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

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

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

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

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

It is amazing that in 2012, with the way racism and homophobia have been addressed – and rightfully so – that ageism rage against woman is on perpetual mute. Hello, media, I’m talking to you, too.

Let’s substitute Mick Jagger for Madonna at the same age doing the same moves. There would barely be a mention of his cumulative years. I remember when he was 53 and it was a blip, if that. Jagger is now approaching 70, and when he announces a new music project it’s applauded. Harrison Ford (69), George Clooney (51), Denzel Washington (56), Brad Pitt (48) are revered, immortalized and sought after for tons of opportunities without hesitation as to how their crow’s feet or beer bellies may look on the big screen. Regis Philbin got the “Millionaire” gig at almost 70.

TV executives would run over their Bishons before they would hand a new hosting gig to a talented woman in a similar age bracket. Please spare me that Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren still work. That’s because producers know these ladies can deliver no matter what crappy script they are handed. Betty White is getting a little attention now, and that’s because she is making fun of herself.

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone mentioned how old Jennifer Grey was when she appeared on “Dancing with the Stars.” When Susan Lucci wrote her autobiography last year every interviewer wanted to focus on her age and why she didn’t mention hot flashes in her book.

The realm of politics is no better. Hillary Clinton’s age is highlighted constantly as to how she would be too old if she were to to run for President, yet John McCain was how old and could barely communicate – I rest my case (this has nothing to do with who I would vote for).

This cuts across, race, income bracket and political persuasions. I thought liberal Democrats were suppose to be so open, so unwilling to judge. Ha! I have never seen so much judgment since my last family gathering. As for conservative Republicans, don’t be so full of yourselves. You’re just as bad. This isn’t a bi-partisan problem. This is a life problem.

We need to stop taking someone’s age and putting them in categories based on physical and emotional expectations. Everyone has different experiences, lifestyles, choices and genetics.

These judgments are printed and said out loud, and then they seep into people’s minds and become embedded in society. It halts opportunities and, let’s be realistic, at the rate we’re all going, our work years are increasing and we need to be open to all age brackets of people working and not just the twenty something crowd. There is no true price for good experience, no matter what the profession.

Similar to the opinions of Madonna on a more miniscule level, you will either like or dislike this article depending on what your mindset is. However, if I can get you to take a moment to think about your daughter, niece, mother or grandmother and think about the injustices, then I have communicated effectively. “Like a Prayer,” I hope things at the very least change for our girls who growing up now.

John Wayne is not only the only actor to place posthumously on this annual Harris Poll that asks Americans who their favorite actor is, the Duke is also the only actor — living or dead — to find a slot on this poll every year since the survey began in 1994:

In 2011 he was the voice of Rango, he was Captain Jack Sparrow (again) and he was also a journalist. And, again this year, Johnny Depp has the distinction of being America’s Favorite Actor. Next on the list are two actors who haven’t actually acted in a movie this past year. Tied for number two are Denzel Washington, who was in the second spot last year, and Clint Eastwood who was number 9 on the list last year.These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,237 adults surveyed online between December 5 and 12, 2011 by Harris Interactive®.

Rounding out the top five favorite actors is Larry Crowne or rather Tom Hanks in the number 4 spot, up from a tie for number 6 last year, and at number 5 the only actor to have been on this list since it began in 1994, the Duke himself, John Wayne down from the number 3 spot last year.

After being part of a three-way tie for number 6 last year, George Clooney now holds that position by himself. Up from number 10 to number 7 is Sandra Bullock who is the only woman in the top ten and dropping from number 4 to number 8 is Harrison Ford. There are two new additions to the list this year. At number 9, returning to the top ten after a two year absence is Will Smith and debuting at number 10 is funny man Adam Sandler.

Here’s this year’s breakdown:

1. Johnny Depp
2. The Mighty Denzel Washington, The Mighty Clint Eastwood (tie)
4. Tom Hanks
5. The Mighty John Wayne
6. George Clooney
7. Sandra Bullock
8. The Once-Mighty Harrison Ford
9. Will Smith
10. Adam Sandler

What does almost every name on this list have in common? Manly men and a womanly woman.

More please, Hollywood.

And out of every classic movie star from the Golden Age: Bogart, Cagney, Cooper, Gable, Tracy, Davis, Crawford… Why John Wayne? It’s very simple; he’s one of the greatest actors to ever walk across the silver screen, he’s the greatest movie star Hollywood ever produced, he starred in at least a half-dozen outright masterpieces, a dozen classics, and too many crowd-pleasers to count.

