‘THE HELP’ WINS THREE SAG AWARDS, STREEP AND CLOONEY LOSE

This is a good sign for “The Help,” which is a superb film. SAG is one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers because so much of the Oscar voting pool is made up of actors:

[T]he big winner of the night was Tate Taylor’s The Help, which took home three of the five SAG film acting awards it was up for with Octavia Spencer winning in the Female Actor in a Supporting Role category, followed by Viola Davis taking the Female Actor in a Leading Role award, solidifying her lead over her primary awards season competition Meryl Streep. …

French actor Jean DuJardin pulled an upset himself by taking the SAG Award for Male Actor in a Lead Role for his performance in The Artist over the favorited George Clooney

Because I haven’t seen “The Artist,” or the films for which Clooney and Streep have been nominated, there’s no way for me to judge if this is fair. What I do know is that Clooney’s improved dramatically as an actor over the last decade while Streep’s become a parody of herself, and the snippets I have seen of “The Iron Lady” tell me nothing’s changed.

ANALYST: PAY TV PROVIDERS HAVE ENOUGH MUSCLE TO BLOCK COMPETITION FROM THE WEB

I don’t completely disagree, and there are a few points worth highlighting but also a few to add.

First off, what you’ll read immediately below is why you pay for a ton of crap on cable you don’t watch. Secondly, this is how crap nobody watches stays alive. Finally, and most importantly, this is how a VERY FEW monopolize our popular culture:

Six companies — Disney, News Corp, NBCUniversal, Time Warner, CBS, and Discovery — account for 90% of all viewing hours. They demand that their channels be sold in packages, ”and only that way[.]” …

Well, then what’s to stop an online service from creating a virtual cable company — offering packages of channels via the net but for less than current pay TV providers charge? You’d think there’d be room for someone to do that considering that that consumers pay Comcast about $79 a month for programming that costs the company about $29.

Three reasons follow, and each is valid:

1. “Hollywood studios would only help a new competitor if it offered to pay more than the current pay TV guys do. ”A subscriber lost to Comcast or DirecTV is also a subscriber lost by News Corporation and Disney,” Moffett says.”

2. “[S]treaming video entails “huge and very real infrastructure costs associated with the massive server farms, transport costs, and hosting fees…For a large scale startup, the cost could run into the billions.”

3.  ”The cable guys can upend the economics of online video just by adopting usage based pricing for their broadband services.”

In other words, since most Internet providers also provide cable, they can start charging us exorbitant fees to download and watch programming via a provider such as Netflix Streaming. This will offset any savings we gain moving from cable to a streaming service. Moreover, because of the massive start-up costs involved, it’s hard to imagine a Netflix getting into the business of providing internet. Agreed. But…

This analysis doesn’t take a few things into account, like human nature.  For starters, it assumes the providers of entertainment and Internet hold all the cards when they don’t. The customers create the market, not the other way around. The entertainment providers can try to blackmail us by withholding their product from streaming venues, but eventually we’re going to stop watching their product. Internet providers can blackmail us by charging huge fees, but eventually we’ll use their product less to avoid those fees.

What happens, then, is the unthinkable (for Hollywood), and that’s fewer eyeballs on the product. And when that happens, Hollywood will have to go to where the eyeballs are, which mean bowing to the Streaming god. This also means the cost of streaming will have to go down (if it increases at all) in order for viewership to increase.

For Hollywood, nothing will ever trump eyeballs on the product. That’s where the real money is for obvious reasons. Therefore, everything will be done to get that product in front of people.

One thing I suspect will happen is that once everything is streaming, programmers will do to their programming what we’re seeing done today with online videos, and that’s adding a commercial or two that can’t be fast-forwarded through. There’s a lot of money to be made in advertising if the sponsors know we’re a captive audience no longer in possession of the power to avoid commercials.  Crackle TV does this now to pay for the free programming they stream, and there’s no reason the others can’t.

This is how the inevitable (streaming) can be monetized, and monetizing the inevitable is what everyone needs to be focused on, not fighting it.

RIP:  ‘SEINFELD’ ACTOR IAN ABERCROMBIE DEAD AT 77

“Seinfeld” hasn’t aged a day. I’ve been watching the DVDs after work while killing myself on the treadmill (three miles in two hours is pretty good, right?) and the show’s genius for gently mocking self-involved, urban liberals plays even better today. And, it’s just plain ole’ funny.

10 BEST DIRECTOR’S CUTS

Generally I despise director’s cuts and see them for what they really are — a way to cynically double dip  fans, but I can’t argue with the choices of “Blade Runner,” “Das Boot,” and most especially Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil,” which went from curiosity to classic after a recut was produced using the director’s very precise notes.

WEAK: FULL MATTHEW BRODERICK AS FERRIS BUELLER SUPER BOWL AD FOR HONDA

Weak. Weak. Weak. They couldn’t get Ben Stein? The final bit is kind of clever, though.

