REDBOX VOWS TO ACQUIRE WARNER BROS DVDS ‘THROUGH ALTERNATIVE MEANS’

I love capitalism, and now you get another look into why Hollywood loves Castro and hates liberty:

Looks like Redbox has told Warner Bros to take a hike with its effort to double the waiting period for new rental DVDs to 56 days. When the contract to acquire discs directly from Warner Bros expires today Redbox will “work to provide Warner Brothers’ movies through alternative means[.]” …

(Earlier this morning Walmart agreed to continue housing Redbox kiosks to early 2015.) But Warner Bros also is taking a gamble: There’s nothing to stop Redbox from flooding the market with used Warner Bros DVDs a few weeks after they’re released, when rental demand for the titles lets up. Still, Warner Bros wants to increase the delay before providing discs to low-cost rental companies because it believes that will help to boost sales.

Warners next step is to convince retailers to only sell a limited number of titles to each customer, that way it’s more difficult for Redbox to acquire the number of titles necessary to fill their kiosks. But there are two incredibly stupid points made in this articlee worth pointing out:

Redbox is taking a big risk by choosing to buy Warner Bros discs from outside sources: That could be more costly. What’s more, the company may not be able to buy enough copies of hit films to satisfy its customers[.]

What? A ‘big risk?” As opposed to satisfying NO customers at all by not having any of these titles? But the article’s closer is the real howler:

Susquehanna Financial Group’s Vasily Karasyov says today that “declining DVD sales have no impact on major studios’ profitability” because discs are expensive to produce and market.

Oh, so DVD sales have no effect whatsoever on studio “profitability.”

THEN WHY ARE STUDIOS GOING TO WAR WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS TO INCREASE DVD SALES?

THE 100 BEST MOVIES STREAMING ON NETFLIX RIGHT NOW

This myth that Netflix Streaming is “lacking” in content, really is a myth created mostly by people who want the latest and awfulest. You not only have access to the films listed here, you also have access to an overwhelming and neverending catalog of great television, include a number of British shows that await discovery.

Everyone understands the power of streaming and it scares them more than a little bit, especially those who don’t want to see the power a very few hold over our popular culture slip away. About six left-leaning multi-nationals control almost all of the entertainment content created today, and they do it through the intentional bottle-necking of distribution. Streaming is the first step to democratizing distribution, and that freaks many on the left out.

In other news: Entire ‘Arrested Development’ cast signs on for Netflix revival.

CAN JERRY SEINFELD’S SUPER BOWL AD TRUMP FERRIS BUELLER?

Except for the Jay Leno “pop in,” this is epic and blows the Bueller redux out of the water. The Thanksgiving moment is classic Seinfeld.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING 

The Enforcer (1976) — The Dirty Harry franchise is, at least to me, a trilogy. “Sudden Impact” and “The Dead Pool” are very entertaining films, but they don’t feel like they belong with the three that came before. Part of the reason is that the last two are very much 80’s action films while the first three fit snugly into the previous decade — which had its own sensibility. Also, Clint is noticeably middle aged in the last two entries, not the lean, young, fierce man we see Callahan as. “Sudden Impact” really feels like an outlier because — if memory serves — most of the action is set outside of San Francisco. Also, even though “The Dead Pool” is set in Frisco, it’s still Hollywood-centric, which feels out of place.

Again, I enjoy the latter two films, but the first three really are Dirty Harry films. The two that followed are Clint Eastwood movies, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

CATCHING UP WITH MARY TYLER MOORE

MATTHEW VAUGHN RETURNING TO DIRECT ‘X-MEN: FIRST CLASS’ SEQUEL

RYAN REYNOLDS GIVES DENZEL A BLACK EYE

KEVIN SMITH DISCUSSES ‘HIT SOMEBODY’ AND HOW THE OSCARS ARE LIKE HIGH SCHOOL

SHOULD APPLE USE ITS $100 BILLION IN CASH TO BUY HOLLYWOOD?…

…AND WHY IT’S A TERRIBLE IDEA

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GANG FROM ‘CHUCK?‘

10 REASONS WE LOVED ‘CHUCK’

WISDOM FROM DIRECTOR BRAD BIRD (‘THE INCREDIBLES,’ ‘RATATOUILLE’)

JOSHUA JACKSON HINTS HOW ‘FRINGE’ CAN CONTINUE EVEN IF FOX CANCELS IT

40 FILMS THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN AWESOME BUT WEREN’T

A LOOK BACK AT THE ARMY AIR FORCES FIRST MOTION PICTURE UNIT

R.I.P. VETERAN TV DIRECTOR JOHN RICH; CREDITS INCLUDE ‘GUNSMOKE’ AND ‘GILLIGAN’S ISLAND‘

THE MOST EGREGIOUS 2012 OSCAR SNUBS

RED-BAND TRAILER FOR BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT’S ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA’ (NSFW)

GEORGE LUCAS: ONE (MEGA) HIT WONDER?

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COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

HUGO: Critically-Acclaimed, Enchanting Film Debuts on Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™ and DVD February 28.                 

