OVER TWO MILLION WATCHED SUPER BOWL LIVE STREAM

This is the first time the NFL live-streamed the Super Bowl and the hook was what they called a “second screen” experience, which sounds like the idea was to convince those watching the game on television to also keep their computers on.

How many people, though, watched because they didn’t have access to a television? In the car, for instance? The NFL has to sell this as a “second screen” experience or else cable and satellite providers will howl. If this kind of programming starts streaming, people will cancel their cable packages.

Two million is less than 2% of those who watched the Super Bowl, but that’s still a lot of people.

Right now, the NFL and content providers make a fortune off of cable fees, but you have to wonder  if numbers like these won’t have them looking for a way to cut out the middle man.

WHY DENZEL WASHINGTON IS THE LAST OLD-FASHIONED MOVIE STAR

The author of this piece makes some good observations, but misses the big one. Denzel has never insulted, talked down to, or offended his audience. I’ve seen him hug Obama, I’ve seen him visiting our troops in the Middle East, but there’s nothing divisive about him — nothing anyone can hold against him. That used to be the norm in Hollywood — class — and now it’s an endangered species. Washington is also a family man and openly Christian. What’s not to like about him?

Audiences also trust Denzel not to offend with his film choices. He not only chooses quality projects, but also sucker-punch free projects. We can relax during a Denzel Washington film. We can settle in and not worry about the cheap shot.

Most importantly, every once in a while he chooses a project that appeals to the conservative heartland. “Book of Eli” and “Man on Fire,” for instance.  That’s not to say he doesn’t also make left-of-center films. “John Q” and “The Siege” are both liberal fantasies. But a true movie star doesn’t choose films based on politics but rather story and script. If you look at Gene Hackman’s output, he did the same thing — which is why we miss him so much.

Of course, it also helps that Washington is a phenomenally talented and charismatic actor. But there are many phenomenally talented and charismatic actors — but only one Denzel Washington.

Will Smith, Sandra Bullock and Adam Sandler are in also in Denzel’s league, but that’s about it. Tom Hanks had it but blew it by starring in two openly anti-Catholic films and his trashing of WWII and the War on Terror as wars of terror and racism.

It all comes down to goodwill, doesn’t it?

NETFLIX LESS ABOUT FLICKS, MORE ABOUT TV

Two billion hours were streamed this last quarter, 60% of those hours were devoted to television. The article points out what I’ve said many times and that’s that people want to “dig in” to a show and watch one episode after another.

The article doesn’t reveal that most important truth, though, and that’s that the quality of television is ten-times better than 90% of the films produced today.

As a response to this unexpected demand, Netflix is bulking up its television content and worrying less about films.

And this is what I was talking about last week, as far as the studios having no muscle with their obnoxious 28 day waiting periods for their lousy film product.

Streaming is the perfect place for television shows old and new, television shows are more entertaining than today’s films, and so that’s where the customers are.

I know I drive you crazy covering this every day, but no one else is connecting the dots as the dots appear. Believe me, it would eat up much less of my time to simply link to someone else, but there is no one else and someone needs to tell this story.

Ahem. A-ah-ah-hem: Viacom Agrees To Stream TV Shows Through Amazon Prime

‘THE WOLVERINE’ SET FOR SUMMER 2013 RELEASE

The first “Wolverine” was a pleasant surprise, a simple story well told with plenty of action. Liev Schreiber might have been slumming but his presence added an unpredictability to his character (and therefore the film) few others could’ve pulled off.

FOX DELAYS ‘THIS MEANS WAR’ OPENING TO AVOID BOX OFFICE FACE-OFF WITH ‘THE VOW’

Reese Witherspoon looks astonishingly gorgeous in the “This Means War” trailer and poster, but the trailer is itself is exhausting. My biggest issue is how after you’ve watched those 150 seconds, you feel as though you’ve already seen the movie. All that remains is the question of who gets the girl, but the two guys are so unlikable and selfish, it’s hard to care.

DREW BARRYMORE TO SCALE BACK ON HOLLYWOOD CAREER

Yes, but will anyone notice.

CONSERVATIVE ANGER OVER M.I.A.’S FINGER GESTURE

Really? Only conservatives? Doesn’t say much about liberals, does it?

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COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

CLUELESS: Outrageously Funny Satire Makes an Entrance on Blu-ray™ May 1, 2012

Paramount Home Media Distribution invites you to revisit the halcyon days of high school in the ‘90s; a time filled with camaraderie, chaste dances and fervent study…AS IF.  Instead, kick off your designer shoes and enjoy the whip-smart comedy of the contemporary classic CLUELESS when it debuts May 1, 2012 on Blu-ray.  Written and directed by Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), CLUELESS stars Alicia Silverstone in a break-out performance as Cher, a beautiful and self-absorbed high school student who spends her days focused on assembling the ideal fashion ensemble, talking her way out of bad grades and searching for the perfect boyfriend.  What Cher discovers is that popularity only gets you so far, looks can be deceiving and love is sometimes found where you least expect it.  Whatever.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) — One of those lovely, leisurely, classic MGM Dream Factory entries that replenishes your faith in human nature. The conflict doesn’t come from bad people, it comes from the humility and insecurity from the title character (Oscar-winner Robert Donat) over the course of his six decades as a teacher at a prep school for boys in England.

A nice movie, as well as also a genuine artistic achievement.

Can’t imagine life without DVD.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

OUR OWN MEIRA PENTERMANN’S ‘NINE-TENTHS’ HIT #1 IN POLITICAL FICTION AT AMAZON

TV PILOTS 2012: THE COMPLETE GUIDE

VAUGHN DISCUSSES HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH STEVE MCQUEEN

BRETT RATNER TO DIRECT AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCE FOX’ NEW SPY DRAMA PILOT

MORE PHOTOS FROM ‘ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER‘

CONCEPT ART FOR PIXAR’S UPCOMING FILM, ‘BRAVE’

EXCLUSIVE NEW ONE-MINUTE TV SPOT FOR ‘JOHN CARTER’!

DIRECTOR BRYAN SINGER AND TV WRITER/PRODUCER BRYAN FULLER WANT TO BRING ‘STAR TREK’ BACK TO TV

‘KARATE KID’ SEQUEL MOVING FORWARD

VINCE VAUGHN AND OWEN WILSON WILL REUNITE AS INTERNS

FIGHT OVER WHO OWNS ‘RAGING BULL’ CARRIED UP TO 9TH CIRCUIT APPEALS COURT

TWO WRITERS CONFIRMED FOR ‘DOCTOR WHO’ SERIES 7

10 UNFORGETTABLE OSCAR SPEECHES

GUIDE TO RONALD REAGAN MOVIES AVAILABLE FROM THE WARNER ARCHIVE

HOLLYWOOD’S LACK OF IDEAS

SIGOURNEY WEAVER SAYS JAMES CAMERON WANTS SPECIAL SUBMARINE FOR ‘AVATAR’ SEQUELS

9 MISCONCEPTIONS PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT ‘GODZILLA’

CHARLTON HESTON AS A JEDI? A LOOK BACK AT ‘THE PHANTOM MENACE’ RUMOR MILL

COOL INFOGRAPHIC: MOVIE MONSTER SIZE CHART

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CLASSIC PICK FOR THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 9

TCM:

4:30 AM  Boom Town (1940) –  Friends become rivals when they strike-it-rich in oil. Dir: Jack Conway Cast:  Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert. BW-119 mins, TV-PG, CC.

