I was watching PI tonight (Friday 3/17) and Author Diane Medved & Actress Diane Ladd were talking about were talking about the state of the motion picture industry. They were claiming that Theaters were not doing any business because all that they were putting out was violent movies.
As someone who works at a theater I can tell you that they were so far away from the facts that it wasn't even funny. Hopkins is a great actor but unless he is playing Hannibal he has less drawing power than Nic Cage has in some of his lesser grossing movies (Snake Eyes & 8mm)

Trying to claim that Hannibal was underpreforming because of Billy Eliot and Chocolat is ridiculous. Hannibal has made 151.5 million after 5 weeks of release, that’s more than anyone expected it to do and more than most movies will ever do. Chocolat has made 51.0 million after 13 weeks out. Hannibal also set a new box office record for the biggest February opening ever (a record previously held by Scream 3). Billy Elliot didn’t even make the top 20 this week. As of March 4 it had made $20.625 million total in the USA. Also trying to say that "Hannibal" was doing so good just because of it's star power while "Family Man" did nothing because of lack of star power is crazy. What was Nic Cage's last staring role before Family Man, "Gone in 60 Seconds". What was Hopkins last before Hannibal, I have no idea, I think Titus (Note, I am not talking about Titus the Fox show; I mean Titus the movie that came out last spring and no one saw)

Also 200 theaters are not closing per month. It’s 200 screens per month. Since most of those theaters have 8, 10, or 12 screens per theater that’s a little less than 200 theaters per month. As someone who has worked in a theater for 3 years I feel more qualified than the two of them to explain why those theaters are closing. As quickly as 10 plexes are closing 16, 20, and 24 screen "Megaplex" theaters are being built. Theater attendance is down about 2 percent from 10 years ago (a negligible difference). The difference is that instead of theaters keeping movies on 1 or 2 screens for months on end they are opening movies on 4 (sometimes 5) screens for 1 or 2 months. The theaters that are closing are doing so because if your theater is not a megaplex with stadium seating and Digital Sound no one will go to it. Since the theater chains are having to spend all of this money ($15 – 25 million per megaplex) to build these places to serve about the same number of customers as 10 years ago they are getting into financial trouble. Their only other option these theaters face is to not build state of the art theaters and than all of their customers will stop going to them and go to the megaplex that the was just built across town. Those 2 ladies were trying to make it sound like this nation was full of nothing but empty multiplexes. I can tell that this is not true. Hannibal’s first week out we had 4 prints (print meaning copy of the film) because the movie was selling out so fast we canceled the showing of some other movie and interlocked one of the prints (ran the film through 2 projectors) That is 5 large auditoriums showing the movie every 3 hours and we were still selling out.

I agree. I used to work in a movie thetre. BTW, Hopkins was in MI:2 (uncredited), and Titus was a good movie.

I love this show. I've been watching it since it first debuted on Comedy Central, which, if memory serves, was called the Ha Station, until it merged with the Comedy Channel to form Comedy Central. Or whatever.

Listening to Bill talk about how he's always fighting with ABC/Disney over content and such I was thinking, "Well, hell, ABC/Disney knew, or should've, known what they were getting into when they wanted to buy the show," but which, due to their network Standard and Practises, has been toned down a bit from what it was over on CC. I was afraid it'd be less of a show but for the most part it's still great. If they still had the Citizen Panelist I'd like to be on the show. Then I could tell you all, "Hey, guys! Watch me on Politically Incorrect on such and such a date!" First ScottN on "Win Ben Stein's Money", now me on PI. Ah, if only...

And doesn't Arsenio Hall look absolutely awful with that hairstyle? He's had so many stup¡d ones. Why can't he choose a good one? Then again with that face nothing would really work for him, anyway. He looks like a black version of a former roomie of mine, too.

Hopkins was in MI:2 (uncredited)
He was also the narrator in "The Grinch" but I'm talking about a starring role not a glorified cameo.

Titus was a good movie.
Even so that does not change the fact that few people saw it, which speaks to his ability to draw a crowd.

