‘WAR HORSE’ WARNING FOR PARENTS FROM ORSON BEAN

Yesterday Orson emailed me a heads up for parents with respect to Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse,” which hits theatres Sunday. Some vague plot points are given away, so consider this a spoiler warning:

I would urge your readers not to take children to the Spielberg picture “War Horse.” The “horse in peril” stuff is deeply disturbing. At the advance preview my wife and I attended, we couldn’t watch bits of it, and upset people were walking out. I had seen the Broadway production in which the horses are portrayed by life-sized puppets, with four men working each horse puppet. It is one of the best productions I’ve ever seen. Within a few minutes, you don’t notice the people working the puppets. When the horses are caught on barbed wire, it is frightening. But since they are puppets, it is by no means too terrifying to watch, and it is also deeply moving as far as dramatizing the horrors of war.

But in the film, with apparently real horses in agony, it will give kids nightmares for weeks. The movie is being marketed as a family friendly affair, and indeed, the first half of it is reminiscent of “Lassie Come Home.” Then there is a sudden switch, with sections as intense as the opening of “Saving Private Ryan.”

I can’t imagine what Spielberg was thinking of. Anyone who could possibly enjoy the second half, would be turned off like crazy by the first half.

Good to know. Nothing I’ve seen in the promotion, other than the PG-13 rating, even hints at any of this.

THIS JUST IN FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF NO SHIT: ‘HIGH PRICES FOR LOW QUALITY FILMS KEEPING FAMILIES AWAY FROM THEATERS’

Some interesting numbers hidden in the obvious:

In fact movie attendance this year is expected to drop to its lowest in 16 years. …

Domestic movie attendance has plummeted since peaking at 1.6 billion in 2002 to what experts predict will be around 1.3 billion for 2011.

Hollywood might find a little relief this weekend. Thus far, the box office looks like it should at this time of year, though I suspect there will be a couple of high-profile films left without a chair when the music stops.

At least on paper, with “Dragon Tattoo,” “Sherlock Holmes 2,” “Chipmunks 3,” and two(!) Spielberg films, this should be one of the greatest Christmas weeks ever.

BIRD SNUBBED 3D FOR NEW ‘MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’

Bless him:

“I think that any time you have a new toy, people feel excited about it and then they overuse it. I remain interested in 3D but I’m not exactly convinced yet. What I’m more interested in is really high resolution, and really big screens.

“For me I don’t like the glasses so much, and it’s a little dark. I think people are forgetting about the power of a really sharp bright image on a really big screen.”

Gawd, I hate 3D. Hate the glasses and hate the fact that Hollywood uses the technology as a crutch. Hoping to create an immersive experience, they spend millions on this obnoxious technology instead of telling better stories.

I wouldn’t even consider seeing ‘MI:4′ in theatres if it was in 3D.

Oof.

MORE: ‘Mission: Impossible 5′ Being Fast-Tracked by Paramount?

KYLE SMITH: ‘EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE’ A ‘VILE AND PUTRID FILM’

Here’s a taste. Read it all:

The film amounts to a celebration thrown by author Jonathan Safran Foer for an unbelievably obnoxious little genius meant to be a sweetly heartbreaking charmer. Instead of being the cause of daily horsewhippings with barbed wire as you would expect (and hope), the kid’s precocity is a source of wonderment to everyone around him (including an assortment of colorful minority peoples who are enchanted by his company as he goes around the city introducing himself, though occasionally white people are rude to him). The Islamofascist attacks of 9/11, which killed the kid’s father (Tom Hanks), are a sort of pickaxe Foer uses for attacking the tear ducts. I hated the kid and his nonstop efforts to convince us of his brilliance from the very beginning of the movie (even though we’re supposed to feel sorry for him) and my opinion of him sharply declined thereafter.

Smith’s colleague Lou Lumenick gives it one-star:

In the end, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’’ pulls out all the stops trying to put the audience through the emotional wringer. It’s Oscar-mongering of the most blunt and reprehensible sort.

Man, I don’t know what I’m going to do if I end up liking it.

NYT DECLARES ‘EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE’ KITSCH

But it’s an impossible role in an impossible movie that has no reason for being other than as another pop-culture palliative for a trauma it can’t bear to face. In truth, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” isn’t about Sept. 11. It’s about the impulse to drain that day of its specificity and turn it into yet another wellspring of generic emotions: sadness, loneliness, happiness. This is how kitsch works. It exploits familiar images, be they puppies or babies — or, as in the case of this movie, the twin towers — and tries to make us feel good, even virtuous, simply about feeling. And, yes, you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage.

