From KTTV, Los Angeles:

Funeral services were pending today for actor Jackie Cooper, who starred in “Our Gang” shorts as a child and was nominated for an Oscar at age 9, but was known to later fans as Daily Planet editor Perry White in the “Superman” films of the 1970s and 80s.

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Because we see so many left leaning, despisers of America in Hollywood and other celebrity hot-spots, it’s refreshing to come across a celebrity who loves this country the way most Americans do. Someone who actually gets a bit emotional when he talks about our armed forces and the price they pay to keep us free. Someone who spends his time far away from the esoteric glitz and glamour so many successful celebrities crave, choosing instead to rub elbows with the salt-of-the-earth folks who make this country work.

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I’m talking about Larry the Cable Guy, and particularly the way he uses his newest show, “Only in America,” to highlight how the ingenuity and courage of everyday Americans has been (and remains) the backbone of this nation.

To put it plainly, Larry the Cable Guy is gitting-r-done when it comes to highlighting the greatness of the United States of America. And he’s doing it in truck stops, small towns, mom and pop diners, and by storming beaches with our Marines at Camp Pendleton.  (As I alluded to in my first paragraph, it’s safe to say Larry isn’t running into Susan Sarandon or Oliver Stone at any of these stops.)

“Only in America” is 100% pro-America. In each episode Larry the Cable Guy shows up next to someone who’s been doing something great but gone unnoticed for it. He then makes sure they get noticed and along the way reminds Americans of how fortunate we are to be here, even now.

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In “Scream 4,” the recently-released thriller directed by Wes Craven, a publicist refers to Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as a “victim for life.” For Prescott, who was attacked and nearly murdered in the original “Scream”  trilogy, the characterization rings true. In “Scream 4,” victimhood and the publicity that accompanies it are major themes as a new killer emerges in Woodsboro, the site of the original murders.

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On a publicity tour to promote her new book “Out of Darkness,” Prescott returns to Woodsboro where she reunites with former tabloid reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette). Weathers and Riley are married and while the former is writing a novel, the latter spends his time as the town sheriff. Even before Prescott starts signing books at a local store, a new killer has already struck. That killer is soon hunting down some of the local teenagers and trying to murder Prescott.  

As I previously noted, I enjoyed the original “Scream” trilogy. Like a lot of horror movies, the series features a lot of violence and gore but the stories are well-told. The trilogy was created to serve a certain audience and they do that well. While “Scream 2” was the best of the original trilogy, “Scream 3” was the weakest. “Scream 4” should be rated beneath the original two “Screams” but above “Scream 3.”

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John Hawkins of RightWing News recently interviewed Andrew Breitbart about his new book.  It’s a fun interview and a great read!

I always find it fascinating when people who used to be liberal say they turned to the right. That happened with you. Can you tell us about it?

Well, it’s a cliché from the left to the right. And it’s usually a story of opportunism in those few cases where the people move from the right to the left. It’s almost embarrassing to go back into my liberal background because it was about as shallow a belief system as humanly possible. It was go-along to get-along social. It was living in Los Angeles, being young, and single, and flowing with the trendy liberal crowd.

When I started to work in Hollywood at a fairly low level delivering scripts around town, listening to AM talk radio, I at first listened to it as a novelty. But I started to have certain things in my life going on such as living in a rent controlled apartment, having listened to the Clarence Thomas hearings, the OJ Simpson trial — I just started to see trends in my personal experiences that ran so contrary to what the media narratives were. At first I was flummoxed by it and then I just started to listen to certain people on the radio who were more clear thinking than the professors that I had in college.

I remember thinking when I was in college that a lot of these known Chomsky-like, verbose high lefty thinkers made absolutely no sense but I thought that was my problem. So when I started to listen to conservative thinkers and to read conservative thinkers, there was a clarity of thought. It wasn’t muddled. It wasn’t confusing. It started to make sense at an intellectual level and tie into the values that my parents gave me when I was a young kid that I diverted from when I was in high school.

