Judicial Watch and the producers of the Sarah Palin documentary “The Undefeated” have a new film designed to make members of both political parties a mite nervous.

The new film’s trailer will debut tonight at the annual CPAC convention in Washington. The clip will show Judicial Watch’s battle versus bipartisan corruption as well as corrupt elements within the Obama administration.

Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon and produced in association with Constant Motion Entertainment, the Judicial Watch film will be released in the summer of 2012. The film will chronicle Judicial Watch’s heroic battles to clean up government corruption in Washington, DC, focusing most comprehensively on its efforts to counter the unprecedented corruption and secrecy of the permanent political class and, currently, the Obama Administration. The film will comprehensively expose the Beltway’s current scandals, including: “Fast and Furious”; Solyndra and “Green Energy”; federal bailouts and earmarks; the New Black Panthers; ACORN and voter fraud; stealth amnesty; threats to the integrity of the 2012 elections; and new attacks on government transparency and accountability.

The film is a companion piece to the upcoming book, “The Corruption Chronicles, Obama’s Big Secrecy, Big Corruption, and Big Government,” by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  The Judicial Watch book is scheduled for release in July 2012, from Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions.

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Singer/actor Will.i.am rallied Obama Nation in 2008 with his original song “Yes We Can.”

Turns out the performer actually meant to sing “You Better You Bet.”

Will.i.am spoke about his support for Obama during a fundraising event this week as well as why he created his own foundation to support education.

The Black Eyed Peas leader said he was inspired by the 2010 documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” about U.S. public education. He said that “Superman is not coming to save no neighborhood or no education system.”

Please take a moment to digest, or better yet, diagram that sentence. Let’s move on.

Will.i.am also talked politics: He said President Barack Obama is not a “magic man,” and that people shouldn’t expect him to solve the country’s problems with “some freakin’ plan.”

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Today’s screenwriters often have little use for white and black hats.

The modern hero is less than perfect, to put it mildly. Think Showtime’s “Dexter,” or films like the “Bourne” franchise where shades of gray are the order of the day.

The era of John Wayne-style heroes is no more.

Enter “Safe House,” the new Denzel Washington thriller about a rogue CIA agent who possesses a file so important people are lining up to kill him. Washington’s character, Tobin Frost, is a prime example of the modern anti-hero. He’s a mastermind who went off the grid a decade ago against the will of his government.

At least that’s what we’re told.

The film keeps us guessing about Tobin’s true nature, and that’s part of the story’s appeal. But “Safe House’s” impressive nuance ends abruptly when it’s time to give us a typical Hollywood finale. (Major Spoilers Ahead)

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You never know which Madonna is going to show up.

Sometimes, The Material Girl is the sexually charged songstress posing nude for a coffee table book or dry humping one of her tour dancers. Next, she’s the primly dressed children’s book author trying to be a good role model for her own kids.

This week, the latter piped up to chastise singer M.I.A. for flipping the audience the bird during Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show.

Madonna has taken to the airwaves to express her disappointment with M.I.A.’s decision to flip the bird at cameras during the halftime show, calling the move a “teenager … irrelevant thing to do.” Madge was chatting with Ryan Seacrest about her performance when he brought up the incident.

To the pop star, the middle finger was simply “out of place” at a show characterized by “such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity.

M.I.A. would have better served the event by making out with another woman, apparently.

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Typically when you see Dwayne Johnson, otherwise known as ‘The Rock’, in a trailer of a movie, it’s almost a guarantee that the film is packed with crazed stunts, an overacted plot and those huge pecs bursting through a skin-tight shirt.

I like The Rock because he always manages to steal every scene he’s in with that huge on-screen presence; you can’t deny him that. However, some of his films are goofy and tired; d0es anyone remember “The Tooth Fairy?” I hope not. With that said, I walked into this film not expecting much at all and thought the 3D effects were going to be non-existent. I walked out pleasantly surprised and with a smile on my face.