The only close second in this arena is Eastwood, who will surely join Wayne on this list long after his death.

It really is that simple. America loves John Wayne and America loves John Wayne movies.

Richard Corliss in 2007:

Forget the youthquake. What America really loves is… old. Whatever Wayne represents – the Old Testament God, a Mount Rushmore face with a permanent scowl, the craggy soul of Frontier or Sunbelt America[.] …

Will Hollywood take any lessons from this poll – say, to make movies with, and for, older people. Nah. The moguls have read the small print in the Harris poll, and noted that it was weighted for many variables, but not to mirror the average age of moviegoers.

That’s exactly what Hollywood did and does, which is why we get Ryan Reynolds and Michelle Williams — boys and girls playing men and women. There’s a whole audience out there hungry for movies and movie stars. But we want intelligent movies, mature films that ennoble the human spirit, not corrupt it. Unfortunately, those are the most difficult stories to tell, and too many of those in charge of the miracle of motion pictures lack the talent and humanity to deliver that kind of entertainment. So they cater to their own mentality, the immature. All hail Seth Rogen.

Thank God for home video. John Wayne lives.

Me in 2009:

Wayne was the most popular and enduring star while alive and remains so today because he also represents honesty, justice, truth, liberty, America, fighting for what you believe in, integrity, chivalry, and most importantly in this awful era of the metrosexual, Wayne represents good ole’ give-a-punch/take-a-punch/have-a-drink-and-laugh-about-it-later masculinity.

John Wayne in his final film, “The Shootist”:

I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a-hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.

Yep.

Despite the fact that “The Ides of March” is un filme de George Clooney, which ensures that most of those right-of-center will ignore it, it’s ultimately a movie that anyone who actively keeps up with politics should enjoy, especially during the heat of the Republican primaries.  Indeed, “The Ides of March” doesn’t tell you anything you don’t already know, thematically.  Politics?  Dirty?  You don’t say, George.  Please, send more of your pearls of wisdom for the masses to consume.  What the film does provide, though, is a efficiently plotted, well-acted, engaging thriller, despite its cliched old-hat themes.

Clooney co-stars as a Democratic Presidential candidate in the throes of the primaries, playing as a mix of Bill Clinton’s governor running-on-his-record and Barack Obama’s cult of personality claptrap.  This gives Clooney’s character opportunities to espouse what are clearly his own political views from the podium, which contain various liberal talking points and, much like our current president, promises no one could keep, including the elimination of the internal combustion engine in four years and free puppies for everyone.  But Clooney wisely keeps his politics in the background for the most part, not using it merely as a vehicle for his views.

George Clooney’s active role in politics has often sparked speculation as to whether or not the actor would run for political office; after all, a handful of actors like Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger have proven that the leap from acting to political office isn’t necessarily a big one.  After all, both vocations involve making audiences believe your bullshit.  However, Clooney has consistently squashed such speculation by stating that his playboy bachelor reputation would make him unelectable, and “The Ides of March” seems to be an extension of these sentiments.  Too bad it’s not necessarily the fact that Clooney goes through women like Kleenex, so much as his la-la-land Hollywood politics (his cruel mocking of Alzheimer’s patients doesn’t help him in my eyes either, however his humanitarian work is certainly deserving of praise).

The star of the show, though, is Ryan Gosling, who turns in an excellent performance as an idealistic young campaign staffer.  His character’s bright-eyed liberal idealism gives way to cynicism and thuggery after a series of events that puts his career in a corner against the man he is working for, as he sits on top of a sex-scandal bombshell that could sink his boss’s potential presidency before it’s even begun.  Between this and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Gosling has had the best year yet for his career, and with a Terrence Malick film and another team-up with Refn on the horizon, things only seem to be getting better for him.  The short-sighted wrote him off awhile ago, but his diversity and presence as a leading man are on display in every movie he’s done this year, forcing his critics to pay attention.

