A LOOK AT JADEN SMITH IN COSTUME FOR M. NIGHT’S NEW SCIENCE FICTION EPIC
How can any parent look at the near 100% record of child celebrity train wrecks and then put their child in front of the train? If there was any justice in this country, parents caught putting their child into the business of show would immediately have that child taken away by social services.
No doubt, acting can be a very fulfilling and honorable profession, and there are a number of genuinely good parents out there who look at it in that way. But that’s something entirely different. Stardom and celebrity are toxins that breed narcissism, which is the first step towards self-destruction and a hollow life of misery and addiction.
Say what you want about Chevy Chase’s politics, but when he saw what Hollywood was doing to his daughters, he dropped out of the business, fled the state, and raised them in a healthy environment.
Like his parents, Jaden Smith is a talented and charismatic screen presence, but I flinch every time I see his name in lights, and then say a little prayer that he’s the exception to this century-old rule.
Let’s just hope this is a trend:
The company ended the year with 19.9M domestic subscribers, up 3% vs the end of 2010. The net addition of 125,000 customers in the quarter represents a sharp retreat from the period last year when DirecTV added 289,000 U.S. subscribers.
Few things would make me happier than the death of bundled programming, the biggest con to come out of Hollywood in decades.
FIRST LOOK AT BRAD PITT IN ‘COGAN’S TRADE’
Whoa, whoa, whoa… a movie with Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins and Ray Liotta?
I don’t need to know anything else.
MERYL STREEP, JULIA ROBERTS TO STAR AS MOTHER-DAUGHTER IN ‘AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY’
Swear to God, I’d prefer to be waterboarded. These are two of most insufferable actresses alive and to put them together in the same film should be a violation of the Geneva Convention.
MOONVES: CBS MAY PRODUCE A SHOW FOR NETFLIX
CBS CEO Les Moonves:
“Until they are doing 22 hours a week of premium content, we do not look at them as a competitor, but rather another place to put our content,” Moonves said on a conference call following CBS’ fourth quarter earnings announcement.
His attitude contrasts with other entertainment honchos that view Netflix’s entry into original programming as a direct threat. …
Certain TV execs fear that Netflix might encourage viewers and particularly cable subscribers to shun television for streaming services.
Moonves obviously sees the writing on the wall and understands that in order for CBS to survive in the age of streaming, CBS will have to produce content and then sell it to a distributor other than their own network.
I also think CBS can survive as a network, just not through the fees generated by cable and satellite providers. Networks will have to stream and survive off of ad revenue just like they did prior to cable. But I think that that’s not even a sure thing. The appeal of the streaming model isn’t channels, it’s content.
The new model might be as simple as all these networks moving to production-only operations that sell programming to various streaming outlets.
—–
—–
LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
Headache. Dinner. Narcotics. Bed. But…
Many of you will be happy to know that the first season of “Game of Thrones” arrived via Fed-x just a few minutes ago.
Weekend on, baby. Weekend on.
—–
—–
COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO
On March 20th Disney releases THE MUPPETS on Blu-ray & DVD! Jason Segel and Amy Adams join the eclectic troupe of misfits to save Muppet Studios from being demolished by an evil oil tycoon. Kermit, Piggy, and the whole gang are back! Bonus material includes bloopers, a making-of featurette and the all-new Disney Intermission Blu-ray feature with the Muppets taking over the screen every time you stop the disc!
ME: My curiousity got the best of me and so I’ve requested a review screener. I’m dying to know if a genuinely good movie was undermined by the left-wing entertainment’s tone-deaf jihad against Fox News.
Because that would be a shame.
—–
—–
SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINKTACULAR
HOW MARVEL FILMS MADE ME A TRUE BELIEVER IN “THE AVENGERS”
FIRST LOOK PREVIEW: STUNNING ‘TITANIC 3D’
DIRECTOR ANDREW STANTON DISCUSSES POTENTIAL “JOHN CARTER” SEQUELS
ARE YOUNG CINEMA AUDIENCES RUINING THE WOMAN IN BLACK?
CHRIS PINE’S FORMER AGENTS ARE SUING HIM
FIRST LOOK AT M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN’S “AFTER EARTH”
HENRY ROLLINS’ AWESOME LETTER TO CHRIS FARLEY FROM 1995
“GET TO THE CHOPPA!” CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF “PREDATOR” AND “ROBOCOP”
RELIGION IN LAST YEAR’S MOVIES
WHY THE BEST ANIMATED FEATURE OSCAR CATEGORY SHOULD BE ELIMINATED
THE “BEST” MOVIE PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN 2011
‘SONS OF GUNS’ RETURNS FEBRUARY 29TH FOR NEW SEASON
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MOVIE POSTERS
WILLIAM SHATNER: BOLDLY GOING EVERYWHERE
A LOOK BACK AT THE FIRST ON-SCREEN KISS
A CHAT WITH PRODUCTION DESIGNER GAVIN BOCQUET (“STAR WARS” PREQUELS, “THE BANK JOB,” ETC.)
—–
—–
CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
2:30 PM Defiant Ones, The (1958) — Two convicts, a white racist and an angry black, escape while chained to each other. Dir: Stanley Kramer Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel. BW-96 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format.
People who mock Tony Curtis’ acting talents can go straight to hell. As a virulent racist and escaped prisoner chained to a black man (Poitier), Curtis steals the movie with a performance that displays more depth than anything I’ve seen on screen in a decade.
My favorite sequence, though, is with Lon Chaney Jr. as Big Sam. Another underrated actor who carried around a heavy load of unspoken melancholy like few others.
This is a message movie, no doubt, but it’s a good message and director Stanley Kramer knew how to send his message through theme, not the preach.
—–
—–
Please send comments, suggestions and tips to jnolte@breitbart.com or Twitter @NolteNC.