Every film critic has a Top 10 movie list, even if the only place it’s scribbled down is in the back of his or her mind. We’re a list-crazy culture, and movie buffs of all stripes can’t help but place
Alfred Hitchcock filmed the 1948 suspense yarn “Rope” to look as if the bulk of the action was captured in a single take. At least he tried to pull off that feat. Technology handcuffed him, so he ended up using
It must be painful to visit RottenTomatoes.com and see your film has a zero percent rating. Or, as Dean Wormer would say in “Animal House,” “zero point zero.” Comedian Nick Swardson is facing that reality thanks to his new film
Samuel L. Jackson is the latest actor of color to accuse the Tea Party of racism. Late last month, Oscar winner Morgan Freeman blamed racism on the Republican party’s eagerness to see President Barack Obama defeated. This week, Jackson told
Actors don’t just get a fictional license to kill when they’re cast as British superagent James Bond. They get a career boost unlike any other. What other franchise can transform an ordinary lug into a hero capable of bedding multiple
Ken Burns’ latest documentary, “Prohibition,” is a step-by-step rebuttal of the Left’s big-government ways. So says cagey New York Post columnist Kyle Smith. But don’t tell that to Burns himself, who apparently sees Prohibition as yet another way to slam
The man known as the Machine Gun Preacher doesn’t consider himself a violent person. “I will do whatever it takes to rescue a child. If it takes standing up to protect someone, I’m not going to use the word violence,”
Anna Faris is built for comedy, what with those Goldie Hawn eyes and pipes that could wring laughs out of beat poetry. But she’s all wrong for the latest rom-com misfire “What’s Your Number?” Then again, even rom-com queen Meg
Sherwood Baptist Church Associate Pastor Alex Kendrick joined the culture wars after reading a poll claiming film, television and the Internet had a bigger cultural influence than the local church. But Kendrick couldn’t predict the impact his Albany, Ga. church
Jason Statham must have felt the same sense of déjà vu making “Killer Elite” that audiences are bound to experience watching it. “Elite” plays out like a greatest hits collection for the rugged action hero. He pummels the bad guys,
Novelist Andrew Klavan wanted a break after penning his 2010 thriller “Empire of Lies,” a grueling expose on liberal media bias in the Age of Terror. “I had to do something different. I needed a change,” Klavan says. What Klavan
For years, pundits have been trying to connect violent movies and video games with actual crimes. The arguments typically end up more theoretical than reality based. In one famous instance, the 1994 Oliver Stone film “Natural Born Killers” supposedly inspired
A national group sworn to advocate on behalf of people with Down syndrome won’t say a peep about Bill Maher blasting Sarah Palin’s children, including Trig Palin, as “inbred weirdos straight out of ‘The Hills Have Eyes.’” Has Palin Derangement
The Red Button’s Summer of Love time machine is back in business. The duo’s latest album, “As Far as Yesterday Goes,” continues the Beatles-esque harmonies cemented on their debut disc, “She’s About to Cross My Mind.” The new disc remains
Actor Gary Sinise didn’t jump at the chance to be the subject of a documentary feature. The “Forrest Gump” star works relentlessly on behalf of the troops via his rock outfit the Lt. Dan Band, but he’s much less willing
Even Charles Bronson might counsel the vigilantes in “The Boondock Saints” to light a candle or repeat a yoga mantra. “The Boondock Saints: The Truth & Justice Edition,” just released on Blu-ray, brings the Brothers MacManus back to kill and
When Ethan Wayne misses his father, he need only insert “Wake of the Red Witch” or “Reap the Wild Wind” into his DVD player to see his pappy back in his prime. Growing up the son of John Wayne has
Film producer DeVon Franklin sees a side of Hollywood most movie goers never do, one that flies in the face of the industry’s image gleaned from the tabloids. “Most of the people I’ve met [in the industry] are decent, kind,
Fans of caustic comedian Nick Di Paolo will finally get to see his act on the small screen this month. “It’s the first time I can really be uncensored and [audiences] can see a nice chunk of me,” the Boston
An e-mail exchange with John Lennon’s ex-lover May Pang set Seth Swirsky on a crash course in documentary filmmaking. The singer-songwriter with both a bevy of chart toppers and a respected solo career to his credit, met Pang about six
The new hit action film “Battle: Los Angeles” isn’t perfect. OK, that’s like saving Julian Assange has trouble keeping secrets. “Battle” is dopey to the core, with giggle-inducing dialogue, shaky cams gone wild and a host of other structural issues.