Oil men portrayed as pioneers and heroes.  Hollywood didn’t always suck.

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

‘BLADE RUNNER’ MAKERS AT ALCON SAY HARRISON FORD NOT IN TALKS TO STAR

But the scuttlebutt sure got the project a lot of attention. Well done, Hollywood. Well done.

AXL ROSE TURNS 50 TODAY

Which means I’m like a hundred or something.

You know, this whole passage of time thing is really starting to freak me out.

FILM SCHOOL REJECTS: IF REDBOX TAKES OVER THE WORLD, TITLES WILL BE LIMITED TO WHAT FITS IN A REDBOX

Interesting observation:

I can’t see these two stories happening [Redbox making a move on streaming and Blockbuster's kiosks] at the same time being seen as anything other than a stake aimed directly at the hearts of Netflix and Blockbuster, and as a play by Redbox to take over all aspects of the home video industry. The question I have to ask is, with a new streaming service and a lot more kiosk locations, does this mean Redbox has plans to diversify the titles that they offer the public in a given week, or are we going to see the model of everyone watching the same three movies at the same time become even more prevalent?

It would be easy for me to dismiss this as “the market at work,” but the selection at Redbox is, obviously, light, and should Redbox take over the world, then what?

For starters, I think the Redbox move into streaming is in part due to them recognizing that there’s money to made with more titles. I also think that Redbox jumping into streaming will be a net-plus for consumers and Hollywood — though Hollywood is too dumb to understand that now.

Streaming is the cut-out bin for old titles, a market for older titles with no place else to go — a way to monetize this stuff one last time. Right now, though, there’s only one cut-out bin, so there’s no one to compete with when it comes to selling your wares. Another buyer gives the seller the edge, and if the seller has more of an edge, more sellers will sell, which means more titles available via streaming.

Man, I love me some capitalism.

So, FSR might be right. As far as renting physical discs, once Blockbuster goes under (which I’m not looking forward to), our options will be limited to what fits in a kiosk. But we will still be able to get those discs through Netflix by mail and watch many of those titles (though not all, at least not right away) through the Netflix and Redbox streaming services.

Personally, I think dueling Redbox and Netflix streaming services will become the HBO and Showtime of this decade — each offering the same service but licensing different product. But this will be an infinitely better and cheaper service than HBO and Showtime, thanks to a wider selection.

‘LILYHAMMER,’ NETFLIX’S FIRST ORIGINAL SERIES, NOW AVAILABLE TO WATCH

If all goes right this weekend, I will be feasting on this.

A second season is already in production.

More: NETFLIX: THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION?

CONSUMERS LIKE CLOUD TECHNOLOGY — JUST DON’T ASK THEM TO PAY

This cloud is a digital locker that stores a digital copy of your film and does so for free — at least for now. This isn’t a perfect comparison, but it’s like Hotmail. You don’t store your email archives on your computer, Hotmail stores those archives for you. That way your email is accessible to you from any device that has access to the Internet. The same is true for films stored in this cloud.

Right now, Hollywood is hoping that by adding this nifty new feature only with DVDs that are purchased that this will boost sales. You might ask why anyone would want a digital copy of a film they don’t like very much, but I think the idea here is to cut into the previously-viewed market.

The real attraction to the cloud, though, is not being able to watch movies at anytime on anything. That’s a nice feature, but the real selling point should be the back-up copy. If your disc is damaged, lost, or stolen, you have a copy forever stored in this cloud.

What Hollywood should do is sell the cloud in that manner and allow people, for a small one-time fee, to back up their older films. That would be one way to monetize this. Another would be to charge a little extra to have the back-up copy of your regular DVD boosted to Blu-ray quality.

Imagine being able to access your entire DVD collection from your Blu-ray player?

BEST SONG NOMINEES WON’T PERFORM AT THIS YEAR’S OSCARS

Naturally, the studios nominated for Best Song are upset, which is yet another symptom of this industry’s self-involved lack of concern for the customers. Would the NFL bog down the Super Bowl with something some owner demanded that would result in people tuning out?

Mind boggling.

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COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

The Three Musketeers — a modern retelling of Alexander Dumas’ timeless swashbuckling classic – arrives on 3D Blu-ray™, Blu-ray and DVD March 13th from Summit Entertainment.  This exciting adventure for the whole family stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson & the Olympians), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean films), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil films) and Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor, Inglourious Basterds).

NOTE: Insane move not to put Milla Jovovich on the DVD cover.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Worked late. Took a shower. Went to bed.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

ANDREW KLAVAN’S ‘THE RAIN’ ARRIVES ON E-BOOK

RE: SOPA – THE TARGET ISN’T HOLLYWOOD, IT’S THE POLICYMAKERS

MICHAEL CAINE ON THE SECRECY OF THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

HBO DEVELOPING POLITICAL THRILLER FROM ‘TRAINING DAY’ WRITER DAVID AYER

BRETT RATNER TO DIRECT FOX’S KARYN USHER SPY DRAMA PILOT

‘M:I – GHOST PROTOCOL’ HAS BECOME TOM CRUISE’S HIGHEST-GROSSING FILM

THE ‘IRON LADY DRAWS SYMPATHY FOR MARGARET THATCHER… IN ARGENTINA?

OSAMA + ZOMBIES = OSOMBIE

CAN’ CHUCK’ CO-CREATOR JOSH SCHWARTZ BECOME THIS GENERATION’S JOHN HUGHES?

15 MOVIES THAT CRITICS LOVED AND AUDIENCES DIDN’T AND THE INFERENCES WE CAN DRAW

WHEN MUSICIANS MESS WITH THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

REMEMBERING BEN GAZZARA AND JOHN CASSAVETES

THE TOP 10 DOCUMENTARIES THAT ARE NOT WELL KNOWN

HOW MICHAEL EISNER TRIED TO DERAIL DISNEY’S ACQUISITION OF PIXAR

READ JOHN STEINBECK’S LETTER TO 20TH CENTURY FOX COMPLAINING ABOUT ‘LIFEBOAT‘

7 TV SHOWS RE-IMAGINED AS 90S SITCOMS

FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON, A LOOK BACK AT SHAQUILLE O’NEAL IN ‘KAZAAM‘

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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY 8

TCM:

11:45 PM  Music Man, The (1962) —  A con artist hawks musical instruments and band uniforms to small-town America. Dir: Morton DaCosta Cast:  Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett. C-151 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format.

This one works like a drug. You just can’t help but to smile and feel better about life through the whole 151 minutes.

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

MEL GIBSON’S FILM ‘GET THE GRINGO’ BYPASSES THEATERS WITH DIRECTV VOD DEAL

“Get the Gringo” is actually the new title. The film has been advertised as “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”

This is a radical move on Gibson’s part. “Get the Gringo’ will never see the inside of a movie theatre (other than some special screenings). Instead, 20 million DirecTV subscribers will have the opportunity to VOD the film for a very reasonable $10.99. Then, later in the year, the film will move to other VOD outlets and Fox will release it on home video.  

The smartest move here is the price point. $10.99 is a very attractive figure for a brand-spanking new Mel Gibson action picture. You’re able to enjoy this in the comfort of your own home with the entire family. Also, the advertising is much cheaper. Everything is done through DirecTV, who has a stake in the success of the film, as opposed to mass media markets.  

