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<p>It was hard to parody Hollywood’s loony limousine liberalism this summer. “I’m coming out,” trumpeted actress Jane Fonda about her plans for an anti-Iraq-war bus tour (thankfully later canceled). “I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam”—if “stand” is the right word for her 1972 lovefest with the enemy. Paramount announced that conspiracy-minded director Oliver Stone, who described the 9/11 terrorists’ “revolt” as a legitimate “fuck you, fuck your order” to culture-controlling American movie corporations (of all things), will helm Tinseltown’s first large-scale drama about the attacks. David Koepp, co-writer of Steven Spielberg’s remake of War of the Worlds, likened the movie’s ravaging aliens to the U.S. military in Iraq. And on the Huffington Post website, such celebrity lefties as Rob Reiner and Laurie David huffed daily about President Bush’s outrages against civil liberties, Mother Earth, and all that’s proper.</p>

1. Russell Crowe Triumphs in "Cinderella Man" In "Cinderella Man" (opening Friday, June 3rd), Russell Crowe once again proves that old-fashioned masculinity does not have to be completely absent from the movies. Directed by Ron Howard, "Cinderella Man" tells the uplifting, real-life story of Jim Braddock, the Depression-era boxer who rose from poverty and the soup lines to become heavyweight champion of the world. The movie has excellent moral values, and Russell Crowe (Jim Braddock), Renee Zellweger (his wife Mae Braddock), and Paul Giamatti (his manager Joe Gould) all do a fine job portraying the 30s-era characters with conviction and...

“Oh, and, uh, Tom - you’re actually playing an Iraqi insurgent …” Honestly, folks, I don’t try to start these controversies - I merely report and analyze. But it does appear that something may be brewing (a la Star Wars ) with respect to how we are supposed to ‘interpret’ Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming War of the Worlds. I am very much looking forward to this film, but I’m also growing frustrated with what I’m seeing in the press. One of our intrepid LIBERTAS readers, ‘Kevin,’ recently posted (in the comments section) some remarks from War screenwriter David Koepp to the...

If Hollywood is so pitifully out of touch, how does the industry’s economic train keep chugging along? Why don’t market forces come crashing in on Hollywood executives, sort of like the way the Red Sea came crashing down on Pharaoh’s army in “The Ten Commandments”? The answer’s in the numbers. Let’s take a sampling of 5 left-leaning, hot button’ films from last year, all of which were Oscar-nominated and four of which won Oscars: “Brokeback Mountain,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Syriana,” “The Constant Gardener” and surprise Best Picture winner “Crash.” The average budget for these five films was about...

2006-10-20 Box-office politics by Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief The first person I met at the Liberty Film Festival preview was a riled up Asian American man with a pompadour, who quickly explained to me what was wrong with Hollywood: It is a vast liberal conspiracy. "But the founders of the studios were conservative," I said, thinking of the Goldwyns, the Warners and the Mayers. "Yes," he said. "But their children are communists." The Liberty Film Festival, now in its third year, aims to present and promote the work of conservative filmmakers who, according to the organizers, are ignored, persecuted and otherwise...

Thursday, October 20, 2005 SP filmmakers showcase a conservative Hollywoodarts: Mostly unknown movies are on the bill for this weekend's Liberty Film Festival in West Hollywood.By Nick Green Daily Breeze "We the Living," a rarely seen 1942 Italian black-and-white film based on a book by teen-favorite novelist Ayn Rand, tells the tale of two young lovers who fight against conformity in communist Russia. A series of Kurdish shorts from the inaugural Iraqi Film Festival -- film production was virtually banned under the tyranny of former president Saddam Hussein -- explores the rejection of violence and terrorism.And "Brainwashing 201: The...

It’s safe to say the folks who think Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan is a victim of post traumatic stress disorder, not a terrorist with a laundry list of ties to radicalism, won’t be tickled to see “Kalifornistan.” The new film, an unabashed assault on Islamic extremists, comes from conservative filmmaker Jason Apuzzo. The movie fuses film, video, documentary and surveillance footage to follow a terrorist planning to wipe Los Angeles off the map. He’s too extreme even for Al Qaeda, but that might not stop him from carrying out his plans. He somehow finds time to stalk an exotic...

Less than 72 hours before ABC's "The Path to 9/11" is scheduled to air, the network is suddenly under siege. On Tuesday, ABC was forced to concede that "The Path to 9/11" is "a dramatization, not a documentary." The film deceptively invents scenes to depict former President Bill Clinton's handling of the Al Qaeda threat. Now, ABC claims to be is editing those false sequences to satisfy critics so the show can go on -- even if it still remains a gross distortion of history. And as it does so, ABC advances the illusion that the deceptive nature of "The...

On March 21st, Paramount will be releasing a 50th anniversary DVD set of Cecil B. DeMille's legendary classic, The Ten Commandments - and frankly, the timing couldn't be any better. Why, you may ask? How could a 50 year-old epic from Hollywood's Golden Age still be 'relevant' today? I'll answer that question below - but let's first take a look back at this glorious and important film. The Ten Commandments happens to be the fifth highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. When the film was released in 1956, theater tickets cost 50 cents - and the film still...