What’s most interesting about this ad is that there’s an ad in front of it.

READER: HOLLYWOOD DOES SELL MEMORABILIA

In Friday’s Call Sheet I wondered aloud why Hollywood keeps and reuses props and wardrobe when  there’s a huge market for memorabilia. A reader emailed:

[Y]ou need to watch ‘Hollywood Treasures’ on the SyFy Channel. It’s about a company called Profiles in History, which has regular auctions of Hollywood memorabilia. They’ve done two seasons already, so maybe you can catch them in re-runs or on DVD. You’d be amazed at what some of this stuff goes for — and likewise what doesn’t sell. They handled the Debbie Reynolds collection recently because she couldn’t get anyone in Hollywood interested in building a museum, which is a real shame.

Check it out.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Double shot of Dirty Harry (1971) and Magnum Force (1973) on Blu-ray. These are movies you just have to rewatch a couple of times a year. The Blu-rays look great and were really inexpensive. The two-pack was only $9 and included some pretty interesting extras.

If there’s time tonight, it will be my other $9 two-pack: The Enforcer (1976) and Sudden Impact (1983).

Sometimes you just got to get your Dirty Harry on.

A few months after he first hired me, Andrew Breitbart called me up during that year’s Super Bowl halftime.  During the conversation he asked me what I was watching. I told him “Sudden Impact.” He said, “I hired the right guy.”

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

AN UPDATE ON DARREN ARONOFSKY’S BIBLICAL TALE ‘NOAH‘

CINEMA RETRO’S DAVE WORRALL AT “BOND IN MOTION” AUTO EXHIBITION

ROOM 237 DOCUMENTARY ATTEMPTS TO DECIPHER KUBRICK’S ‘THE SHINING‘

NEW THE ‘DARK KNIGHT RISES’ MERCHANDISE PROMO SHOTS

10 GEEKIEST ONE-SHOT GUEST STARS ON ‘CHUCK‘

SECOND PHOTO OF VIN DIESEL ON THE ‘RIDDICK’ SET

10 KICKASS THINGS MEL BROOKS DID (BESIDES HIS MOVIES)

‘MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 4′ SETS FRANCHISE RECORD WITH $571M WORLDWIDE SO FAR

THE LOST PROJECTS OF HAROLD RAMIS

BUT FOR ‘ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN,’ THERE’D HAVE PROBABLY BEEN NO GRATEFUL DEAD

OSCAR-NOMINATED MOVIE POSTERS: WHAT IF THEY TOLD THE TRUTH?

STEVE BUSCEMI TALKS ABOUT THE SECRET OF ‘BOARDWALK EMPIRE’

ON THE INHERENT DARKNESS OF STEVEN SPIELBERG

READERS BID FAREWELL TO ‘KOTTER’S’ JUAN EPSTEIN

15 FILM FESTIVAL DARLINGS THAT WOULD’VE BEEN BETTER AS TV SERIES

CHRIS ROCK: ‘GROWN UPS’ CAST REUNION MIGHT NOT BE A SEQUEL

EXPLORING THE HIDDEN MYTHOS OF ‘POLICE ACADEMY’ (YES, SOMEONE ACTUALLY WROTE THIS)

‘PHANTOM MENACE’ 3D PREVIEW FROM ‘STAR WARS’ INSIDER

THE MOST RIDICULOUS SCI-FI PLOTS FROM ACTUAL SOAP OPERAS

SEE DON DRAPER ON THE COVER OF SCOTCH & SMOKE MAGAZINE

A LOOK BACK AT ‘THREE CASES OF MURDER,’ STARRING ORSON WELLES

‘TRUE BLOOD’ SEASON 5 TEASER VIDEO

37 THINGS WE LEARNED FROM THE ‘HARD CANDY’ COMMENTARY

‘GAME OF THRONES’ SEASON 2 TRAILER

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CLASSIC PICK FOR TUESDAY,  JANUARY 31

TCM:

8:30 AM  EST: Black Narcissus (1947) –  Nuns founding a convent in the Himalayas are tormented by the area’s exotic beauty. Dir: Michael Powell Cast:  Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar. C-101 mins, TV-14, CC.

Bizarre, very adult and beautifully filmed classic, one of those films that prove the Production Code made for better films with the limits it placed on artists to tell these kinds of stories through subtext and symbolism. Without those limits, the movie wouldn’t be half as good as it is.

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Please send comments, suggestions and tips to jnolte@breitbart.com or Twitter @NolteNC.

STARS DISS HOLLYWOOD: CLOONEY, EDGERTON & MORE SWIPE AT COMMERCIAL MOVIE BOMBS

Let me sum up the thoughts of the stars quoted in this article in five words: Me, me, me, me, me.