“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” and “Good Night, and Good Luck” both proved that Clooney knows what he’s doing as a filmmaker in terms of tight storytelling.  Despite slipping on a banana peel with “Leatherheads”, the man’s head is back in the game here, crafting a political thriller that is pulled tight and engrossing, and also speaks a volumes about Clooney himself and his ego.  For political junkies caught up in the fever of the primaries, “The Ides of March” is a solid experience, even if doesn’t really tell you anything you don’t already know.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Other Noteworthy Releases

Courageous: A new movie from the team that made the faith-based sleeper hit “Fireproof”. Like “The Grace Card,” it deals with police officers and the challenges they face on the job and at home.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Instant

Abduction: A “Bourne” knock-off starring Taylor Lautner, whose lack of credibility as an action star is such that I can only imagine that this is an action vehicle geared towards young girls.  Too bad they’re too busy watching “Twilight” again.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD

The Tuskegee Airmen: HBO’s version of the story of black Air Force pilots during World War II gets a Blu-ray release, just in case that George Lucas version doesn’t deliver.
Available on Blu-ray

Belle de jour: Luis Buñuel’s film starring Catherine Deneuve as woman living a double life as a Parisian housewife and a bordello prostitute gets the Criterion treatment.  Buñuel’s delicious surrealist touch as a director makes this release a must for art-house aficionados.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Traffic: Criterion updates their edition of Steven Soderbergh’s multi-stranded drug war tapestry to Blu-ray.  I haven’t caught up with “Traffic” for a second viewing since it was first released on video, but now seems like the best time to revisit it.
Available on Blu-ray

License to Drive: A silly pleasure of an eighties teen comedy starring the two Coreys.
Available on Blu-ray

Mysteries of Lisbon: The final film of Raul Ruiz sent the director out on an ambitious note, as he adapted Camilo Castelo Branco’s sprawling novel into an mammoth four-and-a-half hour endeavor.  Don’t be put off by the enormous running time, as “Mysteries of Lisbon” comes highly recommended.  You just may have to schedule the time in which you plan to see it in well in advance.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Bucky Larson – Born to Be a Star: One of those rare films that achieved the incredibly difficult task of aggregating a whopping zero percent freshness rating over at Rotten Tomatoes.  Nick Swardson is one of those comedians who can be really funny, but there’s a limit as to how much you can use him in each film before he gets irritating, hence giving him a starring role is an ill-advised move.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Killing Bono: The story of brothers in Ireland who start a rock band, but soon see the taillights of opportunity as their classmates rapidly grow into the biggest band in the world, U2.
Available on DVD

Here’s a look at the big winners and losers of the evening.

Oscar Contenders

Winners: “The Artist” and The Descendants”
Both films are likely to be major Oscar contenders, and both left the Globes with renewed momentum. “The Artist” collected awards for best comedy or musical, best actor (Jean Dujardin) and best score. Meanwhile, “The Descendants” collected two awards: best actor in a drama (George Clooney) and best drama. Their wins likely foreshadow their future success at the Academy Awards and could lead to more moviegoers checking out these two smaller films.

Losers: “Moneyball” and “The Ides of March”
Despite the fact that it was nominated for four awards, “Moneyball” walked home with zero awards. Even Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”), Steve Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”) and Stan Chervin didn’t win for their brilliant screenplay. Woody Allen took home the award for best screenplay for his wonderful comedy, “Midnight in Paris.” “Ides of March,” the political thriller directed and co-written by George Clooney, also went 0-4 during the evening but Clooney didn’t leave the show empty-handed (see winners).

Acceptance Speeches:

Winner: Michelle Williams (“My Week with Marilyn”)
Michelle Williams took home the award for best actress in a comedy or musical for her wonderful performance in “My Week with Marilyn.” Williams, who deserves an Oscar for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, gave an excellent and heartfelt acceptance speech. She thanked her family and noted that she considers herself “a mother first and an actress second.” She also showed her distinct humility by talking about how thankful she was that the Hollywood foreign press put in “my hands the same award that Marilyn Monroe won” more than 50 years earlier.

Loser: Meryl Streep (“The Iron Lady”)
Yes, Streep walked out with the award for best actress in a drama for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” but her speech was a mess. For some of it, her words were bleeped out and the other parts weren’t much better as she attempted to name all of the other nominees in her category. Plus, conservatives were outraged on Twitter afterwards because Streep didn’t thank the Iron Lady herself, Margaret Thatcher. Streep did, however, thank the people of England who “let me tramp all over their history,” an odd note to strike when talking about portraying their nation’s former prime minister.

