“Old Lil” was an actress. It was a good job, paid the bills, but it was a tough life. Oatmeal or a cold sandwich was her usual meal, an idle table or bench her usual bed. There were dangers, too. One night on stage, an accidentally discharged shotgun put some buckshot in her leg. On another, she was unceremoniously cast into a cage of live lions as horrified women in the audience (who had been lured into the theater by flyers promising just such a spectacle) screamed and fainted dead away. Yet through it all she proved a consummate professional, enduring the hardships of performing with quiet dignity.

Her name was Lillian Gish, and she was eight years old.

She was born in Ohio, in 1893, to a pair of seventeen-year-old parents. A little sister, Dorothy, followed four-and-a-half years later. By 1902 their alcoholic father had abandoned the family, and mother turned both herself and her two little girls towards acting to pay the bills. “I learned what it was like to work,” Gish remembered with appreciation. “And. . . to be hungry at times.”

They moved to New York, where the action was. To save on rent, the Gish family shared an apartment with another abandoned mother, Charlotte Smith, and her own three thespian kids. Little Gladys Smith was near to Lillian’s age, and they became fast friends, going so far as to substitute for each other on stage whenever one fell ill. (more…)

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Who knew people cussed in the 1930s?

It is perhaps a radical view of the Sphinx and its mystery, but if the impenetrable reality is a human being, two Hollywood legends that qualify as our unanswered questions are Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich.

Beginning with Ms. Monroe, there really are no classic, “dumb blondes” in Europe.

“Dumb blonde” is an exclusively American label.

However, no “dumb blonde” has ever or will ever receive so much attention from world renowned intellectuals, male and female, as Marilyn Monroe.

Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller, Joyce Carol Oates, Lee and Paula Strasberg and, of course, the Kennedy’s.

I’m not sure just how erotic were the powers of the ancient Sphinx but I doubt such magic could equal the sometimes inspiring fantasies provoked in headier corners of American culture by Marilyn Monroe. (more…)

Imagine the pressure of pulling off the perfect film — then immediately being expected to top yourself. That was pretty much the situation faced by Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau with “Iron Man.”

When that superhero flew into theaters in 2008, he brought the thrill of discovery back to moviegoers who had been hit throughout the decade with a wave of Spiderman, X-Men and Superman movies. With Downey Jr. taking on the lead role of super-industrialist and weapons maker Tony Stark, that film’s producers took a big chance on giving one of Hollywood’s most legendary bad boys another shot at stardom after he had wasted years of great reviews on a personal ride through a drug-addicted hell complete with time in a hard-core prison and repeated attempts at rehab.

Audiences went wild for him, as Downey brought genuine emotion, sass and swagger to his role at the heart of the expertly mounted film, which featured Terence Howard, Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow in key supporting roles. (more…)

A little over a year ago, horror icon Jason Voorhees returned to the big screen in a remake of “Friday the 13th.” This year, Freddy Krueger gets his revenge with his own new film, “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Unfortunately, like 2009’s “Friday the 13th,” the 2010 version of “Nightmare” is a great disappointment that fails to fulfill the interesting premise of the original.

The premise is a familiar one if you’re familiar with the original series. A group of teenagers is haunted by a disfigured man with knives for fingers. In their dreams, he attacks and tries to kill them. Unlike other serial killers, Mr. Krueger attacks people in their dreams but if he kills a person in their dreams they are dead in the real world as well.

According to the remake’s website, the new “Nightmare” is a “contemporary re-imagining of the seminal horror classic.” I have not seen the original in several years, but from what I remember this film heavily borrows from its predecessor, but this one’s not likely be remembered as fondly. (more…)

There’s something unseemly about Hollywood’s “Bucket List” genre; where characters either facing their mortality or falling in love with the standard cute, quirky girl… or some such lame thing, let loose their inner narcissist and shift into emancipating All About Me mode. The lesson being that this is how they should have lived their lives all along. Really, is “Seize the Day” a realistic gameplan for a healthy, happy, and fulfilling life? Hollywood would have you believe so, which is why a film like “Harry Brown” is such a rare breath of fresh air.

The Mighty Michael Caine plays the title character, a retired British pensioner who once served as a Marine in Northern Ireland and now resides in a massive, generic, depressing and dirty housing project called The Estate. It’s here that Harry’s life became one of precision and sameness. He wakes, dresses, eats his jelly toast and then walks to a nearby hospital to visit his ailing wife. The most convenient route for this daily commute would be through the tunnel that runs beneath a busy freeway. But that tunnel is constantly infested with a rotating menagerie of dangerous youth gangs looking for a place to hang when not out terrorizing the Estate’s residents.

Because his wife is rarely conscious, Harry’s sole company is Leonard (David Bradley), a widower and fellow pensioner. To wile away the lonely afternoons, the men enjoy quiet, leisurely pints and games of chess at the local pub.  Though the old friends are comfortable in silence, when they do speak it’s frequently about the violence they’re forced to live with. Harry prefers to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. Leonard, however, is tired of being harassed and vows to start fighting back. (more…)

I finally had the opportunity to see James Cameron’s paean to nature, “Avatar.” It is definitely beautifully filmed and there is an edenic quality to the alien planet of Pandora that probably reflects the director’s image of the biblical garden. It is typical, however, of Hollywood denizens to find paradise in another realm than to look at what is already here without criticizing the negative human impact on our blue planet. 

The Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation prompted many apocalyptic films in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. As a child I watched films of giant tomatoes, giant alligators; giant frogs and rabbits and more all caused by mutations generated by nuclear accidents. Is it any wonder that the hippies and leftists protested, very effectively I might add, against the building of nuclear facilities and power plants? ‘The China Syndrome” was a movie that stuck in the minds of many in the movie industry even though nuclear accidents rarely occur here. Three Mile Island did not cause any injuries. Chernobyl’s disaster happened because the Russian reactor was built in an old military installation without the strict guidelines we use in the United States. 

The ‘60’s were fraught with cautionary tales of impending doom. One of my favorite films, La Dolce Vita, depicted the angst and melancholia of the intelligentsia over the threat of nuclear annihilation The brilliant Steiner worries so much about what the future holds for his two beautiful children; that “the end of the world could be announced with a phone call’; that he kills them and commits suicide. Honestly, nihilists have so few options, we must pity them.   (more…)

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Our friends at Comedy Central have found their cojones again. Although if you’re mining for brass there, move along. This same network that so quickly retreated in the face of threats of bodily harm from a militant Islamic website regarding their South Park episode which depicted the prophet Muhammed in a bear suit, has somehow mustered the intestinal fortitude to go after that most fresh and elusive of targets. You guessed it, (*yawn*) Jesus Christ…again. The haute irreverent network is set to announce “JC,” a half-hour show about Christ wanting to escape the shadow of his “powerful but apathetic father” and live a regular life in, where else, New York City.

Apparently the free speech warriors discovered that their beloved First Amendment has an “on/off” switch. It reserves them the right to offend with obvious intent only those religions that profess such core tenets as “turn the other cheek” and “do unto others” when slighted. Of course, when the target of their rapier wit responds not with quiet resignation but rather the banshee wails of “Allahu Akbahr!” followed by exploding IEDs in their fruit of the looms—well the art warriors tune changes to free speech, schmee speech just don’t slit my throat bro! Wow, if only those God-fearing wimps at Normandy and Iwo could have mustered such courage of conviction!

Oh my…there are just so many places I can go with this story but to rehash the topic would demonstrate a lack of originality that only another trite lampooning of such a docile target as Jesus in the name of “art” could top. I suppose I could berate the absolute hypocrisy of those on the left who rail with such self-righteous piety against the imagined intolerance of others while demonstrating their very real, almost bizarrely manic, hostility towards Christianity. (Except of course when they are on one of their ”Jesus was a liberal” or “what would Jesus do” soap boxes to justify this or that expansion of the entitlement state on my dime. Then suddenly “JC” as the self-proclaimed hipsters call him is a handy God to have on their side, but that is another story.) (more…)

So the 2010 Time Magazine 100 Poll is out, and all of you Conservatives out there should be paying attention. Take a gander at the top 25. Notice anything in particular? Where are the local district representatives? Where are the long-standing politicians and Republican strategists that we see time and time again on our cable news networks? SPOILER ALERT: Nowhere.

I’ll bet you didn’t see that one coming, did you GOP’ers?

In response to my recent column on James Cameron, somebody wrote me:

Who cares about James Cameron? … If people spent half the time reading about their local politicians and congressional reps as they do about the Hollywood elite, this country would be a thousand times better off.

Both unfortunately and importantly, the man speaks the truth. Even more sadly however, is the response that he would receive from most of mainstream America; “So what?”

Would the world be better off if Americans cared more about their local government? Probably? Do they? No. (more…)

I think Whoopi Goldberg has as much hair inside her head as she has outside it. What else explains the harebrained thinking she exhibited (again) on her coffee klatcher’s show The View on May 4?

Goldberg attempted to explain why she supports abortion. It’s because, you see, if parents can’t kill their kids in utero she thinks parents will just kill their kids later on in their lives.

The discussion centered around a new law in Oklahoma that required abortion patients to view their in vitro babies via a new 3-D ultrasound before they make the final decision to undergo the abortion procedure.

Goldberg was against the new law and in her muddled thinking this was her reason to oppose it: (more…)

My guess is that the only pause Ebert gave this Tweet was to worry about whether it was insulting to the Commies to equate the American flag with theirs.

The Internet really has been the gift that keeps on giving with the Roger Eberts of our world. With no editors or producers, no one intelligent between them and their moral illiteracy, they just can’t help but expose their true nature to the whole world.

God bless the SEND button.

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[Ed. Note: Please welcome Vic, Owner/Editor of Screen Rant -- an addiction of mine since coming across it -- to Big Hollywood. Don't forget to bookmark his site and encourage him to return.]