While “Margin Call” was also released in theatres, it still managed to gross a very impressive $4 million on VOD while in theatres, and that’s without the attraction of an A-list star in an action flick.

Crunch the numbers. 2 million buys, or 10% of DirecTV subscribers, equals $22 million. Toss in the subsequent VOD release and DVD and what you have here is a potential game changer.

Another brilliant move on Gibson’s part (his Icon produced) was to not allow himself to be put in a position where theatre owners could blackmail him. “Tower Heist” was a theatrical release that wanted to experiment with same-day VOD. Theatre chains freaked and threatened to not screen the film. Universal blinked and that was that.

By not putting himself in that position, Gibson can take this concept for a serious test drive, and while it may not be a rousing success, that won’t be the end for VOD. Others will simply learn from the experience and try again.

NEW ‘DEATH WISH’ TO BE SET IN LOS ANGELES

Details from the remake’s writer/director Joe Carnahan:

“I’m doing ‘Death Wish.’ But this version is a re-imagining of the book and set in present day Los Angeles. The L.A. of ‘Collateral.’ It’s on buses, cabs, metro trains. I want to show an unseen version of L.A. L.A. on foot. Prowling. Hunting. The vast emptiness of downtown.”

“Death Wish 2″ (my favorite of the series) was set in Los Angeles, as well. Carnahan’s also cast Frank Grillo, but not for the lead.

‘G.I. JOE’ SEQUEL IS ‘BETTER THAN THE FIRST,’ SAYS CHANNING TATUM

There’s a low bar.

ESPN FIGHTS THE DIGITAL FUTURE

ESPN President John Skipper refuses to use any platform other than cable television:

Skipper says that ESPN is prepared for the growth of digital platforms. Since 2005 it decided that when it bought broadcast rights for games ”we would acquire all rights for content on any devices.” But the sports channel doesn’t want to use digital platforms to take viewers away from cable and satellite. Distributors “pay us money for that. We’re not going to undermine (that) by giving it away to anyone else.” Still, the digital rights could give ESPN an edge over potentially muscular new competitors such as NBCUniversal’s NBC Sports Network. Over the next year ESPN will face “more competition than ever and new competition,” Skipper says.

Or NBC could go digital. Because that’s where the people will be.

Skipper also believes…

“… it makes sense to charge people for a bundle of channels that includes ESPN instead of paying for just the ones that they watch. ”If people pay a la carte they will end up paying as much or more” than they do now.

As far as my cable viewing goes, thanks to Redbox, Netflix Streaming, and my personal DVD collection, I am down to Fox News and Packer games. My Dish contract, where I’m currently paying $50 a month for, expires in December, and I’m going to cancel it.  

Am I alone with this sentiment?

NETFLIX: MOST PROFITS STILL COME FROM DVD-BY-MAIL

The by-mail DVD service is five times more profitable for Netflix than streaming, and yet Netflix is putting all its focus on streaming.

I wonder why.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IN TALKS TO PLAY CLINT EASTWOOD RIVAL IN ‘TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE’

Timberlake is a very good actor.

INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY CELEBRATES FOUR-YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH ITS BEST-RATED MONTH

Because I refuse to pay the additional $30 required to up my Dish package to include Investigative Discovery (or AMC or TCM), I’m no longer able to enjoy this 24/7 true crime-a-palooza, but I eventually catch up to their programming on Netflix Streaming.

What I love about true crime docs is how fascinating the stories are. It’s a perfect mix of mystery, procedure, and insight into human nature — both good and bad. Even better, these non-fiction programs don’t come with the all soapy personal and agenda-driven stuff that clogs up too many narrative crime procedurals.

It’s also a very conservative genre. Law enforcement represents the competent good guys, evil is portrayed as frighteningly real through the perpetrators, and the heart of the story comes from the plight of the victims and the loved ones they leave behind.

You can’t watch these shows and oppose the death penalty. There be monsters and those monsters deserve to die. Not only is that almost always the point-of-view of the victims’ families, but the show itself stays out of the debate and lets the facts speak for themselves.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

In Time (2011) — Blur-ray screener. Review coming soon.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

QUESTIONABLE TREK VOL. 2 – ANDREW PRICE AND SCOTTDS DISCUSS ‘STAR TREK II‘

MGM REVS UP YET ANOTHER WRITER FOR ‘ROBOCOP’

READ AUTHOR DOUGLAS ADAMS’ FRUSTRATED LETTER TO DISNEY FROM 1999

007: NEW ‘SKYFALL’ PHOTO

WATCH TEST FOOTAGE FROM A PROPOSED ANIMATED ‘JOHN CARTER’ ADAPTATION FROM 1936

NEW PROMO BANNER FOR ‘THE AVENGERS’

WATCHMEN PREQUELS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED

HOW MUCH DOES A MEGA-PRODUCER MAKE AND SPEND?

NIKKI FINKE’S COURTROOM BATTLE WITH THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER SET FOR JULY, 2013

12 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT LIAM NEESON

THE 50 BEST USES OF SONGS IN MOVIES

‘GREEN ARROW’ TV SHOW CASTS ’90210′ ACTOR IN LEAD

HUMOR: THE 2012 BEST PICTURE NOMINEES RECAST WITH DOGS

ADAM SANDLER TO HEADLINE AND CO-WRITE ‘CANDY LAND’ MOVIE

14 JAW-DROPPING OPENING TITLE SEQUENCES FROM MOVIES

THE 100 GREATEST NICOLAS CAGE QUOTES (NSFW)

16 FACTS ABOUT ‘FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF‘

INSIDE THE FIRST SCREENING OF ‘A CLOCKWORK ORANGE‘

20 FACTS ABOUT ‘FARGO‘

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COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

On March 6th, Shout! Factory will release TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on Blu-ray & DVD!! Fans and collectors can pre-order the DVD release of TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON today!  The Limited-Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray Collection (featuring the 96-page IDW graphic novel) is available for preorder exclusively on Amazon.com and ShoutFactoryStore.com.

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On April 10th, Shout! Factory, in association with Marvel Knights Animation, will release ASTONISHING X-MEN: DANGEROUS on DVD!! Fans and collectors can pre-order the DVD release of ASTONISHING X-MEN: DANGEROUS today! The DVD is available for preorder on Amazon.com.

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CLASSIC PICK FOR THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 2

TCM:

9:30 AM  EST: Johnny Belinda (1948) —  A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate. Dir: Jean Negulesco Cast:  Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford.  BW-102 mins, TV-G, CC.

Wyman won a Best Actress Oscar for  her brilliant performance as an innocent deaf-mute put through emotional hell in this mature and very moving forgotten classic.

The most difficult role for an actor or actress to play is that of a wide-eyed innocent. When you look at Wyman’s performance here, Jennifer Jones in “The Song of Bernadette” (for which she won the Oscar), or Joan Fontaine in “Rebecca,”  you can tell that one wrong move would’ve undermined the entire performance. There’s so much room for error in these portrayals because it’s so easy to slip into melodrama or sticky pathos — it’s so easy to want to communicate something “more” with a flash of “knowing” in the eyes.

But to pull a character like this off convincingly, to be able to hide the strings in a performance that relies almost completely on the eyes and buries so much of who the actor  really is … that’s a real feat.  

