d use his “Dirty Harry” image in some satirical way. Who knows. But, when the advertisement started playing, the entire room (which was previously filled with talk and laughter and some yelling) went silent. Everyone was glued and listened to every word that slipped from Eastwood’s mouth. It was a pep talk alright. And I say we band together and start a petition to nominate Eastwood for an Oscar for his little pep talk. The second he starts walking towards the screen, he consumes you in his shadow. He speaks from experience and he speaks almost as a godfather to us all. By the end of it I wanted to stand up and salute the flag. It makes one more and more excited to see Eastwood return to the front of the cameras for his next flick.

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Hollywood spends a ton of money for these coveted advertising slots, which are even more expensive than advertising during Hollywood’s big night to shine, the Academy Awards. But that’s because almost a hundred million people watch the Super Bowl and only about a third as many watch the Oscars.

America loves the NFL, Hollywood not so much.

Hollywood does, however, whip out the testosterone for the Super Bowl.

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There’s nothing better than being able to do the right thing and the politically savvy thing while simultaneously paying back a long-time abuser in spades.

And that’s just what the Republicans in Congress did to Hollywood when it abandoned the rush to pass SOPA and regulate the Internet for the benefit of Tinseltown. Astonishingly, considering its usual inability to perform competently at even the most basic level, the GOP not only managed to embrace good policy but drove a wedge into the Democratic coalition that may well have dramatic consequences down the road. And, best of all, it provided a bit of long overdue payback to the smug oligarchs of LA’s West Side who have spent the last couple decades treating Republicans like something you’d hasten to flush.

Hey, suckers, how do ya like us now?

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is only the latest attempt by Hollywood to breathe some life back into its dying business model. Enraged that online “pirates” are passing around bootleg copies of movies, shows, books, music, and all other manner of intellectual property, the industry did what it has done for years: ran to Congress for ever more burdensome and onerous laws designed to hold back the inevitable consequences of progress. 

But this time, it went too far. Perhaps it was Hollywood’s arrogance. Perhaps it was the provisions allowing Hollywood to use the United States government to shut down any website it pleased on the mere accusation of “piracy” without any due process, a power lefty–fascist bureaucrats would be only too eager to accept.

Not surprisingly, the people who make their living on the web were less than thrilled about giving Uncle Sam and the media conglomerates an off-switch.

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For all the pomp and excess of Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show, it is likely to be a single extended middle finger by guest singer M.I.A. that is most remembered.

The gesture, accompanied by a barely disguised expletive, came during a performance of Madonna’s new single, “Give Me All Your Luvin.’” At the end of her lines, M.I.A. appeared to sing “I don’t give a (expletive),” although it was hard to hear clearly.

The incident was reminiscent of Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” eight years ago — a surprise risque moment in front of tens of millions of unsuspecting viewers. The brief exposure of Jackson’s nipple during the 2004 halftime show raised a storm of controversy and put CBS in hot water with the Federal Communications Commission.

The Super Bowl, shown on NBC this year, is routinely viewed by more than 100 million people, the biggest TV event of the year.

The screen briefly went blurred after M.I.A.’s gesture in what seemed like a late attempt to cut out the camera shot. The NFL, which produces the show, had no immediate comment. (more…)

No wardrobe malfunction interrupted this Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Madonna, the 50-something shock singer, kept it mostly clean during her Super Bowl performance Sunday. She flashed a tiny amount of thigh and flirted harmlessly with some of her male dance squad, but that was about it. She left the skin-baring chores to the hulking gladiator types around the stage.

The only tension came from guest singer M.I.A. who appeared to flash the middle finger at the end of one of Madonna’s highly choreographed numbers.

The Material Girl meshed flawlessly with the typically over-produced halftime show segment, belting out a barrage of her greatest hits as well as her new single, “Give Me All Your Lovin.’” She kicked off the set singing “Vogue” while dressed as a quasi-Egyptian songstress. At times she appeared as stiff as one of those Egyptian paintings.

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With “Chronicle,” the shaky-cam “real footage” movie, on the cusp of propelling some viewers into face-clawing lamentation, finally grows up.

The picture has a rousing spirit and an unexpected emotional warmth. It features good (if little-known) actors, a solid genre plot, and surprisingly slick effects that are especially impressive for being so seamlessly woven into the film’s low-budget look. The movie hustles by in less than 90 minutes, and it’s a lot of fun.

The story, by director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis—both feature-film first-timers—is a clever riff on the superhero theme. Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan, a True Blood alumnus) is the kid with the video cam—a lonely nerd documenting his miserable homelife with an abusive father (Michael Kelly) and bedridden, dying mother (Bo Petersen). Andrew is a high-school senior, shunned by the cool kids and tormented by the usual crew of varsity troglodytes—all the more so after he starts bringing his new camera to school. His only semi-friends are his amiable cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and, for reasons unclear, the gleamingly popular Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan, of Friday Night Lights).

One day, out in the woods, these three happen across a large hole that leads deep underground. Descending into it, they find something very strange, and soon after clambering back up to the surface discover that they’ve suddenly developed nifty new telekinetic powers. At first they use this gift for fun and pranks—floating little Lego bricks up into the air, baffling car owners by shuffling their vehicles around in parking lots. Then, with continued practice, they discover that they can rise up into the air themselves, and soon they’re swooping around through the clouds.

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