Paramount - Page 13

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is drawing a lot of attention from Americans right now, particularly the residents of the Gulf Coast who will have to absorb the brunt of the spill’s economic and ecological impact. Consequently,

For most of the American Revolution, the bold patriots who demanded liberty were at a disadvantage. It’s easy to look back now and talk about how we won our independence, but we must always remember that the outcome was not

Ronald Reagan admired him a lot. In fact, when Reagan was looking over his new house—the White House—shortly after his inaugural in 1981, he entered into the Cabinet Room. On the wall were portraits of Truman, Jefferson, and Lincoln. The

Some people may not abhor Planned Parenthood for its past and present racism and abortion profiteering. Others may shrug at its systemic, criminal avoidance of statutory rape laws, and tawdry “sexual education” guides aimed at teenagers. But perhaps even some

“Congress should address the need for both national standards and a more robust enforcing authority. If not, more decision making will fall to the states,” said Miles Rapoport, President of Dēmos, an umbrella corporation for the myriad of progressive groups

In the wake of yesterday’s terrible tragedy outside of Vancouver at the Whistler Sliding Center, where Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili sadly lost his life, safety is on the minds of many. Only hours before the opening ceremonies of the 2010

Chip Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle: I certainly understand the anger fomented by one individual’s generous contribution to the clearly mean-spirited campaign of Proposition 8. But, I’m not so sure I agree with the message being sent by gay

In earlier posts – here and here – I drew attention to the pre-eminence of Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu in and for a time after the eighteenth century, and I suggested that at least

It’s the middle of the Christmas movie season, and you’re likely aiming to see escapist romps like “Sherlock Holmes” or family fare like “The Princess and the Frog.” Is anyone out there ready for a holiday film about the rape

— — See trailer here.

Esther Ralston at the height of her fame, 1920’s. To read Part I of this series, please click here. To read Part II, please click here. Broke, with her second marriage in shambles and blacklisted by studio boss L.B. Mayer–Esther

Humans like to think they know the difference between truth and fiction. But in the modern media age, even as we feel technology has made us more savvy than ever, there’s always a disquieting edge that makes us wonder what’s

Even more than Washington, Hollywood is famously the land of, “if you want a friend, get a dog.” Pals, business associates, even lovers come and go in this, the country’s last freewheeling bastion of untrammeled capitalism, in which “what have

THE SECOND class of powers, lodged in the general government, consists of those which regulate the intercourse with foreign nations, to wit: to make treaties; to send and receive ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to define and punish piracies

Esther Ralston at the height of her fame, mid-twenties. To read Part I of this series, please click here. Blessed with a lovely, melodic voice, it’s something of a puzzle why Paramount dropped Esther Ralston’s option in 1929. Esther was

Esther Ralston, at the height of her Hollywood stardom in the 1920’s. They called her: The American Venus. She lived in a Hollywood mansion with a staff of servants. Her chauffeur drove a limited edition limousine. But she ended her

A couple of weeks ago I was in New York, meeting with network television producers about a series they wanted to run about a story my production team and I have been reporting for more than five years: the narco-insurgency

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com AP: Veteran entertainment journalist Army Archerd, who wrote a column for the entertainment trade publication Variety for over 50 years, has died. He was 87. Archerd’s spokeswoman said he died Tuesday at

By now, everyone should know that the new film, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, is a despicable excuse for a movie. It was harshly panned by Big Hollywood as well as by me. For an action film, it is horrible,

As if the makers of “G.I. Joe” hadn’t mucked up their own publicity enough by immediately politicizing the film with an announcement that all the crass Americanism would be stripped from our favorite action heroes in favor of a more

So the latest GI Joe flick is creating controversy, because the character is no longer portrayed as a typical American soldier. Instead he’s part of some elite murky force of international fighters – a Benetton ad with rocket launchers. On

For forty years, GI Joe has been a bellweather for America’s view of the military. If the new GI Joe movie is any indicator, we’re headed for a dry spell for pro-military sentiment under President Obama. Originally launched in 1963

The “G.I. Joe” marketing message to the “flag-waving, Nascar-loving” portion of the country less than enamored with President Obama: Launching the film to a military audience is just one part of a highly atypical marketing and publicity campaign for “G.I.

Exclusive Steve Mason Early 3-Day Estimates 1. The Hangover (Warner Bros) – $32M 3-day – $103.97M cume 2. Pixar’s UP (Disney) – $28.5M 3-day -$185.16M cume 3. The Taking of Pelham 123 (Sony) – $26M 3-day – $26M cume 4.

For navel-gazing Republicans, in the throes of a full-blown identity crisis, the 30th anniversary of John “Duke” Wayne’s passing this June 11th, couldn’t come sooner, reminding us of what it was like when giants were in our midst. The Duke,

On March 26, I was watching the Kids’ Choice Awards with my 8-year-old twins on Viacom’s Nickelodeon, which for 30 years has been the No. 1 entertainment brand for kids. It was dedicated to the Big Green Help environmental campaign

Rebooting Bond with Daniel Craig was Bold. Christopher Nolan’s Reinvention of Batman was genius. But some thought it was overly-ambitious, even audacious, to attempt to restart the Star Trek franchise. It has begun to pay off already for Paramount Pictures,

Several sources at competing studios have told me that J.J. Abrams’ all-new reboot of Star Trek (Paramount), which debuted last night at 7pm at many of its 3,849 locations, may have grossed as much as $6.5M-$7.5M. Studio honchos are “locked

The all-new J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek (Paramount) will win the second weekend of the Hollywood Summer Box Office season by at least a couple of light years over Fox’s fast-fading X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but some of the astronomical

In my Final Weekend Tracking column posted on Wednesday, I predicted that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) would reach $92M on opening weekend, despite soft reviews (now only 38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). My first fearless forecast of the 2009 summer

The great thing about a sequel is that it has a built-in audience. The problem with sequels is that, as the numbers after the title go up, so does the production budget. Very hard to know for sure, but sources

Recording superstar Beyonce Knowles is building a bankable resume for herself as an actress with Sony Screen Gems’ Obsessed as the latest title burnishing her resume. Co-starring the excellent Idris Elba (The Wire), this low budget, PG-13 genre pic has

The final weekend of April has never been Hollywood’s favorite release date. In fact, it is generally considered to be among the worst release dates on the calendar. Whatever opens on the final weekend of April gets absolutely crushed by

The great twin tragedies of the fate of silent films in the modern era is indifference and ignorance. And for those who have seen clips from silent films, they invariably view muddy, degraded prints projected at the wrong speed, hence

I’m your guy. You will want to pay me a visit. You’ll be wanting to sit me down in your offices and have a little chat with me. And if worse comes to worst, I won’t even cost you much

She has a hit TV show on the Disney Channel, a pair of albums that have debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, a concert tour with 69 sold-out arenas in North America, and now a second #1 movie in