Free Republic

December 25, 2009 Avatar the movie: the religion of the left By Phill Kline The visuals are stunning, the story borrowed and the message shallow and false. John Cameron's new epic Avatar features a jump in animation technology and a throwback of over 1,000 years to pantheism. Set in 2154, the movie features a U.S. mega-corporation mining the distant planet of Pandora for a rare mineral that suspiciously looks like a carbon spewing lump of coal. The mining is conducted with smoke belching machinery that rape the planet while the human workers are protected by Marine mercenaries from the...

One of Hollywood's most enduring relationships has ended – Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have broken up after more than two decades together, PEOPLE has learned exclusively. "Actress Susan Sarandon and her partner of 23 years, actor Tim Robbins have announced that they separated over the summer," her rep Teal Cannaday tells PEOPLE in a statement. "No further comments will be made."

Chris Matthews on Tuesday called "Rules for Radicals" author Saul Alinsky one of his heroes. This admission came only five days after the "Hardball" host proudly admitted on the air that he was a liberal. "I always try to remind myself of Saul Alinsky when I get confused," Matthews told "Hardball" guest Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Such was revealed as the pair discussed the fate of health care reform. CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Well, to reach back to one of our heroes from the past, from the `60s, Saul Alinsky once said that even though both sides have flaws in their arguments...

Al Franken, the Democrat from Minnesota who won election to the Senate after a successful career as a comic and author, has begun to show the sharp-tongued side of his personality by ripping into GOP staffers behind the scenes. Franken has worked diligently to keep a low public profile in Congress while focusing on wonky policy debates. But he has been unable to completely repress the fiery passion that made him a hero of the Democratic Party’s liberal base. Franken has teamed up with GOP colleagues to introduce a variety of legislation, something that may surprise fans who read his...

I was watching a debate this morning on CNN while at a doctor's appointment and it got me to thinking...which U.S. President really can take credit for ending the cold war? The panel was originally discussing the Reagan Revolution in comparison to the Obama Revolution with everything Obama has "accomplished" in 1 year versus what it took Reagan 8 years to do and that Obama has a more "impressive" list of accomplishments in his first year in comparison. Then one person said "Reagan won the cold war, Obama will never win the war on terror," to which the debate shifted...

I AM often asked to talk at schools and almost always ask students three questions about a film that lies about the "stolen generations". First: "How many of you have been shown Rabbit-Proof Fence?" Answer: every one. Second: "Have you been shown the movie as a great piece of film-making, or as a history lesson?" Answer: in every case as history. You know, like you learn America's history from John Wayne movies. And third: "How many of you have checked whether the film is actually true, by, say, reading the book on which it's based?" Answer: of thousands of students,...

Michael Moore calls for boycott of Connecticut By Jordan Fabian - 12/16/09 01:04 PM ET Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on Thursday called for a boycott of the state of Connecticut in reaction to Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-Conn.) opposition to key provisions of healthcare reform legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recerntly removed the public option and Medicare-buy in proposal, which the centrist Lieberman opposes, from the bill in order to attract centrist votes. Reid needs 60 votes in order to break a Republican filibuster of the bill. Moore focused his anger on the Connecticut voters who reelected Lieberman in...

Howard Zinn (left) with the very serious-looking actor Viggo Mortensen The small-screen version of Marxist historian Howard Zinn’s leftward-slanted history of America, The People Speak, aired Sunday night on the History Channel. The film, based on Zinn’s influential book, A People’s History of the United States, is chock full of useful idiot celebrities including Matt Damon, Marisa Tomei, Morgan Freeman, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Penn, Bruce Springsteen, and its executive producer Josh Brolin, all parroting the radical platitudes written for them. One scene in the shlockumentary tells the story of an organizer-agitator who rallied tenants against landlords during the Great Depression....

This is my latest post for NewsReal. I thought I'd post it here, because I'm pretty sure you guys will enjoy it. You would think that someone who writes a book called A People’s History of the United States would at the very least believe there is such an entity as the “United States,” wouldn’t you? Well, you’d be mistaken in historian and radical leftist Howard Zinn’s case. In his most famous work, he writes: The pretense is that there really is such a thing as “the United States,” subject to occasional conflicts and quarrels, but fundamentally a community of...

History serving “a social aim,” rather than chronicling the past in a detached manner, is what readers get in A People’s History of the United States. With any luck, “The People Speak,” the History Channel documentary based on the book that premieres this Sunday, will be, like so many Hollywood productions, unfaithful to the original. Given A People’s History of the United States’ infidelity to facts, this might be the only chance viewers have of seeing anything resembling an accurate retelling of history.Through Zinn’s looking-glass, Maoist China, site of history’s bloodiest state-sponsored killings, transforms into “the closest thing, in the...

Children are uniquely malleable beings, readily convinced of magically colorful tales – Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are the first that come to mind. This innocence is beautiful, but it is a quality that can easily fall victim to radically foreign ideas if taught consistently and pervasively at an early age. One need only look at the birth of fascism or socialism to see a recipe for how radical ideas become ubiquitous among a nation’s youth. Enter Howard Zinn – an author, professor and American historian – who, with the help of Hollywood and the History Channel, intends to...

Dear President Obama, Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what...

GENEVA - Switzerland - The United Nations has welcomed bids from the world's top celebrities to stop passing wind thus ending the deadly march of 'climate change' threatening our delicate eco-system. "It doesn't matter that countries like China, India and America are pumping out huge amounts of toxic pollution into the earth's atmosphere; we believe by not farting and reusing our shopping bags we can save the world too," Bob Geldof, told a panel of scientists at Geneva's annual Climate Change exhibition sponsored by Monsanto.

"The Reagan revolution sits on her like an anvil. "It's a mystery to me why a lot of people don't want Democrats. When I was growing up, it was all Democrats. We wouldn't let a Republican in the back door." "Another mystery: how, like Vanessa Redgrave, she always managed to keep the hard angles of politics out of her work. How many social reformers could say they regret never having worked with Fred Astaire "because we were so much alike"?"

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.”