It has been over a year since the Iranian elections were held and a beautiful young woman was killed on that nation’s streets while protesting the election results. Since those public demonstrations, the same brutal Iranian regime remains in power.
Mary Frances Berry, the former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, writing in Politico: Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that
Several weeks ago, the Emmy nominations were announced and many media outlets celebrated some of the great new programs that were nominated. For instance, USA Today’s Robert Bianco wrote that, “After years of recycling nominees and ignoring new shows, the
In mid-April of this year, Variety reported on HBO Documentary Film’s purchase of a new documentary about Al-Qaeda entitled “My Trip to Al-Qaeda.” The article also noted that the movie “is a collaboration between [Alex] Gibney, who picked up an
HBO isn’t often accused of being a great source of patriotic material, but their 2008 mini-series John Adams should required viewing. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great one to rent. It deals with the first fifty years of
The HBO documentary For Neda, directed by Antony Thomas and narrated by famed Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, first aired on HBO in the United States on June 14 but went viral in Iran on June 1, well before the regime
For all the talk about how TV, not movies, is where you find the best writing these days, I sometimes think they’re starting to run out of ideas for TV shows, too. For example, as of this week there are
Filmmaker Antony Thomas talks about the making of “For Neda,” his documentary about the death of protester Neda Agha-Soltan.
[youtube XCbrEbEyheM nolink] In 2006, Michael Richards, who played “Kramer” on the Seinfeld series, appropriately apologized for his racist rant at the patrons of a comedy club where he was performing. He later phoned the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse
The only way to explain my admiration for “Sex and the City 2” is to unfortunately reveal key plot moments and lay out much of the final act in spoiler-iffic Technicolor. This is not about justifying myself but instead to
The Treme (pronounced treh-MAY) is one of New Orleans oldest and traditionally black neighborhoods. It is also the home of some of its musical legends. The area was one of those hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. HBO’s new series explores
HBO’s Bill Maher exhibits some of his wisdom on ABC. Its nice to know people like Bill are looking out for us poor ol’ helpless minorities, and appearing on major “journalism” shows like This Week, which now feature comedians instead
Anyone watching today’s installment of ABC’s morning news program This Week had to feel some measure of pity for out-spoken left wing elite Bill Maher making his first appearance on the show as a round table guest. The condescending comic
In my last article, we began a discussion of GOV2.0. Over the next couple weeks, I’ll sketch some sexy details. Commenters, keep tossing out your ideas. Tea Partiers! Here’s how to save every state budget. Let’s hoist our pirate flag
Very few romantic comedies these days manage to get both the romance and the comedy right. But the surprisingly well-written, deftly cast and impressively scored new film “The Back-Up Plan” manages to be a rare success on both fronts. —–
This piece, by Andrew Ferguson in Commentary, is almost too easy, but it sure is fun. Did the little furry mammals tuck into the dinosaur eggs with so much gusto? The tiny corner of the New York Times empire where
Why does Frank Rich still have a job? Not only is Rich the last and least interesting of the Op-Ed columnists of the New York Times — and, given that his competition includes Maureen Dowd and Paul “The End is
I recently watched the HBO documentary Reporter, profiling the New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Nicholas Kristof, as he reported on the genocide taking place in the Congo. Notably, the documentary spent considerable time focusing on Kristof’s
For three years now the autism community has declared April Autism Awareness Month and Friday, April 2nd was World Autism Day. I turned on the TV to see how the mainstream media would advance the autism conversation. To my disappointment
John Malone and Greg Maffei must put the brakes on selling Overture Studios. They don’t need to sell it. They need to restructure it. It’s too valuable an asset to let go, especially when combined with Liberty Media’s other properties.