We were first introduced to Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) four years ago in “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” based on the classic Jules Verne tale. Now, Sean has matured into a handsome, determined teenager whose hormones are raging as he eagerly awaits another exciting adventure.

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“In Darkness,” Poland’s submission for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar, is a movie that drives home the abomination of the Holocaust in a freshly chilling way.

The story, based on true events as recalled by survivors in a 1991 book, begins in a Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lvov in 1943, where occupying German soldiers and their Ukrainian allies are slaughtering men, women, and children in the streets with the casual barbarity that was a hallmark of Nazi derangement.

Polish director Agnieszka Holland presents some of this depravity (in one scene, a Ukrainian officer takes a break from shooting Jews to exchange greetings with a friend, then happily returns to his hideous work) in an almost offhand way, as part of the day-to-day scenery in that awful time and place. This slight distancing serves to deepen our horror.

The central character is a sewer worker named Socha (Robert Wieckjewicz), a Polish Catholic who moonlights as a burglar in order to sustain his small family. Like many of his neighbors, Socha has idly concluded that the Lvov Jews must somehow deserve their fate; he has other worries of his own. Then, one night, he and a fellow burglar glimpse a group of naked and terrified Jewish women being herded through the forest by soldiers. After they disappear from view, the two men move on—and before long come upon those women again, now shot dead and clumped in piles among the trees. Later, at home with his family, Socha listens as his wife (Kinga Preis) expresses a Christian empathy for the Jews of Lvov, and is surprised to learn from her that Jesus, too, was a Jew. We feel a small light begin to kindle in Socha’s mind.

Read the full review at Reason.com

Do you promise to love your wife, to have and to hold, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, while she suffers through grievous memory loss, as long as you both shall live?

That’s the dilemma facing Leo (Channing Tatum) after his wife Paige (Rachel McAdams) recovers from a serious brain trauma wiping out all memories of their marriage in “The Vow.”

The film, loosely based on a true story, tells the standard tale of a young couple who meet, fall in love, get married to live their happily ever after until one of them falls out of love. It’s just not in the way you expect.

When Paige wakes up from a medically induced coma following a car accident, she thinks she is currently engaged to ex-boyfriend Jeremy (Scott Speedman), still in law school, and is in close contact with her estranged parents (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange). Paige resumes her old life, the one she lived before meeting Leo and becoming a completely different person.

So artsy Leo hardly seems her type, and her parents seize the opportunity to re-enter her life again. Can Leo win back the heart of the love of his life? (more…)

NBC’s Friday night series “Grimm” is a fantasy show, but for reasons I cannot fathom the program’s writers chose to mine that most heinous relic of Mittel-Europa: the story of the seemingly good and kind Jew who is really a demonic creature underneath for last week’s episode “Organ Grinders.”

A brief history of blood libels, courtesy of Wikipedia:

• In England in 1144, the Jews of Norwich were accused of ritual murder after a boy was found dead with stab wounds in the woods. This was followed by similar accusations elsewhere, leading to massacres in London and York. In 1190, “the Norwich Jews were butchered in their homes.”

• In France in 1171, a similar accusation against the Jewish community of Bloise led to the massacre by fire of some 40 Jews.

• In Germany, a boy’s body was found in the Lauter river. Based on “miraculous” evidence that “proved” the Jews had hung the boy by the feet and had opened every artery in his body to obtain the blood, the Jews were executed.

• In Russia in 1820, a Jew in Zverki is accused of kidnapping a six year old boy, draining his blood for nine days and dumping his body. In 1997, “Belorussian state TV showed a film alleging the story is true.”

This is the gist of the blood libel: the belief that Jews kidnap children to drain them of their blood. It didn’t die with the Nazis. It is still in currency today. You have only to turn on Syrian or Egyptian television to see. But American TV? (Spoilers Ahead)

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Clint Eastwood says audiences understood exactly what his Chrysler advertisement broadcast during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast meant – “let’s work our way out of [the recession].”

