Showing the growing power of frank blog-talk, Movie Mom is a movie reviewer with a huge following.

New Line was looking for a new unknown to cast as Freddie in their relaunch of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, until they found Jackie Earle Haley. Twitter has a Friday thing where you confess movies you haven't seen. I've never seen a Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw , Saw or Hostel movie. I do love John Carpenter's Halloween, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, Robert Wise's The Haunting, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Brian DePalma's Carrie. It's about style for me.

As LA's Outfest draws crowds and TV's Neil Patrick Harris is confirmed to host The Emmys, The LA Weekly prints a controversial story about why gay talent should stay in the closet.

First GQ and EW, now Vanity Fair. If you were the editor of a major magazine, I think you'd want Twilight star Rob Pattinson for your cover, too. He's booked for Vanity Fair in the fall, around the November release of New Moon. On Twitter, Pattinson fans track his every move and flick of an eyelash, from Rome to New York. Bruno is a fan too. He fantasizes about almost landing on Pattinson at the MTV Movie Awards, below.

NYmag.com asks, Would you vote for Alec Baldwin? The 30 Rock star and frequent Huffington Post blogger is sounding dangerously close to making a political bid. It's not a question of how smart or knowledgeable he is. Am I crazy, or is Baldwin way too emotional and volatile and actory to be taken seriously as a candidate?

John Wayne's last performance in a movie is not True Grit The Shootist, it turns out, but an indie sci-fi western, Thunder Rider of the Golden West, that is finally going to be released.

Producer Edward Norton considered taking the fall fest route with his By the People: The Election of Barack Obama doc, which has been filming since 2006. But Amy Rice and Alicia Sams' much-anticipated film about Obama's presidential run will quietly bypass the Venice and Toronto fests this year in favor of a short August Oscar-qualifying run in LA and NY and a splashy HBO event launch in September. Norton is repped by the new WME combine run by Ari Emanuel, brother of Obama's chief-of-staff, Ram Emamuel. This should be a big must-see.

At last year's Cannes, Paramount Vantage and Overture Films made the announcement that they were backing Michael Moore's follow-up to 2007's Sicko. (Here's my video interview.) Overture execs Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett had worked with Moore when they released Bowling for Columbine at MGM/United Artists. (They're sharing a nice slice of the gross with Moore.) While the doc's still untitled, it now has a release date, October 2, and comes out twenty years after Roger and Me, another doc recounting the perils of capitalism run amuck. The opening will be a year and a day after the Wall Street $700 billion bailout. According to a press release, Moore's film:

...will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.

Here's Moore's statement:

"The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn't have enough wealth. They wanted more -- a lot more. So they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money. Now, why would they do this? That is what I seek to discover in this movie."

The Screen Actors Guild national board narrowly approved a tentative new two-year feature-primetime contract with the AMPTP Sunday. Still to come: the 120,000 Guild members will vote whether or not to ratify a deal that is uncomfortably close to the one they have been rejecting since it expired ten months ago. They'll get the ballots in the mail in early May. If they approve the deal, as expected, the long wait will be over. Hollywood can pick up the pace of feature production, which has slowed to a trickle.

Variety has details:

SAG's deal includes a 3.5% annual hike in minimums --- a 3% salary hike in the first year plus a 0.5% gain in pension and health contributions in the first year and a 3.5% salary increase in the second. And it spells out the pay structure for shows streamed on and made for the Internet. That's the same deal the companies offered on June 30 but was spurned by the hardliners who advocated holding out for sweeter terms.

The official release is on the jump:

The Screen Actors Guild and the AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement. It is subject to review by the SAG national board of directors at an already-scheduled meeting/video conference in LA and NY this Sunday. The official release is on the jump.

B-movie afficionados rejoice: AMC is streaming programmers online.

Filmmaker Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z-Boys) blogs the case for his doc Crips & Bloods, Made in America via the Huff Post.

In case you missed it, check out this edition of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He's on a roll:

When I interviewed Kal Penn some time back for Mira Nair's The Namesake, I learned that he wants to be taken more seriously than someone who stars in Harold and Kumar comedies. So now the House star is abandoning acting altogether (for now) to work in Barack Obama's White House, he tells EW. This giving up acting thing seems to be a trend. Although my hunch is that Joaquin Phoenix, at least, is still acting.

UPDATE: Kim Masters thinks Penn should work for the CIA.

Felicity Huffman, star of Desperate Housewives, is married to Bill Macy, the guy who saved the day on David Mamet's Speed the Plow after Jeremy Piven left the show, pleading mercury poisoning (from ingesting too much sushi). On Letterman, she deliciously gets in a few licks on Piven. [Hat tip: Hollywood Elsewhere]

Inspired by the movie adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen, Rotten Tomatoes lays out which graphic novels actually made good movies. Here's one of three Alan Moore comics so far that didn't score with audiences, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:

Brad Pitt makes tough-as-nails Congressional majority leader Nancy Pelosi flutter a bit when he pitches New Orleans on Capitol Hill:

Screen International names a new editor. He sounds like he's overworked and underpaid.

