The Sundance Film Festival is where one-percenters gather to hurl stones at haughty, out of touch (Republican) politicians whom they claim are hurting the ninety-nine percenters. This year a curious thing happened: Gene Simmons rolled in and cleaned house.

The bassist for KISS, who can always be trusted to speak his mind and who, unlike many other entertainers, actually has something to say, gave us his take on Robert Redford, President Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney.

Regarding Redford’s statements against one-percenters, statements that only Occupy Wall Street types could love, Simmons said:

He means well, he’s a great guy. But it’s a bit hypocritical, since he’s part of the one percent, to address the 99 percent.

Simmons then went to speak to that fact that he doesn’t like all the class warfare, all the dividing of people into different camps.

Either we are all Americans, or you’re going to fall victim. This is the reason why the old Roman Empire died, it fell from within. Division from within is one of the stupidest things you can do.

Regarding Obama, Simmons basically called him a rookie, and stated anew his regret for supporting him in 2008.

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Robert Redford wants everyone to know his beloved Sundance Film Festival considers the Occupy Wall Street movement its spiritual cousin. Redford made that clear during his state of the Sundance union address on the first day of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

But Redford and his annual gala seems out of step with the Occupy marching orders. Consider the following the next time you hear Redford cozy up to the so-called 99 percent. From corporate sponsorship to ritzy giveaways to encouraging consumerism, it turns out his iconic festival has very little in common with Joe and Jane Sixpack:

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Robert Redford is angry about the current state of Hollywood.

Why doesn’t the government subsidize artists and bring edgy, envelope pushing fair to the masses, cries Redford.

Redford shared his State of the Movie Union thoughts this week during the kick off to his successful Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. An event which began as a way to give power to independent films is now a place where major deals go down, sizable swag gets handed out and some of the biggest movie stars on the planet huddle to seize their next film roles.

As the founder of the festival, which showcases and gives opportunities to independent filmmakers, Redford hit at politicians who prefer to help big budget studios that toe conservative lines and present little risk….

Redford continued his attack, alluding to state-sponsored film funds in Europe and other countries that help filmmakers produce their movies, despite potentially risque messages.

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Perhaps now Hollywood celebrities will discover what the rest of the country already has – those Occupy Wall Street types are pretty gamey up close.

The Occupy movement seems to be dying down, witness the pathetic showings at recent OWS-style events and its cash woes.

That isn’t stopping OWS enthusiasts from staging the first-ever Occupy Sundance film festival in Park City Utah – the same location where Robert Redford holds his annual movie fest dedicated to giving indie artists a voice – and some pretty neat swag. Each of the films playing at Occupy Sundance will relate directly to a movement known for mass arrests, destruction of public property and incoherency.

After all, as the festival’s web site points out, “of the 11,700 films submitted this year to Sundance, 180 were accepted=1%.” Maybe the 99 percent are just frustrated filmmakers unable to win over those Sundance gate keepers.

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This is a new, recurring segment on Big Hollywood where we focus on some of the best talent you (generally speaking) have never heard of. You’ll remember these people as “the bad guy fighting George Clooney” or “the main girl’s funny best friend.” These wonderful actors often make up most of what’s great about films but rarely get A-list consideration. No, you won’t see their name on the marquee; in fact, you’ll have to wait for the credits to roll.

Actor: Stephen Dillane

You know him as: Thomas Jefferson (“John Adams,” 2008), Harry Vardon (“The Greatest Game Ever Played,” 2005), and as a ’semi’-antagonist Harker (“Spy Game,” 2001)

This guy is a personal favorite. I hate, hate, hate to put the “unknown” tag on him, because there is apparently no justice in this world; I do this with great reluctance. While Dillane doesn’t have the movie star glow to him, his characters usually have twice the amount of depth as their leading counterparts. He is a very natural actor to watch, and he complements the other aspects of his films by playing his part well. There is a bit of commonality to his roles. For the most part, he seems to know situations in and out. While some actors are typecast to a certain role (mafia, military, etc.), Dillane is always the smart one in the room.

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In a surprise announcement, the Republican National Committee has revealed it is bankrupt. A spokesman for the party said they had plenty of money in their accounts last week, but today they just don’t know where the money has gone. But not everybody is going begging. Amnesty International, Greenpeace and the United Negro College Fund announced record earnings this week, due mostly to large, anonymous donations. 