There are also methods of fixing the problems that currently exist with the scripted network television industry. The current process is enormously wasteful of both money and productivity. Writers spend months pitching ideas to executives, who in turn pitch them
Claude Brodesser-Akner has a column in New York Magazine‘s new culture blog (Vulture) recently in which he sounds a warning, in hushed conspiratorial tones, about an effort underway by Hollywood to use Evangelical/Christian organizations to spread the word of their
The second high-profile name attached to HBO’s “The Pacific” was interviewed by CNSNews and would’ve distinguished himself with his classy approach to these questions even if his counterpart hadn’t defamed both the war in the Pacific and the War on
The entertainment media is doing the best they can to spin the paltry ratings for the debut of “The Pacific.” But 3.1 million viewers compared to the 10 million for the premiere of “Band of Brothers” is pretty difficult to
Victor Davis Hanson: Much has been written of the recent Tom Hanks remarks to Douglas Brinkley in a Time Magazine interview about his upcoming HBO series on World War II in the Pacific. Here is the explosive excerpt that is
You can watch these very troubling 25 seconds below and understand why Tom Hanks would never have the backbone to leave the comfortable echo chamber of MSNBC and enter an environment where he might be challenged. After the actor is
Over the weekend, Time Magazine published a long, glowing profile of Tom Hanks to help promote his upcoming HBO miniseries “The Pacific.” And as with all things entertainment media, the subject is never challenged or even made to shift uncomfortably
[youtube smoNSbMs9Yo nolink] —– The Wall Street Journal: The ensemble cast of actors in HBO miniseries “The Pacific” all have a similar look…dirty. “In my memory I was dirty for a year. I could not get the dirt off of
For intellectual laziness, lackluster writing and sheer historical dishonesty, it’s hard to beat Frank Rich of the New York Times. Week after week, and at tiresome length, Rich dishes out his regurgitated pensées regarding his pet hobby-horses, including the evil
OK, we were just bunking, actually. In a trailer surrounded by cement t-walls in Baghdad. As gigs went, this one was a little OUT there. I’ve recently returned from eight days entertaining the troops in Kuwait and Iraq with four
[youtube XRF8FkPoMB4 nolink] More here. Remember when Rosie O’Donnell was called the Queen of Nice and Janeane Garofalo was actually a fairly compelling movie actress? It’s as though they had a special operation to have their class removed … if
Now I hate to be “that guy” who fact-checks jokes and so… I’m not going to be. Let’s be honest though, Bill Maher doesn’t really write jokes these days. He’s instead decided to sermonize on the perils of right-wing Americans
I had all but given up on Hollywood and the media understanding the real issues in the autism community and then last week, something happened. Andrew Wakefield’s study was retracted from The Lancet. Full disclosure, Wakefield’s study never actually claimed
A USA Today story informs us “Viewers are about to see full-frontal male nudity, heterosexual, homosexual and group sex, and graphic scenes rarely — if ever — seen on mainstream TV.” A few years back, I got a real taste
Look fast right around the one-minute mark: “Inspired By Historical Events” Cut to: A little boy in a t-shirt labelled “Israel” beating up a helpless little boy in a t-shirt labelled “Gaza Strip” as a slow, fat, clueless little boy
Partial list of winners: MOTION PICTURES: Picture, Drama: “Avatar” Picture, Musical or Comedy: “The Hangover” Actor, Drama: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart” Actress, Drama: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side” Director: James Cameron, “Avatar” Actor, Musical or Comedy: Robert Downey Jr., “Sherlock
We debated whether to rank “The Messenger” as “abhorrent,” but there are some lightly positive things about it. The more we thought about this movie after seeing it, however, the more the bad content in it stood out and annoyed
You’ve heard it said before: “The book is better than the movie.” But the movies helped me write my new book, The First Assassin. The First Assassin is a historical thriller set primarily in Washington, D.C., at the start of
Amy Rice and Alicia Sams’ documentary, “By the People,” provides a lens into Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. A guided tour of sorts, the film delves into the Obama’s biggest milestones, while ignoring glaring contradictions and blemishes. Perhaps two words