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

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.

NEW ‘TERMINATOR’ FILM TO BE R-RATED

That’s the ONLY news on ‘Terminator 5.’ Nothing else is really happening, just a tweet from the woman funding the film.

This might be heresy, but I thought “Terminator 3″ was damn good and could care less about the rating. The story was tight, held my attention, surprised at the end, and contained all kinds of superb action scenes. “Terminator: Salvation,” on the other hand, was utter crap; a third act right out of a Sy-Fy Channel movie.

Worry about the storytelling. Let that process take you to the rating, not the other way around.

MONTY PYTHON MEMBERS SET TO REUNITE FOR SCI-FI COMEDY ‘ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING‘

“Life of Brian,” “Meaning of Life,” and “Holy Grail” are all brilliant, but something happens to these guys as they get older. They lose their comedic edge and just get meaner towards “safe” targets, and an obvious political correctness seeps into their work:

“a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do ‘absolutely anything’ to see what a mess he’ll make of things — which is precisely what happens. There’s also a talking dog named Dennis who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does.”

Who knows where this could lead, but let’s hope that self-importance is off limits. As a Christian and Catholic, it’s an honor to get my butt kicked by the boys in the trio of films listed above because the films are clever, not mean-spirited, avoid preaching, and come from a  less fascist time when it was still okay to make fun of everyone.

Because liberals ruin everything, that’s just not the case today.

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AUCTIONS OFF MOVIE MEMORABILIA

I’ve walked through many a studio prop and wardrobe warehouse, which is just as delightful as you would imagine. What’s amazing is how cheap, fake, and worn out everything looks in reality and how perfect it looks on a television or movie screen. Some of this stuff goes back to the Golden Age — suits worn by Cary Grant, gowns worn by Irene Dunne — and yet it might show up on “Law and Order” the following week.

I’ve never understood why the studios don’t track down the history of every dish, chair, hat, and rubber gun, and auction this history off. You would think there would be a market for it, a market for a piece of Hollywood history.

Back in 1989, I came across a shirt John Wayne wore in one of his films. It was for sale at a store in Disney World for only a couple of hundred bucks. That’s still a lot of money, but at the time it was a fortune. I still should’ve bought it, though, and wish I had.

‘LOCKOUT’ TRAILER: GUY PEARCE BREAKS INTO SPACE JAIL

Well, this sounds promising:

Guy Pearce stars in the film as a man wrongly convicted of conspiracy and espionage, who is offered his freedom in exchange for a big task: break into an orbital prison that has been overrun by inmates, in order to rescue the president’s daughter (Maggie Grace). That premise alone has a throwback action movie feel to it (in the best possible way).

This can only go two ways: Awesome or suck.

The good news is that Guy Pearce has finally put a decent amount of weight on. For a while there he looked like someone Sally Struthers might lose sleep over.

NETFLIX: DVD IS  DYING

In a nutshell, Netflix is reporting that streaming subscriptions are up and DVD subscriptions are declining and won’t stop declining. This, after the studios enacted a 28-day wait period and are about to increase that wait to 56 days. But here’s /Film’s bizarre conclusion:

All of this suggests a power shift away from Netflix back towards studios, as Netflix accepts less than favorable DVD deals. And that power shift cements the idea that Netflix doesn’t believe in DVD as a media any longer, with all its priority going towards streaming media and original content.

What!?

Where’s the context? Today the number-one DVD rental retailer is Redbox, an outlet the studios hate as much as Netflix and one that is under the exact same 28 to 56-day wait period as Netflix. Sure, you could say that the power shifts back to the studios if the studios were seeing a bump in DVD sales, but they aren’t. DVD sales have continued to decline since these wait periods were enacted.

The only way you can say the studios have the power again is in the same way a worker has the power to go on strike. But that worker isn’t making a salary and the company is suddenly discovering that worker is more obsolete than they originally thought.

More and more of the customers are deciding that the days of purchasing crappy moves are over and so are the days of paying more than a buck or two to rent a crappy movie.

And how much of this is a political statement; is Middle America hating Hollywood back? I don’t know about you, but every time I Redbox or Stream, it feels like I’m sticking a finger in the eye of Hollywood — and it feels pretty good.

We like Redbox and we love Streaming. In the meantime, the studios are stomping their feet and cutting their own throats under the mistaken belief they hold some kind of leverage with these waiting periods, when they don’t.

As the 2011 data proves, wait periods did not increase DVD sales, did not stop Redbox from becoming the top rental outlet in the country, and did not stop Netflix from rebounding through… STREAMING.

Bottom line: We don’t need your stinkin’ movies, Hollywood. We can wait. In fact, we’re happy to wait. Those aren’t chips in your hands, that’s shit. Your product is shit and you can’t carrot-and-stick us with shit into purchasing shit or renting shit.

Want to see even more throat-cutting? Read on…

WARNERS WON’T ALLOW NETFLIX CUSTOMER TO WAIT-QUEUE UPCOMING RELEASES

Talk about petty:

There’s also a weird wrinkle in the Warner Bros. delay window plan. The LA Times points out today that Netflix uses won’t even be able to add WB movies to their disc queues until a 28-day window is over. That’s a pretty strange thing; as most Netflix users are aware, discs that are not currently available can still be queued via the ‘save’ option, which helps keep user queues current.

Obviously, Warners is under the strange belief that if one of their new titles is in our queue, sitting there until the waiting period is over, we’re more likely to wait during the waiting period — as opposed to running out and buying the title.

This is what you call “flailing.” You can smell the desperation.

Out of sight, out of mind. We’re not going to run out and buy a lousy title because we’re not allowed to queue it up in advance. WE’RE GOING TO FORGET ABOUT IT.

The customers are at Redbox and Netflix and the studios are pitching and promoting their wares elsewhere as though they’re in possession of a high-end specialty product like Bose radio. But it’s not Bose. It’s shit.

Hollywood has spent the last ten years self-destructing with lousy product, a fetish with metrosexuals that killed the movie star, insulting over 60% of their customers, and betraying their country during a time of war. And today the chickens have come home to roost because the industry doesn’t have the product quality or the goodwill necessary to survive this market shift.

You’ve already lost, Hollywood. It’s just a matter of how many more casualties you want to take.

In the meantime, we’ll be at Netflix and Redbox. If you want to stop by, great. If you don’t, nobody cares. Go watch “30 Rock,” you’ll feel better.

Idiots.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Thank heaven the GOP debates are over for at least a month.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

R.I.P. JOHN LOWRY, RENOWNED RESTORER OF CLASSIC FILMS INCLUDING ‘SNOW WHITE’ AND ‘CITIZEN KANE‘

INTERVIEW WITH OUR OWN ADAM BALDWIN WITH OUR OWN CARL KOZLOWSKI

STEVEN SODERBERGH’S ‘SIDE EFFECTS’ GETS CATHERINE ZETA-JONES BUT LOSES ITS FUNDING

TOP TEN STEVE MARTIN FILMS

‘HANGOVER 3′ STARS NEARING DEALS FOR BIG PAY INCREASES

LISTEN TO SOME OF MICHAEL GIACCHINO’S SCORE FOR ‘JOHN CARTER‘

10 BADASS ADVERSARIES WORTHY OF FIGHTING LIAM NEESON

JOSS WHEDON’S SCREENWRITING HURDLE: DOES ‘THE AVENGERS’ HAVE TOO MANY CHARACTERS?

