Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
Andrew Breitbart has written an upfront, in your face demand that Hollywood open the door to the last remaining closet in that company town: conservatism. In it, he points out that Hollywood finds everything forgiveable except for a failure to conform to the prevailing Progressive political orthodoxy: But in this
Continue readingWe went yesterday to see Pixar’s newest offering — WALL*E. I can tell you that everything the critics have said about it is true: It’s amazingly beautiful, with animation of such sophistication that one is continuously impressed; and the story is imaginative and goes far beyond the usual children’s fare
Continue readingIf only these products (especially the laundry machine) were real, and not just more items from the prodigious collective imagination of the Pixar crew. I’m getting the feeling that WALL*E is a movie worth watching, if only for the extraordinary visual beauty about which each critic rhapsodizes. It’s not often
Continue readingI’m a huge fan of Hollywood musicals, and one of my favorite numbers has long been “Dancing in the Dark,” from the Band Wagon (with Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire). Turns out it was her favorite too. Here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it before or
Continue readingHollywood just came out with another movie that relentlessly demonizes the enemy — which would be a good thing if the Hollywood types had figured out that America’s enemy is radical Islam, which has been very open about its desire to kill our citizens and take over our government. The
Continue readingPaul Newman has managed to emerge from Hollywood as one of the good guys. Ridiculously handsome in his youth, he aged into an equally good looking old man. In a milieu characterized by disposable weddings, he’s had one wife. He’s raised millions for charity, without making a big political statement
Continue readingIn a comment to my earlier post about talk with an ideological foe being dangerous, Gringo mentioned a classic anti-Nazi piece of Hollywood propaganda (made when Hollywood viewed America as the ally, not the enemy). I found it at YouTube (of course), and share it with you. [youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=mZiRiIpZVF4[/youtube] And for
Continue readingYes, yes — it really happened . . . in movieland. The Times raves about a movie in which a depressed white man is lifted from his funk by sharing his life with two illegal immigrants whose arrest (for being illegally here), lifts him out of his torpor and, in
Continue readingIn a delightful essay, which he sets out as the antidote to the grim news out of Jerusalem and the world at large, Robert Avrech examines hair in early Hollywood, from Mary Pickford’s romantic curls, to Colleen Moore’s perky bob, to Louise Brooks’ slinky helmet. If you like old Hollywood,
Continue readingLast night, I caught a Busby Berkeley movie I’ve never seen before: 1933’s Footlight Parade, with a charismatic, manically energized Jimmy Cagney as the producer of “prologues,” live stage acts paired with “talking” pictures, all for 50 cents a show. Joan Blondell does a great job as his witty, put-upon
Continue readingAlmost exactly a year ago, I did a post I entitled Manly men, Girly men and Peter Pan. In it, I tried, ineffectively, I admit, to figure out America’s cultural trends regarding men. There’s the manly trend, exemplified by the Marines and much admired in certain romance novel genres; the
Continue readingI like my Pandora radio, and was sufficiently curious about one of the repeating ads for a new TV show, Eli Stone, to track it down. At the website, I discovered that if you’re an evil corporate attorney, but have a brain aneurysm that causes you to become a prophet,
Continue readingRobert Avrech, who blogs at Seraphic Secret, understands Hollywood. Although he is an openly observant Jew, a Zionist, and a conservative, he nevertheless lives, writes and works in that town. For that reason, when he writes about the increasingly famous intersection at Hollywood and Politics, it’s definitely worth reading what
Continue readingI’ve been re-reading a wonderful book that I first read when it was published a little more than a decade ago: As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, by Laurence Bergreen. As anyone who enjoys popular music knows, Irving Berlin was one of the most extraordinary composers on the
Continue readingI was going to try to build up my own post around Big Lizard’s The Best Years of their Lives : Hollywood and Franklin’s War, but I can’t. It’s a complete package, and I don’t have anything to add that wouldn’t be idle twittering. It’s a really stellar post in
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