From Reuters:

(Reuters) – Quoting from “The King’s Speech,” the Oscar-winning movie about his great-grandfather, Prince William projected his royal voice to woo the Hollywood power crowd in a bid with wife Kate to promote young British talent.

He in black tie, she in a pleated lavender Alexander McQueen gown, the young newlyweds on Saturday night set a tone of classic elegance for the most high-profile event in their three-day visit to the United States.

Hollywood royalty — from actors Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, and Barbra Streisand to studio mogul Harvey Weinstein — turned out for the couple of the moment at the $25,000 a table gala organized by British Academy for Film and Television (BAFTA), of which William is president.

“I would like to thank Colin Firth for my perfect opening line — I have a voice,” William joked with the crowd, quoting one of the most famous lines in the 2010 movie about King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth who overcame a stammer. (more…)

This is the most recent installment of exclusive interviews with Dr. Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College, on his book revealing how communists, from Moscow to New York to Chicago, have long manipulated America’s liberals/progressives. Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century is based on an unprecedented volume of declassified materials from Soviet archives, FBI files, and more.

Big Peace: Professor Kengor, Hollywood is celebrating its Academy Awards, a look back at great actors and actresses and films.

Kengor: For me, it’s a moment to look back at Hollywood’s worst communists, communist sympathizers, Stalinists, and duped liberals and progressives—as well as the good guys (and gals) that fit none of those categories.

Big Peace: Fair enough. This should be fun. Let’s start with communists.

Charlie Chaplin comment, “Thank God for
communism!” will make you see (him) red.

Kengor: How about the Hollywood screenwriters who liberals still insist were innocent lambs? Dalton Trumbo, Communist Party code “Dalt T;” Albert Maltz, party no. 47196; Alvah Bessie, no. 46836; John Howard Lawson, no. 47275. Or, if you turn to page 191 of my book—if you don’t have a copy yet, shame on you—you can view Arthur Miller’s party application. Miller wrote The Crucible, about how Joe McCarthy pursued “liberals” unfairly suspected of being communists—“liberals” like Miller, Trumbo, Maltz, Bessie, Lawson.

Big Peace: As you say in Dupes, Hollywood produced “quite a cast.” Let’s narrow the focus to the Academy Awards. (more…)

Hollywood, hear our plea:  Could you make some mainstream movies that don’t suck?  There’s nothing worse than a Christmas season where going to the movies seems about as appealing as sharing a straw with Lindsay Lohan.

Throw us a bone – how about more than just one or two flicks a year not targeted to the demographic that thinks Lady Gaga is a boundary-pushing icon of limitless creative vision?  Maybe a couple that are not focused on shiny supernatural creatures who chat about their feelings and stare longingly into the eyes of dead-eyed starlets acting as the surrogate for the millions of lonely shut-ins who adore them?  Just a few films not aimed squarely at creepy man-children dwelling in their moms’ Kleenex-strewn basements wishing they too could winch their bloated tushes into tights and fight crime just like their cinematic heroes.

How about more than just a handful of movies for men and women who need more than five hands to count out their age, who breathe through their noses, who have lives?  I have some dough – well, at least until the President and his fellow travelers declare me rich too – and I’d like to take my hot wife out once in a while to see a movie.  I used to go a lot, a few times a month.  But it seemed that five years ago there were always at least a few movies that piqued my interest.  Perhaps it’s me – perhaps I’m too demanding, what with my stubborn insistence on interesting stories told in a coherent manner by competent actors.  Or perhaps it’s just that the recent crop of movies is exceptionally crappy.

Let’s address the curmudgeon question here and now – yes, I have occasionally turned my hose on those damn kids when they messed up my lawn, but hobbies aside, the fact is that Hollywood is both leaving money on the table and sacrificing what little artistic credibility it has left by ignoring the normal adult demographic.  It appears that Hollywood has simply thrown in the towel and decided to focus on feeding formulaic moron fodder to a waiting cohort of slack-jawed ninnies eager for the next story about a magical robot or a superhero with issues. (more…)

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.

(more…)

When I read Barbra Streisand’s September 14th op-ed in the Huffington Post, I was moved to pity for her former fans and embarrassment for James Brolin. This is because Streisand’s article is chock full of exaggerations, innuendo, and outright lies. It also has its fair share convenient omissions, as when Streisand blames Republicans for “[turning] a $236 billion budget surplus left by President Clinton into a $1.2 trillion deficit left by President Bush.” (Granting her numbers for the sake of argument, she doesn’t have the common decency to then point out that the $1.2 trillion of debt which Bush accumulated over eight years has been turned into over $13 trillion by Obama in less than two years!)

The goal of Streisand’s piece is to try to stall the momentum of the pending Republican takeover in November. Therefore it is overrun with excuses for why Obama has yet to bring us all some hope and change, and the main reason given is because those rascally ole Republicans “have been committed to blocking progress at all costs in order to insure the failure of this President.”

