Once upon a time there was a fairy kingdom that lived inside a place called The Beltway, and was surrounded on all four sides by a land called America. The Beltway was aligned with another kingdom called Manhattan, inhabited by disembodied heads that spoke from the walls of bars, and with yet another closed kingdom called Hollywood, the abode of half-educated narcissists. (more…)
Tag: Hollywood
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An Army of Color: Whites Became a Minority of US Recruits in 2023
Henry Kissinger said in 1973 that “military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used” as the sacrificial lambs of American foreign policy. It’s a wonder that no one killed him for saying that. (more…)
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This was supposed to be a year-end book roundup, but I had a difficult end of year. So for the present I’ll pretend this is the 53rd or 54th week of 2023 (a nasty year altogether).
When my husband died a few weeks ago, I found a number of “overdue” library books in all manner of places. I stacked them by the door. That’s pretty much how we did things here. He’d take out a lot of books and then, when he saw me making an exit, he’d go, “Oh, if you’re going out, could you take those back to the library?” He’d say that even if I was just going out to the trash bay. (more…)
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Culture-Critiquing Sitcom Mogul Norman Lear Finally Gives Up the Ghost
It took 101 years, but television producer Norman Lear — who probably influenced American culture more than any other single figure in the 1970s — finally decided last Tuesday that it was time to die. (more…)
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I recently wrote about the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and his then-mysterious “adopted black son” whose existence Johnson only ever referenced for entirely cynical reasons. In 2019 he claimed before Congress that he had asked his adopted black son what he thought about slavery reparations and that he was against it. This was the first time he had ever mentioned having a black son, nor does it appear in any of his official biographies. (more…)
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In light of the recent Dublin riots, I thought I would write something Irish-themed and settled on Troy Duffy’s The Boondock Saints, a cult Tarantino knockoff movie from 1999 with Irish-Catholic themes. In the process of researching this I discovered the documentary Overnight about the making of the film — which is actually a far more interesting movie in itself. You can watch it here.
The history of Hollywood is that of a power struggle between producers and directors. (more…)
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October 19, 2023 Andrew Hamilton
Filosemitismus a brutalita
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“You don’t make up for your sins in the church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.” — opening line of Mean Streets
Hollywood collapsed in the 1960s. It proved, if nothing else, that when it comes to big money, even Jews can screw up. A combination of anti-trust actions and the rise of television meant that studio lots fell silent, and the golden age of Hollywood was over. (more…)
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I am not ashamed to say that I cried throughout this entire movie. It’s those who see it and don’t have to at least fight back a few tears who should be ashamed. Indeed, the wildly different reactions provoked by this film reveal a great deal about our ever-deepening cultural divide — and how some of the most vocal and high-profile people on one side are really just downright evil. But you had probably already come to that conclusion.
As everyone knows by now, Sound of Freedom — the film’s title contains no definite article — is the story of Tim Ballard, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations who sets off on a crusade to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. (more…)
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(500) Days of Summer is a romantic comedy released in 2009. It is certainly a cut above the rest of modern rom-coms, but this review will focus on the story’s setting in lieu of the plot.
Though there is only one mention of the city in its dialogue, specifically a quip, this film — as so many other Hollywood productions — takes place in Los Angeles. Since America’s moviemaking industry is based in LA, filming “on location” is cheaper to do locally instead of sending the crew and sets elsewhere. Plus, being remarkably diverse in landscape and architecture helps the City of Angels double as almost any other place across the globe. (more…)
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I finally saw this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once, by directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and enjoyed the film. Like many of you , I think it’s a shame Tár didn’t win, and note that The Banshees of Inisherin also didn’t win — but I think many of you are glad about that. Nevertheless, Everything Everywhere All at Once hits all the bases for this year’s woke base — but it’s also a fun movie, very fast-paced and a visual delight. (more…)
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Many, many years ago — say, during the Nixon administration — I was peripherally involved with kiddy television. Kiddy TV was very hot just then, particularly up in Boston, where they had at least four “educational” kiddy shows running concurrently. (more…)
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Do you ever find yourself bored on the couch, surfing nearly-identical streaming services or, if you still have it, cable? Do you succumb to watching something you’ve already seen in lieu of trying something new? In an era of content overload, there’s never been so little to watch or read. The sheer amount of garbage that is pumped onto screen and page alike almost seems by design, and it probably is.
Luckily, we have Counter-Currents’ Trevor Lynch book series, the latest of which is Trevor Lynch’s Classics of Right-Wing Cinema. It is a collection of film reviews published over the past few years on movies, many that we’re already familiar with, which give a specific Right-leaning impression. (more…)