Free Republic

Jane Fonda Says Sex Is Better Than Ever At 71... Despite Her Metal Hip [Pic in URL] By BEN TODD 10th November 2009 She might not be offering workout tips in a leotard now, but Jane Fonda still has a pointer for ladies keen to stay young - an active love life. At 71, the fitness guru who recently had spinal surgery and boasts an artificial knee and titanium hip said her looks are partly down to having the best sex of her life. Miss Fonda, who became a Hollywood sex symbol in the 1968 film Barbarella, said: 'How do...

On the day I born, June 9th, 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy was asked the famous question; “Have you no sense of decency sir?”. Some members of the media who saw an opening, pounced on the opportunity, and never looked back. This would become the beginning of the end of the anti-communist mood in America. It would be the birth of terms like McCarthyism, Redbaiting, and Blacklisting. The heirs of this movement are much more numerous today than in 1954, and the true journalists have been replaced by mere actors, playing the part of journalists. We have gone from a nation...

POLIWOOD: D Tonight at 7:30 on Showtime. Director Barry Levinson’s 90-minute “Poliwood” is billed as a film essay. That’s like calling the back of a cereal box a novel. Say what you will about Michael Moore, but at least he knows how to spin a story. Levinson (“Rain Man”) aims to explore the crash of politics, celebrity and media. He’s fascinated as to why performers are greeted with hostility when they become politically active. He trails famous members of the Creative Coalition, Hollywood’s nonprofit, nonpartisan lobbying group for arts funding, through the 2008 Democratic and Republican presidential conventions. The coalition’s...

HAVANA (AP) - Michael Douglas staged an impromptu walking tour of the Cuban capital's historic district Tuesday, posing for photos with construction workers and surprised residents. His visit came two days after fellow Oscar-winner Sean Penn arrived in Cuba, reportedly seeking an interview with 82-year-old Fidel Castro, who has been little seen since announcing he was suffering from an unspecified illness in July 2006. He stepped down as Cuba's president in February of the following year and was replaced by his brother Raul. Penn traveled to the Isle of Youth, off mainland Cuba on Monday to meet with local artists....

If Fidel Castro and Sean Penn are in the same room, which one do you think hates America more? Such a question doesn't seem to concern Vanity Fair who according to the website TMZ has hired Penn to write an article about how Barack Obama and his administration have impacted Cuba.

The ABC's of Media Bias By: Lowell Ponte FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, October 14, 2004 IS THE ESTABLISHMENT MEDIA BIASED against conservatives? Dan Rather remains in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News despite his involvement in recent news stories based on dishonest reporting, fabricated documents and even Internet gossip falsely alleging that President George W. Bush secretly intends to begin the military conscription of students. These stories were obviously designed to damage Mr. Bush in the final weeks before a national election. And now ABC News has left in place its Political Director Mark Halperin. ABC has done this...

Where's Sarah Palin when you need her? The fourth-season premiere of NBC's Emmy-winning "30 Rock" was down a steep 27% in the adult demo from last fall, when star Tina Fey was generating national buzz for her "Saturday Night Live" parody of the Republican veep candidate. "30 Rock" returned to 6.3 million viewers and a 3.0 rating among adults 18-49, falling 25% from its "Office" lead-in. Meanwhile, ABC's "FlashForward" (9.1 million, 3.1) stopped its ratings descent, reversing for the first time to climb a tenth of a point. ABC just picked up the drama for a full season, so this...

“Love” means never having to get your facts straight. Oscar winner Michael Moore, the far-left documentarian behind Bowling for Columbine, Sicko, and Fahrenheit 9/11, is back with Capitalism: A Love Story. This time he’s telling us our capitalistic system is evil and needs to be put down, and naturally, most film critics are looking past his dubious techniques, wildly partisan potshots, and other gimmicks they wouldn’t swallow from any other documentary director. But cracks are beginning to show in Moore’s media fan club. Some critics are actually holding Moore accountable for his shrewd cutting and splicing. Capitalism scored a 73...

. . . While waiting I have been reading over the growing list of entertainment industry personalities who have risen to the defense of the director. The list is stomach-turning. Many of the names I know. Some were once personal friends. Some of those ex-friends even have children, who I also knew. [Link to Free Polanski Petition with signatories.]