HUGO will be available in a three-disc Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, as well as a two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, each of which boast nearly an hour of behind-the-scenes special features including an illuminating making-of featurette, a retrospective on the extraordinary genius of filmmaker Georges Méliès, a look at the mechanical man at the heart of HUGO, plus interviews with the cast and crew and more.  The film will also be available as a single-disc DVD.  All Blu-ray and DVD releases available for purchase will be enabled with UltraViolet, a new way to collect, access and enjoy movies.  With UltraViolet, consumers can add movies to their digital collection in the cloud, and then stream or download them – reliably and securely – to a variety of devices.    

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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY 1

TCM:

2:15 PM EST: Reap the Wild Wnd (1942)  –  Two sailors vie for the affections of a southern temptress while fighting off pirates. Dir: Cecil B. Demille. Cast: John Wayne, Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey. C-124mins.

Not one of John Wayne’s better known titles, but still very entertaining with a rare opportunity to feast your eyes on the ravishing Paulette Godard in Technicolor.

Epic filmmaking courtesy of Mr. DeMille, a tense finale, and some complicated relationships. Good stuff. Well worth a look.

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

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.

‘SCORPION KING 3′ ON BLU-RAY AND DVD JAN 10

In a dangerous, action-packed battle to regain his glory and reclaim the empire, Mathayus’s journey is steeped in intrigue, sorcery and romance, fueling this new film that spawned from the billion-dollar The Mummy film franchise. The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption tops the series once again, featuring even more of the heart-stopping action, mind-bending stunts and astonishing plot twists that have earned the series millions of fans the world over. The film’s spectacular fight scenes, choreographed by renowned stunt experts Kawee “Seng” Sirikanerut (Ongbok, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Civilization) and Supoj “Jimmy” Khaowwong (Batman Begins), are showcased within enchanting ancient palaces, against a backdrop of breathtaking desert vistas.

The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption stars Golden Globe® winner Ron Perlman (“Sons of Anarchy,” Hellboy II: The Golden Army) as Horus, the powerful King of Egypt and Billy Zane (The Roommate, Titanic) as the villainous Talus.  Directed by Roel Reiné, the film also stars Victor Webster (“Castle,” Surrogates) as Mathayus and UFC star Kimbo Slice (Locked Down), Bostin Christopher (Unbreakable); six-time WWE World Champion Dave Bautista (House of the Rising Sun), and Temeura Morrison (Green Lantern, Stars Wars: Episode 3 — Revenge of the Sith), Selina Lo (Shanghai) and Krystal Vee (Streetfighter: The Legend of Chin-Li).

Clips here, here, here, and here.

UNSEEN SCENES: DELETED SEQUENCE FROM JOHN WAYNE’S ‘MCQ’

John Wayne, along with Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra, turned down the role of “Dirty” Harry Callahan that made Clint Eastwood a superstar, and in the hopes of making up for it, Duke starred in two urban actioners, “McQ” (1974) and “Brannigan” (1975), the latter of which I still remember seeing in a theatre with my dad.

It’s a testament to Wayne’s starpower that both films remain so watchable. The scripts are only okay (though memorable moments abound) and the star is obviously a little long in the tooth to be playing an active duty police officer. But watchable they are.

THE TRAILER FOR THE 84TH ACADEMY AWARDS

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the trailer for the 84th Academy Awards in conjunction with Funny Or Die. The trailer features host Billy Crystal and cameo appearances by Robin Williams, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, William Fichtner and Vinnie Jones.

“We wanted to try something a little bit different this year instead of a traditional, clip-based piece,” said Academy Chief Marketing Officer Christina Kounelias. “The trailer has a fun twist that conveys how excited everyone is to have Billy back.”

HBO AND WARNERS GETS STUPID WITH NETFLIX: WON’T STREAM, WON’T SELL DVDS

Childish:

[I]n the past Netflix was able to buy HBO DVDs directly from the company, and in bulk, at a discounted rate. But, starting in 2012, that is no longer an option. To stock new HBO shows – such as Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, which are soon being released on disc – Netflix will have to buy them from a third party at a higher rate.

So, basically, the consumer won’t notice. They can add those shows to their Netflix queue and they’ll arrive when they arrive because Netflix will need to buy them at any cost. The only real people who’ll notice are the accountants at Netflix who’ll have to pay a little more. The important news here is the symbolic line in the sand HBO is drawing with Netflix. HBO knows Netflix wants their content and Netflix has been very wary that HBO is becoming an important competitor. It seems it’s now official.

Do you think the HBO shows are that important? Do you stream them on HBO Go, watch them on DVR or not at all? Is Netflix suffering without HBO?

Of course, HBO has every right to do this but it’s counter-productive. Netflix helps to spread their brand and can work like a giant commercial for their original programming. Throw Streaming a few seasons and if people get addicted they will either subscribe to HBO in order to avoid waiting another year or so to see the latest seasons, or they will run out and buy the DVD sets that aren’t streaming.

Hollywood always fights the future, and the end result is always the same. They discover the future opens entirely new markets to them but that during the fight they lost a ton of money they could’ve made by not playing defense.

