The Washington Times is wrong. Hollywood wasn’t AWOL in the War on Terror. In fact, just the opposite is true. Hollywood summoned every ounce of financial and star power at their disposal to fight this war.

Unfortunately, they chose to fight for the other side.

If our history is written by honest brokers, this generation of Hollywoodists will be remembered as those who openly enabled evil and spent hundreds of millions of dollars making bombs for the enemy — box office bombs. Over a dozen of them, specifically engineered with equal parts lies and hate and propaganda to undermine morale at home and on the battlefield in the hopes that we would lose this war.

Never forget the crime committed in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon on that terrible day.  And never forget  how Hollywood turned on your country.

There were some exceptions, however, and chief among them was Joel Surnow, the co-creator of “24.” Each week, for eight seasons, he gave this country a hero who openly loved America, did what was necessary to protect her, and who was willing to pay a terrible price for it. ”24″ also delivered the goods. Cathartic, exciting and righteous without being self-righteous, the addictive adventures of Jack Bauer became an oasis in a cesspool of Hollywood product delivering the exact opposite message.

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MIRAMAX TO LAUNCH FACEBOOK STREAMING VENTURE

While Miramax already has a deal with Netflix, this is still a fascinating move on the studio’s part. Warners, Universal and Paramount have already moved onto Facebook, as well.

On a less horrifying scale, Netflix is legally doing to the film and television business what Napster did to the music biz. Napster created an entire generation (and the most important generation to music-sellers) who got used to getting their music for free. The industry has never recovered and likely never will. What Netflix (and Redbox) have done is gotten us used to paying next to nothing for our home entertainment. Higher-priced outlets like Hollywood Video went out of business and Blockbuster Video’s been forced to offer similar pricing in a last chance effort to save itself from a fire sale.  

Studios would love to use a social media monster like Facebook to go directly to the public and marginalize the Netflix’s of the world, but I just don’t think it’s going to work. They might pick up a few pay-per-view hits along the way, but will it make up for the cost of advertising and the start up — not to mention the effort? I doubt it.

Hollywood can keep trying, but if I were a betting man I’d bet that the Netflix genie is out of the bottle and that in five years you either deal with the Streaming Devil or find yourself on the sidelines.

PIXAR ANNOUNCES TWO NEW NON-SEQUEL FILMS

This is wonderful news.

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Deadline Hollywood Daily’s Editor-In-Chief Nikki Finke has declared a Red State Alert over the news that documentary filmmaker and Oscar-winner Michael Moore has just been elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors. She writes, Hollywood-hating conservatives are going to have a field day with this[.] (And predictably the L.A. Times’ Patrick Goldstein knee-jerks with this: You could hear the outcry in conservative quarters from a million miles away[.])

If for no other reason than she saves me from having to spend money on a “Variety” subscription, I love Nikki, but this conservative has no problem whatsoever with Michael Moore being elected to the Academy’s prestigious Board of Governors, because this conservative believes Michael Moore has earned it.

Yes, Michael Moore is a liar, a shameless propagandist and an anti-American leftist of the highest order. But he’s also one helluva talented filmmaker and it would be wildly hypocritical for me to believe or argue that anyone should be blacklisted from AMPAS due to their political beliefs. And that’s the only reason I could possibly use to argue against this appointment. (more…)

It is one of the most troubling theological questions imaginable: is God’s love so all-encompassing even a monster like Hitler can find forgiveness?  While theoretical to us, the issue takes on momentous urgency for two delusional homeless men who believe they are Adolph Hitler and Jesus Christ.  It is a primal confrontation between the will to power and the power of love in Hitler Meets Christ, Brendan Keown’s independent film treatment of Big Hollywood contributor Michael Moriarty’s screenplay adapted from his original stage play Hitler and Christ Meet Death at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, now available on DVD. 

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Relocated from New York, the delusional Hitler and Christ now encounter each other in the seedier environs of Vancouver.  The contrast between them is immediately striking.  The Christ figure is neatly dressed, and essentially rational in his discourse, aside from his obvious identity crisis.  By contrast, Hitler is slovenly, crude, and erratic.  While on one level it makes sense their outward appearance would reflect the relative peace of their souls, one would expect the exact opposite from most “indie” films.  It would be the martial Hitler who would be clean and presentable, whereas the Christ would be unkempt and widely emotional in his arguments.  Yet, Moriarty has more surprises in store for the viewer. 