Why it’s a left-wing film

Because I am both cursed and blessed with the kind of bad memory where after 20 visits I still need GPS to find my doctor’s office (no joke), director, co-writer Phil Alden Robinson’s “Sneakers” almost didn’t make this list, which would’ve been a regrettable oversight. But when it comes to films my memory curse is that while I’m lucky enough to make a living writing about them, regardless of how many times I might have seen a particular title, I remember very little outside the story’s general concept and always have to go back and give them a close look while taking meticulous notes. The blessing of my big balding airhead is that movies never grow old. My hundredth screening of “The Searchers” or “Deuce Bigalow” is just as landmark as the first.

So when this delightfully entertaining and under-appreciated Robert Redford caper film showed up as a suggested entry in the article introducing this series, I was surprised anyone considered it left-wing but more than happy to take another look. And here we are…

“Sneakers” opens on a snowy December night in 1969 with two college students (Cosmo and Bishop) in front of a computer screen using their spectacular programming skills to community organize in the form of criminal wealth redistribution. Via hacked bank accounts they rob from causes they see as undeserving — the Republican National Committee, President Nixon’s personal bank account — and give that money to such noble causes as the Black Panthers and a campaign to legalize marijuana. The police raid the place and purely by chance Bishop manages to evade capture. Cosmo, however, is caught and imprisoned.

Flash-forward 20-odd years and Bishop is now Robert Redford, a middle-aged 60’s radical still wanted by the Feds, living under a false name and making an interesting living as a security analyst who will use all the skills he and his talented team can summon to break into your whatever in order to find its weaknesses before the real bad guys do. It’s a living but not much of one and so when a couple of hard-nosed spies pretending to be National Security Agency Feds offer Bishop $175,000 and the clearing of his name if he’ll steal a computer chip for Uncle Sam, he reluctantly agrees… But not for God and country. (more…)

When I heard the Huffington Post recently carried an op-ed from Robert Redford bashing a new coal mine slated to open near Utah’s Bryce-Canyon, I thought to myself, “There he goes again.” And once I read the op-ed for myself, and thought about other comments he’s made in past months, I couldn’t help but think the calendar year 2010 has been a bad one for Mr. Redford.

Just think of it: in late spring he blamed the Gulf Oil Spill on Bush and Cheney (although they’d been out of office for over a year), then spent the early part of the summer trashing Republicans for opposing Obama’s energy bill (which was nothing more than a brazen attempt to legislate oil and coal companies out of business in the USA), then directed a movie in which he found a way to use the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as a segue into bashing George W. Bush for his response to 9/11.

Some of this stuff is so loony I can’t help but wonder whether Redford is getting his talking points from Keith Olbermann, Sheryl Crow, or that crazy bald man who led the Heaven’s Gate Cult on their journey to meet up with the Hale Bopp Comet.

Honestly folks, where does he keep coming up with this stuff?

For example, in the Huffington Post his opening argument is that coal mining is an outdated mode of getting energy because “many cleaner, more sustainable ways to power our economy abound.”

Where are these cleaner, more sustainable ways Mr. Redford? And do they exist apart from government subsidies or are they wholly dependent on taxpayer funds for their continuance? (If the latter, then the “sustainable ways” Redford peddles are actually nothing more than taxpayer-sponsored green jobs that the market won’t support.) (more…)

Radical philanthropist George Soros is bankrolling a documentary that celebrates left-wing terrorists who plotted to napalm Republicans at the 2008 GOP convention in Minnesota. Even worse, you too are bankrolling the film through your taxes.

You can be sure that if right-wing terrorists were plotting to attack the Democratic National Convention, whoever foiled that conspiracy would be immortalized in film, literature and song as a savior of democracy.

“If you flip the equation around and it had been a group of conservatives threatening to use force to prevent those on the Left from meeting, everyone would expect the government to infiltrate them and they would also expect the FBI to stop them and charge them with crimes,” said Brandon Darby, who helped the FBI thwart the planned attack.

A trailer for the left-wing film Better This World suggests that it depicts David Guy McKay and Bradley Neil Crowder as idealistic activists who, according to the official blurb, “set out to prove the strength of their political convictions to themselves and their mentor.” (Note: There was a functioning trailer when I wrote this post a few days ago, but it no longer appears to be working. -MV) In fact McKay and Crowder are convicted domestic terrorists who manufactured instruments of death calculated to inflict maximum pain and bodily harm on people whose political views they disagreed with. (more…)

The only way it gets worse than reading the latest pinko missive by Robert Redford on the Huffington Post would be if Michael Moore was checking your prostate at the same time and muttering, “No, no, no, that doesn’t feel right at all.”

