http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/movies/ en-us Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:30:16 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048146/posts Batman is a neocon By Sharon McGovern In conservative circles there is a tradition of wailing and gnashing teeth over American movie culture. It’s well deserved. There is much about the industry that is despicable, movies are dauntingly complex to make, and most of what passes as film criticism—which might serve as a corrective or guide—is degraded and lame. It’s a near miracle that decent movies are made at all, let alone any that would please the notoriously fussy and uptight Right. The folly of the war in Iraq has been a defining theorem in Hollywood for the past few... Modern Conservative http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048146/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:30:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047775/posts Hollywood is quickly losing its grip on the kind of easy money once readily available through Wall Street. The collapse of Paramount Pictures' $450-million film financing deal underscores how dramatically the global credit crunch is prompting weary investors and several industry-friendly banks to shy away from a popular form of funding that has fueled Hollywood's production growth in recent years. The pullback could set the studios scrambling to find alternative sources of capital to help mitigate risk on their movie slates as filmmaking and marketing costs continue to climb. With the debt markets depressed and money drying up, studios like... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047775/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:47:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046395/posts Andrew Breitbart, CEO of Breitbart.com, had a great op ed in the Washington Times yesterday about how Hollywood oppresses Republicans and conservatives in La La Land. Detailing the travails of Republicans in Hollywood -- including destruction by Hollywood's liberals of personal property owned by identified Republicans -- Breitbart laments the "bullying" the self-proclaimed tolerant lefties mete out to those who walk the Republican side of the street. Breitbart says of this ideological inbreeding: But Los Angeles is a one-company town. And because of bullying (or what Democrats would call blacklisting or “political discrimination” if the shoe were on the other... Publius' Forum http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046395/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:10:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045480/posts The credit crunch has hit home in Hollywood after Paramount Pictures, which has released a string of hit movies this year, was forced to suspend plans for a $450m film financing. The studio has been working with Deutsche Bank on financing that would have provided funds for up to 30 films, including possible blockbusters such as the sequel to Transformers and a new version of Star Trek. However, Deutsche has decided to close its film finance unit and concentrate on other areas. With the Paramount deal proving difficult to close because of a market-wide lack of enthusiasm for the senior... Financial Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045480/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:20:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043532/posts The movie industry no longer aspires to portray genuine heroism—even though that's precisely what audiences want to see. A spate of movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror came out last year, all of them hostile to U.S. involvement and all of them box-office flops. At the time there was a certain amount of soul-searching in the media as to why, when most Americans told pollsters they thought the Iraq war, at least, had been a mistake, they didn't seem to want to go and see movies that sought to show them just how... The American, A Magazine of Ideas http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043532/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:45:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042574/posts There's a war going on, and Army Lt. Col. J. Todd Breasseale has a mission. But it's far removed from the captured Iraqi palace where he was once stationed. He fights his war now from an office on Wilshire Boulevard lined with movie posters chronicling conflicts real and imagined, from "Patton" to "War of the Worlds." Breasseale's desk is piled high with scripts, each marked with his name and stamped "confidential." It's his job to help decide which movies should get Army help. The mission is both harder and more important than it might appear. After the Vietnam War, movies... The Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042574/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 20:52:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2040128/posts Hollywood goes with what works and, let's face it, there are a few things audiences like to see again and again in their movies. The underdog wins big, the loser gets his dream girl, Batman is awesome, etc. But there are some themes that are either so wrong, stupid or harmful that they need to be retired once and for all. Such as ... Cracked.