Just last week at the Cannes Film Festival, actor Peter Fonda called President Obama a “fucking traitor” and now, according to the Telegraph, we discover he’s encouraging his own grandchildren to take up arms against the president due to some upcoming conflict between the haves and have nots.

Does Peter Fonda consider himself a “have” … and what about his inherited-wealth grandchildren?

Secret Service to the white courtesy phone…

Ed. Note: My take is here. — JN

Who can forget the way Natalie Maines singlehandedly damned her little country trio – the Dixie Chicks – to infamy by bashing President George W. Bush in March 2003?  She was on tour in Europe criticizing our president while he was in D.C. sending troops to liberate Iraq. Country music fans rightly viewed Maines’ criticism as a move more befitting someone like Bill Clinton, who also protested American wars while on foreign soil (the Vietnam War), and the Dixie Chicks quickly disappeared from radio airwaves.

Here’s Maines’ quote:

 Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.

For the record: I’ve been critical of Maines’ attack on Bush ever since and plan to continue being critical of it. Because the bottom line is this: The American people — the salt-of-the-earth, work-hard-everyday-to-make-ends-meet, sign-up-to-fight-in-the-military people — don’t like to see someone standing with Europeans and hurling criticism at our President on the eve of war. They rightly equate that with criticizing the mission before it begins.

But this is not to say that the American people don’t support the freedom to criticize a president at the right time and in the right way, even overseas. And as a matter of fact, I’m betting that 99.9% of those same salt-of-the-earth folks who were outraged by Maines’ criticism of Bush are giving a standing ovation to Peter Fonda for calling President Obama a “[bleeping] traitor.” (The other .1%  will have a problem with the “[bleeping]” part.) Furthermore, I can imagine people throughout flyover country giving each other high fives as they read Fonda’s words.

(more…)

I’m a major Peter Fonda fan, think he’s one of the best character actors working today and can’t imagine life without “Easy Rider,” but this is way, way over the line. The sentiment is hard to disagree with and I’m no Obama fan, but he is the President of the United States and trashing him in this manner overseas at Cannes is hardly different than what all but ended the Dixie Chicks career.

CANNES, France (AFP) – Peter Fonda launched a four-letter attack on US President Barack Obama at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday, calling him a traitor over the handling of the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill. …

Fonda — a keen environmentalist and co-producer of the film which centres on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing spill and its consequences — accused Washington of trying to gag reporting on the issue.

“I sent an email to President Obama saying, ‘You are a f(expletive) traitor,’ using those words… ‘You’re a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military — in this case the coastguard — what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do’.”

(more…)

The Academy Awards for 2008 have been handed out, and the “popular kids” have Oscars on their mantles, but the dirty little secret about winning awards is that you’ve gotta campaign for them. Thousands of dollars were spent by the distributors and filmmakers behind Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Milk (Focus Features), The Reader (Weinstein) and other assorted winners and nominees, but not all performances received that sort of big money backing.

I am an unabashed lover of the acting craft. I see virtually every movie, large and small, that passes through the US marketplace, and, taking nothing away from Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger, not all of 2008’s best performances have been recognized. I’m not going to be obvious here. Clint Eastwood was snubbed for Gran Torino, but he received lots of acclaim for the role including being named Best Actor by the National Board of Review. My goal is to highlight 10 performances from last year that have received virtually no acclaim in the US. Many of these roles can be found in hardly-seen, under-appreciated movies that came and went without much notice. Each and every one of these movies deserve a spot in your Netflix (or Blockbuster) cue. (more…)

As a devout and convinced Muslim, who hates Islamic extremism for the twisted and sick ideology it is, I thought ”Traitor” would be one movie I’d enjoy watching. Let me explain why.

Firstly, real people act in it, which is, as I explained in my post on “Kung Fu Panda,” a definite pro for me. Secondly, “Traitor” deals with an incredibly hotly debated subject; the war on terrorism. Thirdly, the main character is a Muslim American who helps fight extremist Muslims; it is a subject seldom explored in books or movies. It is a grand, novel and innovative idea, especially from my perspective.

And it was. The actors perform sublime. They draw you into the movie immediately and convince you that they are the characters rather than pretending to be them. The special effects are great and the movie was exciting; it keeps you off-balance. It is not until the very last moment that you understand the plan and the way in which it was executed.

But there is more to the movie than the superficial aspects described above. What made this movie so interesting – and from my perspective resulting in a mixed review nonetheless – are its major themes. (more…)