In related news: Warner Bros. Doubles Delay on Netflix, Redbox DVD Rentals to 56 Days

Oh noes, now we have to wait two months to see bad movies.

MATTHEW VAUGHN IN TALKS WITH POTENTIAL ‘KICK-ASS 2′ WRITER/DIRECTOR

Love the original.

AMANDA SEYFRIED IS RELUCTANT PORN SUPERSTAR ‘LOVELACE,’ NOW SHOOTING

I’m tired of watching women debase themselves onscreen and even more tired of women debasing themselves on screen to portray women debasing themselves onscreen.

Now that “progressive” women act exactly like the debauched fantasies of men they used to call sexist pigs, no one is happier than sexist pigs.

“Take off your clothes, feminist, it’s art.”

“Liberated” suckers.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

The Closer: We’re in the middle of season five and enjoyed what you might call a reverse sucker punch last night. *spoilers coming*. The entire episodes revolves around our protagonist, Brenda Leigh (Kyra Sedgwick), fighting a Texas police officer over which one will win the right to prosecute a serial killer. Much is made of the Texas death penalty, none of it good, and for about a half-hour you sit there rolling your eyes at the all-too obvious political subtext and outright Texas-bashing.

In the end, Brenda wins the day and this awful killer is saved from those crude Texans by liberal California justice. Then, in a very satisfying and realistic twist, Brenda gets a look at photograph after photograph of the murderer’s innocent young victims. Immediately, she sees the light and ships the scumbag off to Texas for the justice he deserves.

Love this show.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

KLAVAN: THIS EPIC DORITOS COMMERCIAL DESERVES YOUR VOTE

VAN HALEN TO KICK OFF TOUR, ALBUM IN FEBRUARY … EARLY RAVE

‘SHERLOCK HOLMES’ STAR BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH CAST AS ‘STAR TREK’ SEQUEL VILLAIN

MARTIN FREEMAN IS BILBO BAGGINS IN A NEW PHOTO FROM ‘THE HOBBIT‘

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? ABC PICKS UP PRESIDENTIAL RACE DRAMA PILOT FROM CREATOR ROLAND EMMERICH

CW GREENLIGHTS MYSTERY SERIES ‘CULT’ FROM ‘FARSCAPE’ CREATOR ROCKNE S. O’BANNON

ANOTHER FILM CRITIC BITES THE DUST

FOR YOU SCREENWRITERS: YOUR 2012 WRITING NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

FIRST LOOK: JEREMY RENNER AS AARON CROSS IN ‘THE BOURNE LEGACY’

13 ‘SIMPSONS’ JOKES THAT ACTUALLY CAME TRUE

‘AMERICAN HORROR STORY’ SEASON 2 DETAILS REVEALED: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

BELA LUGOSI AND HIS STEAMER TRUNK

WHAT WERE THE 15 BIGGEST FLOPS OF 2011?

10 UNFORGETTABLE TEASER TRAILERS

CREATIVITY AND THE RISK OF RESENTING YOUR AUDIENCE

THE 10 MOST INTENSE COUNTDOWNS IN MOVIES

THE BIG BAD SWAP: THE PROBLEM OF REPLACED MUSIC

THE STORY OF DAVID LYNCH AND HIS UNPRODUCED SCRIPT ‘RONNIE ROCKET‘

THE ALLURE OF HORRIBLE PROTAGONISTS

5 TV SHOWS THAT DIDN’T GET THE CHANCE THEY DESERVED

HOLLYWOOD AND THE YEAR THAT WAS: 1976

10 AWESOME POP CULTURE ANIMAL SIDEKICKS

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CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY,  JANUARY 7

TCM:

8:00 PM  EST: City Lights (1931) –  In this silent film, the Little Tramp tries to help a blind flower seller to see again. Dir: Charles Chaplin Cast:  Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee. BW-87 mins, TV-G.

If the closing scene doesn’t get you, you’re a sociopath.

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

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.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN UNVEILS ‘DARK KNIGHT RISES’ PROLOGUE

Things I miss about living in Los Angeles:

Nolan was on hand himself to introduce the nearly seven-minute clip, which he described as, basically, the opening sequence, with a few out-of-order bonus shots thrown in at the end. The director also emphasized his love for IMAX technology, explaining that even though it was probably developed before he was born, it is “far and away the best imaging format created,” and it’s one that allows fans to experience the grandeur of old Hollywood films, which Nolan said is “slowly being chipped away.” At the special screening, he encouraged fans to seek out official IMAX screens for a fully immersive experience when “Rises” opens next summer, but not to inquire about the plot of the film.

Truth be told, though, I don’t want to see this stuff beforehand. Until the film comes out, I don’t want to know. No doubt, the prologue will be released online before “Dark Knight Rises” hits theaters next summer, and hopefully, work or my own lack of discipline won’t force me to view it.

STREISAND: ‘IT’S TIME FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN TREATMENT OF HEART DISEASE‘

Just once I’d like to see some insufferable leftist celeb write about “gender inequality” in defense of men over something… anything.

Just writing the words “gender inequality” makes me feel dirty and stupid.

BLU-RAY DISC SALES UP 35% IN 2011

A break in the clouds?

