Free Republic

Sean Stone, the son of award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday during a ceremony in the Iranian city of Isfahan. Taking the name “Ali,” Iranian news agencies report that the 27-year-old has converted to Shia Islam, which is practiced by the majority of Iranians. The son of a half-Jewish father and Christian mother, Stone told AFP today that his conversion “is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with,” but shows “I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets.” He has not, however, explained his reason for converting. Reuters reports that Stone is in Iran working...

Based on the love story of two devout Christians, the movie version of "The Vow," starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, strips the tale of its overt religious themes, which has some Christian reviewers concerned. The film is based on the true life story and book, “The Vow” by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, which draws heavily on that couple’s Christian beliefs and the power of God to heal and shepherd a marriage through difficult times.

<p>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Actor Sean Penn criticized Republican presidential candidates during a visit to Venezuela on Thursday, saying that right-wing policies in the United States aim to benefit the wealthy. Penn made the remarks after meeting with socialist President Hugo Chavez at Venezuela's presidential palace, when he was asked by a reporter about criticisms of Chavez by some Republican candidates.</p>

Flags will be lowered in New Jersey Saturday, the day of Whitney Houston’s funeral. But a Marine mom in Arlington says it’s an honor Houston doesn’t deserve. When Phyllis McGeath heard Gov. Chris Christie had ordered flags lowered to half-staff for Houston, she said she felt a pain deep inside her. “I was hurt and offended. Disappointed. Saddened,” she said. “I felt like the honor that was given to my son was tarnished.” McGeath had three sons who were active duty Marines. Her oldest, Philip, was killed by a suicide bomber just four weeks ago in Afghanistan. He was 25....

Julianne Moore, who does not so much portray as she caricatures former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in an upcoming HBO documentary "Game Change," said about Palin's role in the 2008 election something very revealing about her. Moore pronounced herself terrified of Palin, according to the Washington Examiner. Her presence on the ticket might well have swung the election to Sen. John McCain. And yet Moore does not think Palin was qualified to be vice president. Moore could not help but be impressed with Palin. She pronounced her attractive and relatable. But Moore is also shocked at the showmanship aspect to...

.. US filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday in Iran, where he is making a documentary, he told AFP. "The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets," he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony. Sean Stone's famous father is Jewish, while his mother is Christian. The 27-year-old filmmaker did not say why he converted. According to Iran's Fars news agency, Sean Stone had become...

Is there something toxic in the hair piece? Singer Tony Bennett isn't just a liberal, he's an embarrassing liberal who says the wrong thing at the wrong time. The Hollywood Reporter passes along that at the pre-Grammy bash of record producer Clive Davis, Bennett took the news of Whitney Houston's untimely death as an occasion for a political statement demanding America legalize drugs like the Netherlands. "First it was Michael Jackson, then Amy Winehouse, now, the magnificent Whitney Houston," he began. "I'd like every person in this room to campaign to legalize drugs." But it gets worse. "Let's legalize drugs...

Hollywood actor and producer Allen Covert told The Daily Caller that he would “without a doubt” support Sarah Palin if she was a candidate for president. The actor, who is best known for his collaborations with Adam Sandler, said that he would “support whoever is running” as a Republican for president, but really would have loved to see Palin run. “I actually knew who she was when John McCain picked her, and I was very happy about that,” said Covert. He recalled that his immediate reaction to McCain’s choice was: “Oh good, he’s listening to us.” Covert was at the...

Movieguide: ‘Conservative’ movies make more money than ‘liberal’ ones Alexandra Myers - The Daily Caller 56 mins ago Being a liberal or a conservative doesn’t only matter in politics — it matters in the box office, too. Movieguide, the Christian family guide to movies and entertainment, did a report showing that conservative movies make more money than liberal ones. The Hollywood Reporter writes that the criteria Movieguide used to rate movies include whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism, or if it promotes or degrades biblical principles. Hot political issues, such as violence, feminism and homosexuality, are also considered. Movieguide...

HE digital tsunami that swept over the Capitol last month, forcing Congress to set aside legislation to combat the online piracy of American music, movies, books and other creative works, raised questions about how the democratic process functions in the digital age. Policy makers had recognized a constitutional (and economic) imperative to protect American property from theft, to shield consumers from counterfeit products and fraud, and to combat foreign criminals who exploit technology to steal American ingenuity and jobs. They knew that music sales in the United States are less than half of what they were in 1999, when the...