Music maven Marc Shaiman collected an impressive cast led by John C. Reilly and Jack Black and mounted Prop 8: The Musical for Funny or Die:

Once upon a time, Nikki Finke and Sharon Waxman were pals. So there's a possibility that this latest rumble in the jungle over a supposed "secret SAG meeting" when stars were brought on board to support a possible strike is intended to build Waxman's traffic. UPDATE: Or, Patrick Goldstein suggests, Finke may be feeling some competition.

Finke says the meeting never happened; while she is likely to take the same guild-friendly approach that she did during the Writers' Strike, which worked well to spike her daily hits, she has excellent sources. While Waxman is playing a bit of catch-up and learning the blog ropes as she forges her post-NYT career, she is sticking to her story.

Since Hollywood and media folks like nothing better than a good catfight, this clash is picking up attention. (Here's Defamer.) Waxman's never gotten so many comments in her life.

On a more serious note, SAG plans to send out a strike authorization to guild members next month. It's hard to believe that anyone is contemplating another strike that could take place as early as January, timed yet again to threaten the awards season. UPDATE: This anti-strike petition is making the industry rounds.

As the Oscar buzz for Milk continues to grow, there is continued fallout over California's passing of the gay marriage ban known as Prop 8.

After a long and fractious debate within the Film Independent board, they finally voted Monday to accept the second resignation of LA Film Fest director Rich Raddon, a Mormon who gave $1500 to support Prop 8. They had initially refused to police his religious beliefs. Here's Michael Jones' story.

Raddon's statement:

"I feel honored to have worked with such a wonderful group of people at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the last nine years. I am proud of our accomplishments. And I am proud to have worked at Film Independent, an organization whose principles and values of diversity and artistic integrity I cherish. I have always held the belief that all people, no matter race, religion, or sexual orientation are entitled to equal rights."

"As many know, I consider myself a devout and faithful Mormon. I prefer to keep the details around my contribution through my church a private matter. But I am profoundly sorry for the negative attention that my actions have drawn to Film Independent and for the hurt and pain that is being experienced in the GLBT community."

The Board of Film Independent's statement:

"With great reluctance, Film Independent has accepted Richard Raddon's resignation as Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival. Rich's service to the independent film community and to Film Independent has been nothing less than extraordinary. He has always shown complete commitment to our core principles of equality and diversity during his long tenure. It was through his leadership that the Los Angeles Film Festival has grown into a formidable and exciting showcase for talented artists and diverse voices. We are sorry to see him go."

The Sunday LAT covered this story and other Prop 8 fallout. Milk actor Howard Rosenman expressed his support for Prop 8 boycotts.

Here's my earlier post expressing concern that freedom of speech be protected in this contentious environment, when religion and politics make a volatile mix, indeed.

Interesting that this Andy Samberg sketch on Barack Obama's new chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel did not air on Saturday Night Live this week. Was it too inside and wonky? Or were they too scared? (It's certainly funnier than some of the stuff that made air.)

Back in 2005, Illinois Senator Barack Obama roasted his favorite Illinois Congressman, Rahm Emanuel, who is now the president-elect's chief-of-staff. I had seen Obama's sense of humor displayed in a video clip at a tribute to George Clooney in which he made fun of the star's unmarried status. Here Obama's wicked streak--and writing skills---are on full display:

At the recent Screenwriting Expo, William Goldman recalled meeting Obama at a NY fundraiser and was astonished that when he was introduced to the candidate as the screenwriter of All the President's Men, Obama said,"Yes, you also wrote Marathon Man and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Goldman was tickled pink.

[Hat Tip: Gawker]

"What we don't have for Propositon 8 is a leader; there's no Harvey Milk today," said producer Dan Jinks last week at the L.A. premiere of Milk, which played well for the Academy crowd. At the after-party there was much talk about California's surprise passing of Prop 8, the gay marriage ban, as well as the angry reaction from the gay community, which while understandable, is generating some mixed response as well. Here's the Variety story posted Monday night.

That's because some gay activists--and they aren't all the same, they come in many shapes and sizes--are targeting various institutions they blame for passing Prop 8. Most prominent is the Mormon Church, which gave millions to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. The Circuit blog has been tracking the boycott Utah and Sundance Film fest story. So have Movie City News' David Poland and Kim Voynar. And Indiewire's Eugene Hernandez.

One website posted a list of Prop 8 donors, presumably to bring them shame and embarrassment. Film Independent found itself in the middle of a ruckus over the discovery that its LA Film Fest Director Rich Raddon, a Mormon, sent $1500 to support Prop 8, and listed his employer.

"I was furious that he was idiotic enough to give to this in a public way when he works with so many gay people," wrote one board member in an email. FIND eventually released a statement, amid rumors that Raddon had tendered his resignation, saying that the organization does not police its employees' religious beliefs. Raddon's current employment status has not been revealed.