Award Show Humor

Winner: Ricky Gervais
One of the most controversial aspects of the Golden Globes was its host. Many predicted he would make a lot of jokes at the expense of the Hollywood stars and starlets in the audience. With celebrities prepared for it this time, the room seemed more comfortable with Gervais’ act and he made a few great pointed jokes about the Globes and the network they aired on. He followed that up by making another joke about Johnny Depp’s film, “The Tourist.” He asked Depp himself if the actor had seen the film, one of the funniest moments of the evening. Depp admitted that he hadn’t.

Loser: Seth Rogen
Rogen, whose film “50/50” garnered two nominations, was one of the presenters at the Golden Globes. Having earned more credibility as a serious actor for his performance in that film, he could have used this opportunity to present himself as a mature actor willing to walk away from his sophomoric past. Instead, he used his turn at the mic to make a lackluster joke about being sexually aroused standing next to Kate Beckinsale.

A few other winners and losers made the night worth watching. The new Showtime series “Homeland” was a huge winner, taking home awards for best drama and best actress in a drama (Claire Danes). Also, Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer were big winners as well, taking home the awards for best supporting actor and actress for their work in “Beginners” and “The Help.” In a surprise win, Oscar winner Martin Scorsese  took home the award for best director for “Hugo.” Conservative actor Kelsey Grammer also emerged as a big winner, taking home the award for best actor in a drama for his work on the Starz  drama “Boss.”

However, the ceremony’s highlight for me might have been Morgan Freeman taking home the Cecil B. Demille Award. Speaking eloquently about his career and graciously about presenters Helen Mirren and Sidney Poitier, Freeman was a class act.

It’s not often that an actor is so impressive when he doesn’t have a script, but Freeman seemed genuine and gracious in accepting the award. Watching him speak was the best part of a satisfying but sometimes underwhelming– I still wish Albert Brooks had won for “Drive”– Golden Globes ceremony.

Then why does everyone with access to a TV or web platform know of his undying affection for President Barack Obama?

Clooney, currently starring in “The Descendants,” chatted with former Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulos this week about the actor’s views on the current political climate. And while fellow liberal Matt Damon is willing to concede Obama’s first term hasn’t gone as he expected, Clooney refuses to stray off the Hollywood reservation, politically speaking.

“I’m a Democrat, I’m a believer in him.” Of Obama’s years in office he said, “I think he’s done a wonderful job, I think he’s having a tough time in a very difficult environment. So I root for him. I root for the president of the United States.”

On air to promote his flick, “The Descendants,” Clooney also talked about celebrity fundraising and campaigning for a politician. He clarified to Stephanopoulos that he had raised money but not campaigned for Obama. Said the actor, “I didn’t do any campaigning. I’m a big believer — I really don’t think it helps much to have well-known, famous people campaigning for you. I don’t think that does you a lot of good.”

So, campaigning is out of the question, but chatting up journalists about one’s affection for the president is grand, as is meeting with Obama personally to discuss various issues in a chummy fashion.

Just checking.

That tells you a little something about the quality of Oscar-bait films in 2011 (sorry, “J. Edgar”) but also proves that the film industry needn’t back-load the best for Christmas consumption.

The following 10 films remind us thrillers don’t have to arrive in theaters with every scrap of intelligence scrubbed from the narrative, and that the horror genre is still capable of giving us a jolt. You also won’t find a sequel or reboot here, although films like “X-Men: First Class” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” proved marketing-friendly projects don’t have to be lowest common denominator affairs.