Clint Eastwood says his recent Super Bowl commercial wasn’t about politics. Chrysler Group LLC aired a two-minute television commercial called “It’s Halftime in America” during Super Bowl XLVI that featured the veteran actor and director. Some pundits have argued that the tone seemed to favor the re-election of President Obama.

The Hollywood Sign as it appears today. Hollywood’s most disgusting secret has recently been revealed and the story is a devastating indictment of the entire entertainment industry. Most moms are willing to fight like a tigress to protect kids from pedophiles, but unfortunately, there is a culture in Tinseltown that believes in looking the other way. California has been rocked in the last year by the prosecution of a prominent Hollywood businessman for molesting his young clients. This story grew as others acknowledged similar problems among the Hollywood elite of managers and agents

First Lady Michelle Obama said her husband — a recent singing sensation — doesn’t hesitate to “show off his lungs” and sings to her all the time. President Obama proved his vocal ability when he sang a few lines of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at a campaign event earlier this month. ”That was completely spontaneous,” Mrs. Obama told Jay Leno in an interview on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” on Tuesday night. “I didn’t even hear about it until it got on YouTube, but he does have a beautiful voice, and he sings to me all the time.”

Top Obama fundraisers come from Hollywood, mediaBy Justin Sink - 01/31/12 02:48 PM ET The Obama campaign provided additional details about its $222 million fundraising haul Tuesday, revealing that many of the president's top fundraisers were leading figures in Hollywood and the media. Among those who have raised more than $500,000 throughout the president's reelection effort are Vogue editor Anna Wintour, producer Harvey Weinstein and DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Actress Eva Longoria brought in more than $200,000 for the president, while disgraced MF Global Holdings CEO and former N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine brought in more than half a million for...

Pelosi tells Hollywood fundraisers Dems have 'a real chance' to take back HouseBy Justin Sink - 01/31/12 04:50 PM ET Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told a crowd of top Hollywood fundraisers that Democrats have "a real chance" to retake control of the House in 2012, according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter. Pelosi met with a group of more than 50 fundraisers and consultants Monday at the house of Haim Saban, the billionaire television producer who leads the ownership group of Spanish-language television network Univision. "They identified between 50 and 75 seats that are definitely vulnerable," one attendee told...

The dramatic rescue of an American aid worker and her Danish colleague in Somalia by Navy commandos was a terrific encore to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan nine months ago. However, all the White House-driven publicity for both events has helped turn the once-secret SEAL Team 6 into a household term, with likely negative consequences. Although SEAL Team 6 and its official successor, the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, have been around since the 1980s, their missions always were kept secret to shield their members’ identities and protect operational security. Every president since the team’s founding has...

Hollywood will be making a movie about The Vatican. What could go wrong? And it’s even worse than you think. Warner Bros is making a movie called The Vatican, and it’s reportedly some kind of horror/conspiracy movie. Hmmm ... a movie that says the Church is up to something nefarious? Well, a movie like that has never been made, right? But wait. It gets even worse. The director of the movie Devil Inside is directing The Vatican. Here’s the poster for that movie: Yup. That’s a possessed nun with dollar signs in her eyes. The Devil Inside movie opened up...

Every moonbat’s fantasy come true. (Huffington Post) — Irish actor Liam Neeson has revealed he is considering giving up on his Catholic faith and converting to Islam. The Hollywood star, 59, was recently filming in Turkish city Istanbul and became fascinated with the muslim faith during his stay. Speaking to The Sun, he said: “The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it’s the most beautiful, beautiful thing.

Maybe you're sick to death of all the to-do over SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act and its Senate buddy the Protect Intellectual Property Act or PIPA) or you just really needed your Wikipedia fix today (don't worry, you can still read their SOPA page!). But really, isn't it awesome that people won't shut up about something actually important for once? Reason didn't participate, but don't take that as any sort of endorsement of nosy government activities. Nick Gillespie reported earlier today on the protest and how it has drawn support from all sides of the political spectrum. What's interesting...

Capping a dramatic week of protests and legislative maneuvering, leaders in the Senate and the House announced on Friday that they are backing off efforts to pass a pair of controversial bills to crack down on foreign websites that use pirated content. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced that he will postpone a cloture vote on the Senate’s Protect IP Act, originally scheduled for Tuesday. And in the House, Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said he will postpone consideration of the House version until more agreement can be found. Congress backed off the legislation after an unprecedented online...