Time.com posted an article entitled "What Happens If You're On the Gay Enemies List."

The LAT reports on how Prop 8 blowback affected Sacramento's non-profit stage company, the California Musical Theatre:

following the revelation via the Web that its artistic director gave $1,000 to back the state constitutional amendment.

Among those weighing in with dismay over Scott Eckern's donation are Tony winners Jeff Whitty, who wrote the book for "Avenue Q," and Marc Shaiman, composer and co-lyricist of "Hairspray." Shaiman said Tuesday that he phoned Eckern on Friday to protest, then e-mailed more than 1,000 contacts to alert them about the donation.

I understand the need to raise awareness, via protest, for the same-sex marriage cause. But I fail to see how protesting outside churches, whose worshipers have the right to hold their beliefs, or conducting witch hunts is the best way for the gay rights movement to raise positive support for the next phase of their battle to legalize gay marriage. More productive is the kind of consciousness-raising PR provided by Oprah Winfrey, who on Friday interviewed via Skype Prop 8 opposers Melissa Etheridge and her partner, at home, holding their two children.

Carrie Rickey runs a fun poll on Hollywood's best American presidents.

Which Emanuel brother are you? Doctor Zeke, president-elect Obama's new chief-of-staff Rahm, or Endeavor uber-agent Ari? To find out, take Wonkette's Emanuel brothers personality test.

[Photos courtesy LAT.]

In the wake of California voters passing the gay marriage ban known as Proposition 8, gay activists are targeting Mormons and the State of Utah. A.P. reported the news of a movement toward a Utah boycott this weekend. This could include Hollywood folks not attending the Sundance Film Festival. (It is far too late to move the fest to another location like Lake Tahoe.)

David Poland weighs in, and Indiewire grabs a Sundance reaction. And Dana Harris wraps up the story at Wilshire and Washington.

The Sundance Fest gave a statement Monday:

"Sundance Institute was founded on the idea of championing diversity and freedom of expression. It would be a grave disappointment to us if our Festival were to be singled out for a boycott, especially as we celebrate 25 years of showcasing independent voices."

All power to the Onion. If media watchers are concerned about post-Obama comedy fodder, judging from this video, not to worry:

[Hat Tip: Hollywood Elsewhere.]

Patrick Goldstein has enough of an elephant's memory to know that if he called David Geffen up the day after the election, the mogul would want to crow about his own impact on the race. Geffen, you may recall, turned on Hillary Clinton, saying that she was too polarizing to win the race for president. He backed Barack Obama.

Here's Michael Moore's jubilant but sober post-Election Day email (see Roger Ebert's blog on the jump):

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
Friends,
Who among us is not at a loss for words? Tears pour out. Tears of joy. Tears of relief. A stunning, whopping landslide of hope in a time of deep despair.
In a nation that was founded on genocide and then built on the backs of slaves, it was an unexpected moment, shocking in its simplicity: Barack Obama, a good man, a black man, said he would bring change to Washington, and the majority of the country liked that idea. The racists were present throughout the campaign and in the voting booth. But they are no longer the majority, and we will see their flame of hate fizzle out in our lifetime. There was another important "first" last night. Never before in our history has an avowed anti-war candidate been elected president during a time of war. I hope President-elect Obama remembers that as he considers expanding the war in Afghanistan. The faith we now have will be lost if he forgets the main issue on which he beat his fellow Dems in the primaries and then a great war hero in the general election: The people of America are tired of war. Sick and tired. And their voice was loud and clear yesterday.
It's been an inexcusable 44 years since a Democrat running for president has received even just 51% of the vote. That's because most Americans haven't really liked the Democrats. They see them as rarely having the guts to get the job done or stand up for the working people they say they support. Well, here's their chance. It has been handed to them, via the voting public, in the form of a man who is not a party hack, not a set-for-life Beltway bureaucrat. Will he now become one of them, or will he force them to be more like him? We pray for the latter.

The odd thing about California's unfortunate passing of the gay marriage ban Proposition 8: it could actually boost Milk's Oscar chances.

People will see Gus Van Sant's biopic about gay activist Harvey Milk, which is ostensibly set in our dark anti-gay 70s past, and realize that we have not come far enough. A lot of people are scratching their heads, asking how the gay marriage ban was passed--even in L.A. County. The fact that California did not defeat the ban could energize the largely Liberal Academy base.

In Contention's Kris Tapley asks if an earlier release of Milk might have helped to defeat Proposition 8. GreenCine does an early critical round-up of Milk. UPDATE: Here's FirstShowing on Milk and Proposition 8. UPDATE: Patrick Goldstein and David Poland weigh in.

When my daughter Nora called from college to crow about the Obama win Tuesday night, she had learned about his victory not from CNN, MSNBC or Fox News, which is what my celebratory gang of election-watchers were watching, but Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. So we grown-ups started watching that too.