‘AMERICAN HORROR STORY’ ENDS ITS FIRST SEASON ON A HIGH NOTE; 3.22 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS

It’s amazing how television has become so fractured that 3.22 million viewers, or 1% of the overall population, is now considered a roaring success. Twenty years ago, “Cheers” was pulling in 21 million viewers.

When you consider how good so many cable shows are today, even though they pull in only a few million viewers, we should be relieved ratings are now graded on a curve or the cancellations would be legion.

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

The Gathering (1977) — A couple of years ago I counted down my top 25 favorite Christmas films and ranked this hard-to-find television movie at number seven. For some reason, the best Christmas film too few people have seen is only available on DVD via the Warner-Archives, which I watched for the first time last night. The print is gorgeous and includes a few moments that were not on my two decade-old VHS tape recorded so many Christmases ago. (You can also watch the complete film on YouTube — one of the best scenes is here.)

I don’t have much to add to my review linked above, but I will say that after many screenings, the film’s emotional punch never diminishes. Because of the circumstances and the skill of all those involved in the production, you dread the end of this moving reconciliation/reunion as much as any one of the characters participating in it.

I was also struck by how religious the story is. Even ten years ago, this isn’t something you would notice, because a film surrounding an openly Christian family was the norm, not a glaring exception. Watching it today within the context of a time when our faith is under assault and even the word “Christmas” itself has become controversial brings home not only how intolerant Hollywood has become, but how the loss of these themes has diminished the quality of modern-day storytelling.

In 1977, the National Education Association gave “The Gathering” a stamp of approval, something they would never do today — not that the film would have a chance of being produced by broadcast networks.

Trust me, this is one you want to own. Included in the package is the sequel, which, trust me again, you don’t want to waste your time on.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR

BATMAN INFOGRAPHIC: EVERY (SIGNIFICANT) BAT-SUIT EVER

‘THE AVENGERS’ HAS A NEW SUPERPOWER: 3D

BRUCE CAMPBELL TO APPEAR IN SAM RAIMI’S ‘OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL‘

‘PROMETHEUS’ SCREENGRABS IN HD

‘PROMETHEUS’ TRAILER ANALYSIS

SONY CLASSICS TO RELEASE WOODY ALLEN’S ‘NERO FIDDLED’ IN SUMMER 2012

‘BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER’ REMAKE SCRIPT REJECTED COMPLETELY

A CLOSER LOOK AT ‘THE HOBBIT’ TRAILER

SELENE DODGES FLAMETHROWERS IN ‘UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING’ TRAILER

THE 16 WORST CHRISTMAS SPECIALS OF ALL TIME

DISNEY CONFIRMS ‘THE SNOW QUEEN,’ COMING IN 2013

THE 10 BEST AND WORST MOVIE POSTERS OF THE YEAR

A ‘FRESH PRINCE’ REUNION

THE TOP 10 AFRICAN FILMS OF 2011

10 BADASS CHARACTERS NEUTERED BY THEIR SEQUELS

17 FILMS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2012

‘MI:4′ AND ‘DARK KNIGHT RISES’ EASTER EGGS

A LOOK BACK AT THE OPENING NIGHT OF DISNEY’S ‘SNOW WHITE‘

NETFLIX CHIEF REED HASTINGS’ STOCK OPTIONS CUT BY $1.5M AFTER QWIKSTER DEBACLE

DIRECTOR STEVEN SPIELBERG AND EDITOR MICHAEL KAHN: A LIFE-LONG RELATIONSHIP

PODCAST: WHAT DO PRODUCERS DO?

TOP 10 FEMME FATALES

5 SHERLOCK HOLMES ANTAGONISTS WHO AREN’T MORIARTY

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CLASSIC PICK FOR SATURDAY,  DECEMBER 24

TCM:

2:30 PM  EST: Holiday Affair (1950) –  A young widow is torn between a boring businessman and a romantic ne’er-do-well. Dir: Don Hartman Cast:  Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey. BW-87 mins, TV-G. CC.