So it was basically a reconnecting with everything that my parents attempted to instill in me in my youth. It has made me sleep a lot better at night, being centered and oriented with human nature as opposed to living in a world of self loathing nihilism, trying to undo human nature, and trying to create a path towards an unrealistic utopia.

Now, you were recently banned from the front page of The Huffington Post….

Oh, the tragedy of my life.

(Laughs) It is, it is. Apparently you made some sort of ad hominem attack on Van Jones and The Huffington Post has a policy against that. It must have been in place for at least two minutes or so before you were banned. Can you talk about that?

Read the entire review at RightWing News.

Check out Andrew’s list of upcoming appearances and other press coverage.

An informative and intelligent discussion that desperately needed to be had outside the world of the news media and inside Maher’s world — the world of popular culture.

The most telling moment here is the audience reaction after Maher pulls no punches and says the following: 

“What it comes down to, is that there is one religion in the world that kills you when you disagree with them. And they say, ‘Look, we are a religion of peace, and if you disagree, we’ll cut your fucking head off.’”

The studio audience … applauds.

In the past, whenever Maher’s brought this truth up in this way, his audience has audibly gasped as the silent tension became thick and immediate. At this point, Maher was always on his own as his guests shifted uncomfortably in their chairs and the audience gulped for air to fight off a case of the PC vapors.

To his credit, though, Maher keeps on keeping on, keeps making this case and telling this truth as he sees it, and it appears now as though it’s finally penetrating.

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Tina Fey claims her mean-spirited Palin impersonation backfired on her “30 Rock” ratings. The low-rated show remains on the air, though. Because, you know, Hollywood is so money driven. Looks like Oprah’s now worried about the same.

If this report is true, it makes sense. The Queen of All Media has OWN, a full-blown network to get off the ground and, frankly, how much help would Oprah be this time around? Obama needed her in his 2008 primary race against Hillary Clinton, but unless the Secretary of State challenges the President, Oprah can sit this one out. Anyone she could convince to vote for Obama is likely to anyway, so there’s really no compelling reason to risk further polarizing her audience.

Oprah was a factor against Hillary, though. Believe that.

PopEater:

Now as the 2012 election process has officially begun, sources tell me this time around Oprah’s support will be much more private.

“For 2012, much has changed for Oprah. She now has own cable channel called OWN that has been struggling to find an audience — she isn’t going to do anything to alienate them,” a TV insider tells me. “Unlike in 2008, when a drop in ratings didn’t matter as much for the queen of TV, Oprah is now fighting every day to get people to tune into OWN.”

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So according to some handy-dandy researchers, too much consumer choice is bad for society.

Their explanation: thinking about so many alternatives makes you less likely to support policies that help people.

According to a Science Daily scribe, who seemed somewhat enamored by this research, “Simply thinking about ‘choice’ made people less likely to support policies promoting greater equality.”

Their examples of such well-meaning policies that get screwed: affirmative action, taxing “fuel-inefficient cars,” and banning violent video games.

Now, you might find this funny.

But to me, it’s creepier than a shopping mall Santa in cut-offs.

These researchers seem to have concluded that a free society makes it hard for these same researchers to force their beliefs on the rest of us dumb people. Let’s remember, they assume the policies they favor are the helpful ones. Never mind that they have their heads so far up their asses they’re eating last night’s dinner.

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****ADDED: I was thinking about this just now while I was at the DMV getting a first hand look at ObamaCare. This is FNC’s primetime line up: Shep, Greta, Baier, Hannity, O’Reilly, Beck. I have no idea how the first three vote but I do know how every anchor at CNN votes, everyone at MSNBC votes and most certainly how Jon Stewart votes. Fox separates their opinion and hard news. The others use objectivity as a weapon.

Big difference between what Comedy Central aired (standard Mediaite vapors there) and the full interview with Jon Stewart and FNC’s Bret Baier, which Comedy Central posted online.

