This will likely get Mickey Rourke in some trouble. Hopefully he already has his Get Out Of Hollywood-Jail Statement prepared that calls the Pope a Nazi, Sarah Palin an idiot, or Obama a god.

Yes, it’s that easy.

Yikes:

You visited a Russian prison to prepare for your role in Iron Man 2. How did you prepare to play an ancient Greek Titan king for Immortals?

I showed up. The director spent three years working on the overall look of the film and that really helped. They paid me a lot of money for a few days of work so I was happy to go. It’s just a shame I didn’t get to work with the hot blond chick, Isabel Lucas. [below] I also loved Frieda Pinto, but she has a boyfriend. She’s a really nice person and I have great respect for her as an actress — and I think most actresses are c*nts with a capital K.

[...]

When are you going to write a memoir?

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“As Keith Richards says, 90 percent of everything is crap.”

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Kurt Loder, a film critic for Reason.com and Creators Syndicate, quotes the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist to explain why most of the reviews in his new book, The Good, The Bad and The God-Awful: 21st-Century Movie Reviews are negative. Loder says he loves movies, but because of the constant demand for new product, the bad movies will inevitably outnumber the good ones. (more…)

The New York Times bestselling book “Sarah’s Key” has been given a cinematic makeover and was released in New York City and Los Angeles last weekend. It is opening on a limited number of screens in major cities around the country this weekend. “Sarah’s Key” follows two lives, one of a young French-born Jewish girl during World War II fighting to escape infamous “Vel’ d’Hiv” roundup in Paris and rescue her brother, who is hiding in a secret closet in their home. The other is of Julia, an American journalist living in modern Paris, who researches Sarah’s story while struggling with the decision to keep or abort the baby growing inside of her. The story, while fictional, illustrates the value of life while also illuminating a little-known tragedy from World War II.

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The Vel’ d’Hiv roundup occurred on July 16, 1942, when French police and gendarmes, acting under Gestapo orders, rounded up thousands of Jewish men, women and children and held them in horrific conditions in a large sport stadium for days without working plumbing, and little food or water. Soon after, the police transported the Jews by train to Drancy, a holding camp outside of Paris, and then sent them to Auschwitz, where almost all of them were murdered.

French director Gilles Paquet-Brenner gained recognition for his first feature, “Pretty Things,” in 2001. In “Sarah’s Key,” he shows a knack for capturing powerful emotions realistically, and for putting the audience in the scene. Here are a few comments from a recent interview with him about the film:

“I knew what the roundup was [before reading “Sarah’s Key”], but I didn’t realize what it meant to have the French police banging on doors … taking families and sending them to death,” Gilles said of the roundup. “And so I was very interested that people understood that.” The horror of this is what makes the book, “Sarah’s Key,” stand out. But the story holds personal importance for Gilles too. “I lost some of my family during the Holocaust, so I had a very personal connection. But you know it’s not the number one reason I made this movie. The real number one reason is ‘how can we make history feel closer to us?’”

The film’s power comes not only from its strong source material, but from its exceptional cast. The most impressive performance comes from a young French actress named Mélusine Mayance, who plays the young Sarah.

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Amelia Hamilton, a communications consultant and writer in Colorado, recently announced a new venture of hers: her very first children’s book publication, One Nation Under God: A Book For Little Patriots. Between her constant travels and managing her small business, it’s hard to keep up with her, but we were able to ask a few questions about the book, her experiences as a self-publisher, and how she’s linked Frank Capra to the project.

So, for those who aren’t familiar, what is the purpose of the book? How is it structured, and what kind of lessons are you sending to its “little patriot” readers?

It is a teaching tool to help kids learn the fundamentals of America. So, it goes from one nation under God through ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. It’s a counting book, but it covers government structure, history–a little bit of everything. It’s meant for ages 5-8; the counting aspect is for younger children, but they might not really understand the concepts until they’re a little older. Still, good to familiarize them with it early!

What brought about the decision to make a book specifically catering to conservative parents?

