Movies We Like: ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ (1959)

There was a time when an “adult film” meant a movie by, for and about adults, not a tawdry tale of some tatted-up, dead-eyed 19-year old with daddy issues numbly coupling in front of a video camera for the gratification of leering, backward-hatted frat boys and twitchy loners with DSL.  They don’t make many truly adult films anymore – to see what you are missing, a good place to start is 50 years ago with 1959’s Anatomy of a Murder. 

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. (more…)

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Tags: Anatomy of a Murder, Arthur O’Connor, Ben Gazzara, Duke Ellington, Eve Arden
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 11:51 am in Classic Hollywood, Law, Reviews | 22518661 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/09/16/movies-we-like-anatomy-of-a-murder-1959/Movies+We+Like%3A+%27Anatomy+of+a+Murder%27+%281959%292009-09-16+18%3A51%3A19Kurt+Schlichter

Big Government Honors Thug Rapper

A key objective, if not the objective of the Big Hollywood blog is to illustrate that pop culture drives politics and not the other way around.  Sometimes that case makes itself.  Take a look at this AP article:

Rapper Pitbull, whose chart-climbing songs have made him a bilingual favorite, was honored Wednesday with the key to Miami—an accomplishment he said officially cemented his title as “Mr. 305.”…

The Cuban-American performer and Miami native, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez, was presented with the key by Miami Commissioner Thomas Regalado during the morning ceremony.

“Pitbull not only lives in Miami, but he’s been traveling the country and the world sharing a positive message of Miami,” Regalado announced. “So, we should honor not only the dignitaries that visit, but those individuals who make a positive impact on the city.”

(more…)

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Tags: Beyonce, big hollywood, Black Eyed Peas, Joe the Biden, Ludacris
Posted Aug 21st 2009 at 4:42 pm in Celebrity News, Culture | 20955462 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/amarlow/2009/08/21/city-of-miami-celebrate-thug-rapper/Big+Government+Honors+Thug+Rapper2009-08-21+23%3A42%3A45Alexander+Marlow

The Stoning Of Team Hollywood

The crime is complete. Judgment has been passed. The killing stones are in hand. As per the harsh stoning penal code of Iran’s Islamist thugocracy (for however long that lasts) where the crime took place, my stones are not so big as to kill right away, not so small you can’t call them stones. And I’m winding up like Nolan Ryan. Feel free to pick up a stone of your own. But wait for it!

And let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah!

Sentence must be read before being carried out. And unlike Soraya M., the board members of the Asylum of Motion Picture Airheads and Stooges will deserve every rock that’s thrown their way. I also believe that, in light of events in Iran today, the following commentary will stand out in much starker prominence than it did when I first started reporting on them in early March, when Team Oscar first set off for the Unfriendly Skies of Islamist Iran. (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, Al Franken, Alireza Davudnejad, Ambush Bay
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:45 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1641062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/19/the-stoning-of-team-hollywood/The+Stoning+Of+Team+Hollywood2009-06-20+00%3A45%3A26John+T.+Simpson

Adventures in the Scream Trade, Take One

If you’re wondering if I was about to opine on the craft of gut-twisting horror stories, you’d only be half right. I’m actually talking about real life here. As many of you may know from my earlier posts, I first flame-throwered onto the scene here at Big Hollywood about a month ago, on the occasion of Team Oscar’s could-not-be-more-ill-advised taking off for the unfriendly skies of Islamist Iran.

I knew they were going to get punked! They were going to Punkedville! In fact, I was so sure of it, I was the one who broke the story in the US off the French wires to Drudge and Nikki Finke.  One Hollywood Jihadi PR roadside bomb detonated. War Is Hell.

Look at their trip from my POV. I remember the whole balls-to-the-wall anti-Apartheid campaign from the mid-eighties. ‘I Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City,’ remember? By the way, wasn’t Little Stevie great in that video? Love him! Point being, if the racist South African apartheid regime was unworthy of cultural exchange, why was the gay-hanging, women-stoning, child-executing, blogger-killing, hostage-taking fascist regime in Iran worthy of a gold-plated Academy PR kiss? (more…)

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Tags: AMPAS, Andrew Breitbart, angelina jolie, Annette Bening, ben stiller
Posted Apr 6th 2009 at 5:58 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, News, Politics | 9749410 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/06/adventures-in-the-scream-trade-take-one/Adventures+in+the+Scream+Trade%2C+Take+One2009-04-06+12%3A58%3A54John+T.+Simpson

“NewsBusted” 3/20/09 — Fake News from the Right

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Pakistan, California, Gitmo, Nancy Pelosi, Global Warming, New York Times, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Barbie, E! Network, Scarlett Johansson, and Gary Busey.