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2040128/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 07:21:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2034372/posts Here we go! Arsenic and Old Lace Aliens (great series except for 3) Apollo 13 The Aviator Apocolypto All About Eve The African queen Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Armageddon http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2034372/posts#comment Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:58:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2034729/posts Here we go! Casino Royale The Court Jester The Caine Mutiny Cat on a Hot Tin Roof A Clockwork Orange The Cruel Sea Casablanca Citizen kane Chaplin Catch Me if You Can http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2034729/posts#comment Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:39:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2035069/posts Here We Go Die Hard The Dambusters Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to stop Worrying and Love the Bomb The Dead Zone Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Deliverance The Duelists Das Boot (I Know!) Dirty Dancing Dragon: The Bruce Lee story http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2035069/posts#comment Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:38:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2039719/posts here we go! The Last King of Scotland The Lord of the Rings trilogy Life is Beautiful Last train from Gun Hill The Last Samurai The Last of the Mohicans The Lavender Hill Mob (being remade by director of Galaxy Quest) Lawrence of Arabia The Long Good Friday (IF you haven’t seen this..Please do!)The Ladykillers (Sim and Guinness) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2039719/posts#comment Wed, 2 Jul 2008 14:00:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2038425/posts I've just seen The Wanted, and now I'm going to review it. There will be spoilers, although it's hard to spoil a movie that is already so mediocre. I went in knowing nothing other than that Angelina Jolie was in it, and it was about some nerdy young man finding out he was very special and had secret powers, and it was his destiny to fulfill them. Does that sound terribly familiar?.Sure enough, it starts out with a nerdy young man in an office. Our erstwhile Neo is approached by a Trinity-like vixen who drags him through a wild chase... My seething mind http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2038425/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:52:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038342/posts The very future of how we consume media rests on the movie star shoulders of Will Smith. That is Hollywood hyperbole — but it contains a speck of truth. In an industry first, Sony Pictures’ hoped-for blockbuster “Hancock,” starring Mr. Smith as a bungling superhero, hits theaters on Wednesday and will be available — after its theater run but before release on DVD — over the Internet, directly to viewers’ television sets. That is, if they own a Sony Bravia TV with a Web connection. The announcement is significant in what it means for the future of movie watching, and... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038342/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:36:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2036216/posts Just call me an agnostic when it comes to the fever and the fervor SATC inspires among many women around the world. I simply don’t understand it, don’t get it, and wouldn’t want to have sex in any city with any of those four women. Ahhhh, but what do we straight men really know? We live by our double standards of wanting pretty women in the boudoir who can function as hyper-orgasmic frauleins and bump booty with the best of them, while on the outside, we like our women to be perky mom types, wholesome and sociable. The Fashion Time Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2036216/posts#comment Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:22:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031132/posts Still reeling from a long strike by screenwriters this past winter, Hollywood is bracing for the possibility that the entertainment industry will grind to a halt again -- this time because of a dispute with actors. The studios' contract with the Screen Actors Guild expires June 30, and talks are getting contentious. Already, film and television producers are holding back on new projects, fearing the talks will fail, even as they rush to complete existing projects before the end of the month. The two sides have made little progress on key issues including compensation for actors when their work is... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031132/posts#comment Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:55:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2029872/posts This is definitely a vanity post. My first, but it has been bothering me for several days and I have toget it off my chest. It does have serious social implications, however, and I hope not uninteresting to Freepers. Last Saturday night, my brother (46) and I (43) decided to go to a movie, King Fu Panda. Being an animated feature, we were wary of screaming kids so we specifically chose a showtime after 10PM. Four guys came in at the last minute and sat four seats away, with empty seats between us. Five minutes into the movie, the guy... Vanity http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2029872/posts#comment Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:36:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2029625/posts Hollywood, Calif. – Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®, a family guide to movies and entertainment, is delighted to see that this weekend at the boxoffice family films win again. “We see it time and again,” Baehr noted. “Movies aimed for the family, without excessive negative elements of sex, violence or foul language, consistently perform higher at the box office.” This weekend KUNG FU PANDA, a family oriented animated film from DreamWorks Pictures, took the top box office spot in a head to head opening with the Adam Sander sexual innuendo drenched YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN from Sony... MOVIEGUIDE® http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2029625/posts#comment Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:33:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027646/posts ON a Thursday morning last month, hundreds of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer workers filed out of the studio’s Century City office tower and into a movie theater across the street. snip But MGM is choking on $3.7 billion in debt, forcing it to cough up more than $300 million in annual interest payments while it delays paying down the principal, its financial statements show. snip For the fiscal year ended in March, MGM lost about $400 million; it lost about the same amount a year earlier. snip ...Mr. Sloan’s team still had other cards to play — like forging a partnership with Tom... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027646/posts#comment Sat, 7 Jun 2008 20:03:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2024269/posts I’ve just seen Sex and the City and now I’m going to review it. There will be spoilers. If you’re still waiting with baited breath to see this movie (a description that I doubt applies to many Freepers) don’t read any further unless you’ve already guessed that it’s going to be pretty much like a Jane Austen story but with gratuitous sex scenes, designer clothes, and a plethora of clichéd observations about life and love. In other words, a happy ending, and no one dies. I should say right away, I was expecting someone to die because I’d overheard a... My seething mind http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2024269/posts#comment Sun, 1 Jun 2008 04:24:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2024182/posts 'I've got my Tomb Raider guns - and I'm not afraid to use them,' says Angelina    Angelina Jolie has revealed she own real versions of the guns she toted in the movie Tomb Raider - and she and partner Brad Pitt wouldn't be afraid to use them. The actress, who is rumoured to have given birth to twin girls Isla and Amelie, says she and Pitt keep a firearm in their house to protect themselves and their expanding brood...    By Martyn Palmer Last updated at 9:48 PM on 31st May 2008A solid gold pendant nestles in the... The Daily Mail (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2024182/posts#comment Sun, 1 Jun 2008 00:06:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023511/posts -- Woman says SATC inspired her to have sex at 14 -- ABC News.com is currently highlighting a Sex and the City- inspired story about a woman who says the HBO series inspired her to start having sex when she was 14. Will the networks news shows pick up the story or will it remain an "internet only" feature, not likely to be seen by a broad audience? The question is worth asking because ABC's Good Morning America was one of the first network morning news shows to salivate over last week's London opening of Sex and the City: The... ExileStreet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023511/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 14:06:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2023508/posts Broadcast TV finally conveyed “Sex and the City” episodes to a wider public, albeit with a bit of editing here and there. The HBO breakout chick-flickette series gathered garlands and huzzahs, and a few brickbats, thru S&C’s long run on cable. It quickly saturated the post-HBO syndicated broadcast market, and fell short of many assessments by conservative voices. Much more mainstream than you’d have guessed, and far more than I’d guessed until the saturation distribution reached my eyes and ears. And analytical synapses. Now comes a summer release of the awaited feature film, with Big and Carrie rumored to wed.... ExileStreet http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2023508/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 14:01:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021267/posts Tehran, May 25, IRNA American filmmaker and author, Michael Moore held talks with the representative of Iran's Documentary and Experimental Cinema Development Center at the 61st Cannes International Film Festival in southern France on Sunday. In the meeting, Moore voiced his willingness to take part in the Second Iran International Documentary Film Festival slated for October 14-19. Moore, a vocal critic who denounced Bush and the war in Iraq, further expressed regret for not participating in Iran's first documentary film festival. Islamic Republic News Agency http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2021267/posts#comment Mon, 26 May 2008 01:58:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2019633/posts There's a lot to enjoy about this fourth installment of Indiana Jones. It's fun, silly, adventure-filled and completely entertaining in ways we don't always get from movies these days, with the greatest parts coming straight from the marvelous imagination of Steven Spielberg. Plus, it's a summertime blockbuster that doesn't totally rely on CGI which feels practically old-fashioned — and I mean that in the best way possible. BuzzSugar.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2019633/posts#comment Thu, 22 May 2008 12:38:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2018969/posts From the moment we walked into the Theatre I could feel the excitement in the air. The make up of the crowd spoke to both the extraordinary appeal of the writings of C.S. Lewis and, I would soon discover, the brilliance of this wonderful film. The Box Office results from the first weekend confirmed what I was about to experience. Prince Caspian Rules. The audience was an inter-generational sampling of every ethnic variety of family. There were grandfathers and grandmothers, mothers and fathers, children of every age, teenagers, and grandchildren. As the lights dimmed, many people were hurriedly trying to... Catholic Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2018969/posts#comment Wed, 21 May 2008 01:50:24 GMT