Sales of Blu-ray Disc movies in the last four months of the year have skyrocketed, eclipsing what had been a sluggish year for the high-definition packaged media format, an analyst said.

BD disc sales in the United States will reach about 115 million units in 2011, compared with 85 million units in 2010 — spearheaded by the Star Wars: The Complete Saga boxed set release, Jim Bottoms, analyst with Futuresource in London, told Home Media Magazine.

In Europe, BD disc sales will balloon 42% to 63 million units, compared with 44 million units last year — driven by strong adoption in Germany.

Global BD disc sales will increase to 234 million units, up 45% from 161 million units in 2010.

In other news: Analysts Cut Fourth-Quarter Box Office Estimates

8 MOVIE SPECIAL EFFECTS YOU WON’T BELIEVE AREN’T CGI

Awesome:

The flipping of the semi was accomplished with a technique known in Hollywood as flipping a real goddamned semi.

Awesomer:

The big-budget project was to have a stylized, surreal look in every frame. The studio, going through a CG craze, dropped its top visual effects artists in the director’s lap so they could paint everything in pixels and Phantom Menace that shit.

In response, Coppola fired every one of them and replaced them with his 29-year-old son, Roman. The result is a movie with effects that were 100 percent done “in camera.”

Awesomest:

So they grabbed their model of New York, which had been used for various other shots, and bought a roll of green tape and a black light. That’s it — this cutting-edge effect was done with five bucks and a trip to the hardware store.

My opposition to CGI isn’t based on some old-fashioned nostalgia. Too often, it hurts the storytelling.

CINEMA STANDOFF: JOHN WAYNE VS CLINT EASTWOOD

This is a great article, well worth a read. And as the Duke’s biggest defender, I say without any reservation that Clint Eastwood is more than worthy of this comparison. However, I do have a few quibbles:

Within [the Western] genre, Eastwood and Wayne are clearly at opposite ends of the spectrum; the former famed for playing a secretive loner in slow paced and gritty films which blur the lines between good and evil, right and wrong; the second finding fame through roles as a trailblazer, fighting predominantly for good with quick quips and an even quicker draw.

I couldn’t disagree more that Wayne’s Western legacy is that one-dimensional and simple. In “The Searchers,” arguably the finest Western ever made, Wayne plays a stone-cold racist. In “Red River,” he’s a psychopath, and in “The Sons of Katie Elder” he’s a gunslinger. In “Stagecoach,”  Wayne plays a fugitive and one of the first Western anti-heroes, and in his final film, “The Shootist,” Wayne’s a killer dying of cancer who wants to go out as a killer.

These are far from simple characterizations, and if you dig even deeper into the Wayne canon, you’ll find titles like “Fort Apache” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” — two masterpieces that deconstruct the mythos behind the Old West. They’re just not as famous for doing so because the message is subtle, not proud of itself.

The author should also give “Shepherd of the Hills” and “The Train Robbers” another look. Both contain a fascinating and bizarre quality that’s just now starting to be appreciated.

John Wayne’s involvement with war is, in a word, complex. He never fought during World War II, although he was capable and eligible to do so; instead, his studio constantly intervened and had his conscription deferred until 1945, by which time the war was over. In this sense, Wayne never illegally avoided conscription; however he never took active steps to enlist either. His widow has since argued that this was the reason for his seemingly hypocritical pro-war stance – she claimed that his patriotism and militarism came from the guilt which he felt more than anything else. Hmm.

That’s just false, but when the legend becomes fact, print the legend, I guess. Moreover, the author uses that false notion as a rationale to give Eastwood the edge in the genre of war movies, which is absurd.

Eastwood starred in a couples of terrific war films, but “Where Eagles Dare,” (the pretty dumb) “Kelly’s Heroes,” and “Heartbreak Ridge” can’t touch “The Sands of Iwo Jima,” “They Were Expendable,” “The Longest Day,” “In Harm’s Way,” “Operation Pacific,” “Flying Tigers,” or “Back to Bataan.”

Finally, the author again gives Eastwood the edge in “other genres” but seems to ignore how much more effective Wayne was in romance pictures “The Quiet Man” and in comedies such as “McLintock!” and “North to Alaska.” And then there’s “The High and the Mighty,” “Island In the Sky,” “The Long Voyage Home,” and “Wake of the Red Witch.”

In the detective genre, however, Eastwood wins hands down. And I also have no doubt that after the unthinkable happens, Mr. Eastwood will, for decades to come, poll posthumously as one of America’s favorite movie stars, a feat only ever achieved by John Wayne. Before he died, Wayne said that Eastwood would assume his mantle, and he was right.

JAMES CAMERON SLAPPED WITH LAWSUIT OVER ‘AVATAR’ PLOT

By the writers of “Dances With Wolves” and “Pocahontas”?

That joke will never get old.