Robert Redford, actor and outspoken environmentalist, applauded President Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline on Wednesday. In a column on the Huffington Post, Redford – who questioned the president's commitment to the environment a few months ago – wrote:

The Google logo has been blacked out today. Wikipedia, reddit, Mozilla and Twitpic are all blocking access to content. Even Star Trek icon George Takei has blocked his site. The moves are displays of cyber-protest against the heavy-handed and ill-conceived Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). From a political and public relations standpoint, this has already been a complete and utter failure for Hollywood and their formerly formidable lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Association of America. Former Sen. Chris Dodd became the new CEO of the MPAA after he realized he would never be re-elected in his home state of Connecticut...

EXCLUSIVE: Internet sites on their SOPA-Strike may be conducting a blackout but Hollywood studios are conducting a boycott. I’ve learned that Hollywood studio chiefs individually and as a group are drawing a line in the sand on the piracy issue with the Obama re-election campaign and refusing to give any more donations. The blowup came after President Obama on Saturday dashed moguls’ hopes that he would remain on the sidelines in the dispute over the U.S. House Of Representatives’ Stop Online Piracy Act and the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act. In a posting on the White House web site, three...

Los Angeles police detectives are investigating the slaying of a man believed to be of Armenian descent whose head was discovered Tuesday afternoon by two dogs off a hiking trail below the Hollywood sign. Two women were hiking with nine dogs in the rugged hills near the 3200 block of Canyon Drive when two of the dogs found a plastic bag in the brush containing the head... In addition to combing the area for evidence, investigators will seek help from the Los Angeles County coroner to identify the victim through dental records

EXCLUSIVE: Internet sites on their SOPAStrike may be conducting a blackout but Hollywood studios are conducting a boycott. I’ve learned that Hollywood studio chiefs individually and as a group are drawing a line in the sand on the piracy issue with the Obama re-election campaign and refusing to give any more donations. The blowup came after President Obama on Saturday dashed moguls’ hopes that he would remain on the sidelines in the dispute over the U.S. House Of Representatives’ Stop Online Piracy Act and the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act.

Sean Penn Appointed Haitian Ambassador LOS ANGELES, USA (defend.ht) - Sean Penn has accepted the job of Ambassador for Haiti, where he has spent the last two years managing a tent camp for displaced Haitians after the earthquake. Sean Penn will now be the "ambassador at large" for the Caribbean nation. Penn was offered the position by Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent Lamothe, while at the Cinema for Peace benefit in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Picking up a humanitarian award for his work in Haiti, he told the crowd: "I do accept [the job]," before adding it would...

Actor Gene Hackman, 81, was airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami on Friday after a car struck the bicycle he was riding in Islamorada, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Hackman was heading southbound near the 88 mile marker on the Old Highway around 3 p.m. when struck from behind by the right front fender of a 2007 Toyota Tundra driven by Kathryn Rodriguez, 60, or Islamorada, FHP Sergeant Thomas E. Pikul said.

“We shall stand on principle or we will not stand at all,” Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) states late in the new film, “The Iron Lady.” The movie- which explores the life of the masterful former prime minister of England—attempts to show the conservative politician in both her glory and in her latter years. In doing so, it successfully portrays Thatcher’s political successes but stumbles along the way by focusing too much on her health after her tenure as prime minister. The film begins with Thatcher as a retired politician stumbling through life as a confused older woman and believing that...

Star Wars creator George Lucas said Monday that Hollywood studios refused to back his new film Red Tails - about World War II's Tuskegee Airmen - because the cast was all black. ... Hollywood balked given the message Lucas was trying to convey. “I wanted to make it inspirational for teenaged boys. I wanted to show that they have heroes, they’re real American heroes, they’re patriots that helped to make the country what it is today. And it’s not Glory where you have a lot of white officers running these guys into cannon fodder. It’s like a real, they were...

Everyone knows President Barack Obama likes a celebrity fix - just ask Johnny Depp. And today, just a day after pictures emerged of his extravagant 2009 Halloween party at the White House, the most powerful man in America was enjoying more VIP company. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie brought some Hollywood star power to Washington D.C. as they stopped by for a chat with the chief executive at the Oval Office.