None of the so-called stars quoted here are talking about the customers. They are talking about themselves, especially George Clooney, who’s likely scared to try something openly commercial for fear if it flops, even the Huffington Post won’t call him “Hollywood’s pre-eminent A-lister,” as they laughably do here.

…and I hate it when a shit movie comes out that’s obviously made just to make money[.] – Joel Edgerton

At least those shit movies are trying to please the customers, and there actually is something worse than a shit movie designed to make a lot of money and that’s pretentious, self-important shit movies designed to make no money at all.

In related news….

ACTORS EGOS REQUIRE MASSAGING TO FORGE AHEAD WITH VOD

Ongoing discussion at WankFestDance:

VOD is to become a viable business that leads films on the margins to being widely seen, some obstacles have to be worked out of the system. The biggest: convincing actors accustomed to seeing their work play on 2,000 movie screens that the VOD model doesn’t mean their careers are on the downswing and that they’ve been relegated to pay-per-view. The only real equivalent actors have had for this was when they made a stinker that went straight to video obscurity. Will those actors spark to the potential of VOD riches and embrace the idea of promoting films to cable delivery systems instead of the ego-boosting traditional selling system of commercials and print ads? This is a psychological hurdle for stars. When Margin Call sold at Sundance last year with the Lionsgate/Roadside Attraction distribution VOD deal, veteran actors like Kevin Spacey had to be convinced this wasn’t necessarily a step down from a traditional theatrical release.

Since the death of the movie star, actors have zero to do with driving people into theatres. Why even have this argument?

ROSEANNE BARR TO PLAY MOBILE HOME MAVEN FOR NBC

Only NBC would grab one of the most divisive, unlikable stars on the planet and ‘fast-track’ her sitcom.  And, gee, you think maybe there will be some class-warfare “humor” to be had here?

NBC is owned in part by GE. GE is run by Jeffrey Immelt. Jeffrey Immelt is a big-time Obama supporter. Therefore, using all three of their networks, NBC is the biggest billionaire-backed, multinational-owned Super PAC ever created, and it’s all about electing Obama.

‘DAVID WOODERSON’ RETURNS IN MUSIC VIDEO

Matthew McConaughey’s Wooderson is one of my favorite movie characters of the 1990s. Like “Napoleon Dynamite’s” Uncle Rico, there’s just something I love about losers who have no idea they’re losers.

Not only is the video good, but it proves that Wooderson gets older while the rest of us really do stay the same.

No matter how many bad movies McConaughey makes, I will always, always love him for Wooderson.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find a “work” reason to watch “Dazed and Confused” for the 287th time. Yeah, for a Big Hollywood research project. Yeah, Breitbart will buy that. Sure he will.

ABOUT MY EMBARRASSINGLY LARGE MOVIE COLLECTION

To answer some of the comments and emails regarding this photo.

Question: Do you really need all those movies?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When did you start your collection?

Answer: I started my VHS collection in 1981. At the tender age of 14, I spent my entire summer working and living on dairy farm so I could buy one of those top-loading VCRs and a color TV. Back then, VHS tapes were about $20  a pop, so I would save all my money and put three films on a 6 hour tape. It wasn’t until 1997 that switched over to DVD, which is all I have now.

Question: How many movies do you own?

Answer: Over 3,000

Question: You said that this is 70% of your collection, where is the rest?

Answer: The rest are films I recorded to DVD off of TCM; over 700 of them and they’re stored in books.

Question: What kind of movies do you own?

Answer: Mostly American films from every conceivable genre. From cheesy Godzilla features straight through to the arty, independent films of the 90s, to the classics from the Golden Era — my favorite era. There are a ton of B-films, from the lesser-known noirs of the 40s and 50s to 70’s Blaxploitation to everything Charles Bronson did for the last 25 years of his epic career. If the collection is light on anything it would be foreign and silent films, though there are a few. There’s also no porn. I hate porn.

Question: Why?

Answer: I fell in love with old movies as kid, 11 – 12 years-old. It was such a passion, I used to drink instant coffee so I could stay awake through the Late Show and the Late Late Show on school nights. Back in those days, there was no VHS. You could only watch what a few channels allowed you to watch and late at night the independent station we picked up would broadcast old, black and white studio films. Not classics. They were too expensive, but  lesser known films starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Crawford, Cagney, Bogart, Flynn, Bette Davis, and the like.

What I hated was when the movie ended and the feeling I would never see it again. What I hated was being tethered to someone else’s schedule. What I wanted was to own these two-hour drugs that transport you to different world, so I could sample them whenever I felt like it.

I don’t have any other vices. I don’t smoke or drink, I don’t like to travel or eat out. So this is my vice, and there is nothing more precious to me than a day with nothing to do and my 3,000 narcotics to choose from.

To say I can’t wait to retire, take the phone off the hook  and lose myself in my collection is an understatement.