1. “Martha Marcy May Marlene” – Did the film’s laborious title shred its box office hopes? Hard to say, except there needs to be some explanation why “MMMM” failed to draw a crowd. Elizabeth Olsen didn’t merely avoid the looming shadow of her famous siblings, the once ubiquitous Olsen Twins, she announced to the world there’s a new starlet in town. Olsen mesmerizes as a woman who escapes a cult only to find she can’t stop thinking about life under its oppressive regime.
2. “The Descendants” – Welcome back, Alexander Payne. The brain behind “Election,” “About Schmidt” and “Sideways” returns with the same kind of warm, thought-provoking fare that puts most of his peers to shame. George Clooney makes us forget he’s super-rich, super-famous and super-handsome, dissolving into the role of a man who finally learns his wife is cheating on him.
3. “Win Win” – Writer/director Tom McCarthy is officially three-for-three as an auteur, but his latest film marks the most audience-pleasing film in his impressive resume. Paul Giamatti shines, as usual, playing a morally conflicted wrestling coach given a star athlete out of the blue. “Win Win” can’t stop charming us, and it doesn’t insult our intelligence with a paint-by-numbers final act.
4. “Rango” – This animated wonder might not have made my list if not for my son insisting we watch it again – and again. And, with every viewing, the film’s stunning visual landscape and rich humor keep me thoroughly engaged. Johnny Depp may be on career autopilot these days – hey, where’s my Jack Sparrow eyeliner? – but his keenly aware vocal performance as the cowardly Rango proves he can still razzle dazzle us.
5. “The Debt” – The smartest thriller of the year got lost in the cineplex shuffle, but here’s betting the film will thrive on home video. A trio of Israeli spies try to capture a Nazi monster living a comfortable life as a gynecologist. Two generations of great actresses – Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain – spark a hugely appealing adventure.
6. “Hanna” – Can someone please connect director Joe Wright with a comic book franchise (just not “Green Lantern”)? Wright clearly knows how to finesse larger than life heroes, even from the waif-like Saoirse Ronan. Yes, the final third doesn’t measure up to the rest, but how many finales could match that blistering pace?
7. “Margin Call” – A gut-wrenching thriller that recalls the 2008 financial meltdown sounds like the standard politically charged fare we’ve come to expect from Hollywood. Big speeches. Bigger performances. Lessons delivered on steroid-enhanced soap box. Not even close. Writer/director J.C. Chandor doesn’t skimp on the chills, but he makes Wall Street monsters all too human and reminds us how intricately flawed even the nicest people can be when the stakes are impossibly high.
8. “Bellflower” – The most original film of the year is also the most inscrutable, but that’s part of its dizzying appeal. Writer/director/star/tinkerer Evan Glodell tells a “boy meets girl” story that you’ll never forget. It’s like a mental tattoo you’ll never want to laser away.
9. “The Other F Word” – What happens when tatted-up singers become daddies? Diapers rule in this beautifully crafted documentary that extols the values of fatherhood over the need to rock, roll and trash the Man at every turn.
10. “Insidious” – The folks who helped slay the horror genre by sparking the “Saw” franchise return to apologize, and then some. This original, made on the cheap shocker delivers the kind of armrest gripping sequences audiences crave but too rarely receive. But please … don’t make a sequel and spoil its freshness.

Honorable Mention: “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” – The latest adventures of Ethan Hunt and his spy pals isn’t a great movie, nor does the script invite repeated viewings. It’s just a great action movie.

We’ve gone from Dirty Harry to Jason Bourne (or whatever his name ended up being; the camera was too shaky for me to ever tell what was going on). We’ve gone from Humphrey Bogart to George Clooney.  We’ve gone from John Wayne fighting Indians to Na’vi fighting Americans.

But, don’t fret. For there is an answer to our problems, fellow film buffs. I know you’re six feet from that ledge, but let me give you hope…they are called books. They are these contraptions with bindings and pages with words on the inside. Together this all creates a story one hundred times more fulfilling than today’s dim-witted liberal flavor-of-the-month films.

Hollywood has always been a liberal town. They give us anti-Iraq war movie after anti-Iraq war movie despite the fact that they all flop at the box office. But what of the literary world?  They must surely share Hollywood’s contempt for conservatives and enriching stories, right? Wrong. The publishing world seems to get it, for the most part. They like to publish what sells and what seems to sell today are right-leaning stories.

Stephen Hunter, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, Frank Miller, James Ellroy, and Andrew Klavan. These are just a handful of names of today’s top fiction writers. All of them have something in common: they have, admittedly, right leaning politics and philosophies. This does not mean that their books are some kind of weird right-wing propaganda. What it means is that their stories usually make the bad guys who the bad guys really are and their heroes don’t shy away from masculinity or righteous indignation. These writers also have something else in common: they are all New York Times bestselling authors. Try out Stephen Hunter’s new novel Soft Target. It’s a hundred times better and more visually striking than any new action film to hit theaters in the last year. Or try Andrew Klavan’s last adult thriller, The Identity Man. It’s more thought-provoking and more well thought out than any half-baked political thriller cooked up by George Clooney. These writers lead the fiction front in literature today. They put out bestsellers that frequently win acclaim from critics.