‘THE ARTIST’ PROVES WE HAVEN’T ALL FALLEN UNDER THE 3D SPELL…

…BLOOPER REEL FOR ‘THE ARTIST’ ONLINE

MEET THE EXPERTS WHO PUT THE SCIENCE IN HOLLYWOOD SCIENCE FICTION

10 SHOWS THAT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER IF THEY KILLED OFF A MAJOR CHARACTER

HOW INDIE MUSIC HYPE CANNIBALIZES ITS YOUNG

WYLD STALLYNS! THE BEST FICTITIOUS MOVIE BANDS

6 MYTHS EVERYONE BELIEVES ABOUT SPACE (THANKS TO THE MOVIES)

6 GREAT TV SERIES TO MARATHON

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COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

Meet the Browns: Season 5: The Brown family will have you rolling on the floor with laughter as Lionsgate releases Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns: Season 5 on DVD this spring.  Starring the 2011 NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, David Mann (Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family) as Mr. Brown – a kind father and friend who tries to keep his family together despite the ongoing craziness – the laugh-out-loud comedy also stars Tamela Mann (Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family), Lamman Rucker (Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?), Denise Boutte (Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?) and Juanita Jennings (Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls).  Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns: Season 5 DVD is complete with 20 episodes across three discs.

Mr. Brown’s “retirement home” started as a complete fluke – a result of a misunderstanding followed by a happy accident in a neighborhood full of lively and unique individuals. While Brown might not be the brightest bulb in the house, he’s managed to create a combination safe haven and circus act under his “Brown Meadows” big top. The new “family” members – young and old – who now call Brown Meadows home hail from all walks of life, but more importantly, they share trials, tribulations and lots of laughter. Meeting the Browns will surely make you a part of this fun family too. –Pricing: DVD – $29.98

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Crew 2 Crew: Break out the dance moves as Lionsgate debuts Crew 2 Crew on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this April. Inspired by true events, the drama tells the story of one person’s love of hip-hop dance. With the old school vibe of Dirty Dancing, the film stars Jordan Bridges (TV’s “Rizzoli & Isles”) and Brooklyn Sudano (Alone in the Dark II) with Kate Nauta (Transporter 2). The Crew 2 Crew DVD includes an alternate ending and a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Luca (Andres Londono, Kingdoms of Grace), longs for more than his small town can offer him. Inspired by his love of hip-hop dance, he joins a break dancing troupe that allows him to travel the world in pursuit of his passion. But soon Luca struggles to choose between his love of dance, and the love of his family and girlfriend. –Pricing: DVD – $26.98

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CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY,  JANUARY 28

TCM:

12:00 AM:  Soylent Green (1973) —   A future cop uncovers the deadly secret behind a mysterious synthetic food. Dir: Richard O. Fleischer Cast:  Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young. C-97 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

I’ve read that the last scene The Mighty Edward G. Robinson would ever film was his poignant death scene in “Soylent Green.” The legendary actor was dying in real life, everyone knew he was dying, and it was quite an emotional day’s work. And it’s really Robinson who makes the film work, especially his scenes with Heston that glow with human warmth.

Imagine how much better off today’s film industry would be if they had even a quarter of the star-power that was around in 1973.

The great thing about DVD is that today’s lack of star-power is Hollywood’s problem, not ours. Whenever we want them, they’re just a click away.

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

STEVEN SPIELBERG MIGHT PART RED SEA FOR WARNER BROS.

Which Spielberg will show up to direct this one? If it’s the “Munich” Spielberg, the moral illiterate who sees an equivalency between Islamists who target the innocent and Israelis who target those who target the innocent — no thanks.  If it’s the “Saving Private Ryan” Spielberg, the moral illiterate who told us saving a single man was  ”the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess” also known as World War II — no thanks.

RUSSELL BRAND WILL STAR IN ANOTHER MOVIE — A FAMILY COMEDY

After the remake of “Arthur” flopped rather spectacularly, Hollywood is proving once again they are just about tapped out of stars. Brand is THE most unlikable, charmless, and creepiest guy Hollywood has ever tried to turn into a leading man. And not creepy in a Karloff, Lugosi, Lorre kind of way — not creepy in a way that delights. You wouldn’t let him near your daughter. He should be doing extra stand-ins as Prisoner Number Five in insane asylums.  But here we go again.

EVANGELINE LILY CHATS ABOUT ‘THE HOBBIT’

If she manages her career well, Evangeline Lily has, in my humble opinion, what it takes to be a genuine star, a real box office attraction like Sandra Bullock. She’s undeniably talented, looks great on the big screen (see “Real Steel”), and her presence has the exact right qualities: strong, intelligent, sexy, womanly, approachable, and she carries herself with dignity.

She reminds me of Elizabeth Banks before she did the sleazy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”

Fingers crossed.

‘IRON MAN 3′ RAMPING UP FOR EARLY PRODUCTION?

Legendary ’80s screenwriter Shane Black is directing this entry, and I’m eager to see what’s next for our favorite openly patriotic, libertarian super hero.

‘THE HANGOVER’ GUYS ARE NEGOTIATING FOR ANOTHER SEQUEL

The first “Hangover” was the best raunchy comedy since the original “American Pie,” but I’m avoiding the second, which I’ve read is more gross-out than clever. Because this is a comedy based on a pretty contrived concept that should’ve only worked once, can they go to the well for a third?

SIMON PEGG AND EDGAR WRIGHT ARE ‘HARD AT WORK’ ON ‘THE WORLD’S END‘

How much goodwill did the creators of the epic “Shaun of the Dead” burn up with all the cowardly Christian bashing that showed up in their last endeavor, “Paul”? A lot, methinks.

NETFLIX REBOUNDS THANKS TO STREAMING, NOT DVD

The key sentence in this piece covering Netflix’ stock rebound Is this:

We believe better-than-expected domestic streaming subs in the fourth quarter may help alleviate investors’ concerns about the ability of that business to restart subscriber growth[.]“

I don’t mean to belabor this point in every Call Sheet, but the daily signposts in this slow-motion revolution continue to fascinate. And the consequences in every arena are huge.

1. Lower profits for studios: Amazon intends to jump in with a lower streaming subscription fee than Netflix. It’s just a fact that We the Customers will no longer pay for expensive rentals (Redbox is now the top rental retailer in the country) and because movies are so bad, we’re longer purchasing them.

2. Because of this major dent in their bottom line, studios will either have to make better films that appeal to a broader audience or continue to make crappy movies and further sell their souls to communist China to get those markets open.

3. The bottleneck in distribution is disintegrating. One way the left holds power over the world’s popular culture is through their stranglehold on the few distribution outlets available, not to mention the starter cost of printing films and DVDs, and convincing retailers like Walmart to give up valuable shelf space. Now you can simply produce content and get it to a streaming provider. Digital technology has already democratized production, now the last hurdle is being removed.

4. Choices will further undermine Hollywood’s bottom line. Only a few giants own all of those cable channels, so it’s still very few people deciding what America watches. Streaming ends that monopoly and also gives us a ton of older, more conservative and traditional programming at the push of a button.

This is the biggest story the sycophant entertainment media isn’t telling. I’m not even sure they see it. Denial is a powerful thing. But just as the Internet exploded the MSM, within the decade, streaming will explode the entertainment industry.