It’s not really conservative; it’s more patriotic. It’s all factual things–I guess “one nation under God” is considered religious–but aside from that, things like 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights are pretty straightforward, information for kids. (more…)

Uma Thurman has been gracing the world’s movie screens with her ethereal beauty and unique presence for more than 20 years, ever since her breakthrough role in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons” opposite John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. Since then, she’s helped bring all types of films to life, although perhaps her career peak came with her iconic star turns for Quentin Tarantino in “Pulp Fiction” and the two “Kill Bill” films.

Yet despite her butt-kicking abilities and way with witty dialogue in those films, Thurman is actually a very centered and calm presence who’s regarded as one of the most pleasant actresses to work with in Hollywood. No doubt that fact has contributed to her longevity, as she has not only passed 40, but she’s doing it with style and a full resume that includes her latest work in the excellent new indie film “Ceremony” (available with On Demand from some cable services now, but in theaters starting April 8).

In the film, which is squarely in the quirky character-comedy vein of Wes Anderson films like “The Royal Tenenbaums,” Thurman plays a free-spirited and wealthy woman named Zoe who’s about to get married to her longtime fiancé. But when another past boyfriend – the much younger Max (played well by Michael Aragano, who replaced Jesse Eisenberg in the role) – shows up to declare his still-burning love for her, the weekend gets turned upside down as Zoe is torn between two lovers.

“Ceremony” is a fun and often touching romp, a coming-of-age film for Max that doesn’t succumb to sappiness or cliché. And Thurman hits a homer with it. She recently did a round-table interview at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to discuss the role and some of her life philosophies.

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Accuracy in Media recently had the opportunity to interview John Aglialoro, co-producer and screenplay co-writer of the upcoming film Atlas Shrugged. Aglialoro discussed the creation of the movie, the work put in to successfully adapt the book to film, and the role of both Atlas Shrugged and the Tea Party in the political discourse of today.

“I would say it is faithfully adapted—the film from the book. I have had not one negative comment yet that it was untrue to the book or something was not exciting to see. I’m waiting for that to happen, but not yet,” Aglialoro says in the video.

He continues, “My hope and aspiration is one of optimism. I believe that there are many people in Hollywood that will see this and say ‘Oh, there may be something here’—because the movie talks about the liberation of the human spirit. You won’t find words like left-wing, right-wing, or liberal, conservative in this movie. It’s about ideas.”

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Read part one of the interview here.

Here we continue our conversation with Daniel Smith, also known as Danielson, an independent musician and businessman based in rural New Jersey who’s done much to foster creativity and community for Christian performers through his record label, Sounds Familyre.  Smith has just released his first album in five years, Best of Gloucester County, which you can order here or from your favorite online retailer.

vimeo Danielson performing live for La Blogotheque

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Before we get back into the interview, I’ve got some thoughts about the record itself, which I’ve listened to quite a few times before its release.  As noted in the last portion of our conversation, this has been a transitional record for Danielson in many ways.  In addition to reassembling a team of supporting players, the band is standing in the shadow of 2006’s imposing concept album Ships.  Rather than try to escalate the sound into more “epic” territory, which would quickly degenerate into self-parody, Danielson scales things back and gets about as back-to-basics as he can.  Since he’s working with a smaller sonic palette that doesn’t change much from song to song, the album has a jammier feel; it takes me back to the 2001 Danielson Famile masterwork Fetch the Compass Kids.

Though there’s still some of the heady, theological musing that made up the majority of Ships, Gloucester healthily revives the overt humor of past Danielson days.  “Lil Norge” is a bouncy ball of pure fun co-starring Swedish pop singer Jens Lekman, drawing good-hearted laughs out of culture clashes between Swedes, Norwegians, and Americans, and the aforementioned “People’s Partay” basks in its small-town idiosyncrasies with clever couplets and wordplay.  It’s a light-hearted song about learning that all you need for celebration is other people, God’s most precious creation, and discovering the joy of belonging to a loving community. (more…)

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From The Macho Response:

[Sheen's] nothing-can-take-me-down attitude, in the face of this wimpy, middle class, wet rag nanny state finger-wagging opinion is winning. This is a man, owning his actions and insisting everyone else come clean and take responsibility for theirs as well. (Our favorite line? Interviewer: “One of the women said she was afraid she might O.D.”. Sheen [incredulous]: “What’s that got to do with me?”) …

We’ve become a cautious, conformist, inoffensive, non-risk taking, arrogant, lying bunch of NewAge p[**]sies who think if any woman, like this interviewer, says she or others don’t approve, then some form of public contrition and apology is called for. Well, screw that. Neither she, or the public, are Charlie Sheen’s mother and even if his parents disapprove, he’s a grown-assed man who refuses to be a part of whatever milquetoast existence the rest of you think is good for gaining social approval from a worthless feminized culture-killing clique. He didn’t ask for it, doesn’t need it, and isn’t angling for it. He’s a man. He’s rich. And he’s free.

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One of the best-kept secrets about the Church is that Christians have often been pioneers and giants in the arts.  You certainly wouldn’t know that from what’s peddled as “Christian” music, that incestuous sub-genre known as CCM (contemporary Christian music) that embodies all the excess of the Nashville-based music industry.  Vain, kitschy, sappy, vapid, and overproduced, it’s an insult for us to offer such tripe in our worship instead of impassioned, finely crafted art.

Over the next few months, Big Hollywood will be highlighting the work of Christian musicians who buck this trend, who don’t use their music’s subject matter as an excuse for sucking but push boundaries for themselves and their listeners.  I’m personally ecstatic that our first contact is Daniel Smith, the founder and leader of the New Jersey-based music project named “Danielson” which has gone through many variations over the years, the first and most search engine optimized being the Danielson Famile.

Starting as a senior project at Rutgers University, the Danielson Famile was an experimental folk-rock outfit that consisted of Daniel Smith and his four siblings, some of whom were still in their teens.  Focusing on the marvelous fact that God has adopted him as a son, Daniel communicated his childlike faith through yelping, falsetto vocals, instruments like xylophones that sound like they’re being played by an out-of-control nursery, and unpredictable song structures.  As a fan, the first album A Prayer for Every Hour, I’ll admit, is off-putting and hard to sit through, but it was miraculously picked up by Tooth and Nail Records, which was then primarily known for releasing Christian punk music, allowing the Famile to tour and build up buzz in the indie world.  The rest is history, well documented in a great film from a few years back.

Over the past decade-plus, Danielson has gained and lost members as siblings moved on to other endeavors, and Daniel himself has settled into a different mode of writing as he’s built up his own family, started a record label, and come to appreciate a more provincial place in this world.  He’s gone from freak-folk ringleader to the frontman of one of the most slyly subversive pop-rock groups around, weaving layered Biblical allusions into poetic lyrics that can take Rubik’s-level effort to unravel.  His voice has given up on its squeakier octaves, and his melodies, while still unpredictable, have grown more accessible.  It’s a perfect time for anyone who’s unfamiliar with Danielson to hop on board and work their way back through his catalog of work.

Daniel was gracious enough to answer some questions about his new album Best of Gloucester County, which is hitting shelves almost five years since his latest (much lauded) release, Ships– an eternity in music years, but as you’ll see below, for good reason.   You can order the album directly from his label, Sounds Familyre, and those who purchase the vinyl LP will receive a digital copy of the album.  Below is the first single for Gloucester, a song called “Grow Up,” followed by part 1 of our exclusive interview.

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The President has made no secret of his love of a fight.  He’s been heard to council his party faithful to bring a gun to a challenger’s knife fight and when punched, he suggests hitting back twice as hard.  But that’s as it relates to political foes, not silver-tongued comics with a studio audience.

I felt mildly sorry for President Obama as he visited the set of the Daily Show Wednesday night.  Not because I support him or his failed policies as they plummet in the polls.  This was purely a human moment.  Like watching Brett Farve get booed at Lambeau Field, or a drunken co-worker singing karaoke amidst mocking laughter.  They all brought it on themselves, but they seem almost incapable of realizing that it’s actually happening.  The decency in me wishes I could’ve stopped it.

