‘Poliwood’: One-Sided, Occasionally Fascinating Look at Politics and Celebrity

Did you know celebrities have a right to speak their minds about politics courtesy of The First Amendment? Or that the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon televised debate changed the way we saw politicians forever? “Poliwood,” a new film “essay” from director Barry Levinson, uncovers those nuggets and much, much more.

The film, set to bow at the Starz Denver Film Festival this weekend and already airing on Showtime, does offer more than just those recycled themes. It’s an occasionally fascinating look into the modern actor’s mindset as well as the anger the general public feels when they hear celebrities pontificating on events of the day.

Director Barry Levinson

We’re also given a peek at the passions driving some celebrities to speak out on the issues. Yet the film is emblematic of Hollywood productions which strain to achieve balance but come up mostly empty.

The bulk of the film features liberal celebrities from the Creative Coalition, a nonpartisan group, maneuvering around last year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. (more…)

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Tags: "Poliwood", anne hathaway, Barry Levinson, Jennifer Lopez, showtime
Posted Nov 13th 2009 at 3:04 pm in Celebrity News, Politics, Reviews | 26241840 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/11/13/review-poliwood/%27Poliwood%27%3A+One-Sided%2C+Occasionally+Fascinating+Look+at+Politics+and+Celebrity2009-11-13+23%3A04%3A44Christian+Toto

Radical: Who is Yosi Sergant, Why Did the NEA ‘Reassign’ Him?

Other than the National Endowment for the Arts’ already tenuous reputation, the only casualty in the NEA conference call episode has been Yosi Sergant, the former Director of Communications for the public agency charged with funding arts organizations in America.

On September 10, the NEA announced that Sergant would be re-assigned with this curious statement accompanying the move:

“On August tenth, the National Endowment for the Arts participated in a call with arts organizations to inform them of the president’s call to national service. The White House office of public engagement also participated in the call, which provided information on how the Corporation for National and Community Service can assist groups interested in sponsoring service projects or having their members volunteer on other projects. This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false. The NEA regularly does outreach to various organizations to inform of the work we are doing and the resources available to them.”

This statement leads any objective and reasonable observer to wonder why Mr. Sergant would be “re-assigned” if there was nothing wrong with this purely “information/outreach” conference call. As has often been the case with this, the most open and transparent administration in history, it is very difficult to get a straight answer. We can’t even learn WHAT Sergant’s new position is, let alone why he was asked to step down from his role as Communications Director. (more…)

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Tags: manifest hope, national endowment for the arts, nea, Shepard Fairey, Spike Lee
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 5:03 am in Art, Featured Story, Politics | 23059451 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/09/22/radical-who-is-yosi-sergant-why-did-the-nea-reassign-him/Radical%3A+Who+is+Yosi+Sergant%2C+Why+Did+the+NEA+%27Reassign%27+Him%3F2009-09-22+12%3A03%3A29Stage+Right

Spike Lee Slams America, Lays Off Hugo Chavez

Spike Lee … profile in courage: [emphasis added]

Filmmaker Spike Lee championed a free press Friday during a visit to Venezuela, where broadcasters are under pressure to avoid criticizing President Hugo Chavez’s leftist government.

The director didn’t directly refer to the dispute in Venezuela, but he said there are “no circumstances” under which news media should be silenced.

Lee’s never had a problem “directly referring” to America or Bush, so why do Venezuela and Hugo Chavez rate a pass?  (more…)

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Tags: Danny Glover, Hugo Chabez, Obama, sean penn, Spike Lee
Posted Jul 27th 2009 at 4:01 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 19295476 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/27/in-venezuela-spike-lee-criticizes-america-but-wont-name-chavez/Spike+Lee+Slams+America%2C+Lays+Off+Hugo+Chavez2009-07-27+23%3A01%3A37John+Nolte

The Tragi-Comedy of Sonia Sotomayor

“I’m looking through you, where did you go? I thought I knew you, what did I know? You don’t look different, but you have changed. I’m looking through you, you’re not the same.” — Lennon/McCartney: “Rubber Soul,” 1965

When Sonia Sotomayor was nominated in May, I wrote a satirical essay for Big Hollywood called The ‘Magic Latina’. The title was a send up of the “Magic Negro,” or “Magical Negro,” a fictional stereotype common in film and literature. The “Magic Negro” has been criticized by white and black commentators alike. Blacks, most famously Spike Lee, but many others, view the role as ultimately degrading. As Rita Kempley, writing for DVRepublic, said about the “Magic Negro,” “What’s the deal with all the holy roles?” The core of the critique is that the characters are given special powers and/or underlying mysticism. It is not that the characters per se are so bad.  The perception is that this kind of character, the selfless and powerful, insightful, and sometimes magical being, is always black, has no “interior life”, and is always serving white people. To name a few at random, they include such famous stars as Hattie McDaniel (”Gone with the Wind”), Sidney Poitier (”The Defiant Ones”), Morgan Freeman (”Shawshank Redemption,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Bruce Almighty”), and Laurence Fishburne (”The Matrix”). (more…)

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Tags: morgan freeman, Obama, Sonia Sotomayor, Spike Lee, Supreme Court
Posted Jul 24th 2009 at 10:33 am in Entertainment, Politics | 18779435 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mrulle/2009/07/24/the-magic-latina-part-2-the-tragi-comedy/The+Tragi-Comedy+of+Sonia+Sotomayor2009-07-24+17%3A33%3A50Michael+S.+Rulle+Jr.