As for non fiction…now we are really getting to the heart of the beast. Look at the New York Times bestseller list for non-fiction and you are bound to see a plethora of conservative thought. While Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham are regularly blasted in the mainstream media, they regularly put out bestsellers. Others do too. In fact, most non-fiction political books that hit shelves are written by conservatives. Why this phenomenon and why now? Is it that conservatives have been turned away by Hollywood so they have retreated to the inner workings of books? Or is it because right-leaning artists and right-leaning thinkers need more than a 90-minute film to bring across a message and/or story?

Perhaps films are more representative of a liberal approach to storytelling, while writing is a more conservative approach. Films are a collected effort. They takes hundreds, if not, thousands of people to create, and usually have a vision that is compromised by too many cooks in the kitchen. Books, on the other hand, are a celebration of individualism. It takes one person to sit and put his vision down. Maybe this is the explanation, but maybe not.

But whatever it may be, this much is true: if you hit up your local bookstore or head over to Amazon, you’ll find a world of old school storytelling and right-leaning stories. John Wayne and his films ain’t dead, they just grew up. They exist in an entirely new world: the world of books.

Check out footage from the latest Tea Party rally and you’ll see people holding signs referencing classics like 1984 by George Orwell and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Check out footage of the latest Occupy Wall Street rally and you’ll see people wearing “V for Vendetta” masks. That says it all.

Here’s Clooney’s big stand.

It’s Oscar season, Clooney desperately wants and Oscar, and he’s taking part in a one-night play to support same-sex marriage.

In Hollywood, that’s about as much of a big stand as joining the most popular fraternity on campus.

Could these people be more full of themselves.

That was a rhetorical question.

‘MODERN WARFARE 3′ MAKES $775 MILLION IN 5 DAYS, BLOWS AWAY ALL RECORDS

Is this why Hollywood makes movies that recreate the experience of what it’s like to watch someone else play a video game?

DEMI MOORE TURNS TO MADONNA FOR DIVORCE ADVICE

The photo will make you wince. This one’s worse. Someone needs to turn to Kentucky Fried Chicken first.

He’s not worth it, Demi. Damn.

And turning to Madonna for advice about divorce is like turning to Obama for advice about creating jobs.

NETFLIX SELLS $400 MILLION IN STOCK TO RAISE CASH

This is to acquire the rights to more streaming content. As a Streaming only customer, that sure sounds good to me.

How about some “Wild Wild West.”

Oh wait, I just bought the whole series at Amazon for $35. I win.

‘EW’ MORON ASKS IF GEORGE CLOONEY IS THE NEW PAUL NEWMAN

Wait,  I thought Clooney was The New Cary Grant.

The bubble too many of these people live in is oh-so very real. Paul Newman was ALL movie star. And to become a movie star THE PEOPLE have to love you, not just the bubble-boyed entertainment media. Since 2000, Clooney has not carried a single movie to $100M without the help of Brad Pitt and Julie Roberts.

And most of his films flop.

And they blow.

And now a little context…

By the time Paul Newman was the same age Clooney is now, he was already well on his way to becoming a legend and had starred in: “The Long Hot Summer, ” “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” “Exodus,” “The Hustler,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,” “Hud,” “Harper,” “COOL HAND FREAKIN’ LUKE,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “The Sting.”

How about a little respect for The Mighty.

Idiots.

Little hard to pin my feelings about this on Clooney’s politics when you consider Newman was a proud liberal his entire life.

STEPHEN KING NOMINATED FOR BAD SEX AWARDS

Just passing this link along. Haven’t read it. There might be photos.

ETHAN HAWKE PLANNING ANOTHER ‘BEFORE SUNRISE’ SEQUEL WITH JULIE DELPY AND RICHARD LINKLATER

I could never get into either of these. Many people I respect love both, but for whatever reason I never saw the appeal. When I need a dose of bittersweet, unrequited love this and this fit the bill just fine.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Zombieland (2009): Wasn’t a fan of this the first time I saw it. For some reason, the sequence everyone raved about, THE CAMEO, completely threw the movie for me. It was so hyped but also so gimmicky and self-referential that it brought the roof down on what had been a pretty entertaining ride.

Watching it again, though, helped. I knew what to expect and THE CAMEO part is actually pretty short. What I especially appreciated was that Woody Harrelson’s wild-eyed country boy character ends up being the hero and the one who teaches the pasty little metrosexual a thing or two about how you gotta “nut up.”  