President Obama makes a point of staying away from Fox News as well as MSNBC on a regular basis.  His White House often likes to dismiss both networks, as well as talk radio as “too kooky” to legitimize with his perceived “greatness” and “gravitas.”

His preferred stops consist of non-confrontational lifestyle and variety shows like The View, Oprah, and The Tonight Show.  Certainly the White House calculation was Stewart’s “Daily Show” fit that mold.  A little good-natured ribbing from a friendly liberal comic would just humanize Obama, they certainly deduced.  

But Mr. Stewart isn’t just a comic, and he knows it.  His “brand” has been elevated to something far more important to the chattering, Beltway class.  Time Magazine’s online readership voted Stewart “the most trusted man in America” over the big three network anchors in 2009.  His rally today in Washington D.C. has media and politicians panting and panicking about its meaning and lasting impact. (more…)

It’s tempting to call singer/songwriter Seth Swirsky a late bloomer. After all, the 50-year-old musician released only his second solo album, “Watercolor Day,“ earlier this year. But that doesn’t account for the hit singles he wrote for Celine Dion, Taylor Dayne, Al Green and other pop mainstays, or the albums cut with his celebrated side project, The Red Button.

“Watercolor Day” brims with youthful enthusiasm all the same, a psychedelic toast to the ‘60s layered with tasty melodies. From the efficient beauty of “Summer in her Hair” to the sumptuous title track, “Day” is both timeless and retro. The 18-track album leverages our affection for the Summer of Love as a starting point for thoroughly original compositions.

Musical success struck Swirsky early – he had barely entered his 20s when he penned a jingle for Thomas’ English Muffins. He soon found steady work supplying songs for some of the music industry’s biggest acts.

“I really wanted to make it, but wasn’t sure what form it would be,” Swirsky recalls. Writing for fellow musicians held instant appeal for him.

“I could write R&B music for bands I grew up listening to, then switch and do real pop stuff,” he says, adding he remembers buying the albums of bands for whom he‘d later write songs.

“It’s a tremendous feeling to hear their voices on my songs,” he says. The singer/songwriter just couldn’t write music for himself. (more…)

Michael Worth was not born a filmmaker, but he came pretty close. Raised as a child not too far from the Chesapeake Bay, Michael began his camera savvy ways at the young age of ten. Armed with a Super 8mm camera and a willing younger brother, he began to shoot small films that revolved around plots involving monsters, Kung Fu and secret agents. By high school, Michael had moved to Berkeley California where he had managed to convince his English teacher to let him make a film as a final project, rather than write it out on paper.

Worth moved to Los Angeles at seventeen and lived in his truck with his German Shepard, Thrasher for four months while teaching martial arts and chasing auditions. After dozens of background jobs and a few walk-ons, Michael landed a leading role as a young, eager kick boxer vying for a world title that paralleled his own life in many ways in the film “Final Impact.” A positive notice from Variety “Worth is a promising newcomer” and a contracted two more films would follow before he landed the role of “Tommy” on the syndicated series “Acapulco H.E.A.T.” with Catherine Oxenberg and romance novel king Fabio. It was during his stint in Puerto Vallarta Mexico that Michael began to reconnect with his young filmmaker beginnings and refocused his creative energy into writing as he worked on several scripts. Shooting second unit action on the show would be his professional training ground for directing as well and by 2003 Michael would have his first screenplay produced in the hybrid western/martial arts film “Ghost Rock” with Gary Busey and Jeff Fahey.

Steve Mason: So Michael, it sounds like films were an early part of your career ambitions. (more…)

Writer James Ellroy suffered the murder of his mother, Jean Hilliker, at the age of 10 – just three months after he angrily told her he wished she would die in response to being struck by her – and has been haunted by her tragic and still-unsolved loss ever since. In fact, he transposed his obsession with her death into a fascination with the unsolved murder of another Los Angeles woman, Elizabeth Short, to fuel his masterpiece, “The Black Dahlia.”