Those who say otherwise are missing the point, Eastwood tells CNBC in a new interview to air tomorrow during the 6 a.m. EST edition of “Squawk Box.” The following is from a rush transcript of the interview:

I’m surprised at the people who are supposed to be intelligent have interpreted it otherwise because it’s very disappointing to see that because the average person seems to get it … there are some people who make it a political element about everything you talk about from everything to where you’re dining or what on.

Eastwood also talked about out of control government spending, throwing his weight behind the bipartisan commission created by the Obama administration to the address the issue:

I was kind of amazed that they took Simpson-Bowles and assigned them this research and they come back with a recommendation which was exactly stop spending. And that everyone said, ‘that’s enough from you guys. Go home….’”

“I don’t know why the current administration assigned them to it if they weren’t going to pay any attention to it.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi has had enough of Stephen Colbert’s political sheninagans.

Not really. The former Speaker of the House has unleashed a new faux political ad chastising the Comedy Central comic for his faux political ads. Their combined purpose? To squash the GOP’s Super PAC ads, of course, before they can take aim at President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Obama’s recent flip-flop on using those very same Super PAC ads goes unmentioned in Pelosi’s new video:

In a new TV ad, Nancy Pelosi takes aim at Colbert’s Super PAC, suggesting that their former friendship (note picture of her signing his wrist cast) has been ruined by the mock-conservative pundit’s refusal to disclose the complete sources of his funding….

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Name this movie: An ace CIA operative, condemned as a rogue and now hunted by the Company, bashes and crashes his way through colorful foreign settings, pursued by heavily armed hit men, while back at Langley headquarters an inscrutable deputy director and one of his top lieutenants are arousing the suspicion of another officer, a woman, who’s starting to wonder why her two bosses are so intent on terminating this troublesome renegade.

Yes, it does sound like a “Bourne” movie, doesn’t it? But no, this is “Safe House,” with Denzel Washington taking over for Matt Damon, Sam Shepard replacing Scott Glenn as the steely Agency overseer, Brendan Gleeson in for Brian Cox as the dodgy controller, and Vera Farmiga stepping into the Joan Allen role as his straight-shooting subordinate.

The picture has a familiar swarming hand-held visual style, thanks to cinematographer Oliver Wood (who shot all three “Bourne” films) and editor Richard Pearson (who worked on “The Bourne Supremacy”). At one point, an agitated spook even yelps out a demand for remote surveillance with the words “I want eyes on this!”—a line previously yelped by David Strathairn’s agitated spook in “The Bourne Ultimatum.”

“Safe House” may be faux Bourne, but for those counting the moments till the release of “The Bourne Legacy” next August, it might seem better than no Bourne at all. Swedish director Daniel Espinosa has a flair for action staging—the one-on-one fight scenes, agreeably many in number and often set in confined spaces, are smashingly effective. And first-time screenwriter David Guggenheim has usefully adjusted the Bourne template. Here, Washington’s character, Tobin Frost—nominally the Jason Bourne figure—isn’t an unwitting innocent being set up by his shadowy CIA masters; he’s an actual traitor who has been selling Agency secrets for nearly a decade.

Read the full review at Reason.com

Kirk Cameron could have ended up as yet another sitcom star gone bad.

Instead, the teen heartthrob from the ’80s sitcom “Growing Pains” became a parent, headlined one of the biggest movie sleepers in recent memory (“Fireproof”) and today addressed the conservative conference CPAC about his latest project.

Cameron’s “Monumental,” hitting theaters next month, mourns a nation in decline and looks to the past for a brighter future. The actor turned activist told CPAC attendees why he made the film:

As I look around I get this sinking feeling that we’re off track, that there’s something sick in the soul of our country,” Cameron told those gathered at the conservative conference in Washington on Thursday. “I examine the fruit that’s hanging on the tree of America and I can see that it’s rotting. And that concerns me deeply.”

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Conservatives will start rolling their eyes early on in the new movie “Safe House.”