Documentary film director Michael Moore, who has become a millionaire thanks to the profits from his movies, told CNSNews.com that “capitalism did nothing” for him. CNSNews.com spoke with Moore on the red carpet at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night before the premiere of his upcoming documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story." CNSNews.com asked: “Critics may say, when they see this movie, Michael Moore has amassed a fortune of over $50 million, some have said and –” Moore said: “Really? Are you kidding me? Seriously? Wow. Where did it go?”

(CNN) -- A Blue Ribbon Panel of distinguished leaders and humanitarians -- including Gen. Colin Powell, Whoopi Goldberg and Sir Elton John -- has selected 2009's Top 10 CNN Heroes, who will be announced Thursday, October 1. Beginning at 1 p.m. ET and continuing each hour through 10 p.m. ET, CNN's Anderson Cooper will reveal the name of one Top 10 Hero on the global networks of CNN, including CNN.com Live. Also on October 1, an hour-long Anderson Cooper 360° special will air at 11 p.m. ET profiling all of the Top 10 CNN Heroes and their causes. At that...

... one starts to wonder if the country wouldn't be better off without them and if Republicans should be cut out of the health-care system entirely and simply provided with aspirin and hand sanitizer. Thirty-two percent of the population identifies with the GOP, and if we cut off health care to them, we could probably pay off the deficit in short order.

CNN’s Larry King fawned over Michael Moore during an hour-long interview on his program on Wednesday, calling the leftist’s latest feature “a brilliant documentary,” and went on to label the director “our number one propagandist.” King encouraged all of his viewers to see Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which was released in New York City and L.A. earlier that day. The CNN anchor led his 9 pm Eastern program with his gush over the apparent magnificence of Moore and his latest documentary: “I’ve seen this movie, and I’ll tell you, whether people agree or disagree with it- and there will...

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Watching the Dave Matthews Band moments before they take the stage is like watching a football team bursting out of the locker room before a big game. They slap hands. Bump fists. Jump up and down, exclaiming "Feel the love, feel the love!" The energy in the air is electric. And when they walk out on stage, the energy explodes into thousands of shining faces. People dance in the aisles. Others sing every word to every song. A few share funny cigarettes. For more than three hours, the jubilant atmosphere creates a sense of community...

Last night Esquire threw a party for Michael Moore's new documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, which all about the vulgar displays of income inequality in this country and how Americans are suffering as a result of the recession. Then according to one person who attended the premiere, this happened: Following the Premiere, Esquire shuttles many of the attendees straight down to SoHo to the opening of The Esquire Apartment – a fully decadent penthouse where every square inch is paid for by a luxury sponsor. Hot tub, $120k pool table, $60k home theater, fine food. The only thing lacking was...

On August 25th 2009, Big Hollywood’s Patrick Courrielche broke the story of a conference call he attended with other “rising artist and art community luminaries”: On Thursday August 6th, I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts to attend a conference call scheduled for Monday August 10th hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The call would include “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how...

Report: Charlie Sheen Seeks Meeting With Obama to Discuss 9/11 'Cover-Up' Wednesday, September 09, 2009 Actor Charlie Sheen is demanding a meeting with President Obama to discuss his belief that the September 11 terror attacks were perpetrated by the federal government. In an interview with PrisonPlanet.com, The “Two and a Half Men” star unveils a fictional 20-minute exchange he imagines having with Obama – whom he supported in the November election – during which he implores the president to get on “the right side of history.” Sheen, 44, argues that “the official 9/11 story is a fraud” and claims the...

<p>Actor Charlie Sheen is demanding a meeting with President Obama to discuss his belief that the September 11 terror attacks were perpetrated by the federal government.</p> <p>In an interview with PrisonPlanet.com, The “Two and a Half Men” star unveils a fictional 20-minute exchange he imagines having with Obama – whom he supported in the November election – during which he implores the president to get on “the right side of history.”</p>

U.S. actor George Clooney plays a New Age hippie soldier trained for psychic, peaceful combat in a comedy set during the war in Iraq. "The Men Who Stare at Goats" is based on a book by Jon Ronson about a secret unit created by the U.S. army in 1979 which, the author said, believed troops could become invisible, walk through walls and kill goats just by staring at them. Ewan McGregor plays a reporter who stumbles across a member of the unit as he prepares to enter Iraq, and he and Clooney's character Lyn Cassady go on an ill-fated journey...