The studios are literally attempting to make it impossible for Netflix to stream new films. It’s a monopolistic defensive move on the studio’s part and one they can’t possibly win. The timing couldn’t be worse. They simply aren’t producing the kind of content that makes this kind of blackmail possible. We can live without their crap. We can wait. And in the meantime, we’re discovering other sources of entertainment.

Hollywood is no longer the coal that runs the train; they’ve lost that privilege with their shitty product and non-stop insulting of the 60% of customers who aren’t atheist leftists living to recycle. There’s plenty of coal out there in the form of older titles. Hollywood is now the passenger, and they can either climb aboard or get left behind.

And now you know why Hollywood hates capitalism.

DEMI MOORE DROPS OUT OF ‘LOVELACE’: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR HER CAREER?

Anyone who’s read me for any amount of time knows how much I hate the nihilistic gossip and non-stop snark that surrounds the personal lives of celebrities. There’s nothing defensible about a destructive industry that feeds off the dysfunction of those who live for their attention or a destructive industry that bottom feeds off the rest. It does, however, looks as though Demi Moore is going through a serious personal crisis right now and that she could use our prayers.

We wish her nothing but a speedy and full recovery.

6 TV SHOWS WE THINK ARE DOOMED

What a shock. The basement-rated “30 Rock” no one watches isn’t on here. Well, Entertainment Weekly likes it. That’s all that matters.

OH, LOOK, MORE FAN-MADE POSTERZZZZZzzzzz……

Oh, did I miss anything?

‘SEEKING JUSTICE’ TRAILER: NIC CAGE GETS CRAZY ON GUY PEARCE

If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s vigilante movies that don’t have the conviction to be vigilante movies:

Cage stars as Will Gerard, a man whose wife (played by Mad Men actress January Jones) is violently assaulted by a criminal. Stricken with anger, Gerard is approached by “Simon” (Guy Pearce), a man who claims to represent a group of “concerned citizens” who enact vigilante justice against unpunished offenders roaming the city. Gerard accepts Simon’s offer of vengeance, but the price is high: Simon wants a dirty deed in exchange for a dirty deed, but Will isn’t willing to go that distance. Unfortunately for Will, Simon is not the type of man to take “no” for an answer.

Sounds like “The Star Chamber” meets “Strangers On a Train.” Great cast, though.

Hits theatres March 16. Two days after my birthday. Which is a reminder that you can buy me this.

WHAT FILM DO YOU THINK WOULD HAVE BEEN THE TENTH BEST PICTURE NOMINEE?

Did we miss anything starring George Clooney that made no money?

Hey, I know. Why not “30 Rock”? I hear it TRANSCENDS television.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

An awesome double feature of two of my favorite films: Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979). Both just came out on Blu-ray and I’ll be doing a proper review in the coming days.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

DAVID FINCHER’S ‘THE GOON’ RUNS OUT OF MONEY AND WB CANCELS ‘ELFQUEST‘

NEW PICS FROM THE PG-13 RATED VERSION OF ‘THE EXPENDABLES 2′

GOOD NEWS FOR ONCE: NETFLIX 4Q EARNINGS SOAR PAST ESTIMATES

‘CAPTAIN AMERICA 2′ BEGINS SHOOTING BY THE END OF THIS YEAR

‘TRUE BLOOD’ CREATOR ALAN BALL’S NEW DRAMA ‘BANSHEE’ GETS PICKED UP BY CINEMAX

‘GHOST RIDER 2′ AND ‘WRATH OF THE TITANS’ TV SPOTS

USA ORDERS ASPIRATIONAL REALITY SERIES ‘THE MOMENT’ STARRING KURT WARNER

R.I.P. ‘EXCALIBUR’ STAR NICOL WILLIAMSON DIES AT 73

THE ‘EVIL DEAD’ REMAKE LOSES ITS LEAD ACTRESS

GOOD IDEA: SHOULD HAYWIRE STAR GINA CARANO PLAY ‘WONDER WOMAN’?

HOW THE 70S PROVED MASS-MARKETING WASN’T THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE MOVIES

OSCAR SNUBS AND SURPRISES

WHY DO THE OSCARS HATE HARRY POTTER?

WHERE ARE THE NEW 21ST CENTURY HEROES AND VILLAINS?

AN INTERVIEW WITH CRISPIN GLOVER

11 LIFE LESSONS FROM ‘THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION‘

A LOOK BACK AT WILLIAM HOLDEN IN ‘PICNIC‘

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Coming Soon to Home Video

TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON: Prepare to experience the world of TRANSFORMERS PRIME like never before with perfect picture visuals and the purest digital sound available when the entire first season of the award-winning CGI animated series TRANSFORMERS PRIME arrives in stores everywhere in North America on March 6, 2012 in a deluxe 4-DVD set and a Limited Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray™ collection from Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios.

Both the DVD and Blu-ray collections of TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON boast all 26 action-packed episodes (including the 5-part miniseries Darkness Rising) and special bonus content. For a limited time only, TRANSFORMERS PRIME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Limited Edition 4-Disc Blu-ray contains a 96-page IDW graphic novel based on this hit series.

Delivering a new level of heavy metal action and family entertainment for all ages, the limited edition Blu-ray collection is priced to own at $64.99 SRP. The deluxe 4-DVD set is sold separately and has a suggested retail price of $ 29.93 SRP.

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CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY,  JANUARY 27

TCM:

1:30 PM  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) –  Classic sci-fi epic about a mysterious monolith that seems to play a key role in human evolution. Dir: Stanley Kubrick Cast:  Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester. C-149 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format.

I just keep watching this and watching this and watching this in the hopes that someday I’ll like it.

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

HOLLYWOOD’S NEWEST CRYBABIES: LEPERS … AND INDIA

It doesn’t bother me when crybabies crybaby. That’s what crybabies do, especially GLAAD and CAIR — two of the biggest, fascist crybabies in the history of crybabying.

What bothers me is that the politically correct cowards that run Hollywood only listen to certain crybabies. Southerners, Christians, stay-at-home-moms, Republicans, and pro-lifers continue to take hellacious beatings in all things pop culture. Everyone else is hands off at the first sound of a crybaby.

Those of us on the right can take a joke better than anyone; it’s being singled out by Hollywood cowards who pose as “edgy” that’s galling — the double standard.  Take us back to the good old days of “Blazing Saddles,” and we’ll never complain again.

It’s not satire when you’re singled out. It’s bigotry.

AMAZON PONDERS NEW CHALLENGE TO NETFLIX IN STREAMING MARKET

There’s a bigger story here than just this:

Ever since Netflix first alienated its consumers last summer with a price hike – ruining a perfect record of consumer satisfaction – the market seemed to open for new challengers. That door swung a bit wider after Netflix and Starz failed to agree to terms, further limiting the service’s movie offerings.

At the moment, Amazon has deals with the likes of CBS, Fox, Disney and NBCUniversal.

Hollywood is fighting streaming harder than they would ever fight terrorists and yet you have two of the biggest entertainment retailers on the planet — Netflix and Amazon — expanding this service. It was only a matter of time before someone stepped in to challenge Netflix Streaming, and Amazon is the perfect choice.

This is the future and Hollywood had better get its act together and figure out a way to monetize the future the best they can. Because what’s going to happen is quite simple: That which isn’t streamed will be ignored.