So many excellent holiday titles to choose from, but this underrated 1949 charmer (TCM’s date is wrong) is about as good as a Christmas film can get. At first glance, the love triangle looks fairly boilerplate, but if you look closer you’ll find some very big themes at work. Also, the fact that Wendell Corey (a die-hard conservative Republican, donchaknow) is cast as an uncommonly decent guy who suddenly finds himself in competition with Robert Mitchum for the luscious Janet Leigh, is a very nice touch.

Also, we lost Harry Morgan this year, and his one scene (which he steals completely) as a skeptical police sergeant is a howler.

RIP, Harry.

More on my love affair with “A Holiday Affair” here.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, everyone! And I hope you intolerant crybabies offended by any of that have a good weekend.

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

Beautiful Nola was anxious to read the review of the new Off-Broadway show she’d just opened in. The Times and Trib would be covering it but Nola wanted to see what The Daily Worker had to say. Her face fell when she read it. The play was a socially relevant drama, of course, about the struggles of the Negro. She had chosen a dazzling white suit for her wardrobe. The critic said that this was unconscious racism on her part. She had, in fact, picked the suit because it made her boobs look good. 

Sometimes Nola would drag me to upper Broadway where the Thalia, a dusty old nineteen-thirties movie theater, screened Russian language films from the Soviet Union. These were not the brilliant pictures which had come out in the early days of the Revolution, but kitschy agitprop which followed the party line.  In one of them an enormous white plane majestically glides down out of the heavens and lands in an airport somewhere in the Ukraine. Little girls with bouquets of flowers rush out onto the tarmac. The door of the plane opens, steps are put in place and down them and onto a red carpet strides an actor playing the part of Joseph Stalin. He is gloriously handsome and dressed in a dazzling white suit. I glance over at Nola in the darkness of the theater; she does not return my glance.          

Party members in the arts back then willingly did as they were told. Their indoctrination had been total; they knew in their hearts they were doing what was right. Writers wrote about the downtrodden; actors played workers nobly, capitalists evilly. Musicians composed music of the people. To deviate from the party line was unthinkable. With the advent of the Cold War, this behavior slowly faded away. Now it seems to be back. Artists no longer take their orders from Moscow but, it appears, from Washington. Not to do so results in being shunned (or de-funded). 

I’ve been around long enough to see this kind of thing come and go in our beautiful country. Let’s hope it doesn’t last as long as it did back then. This time we’ve got Big Hollywood on our side.

Let’s start with the cast:  James Stewart.  George C. Scott.  Lee Remick.  Eve Arden.  Ben Gazzara.  Even Big Hollywood’s own Orson Bean in a supporting part as a doctor who plays a key role in the story.  If you love movies, you only needed to get to the word “George” before you were adding it to your NetFlix queue.

The plot is simple.  Small-town lawyer Paul Biegler (Stewart), who is more concerned with fishing than his practice, is talked into meeting Army lieutenant Fred Manion, who is sitting in jail for the murder of the man the soldier claims raped his wife Laura (The hotter-than-hot Remick).  Beigler takes the case, and faces off with Claude Dancer (Scott), the ace prosecutor sent in from the big city to chalk up yet another conviction.   There is much more to the story – the movie is a brisk two hours forty minutes long – but there’s no sense in going into the details here.  You just need to know this:  Jimmy Stewart goes up against George C. Scott in court.  Case closed.

The sparks fly in the courtroom under the direction of Otto Preminger, the enfant terrible of 50s and 60s Tinseltown, but the interesting part (at least for a lawyer) is that the film covers all aspects of the trial, in and out of the courtroom.  Cases are often won not in front of the jury but hunched over a dusty book of old cases (or, today, in front of a computer screen looking at precedent online), and Anatomy doesn’t hesitate to show the hard work involved in putting up a defense. 

That sounds dull as dirt, but Anatomy is anything but.  Stewart is helped by his burned out, alcoholic mentor Parnell, played perfectly by Arthur O’Connell.  His character is funny, irascible, sad and, in the end, redeemed.  O’Connell even manages to steal scenes from Jimmy Stewart while snagging a best Supporting Actor nomination for himself (Stewart and Scott both earned Oscar nominations as well).