Michael Moore solidified his position as one of the biggest phonies of our times while at a recent Venice Film Festival outing. He debuted his latest sham documentary called “Capitalism: A Love Story.” Thanks to the free enterprise system, Moore has become super wealthy himself, which makes the two-hour flick a case study in hypocrisy. “Capitalism is an evil,” Moore proclaims, “and you cannot regulate evil.” According to Moore, regulating capitalism doesn't work, so his prescription is, “You have to eliminate it and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy.” Guess it...

VENICE (Reuters) - Director Oliver Stone says the U.S. media and government have demonised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leftist South American leaders, and argues in a new film that they were right to stand up to Washington. Chavez, who landed in Venice for the film's premiere, has earned a reputation for his outspoken criticism of U.S. policy, and in Stone's "South of the Border" he is sympathetically portrayed as a hero of the people who refuses to be bullied. Originally an attempt to redress what Stone saw as unfair treatment of Chavez by TV networks and newspapers, the...

Jane Fonda, Danny Glover and Eve Ensler have joined the growing list of artists who are boycotting the Toronto film festival over a program honoring Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary, gossip blogger Perez Hilton reported on Friday. The three have added their names to a letter aimed at festival officials claiming that Tel Aviv was built on violence, ignoring the "suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants," Hilton reported. Several Israeli films are being screened at the festival's new City to City event, which this year celebrates Tel Aviv's centennial. Culture critic Naomi Klein and director John Greyson are among...

Apparently science has discovered the one force in nature that can silence Michael Moore: The Oprah Winfrey Show. With the premiere of his new film, Capitalism: A Love Story, looming on September 16 at the Toronto Film Festival, normally you’d expect to find Moore filling up every inch of media, shocking the bourgeoisie with his trademark Angry Guy Banging on the Palace Walls shtick, providing Matt Drudge with a new outrageous quote every news cycle. But Moore has been strangely silent in this run-up and the LA Times‘ Patrick Goldstein has learned that he plans to keep a lid on...

Capitalism the villain as Moore movie hits Venice Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:59pm EDT By Mike Collett-White LONDON (Reuters) - The Venice film festival has capitalism in its sights this year, with premieres of Michael Moore's documentary on the U.S. economic meltdown and a drama starring Matt Damon as a corrupt corporate whistleblower. "Capitalism: A Love Story," in competition at the annual cinema showcase, sees Moore take on the corporate bosses with his trademark combative style, bringing the hot topic of recession to the picturesque Lido waterfront. And "The Informant!," directed by Steven Soderbergh and featuring Damon as a real-life...

I am writing a paper called "Hollywood Interference" and I would appreciate it if my fellow FReepers could give me quotes and links to their quasi-political activities. I am writing a paper on how actors and actresses have interfered and damaged the US by their interference in affairs of state.

Eli Roth, the horror-movie director who created a film-within-a-film in the new picture Inglourious Basterds, was asked by Time Out New York about how the experience affected him: QUESTION: You directed a fake Nazi propaganda film that airs in the middle of Inglourious Basterds. Was that the most twisted thing you’ve ever made? ANSWER: I thought I had made some horrific movies before, but there I was, filming that propaganda movie, Nation’s Pride. The whole thing is this guy in a bell tower shooting American soldiers and it’s all supposed to be about the glory of Hitler and the power...

Lonewolf Diaries: Brad Pitt Leading the Anti-Christian Charge Posted By Steven Crowder On August 18, 2009 @ 5:40 pm In Celebrity News, Featured Story, Lone Wolf Diaries, Religion | 235 Comments I should say right off the bat that I can’t just blame Brad Pitt. The plague of closed-mindedness permeates every corner of Hollywood… Brad Pitt just happens to be the one who’s most recently crystallized it so perfectly. Much like the time Megan Fox tipped Tinseltown’s hand when she said that if given the chance, she’d urge Megatron to only murder the “white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super bible-beating people...

Having read through some 600 comments about universal health care, I now realize I took the wrong approach in my previous blog entry. I discussed the Obama health plan in political, literal, logical terms. Most of my readers replied in the same vein. The comments, as always, have been helpful, informative and for the most part civil. My mistake was writing from the pragmatic side. I should have followed my heart and gone with a more emotional approach. I believe universal health care is, quite simply, right.

Oliver Stone is making his most ambitious stab at American history yet. The controversial director is creating a 10-part documentary series for Showtime titled "Secret History of America." Narrated by Stone, the series promises to focus on events that "at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America's unique and complex history of the last 60 years," according to Showtime.