GREAT PHOTO OF HENRY CAVILL AS SUPES

Definitely looking like a great piece of casting.

PRESSURE FOR ACTRESSES TO AGREE TO TV NUDITY IS ‘TREMENDOUS’

Anyone who enjoys seeing young girls exploited and naked should call themselves a feminist. You’ve come a long way, baby.

JUSTIN BIEBER IS OBSESSED WITH THE 1996 MARK WAHLBERG FILM ‘FEAR’

Have you ever seen “Fear?” it’s actually a pretty tense little thriller. Well worth a look.

I CANCELLED MY BLOCKBUSTER BY-MAIL SERVICE

The DVDs just took too long to get here. Like the rest of America, I’m all about the Redbox now. So other than Netflix Streaming, that’s it for me. Plus this, of course. Why suffer through the awfulness of today’s awful movies when you don’t have to? There are movies in my collection I haven’t seen in years, movies I can never see too often, and I can always find something I’m in the mood for.

We have options now and that’s a beautiful thing.

MARG HELGENBERGER OF ‘CSI’ GETS A STAR ON HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME

Well deserved. I was a fan long before “CSI.”

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Wings (1927) on Blu-ray: Review coming.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

A LOOK AT THE SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

WILL WE EVER SEE ALEXANDER PAYNE’S SCI-FI SATIRE ‘DOWNSIZING?

LIAM NEESON FILMED A SCENE FOR ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’?

REESE WITHERSPOON AND RYAN REYNOLDS ATTACHED TO TIM BURTON-PRODUCED ART BIOPIC ‘BIG EYES‘

DIRECTOR LEN WISEMAN REVEALS HOW HIS ADAPTATION WILL DIFFER FROM ORIGINAL ‘TOTAL RECALL’

JONATHAN DEMME GEARING UP ‘FABULOUS’ STEPHEN KING ADAPTATION

RUSSIAN TRAILER FOR MEL GIBSON’S ‘HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION‘

GREAT PHOTO OF HENRY CAVILL AS SUPES

STEVEN SODERBERGH REFLECTS ON HIS UNFILMED VERSION OF ‘MONEYBALL‘

‘SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE’ EPISODE 1 AVAILABLE EARLY ONLINE

A LOOK AT ILM’S WORK ON THE DOGFIGHTS OF ‘RED TAILS‘

BEN STILLER SIGNS FOR HBO COMEDY PILOT; ALAN ALDA IN TALKS TO CO-STAR

WHY PEOPLE REDBOX THE MOVIES THEY DO

LIFE AS AN EXTRA ON THE SET OF ‘WAR HORSE‘

BIG SCREEN MOMENTS THAT ARE STILL A FEAST FOR THE EYES

FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH: 10 KEY MOVIES ON THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

10 ACTORS WHO DIED DURING TV SHOWS

20 INCREDIBLY ARDUOUS FILM PRODUCTIONS

THE 15 BEST CHARACTER-DRIVEN FIGHT SCENES IN MOVIES

THE 10 LEAST PLAUSIBLE MOVIE STUNTS

A LOOK BACK AT THE INNOVATIONS OF GEORGE MÉLIÈS

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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY 25

FMC:

11AM EST: QUILLER MEMORANDUM, THE — After two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin, British secret service agent Quiller is sent to investigate. Cast: Alec Guinness, Max Von Sydow, Senta Berger, George Sanders, George Segal. Director: Michael Anderson.

Underrated espionage thriller with a delightfully complex romantic subplot. The listing says the broadcast is in widescreen, which gives Fox a leg up on Turner. For some reason, Turner airs this in full screen — at least the times I’ve seen it.

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Please send comments, suggestions and tips to jnolte@breitbart.com or Twitter @NolteNC.

Naturally, the hard-left site MovieLine is in an excited lather:

If George Clooney’s first trip behind the camera in three years wasn’t reason enough to be excited for The Ides of March (based on the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon) perhaps a first look at the Barack Obama-inspired campaign posters his presidential candidate character employs in the film will do the trick.

After the box office sensations Leatherheads and Good Night, and Good Luck — who isn’t excited to see Clooney behind the camera again?

More on the film here.

Anyone who’s studied the left for any period of time knew that before the blood had even dried on the sidewalks of Arizona Saturday, that the mainstream media would force us into a terrible choice. After the assassin’s monstrous attack, the decent thing to do would’ve been to come together as a nation to mourn the dead and pray for the survivors. Politics, and most especially political opportunism, should be the last thing on anyone’s mind. But the left, unfortunately, isn’t just anyone. They are who they are and that they would feast on the fresh corpses of the innocent in order to win a couple of political news cycles was obvious. And so those of us who would’ve preferred to go nowhere near the arena of politics when it came to this appalling attack on our country and our democracy, were forced to make sure 1995 didn’t repeat itself, the year President Clinton used the Oklahoma City bombing for partisan gain against his own political enemies.