Here's Colbert and Stewart's one-hour Indecision 2008 special:

While I usually watch Charlie Rose's commentary round-tables on live political events, I was too tired to wait up, and instead watched his TiVoed Monday night interview with the awesome Marian Wright Edelman, who talked articulately and movingly about what Obama's presidency will mean to all of us in our troubled world:

How weird it is that Obama's new chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel, is the brother of super-political Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel, the model for Ari Gold on Entourage. UPDATE: Here's Peter Bart on Ari and Rahm.

And here's Charlie Rose's interview with the three amazing Emanuel brothers:

Also, here's a shout-out to Variety's Ted Johnson, who has done a yeoman job covering the campaign from a Hollywood perspective in print and on his Wilshire & Washington political blog. Here's his wrap-up on the entire Obama campaign.

For a capsule of the entire presidential campaign, check out This Fucking Election.

UPDATE: And Tim Robbins had a little trouble voting Tuesday. He eventually got there.

Milk is far better than I was expecting it to be, even after reading Todd McCarthy's positive review. It had been described to me as small, political, an acting vehicle for Sean Penn. It's far more than that.

First of all, Dustin Lance Black's script is as lean and disciplined as Gus Van Sant's direction. (And that is not always true of Van Sant, although his recent indie films have been spare, even austere.) There is nothing indulgent about this film. Every actor is well cast, and Penn's performance is towering, detailed, specific, poignant. As easy as it can be to dislike Penn the man (pick your poison), you can't dismiss this performance, because he makes you care deeply about this guy. Penn will be nominated, in a competitive year.

Milk is the perfect Academy movie--moving, and political, especially in an Election year with Proposition 8 on the California ballot--and could get to Best Picture. It reminds us of how far we've come, in a short time, and how far we still have to go.

Yes, there are other political movies in contention this awards season. But Ron Howard and Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon is somehow stuck in the past, contained, small, and less fun than the play. It's somber, lacks that edge of humor, the equal force of two strong personalities going head to head in real time. On-screen, with close-ups and editing, Frank Langella dominates as Nixon, and Michael Sheen diminishes as Frost, through no fault of his acting. It's about screen charisma. Oliver Stone's Nixon, finally, had more depth and Shakespearean grandeur.

Stone's W. is fine, but slightly misses the mark, through bad timing, mostly. Josh Brolin is brilliant as W., but Milk's Dan White is an ill-defined part--we don't get under the skin of this guy to understand his neurosis. The rest of Milk's supporting ensemble, James Franco, Diego Luna and Emile Hirsch, are all strong in small roles that aren't showy enough to take them to supporting actor noms. Because of W., Brolin could get a nom on Milk's coattails. I was most impressed with Franco (who made comedy look easy in Pineapple Express). My one wee complaint: Danny Elfman's music was a tad treakly.

I could see picture, director, screenplay, actor, editor.

Here's the trailer:

My favorite Barack Obama line on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night was his answer to the Socialism question: "In kindergarten, I shared my toys with the other children," he said. So far: 3.6 million views. Wow.

According to Comedy Central, last night's Obama satellite interview "lifted The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to record levels," they wrote in an email. It was the most-watched and highest-rated episode in the show's history, with 3.6 million total viewers and a 2.6 HHLD Rating. This episode beat the October 8 prior most-watched episode record set by Michele Obama, by 700,000 total viewers.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (October 29, 11:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.)

3.6 million total viewers

2.2 million P18-49 viewers

2.6 HHLD Rating

2.0 P18-49 Rating

This is the first time The Daily Show has averaged more than 3 million viewers for a single episode.
The Daily Show outperformed its previous best by +22% (2.9 million viewers on October 8, 2008).

The Colbert Report, featuring Colbert's endorsement of Obama, is also feeling the love:

"The Colbert Report" (October 29, 11:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.)

2.4 million total viewers

1.7 million P18-49 viewers

1.8 HHLD Rating

1.5 P18-49 Rating
The Colbert Report outperformed its previous best by +23% (2.0 million viewers on October 8, 2008).

Aside from the politics, the concept, etc., this "Don't Vote" video is a great demonstration of why some of these folks are movie stars...Shia, Leo and Sacha especially pop right out.

Focus Features had a plan: mount the world premiere of Milk, the gay agitprop biopic about San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, on the 30th anniversary of his death, at the famed Castro Theatre, in San Francisco. Universal's specialty distrib, which also released Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, held off on showing the pic to the press (except for some long-lead folks) until the same day as the SF launch Tuesday night. Here's Pamela McClintock, William Horberg's blog report, Greencine and A.P. :

Van Sant said he had been talking about making this film for 18 years."He's an American hero," Van Sant said. "He's a great example of a man representing his community and his city."