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR

RANKED: DAVID CRONENBERG FILMS FROM WORST TO BEST

MARTIN SCORSESE TO DIRECT NORWEGIAN CRIME THRILLER ‘THE SNOWMAN’, BASED ON THE NOVEL BY JO NESBO

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA SAYS HE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED AT ONE ‘GODFATHER’

BACHARACH LOOKS BACK—AND FORWARD TO A MUSICAL

TEASER FOR GAME OF THRONES SEASON 2

FROM THE SET OF ‘SKYFALL’

HBO AND BBC DEVELOPING MINISERIES ADAPTATION OF HILARY MANTEL’S NOVEL WOLF HALL

DETAILS ON NEW ‘BOURNE’ FILM

DWAYNE JOHNSON TO STAR IN ‘MONSTER HUNTER’S SURVIVAL GUIDE,’ BASED ON THE COMIC BOOK MINISERIES

TOP 10 SCREEN COMPUTER GEEKS

JACK ELINSON, VETERAN TV COMEDY WRITER, DIES AT 89

SYFY DEVELOPING PARANORMAL PROCEDURAL SPOOF TO BE PRODUCED BY JACK BLACK

DIABLO CODY TALKS ABOUT THE EVIL DEAD REMAKE AND HER ADAPTATION OF SWEET VALLEY HIGH

PARKS AND RECREATION STAR NICK OFFERMAN: “OUR COUNTRY HAS BECOME SO EMASCULATED.”

GREAT IDEA! WHY WE NEED A TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES FOR TELEVISION

A RARE SITCOM VISIT FROM BILL MURRAY

5 ;CAPTAIN PLANET; EPISODES THAT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG

5 OF NATALIE WOOD’S MOST MEMORABLE ROLES

6 FAMOUS MOVIE LOCATIONS MAKING CAMEOS IN OTHER MOVIES

CAN COMEDIES WITH LONG-TERM ARCS SURVIVE ON NETWORK TV?

THE RETURN OF THE TV WESTERN

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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22

TCM:

2:00 PM EST: Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) — A British lord raised by apes kidnaps a beautiful noblewoman exploring Africa with her father. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Cast:  Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith. BW-100 mins, TV-G, CC.

My all-time favorite film franchise.

--Please send tips/suggestions/requests/complaints to jnolte@breitbart.com

So, because you all enjoyed that list so much, and because I apparently have a death wish, it’s time for another: The Top 10 Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time.

Unlike last time, I will claim that these are objective facts, not subjective opinions, so that all my critics may have full liberty to attack me (To those same critics who claimed last time that I phrased my opinions in an “objective” manner, this is called being facetious. That means I’m kidding. Also, seriously? That was your criticism?).

Here are my criteria: are they considered great actors/actresses? If not, they can’t make the list (sorry, Rob Schneider). Are they actually great actors? If so, they can’t make the list (sorry, Laurence Olivier). Only those who are considered great actors but are not, in fact, great actors can make this list. Even then, I’m not claiming that these are bad actors unless I explicitly say that I am.

So, here we go. In the words of Han Solo, I’ve got a bad feeling about this …

10. George Clooney: Not a great actor. Not a good actor. Not really an actor. If you’ve ever seen a movie with Clooney where you didn’t say to yourself, “Hey, I’m watching George Clooney” every thirty seconds or so, you haven’t seen a George Clooney movie. You’re mixing him up with Kate Winslet. He’s a D actor. Dull in “Michael Clayton.” Dreary in “Up In The Air.” Dreadful in “Syriana.” Dismal in “Batman and Robin.” He’s not a low-rent Cary Grant. He’s an affordable-housing Robert Wagner.

9. Dustin Hoffman: He turned in some tremendous performances in his early days (most notably “Papillon,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” and “Tootsie”), then became a caricature of himself. He has not done anything worthwhile since “Tootsie,” in fact. Even in his better performances, he is a bit too mannered for my taste, perhaps an effect of his method acting. Laurence Olivier thought the same thing. When they were working on “Marathon Man” together, Hoffman showed up on set after having not slept for several days in order to get “in character.” Olivier took one look at him and said, “Dear boy, it’s called acting.”

8. Spencer Tracy: He’s immensely likable on screen, but he’s not a great actor by any stretch of the imagination. Light comedy is his forte (watch the original “Father of the Bride” or “Adam’s Rib”), but he’s too stolid in heavy drama like “Bad Day at Black Rock.” He’s always Spencer Tracy, no matter what he’s in. That’s more a characteristic of older actors who were movie stars rather than actors (see John Wayne, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, etc.), but those actors are rarely listed among the best of all time. Tracy routinely is.