Joining in on this feast with the likes of Andrew Sullivan, Salon’s Joan Walsh, George Soros’ Eric Boehlert, the very Sheriff charged with protecting Rep. Giffords, Paul Krugman, Markos Moulitsas, and their allies in the media were, naturally, the dregs of the entertainment industry’s humanity barrel, who could barely contain their excitement over an opportunity to to attack the right, Sarah Palin, and call for  – as they always do when given the opportunity – restrictions on speech.

The following is just a taste:

Roger Ebert: The “shooters” are indeed “associated with a larger movement.” Do words have meaning?

John Legend:  I hope politicians will stop using gun imagery to incite their followers. Interesting post: http://gaw.kr/ffa3Zj

Elizabeth Banks: Unfollow. RT @SarahPalinUSA Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” Pls see my Facebook page.

Jane Fonda: @SarahPalinUSA holds responsibility. As does the violence-provoking rhetoric of the Tea Party

Michael McKean: @SarahPalinUSA Keep scrubbing those hands, Sarah…

Piers Morgan:  This now deleted image from Sarah Palin website will be reason this terrible shooting has huge political ramifications http://huff.to/9Scyxh

Michael Moore: When Palin put crosshairs on a map w/ Rep. Giffords & 19 other Dem congressmen/women, she urged followers to “reload” & “aim” for Democrats.

Jeff Wells:  [A]re you going to tell me that Sarah Palin’s …  use of rifle-sight imagery to target Giffords wasn’t an inflammatory factor?

What’s especially funny about Jeff Wells is that just a couple of posts down from that quote is this quote regarding a new film being celebrated by the left called “Hobo With a Shotgun“:

I just want to add to what Steven Gaydos wrote about how Hobo might be (and certainly should be) a great social-vengeance metaphor about an angry disenfranchised guy blasting expensively-cut hair all over them walls.

I look forward to pinning the next white collar office massacre on Wells and the film and an industry that for ten long years has almost uniformly been the most hostile, vitriolic, anti-government force on the planet; spending hundreds of millions of dollars to paint an American president as a war criminal who stole an election, our CIA as a force of evil , and our troops as dehumanized monsters.

Throughout the world and with the awesome power of sound and fury in every medium available, the left-wing message of a corrupted, imperialistic, murderous, corrupt, illegitimate American government and military has relentlessly been broadcasted all to the cheers and appreciative backslaps of the water-carrying media. And yet today, we have political opportunists from this very same industry, some of them as guilty as Michael Moore, going on about crosshairs on some political map and the peaceful gathering a few million everyday Americans opposed to ObamaCare.

Comparing a political map even I wasn’t aware of until this weekend and NO SOCIALISM signs held by small children to this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this…? Really? If we’re going to go down the absurd road of pinning responsibility for real-life violence on political speech and images, let the games begin here…

Never forget that this is the same industry that created the 2006 “mockumentary,” “Death of a President,” a film released throughout the world, into 143 domestic theatres, celebrated with an award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, and which depicted — onscreen, with the use of CGI — the assassination of President George W. Bush … all to the cheers of Rober Ebert’s website.

Finally, I would like to close by reminding the entertainment industry that it’s probably not in their best interest to blame images and words on real-life acts of violence. Admitting that you’ve believed this the whole time you were knowingly creating a deadly product will make Big Tobacco look like Mother Teresa by comparison.

Without further ado, here are (in no particular order) just a few examples of PCism from 2010 in music, TV, movies, and publishing. Certainly there are many more and these are not necessarily a “top ten,” but these examples do serve to show that PCism is not dead despite the Tea Party uprising, the growth of the conservative new media, and the resulting Republican tsunami from the midterm elections.

Movies and Actors

Who could forget the film Machete, starring Danny Trejo and directed by Robert Rodriguez? This one was a sort of pastiche of 1970s exploitation movies with a Mexican twist. The film was replete with White sheriff’s ruthlessly murdering pregnant Mexican immigrants, American businessmen working to keep Mexicans down, overpowering racism against Mexicans by white Americans and it all seemed intended to inflame militant Mexican nationalism and to goad illegal immigrants in America to put all the blame on white America. The creators claimed it was supposed to be just good, over-the-top fun but in the climate of racial tensions in America today it was as funny as a militant Mexican flavored attempt to start a race war.

2010 also didn’t signal the end of more failed Iraq War movies, unfortunately. There was box office bomb “Green Zone,” with Matt Damon. This one portrayed the U.S. army as involved in illicit and murderous cover ups, naturally. There was the flop “Fair Game,” with Sean Penn, a film that retold all the lies about the non-outing of Valerie Plame during the Bush administration. We also had the quixotic “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” starring George Clooney, a bomb of a film that made the U.S. look like a ship of fools. They all had two things in common. One, the U.S. was evil/wrong/at fault and two the films failed to make a dime.