Redford used to be a movie star and heartthrob until he began noticeably wizening in the 80’s (watch 1992’s Sneakers; Redford’s got more loose skin going on than Ed Gein’s basement).  After that, he largely moved on to directing crappy movies about how America sucks that no one watches, like 2007’s Lions For Lambs, and lecturing the rest of us about how we have failed to live up to his expectations.

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His current bugaboo is that evil companies are engaged in the political process.  Redford warns:

Recently, the OpenSecrets blog revealed that the oil and gas industry poured $174 million into the political system in 2009. We don’t have numbers for 2010 yet, but we do know that oil companies have put up most of the $8.2 million raised to block California’s clean energy law — a law that passed with bipartisan support and was signed by a Republican governor.

When one dirty industry can purchase that much influence, who will step into the ring for average Americans? Who will say that public health and public interest matter more than private industries’ desire to pollute?

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(As with all Sucker Punch Squad reviews, what follows is a review of the script, not the final film – which I’ve not yet seen.)

Despite their insistence that Americans “get over” 9/11 even though we’re still at war with Islamic fundamentalists, the Left refuses to get over the Bush administration and the war in Iraq that we’ve already won. The Hollywood Left, with their “Bush lied, people died,” bumper-sticker brain capacity, are especially determined to keep flogging that dead horse long after American audiences have proven that they reject such defeatist, morally inverted propaganda.

And so if you think a new movie about the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln might make a gripping historical thriller and be refreshingly free of Hollywood lectures about the ill-named War on Terror, you’d be wrong on both counts.

Robert Redford recently unveiled his period piece The Conspirator at the Toronto International Film Festival. It begins with the assassination of Lincoln and centers on one apparent conspirator, Mary Surratt, on trial for providing gunman John Wilkes Booth and his accomplices (including her son) with a location to plot their conspiracy (her boardinghouse) and with other assistance. Mary, who “kept the nest that hatched the egg,” as Andrew Johnson put it, ended up being the first woman ever executed by the U.S. government.

But strangely – or maybe predictably, if you’re as cynical about Hollywood as I am – one figure looms as a more insistent presence in Redford’s courtroom drama than Surratt, Booth or Lincoln: President George W. Bush. (more…)

On June 24, 2010, I had a post on Big Hollywood that examined Robert Redford’s support for a moratorium on offshore drilling, his belief that Dick Cheney was behind the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and his ongoing criticism of the way George W. Bush handled Katrina. Then, on July 29, 2010, I had another post on Redford which detailed his anger toward the successful Republican opposition to President Obama’s energy bill: a bill that would have “necessarily” caused electricity prices in the U.S. to “skyrocket,” according to Obama.

In both posts the reader should have picked up on one overarching theme: namely, that Redford exemplifies the liberal habit of putting ideology above people, and destroying the common man in the process. (For example, who stands to lose jobs by the tens of thousands when a drilling moratorium is in place if not the common man? And who would suffer most from skyrocketing home electricity bills if not the common man?)

To be honest, some of what I covered in those two posts was so “out there” that I thought Redford couldn’t get any crazier.  However, he proved me wrong with the recent premier of his film “The Conspirator,” when he found a way to use the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to criticize the Bush Administration’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (more…)

Perhaps one of the most established venues for the medium of documentary filmmaking is the renowned Sundance Film Festival.  For decades, Robert Redford had already been calling Americans apathetic to political propaganda and to issues such as global warming.  Once George W. Bush got into office, Redford ratcheted up his rhetoric, and, like Soros, he even starting taking foreign relations into his own hands in some cases.

And so it was no surprise when in 2002, Soros turned over stewardship of his documentary fund to Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute.

As Dr. David Yeagley, an American Indian author and political commentator wrote,

“On September 16, 2002, Robert Redford proudly announced at a press conference that he was launching a Sundance International Documentary Fund with $4.6 million in seed money from George Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI). The new fund would underwrite films aimed at “promoting social justice and social change.” (more…)

On June 24, 2010, I had a post on BigHollywood that examined Robert Redford’s asinine statements about the Gulf Oil Spill. From his support of a drilling moratorium to the fact that he literally blamed the spill on Dick Cheney to the way he expected George W. Bush to respond instantly to Katrina, while making excuses for President Obama’s slow response to the BP disaster, his words were just another proof that many actors in Hollywood are out of touch with reality.