One of the best things about the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double-feature Grindhouse was the inclusion of trailers for fake movies ahead of and between the two films. One of those trailers was for a fictitious film called Machete – a hard core 1970s-style grindhouse film starring Danny Trejo as a bad-ass Mexican that you don’t mess with. It was filled with mayhem, violence, death and scantily clad women… Almost immediately people started asking for a feature length film based on the faux trailer.

Now this sort of movie isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a fan of early 70s cheesy R-rated action movies, this looked like it could be a blast. About a year ago word came from Rodriguez that the movie would indeed be made, a few months later it was announced that some high-profile actors had been attached to the film, and this past January the movie was picked up for distribution.

Over the ensuing months, news of the production continued to trickle out – including a script review that was less than positive (but hey, for this kind of film, who expects Shakespeare, right?).  All it ever seemed was that it would be a cheesy, gritty, violent action movie send-up.

But then came the “illegal” movie trailer for Machete. (more…)

Pop singer Shakira is boycotting the State of Arizona.  I know, horrible news if you’re an Arizona rancher near the border or a construction worker standing in an unemployment line. Since your state has actually tried to do something about the illegal immigration problem you will not be able to enjoy the sweet sounds of Ms. Ripoll shimmying half naked to “Hips Don’t Lie,” live in concert. Not that I don’t enjoy seeing that sort of thing but not if it includes a lecture on social justice.

For those of you who, like me, are counted among the tragically un-hip, Shakira is a singer from Columbia and huge star in the Latin music world. If one were a cynical racist you might begin to see some economic motive in her opposition to the United States enforcing its immigration laws. However Ms. Ripoll has some serious bone fides in the area of human rights. Her own country, Columbia, is the worldwide beacon for justice and law enforcement. A cynic may also wonder why she isn’t down in Columbia working on their border problem with Venezuela. Maybe she is still angry about that whole thing where we stole Panama from them back in the early part of the last century.

I have to give Shakira credit for her charity work in Columbia. She has a foundation which supports education for poor girls in her native land. In fact she is such a great philanthropist that she has an entire section on her official website detailing her good works and awards. She was recently awarded a medal by the U. N. for her work, the same group which recently elected Iran to its committee on the status of women.  I wonder if she sees any irony in that? (more…)

Hollywood’s favorite examples of how “evil” conservatives are, and how “wrong” the 1950s were, is the Blacklist and the McCarthy hearings, even though they were unrelated. It’s a popular theme in many films and TV shows that the Red Scare was a bad, bad thing. The act of making communists, who wanted to destroy and subvert our way of life, out to be villains, has been maligned and pilloried for years. Yet these events that America is supposed to be ashamed of only lasted a few years and was the work of a mere handful of people. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me turn your attention to a worse case of rampant bigotry, phobia and persecution. I am referring of course to the New Red Scare…  Hollywood’s rampant hate mongering of the Red States and Middle America.

You want cliched stereotypes? You want blacklists? You want cruel and vicious hate speech? You want people revealing their dark hearts for all to see? You want to see fanatics spewing bile like possessed, head spinning, profanity spouting Linda Blair imitators? Well, step night up! It’s almost a daily occurrence in Tinseltown. Check out the celebrity rags and blogs. In the allegedly “tolerant” and “inclusive” City of Angeles it’s perfectly PC to show your hatred for anyone who doesn’t toe the leftist line. Yes, even people who are apolitical or libertarian who happen to merely dissent from the progressive hive mind, they too are judged!

Forget the screeching TV evangelists calling people sinners; they have nothing on the judgement that flows like a river of sewer waste from Tinsel Town. Hollywood’s TV and films have been bashing on average Americans going back to Green Acres. Green Acres was the way Hollywood saw the flyover states. A bunch of ignorant, inbred hicks with no electricity or indoor plumbing. Something to be mocked to canned laughter. Times have changed, but only for the worse. (more…)

During a recent episode of the new NBC show “Parenthood,” the patriarch of the family was jokingly reminiscing with his wife about a family trip they had taken years earlier when one of their children got sick and vomited on her. His wife painfully recalls the situation in a far more serious tone noting that she was washing out the vomit from her hair in a dirty disgusting gas station bathroom and her husband was amused. As she talks about the experience, her husband slowly realizes that he had hurt her by his casual response to the situation and that the memory was a painful one for her to recall. It was a subtle, small and powerful scene that showcases how NBC’s great new program ”Parenthood” is able to capture real relationships and complicated people.

“Parenthood,” a television drama inspired by the 1989 film of the same name, focuses on a large, eclectic family like the film did. However, instead of going for laughs as the film did, the show focuses on the drama that come from being a parent. I watched the film “Parenthood” for the first time several weeks ago and enjoyed it. However, I am liking the television show a lot more because it’s less concerned with creating comedy and more interested in developing strong characters and great storylines.

The show revolves around the Braverman family, which is headed by a a strong couple: Zeek (played by Craig T. Nelson) and Camille (Bonnie Bedelia). The Braverman family includes Zeek and Camille’s children and their numerous grandchildren. One of the major storylines focuses on one of the grandchildren, Max, who was recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Max’s parents have a difficult time adjusting to the realization that their child is different than the other kids but ultimately they learn to adapt their life for him — to give him an environment where he can grow. (more…)