Holding off the press until the premiere led to some accusations that the distrib was hiding the pic. Au contraire. Now the floodgates will be unleashed. I missed the screenings Tuesday: all I'm hearing is that it's Sean Penn's picture.

[Photo by William Horberg]

This weekend's High School Musical 3 (63% Tomatometer) scored even bigger than expected with teen girls, and Saw 5, which was not screened, played to the guys. (True confession: I have never seen a Saw movie. Not my idea of a good time.)

For grown-ups, Changeling delivered a strong per screen average on its opening weekend, while Gina Prince-Blythewood's The Secret Life of Bees pulled ahead of Oliver Stone's W. on their second weekend. Here's Variety's weekend b.o. wrap:

“W.” dropped 49% to $5.3. Cume for the George Bush pic is $18.8 million, with a gross in the $25 million range likely after a post-Election Day exit.

This is a classic case of too much competition on the second weekend after a strong opening supported by a big ad spend and Oliver Stone's ubiquitous media presence. After I had just seen him on Charlie Rose, CNN's Larry King Live and Shootout and heard him on NPR, I did a phoner with him at NY's Four Seasons Hotel. Stone had just spotted one of the characters in his movie, ex-CIA chief George Tenet, in the restaurant. "Did you go over to him?" I asked. "Oh, no," Stone said.

Did he feel that he had to open the $30 million movie before the election? Was the timing right for this? He could have pushed it back if he wanted to, Stone says: "Let's be clear about this. I had the right to hold. It was a good faith effort to try and make the October 17 date. I had final cut, I could have delivered in December for a January release." But he was into the rhythm of finishing it in time, opening it this fall before the election.

Stone knows the downside of being rushed into opening a picture too soon--Alexander was not finished when it opened; the sober re-edited DVD version is far superior. Stone left thousands of feet of film on the edit-room floor on Alexander. By contrast, W. was shot fast on a tight budget; there was no waste. He shot on 26 locations in 46 days and edited in seven weeks. "There were no reshoots," he says. "We rehearsed with a great repertory company, nobody was making mistakes. We got what we needed." Only a few deleted fantasy scenes will make it to the DVD.

It's hard to calibrate timing with a topical movie like this, Stone admits. He had no idea George W. Bush would be so down and out when the movie opened. He had thought the White House might come after them, fighting, but "Bush is defeated," he says. "He is weakened now. We could not have foreseen that then. He's hated now. Will people be interested?"

Would waiting until after the inauguration have been better, as "he's leaving office, and we're exorcising the ghost?" he asks. Stone would have taken that course "if it had not fallen in, if we needed reshoots." Finally, the momentum was moving fast toward an October opening and he was ready to open the movie on schedule.

The Secret Life of Bees did better than W. on its second weekend on fewer screens (1630) with a higher $5.9 million weekend gross and a total of $19.2 to date. Searchlight worked hard to achieve these results, chasing not only fans of the bestseller--which is hugely popular--but literate women in general, and African-American audiences. They're building buzz on an $11 million movie.

"We were judicious in our spend," says Fox Searchlight COO Nancy Utley. "We were scared to death of reviews." That's because older women tend to take reviews more seriously, and sure enough, they were mixed (58% on Rotten Tomatoes). But some key critics were fans, including Roger Ebert, USA Today and People. And Oprah Winfrey devoted a show to the film.

Utley comforted herself with the fact that some movies hit without reviews, like Ya-Ya Sisterhood. On the other hand, Denzel Washington's Antoine Fisher had not scored with African American audiences, but it was less of a known title. Bees was a "faithful straight-on adaptation" of an "extraordinary book," Utley says.

And Bees had no ordinary ensemble either--Queen Latifah, Alicia Keyes, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Sophie Okonedo. Searchlight targeted book clubs and the morning talk shows, bought TV spots on BET and Desperate Housewives, and took advantage of some faith-based endeavors. The distrib booked the movie in areas where not only African-American pics had scored but literary films like Atonement.

Definite recommends in the exit polls were A or A+ across every demo. Searchlight's own poll was 90%. Among African Americans, it was 91% and non-African Americans, 86%. "It's a color-blind movie," says Utley. 'We're hopeful."

[Photo of Oliver Stone by Jeffrey Wells]

OK, so I lean left of center. Given that I grew up across 110th Street in Manhattan, what would you expect? Someone who digs this MC Yogi "Vote for Hope" pro-Obama video:

You know Ron Howard wants to be taken seriously. He's got Frost/Nixon coming up for chrissakes. Look how far he's willing to go to help get Barack Obama elected:

I don't post most of the crazy political videos people send me, but this Onion McCain video is well done.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt hasn't had much truck with politicians. Until Barack Obama. He's pushing the uncommitted generation to get out and vote, this time, via his own Obama video. Here's his email:

Hello my friends, Joe Gordon-Levitt here--

Well, I've never-but-once emailed you all en masse, as they say. But it seems that in these days and times, we've come to expect and accept mass emails concerning our #1 Man, Barack. So here's what I made...