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Preminger was known for the pushing boundaries, and he does it again here.  This was 1959, and audiences must have been in for a shock not only hearing a frank discussion of topics like sexual climax and seminal fluid on the big screen but hearing it come from the mouth of George Bailey himself.  But it’s not exploitation – it’s reality, and there is nothing wrong with adults viewing adult subject matter.  If only films today were brave enough to put forward an ambiguous character like Laura Manion – perhaps a rape victim, but perhaps something else.  They’d be picketed by bitter, snarling feminists furious over the movie’s rejection of easy archetypes and easier answers.  And almost no studio today would risk the ending either – an ending that is a perfect fit for what comes before. 

The beauty of Anatomy is how it never treats its audience like children.  Its characters are fallible – sometimes they drink to excess, smoke, have questionable morals and lie, but the movie expects the audience to understand that human beings are not purely black and white.  That audience had come through three terrible wars and the Great Depression.  They knew something about real life even if most of what Hollywood was putting out was sanitized and saccharine.

If Anatomy was being remade today, those twit studio suits would probably try to push Josh Hartnett as Beigler, Scarlett Johansson as Laura, and some kid from a CW TV series about vampires as the accused.  It’s sad that there are so many mediocrities out there today, and sadder that the suits don’t even realize it.  No matter how hard she tried, the pretty but vacant Johansson could never get anywhere as close to down and dirty as Lee Remick does here.   And there’s no comparison in life experience – Stewart flew B-24s over Dusseldorf; Harnett looks like he bursts into tears when he runs out of his Axe body spray. 

The only problem with Anatomy in my book is the music.  It’s jazz, and aficionados of that art form hail Duke Ellington’s soundtrack as a masterpiece.  But if you feel that jazz is like a colonoscopy for your ears, the musical interludes can be downright painful.

It’s been a summer of sequels to lumbering blockbusters that should have never been made in the first place, twee romances between self-consciously awkward 20-something nerds, and big screen adaptations of “graphic novels” that demonstrate why generations of parents past declared comic books a pernicious waste of time.  Now give  Anatomy of a Murder a look – it is a reminder that not all films are aimed squarely at the half-wit demographic.

“Today, he suffers blinding headaches and has permanent brain damaage. He has an excruciating sensitivity to sounds, hearing what others do not. The slightest noise drives him nearly insane. In the last two years alone, he has experienced about 200 seizures.

“But physical pain is a passing thing. The enduring torment is the taunting reminder that darkness encroaches. Already he cannot picture his mother’s face or recall his father’s name. Gradually his past, like his future, eludes him.”

In his editorial, Mr. Margulies describes how Abu Zubaydah was water-boarded: “They strapped him to an inverted board and poured water over his covered nose and mouth to produce the sensation of suffocation and insipient panic. Eighty three times. I leave it to others to debate whether we should call this torture”, he writes.  “I am content with the self evident truth that it was wrong.”

The CIA did all this to Zubaydah, Marglies concludes,  “because they believed he was evil”. Because they believed he was evil. Because they believed he was evil. When I had calmed down a bit after reading this, I typed out a letter to The Times which they printed. Here’s what the letter said:

“She looks into his eyes. Hers are filled with terror. The heat is unbearable. Her skin is beginning to blister. He reaches out and takes her hand. His hand has a deep gash in it from the shattered glass of the window he has helped to smash. ‘Hold on tight to me,’ he whispers. ‘Keep your eyes closed. Don’t look down.’ Together, they step through the jagged opening of a high floor of the World Trade Center. On the sidewalk below, people shriek in horror.

I don’t know the young woman’s name, but I do know that, like Abu Zabadah, she can’t picture her mother’s face either.”

Orson Bean’s latest novel, M@il For Mikey, is published by Barricade Books

Yet CNN Correspondent Susan Roesgen (a reporter, not a commentator), came into the Chicago rally with a clear agenda to use code words to harass and harangue peaceful protestors:

What a pathetic display. Susan Roesgen is the devil and if she’s not fired for her mean-spirited display, CNN deserves to fall deeper than 4th place in the cable news rating.

The subtext of my speech–which we intend to post here once we have the video–was that the media is the problem because they ignore and marginalize these tea parties and those Americans who have made them such a success, and I can offer no better evidence than that video of Susan Roesgen, which I saw afterward.

Three short months ago “dissent is patriotic” was the rallying cry of the media and the left.  Now they’re the enforcers of government mandated conformity.  Pathetic.