CAMERON DIAZ’S PLASTIC SURGERY

Unless it’s a compliment, I try to stay away from commenting on people’s looks. Weight, age, and the like has nothing to do with who someone is, and it’s hard to go there without brushing up against ad hominem. Beside, I’m no prize.

But as a film fan and someone who loves movie stars, this wave of unnatural-looking plastic surgery is a real problem. Though I would never do it myself, I’m all for people having the freedom to do what they want in order to extend a career or simply feel better. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when it gets to a point where it’s a distraction, that’s when it’s worth commenting on.

And it’s not just women. Mickey Rourke, Michael Jackson, and to a much lesser extreme, Michael Douglas have all  broken the on-camera spell with “work.”

The hardest hit for me was Courtney Cox in “Scream 4.” One of the most natural, girl-next-door beauties around today, and something about her is now … off. Real shame.

Plastic surgery is nothing new. A number of stars, like Rita Hayworth, were “created” by it, and who’s going to argue with those results?

What has changed, though, is how noticeable it’s become as stars have gone too far.

Hollywood is supposed to be more liberated and woman-friendly today, but more than ever these days, beautiful and successful actresses like Diaz, Nicole Kidman, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith and the rest, have gone to extremes to avoid aging gracefully like their Golden Age counterparts did.

Hepburn, Crawford, and Davis might have had work done, but not to the point where what was done distracted. And yet, they and others enjoyed long careers well into their forties and fifties.

It’s just a fact that Hollywood is much more monstrous place for women today when compared to the studio system days run by male Republicans.

TRACY MORGAN IS BACK AT WORK, TAUNTING ALEC BALDWIN

More obsession from the clueless entertainment media over a show on one watches.

‘THE CROW’ REBOOT SNAGS NEW DIRECTOR AND WRITER

Though the sequels were unwatchable, the original starring the late Brandon Lee sure had its moments, and the production design did an especially impressive job of creating a foreboding mood and alternate universe that wasn’t completely foreign.

What really made the film work, though, is that when you boil the plot down, it’s a revenge fantasy — a vigilante story.

If they hang on to that element, it could work. But will they?

KATHERINE HEIGL STILL BEGGING FOR OLD TV JOB BACK

What a fall, and all of it self-inflicted.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Prime Suspect 2 (1992): The second in the series is, in my opinion, better than the first. Both feel a little dated with their openly sexist and racist characters, but in the end, this story of the search for the murderer of a teenage black girl examines race in a much more complicated way than what you’re originally led to believe.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

R.I.P. DICK TUFELD, VOICED THE ROBOT IN ‘LOST IN SPACE‘

NEW BEHIND THE SCENES PICTURE FROM ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES‘

FOR YOU INDIE FILMMAKERS: KEVIN SMITH WANTS TO HELP RELEASE YOUR MOVIES

PARAMOUNT BRINGS ‘RANGO’ BACK TO THEATERS FOLLOWING OSCAR NOMINATION

THE 20 WORST OSCAR NOMINATIONS OF THE LAST 20 YEARS (INCLUDING ‘CRASH’!)

MARG HELGENBERGER CLOSES HER FINAL CASE ON ‘CSI’

THE 10 MOST UNDIGNIFIED DEATHS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

‘REAL STEEL’ DELETED SCENE FLOATS LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STINGS LIKE A BOXING ROBOT

CONAN O’BRIEN AND THE LEGACY OF ERNIE KOVACS

FOX: SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR ‘ALCATRAZ’

MICHAEL BIEHN TALKS ABOUT HIS FIVE FAVORITE FILMS

CARTOON BREAK: 20 LIVE-ACTION FILMS WITH ONE ANIMATED SCENE

5 REASONS ‘FIREFLY’ WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET CANCELLED

4 FLAWED LIFE LESSONS MOVIES ACCIDENTALLY TAUGHT US

BEST USE OF FOOD IN MODERN CINEMA

11 MODERN ACTRESSES WHO’VE GOTTEN HOTTER WITH AGE

20 FACTS ABOUT ‘PLANET OF THE APES‘

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CLASSIC PICK FOR THURSDAY,  JANUARY 26

TCM:

5:45 PM  EST: Harper (1966)  — A broken-down private eye sets out to find a rich woman’s missing husband. Dir: Jack Smight Cast:  Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris.  C-121 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format.

Imperfect but still interesting (and moody) detective drama salvaged by all that star power.  

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

ARMOND WHITE SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Why “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was Better Than “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

Armond White: It’s a way of looking at the entire year of film and giving people an overview of what the films were attempting and what other films achieved. I looked at The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo– the David Fincher version as a remake, so I contrasted it with Rise of the Planet of the Apes which was also a remake but a far superior remake. Certainly a less pretentious piece of film making, also, not a hateful illustration of human ugliness. It’s a movie that’s kind of a wild vision of contemporary frustration which I think is more helpful than the brutality that was on display with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So on two levels– as a remake there was something better than The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and also as a movie dealing with contemporary concerns there was a better film than that one. Which happened to be Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Armond Explains Why “Jack and Jill” is Better Than “The Descendants”

Armond White:  I will defend Jack and Jill. I get a kick out of the things Adam Sandler does. And one of the things that he does, and he does it explicitly in Jack and Jill, is that he deals with ethnicity. And he deals with family pride and family shame. These are the same subjects as The Descendants except it kind of glosses it over and uses superficial tv drama and morbidity to disguise the fact that its story is actually about ethnicity. It’s actually about how white folks came to Hawaii and took over and owned the land. And so it’s cast primarily with European descendants. And I’m watching the movie and thinking where are the indigenous Hawaiians? And this might be so in many cases but the film doesn’t deal with it. It’s just a superficial soap opera about the travails of the middle class and I was not interested in that. See Jack and Jill. It was all about ethnicity and what it is about ethnicity that we all have in common. And it can be tragic but Adam Sandler finds the humor in it. And it’s wonderful.

More at the link.

‘ABDUCTION’ BECOMES FIRST HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE TO HIT FACEBOOK DAY-AND-DATE

Taylor Lautner film from Lionsgate will be available for $3.99 for a 48-hour rental on the social networking site.

NEW YORK – In a milestone for Hollywood studios’ relationship with Facebook, Lionsgate’s Tuesday home entertainment release of Abduction is the industry’s first-ever release that will be available on the social network day-and-date with the DVD release. …

It said the decision to use Facebook as a distribution platform at the same time as DVDs shows Lionsgate’s confidence that the network can help generate online video rentals in the important early weeks of a home entertainment release, as well as help gather personal information about film fans that can be used for future marketing activities.

MICHELLE WILLIAMS IS SEXY AND TONED IN GQ

And she looks 16, which is why I can’t look.

UPCOMING DVD RELEASES

One month left! Check out the DVD, Digital Download and On Demand releases of Answers to Nothing and King of Triads, both arriving on February 28th from Lionsgate.

Answers to Nothing: Redemption comes in pieces. In the tradition of Crash and Magnolia, lives intertwine in Los Angeles around the search for a missing girl, as Lionsgate debuts Answers to Nothing on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this February. This intense drama features a dynamic ensemble cast led by Dane Cook (Dan in Real Life) along with Julie Benz (Showtime’s “Dexter”), Zach Gilford (TV’s “Friday Night Lights”), Elizabeth Mitchell (TV’s “Lost”) and Barbara Hershey (Black Swan). The Answers to Nothing DVD contains special features that include an audio commentary with the filmmakers, deleted scenes plus music videos.