It's for everyone of course, but it's especially for people who are just too cynical about anything political to care what happens November 4th. Especially especially us too-cool-for-school youngsters. Know anyone like that?

Hope you like it. Pass it around, if you see fit.

Thanks
J

And here's his YouTube video:

[Photo courtesy Retna]

Reel Geezers Marcia Nasatir and Lorenzo Semple, Jr. were interviewed on NPR yesterday about their favorite DVDs to rent.

Nasatir's Must-See Picks

Yankee Doodle Dandy
Talk of the Town
Hail the Conquering Hero
The Third Man
Some Like It Hot
Heat of the Night

Semple's Must-See Picks

Gattopardo, Il (The Leopard)
Sweet Smell of Success
The Harder They Come
The Third Man
Once
Dr. Strangelove
A Clockwork Orange

Here's a clip from Jimmy Cliff's reggae musical The Harder They Come.

Here's the latest Reel Geezers post about their fave political films:

Give Betty White a good writer and nobody beats her. In this hilarious exchange between her---as John McCain's speechwriter--and Craig Ferguson, she calls Sarah Palin "one crazy bitch" and Barack Obama "incredibly sexy." You call it, Betty.

[Hat Tip the Dish Rag]

"I'm not soft on Barack," said "tough critic" Michelle Obama on the Jon Stewart Show.

In the ramp-up to the election and the release of Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic, Hulu is streaming the Bush doc Crawford.

Bill Block has grown up … and grown into a new role.

Once known as an attention-seeking, gun-collecting, hotshot InterTalent and ICM agent and onetime head of Artisan Entertainment, Block is now co-chief of QED Intl., the 2-year-old financing, sales and production company backed by $10 million in private equity and whose riskiest play to date is the complete financing of Oliver Stone’s $30 million W.

The George W. Bush biopic and pseudo-satire launches on 2,100 screens Oct. 17 — two weeks ahead of the presidential election. It’s going out via Lionsgate, backed by another $25 million from print-and-ad fund Omnilab.

The politically charged pic was unable to land a studio or a specialty distrib, not even Paramount, which released Stone’s last picture, World Trade Center.
But Block believed W was too big an opportunity to pass up. “It was relevant and the right moment to get this movie out before the election,” he says.

While he still has a lean and hungry look and can talk the talk as glibly as any Hollywood player, Block has morphed into a fiftyish family man in charge of his own destiny. Now that Summit and Mandate have moved into bigger arenas, QED occupies the same space as Myriad, Essential, Voltage and Lakeshore. (QED shares Beverly Hills offices with Block’s former ICM colleague Ken Kamins’ Key Creatives.)
Block approached producer Moritz Borman and Stone as they were shopping for backing. QED financed W with its own equity plus key presales in France, Germany, the U.K. and Australia, all lined up before the start of production.

Lionsgate came in last as production was under way in Louisiana. The distrib (which has taken on other divisive pics such as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11) was confident enough in the film’s commerciality that it did not showcase the pic at any fall film fests. “It’s not arthouse,” Block says. “The festivals wanted it. We tested it and it came back with high awareness.”

As Block suspected it might, the media has helped to boost the hot-button movie, from full-court treatment in the Los Angeles Times to the cover of Entertainment Weekly months in advance of the pic’s release. The arrest of W stars Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright after they resisted leaving a Shreveport bar at the request of local police unexpectedly turned out to be a boon, attracting an avalanche of global coverage.

Block very much needs W to succeed, as QED’s first few releases have been strictly low-profile.

The Hunting Party, starring Richard Gere, was a casualty of the Weinsteins’ transition from Miramax to their new company. And Neil Burger’s The Lucky Ones,”starring Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams and released by Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions, was dead on arrival in its Sept. 28 bow, another example of audience disinterest in Iraq War movies.

Next up for QED: the Peter Jackson-produced alien thriller District 9, which is in the can and will be released next August by Sony.

The lessons learned so far at Artisan and QED, Block says: “Don’t make anything under $10 million, and go for commercial movies with a wide release.”

Anxiously scanning W’s tracking numbers, Block says: “The big spend starts now.”

[Illustration courtesy of GQ]

French actress and animal activist Brigitte Bardot attacked vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on many fronts in an open letter to the Alaska governor:

"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for the world. By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe."

UPDATE: And Gawker has some helpful tips for putting together that Sarah Palin Halloween costume.

Lionsgate threw a party at the Landmark in Westwood Monday night for Oliver Stone's W, which was basically an intimate L.A. premiere for Stone and his cast; the movie will also premiere in New York and the Austin Film Fest. Josh Brolin soaked up the applause, flanked by his father and uncle; everyone agreed that he did a helluva job as George W. Bush, from Yale frat-party boy to reformed drunk and born-again Christian and one of the worst presidents in United States history. James Cromwell also scored big as Bush, Sr. in the father-son drama. Cast members Richard Dreyfuss, Scott Glenn, Ioan Gruffudd, and Noah Wyle were also on hand, along with producers Bill Block and Moritz Borman.