If Matt Damon is disillusioned with The One, Harry Belafonte is downright dismayed with President Barack Obama’s first term. The Calypso crooner didn’t hold back during a recent radio chat on “Smiley & West,” co-hosted by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, even if a rebroadcast of the program snipped out Belafonte’s most punishing comments, according to The Radio Equalizer. My question is, what legacy will he leave, having the opportunity to serve under such hugely dramatic circumstances and had such a huge impact on the universal state of things … how could he have had such a splendid opportunity to...

Dolly Parton is back on the big screen, starring alongside Queen Latifah in the Gospel-driven “Joyful Noise.” But the country music legend insisted that there is more to the movie than just music and a good time. “The film is uplifting and I want people to go away feeling better than they did when they got here, because times are hard right now. Everybody's been feeling a little scared and a little down, and the economy has been bad and people don't know what to think. We just seem to have lost all our morals and principles and values these...

How Liberalism May Be Hurting Comic Book Sales by Darin Wagner If you are a conservative like me, you’ve been reading fewer and fewer comic books over the last 12 years. For those of you who know what I’m talking about, the weekly visit to the comic book shop has become either an exercise in irritation or a monotonous drill. You pick up a superhero comic book featuring a childhood favorite of yours, hoping to reignite some of that magic you felt way back when and you see that the opening sequence in the comic deals with an oil rig...

At 56 years of age, Sandra Bernhard hasn’t become any less outspoken. If anything, she’s become more so. Two years ago, the comedian and singer made headlines after allegedly suggesting that if Sarah Palin were to visit New York City, she may find herself getting “gang-raped by some of my big black brothers.” This is particularly true in her one-woman shows, the latest of which, I Love Being Me, Don’t You?, a mix of comedy, music, and dance, she’ll be performing at the Painted Bride starting today through Saturday. She spoke with The A.V. Club about politics, Playboy, and feminism....

BEST FILMS: The Artist War Horse Moneyball Hugo Midnight in Paris Win Win The Descendants The Way Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 My Week with Marilyn WORST FILMS: Sucker Punch Conan the Barbarian Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I Beastly Transformers: Dark of the Moon Jack & Jill Just Go With It I Don't Know How She Does It Hard Breakers Footloose

Under fire for allegedly hosting a secret Halloween theme party featuring movie star Johnny Depp at the White House in 2009, President Obama's spokesman punched back, calling reports about the party "irresponsible" and denying that the White House tried to hide the event from the public. "There are outlets that have reported this as a secret party, which is just silly -- it's irresponsible reporting to suggest that you would have a pool report and the press at an event that's secret" White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today during the press briefing, adding that photos of Johnny Depp...

Gwyneth Paltrow released her GOOP newsletter, Jan. 5, promoting her GOOP cleanse kit, which costs $425, but doctors interviewed by HollywoodLife say cleanses have ‘no scientific proven’ value and are ‘complete bunk’! Don’t spend your money or your effort subjecting yourself to actress Gwyneth Paltrow‘s “cleanse” or anyone else’s, say top NYC doctors. “‘Cleansing’ is the equivalent of ’snake oil,’” says NYC internist, Dr. Robert Bos. He adds that “there is no scientific proof” that a cleanse will help give your digestive system a break, eliminate toxins, rebuild beneficial bacteria or give you more energy, as Gwyneth promises in her...

Jesse’s Statement: The event this man spoke of never happened. I have been to Mc P’s many times since leaving the Navy. I was never there alone. I was always accompanied by other people. If this happened 6 years ago, someone would have known of it before now. Certainly in the UDT/SEAL community it would have been known. This has to be news to all of us. I have always opposed the war in Iraq but I have never spoken or wished any ill will towards the soldiers. My heart aches that soldiers have died or been wounded because this...

LA Arson Suspect Identified, Possibly Motivated by Deportation BattleBy RICHARD ESPOSITO, RAY HOMER, KATIE KINDELAN and COLLEEN CURRY Good Morning America – 15 hrs ago Officials this evening identified a man arrested after a series of 52 blazes in the Los Angeles area as Harry Burkhart, 24. Burkhart was charged this afternoon with one count of arson of an inhabited dwelling, with more charges expected as the investigation proceeds, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters. Burkhart was being held without bail. "These were serious and potentially deadly crimes that needlessly endangered thousands of innocent lives," Villaraigosa said. "These crimes...

Will Google, Amazon, and Facebook Black Out the Net? By Alec Liu Published December 30, 2011 | FoxNews.com In the growing battle for the future of the Web, some of the biggest sites online -- Google, Facebook, and other tech stalwarts -- are considering a coordinated blackout of their sites, some of the web’s most popular destinations. No Google searches. No Facebook updates. No Tweets. No Amazon.com shopping. Nothing. The action would be a dramatic response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill backed by the motion picture and recording industries that is intended to eliminate theft online...