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and ex-astronaut Buzz Aldrin are to attend a memorial service for Walter Cronkite, officials said. Cronkite died July 17. He was 92. His funeral was July 24 in New York. The New York Post said the luminaries are scheduled to speak at the Sept. 9 event at Manhattan's Lincoln Center. Also reportedly on the guest list are television personality Nick Clooney, CBS executives and newspeople Les Moonves, Sean McManus and Bob Schieffer, veteran broadcast journalist Tom Brokaw and media mogul Howard Stringer. The Post said Wynton...

Plot Synopsis: Julie Powell (Amy Adams) plays a 29-year old Queens woman who works in some redevelopment corporation for remediation of 9/11 issues, who's bored with the job, and depressed with the stories she has to deal with. Her husband suggests she write a blog, but the only blog-worthy thing in her life is her work, which would defeat the purpose of blogging. She realizes she enjoys cooking and does start the blog with the intention of working through a Julia Child cookbook with about 500 recipes in one year. She posts the number of days and recipes remaining on...

Los Angeles, CA (BANG) - George Clooney has hired to psychic to help him contact his dead pig. The "Leatherheads" star is still mourning the loss of his beloved potbellied pet Max, who died in 2006, and asked a medium to get in touch with the swine. George reportedly told a friend: "The psychic told me Max had a great life with me. He is very happy in spirit and still hangs out with me sometimes." "I am not sure she was telling the truth but I do want to believe her." The handsome actor was left devastated after 300lb...

Obama hits Hollywood on fundraising trip U.S. president to tap movie, music executives at Beverly Hills hotel LOS ANGELES - President Barack Obama looked not for votes in California on Wednesday but for millions of dollars to aid Democratic campaigns, including at a fundraiser hosted by such Hollywood names as Steven Spielberg. Like Bill Clinton and other top Democrats before him, Obama visits the Golden State now and then to tap wealthy, liberal-leaning activists, especially in Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Wednesday night's two-tiered event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel offered tickets ranging from $1,000 to $15,200. The lower prices bought...

Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has agreed to take on the starring role in a film about a retired musician who sets out to find his father's Nazi executioner, according to media reports. Penn is to play an ageing wealthy rocker who grows bored of his retirement and goes on a quest to find his father's killer, an ex-Nazi war criminal taking refuge in the U.S. The screenplay of "This Must Be the Place" was co-written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello, and marks Italian director Paolo Sorrentino's English-language feature debut. Penn will take on the new role once he has completed...

Actor Alec Baldwin's joke about getting a Filipino mail-order bride provoked a sharp response in the Philippines, with one senator saying Monday that the "30 Rock" star faces violence if he ever visits. Baldwin, 51, who is divorced with a teenage daughter, said in a May 12 interview on "The Late Show" with David Letterman that he would love to have more children. The Emmy-winning actor quipped that he was "thinking about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point ... or a Russian one."

Republican Party turncoat Arlen Specter is being rewarded by Hollywood. The buzz on the L.A. streets is that the Senate will be filibuster proof when the Democrats add Al Franken and Specter. A recent Tina Daunt article in the Los Angeles Times trumpets the following headline: “Arlen Specter is welcome on the Left Coast.”

The Laura Ingraham show is on now. She has Bill Donahue from the Catholic League for Civil Rights discussing the latest Ron Howard/Tom Hanks anti-Christian epic.

Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn said in a Huffington Post blog entry this week that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is a “warm” and “friendly man” with a “robust sense of humor,” who daily “risks” his own life for his country in ways former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney “could never imagine.” Penn also wrote that conservative talk radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity “hate” the principles upon which America was founded. Chavez, a frequent critic of the United States, is a military officer who supports neo-socialist policies and tried to take over Venezuela in a failed coup...

Director Ron Howard on Tuesday defended his film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown 's "Angels & Demons" from criticism that it smears the Roman Catholic Church, heightening an ongoing battle over fictional depictions of the Vatican. Howard, who also directed the 2006 movie adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code," posted a blog at The Huffington Post website saying that neither he nor his new movie "Angels & Demons," which debuts in May and stars Tom Hanks, are anti-Catholic. "And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church...

Friday, April 17, 2009 Kook Actress Garofalo: Tea Parties Were About Hating the Black Man You may have missed this. It was on Keith Olbermann's show. Actress Janeane Garofalo said the Tax Day Tea Party protests were really about hating the black man in the White House. How original. The 8 minute long hate-filled rant is Here. The Washington Times reported: Liberal actress and political activist Janeane Garofalo, in all seriousness, said activists who attended tea parties are racists with dysfunctional brains in a recent prime-time television appearance. "Let's be very honest about what this is about. This is not...