Stone is rushing the $30 million movie (distributed by Lionsgate and financed by Block's foreign sales firm QED International, with $25-million in P & A backing from Omnilab Media) into the marketplace October 17, less than three weeks before the presidential election, betting that audiences are hankering for a sharp psychological profile of their departing president. More than ever though, as the world teeters on the brink of financial disaster, it's hard not to be very angry with Bush. And Stone's movie focuses on Bush's failures in Iraq, which are not center stage right now.

The movie is utterly plausible, well-acted by a top-notch ensemble (except for a too-broad Thandy Newton as Condoleeza Rice) and surprisingly balanced, compassionate and even-handed. Somehow the film lacks the urgency of its own making.

"We started it in May and finished it this week, so we're pretty much on edge here," Stone told the crowd, which included Ellen Barkin, Casey Affleck, Phil Noyce, Jonah Hill, Maria Bello, Patrick Wachsberger, Andy Vajna, Jake Bloom, Irving Kershner, Bob Cooper, Jay Roach, CAA's Bryan Lourd, Doc O'Connor and Dan Aloney, James Woods, Al Pacino, Paul Haggis, and Bill Maher. "This is based on a true story. We actually did a lot of research to bring to life these murky things." Stone cited his reliance on the "raw body of material" of a dozen journalists, from Barton Gellman and Bob Woodward to James Risen, Michael Isikoff, Jane Mayer and Frank Rich. "There's more to come out," he said, "but enough here to start. Why make this movie? Where are we now as a country, and and where are we going? A large part of of that answer lies with this character, George Bush."

At the after-party, Stone admitted that he was walking a "tightrope" with W, because these are all well-known, real people. It's not satire, like Dr. Strangelove, which is "fiction, beautifully done," he said. "We couldn't go to Strangelove. We have Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central. They have done that. We have to find credibility, we have to eventually care about him--not sympathize. I didn't like Nixon, but I was able to empathize with him. Bush is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain now. All his policies are in place. We'll be dealing with this stuff for 20 years."

Maher's own Religulous is playing well to left-skewing audiences, write Pamela McClintock and Tatiana Siegel, who report on how polarizing political films are faring at the box office. Here's Todd McCarthy's review, and Peter Bart's take on the political film landscape.

Jeff Wells muses about W. So does David Poland. Stone opens up in GQ, talked in June to the LA Times, gave EW a cover story, and talked yesterday to Larry King on CNN:

Here's the trailer:

As I watched Thursday night's vice-presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, I was keeping track of possible Tina Fey moments, knowing that Palin gave her plenty to work with. She delivered on SNL:

And Leo DiCaprio, Will Smith and a cast of Hollywood stars have gone YouTube to recruit voters:

The Creative Coalition will officially launch Sue Kramer's YouVote Video Monday October 6 at 7:30pm on NBC’s Access Hollywood.

Call Nancy Nigrosh a recovering agent. After 25 years, she has left her recent post at Innovative Artists as a talent agent after decades of repping writers and directors for film and television. Now that she's free from the shackles of agenting, she's leaving what she calls her Parting Shot#1. If she's right, Hollywood's days of labor unrest are not over.

The Lone Screenwriter

It's time to take one last look back at the two and a half decades I spent as an agent. Of all the questions I’d had over the years, there’s one that most burned and bothered me:

Why is it so ingrained in Hollywood that one person alone cannot write a producible screenplay?

The Writer's Guild Of America's 2007-8 strike was supposed to be about a bigger piece of the pie for the future distribution of a writer's produced work… the pie in the digital sky.

But the real truth is that the actual day –to- day script development process based on writer elimination has created the real strife. Historically this practice has led to the cyclical bloodletting every time the guild’s contract with the buyer /employer gang known as the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, expires. If something doesn't fundamentally change, there will be more strikes in the future, as each contract expires, creating a negative cycle of meltdown Hollywood and its doting mama, California, can ill afford.

Novelists, playwrights and poets are not rewritten by other writers. Even journalists do the deed pretty much alone. But screenwriters not only routinely and eagerly replace each other, they are tactical in their competitive quest for credit, credit that is not only emotionally gratifying but financially existent. Without credit, future opportunity, immediate and contingent compensation, dissolve. All that hard work to get beyond base camp, undone. Back to square none. Meaning - what do you tell your family, friends, former classmates, neighbors, and people you’ve yet to meet - that you did work on something glamorous for possibly years even, but in the end, your name didn’t scroll by?

And the other question that will not leave your mind is the calculation of cash you didn’t get and residuals you will never see.

This belief and its subsequent practice of multiple screen authorship is a unifying principle that not only does not serve its community of believers, but actually endangers its members from achieving prosperity in a scarce economy.

Guess which Sarah Palin Facebook page is funnier?

