Hollywood
December 26, 2019 — Scott Johnson
NR’s Kyle Smith includes The Cold Blue somewhere near the top of his list of 2019’s ten best documentaries. Smith writes: Back when leading Hollywood personalities felt it was their patriotic duty to put themselves in harm’s way for their country, the director William Wyler (who would go on to make The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur) was among those who went off to make movies as part
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December 10, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Cue up a Category 5 Schadenfreude Alert! The media is complaining that a forthcoming Hollywood movie might be less than accurate to the true story! The movie is Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell, which tells the story of the rush to judgment in the bombing of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The bombing turned out to be the handiwork of Eric Rudolph (now serving a life sentence), who would otherwise be
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November 9, 2019 — Scott Johnson
When I walked into Spaulding Auditorium to see The Best Years of Our Lives as an undergrad, I had never even heard of the film. When I walked out three hours later, I couldn’t believe I had never heard of it. It is a great film with a lot of truth and a big heart in it. TCM is playing the film as part of its Veterans Day lineup on
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September 1, 2019 — John Hinderaker
President Trump has scheduled a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, and major Hollywood figures are demanding to know who attends so they can be blacklisted. Debra Messing and Eric McCormack are the stars of a television show called “Will and Grace.” Hey, @THR, kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx. https://t.co/7W3xPG3bI2 — Eric McCormack (@EricMcCormack)
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August 13, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I have heard about the arrival of “deep fake” videos, but hadn’t paid much attention to it. But then I saw the video below, which is pretty amazing. Worth watching closely, a couple times. The transitions and likenesses are stunning. I have wondered for a while when we might get to the point where digital Hollywood tech might replace live actors in films—or even be used to being back long
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August 10, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I wrote here about the bizarre movie The Hunt, in which liberal elites hunt and murder red state “deplorables.” Sort of a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the left. The film was to be released next month, even though advertising was pulled after the El Paso and Dayton shootings. But that was before President Trump weighed in on Twitter: Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and
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February 17, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Bruno Ganz, the talented Swiss actor who portrayed Hitler in “Downfall” and countless video parodies, has died at the age of 77. I had retired from doing “Hitler Learns About. . .” parodies, but by popular demand, here’s one final one from Power Line Productions—the parody to end them all I hope:
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December 13, 2018 — Steven Hayward
For some reason, the debate rages on about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Of course it is! And this video—really an exercise in Straussian esoteric interpretation—proves it once and for all—just look at all the clear Christmas call-outs embedded in the movie: And a reminder:
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December 1, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Stephen Hillenburg died at the age of 57 this past Monday at his southern California home of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). James Freeman (WSJ’s Best of the Web) and J.J. McCullough (NR) paid tribute to Hillenburg as the creator of the immortal cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. Neil Genzlinger’s New York Times obituary also salutes Hillenburg’s work. Two of my three daughters were fans of SpongeBob and the Nickelodeon series in
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September 19, 2018 — Steven Hayward
While everyone’s attention was on the Kavanaugh matter, and secondarily on the salacious details offered up by Stormy Daniels that shall not be repeated here, there was another big story reported today: Bert and Ernie are not gay! This bit of crucial news has even made USA Today, so you know it’s important! The makers of “Sesame Street” say Bert and Ernie, the classic feuding Muppets who appeared on the popular children’s
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September 4, 2018 — Steven Hayward
John has already noted the controversy of the choice that the makers of the new film “First Man” to omit the scene of Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon, with (Canadian) star Ryan Gosling making the preposterous claim that the late Armstrong—a former military test pilot and Korean War veteran—was some kind of general cosmopolite representative for all of humanity. They might have gone with a safe
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September 3, 2018 — Steven Hayward
I’m passing Labor Day in the proper way, with lots of movie going, grilling, and drinking adult beverages. Did I mention grilling? Yes, check. So if you’re looking for a diversion from the latest tweets and CNN fake news, check out this splendid rendition of how Star Trek would come out if Quentin Tarantino was put in charge:
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August 31, 2018 — John Hinderaker
A movie titled “First Man” is about to be released. It has been described as a “biopic” about Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. So the 1969 moon landing by Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is presumably the high point of the film. When Armstrong and Aldrin emerged from the moon lander, the first thing they did was to plant an American flag: The second was to
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August 10, 2018 — Steven Hayward
You may have heard the news that the West Hollywood city council has voted to remove permanently Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, though I am a little vague on this because I’m not sure the city of West Hollywood has jurisdiction over the Walk, but whatever. Trump’s star keeps getting vandalized by calm, reasonable, civilized liberals, and is an expense for someone to keep making sure
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May 31, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Word around Hollywood is that Roseanne Barr is second only to Harvey Weinstein for being a horrible human being, and there is no reason for anyone to try to defend her tweet, or her show for that matter. I never found her either talented or entertaining, and the only reason I might have ever tuned in (I never watched a single moment of the original show 20 years ago or
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May 29, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
ABC has decided to cancel “Roseanne,” the highest-rated, most watched television series of this past broadcast season. It cancelled the show because of this tweet by the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, about former top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett: Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj. This is a truly vile statement. When I heard about it, I could hardly believe a public figure, even Roseanne Barr, would
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May 22, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Barack Obama wasn’t much of a president. His signature accomplishment may turn out to be paving the way for Donald Trump. Obama isn’t the genius his boosters (with his encouragement) made him out to be, either. I don’t consider him a first rate or deep thinker. If you disagree, identify one of his deep thoughts. Claiming to be on “the right side of history” doesn’t count. Neither does “let’s funnel
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