‘NewsBusted’ 7/07/09 — Fake News from the Right

(more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Best Buy, EPA memos, Global warming, Joe Biden
Posted Jul 7th 2009 at 7:57 pm in Political Humor, Video | 1785626 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/newsbusters/2009/07/07/%e2%80%98newsbusted%e2%80%99-70709-%e2%80%94-fake-news-from-the-right/%E2%80%98NewsBusted%E2%80%99+7%2F07%2F09+%E2%80%94+Fake+News+from+the+Right2009-07-08+02%3A57%3A32NewsBusters

DVD Review: ‘Do the Right Thing’ (20th Anniversary Edition)

Director Spike Lee’s third film, “Do the Right Thing,” hasn’t aged a day since its 1989 release. The film’s misguided views on violence were wrong-headed the second it hit theaters. And the election of President Barack Obama surely puts some of the film’s victimization subtext in fresh perspective. But as sheer entertainment, “Thing” remains a blistering experience, the culmination of every one of Lee’s unique gifts as a filmmaker.

The film’s re-release on DVD June 30 reminds us Lee hasn’t come anywhere close to matching “Thing’s” raw power in the intervening years.

“Thing” stars Lee as Mookie, a disinterested pizza delivery man working on the hottest day of the summer in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. Pizza shop owner Sal (Danny Aiello) is thoroughly old school, and his bickering sons (John Turturro and Richard Edson) are hardly paragons of virtue. But Sal doesn’t have hate in his heart for his customers, who are almost all black. His food has fed them for years, he says with pride. (more…)

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Tags: Danny Aiello, Do the Right Thing, John Turturro, Martin Lawrence, Ossie Davis
Posted Jul 7th 2009 at 10:53 am in Reviews | 17749062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/07/07/dvd-review-do-the-right-thing-20th-anniversary-edition/DVD+Review%3A+%27Do+the+Right+Thing%27+%2820th+Anniversary+Edition%292009-07-07+17%3A53%3A12Christian+Toto

The ‘Magic Latina’

Once again, life imitates art as farce. And irony prevails. 

The Sonia Sotomayor candidacy for Supreme Court Justice is beginning to heat up. There is much to admire about her personal story and success. But she should not be confirmed as a Justice. Most commentaries discuss the optimal way for Republicans to lose the debate. Of course she will be confirmed, all agree. Democrats happily dare Republicans to attack her Hispanic–or is it Latina?–heritage. (As an aside, my wife, who is a Cuban born emigre, has been confounded many times as to which “box to check” on various forms we all confront from time to time.)

Republicans shiver in their boots as they debate the question of whether to attack Sonia Sotomayor for her “wise Latina women are wiser than white males” quote, or for her “the Appeals Court makes public policy” quote. All Republicans are warned vociferously–and they agree just as vociferously–to not make “personal attacks.” The fact that no one has made, or suggested Republicans make, personal attacks is seemingly ignored. (more…)

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Tags: "Magic Negro", Legend of Bagger Vance, Richard Brookhiser, Spike Lee, The Green Mile
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 2:14 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 1486905 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mrulle/2009/06/02/the-magic-latina-michael-rulle/The+%27Magic+Latina%27+2009-06-02+21%3A14%3A42Michael+S.+Rulle+Jr.

Learning Curve: Maher’s Backpedal on President Obama

Celebrities en masse told us over and again just how uniquely qualified Sen. Barack Obama was for the Oval Office. Remember Spike Lee’s famous quote – “You have B.B.: Before Barack and A.B.: After Barack.” Never mind the clear lack of experience. They saw past it. They are pretty smart, after all. They’re famous.

But the backpedaling on their anointed candidate may have already started. Just listen to comedian Bill Maher. Maher, chatting with CNN’s softball pitcher Larry King, began making excuses for his new president this week: (more…)

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Tags: Bill Maher, Larry King, Learning curve, Obama, Spike Lee
Posted Feb 14th 2009 at 9:33 am in Celebrity News, Political Humor | 50798114 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/02/14/mahers-funny-take-on-president-obama/Learning+Curve%3A+Maher%27s+Backpedal+on+President+Obama2009-02-14+17%3A33%3A32Christian+Toto