The Real McCoy?

Or the fake?

Saturday Night Live continues to score ratings during election season. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler went after Katie Couric's notorious interview with Sarah Palin.

J.D. Walsh, the director of this viral Obama video of One Day More from Les Miz, knows what he is doing.

Here's the Broadway version:

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler nail Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, if you ask me:

UPDATE: Here's a one-stop-Palin-info site. Here's The Chicago Tribune on the show.

And Matt Damon questions Palin's credentials on CBS News RAW:

John McCain's chosen running mate Sarah Palin (here in her Alaska office) is giving the media plenty to play with. Defamer compares her to 30 Rock's Liz Lemon. And the late-night talk show hosts are going wild. Wait until they get their hands on some of the hot photos going around the Internet (most of which are fake). Meanwhile, I will be tuning in.

"John McCain's VP pick is the governor of Alaska, a unknown hockey mom named Sarah Palin that no one ever heard of. The only other job she had in politics was the mayor of a small town known as Wasilla, Alaska, and now she has the opportunity to be on a ticket opposite of Barack Obama, the first black man she's ever seen." –Bill Maher

"This isn't a presidential ticket, this is a sitcom. The maverick and the MILF." –Bill Maher

"Are you kidding me, the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? Yeah, that's who you want in the White House during a time of crisis. When she got a phone call at 3 in the morning, it was because a moose had gotten in the garbage can." –Bill Maher

"I think this is pertinent because McCain has been running this campaign based on 'we're at war, it's a dangerous world out there. The democrats don't get that. I John McCain am the only one standing between the blood-thirsty Al Qaedas and you. But if I die, this stewardess can handle it.'" –Bill Maher

"When they were vetting her for this job, like three seconds ago, she said, quote, I'm not making this up, 'What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' Let me field that for you, Sarah. They start wars, they enrich their friends, they subvert the Constitution, and they shoot people in the face. That's what the vice president does." –Bill Maher

[Posted by Steven Gaydos]

Blame it on the crushing din of the media maelstrom surrounding Sen. John McCain's unorthodox yet extremely fundamental choice for v.p., but follow the bizarre blogosphere dots and you can actually put Sarah Palin and Katie Holmes in close if unfriendly proximity.

It gets weird, so follow closely:

A recent Wall Street Journal piece speculated that someone from the Obama camp leaked the story of Palin's daughter's pregnancy.

This led to blog chatter that the "leaker" was Mark C. Rathbun, allegedly a former high-ranking member of the Church of Scientology and an organizer for "South Texas for Obama."

On Sept. 2, it was announced an anti-Scientology group, imaginatively named Anonymous, would picket Katie Holmes' Broadway debut in Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" on October 16. No word if those picketeers are fundamentalist Christians of the sort that make up a large portion of Ms. Palin's fan-base, but then a "Pray for Katie" widget did turn up this week on the Christian Film News site, which may or may not approve of Scientology (we assume the latter), but certainly does set their sights high. They are asking God himself to "give wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to media leaders as they make decisions in program and movie development."

They aren't trying to change just Katie, God love them. They've also got Warner Bros president and COO, Alan Horn, on their prayer call-sheet. Not exactly related to all this, but I know several writers, directors and producers who also pray regularly about Warner Bros "movie development," but they all have deals facing turnaround and they're actually praying to Horn not for him.

As the Democratic National Convention gets under way, Liberal gadfly Michael Moore's pre-election book, Mike's Election Guide, hits stores just in time for the height of the presidential campaign. The writer and doc filmmaker (Sicko) promotes himself--per usual--via email to his fans:

Friends,

This morning my new book officially goes on sale. It has a fancy title: "Mike's Election Guide." It's cheap ($11.19 on Amazon). It's got a cool quote on the back cover from Republican congressman Tom Davis: "The Republican brand is in the trash can ... If we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf."

And it's got 200+ pages of facts and ideas that you won't read anywhere else, like:

** Does John McCain think it's right to drop bombs on civilians in (his words) "heavily populated" cities?

** The only reason Social Security is running out of money is because people who make over $102,000 a year pay NO social security tax on what they make over $102,000 (if they did, we'd have enough money in Social Security for the next 75 years!).

** Bring back the draft -- but only draft the rich. If they have to serve, they won't be so eager to start ridiculous wars.

** Despite what you've heard, we actually pay more "taxes" than France or any European country -- and get none of the benefits they receive.

** Why we must arrest Misters Bush and Cheney as they slip out of the White House this coming January 20th for the crimes they have committed.

Our man in Denver is Ted Johnson, who will be filing daily on the intersection between Washington and Hollywood at the Democratic National Convention. A few Hollywood stars are expected to show up to support the Obama/Biden ticket. Events get under way on Sunday.

I've been impressed with Obama's choice for running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, head of the Foreign Relations committee, for quite a while: he's long been a regular on Charlie Rose. Here's a candid conversation from August 2007: