Reprinted with permission from Conservatives For Palin. Written by Stacy Drake.

Many months ago, HBO announced it was planning to make a movie based on the book, “Game Change” by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. After reading John Nolte’s article, which indicated that the movie would be focused primarily around Governor Palin, and it wouldn’t be portraying her in a very positive light, I decided to study up on it. I purchased a copy of the book, read the TWO chapters based on Gov. Palin, and took down some notes.

As Nicole recently noted, HBO decided to release a trailer to that movie late last year. The actual movie doesn’t air until March 10, or as John Nolte wrote in his follow-up piece:

The one dynamic HBO probably didn’t count on was Palin’s decision not to run for the 2012 nomination. The film’s promotion and the cable news chatter that’s sure to follow seems timed to hit on, before, and around March 6, which is Super Tuesday.

The one line from the notes I took back in March that stood out as I was reviewing them for this piece, was:

Even though this book is supposed to be a story about 2008, it’s really all about 2012.

This movie was orchestrated from start to finish as a way to damage Gov. Palin during an election year by people who are not merely “artists & entertainers.” Just look at the people involved in the making of the movie.

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For some audiences it will always be too soon for a drama like “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.”

The new movie deals directly with the 9/11 attacks in the most emotional way possible, telling the tale of a young boy who lost his father in the World Trade Center.

Hollywood has danced around the subject for a full decade, but “Extremely Loud” stops the music cold. It’s manipulative in a manner that should feel offensive, and occasionally does, but director Stephen Daldry (“The Hours”) pulls the strings with a delicacy that makes one forgive the boldness of the enterprise.

But no amount of dexterity can save a final act filled with precious plot resolutions unworthy of even such a flawed presentation.

Young Oskar (Thomas Horn) is still mourning the loss of his father (Tom Hanks) in the 9/11 attacks, but a year after the “worst day” he finds himself starting to forget little things about him. So when Oskar finds a key tucked away in his father’s closet he decides it’s something his father wanted him to discover all along.

After all, father and son have been solving mental puzzles for years before 9/11, and Oskar thinks this is just one last riddle his father wanted him to crack.

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‘RIDDICK 3′ RESUMES FILMING

Best news of the day, other than this, of course.

WHY AM I SUPPOSED TO HATE ‘X-MEN: LAST STAND’?

The third and final installment of the original is no classic but after watching it again last week, I still don’t understand why I’m supposed to hate it so much. Is it just because Brett Ratner directed? The story moves really well, the action is exciting, the climax feels like a climax.

I just don’t get it.

The same way it drives me crazy when I don’t love movies everyone else does (“Raging Bull,” “2001″), it drives me crazy when I enjoy something universally despised. Deep down inside, I really do want to  conform and be cool like everyone else.

Another question: why did Wolverine have to kill Jean at the end? Is there some reason he couldn’t have given her the mutant antidote … that just happened to be laying all over the ground?

FX SETS MIDSEASON PREMIERE DATES: ‘JUSTIFIED’ RETURNS JAN. 17; ‘ARCHER’ JAN. 19

“Justified” feels like a show I should be watching.

New teasers.

TOM HANKS BACK TO WWII FOR IN THE ‘GARDEN OF BEASTS‘

And by “WWII” they of course mean The War of Racism and Terror.

Does this mean Hanks is done making unwatchable, multi-million dollar movies portraying my faith as a big sham? Cuz that would be nice.

‘HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2′ BANNED IN AUSTRALIA

I have never read so much about a movie that absolutely no one saw or is interested in seeing.  NO ONE cares, and yet the publicity machine makes it sound like we’re in the middle of some kind of phenom.

PRETEENS WATCH MORE TV THIS FALL, BUT NICKELODEON, CARTOON NETWORK DROP

If I had kids, the only channels that would be accessible would be Turner Classic Movies and Fox News. Other than that, I can’t imagine allowing Hollywood to in any way define who my children would become.

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So, because you all enjoyed that list so much, and because I apparently have a death wish, it’s time for another: The Top 10 Most Overrated Actors/Actresses of All Time.

Unlike last time, I will claim that these are objective facts, not subjective opinions, so that all my critics may have full liberty to attack me (To those same critics who claimed last time that I phrased my opinions in an “objective” manner, this is called being facetious. That means I’m kidding. Also, seriously? That was your criticism?).

Here are my criteria: are they considered great actors/actresses? If not, they can’t make the list (sorry, Rob Schneider). Are they actually great actors? If so, they can’t make the list (sorry, Laurence Olivier). Only those who are considered great actors but are not, in fact, great actors can make this list. Even then, I’m not claiming that these are bad actors unless I explicitly say that I am.

So, here we go. In the words of Han Solo, I’ve got a bad feeling about this …

10. George Clooney: Not a great actor. Not a good actor. Not really an actor. If you’ve ever seen a movie with Clooney where you didn’t say to yourself, “Hey, I’m watching George Clooney” every thirty seconds or so, you haven’t seen a George Clooney movie. You’re mixing him up with Kate Winslet. He’s a D actor. Dull in “Michael Clayton.” Dreary in “Up In The Air.” Dreadful in “Syriana.” Dismal in “Batman and Robin.” He’s not a low-rent Cary Grant. He’s an affordable-housing Robert Wagner.

9. Dustin Hoffman: He turned in some tremendous performances in his early days (most notably “Papillon,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” and “Tootsie”), then became a caricature of himself. He has not done anything worthwhile since “Tootsie,” in fact. Even in his better performances, he is a bit too mannered for my taste, perhaps an effect of his method acting. Laurence Olivier thought the same thing. When they were working on “Marathon Man” together, Hoffman showed up on set after having not slept for several days in order to get “in character.” Olivier took one look at him and said, “Dear boy, it’s called acting.” (more…)

Is HBO’s ‘The Pacific’ An Underrated Masterpiece?

After the brilliant “Band of Brothers,” I was excited about this HBO mini-series and then Tom Hanks had to get goddamned stupid and partisan and anti-American and ruin the whole thing. I knew he was a lib but that didn’t matter. I loved Tom Hanks and then he had to go and declare that our WWII veterans were waging a war of “terror and racism.”

It would be great to be able to go back to enjoying his work, but now — I just can’t get over this.

I’ve never seen “The Pacific.” I do know Hanks probably hurt the ratings and that the reviews weren’t very good. I also know that Hanks so toxified the atmosphere around the release that the thought of watching it still makes me ill.

35mm Projection Could Be gone by 2015

This is actually one way in which Hollywood can save a ton of money, which of course is what they’re desperate to do in order to avoid the hard work of making better movies that will make more money.

People often confuse me as some kind of purist when that’s really not true. I could care less if the projection is digital or 35MM. I love story. Tell a good story and how you project it won’t make a bit of difference.

Woody Woodpecker Movie in Development

Gee, I hope he learns stop wounding Gaia’s trees with all that awful woodpecking.

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Sony Mulling Internet-Based Alternative to Cable TV

Faster, please:

“According to Wall Street Journal sources, Sony is mulling the launch of an Internet-based alternative to cable TV service in the US. Per the report, Sony has approached several big media groups seeking to negotiate rights to beam their TV channels via the Web.

“Sony’s proposal would see the channels go out to Sony-made devices like PlayStation consoles, TVs and Blu-ray players.”

Update on ’Star Trek’ Sequel Production

What will Hollywood do if this franchise peters out? Clone the original cast? “Star Trek Babies”?

What the ‘Community’ Hiatus Says About the Current State of TV

You buy this?

Community creator Dan Harmon attempted to explain why his NBC show continues to get low ratings despite outstanding marks from critics. “Well, the average person comes home from work really tired, and just wants to flip through channels until they land on the thing that’s the least objectionable to them,” Harmon said. “So they don’t regard the television as an appliance that’s supposed to spiritually satisfy them, they regard it as a thing that’s supposed to comfort them and be a little stupid. It’s not because they’re stupid, it’s because that’s what TV has given them all their lives and it’s hard to go out and do the work of finding a show.”

I can’t judge the show because I’ve never seen it, but this actually seems to be the decade for intelligent television — from “The Sopranos” straight through to “The Shield,” “Mad Men,” and “Breaking Bad.”

An NBC show obviously has to pull in more viewers than those cable shows, so maybe that’s the answer. Move to cable.

Celebrating 40 years of ‘The Omega Man‘

This is one of those films I keep watching again and again hoping I’ll like it better. But as much as I want to like it, to say I prefer Will Smith’s remake would be quite the understatement. Maybe it’s watching Heston enjoy the dirty, filthy hippie movie “Woodstock” or those silly sunglasses Anthony Zerbe wears.  There’s something about “Omega Man”’s tone that doesn’t work for me, and it gets worse as the film rolls on.

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IMBD description:

A nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks.

But of course he’s a nine-year-old pacifist. And according to Wikipedia, he’s also a nine-year-old vegan. Why would he be anything else? So precious.

Hard to get behind a protagonist in desperate need of a good slap.

But maybe by the end of the flick, the kid sees the light…

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Barack Obama’s approval rating is presently a rousing 42%. That means the largest portion of the sane American public would love to see the first family pack up their Samsonites® and head back to the Winfrey City, famous for deep-dish pizza, Mayor Rahm, and the type of thuggish politics the head of the house is obviously comfortable with.

However, President Barack Obama’s latest fundraising report cites an “A-list of Hollywood stars, with donations from some of the top celebrities in the entertainment industry.” Apparently, left-coast liberals want to see to it that the best script reader since Martin Sheen has another shot at practicing lines on set while acting the part of President.

It’s not surprising that Hollywood is smitten with the “Yes We Can” man’s refusal to admit he can’t.  Those in the acting profession are impressed by amateurs like Barry Soetoro (stage name Barack Obama), who has proven to have a professional-level ability to make believe he’s something he is not. Heck, for a season, even Paul Giamatti was convinced he was John Adams.

What could be better for Hollywood than a President who swims around in a policy cesspool similar to the one they refuse to empty in Tinsel Town, overflowing with the squalid water of loose morals, abortion rights, angry feminists, racial indignation, class warfare, and overall elitist hypocrisy? (more…)

From Reuters:

(Reuters) – Quoting from “The King’s Speech,” the Oscar-winning movie about his great-grandfather, Prince William projected his royal voice to woo the Hollywood power crowd in a bid with wife Kate to promote young British talent.

He in black tie, she in a pleated lavender Alexander McQueen gown, the young newlyweds on Saturday night set a tone of classic elegance for the most high-profile event in their three-day visit to the United States.

Hollywood royalty — from actors Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, and Barbra Streisand to studio mogul Harvey Weinstein — turned out for the couple of the moment at the $25,000 a table gala organized by British Academy for Film and Television (BAFTA), of which William is president.

“I would like to thank Colin Firth for my perfect opening line — I have a voice,” William joked with the crowd, quoting one of the most famous lines in the 2010 movie about King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth who overcame a stammer. (more…)

It’s difficult to imagine actors upstaging both Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks but that’s what happens in the new film “Larry Crowne.” Starring the two Oscar winners, the light-hearted comedy features several lesser-known stars in small roles that overshadow the two leads. Although the story has a few issues, “Larry Crowne” is a likeable and light-hearted film that doesn’t have aspirations to be anything more.

Tom Hanks, who also directed the film and co-wrote the story with Nia Vardolas, stars as Larry Crowne. Crowne is a “valued” employee at a UMart retail store who is fired early on in the story by a managerial committee. It seems the “U” in “UMart” might stand for university because Crowne is terminated because he didn’t go to college. He had enlisted in the Navy immediately after high school but the company doesn’t care about that.

To ensure that he would never again be fired for not going to college, Crowne enrolls in a local community college.

In college, he enrolls in a class entitled “The Art of Informal Remarks,” which is taught by Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts). Tainot is a mildly disgruntled professor who celebrates canceling her classes when there aren’t enough students.  She is unhappily married to a writer (Bryan Cranston), who spends much of his time looking at online porn. The scenes of Tainot’s desperate home life drag down the story but fortunately, there aren’t too many of them. In a story that is meant to be lighthearted and fun, the slow destruction of their marriage provides unnecessarily dramatic moments. Cranston, who previously showed off his comedic abilities in “Malcolm in the Middle,” is completely wasted here. (more…)

In a June 22nd CNN interview, actor and director Tom Hanks proudly announced he will be voting for Barack Obama in 2012. That’s fine, because that’s his prerogative as a voter. As a matter of fact, I’m going to go ahead and announce right now that I won’t be voting for Obama in 2012: that I wouldn’t vote for him if someone took my dog hostage and threatened to make me listen Al Gore speeches from here to eternity unless I supported Obama.

But the important part of Hanks’ interview wasn’t the announcement about voting for Obama, it was the way in which he actually presented Obama as an accomplished president: as a president who really had brought hope and change instead of harm and economic disarray.

For example, Hanks said Obama had saved “about a billion jobs” at GM and Chrysler via the passage of the stimulus package. (I’m just going to go ahead and say Hanks is too intelligent to truly believe this. He was either talking tongue-in-cheek or he is a full blown victim of Obama-mania: a feverish disease which I thought had ceased to exist once the economy tanked a year into Obama’s presidency.)

Contrary to Hanks’ claims, Obama hasn’t added jobs to our economy. Rather, he has destroyed them. Thus, Obama’s promise in early 2009 that unemployment would never rise above 8% if the stimulus package was passed turned into unemployment as high at 10% (even with the stimulus package), and which now sits at 9.1% (thanks to Obama).

As a matter of fact, the damage Obama has done to our economy is so great that no less a liberal outlet than CBS News took time in October 2010 to point out: “The National Debt has increased by more than $3 trillion since President Obama took office.” (For those of us who’ve never thought about it, $3 trillion written out looks like this: $3,000,000,000,000.)

Need more proof of the damage Obama has done?

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It was the summer of Uncle Buck, of Parenthood, The Abyss, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids; the summer when Harry met Sally, Batman arrived, James Bond once again kept his promise to return and the Ghostbusters simply did.  With my then-fiancée at my side and while settled into the threadbare front seat of a 1972 Buick Riviera (with more miles on it than I can recall), we would watch them all, and many more. 

1989 didn’t just mark the end of a decade. It was also the greatest movie summer of my life. There was Lethal Weapon 2, Field of Dreams, and Star Trek V. But it should be remembered that these were different times in America, the last gasp of the outdoor drive-in movie theatre, that place where films that might not have seemed so great or even good while viewed in a proper cinema, achieved their own special kind of grandeur when watched under the stars through a windshield, and heard through a steel speaker that hung on your car door window. 

So without any embarrassment I will also say that this was the summer of Lock Up, of Turner and Hooch, The Package, Casualties of War, and what might have been the greatest drive-in movie ever made. 

We would be married that September and like most couples starting out and paying for their own wedding and honeymoon, money was tight and frivolous expenditures impossible. Our entertainment would have to come cheap and in the early mornings we would walk, because walking cost nothing but also for the exercise and to enjoy that time together before real-life intruded on our new romance in the form of jobs. As we made our way around the neighborhood, the excited discussion was of the future, our future. Because there is nothing more thrilling than realizing that your whole life lies ahead of you, except in the knowing that you have found someone to share it with.  (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 miracle of “Toy Story 3” is not that Pixar has done it again and created yet another animated masterpiece (they’ve spoiled us, we now expect this). It’s that 15 years after the original and 10 years after the first sequel, number three manages to somehow surpass what we all thought were unsurpassable predecessors. After all, how do you improve on perfection? But brimming with more imagination than any ten films put together, the continuing saga of Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and company, somehow does improve on perfection with an enchanting, heartfelt and exciting adventure that casts a spell from the opening Old West fantasy sequence, straight through to a memorable set of end-credits.

Andy, the boy who owns this now iconic set of toys, is all grown up. 17 and leaving for college, Andy has to decide what to do with the playthings of his childhood. Built to be loved and played with and already feeling neglected by an owner whose outgrown them, a series of simple and not-so-simple mix ups lands the increasingly neurotic and insecure contents of Andy’s toy box at a daycare center that at first glance appears to be a kind of Toy Heaven — a never-ending supply of children who will forever love and play with them.

But is it all too good to be true?

What gives this refreshingly simple, perfectly paced, and absolutely flawless story the kind of emotional depth that creeps up and catches you off guard, is a richly complicated theme that explores the struggle between the loyalty and faith required to slug ones way through the ups and downs of any relationship and the universal need and understandable desire for constant validation and affection. The toys feel, for lack of a better term, jilted. Andy’s moved on, grown a little bored with them, and now they live in that awful in-between world filled with the artificial highs that come with any sign things might go back to the way they were and the unavoidable lows that are a natural part of the insecurity that comes with the fear of being discarded. (more…)

The Best Picture Winner of 1994 brought Tom Hanks his second Oscar in a row, and held the top spot at the box office for a remarkable 10 weeks. “Run, Forrest! Run!” became an unlikely catchphrase. And the talking heads were heard debating whether “Forrest Gump” was a celebration of conservative or liberal values.

At the time, I loved that the movie had inspired such debate. The conservative crowd pointed out that Forrest’s beloved Jenny, in her relentless pursuit of pleasures of the flesh, was left with an incurable disease (AIDS, presumably, though the movie never explicitly confirms this assumption). Liberals pointed out the compassion Forrest showed his Jenny upon hearing of her disease was confirmation of the film’s liberal message.

The flaw in this liberal point of view is that it sees the conservative take on Jenny’s life as lacking in compassion. It confuses the problem with the solution. The conservative take is rooted in fact: Jenny did run around, take drugs, sleep with any swinging Dick who would have her. Pointing out Forrest’s heroic compassion to her situation doesn’t erase the reality of how she got in the situation to begin with.

It’s a conservative movie, no question about it. (more…)

Seeing “Saving Private Ryan” again is enough to make one forgive star Tom Hanks’ ill-conceived comments regarding racism and World War II.

The 1998 film, just released on Blu-ray for the first time, stands as one of director Steven Spielberg’s towering achievements – no small praise given his iconic resume. Hanks gives a bravura performance as the head of a gifted ensemble, a Captain whose leadership pushes a rag-tag group to save a very special soldier.

The film’s first 20-odd minutes remain the most brutal depiction of World War II combat ever committed to film. It’s enough to make a grown man weep watching young men march straight into gunfire, many of them shredded before they even step foot on Omaha Beach.

Spielberg goes a bit overboard here, reveling in the kind of gore that would make “Saw” fans blush to hammer home the hellish conditions.

We see much of the chaos through the eyes of Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) – the deafening bomb blasts, the need to restore some semblance of order and the fear welling up as the earth shakes below them. (more…)

On April 18, the Pew Research Center released the results of a recurring survey centered around people’s trust in government. In order to assess the results of several institutions, Pew asks the following question: “Is [insert item] having a positive or negative effect on the way things are going in the country these days.”

Only 33% said the entertainment industry was having a positive effect. 51% said it was having a negative effect. What I don’t understand is why the entertainment industry didn’t blow the lid off the survey on the positive side. It’s entertainment. Doesn’t everyone want to be entertained? Since Pew only asked a single question, we can’t effectively drill into this result to learn any hard and fast truths. However, by examining other studies, there are some inferences we may be able to draw.