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Tags: Barbie, California, E! Network, Gary Busey, gitmo
Posted Mar 20th 2009 at 12:44 pm in Political Humor, Video | 8546218 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/epeterkofsky/2009/03/20/%e2%80%9cnewsbusted%e2%80%9d-32009-%e2%80%94-fake-news-from-the-right/%E2%80%9CNewsBusted%E2%80%9D+3%2F20%2F09+%E2%80%94+Fake+News+from+the+Right2009-03-20+19%3A44%3A34Eric+Peterkofsky

Studio Estimates: Tyler Perry is the undisputed box office king of Oscar weekend as MADEA GOES TO JAIL grabs a stunning $14.65M opening day for a $41.12M start!

Tyler Perry is the king of the Hollywood box office for Academy Awards weekend. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail (Lionsgate) debuted with just 2,032 playdates on Friday and scored a monstrous $14.65M for a Per Theatre Average of over $7,000. The final weekend take could be $41.12M.

The box office king....err....queen of Oscar weekend

Although I am not necessarily a fan of Tyler Perry movies, I am a Tyler Perry fan. He traveled the country for years doing live stage shows in order to fine-tune his act, and he identified an under-served audience – African Americans, and more specifically black, Christian women. Now he makes two movies a year, and he has two television series’ on TBS – House of Payne and Meet the Browns. He built a multi-million dollar studio in an under-served area in Atlanta, taking advantage of tax credits for building in a blighted neighborhood. Now he is building a mini-empire. He produces, writes, directs and stars in his projects, and he even helps to finance them.

(more…)

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Tags: 3-d, a.r. rahman, academy awards, adam sandler, atlanta
Posted Feb 20th 2009 at 11:21 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 5665825 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/20/estimates-6/Studio+Estimates%3A+Tyler+Perry+is+the+undisputed+box+office+king+of+Oscar+weekend+as+MADEA+GOES+TO+JAIL+grabs+a+stunning+%2414.65M+opening+day+for+a+%2441.12M+start%212009-02-21+07%3A21%3A10Steve+Mason

No Academy Award for entrepreneur Tyler Perry, but MADEA GOES TO JAIL should easily win the Oscar weekend box office battle!

Filmmaker Tyler Perry, with Oprah Winfrey as a role model, has consistently outsmarted Hollywood moguls since his debut feature Diary of a Mad Black Women. That Gospel-infused “fat-suit-in-drag” comedy was made for a mere $5.5M and scored an opening weekend of $21.9M, ultimately generating $50.6M in domestic sales.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well with Tyler Perry

At only 39, Perry is building an empire. He officially christened Tyler Perry Studios last October in Atlanta with a star-studded event. The multi-million dollar project is a sprawling 30-acre working production facility in southwestern Atlanta, and the opening night party featured appearances by legendary African American actors like Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Lou Gossett, Jr. and Will Smith.

(more…)

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Tags: 3-d, a.r. rahman, adam sandler, atlanta, ben affleck
Posted Feb 19th 2009 at 9:57 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 5564225 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/19/final-tracking/No+Academy+Award+for+entrepreneur+Tyler+Perry%2C+but+MADEA+GOES+TO+JAIL+should+easily+win+the+Oscar+weekend+box+office+battle%212009-02-20+05%3A57%3A13Steve+Mason

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is the toast of the UK, winning 7 BAFTA Awards including Best Picture!

There was not a great deal of drama surrounding this year’s British Academy of Film & Television Arts Awards, commonly known as the BAFTA Awards. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) is a movie with deep roots in the UK. Director Danny Boyle was born in Manchester, England, lead actor Dev Patel is the star of the popular British television series Skins, and the movie is a gigantic hit in the British Isles with an impressive $20.6M (US dollars) in box office for Pathe, since its release there on January 6.

BAFTA Winner Mickey Rourke

The two major uncertainties entering Sunday’s ceremony were whether Kate Winslet, twice-nominated for Best Actress, would split her own vote and miss out on her second BAFTA Award and who would prevail in the Sean Penn-Mickey Rourke battle for Best Actor. Aside from that, it seemed like a Slumdog sweep, and that’s exactly how it played out.

(more…)

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Tags: a.r. rahman, academy awards, alexandre desplat, andrew stanton, anthony dod mantle
Posted Feb 8th 2009 at 2:04 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, News, Steve Mason's Box Office | 4539010 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/08/baftas/SLUMDOG+MILLIONAIRE+is+the+toast+of+the+UK%2C+winning+7+BAFTA+Awards+including+Best+Picture%212009-02-08+22%3A04%3A55Steve+Mason

Does Jen sell more tickets than Brad? – HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU easily wins the weekend with $27.4M 3-day!

The Drew Barrymore-produced romantic comedy He’s Just Not That Into You has made the jump from catch-phrase to self-help book to movie hit. With an all-star cast this classic ‘chick flick” appears to be winning the weekend after posting a spectacular $10.5M in opening day ticket sales. That should mean a 3-day start of $27.4M or so, easily out-pacing holdover Taken (Fox) and three other new wide releases. With this kind of opening, Not That Into You could reach almost $60M by the end of next weekend (a 4-day Presidents/Valentine’s combo), which would forecast a potential $90M in US ticket sales.

The new movie developed by New Line and now released by Warner Bros is based on the book of the same name co-written by former Sex & the City scribes Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo. The line itself has come to be a reassuring fallback for women in the dating scene (and I’m guessing single guys have adopted the mentality as well in the rough-and-tumble world of dating).

(more…)

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Tags: 3-d, a tale of two sisters, a.r. rahman, aaron eckhart, academy award
Posted Feb 6th 2009 at 11:20 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 4449432 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/06/estimates-4/Does+Jen+sell+more+tickets+than+Brad%3F+-+HE%27S+JUST+NOT+THAT+INTO+YOU+easily+wins+the+weekend+with+%2427.4M+3-day%212009-02-07+07%3A20%3A14Steve+Mason

Review: He’s Just Not That Into You

Not to sound all Phil Donahuey, but the women in “He’s Just Not That into You” are treated horribly, not only by the shallow, manipulative cinematic men they love, but by the film itself. By varying degrees of unattractive, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, and Ginnifer Goodwin each play needy, clingy, desperate females lost without a man. To borrow a phrase from Gloria Steinem, these aren’t fish in need of bicycles; these are fish in need of bicycles with a banana seat, training wheels and those cool, multi-colored streamy things at the end of the handlebars.

Sixty years ago, Bette Davis would’ve shoved this script down the throat of anyone foolish enough to send it to her.

Using five storylines and 129 long minutes, this romantic comedy (though it’s neither) examines the dating, commitment, marriage and adultery issues swirling around nine twenty and thirty-something’s who live in Boston and hang out at companies paying them to do nothing more than whimper about their personal problems over $6 cups of coffee. The women, except for Johansson, all work together and from this hub each story branches out and intertwines. (more…)

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Tags: ben affleck, Ben Bradley, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, scarlett johansson
Posted Feb 6th 2009 at 7:55 pm in Reviews | 4433446 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/02/06/review-hes-just-not-that-into-you/Review%3A+He%27s+Just+Not+That+Into+You2009-02-07+03%3A55%3A07John+Nolte

Warner Bros reaches $1.74 billion domestic surpassing Sony’s record set in 2006!; MARLEY & ME headed for $51.8M 4-Day with BEN BUTTON at $39.1M & BEDTIME STORIES at $38.6M!; REV ROAD with Best PTA of 2008!

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.

SUNDAY MORNING: Dog lovers everywhere united to make Fox’s Marley & Me the #1 Christmas weekend movie with an expected $51.18M in the Thursday-thru-Sunday period for a Per Theatre Average of $14,888. Pre-opening industry tracking pointed to a clear win for Bedtime Stories (Disney), but it was the lovable lab who finished on top.

As an aside, all of us who read John Grogan’s extraordinarily well-written novel should have seen this coming. The book is a joy, and anyone who has a dog, or has ever had a dog, could easily identify with the struggles and pleasures of having a 4-legged member of the family.

The success of Marley slightly mitigates a disastrous year for Fox. Its year started out well enough riding the huge success of 2007 release Alvin & the Chipmunks into January ($70M of Alvin’s gross landed in this calendar year). The January 18 release of chick-flick 27 Dresses scored for Katherine Heigl ($76.8M in the US), then Jumper was a good solid February hit, topping $80M, followed by the wildly successful Horton Hears a Who ($154.5M domestic). Little did Fox know that when the Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz comedy What Happens in Vegas played solidly to the tune of $80.2M domestic starting in May, it would be its last legit hit until Christmas’ Marley & Me. This is a huge, redemptive win for Fox, and its sentimental tear-jerker of a dog movie could near $100M domestic by Sunday.

(more…)

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Tags: academy award, adam sandler, adam shankman, Amy Adams, bedtime stories
Posted Dec 25th 2008 at 10:27 pm in Steve Mason's Box Office | 64412 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2008/12/25/exclusive-christmas/Warner+Bros+reaches+%241.74+billion+domestic+surpassing+Sony%27s+record+set+in+2006%21%3B+MARLEY+%26amp%3B+ME+headed+for+%2451.8M+4-Day+with+BEN+BUTTON+at+%2439.1M+%26amp%3B+BEDTIME+STORIES+at+%2438.6M%21%3B+REV+ROAD+with+Best+PTA+of+2008%212008-12-26+05%3A27%3A38Steve+Mason