King of Triads: Audiences will engage in the battle for control of Hong Kong as Lionsgate releases King of Triads on DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this winter. Choreographed by martial artist and member of the Jackie Chan stuntman team, Chung Chi Li (Rush Hour), the film stars Simon Yam (Ip Man) and Kenneth Low (Rush Hour) with a special appearance by Suet Lam (Kung Fu Hustle). Called “…extremely entertaining…” (BeyondHollywood.com), the action-packed release also includes a behind-the-scenes featurette and interviews.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

The smart, entertaining 1998 film “Clay Pigeons,” that stars Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, and Janeane Garofalo (when we still found her charming). The film flopped, badly, but that doesn’t change how it showcased the talents of director David Dobkin, who would go on to direct a number of big studio films, most notably “Wedding Crashers.”

If you haven’t seen it, you should. Something that struck me was how tame the violence and sex is compared to what it might’ve looked like today. What a difference 14 years makes.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

CONAN REMAKE DIRECTOR MARCUS NISPEL TO HELM COMIC ADAPTATION ‘HACK/SLASH‘

FORMER IRAQ PRT LEADER: 2 IRAQ WAR MOVIES NOT TO MISS

THE MOVIES OF TODAY IMAGINED WITH THE STARS OF YESTERDAY

THOUGHTS ON WHAT MAKES A MOVIE CONSERVATIVE

COOL INFOGRAPHIC: MOVIE FRANCHISE LEXICON

CONTEMPORARY MOVIE POSTERS WITH CLASSIC FILM STARS

WILL OUR POPULAR CULTURE SURVIVE INTO THE FUTURE?

EW DEBUTS FIVE NEW PICTURES FROM ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’

5 RIDICULOUS ORIGINS OF MOVIE SOUND EFFECTS

‘THE LONE RANGER’ TO BEGIN SHOOTING IN NEW MEXICO NEXT MONTH

6 INSANE BATMAN VILLAINS YOU WON’T SEE IN THE MOVIES

5 FILMS THAT WASTED THEIR POTENTIAL

10 CRAZY ADVENTURES YOU NEVER KNEW INDIANA JONES WENT ON

A LOOK BACK AT ‘THE MIGHTY DUCKS‘

20 FACTS ABOUT ‘THE BREAKFAST CLUB‘

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CLASSIC PICK FOR WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY 18

TCM:

10:00 PM  EST: Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)  –  A Korean War hero doesn’t realize he’s been programmed to kill by the enemy. Dir: John Frankenheimer Cast:  Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh. BW-127 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format.

So much has been written about this Frankenheimer classic, but where it hits me the hardest is how heartbreakingly sad the story is. That moment when Laurence Harvey realizes what he’s done. Unforgettable.

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

The streaming platform is planning original content just like its 21st century peer Netflix, and one of the first new Hulu shows out of the gate feels like “West Wing Lite.”

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“Battleground,” debuting Feb. 14 on Hulu, takes us behind-the-scenes, “Office” style, of a senatorial campaign. The candidate in question is a Democrat, so expect plenty of scenes about believing in the cause, fighting the power, changing the system, etc.

The first glimpse of the new show does feature those moments, but the focus appears to be on the lifestyles of the young, overworked campaign staffers as opposed to policy wonk soliloquies.

Plenty of fodder there, no doubt, for a series which could help Hulu branch out from its original purpose. But with the presidential election season about to kick into high gear, the show’s brain trust will be tempted to tap into the political zeitgeist.

NETFLIX USERS STREAM 3000 LIFETIMES’ WORTH OF VIDEOS IN 3 MONTHS

And Hollywood thinks they can put this genie back in the bottle. Never.

DID YOU KNOW KING KONG ALMOST BATTLED FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER?

Alternate title: Did you know the greatest movie ever almost got made?

TELEVISION SERIES THAT OUTSTAYED THEIR WELCOME

They forgot the season premiere of “Thirtysomething.”

COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

TEXAS KILLING FIELDS, JAN 31:  Anchor Bay Films is proud to announce the release of TEXAS KILLING FIELDS on both Blu-ray™ and DVD  January 31, 2012.  Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, produced by Michael Mann and Michael Jaffe, and based on the real life, headline-making series of unsolved murders, TEXAS KILLING FIELDS is a haunting story of two detectives and one desperate race to catch a killer. The release also contains audio commentary with Director Ami Canaan Mann and Writer Donald F. Ferrarone.

Inspired by true events, this tense thriller follows Detective Souder (Sam Worthington, Avatar, The Debt) a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan Starz’ “Magic City,” The Losers, The Watchmen)as they track a sadistic serial killer dumping his victims’ mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call “The Killing Fields.” 

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THE KILLING – SEASON ONE, MAR 31: Season 1 of AMC’s critically acclaimed new show “THE KILLING” comes to Blu-ray and DVD on March 13 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.  With exclusive Blu-ray and DVD features, including an extended season finale, loyal fans and new viewers alike will dive deeper into the captivating mystery and complex characters that garnered the freshman series six Primetime Emmy® nominations and one Golden Globe® nomination.  Catch up on the show that everyone will be talking about when “The Killing” returns to AMC for season two this Spring.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

Packer game, Golden Globes. I’ve had better nights.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

SCREEN SEX SIREN ANITA EKBERG IS PENNILESS AT AGE 80

THE CATO INSTITUTES DIGS INTO THE MPAA’S PIRACY STATISTICS AND SOPA

BAD REMAKE IDEA OF THE WEEK: ‘PSYCHO’ TV SERIES

HOW THE STATE OF THE MOVIE INDUSTRY IN 1991 ECHOES THROUGH TO TODAY

‘SHERLOCK’ SERIES 3 ALREADY CONFIRMED

STEVEN SPIELBERG DISCUSSES HIS UPCOMING PROJECTS…

…WHILE TIM BURTON DISCUSSES HIS UPCOMING PROJECTS

‘STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS’ SEASON 5 CONFIRMED

50 ORIGINAL (!) PROPERTIES SLATED FOR 2012

QUENTIN TARANTINO RELEASES HIS BEST OF 2011 LIST

THE ‘STAR TREK’ SEQUEL HAS BEGUN SHOOTING

VIDEO TRIBUTE: ‘I LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING’

THANKS TO KICKSTARTER, MANOS: HANDS OF FATE IS GETTING A RESTORATION

A 10-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING A ‘ONE LAST JOB’ MOVIE

THE STORY BEHIND THE PARAMOUNT LOGO

ELTON JOHN IS EFFIN’ MAD ABOUT MADONNA SONG WIN

THE MOST OVERPLAYED GENRE IN RECENT YEARS

10 FICTIONAL POLITICIANS WE’D LIKE TO SEE TAKE OFFICE IN REAL LIFE

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CLASSIC PICK FOR TUESDAY,  JANUARY 17

TCM:

8:00 AM  EST: Crime School (1938) — A crusading warden sets out to improve conditions at a reform school. Dir: Lewis Seiler Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop.  BW-85 mins, TV-G, CC.

Marvelous B-film before Bogart became a star that reunites him with his “Dead End” co-stars, the “Dead End Kids.” 

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