Los Angeles authorities investigating a string of more than 35 fires set over the last two days strongly suspect the blazes are the work of more than one arsonist. On Friday morning, 21 fires were started in a relatively small area around Hollywood and West Hollywood. On Friday night and Saturday morning, 16 more fires were reported. They were similar to the ones in Hollywood but were spread out over a much larger area.

HOLLYWOOD has more tricks in its bag than ever with digital 3-D and other new film tools. Yet as the images on screen get bigger and better, movie crowds keep shrinking - down to a 16-year low as 2011's film lineup fell well short of studios' record expectations. Through New Year's Eve on Saturday, projected domestic revenues for the year stand at $10.2 billion, down 3.5 percent from 2010's, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. Taking higher ticket prices into account, movie attendance is off even more, with an estimated 1.28 billion tickets sold, a 4.4 percent decline and the smallest...

They're coming for your children! They're coming for the womenfolk! Then they're coming after you! Norman Lear, the famous television show producer, offered this hysterically paranoid assessment of the allegedly growing and presumably insidious power of "the right": "I want to suggest that we lefties start laying claim to what we see as 'sacred' and serve it up proudly to the religious right -- to the James Dobson, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove ... hatemongers, sheathed in sanctity, and to the Koch brothers, the types that fund them and use them so effectively for their own political power-grabbing purposes....

Yearend announcements of box office champions and film award nominees combine to illuminate dark, persistent mysteries about the motivations of moviemakers. In the process, these contrasting lists expose the stubborn stupidity of a line of argument jointly cherished by the entertainment industry’s angriest critics and its most faithful apologists: that Hollywood is utterly corrupted (or totally excused) by the ruthless, single-minded pursuit of profit. If it’s all about making money, how can anyone explain the fact that the heavy favorite to win Tinseltown’s most coveted and relentlessly publicized award for 2011 is a low-budget silent film (no kidding!) in glorious...

'A sequel to classic animated short The Snowman is to be produced by Channel 4 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original's 1982 broadcast. The Snowman 2 - described as "a brand new adventure" featuring Raymond Briggs's character and "a new set of friends" - will air next Christmas. London-based animation company Lupus Films told The Guardian it would be "new and fresh [and] not identical". The original film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1983.'

According to the New York Times, even with upwards of 40 blockbusters released in 3D (meaning much higher ticket prices), box office revenues in North America dropped 4.5% this year. In worse news, overall attendance dropped 5.3%, which means that over the last two years attendance has dropped a whopping 11.3%. When you lose over 10% of your customers in just two years, something is horribly wrong. When you combine that with plummeting DVD sales, you have an existential problem. The Times blames much of the problem on the economy, but as anemic as it’s been, the economy has improved...

December 21, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - Recently I wrote about five male celebrities I boycott for their pro-abortion views. Today, I’ll tell you about five famous men whose careers I can feel good about supporting, because they believe in and profess the sanctity of life. Keep in mind I may disagree with them on other issues. But because I believe abortion is the ultimate moral litmus test, if they recognize the evil of abortion, I know their moral compass is pointed in the right direction.

HBO Films seems to have two essential mission statements. First, to corner the market on Al Pacino’s good acting (see: Angels in America, You Don’t Know Jack, the upcoming Phil Spector biopic. Second, and more importantly, the moviemaking arm of the network appears to be constructing a complete chronology of American history, from the Revolution (John Adams) through the Great War (Band of Brothers, The Pacific), and right up to our disturbing modern moment (Recount, Too Big to Fail). Next year’s Game Change is an intriguing new entry in the HBO History canon, adapting the addictive behind-the-scenes muckrake of the...

Youtube Video go to witness at about 2min 40ses who reported shooter was shouting allah akbar.

Angelina Jolie has aroused praise and criticism in Bosnia with her first film as a director, a story of love and war set during the bloody Balkans conflict. ... But in the Balkans, another world from the star-studded American premieres and glitzy after-parties, the film is inflaming old and deeply-held emotions. ... Former Bosnian Muslim war prisoners and relatives of massacre victims, some of them initially critical, lauded In the Land of Blood and Honey after being invited to a private screening to allay earlier fears about the subject matter. But the leader of a Bosnian Serb prisoners group has...