Protest singers have been notoriously silent since Barack Obama took the oath of office two years ago. Not Ray Stevens. The man behind smashes like “The Streak” and “Everything is Beautiful” can’t stop recording, and he often does it with
The Parents Television Council president Tim Winter says the new MTV scripted drama “Skins” doesn’t push the envelope on coarse programming. It shreds it. “The content of the show is as egregious as anything we’ve seen on broadcast and basic
It’s hardly a spoiler to say the couples at the heart of today’s romantic comedies will end up smooching before the screen fades to black. And, in most cases, prepping for their wedding day. Today’s Hollywood product teems with liberal
Larry McMurtry is a national treasure, the man responsible for literary classics like Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show. His op-ed skills, alas, need some fine tuning. McMurtry took to the pages of The Washington Post this week to
B-sides and outtakes just won’t cut it for John Ondrasik when he’s compiling CDs for the Troops. The talent behind the popular band Five for Fighting wants only the best tracks for his song collections, each designed to show the
CNN’s Headline News division might not know what it’s getting into by hiring Dr. Drew Pinsky to anchor a nightly broadcast in 2011. The media savvy doctor, the addiction medicine specialist behind “Loveline” and “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” should
It’s time for the King of All Media to relinquish his throne. This New York native followed Howard Stern from his early days at W-NNNN-BC all the way to his current perch atop SiriusXM Satellite Radio. But it becomes more
Retired U.S. Marine Capt. Dale Dye says working with director Oliver Stone means hearing two very different nicknames on the set. “The crew calls [Stone] Ho Chi Minh and me John Wayne,” the decorated war hero says. But Stone and
Television is getting into the zombie business – just in time for All Hallow’s Eve. First, the British import “Dead Set” hit IFC Oct. 25. But the show zombie fans have been salivating over arrives tonight at 10 p.m. EST.
When musician (and regular Big Hollywood contributor) Ezra Dulis hears music that’s either anti-Christian or anti-Capitalist he longs for a creative response. But said response too often comes in the form of a pithy bumper sticker or conservative song parody.
The Blair Witch Project marks a touchstone in film horror, one best remembered for shattering the mold of what to expect from the genre. No blood. No monsters. Just our own imagination tweaked by the single cam format, a sub-genre
The 1950s had “Leave it to Beaver.” Today, it’s all about “Modern Family.” Times – and cultural mores – change, and television responded last year with the Emmy Award-winning comedy from the minds behind “Just Shoot Me” and “Frasier.” “Modern
The Michael Moore era appears to be over – or at least needs to prepare for its Last Rites. And the Oscar winning filmmaker seems to know it. It’s one thing that his last two films (“Capitalism: A Love Story”
It’s tempting to call singer/songwriter Seth Swirsky a late bloomer. After all, the 50-year-old musician released only his second solo album, “Watercolor Day,” earlier this year. But that doesn’t account for the hit singles he wrote for Celine Dion, Taylor
These people rely on us in Hollywood to come up with stuff to get them through the week. Hollywood has lost sight of that. – D.B. Sweeney Actor D. B. Sweeney wasn’t trying to find his inner director. The fickle
It says plenty that “The Breakfast Club” may be director John Hughes’ most iconic slice of ’80s-era filmmaking. The Hughes Decade also delivered “Pretty in Pink, “Sixteen Candles” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” but the director’s take on teen angst,
You have to give mainstream journalists credit. No matter how high the evidence of liberal bias stacks up, they stick to the notion they don’t play favorites. Rathergate? An aberration. A Washington Post ombudsman admitting journalists favored Sen. Barack Obama
The Trews’ guitarist John-Angus MacDonald didn’t look too far into the future when he first helped form the band. “We were 15 year-old high school students trying to have a wicked show whenever we had one booked,” MacDonald says of