7. Katharine Hepburn: Overwrought, overhyped, and overblown. Hepburn is the same in virtually all of her films, save “The Rainmaker,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” and “On Golden Pond.” She tends to chew the scenery, and she never inhabits a part; she insists that the part inhabits her. Her films with Tracy are just as formulaic as Hope and Crosby (and no one ever called Hope and Crosby great actors). Many critics loved her because she wasn’t afraid to lose her femininity at the door, but that made her a hard actress to love onscreen.

6. Gregory Peck: Atticus Finch is supposed to have a Southern accent. Joseph Mengele is supposed to have a German accent. And characters are supposed to be different from each other. Philip Green in “Gentleman’s Agreement” is not supposed to be the same character as Joe Bradley in “Roman Holiday” or Captain Ahab in “Moby Dick.” Peck could not play pathos, could not play vulnerability, and could not play real anger. Like Tracy, the best word to describe him would be stolid.

5. Leonardo DiCaprio: He shows flashes of brilliance, then subsumes them in gigantic waves of mannerisms. When he burst onto the scene with “Titanic,” I thought he was going to be one of the great ones – for someone that age to turn in a performance that good in a movie that bad is worth noting. But watch him in “Gangs of New York,” and you find yourself laughing out loud at the notion that this whiny nobody is supposed to be the tough guy. Watch him in “The Man in the Iron Mask,” and he can’t even decide whether to pronounce Athos as “Aaathos” or “Aye-thos.” Watch him in “The Departed” – well, don’t bother to watch him in “The Departed.” Somebody has been whispering in his ear that great acting is about being showy. It isn’t. It’s about being subtle. We can only hope he heeds that warning before he ends up like Dustin Hoffman.

4. Bill Murray: Great in comedy (see “Tootsie” and “Groundhog Day”), laughably awful in everything else. He turned in what may be the single worst performance in the history of film in the remake of “The Razor’s Edge.” It is a wonder that the director of that film did not somehow mix up Murray and a block of wood during the shoot. It is unthinkable that he was nominated for an Academy Award for the most boring movie of all time, “Lost In Translation;” sitting around mumbling does not make for great acting. Here’s the thing about emotion on film; we should actually see it. I understand the idea of allowing things to simmer beneath the surface. But that doesn’t mean your performance style should invariably mirror a Tiki mask.

3. Tom Hanks: Bill Murray with a touch more emotion, Robin Williams with a touch less. Light comedy is fine (“Big”), everything else borders on the maudlin. “Castaway” is unintentionally hilarious (rent it and do bits on it), he’s a hole in the screen in “Saving Private Ryan,” and his performance in “Forrest Gump” is one-note. He’s not a bad actor, but he’s certainly not a great one. He is a great producer, though – for “Band of Brothers” alone, he should be enshrined among the best.

2. Meryl Streep: Undoubtedly I will be hung by my toenails for this pick. She is a marvel technically, but she’s always cold. I can’t think of a single film in which she has reached me emotionally. I always get the feeling while watching her movies that I’m watching a documentary about acting for a master class; I never get the feeling that her characters are real. On this one, I agree with Katharine Hepburn, who couldn’t stand Streep’s acting: “Click, click, click,” she once said, talking about the gears you can see turning inside Streep’s head.

1. Jack Nicholson: He sucks in everything. It’s that simple. Anyone who considers him a great actor ought to get his/her head examined. I understand that he’s a hero to the ‘60s generation because he did drugs and got murdered for psychedelic “freedom” in “Easy Rider.” That doesn’t excuse him for cursing film with his presence for the next forty years. He has no versatility whatsoever. He is always a cynical/menacing fellow with “reserves of depth” (unless he has no “reserves of depth”). He is the worst case of miscasting in movie history in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (McMurphy is supposed to be a huge red-headed Irishman, not a 5’10” counterculture weasel), a glaring problem in a film that is otherwise impeccably cast (Brad Dourif as Billy is one of the great overlooked performances in the annals of film). Nicholson over Peter Fonda in “1997″ is a cosmic injustice. He is boring, predictable, and what’s more, he’s pretentious and annoying. 12 Oscar nominations for this hack testifies to the idiocy of the Baby Boomer generation that made him famous.