And although I hoped Redford would rethink his pomposity before speaking again on topics that he seems unable to comprehend, except through the prism of politics, it appears my hopes were misplaced. On Tuesday, the Huffington Post carried a statement by Redford wherein the actor lambasted Republicans for sinking Obama’s energy bill and with it “our moment to create two million clean energy jobs here in the United States.”

Where did Redford get such precise information about “two million” jobs? It seems like something that was conveniently snatched out of thin air, unless this number is a reference to jobs that the government would supposedly create in a faux clean energy market. But since when when has the government been successful in creating jobs? (more…)

George Soros, celebrity hedge fund billionaire and darling of the left, has been a busy man the last fifteen years.  While his capitalistic business ventures that began in the 1970s may have brought him his fortune and international financial fame, it’s his activities in the 1990’s that are having the most impact here in America today, on our television and Hollywood movie screens.

We’re especially reminded of this in recent times, as we see the overabundance of falsely portrayed stories on film and video, and at the same time the complete absence of other stories from the mainstream view. 

That’s no accident.

Soros gained his political reputation this last decade largely by staunchly opposing the Iraq war and publicly comparing former President George W. Bush to the Nazi Regime.  Drawing on his proclaimed expertise on Orwellian propaganda techniques and modern day mind-control marketing, George Soros once vowed to dismantle the conservative infrastructure, a pledge that hoisted him to the mantel of hero to the far-left wing of the Democratic Party.  By 2004,dozens and dozens of Soros’ political advocacy organizations had been erected and pumped full of millions of dollars aimed at evicting George W. Bush from the White House.  (more…)

Pop quiz: what do the following movies have in common?

Gone with the Wind (1939), Star Wars (1977), The Sound of Music (1965), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Ten Commandments (1956), Titanic (1997), Jaws (1975), Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Exorcist (1973), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1939), 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Ben-Hur (1959), Avatar (2009), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Sting (1973), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Jurassic Park (1993), The Graduate (1967), Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999), Fantasia (1941), The Godfather (1972), Forrest Gump (1994), Mary Poppins (1964), The Lion King (1994)

If you said they all made scads of money, bravo — they are the top twenty-five domestic box-office champions of all time (adjusted for inflation, of course).

But consider another similarity: surprisingly few of them relied on established A-list movie stars — the most famous, the highest paid — for their moneymaking prospects. Gone with the Wind had Gable, yes. The Sting had Newman and Redford. The Godfather, Brando.

As for most of the rest, they either featured no A-listers at all, or used them before they became bonafide movie stars. In fact, many of those pictures can take credit for sending now-famous actors into the celestial Hollywood firmament in the first place. Gone with the Wind made Vivian Leigh known to the world. The Ten Commandments did it for Charlton Heston. The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman. The Godfather, Al Pacino. Star Wars, Harrison Ford. Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews. (more…)

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is drawing a lot of attention from Americans right now, particularly the residents of the Gulf Coast who will have to absorb the brunt of the spill’s economic and ecological impact. Consequently, every cable news outlet in the country is hosting guest after guest to talk about the spill and how its ramifications might be curtailed.

Earlier this week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of Anderson Cooper 360, had actor Robert Redford on his show to talk about the spill. Not surprisingly, what viewers heard from Redford was how the spill demonstrated that big oil companies are bad, that it was George W. Bush’s fault (more accurately, Dick Cheney’s), and that Obama has done his level best to handle this mess in a Presidential manner.

Cooper began the interview by asking Redford what he thought of BP’s response to the spill thus far, and Redford answered by saying we were seeing the fruits of “a failed energy policy” that was “the consequence of the collusion between government, Congress and big oil companies.” Redford went on to say that it was our “terrible energy policy” had “allowed this [spill] to happen” in the first place. (more…)

Some of Hollywood’s biggest environmentalist stars got together on Larry King last night, to rally the nation around helping the gulf crisis. A special two-hour show aired on the barely-watched CNN network, to raise money and awareness. The money they raised was a little short, and the awareness they raised was of celebrity ignorance. Much like Obama’s new energy commission, there were very few experts out last night.