VARIETY REVIEWS ‘SHERLOCK HOLMES 2′

Among recent reworkings of the Sherlock Holmes mythology, Warner Bros.’ bigscreen version starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law was at best a middling effort. Its success, however, made a sequel inevitable, and this one, subtitled “A Game of Shadows,” actually has the significant advantage of featuring Holmes’ preeminent adversary, Professor Moriarty, as played with reptilian charm by Jared Harris. So while director Guy Ritchie’s excesses and modern concessions — among them a lot of explosions — remain intact, the parts of this second “Sherlock Holmes” are considerably more rewarding, promising a healthy run through its holiday window.

INDIEWIRE REVIEWS ‘MI:4′

Worth a reminder that “Incredibles” director Brad Bird helmed this one:

…Bird does a wonderful job of executing these action scenarios in ways that communicate energy and drama but never succumb to undue self-seriousness. The opening scene where Hunt breaks out of prison is a marvel of storytelling economy, as Bird uses almost no dialogue to communicate what’s happening and why, but the audience is never at a loss for what’s happening or how they’re meant to feel about it. And later – and certainly augmented by Cruise’s own commitment/ fearlessness – his photography of Hunt scaling the outside glass of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa some hundred or more stories in the air is truly a breathtaking, palm-sweating spectacle to behold. In fact, the only problem with these sequences is that they’re a little too slight: in an earlier cut shown to reporters of the Burj Khalifa scene, there were a few more shots, or perhaps just longer ones, and the immediate impression one came away with was that this was going to be a defining, unique moment in action moviemaking. In the final theatrical version, the editing is much more aggressive, and as a result it doesn’t climax with the same sense of exhilaration it previously did, and resonates only superficially afterward.

MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2012

My Top 5:

‘Dark Knight Rises” — July 20

“Resident Evil 5″ — Sept 14

“Taken 2″ — Oct 5

“Django Unchained” — Dec 26

“Expendables 2″ — August 17

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Hoping against hope to review this one today.

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FOX SEARCHLIGHT SETTING UP ANOTHER ALFRED HITCHCOCK BIO, THIS ONE ON THE MAKING OF ‘PSYCHO‘

THREE NEW (KIND OF HILARIOUS) POSTERS FOR ‘THE REVEREND’

LIONSGATE WANTS TO REMAKE ‘AMERICAN PSYCHO‘

7 RANDOM CAMEOS BY DIRECTORS IN FILMS THAT THEY DIDN’T DIRECT

FILMMAKER JOHN WATERS: CAPITALIST

CLARK GABLE’S GRANDSON PLEADS GUILTY IN LASER-POINTER CASE

‘AKIRA’ VS. ‘OLDBOY’: WHICH REMAKE IS THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS?

BAD CHRISTMAS MOVIE POLL

A LOOK AT THE CAREER OF DIRECTOR FRANKLIN J. SCHAFFNER (‘PATTON’, ‘PLANET OF THE APES’)

5 CANCELLED HORROR TV SERIES WORTH UNEARTHING

THE 10 BEST WORST MOVIES

IMDB EXPLAINS WHY 40-YEAR OLD ACTRESS SHOULDN’T FEAR BLACKLISTING

10 FILMS THAT AVOIDED AN NC-17 RATING AND SUFFERED FOR IT

WALT DISNEY’S 5 GREATEST INNOVATIONS

ARE MOVIE TITLES TOO LITERAL?

25 FACTS ABOUT ‘OCEAN’S 11′ (2001)

RAY BRADBURY AND OTHER SCI-FI AUTHORS EXPLAIN THEIR SYMBOLISM

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CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10

TCM:

7:30 AM EST: Bank Dick, The (1940) —  When he foils two robberies in one day, the town drunkard is hired to guard the local bank. Dir: Edward Cline Cast:  W. C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkeli . BW-72 mins, TV-PG, CC.

Still one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud comedies ever made. Fast-paced, brilliant, and edgy in a good way, not that phony way Hollywood uses “edgy” today as a crutch.

Perfect for the kids.

“Soft Target,” in bookstores Dec 6th, manages to be more than just not bad; it’s a modern Western on amphetamines; it’s Tom Clancy if Clancy were a better weaver of the old fashioned good vs. evil yarn; it’s… well, it’s Stephen Hunter all the way. Semper fi and all that.

Those who are familiar with the author will understand, and those who are not–well, what are you doing reading a book review by me when there is writing out there carved by a master?

“Soft Target” is the new Hunter thriller that takes place in a thriller writer’s fantasy land: America, the Mall. Appropriately, it combines the two things America loves the most: shopping and violence. Those two ingredients are enough to carry the novel through a harsh and very quick 254 pages. You will not want to put this one down.

Ray Cruz is Hunter’s new John Wayne. He’s retired USMC and just wants to leave the Mall of America with his beautiful fiancée, Molly Chan. Only problem is some jihadists have a very different idea and decide to take the mall and the thousands of innocent shoppers hostage on the busiest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.

Cruz, noble and honorable and flawed as he is, decides to take the mall back when there is little action being taken outside by Colonel Douglas Obobo. Hunter sets up the contrast between the two perfectly. Cruz is the conservative man of action, while Obobo is the liberal believer in mankind, the man who believes in words above all else. Other characters flourish as well in the novel, which, despite being short, fleshes out the action from every perspective imaginable. We follow Cruz, we follow the Imam leading the ordeal, we follow Colonel Obobo, newscaster Nikkie Swagger, FBI sniper McElroy, and many others. The novel fleshes out so many characters and tells the story in such a thorough way that Tarantino would be jealous.