Sacha Baron Cohen's latest film, Bruno, has succeeded in getting its age rating lowered in the US, despite initial objections from censors. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) wanted to give the film the restrictive NC-17 rating, banning anyone aged under 17 from watching it. But producers re-edited the movie and resubmitted it, achieving an R rating. Early reviews of the film, based on Baron Cohen's gay fashion TV reporter character, have largely been positive. "I saw Bruno last night. It beyond delivered," wrote Hollywood director Ruben Fleischer on his blog. "After Borat, I thought there was no way...

Janeane Garofalo says that the Tea Parties were racist! What were the May Marches last year when every Mexican marched last year? Taxes do not know color. This thing is deranged.

Even before "State of Play," his new movie celebrating the watchdog role of newspapers, Ben Affleck was partial to print. He grew up a reader of The Boston Globe and can't imagine his hometown paper going out of business. "I was definitely shocked to hear about the Globe," the actor told us, referring to The New York Times Co.'s threat to shutter New England's newspaper of record unless it gets concessions from the paper's unions. "I fundamentally misunderstood what was going on. Boston.com has 5.6 million readers a month, and yet this hugely successful news gathering operation is going out...

Over five months after the election, a three-judge panel has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race. The judges issued their final ruling late Monday, stating "Franken received the highest number of lawfully cast ballots in the Nov. 4, 2008 general election." They also have determined that Franken is entitled to receive the certificate of election. Last week, Republican Norm Coleman suffered a blow after a few hundred previously rejected absentee ballots were opened and counted at the tail end of Coleman's lawsuit contesting his loss in a statewide recount. They broke almost 2-to-1 for...

Monday, April 13, 2009 BREITBART: Jon Stewart and Kumar go to D.C. Andrew Breitbart On Tuesday night I was bestowed the honor of being ridiculed on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. The segment in which I was featured had Mr. Stewart mocking those of us who dare criticize the new president. In the era of Obama, mainstream American political humor is now officially on the defensive. Stewart lumped me with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican — a cross section of people you might expect to be critical of an administration implementing...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (C) poses with Japanese women after a signing ceremony with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp in Tokyo April 6, 2009. Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) denied on Monday it had approved a $1.5 billion credit line for Venezuela to finance the expansion of two refineries. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (L) speaks with a Japanese attendant after a signing ceremony with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp in Tokyo April 6, 2009.

LAS VEGAS — Ethan Hawke might want to avoid crossing paths with Toby Keith in the near future. The country star lit into the actor for an article Hawke wrote in the new issue of Rolling Stone about Kris Kristofferson. In it, Hawke refers to a blowup Kristofferson had with an unnamed country star back in 2003 that sounds a lot like Toby Keith. But a furious Keith, speaking backstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards, said it wasn't true, and added that Hawke did not name him in the story because he did not want to face him...

Hollywood, needing to cut costs in lean times, is starting to say no to its stars. For years, top movie stars often landed deals paying them a percentage -- sometimes as much as 20% -- of a studio's take of box-office revenues from the first dollar the movie makes, even if it turned out to be a flop that cost the studio millions. As a result, the biggest celebrities broke the $20 million mark. Eddie Murphy got that kind of payday for the flop "Meet Dave," which cost Twentieth Century Fox about $70 million and took in only $11.8 million...

My friend Kitty sent me this link to an article about the ongoing saga of turning the 1,100 page book “Atlas Shrugged,” by Ayn Rand, into a feature film: Rand’s popular but polarizing book — it’s derided by many literary critics but has a huge public following — tells the story of Dagny Taggart, a railroad executive trying to keep her corporation competitive in the face of what she perceives as a lack of innovation and individual responsibility. A number of stars have expressed serious interest in playing the lead role of Taggart. Angelina Jolie previously had been reported as...

What's the one thing Las Vegas needs more of? Light, according to Carlos Santana, who figures he's just the guy to bring it during a Sin City residency he'll begin May 27 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Santana, the man and the band, will play about three shows a week through 2010 at the Hard Rock's expanded and refurbished concert theater, the Joint, which another classic rocker, Paul McCartney, will inaugurate April 19. "Santana is going to bring a lot of joy, light, peace and happiness into a place that is basically based on illusion," the multiple Grammy-winning...