Technology-wise, we appear to have arrived at that long-awaited stage where film-lovers could finally own perfect copies of the treasures they love the most. But will that happen? Right now, things don’t look very promising. As the home video market collapses, Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeff Wells offers up what is likely an accurate analysis of the studio mind-set when it comes to restoring classic films to Blu-ray…

Jeff Wells:

[T]he classic-film Bluray market is withering and perhaps even drawing to a close. (I’m not saying “dead” because it thankfully hasn’t come to that…yet.) High-def classics will return, I suspect, when and if high-speed digital download technology improves. But Bluray is almost certainly down for the count. This is nothing short of an earthquake-level development, and one worth pondering just before the start of Hollywood’s TCM Classic Film Festival (4.28 through 5.1), which is probably the most important celebration of classic films going on right now in this country.

For the last 25 years or so the elite film-buff culture has had a relatively steady stream of classic films being restored, remastered and replicated out on the most advanced format of a given time — laser discs from the late ’80s to the late ’90s, DVDs from ‘97 until three or four years ago, and Blurays ever since. But these days classic titles aren’t selling like they used to (Warner Home Video’s Gone With The Wind and Wizard of Oz Bluray restorations costs mllions and failed, I’m told, to turn a profit), and those in positions of power in the Bluray distribution business aren’t about to risk their jobs by pushing for restored Bluray titles that might financially fizzle. And those who get occasional work from these same people are loath to say anything for fear of being blacklisted…omerta.

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The same degenerate mainstream media that spent three entire days feasting off the corpses of the dead in Tucson in the hopes of destroying Sarah Palin and turning the Right into something that will raise its hand for permission before criticizing ObamaCare, obviously had zero evidence of any kind of connection between political rhetoric and an individual who, if found guilty, can’t be executed quickly enough. No political maps marked with bullseyes were found in his pockets, no Glenn Beck posters on the wall, no Sarah Palin action figures. Nope, just craven left-wingers and their allies in the media exploiting a national tragedy in pursuit of the worst kind of political opportunism. And the permanent damage they have done to themselves with this political witch hunt makes me smile like the words “Rather” and “Gate.”

And some in Hollywood, like Roger Ebert, Michael Moore, Elizabeth Banks, John Legend, Jeff Wells, Jane Fonda, Michael McKean, and Piers Morgan,  jumped right in with both pedicured feet. Let’s call these witch hunters the Hollywood 8.

There is news on this front to report now. Interesting news. According to those who know the suspect, we now know that Jared Lee Loughner (must it always be three names?) absolutely loved the punk band Anti-Flag. The Incredible Shrinking L.A. Times informs us, that Anti-Flag is a ”radical leftist punk band whose music focuses on themes of corporate greed, U.S. foreign policy and opposition to war.” We’ve also been told that Loughner was “driven over the edge “by a film called “Zeitgeist” – a conspiracy theory documentary that touched on subjects as diverse as 9/11, currency, and religion.

Music and a movie. How about that?

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The same weekend “Sex and the City 2” hit theatres, the email copied below (which was leaked to Big Hollywood), titled: Is Sex & the City 2 Bad For America’s Brand?,‏ made the rounds in the obvious hopes of kicking up and furthering the narrative that SATC2 was not only racist but also stereotyped Americans in a way that reinforced why Islamists hate us (as though the motivations of pure evil matter). 

This email was disseminated to various media publications on behalf of  Adam Hanft, a “branding and marketing expert,” eager to offer his important self up for interviews in the hopes of tarnishing and “branding” as racist a film that strayed from the Liberal Plantation — a cinematic fairy tale that dared to indulge in materialistic luxury and display an open defiance of Islamic Nazism.

And would it surprise you to learn that this same Adam Hanft is a HuffPoster?

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: Fri, May 28, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Subject: Expert Avail: Is Sex & the City 2 Bad For America’s Brand?
To: XXXX@XXXXXXXX

Hi XXXXXXX,

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One:

How do the haters not understand that forgiveness and letting go, particularly after decades of natural healing and the universe having moved on, is an essential tenet of a humane and compassionate philosophy/attitude? Especially when the victim herself has been saying “give it up” for years?

Two:

Polanski was, in 1977 and ‘78, simply a brilliant obsessive with certain wounds and bruises and perverse inclinations who one night acted like a brute and a pig and probably damaged a young girl’s psyche, although apparently not to a great extent, to judge by her own statements about the incident.

Three: (more…)

After news broke of fugitive child rapist Roman Polanski’s second accuser, the L.A. Times’  Patrick Goldstein wrote the following:

As an admirer of his work, I’ve tried to see things from Polanski’s point of view in the past, but if these charges turn out to be true, it would be harder than ever to defend him. Once burned is twice shy. 

What a relief to know Goldstein draws the line somewhere. But he’s not alone. Here’s Jeff Wells:

Well, I guess things don’t look so hot right now for the “let it go because Roman Polanski is an art god” argument, do they? Yes, I’ll admit it — the indications are damning.

I’m confused. Are you confused?

What about “Rosemary’s Baby?”

Polanski drugs, rapes and sodomizes a thirteen year-old girl and then flees justice. Then these two — and many others like them — give Polanski a pass because he’s such a OhMyGawdHesSoAwesome filmmaker. I assumed this was due to Polanski helming “Chinatown.” (more…)

This is how degenerate Hollywood’s become: Today it’s more damaging to your career to buck the “cool kids”  and speak out against the child rapist than it is to be the child rapist.

The round up below took twenty-minutes to put together. Who knows who or what else is out there. And don’t forget it’s early. Hollywood’s Rally ‘Round the Child-Sodomizer is only 36 hours old.

Harvey Weinstein:

“We’re calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation,” Weinstein said. Sources close to The Weinstein Company said the mogul would reach out to Hollywood to lobby against any move to bring Polanski to the US, where he could face up to 50 years in jail.

Patrick Goldstein: (more…)