As always, Hunter’s greatest gift is his style, his prose. He’s been called the “populist Faulkner” and for good reason. He’s no Vince Flynn and he’s no Tom Clancy. His characters inhabit a harsh world that is unforgiving and follows no set code of good wins over evil. His characters inhabit a place called reality where Hunter’s simple yet delicate and violent prose comes alive. His heroes are not perfect and his villains are never black and white.

In fact, Hunter is famous for going where no other writer will go. He enters the grey. He tells the densely complicated stories other thriller writers shy away from. He throws his noble yet heroic characters into the world of grey and forces them to deem what is black and white, good and evil, and we sit back and enjoy.

Hunter’s novels also appeal because of their visual style, and this one is no different. He manages to keep the pace fast and the narrative swift without sacrificing clarity, because he knows exactly what we want. He feeds us the exact images and verbs our inner beasts need to gobble up in order to be completely consumed by the story. Hunter has perfected the craft of the thriller by keeping his prose simple a la Hemingway and giving us the details other writers shy away from, all while providing these in the context of a visually striking world only a man who reviewed films for decades could give us.

“Soft Target” will pull you in fast and hard and will not let go until the very last utterance has been spoken. Ray Cruz is our new hero, our new John Wayne, and watching him navigate through a world of liberal spinners, evil jihadists, political guinea pigs and bureaucracy at its finest is more than entertaining. It’s thrilling, and that’s due to the epic prose of Hunter. There’s no other thriller writer like him today. Hell, there’s no other writer like him today. He passes the Clancys, the Flynns, the Thors like they were all standing still. And considering how far ahead his novels seems to be in all most every capacity, they must be.

Sony Mulling Internet-Based Alternative to Cable TV

Faster, please:

“According to Wall Street Journal sources, Sony is mulling the launch of an Internet-based alternative to cable TV service in the US. Per the report, Sony has approached several big media groups seeking to negotiate rights to beam their TV channels via the Web.

“Sony’s proposal would see the channels go out to Sony-made devices like PlayStation consoles, TVs and Blu-ray players.”

Update on ’Star Trek’ Sequel Production

What will Hollywood do if this franchise peters out? Clone the original cast? “Star Trek Babies”?

What the ‘Community’ Hiatus Says About the Current State of TV

You buy this?

Community creator Dan Harmon attempted to explain why his NBC show continues to get low ratings despite outstanding marks from critics. “Well, the average person comes home from work really tired, and just wants to flip through channels until they land on the thing that’s the least objectionable to them,” Harmon said. “So they don’t regard the television as an appliance that’s supposed to spiritually satisfy them, they regard it as a thing that’s supposed to comfort them and be a little stupid. It’s not because they’re stupid, it’s because that’s what TV has given them all their lives and it’s hard to go out and do the work of finding a show.”

I can’t judge the show because I’ve never seen it, but this actually seems to be the decade for intelligent television — from “The Sopranos” straight through to “The Shield,” “Mad Men,” and “Breaking Bad.”

An NBC show obviously has to pull in more viewers than those cable shows, so maybe that’s the answer. Move to cable.

Celebrating 40 years of ‘The Omega Man‘

This is one of those films I keep watching again and again hoping I’ll like it better. But as much as I want to like it, to say I prefer Will Smith’s remake would be quite the understatement. Maybe it’s watching Heston enjoy the dirty, filthy hippie movie “Woodstock” or those silly sunglasses Anthony Zerbe wears.  There’s something about “Omega Man”’s tone that doesn’t work for me, and it gets worse as the film rolls on.

The 10 Best Behind the Scenes Film Books

Making a film is so difficult and intense and (usually) filled with larger-than-life personalities that I have yet to learn about what happened behind the scenes and find it any less fascinating than whatever the picture was that came out of it.

New Poster released for ‘Titanic 3D’

Couldn’t Rose and Jack have both survived by alternating places on that slab?

Just a thought.

I do love the movie, though. Its flaws are obvious in the department of screenwriting but Cameron’s epic moviemaking is extraordinary.

Tom Hanks Offered Presidential Action-Thriller ‘Patriot Down’

Let me guess, this President will be a liberal Democrat who served his country in the military but opposes “Bush’s wars.”

Just the thought of Tom Hanks playing a President bores me.

Visual Cool: The Title Design of Saul Bass

No doubt Saul Bass was cool but these never-ending tributes that started online over a year ago are starting to get tiring.

Could filmdom’s Website group-thinkers consider “discovering” someone else who’s “cool,” please?

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Last Night’s Screening

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) – John Ford’s final masterpiece always surprises me by how poignant it is. After a screening, as time passes, my takeaway is John Wayne’s confrontation with Lee Marvin: “That was my steak, Liberty.” and of course Jimmy Stewart’s. What I forget, though is that Wayne’s Tom Doniphon is the real hero of the story, and not just because he saves Ransom Stoddard’s (Stewart) life.

