Moore — “the most feared filmmaker in America” — is up to his same old schtick. This time capitalism is in the bull’s eye. I don’t always agree with him, but I am always entertained by him. This target is ripe; the film looks to be particularly engaging: “It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper...

Just this morning I received a jarring reminder of just how fast time flies and the years slip away from us. It was 33 years ago this month that The Ramones’ self titled debut album scratched and clawed its way up near the top of the charts and shook the fledgling era of evolving rock and roll to its roots. I spent the majority of my time listening to what’s now considered classic rock – Pink...

Just another lesson for us Yanks from the wise Sir Humphrey

In the morass of new and old media, a big media story has been breaking — or, rather, a story that would have once been a big media story. It’s not as big as it once would have been — and isn’t being played up the way it would have been even 5 years ago — because the subject of this story has gone from being a powerful media giant to more of a weakening relic from bygone big media...

Family Guy, former Hanna Barbera animator Seth MacFarlane’s not-just-for-kiddies, cutting-edge humor cartoon that virtually rose from a cartoon drawn in his kitchen to television dead meat to DVD sales bonanza to a $1 billion franchise and now one of the TV’s biggest comedy hits, is now campaigning hard to win the Best Comedy Award at the Emmys. Here’s the cartoon’s highly viewed Emmy...

WE ARE THE ATOMIC CHILDREN AND WE ARE STILL DANCING It began before we went to school… we asked for live ponies, but received inflatable whales made of polypropylene instead. But it was okay. We waited and waited for April so we could dance can-can tournaments in the rain. We wore eerie iridescent swim suits glowing like uranium. Our swimsuits were always too big and showed everything, or they were always...

On a recent trip to New Mexico, I had lots of time to listen to FM and satellite radio (I am burned out on talk radio) and one topic came up: whether the classics of American theater will survive as America heads into the 21st century. My answer: YES. Why? Just surf YouTube — and you’ll find many examples of young people who are hooked on some of the classics, such as this spunky performer doing...

ABC News announced today: “Indicted Former Republican Congressman Cast on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” and, referring to Tom DeLay, asks, “Does He Know the ‘Perp Walk?” ABC News continues: To the amazement of many in Washington, Tom DeLay, the former Republican Congressional leader who became a poster boy for cronyism and ethical lapses, was named one of the 16 celebrity contestants today...

courtesy: AP There are a couple of near certainties in the world – paying taxes, dying, and that Tiger Woods closes out major championships when he is leading after 54 holes. For the record, I am a huge Tiger Woods fan. He is the reason why I watched most of the final round of the PGA Championship yesterday. However, I am happy that Y.E. Yang beat Tiger to become the first Asian golfer to win a major...

Cam Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

After months of a bigger-than-life presidency, Barack Obama is being cut down to size–by the enormity of an economic crisis, by orchestrated fear of Change as a reality rather than an idea and by exhaustion of the hope and idealism he stirred up during two years of campaigning. But behind the falling poll numbers and raucous town halls, something else may be going on. “Health Debate Fails to Ignite...

Thinking of all the books you’ve ever read, common stories passed down from generation to generation, the lives of real people who you find interesting, radio shows or more, what movie would you like to see made which has never been produced? Or, to widen the field a bit, we could include movies which actually were made, but were done poorly or before the technology was available to do them justice. In...

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the past we ran a line about Guest Voice posts not necessarily representing the opinion of TMV or its writers. But after we ran many Guest Voice columns by conservative talk show host Michael Reagan (whose posts we run usually once a week from Cagle Cartoons), liberals, moderates etc. we felt it wasn’t necessary to run that line at the top anymore. However, a reader now says this...

Normally here at TMV we generally discuss political issues, we sometimes discuss entertainment issues and once in a while the two subjects meld. I am not one for jumping on to celebrity causes but this is an exception to the rule. For those who are not familiar with the name, Eric Millegan is an actor best known for his role as Zach Addy on the CBS series Bones. He is also openly gay and has been a figure in...

I posted with the headline, Will Michael Vick Get The Real 60 Minutes Treatment? Not 5 minutes later: Quarterback Michael Vick has signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, his agent, Joel Segal, confirmed to ESPN.com. Vick arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday morning and remained there Wednesday evening. The Eagles will hold a news conference on Friday morning to announce his signing. The first year of...

What is the significance of Microsoft’s recent deal to create an alliance with Yahoo and its search-based confrontation with Google? While using an Internet search engine is simple and most of us think little of it, access to this technology is profoundly changing our world. According to Andrian Kreve of Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung: “Google is a corporation that monopolizes questions....

Nora Ephron’s new movie recalls the morning Julia Child burned my breakfast toast. In the 1970s, her husband Paul and I were in their Cambridge kitchen talking heatedly about politics while Julia sort of tended the broiler but was more interested in leaning over to hear what we were saying. When smoke started pouring from the oven, she pulled out a tray and dumped the charred contents into the sink. “Ah,...

He wasn’t a cinematic master, by any means, but he was one of the most distinctive American filmmakers of his generation, and it is indeed difficult to imagine American cinema in the ’80s without him. John Hughes died yesterday at the age of 59. I was a bit too young, at the time, for his early seminal movies, such as Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and even Ferris Bueller’s...

The director of a myriad of 80’s hits died of a heart attack earlier today. Our condolences to his family.

Lilly and Ludwig Friedman on their wedding day, Jan. 27, 1946. Introduction: I received this touching article via e-mail a couple of months ago. A note at the end of the e-mail says: In MEMORIAM – 63 YEARS LATER It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews,...

Let’s just call it an idea whose time hasn’t come, partially because the comedy timing never came: the Washington Post has (mercifully, thankfully, graciously) pulled plug on Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza’s video “Mouthpiece Theater.” Howard Kurtz’s piece in The Post reports: Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli killed the satirical video series Wednesday after harsh criticism...

A suggestion to Democrats and Republicans: why not lighten up on the upcoming healthcare reform townhalls? News reports have already explained what will happen: Democrats will be trying to explain their view of healthcare reform and — in the best tradition of democracy — GOPers will try to pack the meetings and in some cases drown out a detailed discussion so there are some conflict-riddled clips...

A needed song for our times comes from another time: “Put On A Happy Face” from Bye Bye Birdie. NOTE: OK, so we couldn’t get Dick Van Dyke — but in the You Tube below you can watch Steven and Sara Brattman lip syncing it: And if the lyrics didn’t get through to you with that rendition, here are Gail Farrell, her husband Ron Anderson, and their friend Michael Redman singing it...

Gary McCoy, Cagle Cartoons This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

In Chinese astrology 2009 is the “Year of the Ox”. Only that person or a nation, it is said, would remain unscathed if it works its backside off this year. US president Barack Obama was born in the “Year of the Ox”, and his nose is tied to the grindstone. But he might just work out some miracles…provided his countrymen share his burden instead of nitpicking. Among various alternatives...