Not sure which is my favorite part:

1. When Jon Stewart refuses to admit Charles Krauthammer is a genius.
2. When Jon Stewart has to use the KKK to defend the Caucasian-ality of his anti-Beck rally.
3. When Bret Baier calmly explains to him the necessary difference required in interview styles when one president (Bush) give you three hours and another (Obama) gives you fifteen minutes.
4. When Baier says to Stewart, “At least I didn’t call the president ‘dude.’”
5. Stewart’s playing intentionally dumb so he can pretend he, and therefore we (the great ignorant unwashed), can’t tell the difference between straight news and opinion news.
6. Baier getting Stewart to admit there is hard new on FOX.

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A disturbing trend in cinema is the inability of some filmmakers to distinguish the difference between pathetic and kind. Really, they’re not the same thing at all, but over the past few years there have been scores of wide-releases with protagonists who aren’t nice guys so much as weak and naïve, not truly friendly because to be that one must have an awareness of what it means to be unfriendly.

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Miguel Arteta’s “Cedar Rapids” might be the most egregious offender I can fathom, surpassing the similarly awful protagonists in “Dinner for Schmucks.” To call Ed Helms’ insurance salesman Tim Lippe milquetoast would be an insult to those who are merely weaklings. Tim’s a small town Wisconsin insurance man who apparently has never left his burg, nor does he seem to have ever watched television, read a magazine, or even spoken to anyone about what the world’s about.

Were this guy real, he’d be instantly unlikeable, a grinning idiot that has gone to great troubles to minimize his exposure to the slightest element of reality. Helms, of “The Office” and “The Daily Show” fame, proves unable to handle his nitwit character in a way that engenders empathy, but he does seem to be winking at the audience, a fatal mistake. Pathetic characters are best played without a sense of irony, and when John C. Reilly shows up, all I could think of was how better suited that great actor would be for the lead role, though even a fine performance could only do so much with this repulsive material.

The film’s contempt for Tim creates an awkward tension with the moments where we’re expected to laud his progress in the titular Iowa city, victories which include but are not limited to:

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News of the death of legendary composer John Barry got me perusing through his astoundingly prolific repertoire of classic film scores. Although he is most famous for scoring the many James Bond films (even if his role in penning the original “Dr. No” theme song itself remains in dispute), my personal favorite movie theme by Barry is his overture for the 1964 film Zulu featuring Welsh actor Stanley Baker and a young up-and-coming English actor in his first starring role, Michael Caine.  Barry’s powerful opening score is just one of the many reasons I love this flick.  In fact, I believe that Zulu is one of the great underrated war movies of all time. 

Zulu was directed by blacklisted American screen-writer Cy Enfield who also co-wrote the script with historical writer John Preeble.  The film was produced by Enfield and lead actor Baker through the latter’s newly-formed production company, Diamond Films.  Zulu was a pet project of Baker’s who worked tirelessly to bring his vision of an article penned by Preeble to the screen. 

The film harkens back to the year 1879 during the opening of the Zulu War where lonely British army outpost called Rorke’s Drift sits nestled in the dry and rugged terrain of Natal, South Africa.  The little company of mostly Welsh soldiers left to guard the way station and hospital thinks they’re on quiet rear echelon duty when news arrives that their entire regiment of 1,200 men has been ambushed and massacred at the Battle of Isandlwana by the army of Zulu king Cetewayo (played in the film by the real Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi).  To make matters worse, 4,000 of them are now headed their way, hell bent on destroying the tiny garrison of just over 100 men. 

Tension builds within the command structure as the infantry company c.o. Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead (Caine) must relinquish control to the visiting Royal Engineers Lt. John Chard (Baker) who, though it’s not his unit, has seniority nonetheless.   Ordered to hold their ground, Chard applies his engineer’s eye to the problem and orders the garrison to construct a concentric series of defense lines from overturned wagons, crates and mealie bags…with a final redoubt at its core.  While the preparations for the attack are underway, the post is visited by a variety of characters. 