Denzel Washington stars as a rogue CIA agent who turns himself in to U.S. authorities, and before you can say “human rights abuse” his character undergoes a waterboarding treatment.

Had “Safe House” come out five years ago, the scene might have included jabs at the Bush administration, the War on Terror or both. Likely both. Instead, the scene arrives and leaves without any sermonizing to lessen the moment’s impact.

We’re supposed to learn that Washington’s character, the colorfully named Tobin Frost, is a certifiable bad-ass, and that the information he possesses is critically important to the story. And that’s it.

Nice.

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This week on the HomeVideodrome podcast, Jim finally sees “Drive” and weighs in, Hunter reviews “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” and Jim reveals his love affair with “A Fish Called Wanda.” Also, we discuss Ryan O’Neal’s finest moment on film in Norman Mailer’s “Tough Guys Don’t Dance.” Head over to The Film Thugs to give it a listen.

You are already aware of whether or not “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” interests you. “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” is a bit of a stoner classic, possessing the sort of random logic that strings the best weed-fueled movies together. The sequel, “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” was raunchier and had some hilarious bits, but never really came together as a complete product the way a lot of modern comedies fail to do. This third outing fares better than the second, adding a Christmas-driven plot to the stoned “After Hours” shenanigans.

This time around, Harold & Kumar have gone their separate ways as friends. Harold is a big-shot executive on Wall Street and lives in mortal fear of his father-in-law, which is completely understandable since the in-law is played by Danny Trejo. Trejo’s fearsome father has an intense love of Christmas, with special attention reserved for the magic of his homegrown Christmas tree.

While his wife is out with the family for midnight mass, Harold pledges to decorate the tree, hoping to make into a magical display and win the respect of his in-laws. His hopes are dashed when Kumar, still a bloodshot walking disaster, shows up to give him a mystery package, which contains a magical joint. One thing leads to another, and Trejo’s Christmas tree is destroyed in a freak accident, leading Harold & Kumar on an evening excursion to replace the tree, even if it means getting attacked by Russian mobsters, going on a claymated acid trip, or having yet another run-in with Neil Patrick Harris.

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Out here in the wilds of North Carolina, I haven’t yet had a chance to see ”The Iron Lady,” but as someone who generally finds Meryl Streep’s acting self-conscious, over-affected, and showy — in other words, not acting at all — I’m rooting for “The Help’s” Viola Davis to win.

THAT was a performance, as opposed to what we’ve seen from Streep for the last two decades.

I have a very simple rule when it comes to acting: If I notice the acting, if I see the strings — you’re doing it wrong. If you break the spell and take me out of the film with all your “technique” — you’re doing it wrong. If I notice your accent — you’re doing it wrong.  Patrick Swayze’s performance in “Road House” was ten-times better than almost anything Streep’s done since 1998. That’s not a joke, either. Swayze was more convincing, and that’s what true acting is really about. The rest is nothing more than bait for foo-foo critics and shallow Academy voters.

Anyway, here’s a wrinkle in Streep’s march to another trophy:

A Weinstein Company email that appears to skirt AMPAS campaign rules by using a third party to reach Oscar voters has stirred up anger among Academy members and rival campaigners.

But the email does not violate Academy regulations, AMPAS COO Ric Robertson told TheWrap on Tuesday. One of the organization’s campaign rules, he said, “allows for media entities to send such things to valid subscribers who’ve opted into being a subscriber.”

The email in question, which went out on Tuesday morning, is not part of Weinstein’s aggressive Best Picture campaign on behalf of “The Artist,” but instead promotes Meryl Streep’s Best Actress candidacy for “The Iron Lady.”

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Madonna – love her or hate her. Some think she has no talent, while others have named their daughters after her.

Some think her career is pure marketing and her fans believe she’s a real trend setter. There has always been a wide range of opinions about this woman, an entertainer who has enough monikers to be in the witness protection program. As her personal life has evolved through marriages, children and boyfriends, her songs are what are more familiar to people.