In terms of plot, Meets is relatively simple.  The two men meet and engage in moral-metaphysical debate.  However, the implications of their sparring are truly far-reaching.  Can the Christ surrogate make the Hitler stand-in seek absolution and recognize the horrors of Hitler’s crimes for what they were?  Or will this self-loathing Hitler successfully force his gentle companion to hate him as well.  (more…)

“When I grow too old to dream … “

Today I saw, for the first time, if you can believe it, Deep In My Heart, the life story of Sigmund Romberg.

Some call it the Cleopatra of Hollywood’s composer movies.

Another such effort wasn’t even thought of for quite some time apparently.

Yes, a seemingly long but not endless journey through the life of Sigmund Romberg.

This American composer had a longer, happier life than say the brief but pyrotechnical 38 years of George Gershwin.

Cole Porter, with 73 years, outdid the other two.

I’m bringing this up only because I had been directed by the actor who played the role of Sigmund Romberg.

Yes, for two weeks I had the distinct honor of working with José Ferrer. (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.

[Editor's Note: This is a small portion of a comprehensive interview that  originally appeared in the Irish Examiner on Monday, November 24th. You can read the full piece here.] 

Recently I was sent an email complaining about the season premier of the TV Show, “Law & Order.” My correspondent asked what I thought about the plot in which the local Manhattan district attorney Jack McCoy prosecuted a former Justice Department lawyer for “depraved indifference murder” following the lawyer’s memo on the techniques which could be used on terrorists. An astonished “Executive Assistant DA Michael Cutter says, “Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?” To which, a cocksure “McCoy” declares: “The word is torturing. And, yes, it’s about time somebody did.”

The increasingly leftwing comments injected into the plots of this once fine show had turned me off many seasons ago and I answered my reader, “I haven’t watched that show much since they replaced Michael Moriarty as the lead in 1994.

Mr. Moriarty has always been one of my favorite actors and given that he is an Irish American, I thought he’d be the perfect lead off to a series of interviews with notable Americans of Irish ancestry. I was thrilled to be able to connect with Mr. Moriarty, who now lives in Canada, and he graciously agreed to this Q&A interview. (more…)

Perchance, just a few days after posting this piece about “Law & Order’s” jumping of the shark or nuking of the fridge — whatever the term is now — I came across the first five seasons of this once great television drama on DVD  for a mere ten bucks each at – cover your eyes lefties – Walmart. Not having seen a single episode since their first run in the early nineties, there was no way to know how well it would hold up. But I bit the bullet, took a chance and for the next six weeks every free moment was devoted to devouring a hundred-plus episodes that told the story of the police who investigate crime; and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.

dun DUN

Those early seasons aren’t as good as I remember, they’re better.  Not every episode’s a home run, the first dozen or so struggle in search of the tone and pace that will eventually define the series, but afterwards nothing but a few drop below a standing triple — easily better than 99% of movies produced this decade. 

Not to take anything away from the excellent work done by the rest of the cast, but the heart and soul of those first four seasons, what elevates the series into something truly unique and special, is Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Michael Moriarty’s outstanding portrayal of Executive A.D.A. Ben Stone — a brilliant and fascinating character whose moral center anchors the show. (more…)

When “Law & Order” first hit the airwaves in September of 1990, I was an immediate fan. The concept, the ignoring of the personal lives of the lead characters, the wonderful acting and especially the endless plot twists hooked me a few seasons before the public would catch on and make the show a regular ratings hit. The first four seasons are among four of the best ever produced for dramatic television, thanks mainly to Michael Moriarty’s exceptional work as Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone, a resourceful, Robert F. Kennedy-style hard-nosed prosecutor determined to see justice done (though the whole cast was top-notch).

After 88 episodes Moriarty left, Sam Waterston (one of my favorite actors) took his place, and while the show was never quite the same, it remained regular viewing until around 2002.

The program’s eventual deterioration was a case study in the boiling frog theory. The quality of the production and acting remained, but the politics slowly shifted to the far left almost without my noticing. And it wasn’t the actual politics that first became apparent; it was the negative effect of those politics on the quality of the storytelling. (more…)