By killing Liberty Valance (the awesome Lee Marvin), Doniphon effectively kills off his own way of life along with it. He not only loses the love of his life (Vera Miles) to Ransom but also elevates the man into a political force who will help end the frontier in favor of civilization. Effectively, through his selfless act, Doniphon sacrifices everything that made him who he was and, in the process, creates a safer world that no longer wants any part of men like him.

Whenever I put the DVD in, it’s with the expectation of a good, ole-fashioned “town” Western. When it’s over, though, I’m blindsided by how profoundly sad and moving the story is, and it stays with me for days afterward. 

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR

YES, REALLY: PETA TARGETS ‘SUPER MARIO BROS.’ OVER MARIO’S RACCOON SUIT

‘MAN OF STEEL’ SEQUEL ALREADY PLANNED

TRAILER FOR THAT OTHER SNOW WHITE MOVIE

TIM BURTON IN TALKS TO DIRECT ADAPTATION OF ‘MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN‘

‘WEST SIDE STORY’ STARS CEMENT THEIR PLACE IN HOLLYWOOD HISTORY

AMC ORDERS UFO DRAMA SERIES ‘THUNDERSTRUCK‘

DVD EXTRA: BLU CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

AND THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE IS…

NEW ‘MUPPETS’ POSTERS TARGET ‘THE TWILIGHT SAGA’ TRIO

HBO AND ‘SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’ TEAM UP FOR DOCUMENTARY SERIES

STELLAR SCIENCE-FICTION ‘STACHES

COMING TO BLU-RAY IN 2012: WILLIAM WELLMAN’S ‘WINGS,’ THE FIRST BEST PICTURE OSCAR WINNER

NEW TRAILER FOR PIXAR’S ‘BRAVE’

WHAT ‘THE CROW’ REBOOT MIGHT’VE LOOKED LIKE

“NI!” 20 FACTS ABOUT ‘MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL‘

ARE SOME CONCEPTS JUST TOO SILLY FOR MOVIES?

FILMMAKER LYNNE RAMSEY DISCUSSES HER UNFILMED VERSION OF ‘THE LOVELY BONES‘

THE TRAGIC HISTORY OF THE BEATLES’ MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

6 AWESOME USES OF CAMERA RIGS

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CLASSIC PICK FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17

TCM:

11:15 AM EST: Ice Station Zebra (1968) –  A sub commander on a perilous mission must ferret out a Soviet agent on his ship. Dir: John Sturges Cast:  Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan.  C-152 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Men. Commies. Submarines. Any questions?

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

MGM’S ‘RED DAWN’ REMAKE LIKELY TO HIT THEATRES BY FALL OF 2012

Another year?

My heart goes out to the remake producers and filmmakers in a big way. I’ve spoken to them, they’ve written for us and while they’ve handled this tortured situation with class and without complaining, what started out as a well-intentioned project to update a beloved film for an under-served audience became a mess when the butt of some of the worst human rights violators on the planet was kissed by those who want to do business with them.

The Left ruins everything.            

NETFLIX STOCKS PLUMMET — RIPE FOR TAKEOVER? 

Securing the rights to Dreamworks films should help some, but unless Netflix makes a serious move quickly, the hemorrhaging from these self-inflicted wounds is likely to continue. And what I mean by a serious move is a new CEO, reversing the decision to split by-mail and streaming, or both.

In a way, the Dreamworks deal adds to Netflix’s problems. It’s a STREAMING deal; a deal that says STREAMING is the future. Translation: Yet another reason to drop the by-mail service.

STEPHEN KING WORKING ON ‘SHINING’ SEQUEL

King promised us he would retire. And now he’s so not-retired the Stephen King who lost his mojo a decade ago is now going to bastardize the classics his better self wrote.

“The Shining” is a lean, mean, near-masterpiece — words I haven’t used to describe King’s work since the first Bush was in office. 

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR

ZO TAKES ON BILL MAHER’S TIRED RACIST NARRATIVE

‘FIREFLY’-QUOTING COLLEGE PROFESSOR CENSORED! *link fixed*

IS A ‘VALLEY OF THE DOLLS’ SERIES COMING TO TV?

TEASER TRAILER FOR HBO’S NEW HORSE RACING SERIES LUCK, FROM DAVID MILCH AND MICHAEL MANN

ISRAELI ACTRESS AYELET ZURER TO PLAY SUPERMAN’S KRYPTONIAN MOM IN ‘MAN OF STEEL‘

‘E.T.’SCREENWRITER MELISSA MATHISON TO ADAPT ROALD DAHL’S ‘THE BFG’ FOR THE BIG SCREEN

‘IRON MAN 3′ TO COMMENCE SHOOTING THIS SUMMER

IN HONOR OF ‘TERRA NOVA’: THE MOST LUDICROUS DINOSAUR TV SHOWS OF ALL TIME

6 MOVIE PLOTS MADE POSSIBLE BY BAD DECISIONS

FOR YOU SCREENWRITERS: HOW TO CREATE AN INTERESTING CHARACTER

10 ‘STAR TREK’ EPISODES WE’RE GLAD THEY NEVER FILMED

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Midnight Cowboy (1969): This Academy Award winner for Best Picture was rated X when released, which seems absurd today. But what a fascinating character study. Both Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman are outstanding as they lose themselves in the roles of two desperate hustlers — complete opposites in almost every respect — who form a touching friendship.