Noon PST – Anatomy Of A Murder (1959) – A small-town lawyer gets the case of a lifetime when a military man avenges an attack on his wife. Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O’Connell Dir: Otto Preminger BW-161 mins, TV-PG

Mature, very well-acted, classic courtroom drama, painstakingly directed by Otto Preminger and just as watchable a second time because knowing the outcome of a great film, even one that climaxes with a verdict, takes nothing away from well-crafted characters, top-notch dialogue, and individual scenes that become living things all on their own.

The real standout is George C. Scott, who’s much less an actor here and much more of a reactor as his prosecuting attorney tries to figure out how to handle Jimmy Stewart’s aw-shucks chess moves with his own. Scott’s cross examinations are especially good; a mixture of intensity, manipulation, and oily, calculating, intelligent charm.

Preminger’s genius is in making the audience a member of the jury and co-conspirator in wanting to see Lt. Manion (Ben Gazzara) set free for killing the man who raped his wife (a captivating Lee Remick). Stewart’s “temporary insanity” defense is never all that convincing, but we sure want to be convinced.

Be sure to tune in just past the two hour mark when Big Hollywood’s own Orson Bean arrives as Army Psychiatrist Dr. Matthew Smith. His memorable scene with Arthur O’Connell upon arriving at the train station exemplifies the charming character moments that makes “Anatomy” so timeless. So good is the scene that in 1981, Sidney Lumet would “borrow” from it for “The Verdict” when Jack Warden is similarly surprised and worried to discover an important witness (also a doctor) doesn’t exactly look like everyone had hoped.

Commenters, please keep writing in your own names (and linking to your personal web sites/blogs), if you can. It has helped to keep up the quality.

The media highlight of the week was Rush Limbaugh reading and riffing on Andrew Klavan’s, “Why We Fight.” The most poignant and righteous post was clearly Charles Winecoff’s, “The Awakening of a Dumb (Gay) American.” The comments tell us everything we know about the truth about tolerance on the right. And the lie about tolerance on the left. I am extraordinarily proud to call Charles a patriot, an ally and a friend.

I am still cleaning up my britches from multiple readings of Iowahawk’s introductory post, “Movies Are Your Best Entertainment Value.” Prolific Gutfeld and Orson are the site’s Omar Sharif and Erma Bombeck.

I have to spend time with my family so I can’t thank every new contributor that came in this week, but suffice to say I am grateful and I think people are slowly getting the idea that we aren’t alone in Hollywood with our crazy non-leftist ideas.

And liberals, you will be thanking us later when our ideas get to play out in the marketplace of ideas. Trust me. It’s way too boring when everyone agrees with each other. Start giving us a little more slack, you’ll see.

Next week brings some surprises and some new names from Hollywood and the political establishment. I promise you won’t want to miss Dirk Benedict’s forthcoming piece describing his battles in the 1970s trying to keep Starbuck, his beloved Battlestar Gallactica character, a masculine rogue. He also takes on the latest feminized incarnation of the show. Dirk has a humorous and deeply analytical mind. As you will see, Dirk was fighting political correctness in Hollywood well before most of us.

And I can’t wait to see what Pat Dollard has in mind as he makes his return to Hollywood in his Big Hollywood debut.

Only had to delete one off-topic post. And sorry to readers (and the contributor) that I wasn’t as watchful as I should. We need to stay on topic.

Here are the basic guidelines:

1) Non-Hollywood voices can offer content that relates to either pop culture (film, television, music, celebrity, etc) or the intersection of pop culture and politics (e.g. Sean Penn travels to Venezuela to kiss Hugo Chavez’s ring.)

2) Hollywood voices can offer their thoughts on the above… AND talk about the political issues of the day as they see fit. If Hollywood lefties feel so free talking about their ideas, those that differ should have the opportunity to publicly express themselves — on a soapbox and in their work.

Off to take Charlie to a friend’s birthday party at the Eco-Station. Check their politicized promo. Yes, Virginia, liberals are judgmental. Until we have our kids extravaganza (Milton and Rose Friedman Nerf Land!), the left is going to be beating us using our free market ideals against us.

Yes, friends, we have our work cut out for us. Onward to week three.

Greg Gutfeld is posting his wondrous inanities and many pointed yet not vitriolic salvos have been launched against the intransigent Hollywood left and vital ones aimed at the right — for forfeiting culture to the opposition. Movie and television reviews and historical treatises abound, and we’re even breaking news.