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While most telethons are about helping people this one seemed more concerned about the oil soaked animals. In fact two thirds of the proceeds went to environmental activist groups, The Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation. The United Way was there for the human victims, although very few of the stars seemed concerned about that aspect of the tragedy. Robert Redford made a response so comical; that it looked like it was a SNL skit (I’m saving that for the end).

The best example of the Telethon’s focus was voiced by Chelsea Handler:

“Everybody now is thinking about the animals, and and it’s really scary, especially for anybody, you know, espec… for-for a mill…  a bevy of reasons I mean we have to think about the animals out there. Everybody needs to be thinking about animals.”

Perhaps victims of the Nashville flood could have activated Hollywood behind their disaster had they shown pictures of drowning possums. (more…)

This is a little off-topic, but whenever I read something conjured by some A-lister over at the HuffPo, I’m always struck by how dull and humorless the writing is. These are big shots, performers, stahs, and most of them write as though they’re submitting some kind of college entrance exam. Where’s the voice, the personality, the wit…? Yes, we get it, you’re … smart … and … informed … and … serious. But for my sake — for the sake of the guy whose job it is to trudge through your mighty impressiveness on a daily basis, could you you spice it up some — a little hot-cha-cha for you’re favorite right-wing extremist?

And this isn’t an ideological thing. As morally and politically illiterate as many of my writer foes on the left are, at least they’re not boring.

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Where was I? Oh, yes, the wagon circling. Other than nudging Obama to be even more socialist when it comes to the kind of regulation and oversight necessary to kill middle-class jobs and tax us all into poverty ensure this tragedy never happens again, not a single one criticizes the President for his mishandling of the spill. But guess who does rank a Babs mention?

Redford’s video above is a pretty fascinating piece of propaganda. Take special note of how he at first laments the  job losses caused by the spill but then closes by calling for even more job losses through an end to offshore drilling. It should go without saying that the Obama administration’s voting present throughout the 50-plus days of this disaster never comes up. (more…)

There are movies that I have no business liking, which feature stories that I should not find compelling, given my, ahem, puerile tastes. Such is the case with Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show,” a movie I love despite the fact that it features no bloody deaths, explosions, or fart jokes (or any combination of the three). Paul Attansio earned his first Academy Award nomination for the screenplay, which dramatizes a potentially boring subject matter into a tightly paced story of class envy, corporate greed, and the intoxicating effects of fame and money.

For those who haven’t seen it, “Quiz Show” is about the, um, quiz show scandals that rocked TV in 1958. America tuned in by the millions to watch “Twenty One,” sponsored by Geritol, the “fast-acting tonic, high-potency tonic that makes you feel stronger…fast.” Turns out the show were completely rigged, and it all comes crashing down…because of a snub.

Ralph Fiennes, fresh off Schindler’s List, plays Charles Van Doren, the latest sensation sweeping the nation. The son of noted poet and author, Mark Van Doren (Paul Scofield), Charles teaches at Columbia University, and tries out for Tic-Tac-Dough on a whim. The producers, Dan Enright (David Paymer) and Albert Freeman (Hank Azaria), love him. He’s the answer to their prayers. See, the reigning champion is an odd character, equal parts dork and blowhard, a Queens’ native named Herbert Stempel (John Turturro). (more…)

[Editor's Note: Script reviews of upcoming projects have been around for as long as there's been an Internet. Therefore it's no secret that a film can evolve into something quite different from its screenplay. Please keep in mind that this article represents a look at a particular script and not the final product.]

The truth is, it was State Department official Richard Armitage – a Bush critic, not an evil neocon – who leaked Plame’s name. Yet Armitage’s name never appears in the script. And how could it? That would defuse the filmmakers’ intent to demonize Rove and Bush and to condemn the war as shameful, unjust American aggression.

Coming soon to a theater near you: a movie starring Sean Penn as a great American patriot taking a courageous stand against a tyrannical power. No, it’s not a biopic about Penn’s South American idol, Hugo Chavez, facing down the imperialistic Goliath of the United States. It’s a dramatization of “Plamegate,” the affair of the CIA operative whose identity was outed in the run-up to the Iraq War, ostensibly by a vindictive Bush administration. Fair Game, based on Valerie Plame Wilson’s autobiographical book of the same name, stars Naomi Watts as the aggrieved Plame and Penn as her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, in a role apparently already gaining Oscar buzz.

(By the way, what Oscar voters in recent years refer to as “buzz” is actually the sound of audiences all across this country snoring – such is the disconnect between Oscar winners and what Americans usually like to see). (more…)