For the first time since she became famous, she got to be the star attraction at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. What aspect of her performance did people focus on? Her voice? Nope. What she wore? Not really. Her new song? Sure, a little. Her age? Bingo, report her to AARP, stat!

How dare she try to pull off that type of show as a woman who has experienced more than three decades on the planet? Perish the thought! She has some nerve being on that stage and lifting her leg up at the age of 53. Where are her Mom jeans with the elastic waist? How could she be in high-heeled, thigh high boots when she knows she should be in Easy Spirits? This is even more of an abomination than her performance in “Swept Away.”

Doesn’t she know that woman over 35, let alone 40 in this country, are considered older than Methuselah? You mean she has no clue that she should be referring to herself as “long in the tooth” “an old bag” and a “has-been.” Doesn’t she realize that she has to grow into her date of birth by talking about things she can’t do anymore? Where is her rheumatoid arthritis? COPD? High cholesterol? She should be punished for doing a jumping jack.

Just check the reaction to her performance on social media outlets if you think I am exaggerating.

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Artist John McNaughton should have beefed up his bandwidth this month.

News of the Nevada-based artist’s new painting, “The Forgotten Man,” went viral over the past few days sparking massive sales and a bit of outrage as well. The painting depicts President Barack Obama standing on the Constitution while previous presidents look on with outrage.

John McNaughton’s “The Forgotten Man” sold in one day “what we would sell in three months.”

The amount of traffic the story generated even crashed his website.

“I hate to think of the sales I lost with the site being down, but I’m pleased that the message got out,” he told CBS Las Vegas.

His webmaster needed to increase the amount of bandwidth for the site four times before it went back up Saturday night.

Naturally, some Obama supporters instantly dubbed the painting racist, charges McNaughton refutes on his web site:

There is no racial meaning or undertone that the FM [Forgotten Man] isn’t black. This is not a racial painting; it is about the vanishing of the American dream.

Conservative movies can rock the box office, as anyone who so much as glanced at the balance sheets for “The Passion of the Christ” can attest. But a new study by Movieguide, a faith-friendly film outlet, claims the big picture is far more positive for movies promoting patriotism and faith.

The Hollywood Reporter:

The Movieguide report rates movies using more than two dozen criteria, such as whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism or if it promotes or denigrates biblical principles. Violence, sex, political correctness, revisionist history, environmentalism, feminism, homosexuality and more hot-button political issues all are taken into consideration.

This year’s report concludes that seven of the top 10 films of 2011 scored high on Movieguide’s index and therefore qualify as films with “strong or very strong Christian, biblical, moral and redemptive content.”

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Oprah Winfrey has more to worry about these days than just her flailing TV network.

The former talk show queen’s self-named magazine is also suffering a significant sales drop, according to The New York Post:

Newsstand sales plunged to 413,363 copies — down 32 percent from the same period a year ago, when she was selling 608,212 copies.

Winfrey’s last syndicated talk show aired in May 2011, so while there has been some softness for the past two years, this marked the first six-month stretch with no broadcast TV exposure at all. The magazine’s total circulation was also down by 5 percent, to 2,380,782.

Combine that with the dismal ratings for OWN, Winfrey’s upstart network, and you have a picture of a media titan in trouble.

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Rush Limbaugh isn’t making Clint Eastwood’s day.

The conservative talker spent a second straight broadcast mocking Eastwood’s now infamous “Halftime in America” Chrysler ad that aired on Super Bowl Sunday. Today, Limbaugh played a parody on his popular radio show to keep the story alive despite Eastwood’s protest that the commercial wasn’t meant to support President Obama’s auto bailout policies.

When somebody tells me Clint Eastwood did a halftime commercial for Chrysler, I expect it to be something like this,” Limbaugh told his 20 million listeners before audio of an Eastwood impersonator began:

Limbaugh’s is audio only, but video parodies from other sources were created for the Internet, including one from the Second City Network that appears to be a subtle attack on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.