John Ziegler launched a massive story where Sarah Palin unleashed on the media for treating her so unfairly. It is easily the mainstream news media story of the week. Big Hollywood is the site to go to for the inside scoop on Ziegler’s forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected“.

Actor-singer-songwriter Joe Lima in a timely fashion came to bury Guevara, but also put usually reliable director Steven Soderbergh in his place for wasting so much studio money and movie watchers’ time with the execrable, “Che.”

I have been media whoring it to get the word out. On Friday I did The O’Reilly Factor, the Rusty Humphries Show and earlier in the day I spoke with fellow crusader Laura Ingraham, as well as Fox Business Channel’s Stuart Varney. Earlier in the week: Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, the Dennis Miller Show as well as my weekly appearance with talk radio’s long distance runner, Lars Larson. My mind is numb right now I can’t think of the rest.

I am deeply grateful to all the new contributors of Big Hollywood and all the ridiculously articulate and insightful commenters — some who are now contributors (Bill Willingham, Stage Right and James Hudnall). I know of few sites with as literate and knowledgeable a readership. (So far!) I must even praise the dissenters in our midst. For the most part the lefties have been thoughtful and not simply drive-by rabblerousers.

Tell me Gary Graham didn’t say what was needed on day one. He broke the ice and history will prove that. (FTS!) He’s still doing radio interviews over his day one: “One Angry Dude.” Move over, Paddy Chayefsky. Gary had the guts to put his name behind what many think, but are afraid to write.

We are blessed to have box office guru Steve Mason posting predictions and raw numbers of what movies are doing throughout the week. Because Steve is ahead of the competition and a newsie madman extraordinaire even Hollywood’s leftiest executives, actors and directors will be bookmarking Big Hollywood to stay ahead of the curve.

My father-in-law Orson Bean hearkened to a time when the film industry inspired people even in the bleakest of times. Bill Whittle showed off his effortless brilliant writing skills. (I’ll challenge anyone at the Huffington Post to a writer’s duel: Bill versus the best you got. The winner gets $1000 in carbon credits.)

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) wrote a most creative call to arms for Hollywood’s closeted conservatives. And former congressman and Fox News host John Kasich sent word he and his wife are stoked that “24″ is about to start up again. California Assemblyman and huge history buff Chuck Devore gave two thumbs up for “Valkyrie.” More elected officials and aspiring candidates to come. Love it or hate Hollywood, even politicians are consumers.

Comedian and author Evan Sayet had the courage to write a piece that will surely piss off his music idol, Bruce Springsteen. Fellow comedian Rodney Lee Conover also went after sacred ground, Opie Cunningham. Stand up comedian Tom Shillue stood up twice in week one for what is right. Groundlings vet and reality TV producer Melanie Graham did a drive-by on day one, too. Apparently, she finds Hollywood taxing. (Ned Rice, come out to plaaay!)

Libertarians like Reason’s Nick Gillespie and film producer Maura Flynn picked a debate with the social conservatives with their more libertine and permissive attitudes toward adult material on television. (What do you think, Dallas Jenkins?)

Sorry, prigs, prudes and hyper-moralists, this site is open to the entirety of views from the center-right-libertarian spectrum. Shhh, I lean in the libertarian direction on content. (My favorite comedy of recent years is “Grandma’s Boy” and I can’t wait until my sons are old enough to watch it with me.) Except I wouldn’t have cited Dan Savage as a valued critical voice like Maura did. Yeesh.

We even had esteemed screenwriter and self-confessed “flaming liberal” John Ridley debunk the notion that “Three Kings” was crafted as a neo-con critique of the first Gulf War. John is a mensch for coming into “enemy territory.” Accomplished conservative screenwriters Robert J. Avrech, Michael McGruther and Andrew Klavan (thanks for kicking things off, Drew) set high writing standards for Big Hollywood on week one. And for that I am eternally grateful.

What do nationally syndicated columnists Ben Shapiro and Debbie Schlussel do when they aren’t fiercely taking on radical Islamists? Apparently watching film and television with a very critical eye. Entertainment reporter Rebecca Cusey is also looking out for our collective welfare. Now I really don’t need the New York Times anymore.

I owe National Review’s Jonah Goldberg and Kathryn Jean Lopez steaks and drinks for bringing their thoughts and mass following to the site on week one. (Jonah deserves the assist for bringing in contributors Willingham and Hudnall. They were commenting on his Watchmen thread when other commenters recognized their familiar names in the Industry.)