We had plenty of lunacy from the Actor’s peanut gallery in 2010, too. Caryn Elaine Johnson, better known as Whoopi Goldberg, regaled us with her uninformed take on recent American history by declaring that all the terrorists from “a few years ago” were white folks and she just couldn’t understand why everyone was always focusing on Muslim-sponsored terror. That same week Angelina Jolie told the media that she wouldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving because it is nothing but “happy murder the natives day” as far as she was concerned. Then there is yet another anti-American rant from Roger Ebert who claimed that Americans are racists and far too stupid to understand why the Ground Zero Mosque is a great idea. For good measure Ebert added that Sarah Palin is too stupid to write her own material. And not to be left behind as the crazy train left the station, Sean Penn once again gushed enthusiastic about his buddy, dictator and communist Hugo Chavez saying that he thought reporters that dissed his pal Hugo should be thrown in jail.

As an aside, actress Maria Conchita Alonso had just about enough of idiot Penn’s support of dictator Chavez and wrote an open letter ripping the half-wit actor a new one. Good for her.

Lastly in the movies section, there was movie mogul Aaron Sorkin who had his PC sensibilities so enraged by Sarah Palin’s TV show that he took to the far left-wing site HuffingtonPost.com to call her any number of names. Apparently he was upset that Palin was a hunter. Yes, this is the same Aaron Sorkin that was arrested for cocaine use in 1991. So, Sorkin is all upset that someone would dare shoot a caribou but he doesn’t mind at all that drug dealers are murdering humans everyday so that he can get high. Nice guy.

Television

As always there is plenty of PC nonsense to choose from on Television but a few instances stand out.

An episode of the now canceled CBS series “Medium,” starring Patricia Arquette, gave us a Sheriff Joe Arpaio-like character that was not anything like the real Sheriff Joe. Instead of a tough-as-nails, patriotic crime fighter like the real sheriff in Arizona, “Medium” made its Arizona sheriff a child rapist and murderer. Nice, eh?

Not to be outdone, the normally patriotic series “NCIS,” starring Mark Harmon, also a CBS series, portrayed a group of terrorists trying to set off a dirty bomb. Were these terrorists an al Qaeda cell, a radical Islamic sect, or even a Pakistani or Somali immigrant? Nope. The episode titled “Dead Air,” features a cabal of white suburbanites sick of the U.S. government and trying to explode a dirty bomb to bring the government down. This episode also featured the characters intimating that radio talk shows are all run by “smart-aleck” hosts that are not big on “intelligent conversation.” The white suburbanites called themselves an army of “MAH,” or Military At Home. In an era when Islamic terror is killing people all across the world, “NCIS” gave us American, white, suburbanite terrorists. One wonders if Whoopi Goldberg wrote this episode for them?

Of course, this is not to mention all the nonsense that goes on over at ABCs The View (like when the girls childishly walked off the set over an appearance of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly), or more Rosie O’Donnell blather, or the foolishness that infects MSNBC on a daily basis — does MSNBC even qualify as TV? If I were to focus on those venues we’d not have room for anything else.

Comic Books

Let’s start with the PC move to add a gay character to the venerable Archie Comics series. This is certainly the ultimate in political correctness. After generations of fantasy teen love now we have an Archie Comics that sees the need to lower the whole series to prurient interests.

Marvel Comics took at least one turn towards PCism in 2010, too. In Captain America issue #602 we met a new super villain. What powered this new villain that was about to destroy America? Tea, it seems. That’s right in issue #602 Captain America proclaimed the Tea Party an enemy to America. Imagine, Captain America afraid of Americans!

DC Comics also got into the PC game this year when on a trip to Europe, Batman helped sponsor a Muslim superhero in France. With all the troubles that radical Islam is causing Europe — but most especially France — DC Comics thought it was a great idea to create a Muslim superhero by glossing over all the reality of the clash of cultures and making a Muslim the “French savior.” PCism big time that.

Music

What could be a better example of PCism run amok than the recent campaign of “Lady Gaga” to turn the armed forces pink? Gaga… I hesitate to even write the absurd moniker… was a vocal opponent of the Clinton era policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) and spent a lot of energy and wind working to get the U.S. Senate to repeal the policy. As it happens, during the lame duck session, DADT was indeed repealed. Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid was so excited he took to Twitter to give the thumbs up to Lady Ga… ugh, I mean Miss. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta.

In a sort of case of anti-PCism we turn to long-time practitioner of PCism, Madonna. After spending an entire career selling sex to teens and claiming that her fans have a right to express their sexuality especially if that expression mimics Madonna’s lascivious wardrobe, Madonna found that her own daughter’s wardrobe should be less revealing. In fact, Madonna insisted that her own daughter’s wardrobe be downright conservative.