Natal native contingent militiaman Ardendorff (Gert Van den Bergh) has just escaped from Isandlwana.  The Boer—who ironically will soon be waging bitter war against the British himself—agrees to stay and act as military consultant.  (more…)

American Chopper: Senior Versus Junior is reminding me, and many other entrepreneurs about everything right and wrong about business. But also, it’s reminding us about the best and worst of ourselves… that part of us that gets sucked into the limelight and spit out. The part that longs for approval. The part that pleads to be loved. Or, most importantly, wants to build something beautiful in life. 

Back in 2003, at about the same time I was getting my hand pretty far up fame’s skirt (just before her dad walked in the room and kicked my ass), I found Discovery and Pilgrim Entertainment’s “American Chopper,” a reality show about the Teutuls, a family of rough-and-tumble men who own Orange County Choppers (Orange County, NY… not CA). They build some of the most beautiful custom choppers on the road, but the appeal of the show is that, because we’re dealing with a father and his sons, they fight. A lot.

The show featured a classic battle between an overbearing, strict father and a creative son with a penchant for showing up late to work. As Paul Teutul, Sr. pushed Paul Jr. to adhere to the company rules, Paul Jr. pushed for more creative and business freedom, and the show that made it possible for them to grow into a full-on motorcycle factory brought fame and fortune for both, their egos and bank accounts grew exponentially. 

But because these are real men, who take challenges to their egos and masculinity seriously, the show ended with a fiery argument, with the father firing the son (along with a big chair, a few garbage cans and a bunch of tools being thrown with the force of a 103 cubic-inch V-twin at full throttle). 

Discovery couldn’t make a show without both men and canceled the show after its long run. Then Paul Tuetul, Sr. sued his son for a million dollars in stock options, vowing to crush his progeny beneath the weight of the litigation. You would think that a bad economy (the principals acknowledge that OCC has been losing money), the loss of the company’s creative force and the stress of a legal fight amongst family members would bring calamity. But these aren’t well-coiffed, manicured, metrosexual Hollywood reality TV stars we’re dealing with. They’re real men who build badass machines.  (more…)

It’s impossible to work in the theatre industry and not have colleagues, business partners and life-long friends who are gay. I have always viewed this fact as one of the most wonderful and enriching dynamics of the theatre community.  It’s so invigorating being part of a show (which very soon takes on the characteristics of a family) and have people from every walk of life represented, often by “Type A” personalities who bring joy and variety to the daily routine of presenting a show.

After collaborating with gay associates for almost thirty years, I’ve reached the conclusion that most gay men hold a fundamentally center/right view on most economic and national security issues.  The over-riding feeling expressed to me from my gay friends is the deeply held desire to be left alone.  And after watching GOProud Chairman Christopher Barron take this obnoxious attack from non-entity Cenk Uyger for having the temerity to identify himself as a conservative, I’ve reached the greater conclusion that the conservative movement needs articulate and courageous voices like this as part of our team.

As Mr. Barron puts it: “I have an easier time being openly gay with conservatives than I do being a conservative with other gay people.”  So, if CPAC and the Republican Party can be accepting of gay conservatives who don’t hold exactly to every single position espoused by the party, why can’t Broadway do the same?
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This week Barabra Streisand emerged from her self -imposed seclusion to grace Larry King and his viewers with her presence on the TV host’s penultimate broadcast.  As the Los Angeles Times put it, the “interview” resembled more of an infomercial for the product that is Barbra Streisand.

In segment after segment Barbra talked about Barbra.  Barbra talked about Obama.  Barbra talked about Barbra.  Barbra talked about Clinton.  And Barbra talked about Barbra.

Larry King dutifully congratulated her on all of her observations.

Here’s one my favorite moments:  When Larry King asked her about the first two years of Barack Obama’s Presidency she laments that President Obama did not use his “executive powers” to unilaterally repeal DADT.  Then, pricelessly, without any sense of self awareness she goes on to praise President Bill Clinton as one of our greatest Presidents.  It would have been at this moment that an actual journalist would have pointed out to Ms. Streisand that President Clinton was the “great” President that instituted the DADT policy that she now wants President Obama to unconstitutionally and unilaterally revoke.  Instead, Mr. King appeared to sit back and admire the beautiful lighting that Ms. Streisand probably supervised prior to the tape rolling.

