When Vice President Joe Biden met with film, television, cable, and video industry lobbyists to discuss efforts to curb gun violence, some thought that new ideas were sure to emerge from the dialogue.
Little came of the discussions though, and a possibility exists that the power players knew in advance that some kind of a fix was in. As representatives of the entertainment industry arrived at the White House, Hollywood hands were noticeably empty of any new proposals.
Sunday evening, from the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the yearly Hollywood ritual of awarding Golden Globes played out.
The 2013 Golden Globes, which was hosted by SNL alums Tina Fey and Amy Pohler, stuck to the formula of gathering glitterati together in the hopes of bringing in big TV ratings.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the liberal organization behind the Globes, has scant credibility within the entertainment industry itself. However, the Globes are considered valuable by executives, studios, and other film and television related businesses, particularly in terms of its public relations effect and potential impact on Academy Awards voting members.
Al Gore’s $100 million payday, which resulted from his sale of Current TV to the Al Jazeera network, exposes the former vice president and chief environmental evangelist as someone who has taken hypocrisy to unprecedented heights.
After rejecting a lucrative offer from talk show host Glenn Beck, Gore opted to accept oil-tainted money, timed his business transaction to avoid paying a “fair share” of taxes, used his former office to lobby for legislation, and ultimately ended up providing assistance to a foreign government-owned network with an alleged anti-American bias.
Endlessly debated in the last political election cycle was the subject of voting irregularities.
Now, as the Oscar campaign season shifts into high gear, Hollywood seems to find itself grappling with the same thorny issue.
Voting procedures are weighing heavy on the minds of members and leaders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This is because for the first time in its history the Academy has decided to incorporate online voting.
The holiday season is typically a time in which the votes for Academy Award nominees are cast. However, for quite a number of Academy members the new voting technology is presenting somewhat of an obstacle.
The Sony Pictures release, “Zero Dark Thirty,” has just gone from being an Oscar favorite to an Academy Award underdog.
The film’s change in status is the result of a spate of strong criticism that has emanated from public officials and Washington, D.C. politicians.
Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Oscar for directing “The Hurt Locker,” which was also a best picture winner, directs “Zero Dark Thirty.” A follow-up movie of sorts for Bigelow, the film has been a favorite of critics and has appeared on many prognosticators’ Oscar prediction lists.
Following the shocking events that took place in Connecticut last week, it is important that a discussion ensue in which the increased occurrence of mass shootings is examined in relation to the violence present in various forms of the entertainment media.
In a recent Fox News appearance, Sen. Joe Lieberman insisted that producers of violent movies and video games must be asked to “tone it down,” characterizing violence in entertainment as “a causative factor” that may lead to tragic incidents such as the one that occurred in Newtown.
Hollywood has throughout its history frequently brought together unlikely individuals for the purposes of delivering unique entertainment and information fare.
A new production duo, however, is gearing up to make its Internet television entrance, and the pair involved may end up surprising even the most imaginative industry insiders out there.
“Wedding Crashers” star Vince Vaughn has partnered up with radio talk show personality and former Fox News host Glenn Beck to produce a new reality show called “Pursuit of Truth.”
The contest-type show is scheduled to be aired on Beck’s TheBlaze TV in the spring of 2013.
Samuel Goldwyn had the following famed advice for filmmakers: “Pictures are for entertainment. Messages should be delivered by Western Union.”
Today’s Hollywood is apparently choosing to ignore the renowned studio mogul’s words and are instead opting to keep the election campaign going, just as the celebrity-in-chief continues to do.
The truth is that for decades liberals in Hollywood have been shoehorning distinctively radical messaging into various forms of entertainment product.
Left-wing messages were embedded in a blacklist subplot of the movie “The Way We Were” (1973), which featured Barbra Streisand as the local communist.
Smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices are filled with individuals’ highly personal data including emails, photos, contact data, financial, and medical information.
It is the type of private material that was previously kept in one’s residence; such material was precisely the kind that was contemplated by the drafters of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
However, since technology appears to be outpacing legal reasoning, some courts have rejected the idea that during an arrest, the information contained within a smart phone would require a warrant prior to the search of its contents.
After experiencing the results of the recent election, many of those who reside on the Left Coast woke up the following morning feeling as if they had been beamed into a movie sequel for a film that has yet to be made.
Real life in the former Golden State has become too much like a follow-up flick to 2006’s sci-fi comedy “Idiocracy.”
The movie never had a major theatrical release, but it has achieved a cult following due to its prophetic plotline. The humorous satire stars Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph as two characters who, after participating in a classified military hibernation experiment, wake up 500 years in the future.
Hirsen at Newsmax