The Stoning Of Team Hollywood

The crime is complete. Judgment has been passed. The killing stones are in hand. As per the harsh stoning penal code of Iran’s Islamist thugocracy (for however long that lasts) where the crime took place, my stones are not so big as to kill right away, not so small you can’t call them stones. And I’m winding up like Nolan Ryan. Feel free to pick up a stone of your own. But wait for it!

And let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah!

Sentence must be read before being carried out. And unlike Soraya M., the board members of the Asylum of Motion Picture Airheads and Stooges will deserve every rock that’s thrown their way. I also believe that, in light of events in Iran today, the following commentary will stand out in much starker prominence than it did when I first started reporting on them in early March, when Team Oscar first set off for the Unfriendly Skies of Islamist Iran. (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, Al Franken, Alireza Davudnejad, Ambush Bay
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:45 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1641062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/19/the-stoning-of-team-hollywood/The+Stoning+Of+Team+Hollywood2009-06-20+00%3A45%3A26John+T.+Simpson

Bruce Willis: Our Die Hard Action Hero Returns

After flirting with smaller, more squishy roles in recent pictures like “The Assassination of a High School President” and “What Just Happened,” Bruce Willis is returning to action. The 54-year-old actor is interested in a slew of projects that will have him playing a former CIA agent, an FBI informant out to bust up the mob, a detective and both funny and serious cops.

Based on the Wildstorm/DC comics series, “Red” could see Willis playing a retired CIA black-ops badass who is forced to take action when an assassin threatens both he and his girlfriend. The film is being produced by Summit Entertainment, the studio responsible for the “Twilight” series. Willis’s deal has not been finalized, but it could be a sweet one since, as Summit production chief Eric Feig told me a few weeks ago, he sees “Red” as another potential franchise.

Not many fifty-something actors get those kinds of offers. (more…)

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Tags: bruce willis, CIA, cops, FBI, Inventory
Posted Apr 30th 2009 at 4:52 pm in Entertainment, News | 122354No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ttapp/2009/04/30/bruce-willis-die-hard-action-hero/Bruce+Willis%3A+Our+Die+Hard+Action+Hero+Returns2009-04-30+23%3A52%3A14Tom+Tapp

The All-Time Top 10 Movie Posters (one man’s opinion) – #1 JAWS, #2 CHINATOWN, #3 THE DARK KNIGHT

Over the weekend, I was pondering why the low budget, standard genre pic The Haunting in Connecticut (Lionsgate) has become a nifty little box office hit. The film added almost $9.5M over the weekend for a new 10-day cume of $37M, and the only conclusion I have been able to reach is that it’s all about the poster.

Creepy, right? I have not seen Haunting and will probably wait for DVD or pay cable, but that is a weird, startling, attention-grabbing image. As a movie junkie, I love good movie art. The best movie posters are evocative. They capture what a movie is all about without giving away the mystery. There are certain movie posters that instantly put me back in that theatre experiencing the film for the very first time. The best movie posters are not just promotional tools. They stand as a work of art on their own. These are my favorites, buit it is by no means a definitive list. Feel free to add your favorites (and subtract any of mine).

(more…)

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Tags: 2001: a space odyssey, a clockwork orange, academy award, alan ball, alfred hitchcock
Posted Apr 6th 2009 at 8:27 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 9912237 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/04/06/posters/The+All-Time+Top+10+Movie+Posters+%28one+man%27s+opinion%29+-+%231+JAWS%2C+%232+CHINATOWN%2C+%233+THE+DARK+KNIGHT2009-04-07+03%3A27%3A28Steve+Mason

Adventures in the Scream Trade, Take One

If you’re wondering if I was about to opine on the craft of gut-twisting horror stories, you’d only be half right. I’m actually talking about real life here. As many of you may know from my earlier posts, I first flame-throwered onto the scene here at Big Hollywood about a month ago, on the occasion of Team Oscar’s could-not-be-more-ill-advised taking off for the unfriendly skies of Islamist Iran.

I knew they were going to get punked! They were going to Punkedville! In fact, I was so sure of it, I was the one who broke the story in the US off the French wires to Drudge and Nikki Finke.  One Hollywood Jihadi PR roadside bomb detonated. War Is Hell.

Look at their trip from my POV. I remember the whole balls-to-the-wall anti-Apartheid campaign from the mid-eighties. ‘I Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City,’ remember? By the way, wasn’t Little Stevie great in that video? Love him! Point being, if the racist South African apartheid regime was unworthy of cultural exchange, why was the gay-hanging, women-stoning, child-executing, blogger-killing, hostage-taking fascist regime in Iran worthy of a gold-plated Academy PR kiss? (more…)

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Tags: AMPAS, Andrew Breitbart, angelina jolie, Annette Bening, ben stiller
Posted Apr 6th 2009 at 5:58 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, News, Politics | 9749410 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/06/adventures-in-the-scream-trade-take-one/Adventures+in+the+Scream+Trade%2C+Take+One2009-04-06+12%3A58%3A54John+T.+Simpson

Top 5: Superhero Moments

My buddy and fellow Big Hollywooder Christian Toto penned a “Top 5 Superhero Moments” over at his blog which has inspired my own.

I only steal the best. Ask my wife’s first husband.

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1.  Superman (1978) – Superman Saves Lois and Catches the Helicopter: “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?” The genius of this moment is that director Richard Donner makes you wait for it. There’s forty minutes of mythology and story and teases until finally, finally he hits you with the awesome. The special effects still convince, the score still makes you want to tie a bath towel around your neck and “fly” through the house (Right? Don’t leave me hanging), and in the ensuing decades this moment’s only gotten better because of my growing appreciation for just how fabulous Christopher Reeve is in the title role and in knowing that Margot Kidder as Lois Lane was one of the most perfect pieces of casting ever. (more…)

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Tags: bruce willis, Christopher Reeve, Iron Man, Margot Kidder, Spider-Man
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 4:25 pm in Top 5 | 71826134 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/03/top-5-superhero-moments/Top+5%3A+Superhero+Moments2009-03-04+00%3A25%3A37John+Nolte

The Broadway Season I’d Like To See

The horrifying news that Susan Sarandon will make her Broadway debut this Spring (because Broadway isn’t left ENOUGH?) has gotten me to thinking… Instead of Ms. Sarandon, and Rosie O’Donnell and Alec Baldwin & Jessica Lange (in the SAME play, no less) why can’t a Broadway season contain actors who are not so excruciatingly annoying?  I’m not even saying actors who are center/right in their politics — but how about actors who just focus on acting and, when off-camera, acting with class?

Here’s my wish-list for that season, in a perfect world…

(more…)

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Tags: broadway, bruce willis, kelsey grammer, patricia heaton, robert duvall
Posted Jan 13th 2009 at 7:36 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment | 1657751 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/01/13/a-broadway-season-id-like-to-see/The+Broadway+Season+I%27d+Like+To+See2009-01-13+15%3A36%3A50Stage+Right