The Oscar-nominated movies in recent years have been enough to make a grown man cry… Or worse. Consider “There Will Be Blood,” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Reader” as a sampling of the morbid films jockeying for Oscar glory. This year, add Oscar wannabes “The Road” and “Precious” to the list.

Newsweek scribe Ramin Setoodeh writes about the trend in the liberal magazine’s latest edition. Setoodeh bemoans the fact that some of the best films lately take a too sober view of society. On that we can agree.

Then, Setoodeh whips out his trusty Bush bashing cudgel and starts a whacking:

You can blame Hollywood’s doom and gloom on the Oscars, but I’m not going to. Instead, I think it’s George W. Bush’s fault. Most liberal directors felt restless under his presidency, and they pushed the envelope with over-the-top, operatic tragedies. (more…)

It’s hard to argue Newsweek hasn’t fully embraced the ideological left. Just how many times did the magazine put fawning images of Sen. Barack Obama on the cover last year? And its recent unflattering cover photo of Rush Limbaugh, not to mention the accompanying article, spoke volumes of its editorial choices.

Why a news weekly would decide, in a very difficult market, to parrot nearly every other magazine’s liberal bent is a head scratcher. But Newsweek can’t even get its celebrity interviews right.

The latest assault on basic journalism comes courtesy of Ramin Setoodeh who chatted up actress Emily Blunt for the issue on newsstands now. If you’re squeamish, please read no further. Here’s how it starts: (more…)