Does Streisand not understand that the Democrats have a commanding majority in the House and a near filibuster-proof majority in the Senate? In other words, Obama doesn’t need Republican support to pass his agenda; he just needs all the Democrats to support him. The problem, which has apparently eluded Streisand, is that Democrats have realized that if they vote for Obama’s style of hope they’ll have to change jobs in November: no wonder everything is at a standstill. (more…)

As the quote from Love Story goes, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” If you subscribe to that philosophy, it will come as no surprise that while Americans continue to sour on President Obama (his approval ratings continue on a collision course with the 30s), there is still one place he can always depend on for free love and fast cash: Hollywood.  One of the most romantic couples of our time has a big date tonight.  From Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – When President Obama took to the stage at a Beverly Hilton ballroom on May 27, 2009, to raise money for the Democratic National Committee, it was a victory lap of sorts for the 250 studio executives, directors and stars who had paid $15,200 apiece to dine on kabachi ravioli as they listened to their newly elected leader.

“If it weren’t for you, we would not be in the White House,” the president told DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, going on to recognize the deep pockets of other showbiz contributors who had put millions into his campaign coffers.

Tonight, a little more than a year later, Obama arrives in Hollywood again to meet and greet industry heavy hitters. This time, the feelings of many in the crowd are more complicated. Obama has faced criticism from the left about unfulfilled campaign promises ranging from the closure of Gitmo to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. (more…)

This is a little off-topic, but whenever I read something conjured by some A-lister over at the HuffPo, I’m always struck by how dull and humorless the writing is. These are big shots, performers, stahs, and most of them write as though they’re submitting some kind of college entrance exam. Where’s the voice, the personality, the wit…? Yes, we get it, you’re … smart … and … informed … and … serious. But for my sake — for the sake of the guy whose job it is to trudge through your mighty impressiveness on a daily basis, could you you spice it up some — a little hot-cha-cha for you’re favorite right-wing extremist?

And this isn’t an ideological thing. As morally and politically illiterate as many of my writer foes on the left are, at least they’re not boring.

—– 

Where was I? Oh, yes, the wagon circling. Other than nudging Obama to be even more socialist when it comes to the kind of regulation and oversight necessary to kill middle-class jobs and tax us all into poverty ensure this tragedy never happens again, not a single one criticizes the President for his mishandling of the spill. But guess who does rank a Babs mention?

Redford’s video above is a pretty fascinating piece of propaganda. Take special note of how he at first laments the  job losses caused by the spill but then closes by calling for even more job losses through an end to offshore drilling. It should go without saying that the Obama administration’s voting present throughout the 50-plus days of this disaster never comes up. (more…)

So, I’m wearing pants, which means another Rasmussen Poll has arrived. And – to echo every single hack editorial writer – it’s bound to cause a “chilling effect” among whatever needs chilling.

According to the poll, 65 percent of Americans say they won’t make major lifestyle changes to help the environment.

These findings, of course, will be filed under “idiot America” by our greenies stateside, and those abroad.

Yep – It’s just another example of how selfish and short-sighted we dumbass Yanks really are. Screw the earth. All we care about is our monstrous SUV’s, our Play Stations, and of course, our vintage collection of shrunken spotted owl heads.

I have 58. (more…)

“Comrade Karen?”

My wife gazes at me, and she’s like, “Huh?”

“Since I’m watching all these Russian themed movies I feel the need to get in character.”

“Robert…”

“Comrade Robert, if you please.”

My poor wife heaves a weary sigh.

“Comrade Robert, how long will this lunacy continue?”

“Counter-revolutionary! Saboteur! Trotskyite!”

Comrade Karen sternly points to the stairs, and I make my way to a Zhivago-like exile in the living room for the next few hours.

Oh, the sacrifices I make for my comrades at Big Hollywood.

(more…)

Our newest film in this series, 1931’s The Champ, marks the first time we begin our study not with a director but with a writer. Not to say that the director didn’t have a great deal to do with the success of the film — he most certainly did, and (as the title of this post hints) we will review that contribution in good time. But in the case of The Champ, it was the writer who was primarily responsible for the rich familial tone and heart-rending melodrama for which this touching little film (only 86 minutes) is best known and remembered.

The Champ is that rare film that features a pair of strong male leads doing masculine things in a masculine universe, but with nuanced and delicate characterizations that delve far deeper than the usual sports movie, tearing at the raw edges of what it means to be a parent in an imperfect world, to live through the tragedy of a broken family, and to suffer the premature loss of childhood innocence. On the surface, these subjects would seem ill at home in one of the most famous boxing movies of all time. But The Champ is not based on a true story, or cribbed from a famous novel — it was wholly conceived in the mind of the screenwriter. And not just any screenwriter, but the most prolific (and arguably one of the greatest) in Hollywood history. Who was he, you ask?

Well, first of all, he was a she. (more…)