Finally, MTV went for PC gold with its choice of Man of the Year for 2010 and so MTV incongruously picked Kanye West as man of the year. Kanye didn’t do much music this year but he did make an ass out of himself half a dozen times. After his mistreatment of singer Taylor Swift at an awards show in 2009, Kanye gave a long-in-coming but half-hearted apology in 2010. Then he immediately attacked her for not coming to his support. Even President Obama called West a “jackass” for his behavior. He also absurdly accused Matt Lauer of “Today” for an ambush interview that never really happened. And he topped off his jackassery by practically getting booed off a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float he was singing from because of his behavior. This kind of man deserves a man of the year award? The big question that dogged him all year was whether or not he was drunk his behavior was so idiotic.

Well, there were certainly many hundreds of other examples, but these examples certainly show that the entertainment industry’s PCism is still in full bloom. Makes you wince thinking that they have a whole new year to fill up with such nonsense, doesn’t it?

Hollywood has impeccably documented man’s cruelty to man in the 20th Century.

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As we begin the second decade of the 21st century with Sudan at the brink of a return to civil war and genocide, I’m reminded of a “Great Crime” at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Armenian genocide foreshadowed all other crimes which took place in the 20th Century: indiscriminate killing, the wholesale massacre of men, women and children, forced deportations, the systematic destruction of a population based on ethnicity, organized killing in the service of ideology. The Armenian genocide, the “Great Crime,” was the first milestone on the road into a century of genocide, democide, and war.

January 9, 2011 will be remembered as an important milestone in the 21st Century. If the planned date for a referendum on independence for Southern Sudan becomes a return to war and mass slaughter and enslavement of defenseless refugees, women and children, we have to ask what hope we have for our century.

Will the indiscriminate killing of women and children, wholesale massacres, forced deportations, systematic destruction of populations based on ethnicity, organized killing in the service of ideology become a part of Southern Sudan’s history or a part of all of our future?

With the referendum days away, Khartoum has upped the ante and begun bombarding refugees from the air and is attacking helpless civilians with HIND helicopters. The attacks are being aimed at voter registration points and are designed to incite fear and panic to disrupt the referendum. Over 15,000 Southern-Sudanese have been displaced by the most recent attacks and are in desperate need of aid. Thankfully groups like Persecution Project Foundation (PPF) are on location to provide help.

The Human-Rights Education and Relief Organization (HERO) has teamed up with actor and producer Eduardo Verasegui (founder of Manto de Guadalupe foundation) in effort to aid The Persecution Project Foundation in their life saving work in Darfur and Southern Sudan.

As a few small NGO’s battle in the most remote and dangerous parts of the world to care for the displaced refugees, only one voice has managed to capture the world’s attention– George Clooney. Since 2005 Clooney has made repeated visits to Sudan and brought worldwide attention to the situation in Darfur and Southern Sudan.

Celebrities are often told to shut up and sing, but I am grateful to Clooney and Verastegui for risking their lives to leverage their celebrity status

Near the beginning of the film, we see Jack with a female companion in a cabin. On a walk, the couple is attacked by a lone shooter. Jack’s companion is shocked to discover that he is carrying a weapon. This woman may be in a relationship with Jack but she doesn’t know who Jack really is or what he is capable of. Neither does the audience.

Shortly thereafter, Jack is sent on a mission in a small Italian village. He moves into the area and is tasked with building a gun for a female customer. That customer knows exactly what she is looking for in and asks Jack to meet her specific requirements. While in the village, Jack befriends a kind-hearted priest and a caring prostitute named Clara. Even as he spends much of his time looking over his shoulder for assassins targeting him, Jack forms relationships with both of these kind individuals.

Even when they first meet, the priest seems to know that Jack is not the straight-laced photographer that he pretends to be. Seeing through the empty façade, the priest tries to steer Jack in a better direction in life, a direction that does not require as much secrecy. But Jack is committed to his job. Clara and the priest do not know what Jack does but they both know that he isn’t being completely honest with them.

Ultimately, “The American” is a character study. Much of the film’s plot is ambiguous and the dialogue is often sparse. In many scenes, people only say the words that they need to say to move the story forward. Nothing else. There is a knowing restraint in the way they speak to each other.

Jack himself is a man of restraint. He is methodical and meticulous in the way he is able to construct weapons and the way he exercises. He is a man with a sense of purpose but not a sense of pride. He is also a hunted man and he knows it. His paranoia is palpable when he walks down the street.

In a lesser actor’s hands, this movie could have easily fallen apart. However, George Clooney really does a fine job. ”The America” is all about Clooney’s character and Clooney is able to convey his emotions in subtle but distinctive ways. For the best example of this, watch Clooney’s facial expressions during the end of the film. Even without saying a word, his face tells the audience what is happening.