I don’t know anything about the making of the film or even the novel upon which it’s based, but if the idea was to show us the humanity behind the dregs of our society, it sure succeeds. Hoffman’s Enrico ‘Ratso’ Rizzo is a case study in degeneracy and yet by the film’s conclusion, you feel for the guy — and you’re sure glad to see Voight’s Joe Buck out of those cowboy clothes and standing in the clean Florida sun.

Screening this classic again made me interested in reading the book in order to better decode Joe Buck’s flashbacks to his obviously awful childhood. Or maybe, I’ll use that desire as an excuse to buy the Blu-ray. The wife will buy that. Sure she will. She loves me.

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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

TCM:

8:15 AM EST: Cast A Giant Shadow (1966) - True story of U.S. officer Mickey Marcus, who joined the Israeli fight against the Arabs.Dir: Melville Shavelson Cast:  Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Angie Dickinson.

An imperfect but still moving film and a passion project for star Kirk Douglas. John Wayne has a small but memorable role as an American general. The look on his face upon seeing the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp is not only the best moment in the film but one of the best in all of Wayne’s career. We don’t need to see the ovens or mass graves. Wayne’s face says it all.

Oh  and Angie Dickinson is impossibly hot.

Via Wikipedia:

Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer.[1] He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height. He was also known for his conservative political views and his support, beginning in the 1950s, for anti-communist positions.

A Harris Poll, released January 2011, placed Wayne third among America’s favorite film stars,[2] the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared on the poll every year since it first began in 1994.

In 1999, the American Film Institute named Wayne 13th among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.

13th, AFI? Really? Today John Wayne ranks as the third most popular movie star in the country.

 Might be time to take another look at that, no?

But we do not live in the age of the Western.  Those of us in our thirties and forties grew up in the age of the action hero.  The action hero is the figure who does not do the merely human things well but performs superhuman deeds that defy the imagination.  He does not simply draw a gun faster than another man.  Instead, he races through explosions on a motorcycle and dives out of planes without a parachute and yet invariably emerges from the ruins unscathed.  Of course, the action hero has half a dozen stunt doubles and computer graphics and millions invested in the movie to pull it all off.  But it’s all worth it: for the illusion, for the moment of suspended disbelief.  When you meet the actual man who plays the part, though, you find him pretty underwhelming. 

If Ronald Reagan is the political figure who stands for the age of the Western, of simple integrity, Arnold Schwarzenegger is most assuredly the political figure who reveals the lie behind the action hero: that he is not what he seems.  Arnold’s whole career has been built around lies.  The first lie is his body.  Yes, he lifted weights.  But what really gave him the absurd title of Mr. Universe were the steroids that changed him from a muscular man into a comic strip.  The second lie is the part he played—for there was really only one part, that of impossibly muscular kick-ass guy.  It was never human.  In his most famous film, Terminator, he did not even pretend to play a human.  Only in the later comedies did Arnold join the ranks of the human.  The problem with the action hero is that he is not really a hero.  A true hero must face death and failure.  He must fight for the good and be capable of losing it.  He must risk being hated for doing the right thing.  John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart played heroes.  The first Rocky movie was about a hero.  Conan and Terminator are essentially video games on screen.  The adolescent audiences do not think for a moment that Arnold will die; they just want to see the cool action scenes.  The third lie was Arnold’s political career.  He came into office as not just a conservative but with the rhetoric of a fiscal libertarian.  Yet when the very first unions stood up to him, he failed to use his fame and considerable political capital.  He caved.  Ronald Reagan, you will remember, stood up to the airline traffic controllers when they threatened a strike.  On the way out of office, Arnold gave silly exit interviews about how everyone expected him to be the “Governator” rather than just an ordinary governor.  The expectations were just too high, he complained.  But our memories aren’t that bad.  We know that the promise of a “Governator” was what got him into office in the first place.

And finally we come to the lie of his marriage.  For years we have had Arnold and Maria, with the help of the press, flaunt this impossible marriage before us: the staunch conservative who marries into the Kennedy clan and maintains his political views, but who just can’t do without the love of this woman.  There were rumors during the first campaign: about inappropriate comments and groping directed at almost any attractive woman he was around.  But he was an actor, after all, a sex symbol.  We should excuse him.  And now the truth be told: a love child with an employee of the house.

The just complaint of Maria Shriver is, interestingly enough, the complaint that countless women in this nation also have right now.  It is the complaint that the Tea Party is fueled by.  “Give us a man who is what he seems,” they say, whether referring to a husband or a political candidate.  “Give us a fellow who is in good shape but not hopped up on steroids.  Give us a political candidate who is not the creature of a slick campaign manager.  Give us a man we can trust.  Give us a man who won’t say one thing to get us to marry him (or to get into office) and do just the opposite when he has gotten what he wants.”  In short, give us a man.