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If you aren’t happy with the kind of films coming from Hollywood these days, don’t worry. Thanks to the wonderful technological advancements and restorations we can enjoy and rediscover some great films of years past. Think of how impressive The Searchers looks on Blu-ray, with the Technicolor monument valley as detailed and expansive as ever, showing new life never before displayed in previous versions. Blu-ray has the ability to reinvent classic films in a way that can leave even the most elitist film buff with his or her jaw on the floor. Below are a few suggestions of some of my favorite films that have made it into beautiful Blu-ray and would be a great Christmas purchase for the movie lover in your life.

‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’

David Lean’s films are famous for being beautiful and scenic, something that can make or break an epic film.  Lean, who was later to make Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, directed this film which starred such greats as Alec Guinness and William Holden. Like any other truly wonderful film, The Bridge on the River Kwai has stood the test of time. It is an epic action film that flows brilliantly from beginning to end and is exactly the kind of film that deserves a Blu-ray restoration.

Like The Searchers, The Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed in Technicolor and provides a glorious 1080p picture. The enormous landscape of this film was perfect for one of the early uses of widescreen and looks like it could have been filmed yesterday. The mountains, trees, wildlife and the roaring River Kwai all look breathtaking. If only David Lean could see the treatment his film was given, he sure would be proud of it.

Special features include a short film from USC introduced by William Holden discussing how the audience views The Bridge on the River Kwai, a making of feature, appreciation by filmmaker John Milius who calls Kwai “a Citizen Kane grade film.” One thing is for sure, this movie gets better with every viewing and the Blu-ray disk is a great way to rediscover the film and its excellent photography and characters all over again. (more…)

[Ed. Note: What are the odds that the same day I praise this film, this happens? -- JN]

Proving once again that Hollywood always gravitates to the wrong causes, Tim Cavanaugh of Reason.com reported on Dec. 14 that the California town made famous by Erin Brockovich — an activism that Hollywood embraced with a major motion picture starring Julia Roberts — has proven not to have lived up to all the anti-corporate fearmongering that brought the town to the country’s attention.

For those of you that are hazy on the story, local activist Erin Brockovich successfully took Pacific Gas and Electric to court forcing it to pay a record $333 million class-action settlement because it was determined that the company allowed a toxic plume of hexavalent chromium 6 to be released from the natural gas pipeline based in Hinkley, California.

The charge from Brockovich and her supporters was that this cloud of hexavalent chromium 6 was surely going to unleash a wave of devastating cancers on the unsuspecting residents of Hinkley. The courts tended to agree. The court of public opinion also agreed. Interestingly, there wasn’t any real scientific proof to give the contention veracity, but everyone was just sure that increased levels of cancer would befall these poor people. The company lost and paid dearly.

It was just the sort of David vs Goliath story that drew Hollywood to the tale. A 2000 film starring Julia Roberts, one of the highest paid actresses of her day, was crafted to make a hero of Miss Brockovich.

Hollywood loves these anti-corporate stories. From actress Meryl Streep testifying before Congress on the dangers of the chemical Alar on apples and produce, to movies like The China Syndrome, a film about catastrophic safety lapses in the nuclear power industry, even to sci-fi shows like Robocop, a film that made a villain of corporations, Hollywood loves to think of itself as fighting “for the little people.” Sadly, in almost every case the denizens of Hollywood whip up sentiment against things without any truth or proof supporting their position. Meryl Streep was wrong about Alar causing wide-spread cancer, The China Syndrome wholly misrepresented the safety record of the nuclear power industry causing an entire generation of Americans to eschew nuclear power when the rest of the world was fully investing in it (without safety troubles, mind you), and Robocop was simply hyperbole gone wild. Oh, but Hollywood was fighting for you, don’t you know? (more…)

I must confess-I am not a huge fan of documentaries especially those made by partisan manipulators like Michael Moore and Al Gore. In fact, I find most documentaries quite boring. One would think that as a mother of six and grandmother of eight, I would have enjoyed “Babies,” but after five minutes I was switching the channels to something more stimulating. Maybe I’m all babied out.