The entertainment industry was but one of thirteen institutions the Pew survey mentioned, so it seems reasonable to conclude that respondents were very well aware what they were being asked. The question was not, “what is your opinion about the quality of entertainment you see from Hollywood?” The question was about the industry’s influence on the trajectory of the country, in the gestalt. Apparently, just over half the respondents think that Hollywood is, simply put, a bad influence. If the comments left for Big Hollywood articles are of any indication, people don’t feel Hollywood represents their values, morals, ethics, political views, religious views, or much of anything else. People fail to identify with the characters they see on the screen. They don’t care for dramatic or comedic situations presented. They don’t agree with what Tom Hanks or James Cameron or Sean Penn or Roger Ebert have to say about a wide variety of topics. (more…)

The liberal reactionaries are in full hissy-fit mode at Big Hollywood for its latest heresy, calling out Glee for its gratuitous – and worse, unfunny – slam on Sarah Palin as “stupid.”  Apparently, pointing out hackneyed liberal sucker punches lurking within tiresome TV shows is yet another cruel assault upon the helpless Hollywood community of visionary artists who only seek to help enlighten and uplift us unedu-makated, tea-partying, gun n’ religion-clingers dwelling in that small, backward portion of America located east of I-5.

Big Hollywood hater Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times jumped right into full “gotta defend our pals in the Industry” effect with a hysterical (in both senses of the word) counterattack supporting Glee creator Ryan Murphy.  The LAT, for those not residing here, is a small, local pamphlet of uncertain financial stability which recently reduced the physical size of its dead tree edition to about that of an Applebee’s menu.  Its innovative marketing strategy of providing its dwindling readership with even less content for their money has somehow failed to halt its downward spiral toward Chapter 11. (more…)

In Part One of this two-part series, I described the widely varying treatment of renowned directors Jafar Panahi and Roman Polanski by the leftist Hollywood establishment vis-a-vis their arrests and incarcerations, Polanski for child rape, Panahi for mere dissent. It is merely the latest chapter in a long and sickening history of the Hollywood Left’s willful blindness to and even profiting from the McCarthyite persecution and dire straits of creative film artists in Iran revolting over a stolen election, while child rapist Polanksi gets the Oscar treatment with regard to calls for his release and freedom.

But before I get into the stomach-churning details of the Hollywood Left’s shattered moral compass vis-a-vis directors Polanski and Panahi and other Iranian film artists, I would like to take a moment to honor more of the true heroes who have spoken out loudly on Mr. Panahi’s behalf and signed petitions for his release. The National Society of Film Critics. The Boston, L. A. and  Toronto Film Critics Associations. Arin Paul of the New York Times. Filmmaker Ken Loach. Rutger Wolfson, director of the Rotterdam Film Festival. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. Human Rights Watch. French Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterand. Iranhumanrights.org. The list really is long.

Of course, noticeably absent from those petitioning and publicly calling for the release of Mr. Panahi from his unjust tomb-like captivity in Tehran are all of the prominent Hollywood A-List petitioners for Polanski. So Mr. Polanski’s arrest for child rape is worthy of international pressure and outrage, but famed director Jafar Panahi being tossed into a crypt in Tehran on “unspecified charges” is not? Welcome to Lefty Hollywood. And it only gets worse. The most tragic case of Jafar Panahi is yet one more sorry, perplexing and infuriating chapter in leftist Hollywood’s incredible blind side to any human rights violations in Iran, never mind only those perpetrated against Iranian filmmakers today. (more…)

Earlier in March, Tom was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” discussing his project on HBO, “The Pacific,” which he said depicts a war of “racism and terror.” Despite what you may think, the fact that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor without warning on a Sunday morning in December had nothing to do with it.

He further clarified his remarks on CNSNews.com, standing by his statement, but generously allowed that we’ve made some progress:

“I’d like to think that as our time has gone by and as Americans have found themselves in 2010, ignorance is being replaced by a certain amount of enlightenment and racism is going to be replaced eventually by an acceptance. It’s just taking an awfully long time.”

Very big of Mr. Hanks, wouldn’t you say? You’re making progress…it’s slow, but it’s happening. Pat yourself on the back, since Tom’s too busy to do it himself.

We here at Big Hollywood like to give credit where it’s due, and so we decided to see how progressive Hanks is when it comes to racial equality in his own industry. We decided to take a look at his major works after Forrest Gump, which garnered him his second Oscar win and made him a true power player in Hollywood, with plenty of pull. He’s certainly come a long way from playing a cross-dressing advertising agency employee in the 1980 sitcom “Bosom Buddies!” (more…)