He’s also famously the author of “L.A. Confidential,” which went on to become a classic film noir film that had a slew of Oscar nominations in 1997. Ellroy is a one of a kind man, a hat-wearing, illustriously tough-talking throwback to the types of men he writes about in his historic novels about Los Angeles. And while his personal life has often been beset by turmoil, he also became famous for being an outspoken, tough-talking conservative who often drew heat for his highly opinionated musings.

Yet, now that he finally decided to tackle his struggles with women – aka “the Hilliker curse” – head-on in his new memoir “The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women,” Ellroy has found that he has also opened himself to a happy relationship at last, finding true love after the age of 60. Speaking from the Beverly Hills Hotel recently in a brief phone interview, he assured his devoted fans that true love doesn’t mean his books will suddenly turn saccharine. (more…)

Robert Duvall has been an American cinematic icon for nearly five decades, ever since his memorable debut as Boo Radley in the 1962 film adaptation of “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Since then, he’s been in some of the greatest films of all time, as well as what is considered one of TV’s greatest accomplishments with “Lonesome Dove.”

Better yet, Duvall is a proud conservative who recently made it clear in an interview on Fox News Network’s “Huckabee” show that he did not vote for Obama, and if given the chance, won’t vote for him again. That flinty sense of humor combined with an effortless modesty makes him one of the most down-to-earth and human of stars, and has carried him through work in numerous independent projects that he had his heart into and staked his reputation upon.

Another hallmark of Duvall is his Christian faith, which he won’t discuss in particulars, but which shines through in some of his films as a vibrant example of walking the walk rather than just talking the talk. He put $5 million of his own money up for the budget of 1997’s“The Apostle,” a film he wrote, starred in and directed about a tormented Pentecostal preacher who faces a period of reckoning. (more…)

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Andrew guest-hosted the Dennis Miller Radio Show this morning and our own Michael Moriarty joined him for a segment to discuss Obama, abortion, Hollywood and a host of other topics.

Apart from the fact that she’s a smoking hot California babe and I’m a 47-year-old mother of two teenage sons, Carrie Prejean and I do have some things in common. We’re both from San Diego. We both attend The Rock, an urban mega-church pastored by former San Diego Chargers defensive back, Miles McPherson. And we’ve both been slammed as raging “homophobes” by the New Media left. 

So when Andrew Breitbart asked me if I’d interview Carrie about her new book, Still Standing, out November 9 from Regnery, I chuckled and thought: The liberal faithful will think this is perfect: One “fanatical homophobe” interviewing another. 

Except that they would be wrong.

In case you’ve been living under a rock this year, Carrie Prejean is the former Miss California who became an accidental lightning rod in the spring. At a glitzy pageant held April 19 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Carrie appeared poised to be crowned Miss USA. But during the final segment of the contest, a Q&A with pageant judges, Carrie drew as her questioner the gay gossip aficionado, Perez Hilton. 

Ignoring the longstanding pageant tradition of steering clear of politically charged questions, Hilton launched this salvo: “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”  (more…)

In an interview published today, The Atlantic describes Gore Vidal as “a sharp provocateur, as irascible and irreverent as ever.”

I’m assuming that’s some kind of internal Atlantic-code for ”twisted old has-been degenerate desperate for attention“:

ATLANTIC: In September, director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for leaving the U.S. in 1978 before being sentenced to prison for raping a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson’s house in Hollywood. During the time of the original incident, you were working in the industry, and you and Polanski had a common friend in theater critic and producer Kenneth Tynan. So what’s your take on Polanski, this many years later?

VIDAL: I really don’t give a fuck. Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she’s been taken advantage of?

Vidal then goes on to blame Polanski’s legal problems on… (more…)

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I know that to many of us Conservatives, the name “Michael Moore” is simply more off-putting than upsetting. He’s not really a key player anymore, so we often don’t even give him the time of day. I do think it’s important to know one’s enemy however, which is why this mini-documentary is incredibly important. Follow me into the belly of the beast, no pun intended.

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