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When I received a request by a priest to review a film, “The Human Experience,” I was less than enthused. As a columnist for the New York Sun, my mail box was always filled with similar requests which I seldom had time to address although those received from Moving Picture Institute in Tribeca proved quite interesting and I eventually wrote columns about their features. “Mine Your Own Business: The Dark Side of Environmentalism, “written and directed by Phelim McAleer was a favorite and McAleer became Al Gore’s public nemesis for challenging him at forums about global warming.

This being the start of the Christmas season, however, I was intrigued by the priest’s invite when he told me the documentary was made by young residents of St. Francis House, a group home for troubled youth founded by Father Benedict Groeschel. Grassroots Films began here at the home when producer Joe Campo had the residents take up the art of filmmaking. After a few successful short films, the young men decided to live on the streets of New York City to learn about the homeless community. From there the film developed with opportunities to visit areas around the world to discover how our humanity transcends our environment. One of these treks includes a visit to a leper colony in Ghana; another to dying AIDS victims in Africa. (more…)

You probably saw it on YouTube; maybe you read about it on Newsbusters; or, if your humanity is in question, you first saw it on Glee.  Cee-Lo Green’s single “Fuck You” (or FU) is one of the biggest songs of 2010, a viral hit due to its breezy classic pop mixed with a generous helping of modern vulgarity.  The song’s success is certainly a career-saver to the soul singer.  He got his start with the rap outfit Goodie Mob and is best known for his work with the hugely-in-demand producer Danger Mouse in Gnarls Barkley– or rather, he’s best known for the Gnarls Barkley single “Crazy.”  The duo’s sophomore album, The Odd Couple, didn’t do anywhere near as much business as their debut St. Elsewhere. Therefore The Ladykiller, his third solo LP, was a make-or-break moment for his career.  While it made sense for him to gin up attention with some silly shock-mongering, it’s kind of a letdown considering how great the rest of the record is without it.

Cee-Lo Green

In an album full of earnest soul music, FU is a tonal left turn that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  The sound of the song fits; throughout the album, there are a few upbeat, bouncy pop tunes flavored with retro soul, and quite a few moments of wry humor show up, as well.  But the problem here is that FU is a drastic shift in the album’s narrative voice; the titular Ladykiller breaks character here.  On an album with only one other curse word (he mutters “shit” to himself on “It’s OK”), this side of Cee-Lo’s persona doesn’t fit; the rest of these love songs maintain an air of classicism, mystery, chivalry, poetry, and even danger.  FU comes off as whiny, literalistic, and straining, the kind of thing a 23-year-old Pennsylvanian nobody writes as a juvenile, desperate attempt to get a viral hit and rise to stardom.  The obvious marketing ploy jumps right out at you and destroys any feeling of authenticity.  My philosophy:  swear all you want in your music, curse up a storm if necessary.  Just do it for a reason.  Attracting press isn’t much of a reason.

Moreover– and this is my biggest complaint– the attitude towards the woman in the song, if it’s not borderline misogynistic, is completely incompatible with the attitude we see throughout the rest of the LP.  We learn nothing about her, besides the fact that she’s a “gold digger.”  There’s none of this one-dimensional tomfoolery elsewhere; the “ladykilling” theme elsewhere presents itself as love so powerful it becomes consuming or even predatory, as though the Ladykiller is forcing the Biblical principle of dying to oneself onto his mates through a twisted rationale that he’s already taken that step with his own love.  It gives certain songs (“Bodies,” “Love Gun”) an unsettling, enthralling moral ambiguity from which FU’s “You hurt me, so I hate you! Waaah!” is a far cry. (more…)