S.T. Karnick popped in to remind us of a less politically correct time — 35 years ago — when Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish” debuted on the big screen.

Thanks to Roger L. Simon for offering an exclusive peak at his new book, “Blacklisting Myself: A Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror.” Simon’s is a cautionary tale that in leftist Hollywood it’s bad to be a conservative or a Republican. But it’s worse to be an ideological turncoat.

Burt Prelutsky has been at this game longer than most of us and has alienated himself from the majority who he considered friends while writing for “M*A*S*H”. We’re proud to have you here, Burt.

Established bloggers, journalists and my travel companions like Jamie Kirchick (Azerbaijan), Michael van der Galien (Azerbaijan), Scott Johnson (Israel), Andrew Leigh (the Starbucks at the corner of San Vicente and Barrington) and Ace of Spades (numerous bars) also brought their guts, know-how and audiences to the Big Hollywood fold. Paging Pat Dollard!

American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson and classical musician Endre Balogh both took big stabs at figuring out how to fix the broken entertainment industry. I think we’re building an army that is willing to follow your prescriptions. Thanks for the blueprints, guys.

Filmmaker Michael Wilson (“Michael Moore Hates America”) clearly learned his lessons well as he tells conservatives the solution is in our hands. Not in only complaining.

My #1 pick to hit is Alphonzo Rachel. He is the conservative movement’s one-stop spoken word-musician-actor-commentator billion dollar baby.

If I can ask a favor of those commenting: Please post in your true name. I won’t hold you to it, but it really makes for a better experience for everyone. It also helps diminish the drive-by morons who use anonymity as their weapon — like the angry commuters who give you the finger and call you an a@#$#$ when they pass you in traffic. (So what if I like playing Tetris on my Blackberry while stuck in gridlock.) If you are going to use anonymity to save your career (like the politically incorrect Veritas Obviam), then try and come up with a handle that sticks and represents where you’re coming from — like “Stage Right,” for instance.

Speaking of… Thanks J.R. Head for serving our country and serving this mission. Too bad things are so bad in Hollywood you don’t feel safe using your real name. Guess fighting a war is tougher than Hollywood these days.

And to get into the spirit of the awards season, I’d also like to thank Darren Rush and Alex Marlow for working their butts off to make this site rock. And to Larry Solov, my business partner and Oscar Zeta Acosta, for allowing us to be so merciless to the liberalism he holds dear. (Just read Gutfeld’s stuff and your head won’t spin so much.)

Weirdly, for a guy who is obsessed with the intersection of pop culture and politics, I am not immersed enough in film and TV to confidently weigh in. I burned out watching repeats of Alice in the ’80s. (I still have recurring dreams: What happened to Tommy Hyatt’s basketball career?) So I’ve brought in John Nolte, a sincere and principled consumer of the product. I consider his opinion on a movie now more important than the LA TIMES, NY TIMES and all the alt weeklies combined. I like to play John off MTV’s Kurt Loder and the Washington Times Christian Toto, as well as checking in with Rotten Tomatoes before I invest a few hours in something.

I made a New Year’s resolution to see more movies and watch more TV in 2009. I want to start paying attention a little bit closer. A couple of nights ago I even went to see the premiere of My Bloody Valentine 3D. I can’t tell you how guilty I was for having enjoyed it. And I got to see Tom Atkins on screen again. I love all the older actors. Character actors (the “regular Joes” of Hollywood) especially. I’ve gotten to meet a ton of them recently, too. Many are regular people. Some are even conservatives and Republicans, they’ll quietly tell you. It shouldn’t be an issue. But it is. And that’s why Big Hollywood’s here now.

I feel it is my obligation at Big Hollywood to help introduce as many new quality voices as possible to show America that this country is not going to give up without a fight. The left has done an amazing job to convince people like us that we are a goofy, evil and stupid minority. That we are jingoistic. That we represent outdated ideas. It’s simply not true. They’ve insulted our intelligence. Called us names. And done so while overseeing the crapification of what should be America’s proudest export: our entertainment product.

We’ve only dipped a little into the (R)olodex. There are tons more names and surprises coming. Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn approve of what we’re up to. They’re even talking about us overseas. The water is warm. It’s time to come in and frolic.

This week we stopped a little bit of the totalitarianism. Next week let’s stop a little bit more.