In the past, Clooney has made several films about cocky and complacent characters. In this film, he is neither. He has the skills of a well-trained assassin but he can’t tell anyone about those skills. All he can do is complete the  jobs that are assigned to him. Clooney’s controlled performance will likely be recognized during the awards season.

One of the most interesting and debatable elements of the film is how ambiguous the plot sometimes is. Much of the plot is not explained in detail and at the end of the film, the audience is left with a lot of questions.  Even though some may not like how open to interpretation this film is, I really enjoyed its ambiguity. We, like Jack on his assignment, know as much as we need to know.

Overall, I really enjoyed “The American.” It is a slow-paced character study about a lonely assassin trying to complete his last assignment while being pursued. Even though “The American” may not be as exciting as other films about assassins, it is a really well-done movie strengthened by a strong lead performance.

Hosted by late night’s Jimmy Fallon, the award show celebrated the best of television. As always, the Emmys had its share of expected victors, including “Mad Men’s” third consecutive win for best drama and Jane Lynch’s victory as outstanding supporting actress in a comedy. Many predicted a tight race for best comedy between “Glee” and “Modern Family,” with “Family” unsurprisingly prevailing in that category. Also, Bryan Cranston went home with his third consecutive win for “Breaking Bad” and Edie Falco won for best actress in a comedy for her role on “Nurse Jackie.” Despite these predicted winners and perennial victors, there were still some noteworthy surprises.

The most interesting upsets came in the acting categories as several new or previously overlooked performers went home winners. For instance, the best supporting actor and actress in a drama. Against tough competition, including her colleague Christine Baranski from “The Good Wife,” Archie Panjabi won for best supporting actress, and best supporting actor went to “Breaking Bad’s” Aaron Paul. In another surprise and after multiple nominations, Kyra Sedgwick won her first Emmy for best actress in a drama beating Glenn Close, who has won for the past two years for her work on “Damages.”  

My favorite win of the night went to Jim Parsons as lead actor in a comedy for his performance on “The Big Bang Theory.” Parsons faced off against Alec Baldwin, who has won this award twice for “30 Rock” and Tony Shalhoub, who had won thrice for “Monk.” I only recently started watching Parson’s work on “Theory” and he is a tremendously funny actor who deserved this recognition.

One of the nicest and most unexpected surprises was how the winners focused on their work and not on their politics. This may have to do with the fact that Hollywood’s president, Barack Obama, is suffering in the polls. But whatever the reason, it was a relief to see things stay on course. I appreciated many of the non-political speeches, especially George Clooney’s thoughtful words as he accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.

Overall, it was an enjoyable night. Although some bits fell flat, Fallon deserves credit for the way he handled his host responsibilities. He seemed ready and willing to try a lot of different bits to get a laugh. There were many opportunities for failure but Fallon overcame the lamer jokes and the weaker parts of the show (including the Twitter introductions of some of the award presenters). Fallon tried really hard to keep the audience entertained throughout the show and was mostly successful.

In a night that celebrated the effort that goes into telling stories that entertain and/or enlighten people, both Fallon and the stars succeeded admirably.

The AP’s Colleen “Breathless” Barry:

George Clooney radiates cool on witness stand

It’s no wonder the Italian businessmen claimed George Clooney was behind their fashion line — the actor knows how to wow an audience whether he’s on the red carpet or the witness stand.

Maintaining his trademark aura of cool, Clooney delivered a few wisecracks Friday as he testified against three defendants accused of co-opting his name with the goal of launching a fashion line.

The appearance of the star, who maintains a villa on nearby Lake Como but is rarely seen here in public, sent the normally staid courthouse into full celebrity tilt. Clooney had to push his way through a wall of cameras into the courtroom, saying “scusa, scusa,” — “Excuse me” in Italian — and warning “Don’t crush my lawyers.”

Throngs of fans packed the tiny courtroom. The judge repeatedly told spectators to be quiet and tossed out one woman who snapped a photo of Clooney.

The 49-year-old actor wore a navy blue suit, crisp white shirt and red-spotted blue tie as he addressed the court through an interpreter, throwing in occasional words in Italian and apologizing for his lack of fluency.

More vaporous reporting here.

Same with the Gulf Oil Spill.

When you look at Hollywood’s recent history in rallying for this kind of thing, you’re left to ask why? Where are the telethons and public pleas for humanitarian assistance? Is it that the Nashville “rubes” don’t rate? Is it that calling any attention to the ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf can only hurt Their One? What else could it be?

Nashville stars came out for Nashville and good on them, and so did David Spade. But where was/is the big star-studded nationally televised gala?

And in the Gulf, with the exception of Kevin Costner, all we’ve seen thus far from Hollywood are shockingly shameless A-listers covering for Obama and behaving in ways little better than price-gougers as they cravenly exploit this environmental and economic catastrophe to push their own political agendas. (more)