Ya wanna see Hopkins in other creepy movies? Watch "Magic" and "Audrey Rose". Not great films, but they're passable. Good enough to kill a few hours. And then there's his portrayal of Hitler in "The Bunker". He looked more like him than he did Nixon in "Nixon". Hey! Did I just earn some points in the pointless accusations game? That'd finally be a first for me.

Oh, man! Just when I thought I finally did it, too! I hate it when that happens.

http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment092801b.shtml

Why PI should be canned

Read the transcript of the show yourself. That single quote was taken out of context, and only a reflection of what one of the guests said.

Yes. Because, you know, Bill Maher doesn't really deserve to say what he thinks anyway. Oops...

Judging by the essay, I'd say that the author, Jonah Goldberg, has a personal grudge against Maher, rather than calling for the cancellation of PI for any truly legitimate reasons. Incidentally, Pesti, if the show bothers you that much, don't watch it.

I don't think what Maher said was unexpected, given other things he has said, and if the "other guest" you're talking about, is Dinesh DeSouza, Matt, then I'd say the same about him.

Wow! I'm watching PI now. They just mentioned that Rush Limbaugh agreed with Bill Maher on the "coward" comment! Ooops! Maybe Rush Limbaugh should be canned, too, eh Pesti?

I agreed too. I think the mian problem was it was taken out of context. He wasn't blasting our military. Like Mahr, I actually am a backer of the military (despite what pesti and peter doubtless think). My problem has always been, we spend too much money on weap0ons technology that either doesn;t get used or deosn't work, instead of doing the decent thing and PAYING our SOLDIERS more. When I balked at Gore and Bush in 2000 saying they wanted more military spending, I wasn't saying we should cut back the military. I'm not opposed to military spending. I'm opposed to not spending it in the right places. I wonder how many ethnic Albanians could've been saved from Milosevic if we'd sent in the troops to walk ino his office, yell "Consider yoruself cleansed motherfukcer" and saved us a lot of toruble instead of just lobbing missiles at TV stations. On second, let's continue that pattern by targetting the WB. :-)

Actually Benn, I heard what Limbaugh said about Maher yesterday, and it wasn't exactly agreeing with him. It was more like using the situation to bash Clinton.

Last time I ever post an intresting article I think may be pertinant to the subject at hand. Sheesh

I'm not upset you posted the link Matty. I just didn't agree with it.

Matt, if you and your links cannot stand up to any criticism or scrutiny, then, please, by all means, don't post them. But after all the time you've been here, you should know that just about everything here will be picked at.

"Stop looking...blah, blah, blah", It was Republican Congressman, Bob Barr who initially stated that Rush Limbaugh defended Bill Maher. Maher said that Limbaugh agreed with him. I have not heard nor read Limbaugh's actual words. If there's a place for me to hear or read those words myself, please let me know. If my information was wrong, I was wrong, and I'd like to know.

I'd be shocked that Limbaugh would agree with someone that even RESEMBLED being anti-American.

If it ment a chance to dog on Clinton Rush would speak well of Ho Chi Minh.

I heard the Rush speech. Basically he said that Maher said it wrong, and made it sound like the Army and American people were the cowards, rather than Bill Clinton who ordered the low risk bombings. Rush like all conservatives considers the govenrment and the country as two different beings and therefore you can be a patriot while questioning your government. In fact patriotism demands it.

The ultimate problem is how cowardly behavior is desginated.

I thought it was Sadam Hussein that Clinton went after during the Lewinsky matter for supposedly obstructing U.N. inspection teams from inspecting Iraq for chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.

No, Luigi. Clinton was accused of a "Wag the Dog" scenario when he sent cruise missiles after the two embassy bombings.

Dude is essentially correct. No matter *WHAT* he did in that situation, he was going to be pilloried. He attacks (ineffectually or not), he's trying to divert attention from Lewinsky. He doesn't do anything and he's a wimp.

Take your choice, it's a no-win scenario for Clinton.

Yeah, he's probably the only guy in his fifties who'd be called a wimp after being found to be having an affair with a girl in her twenties.

No matter *WHAT* he did in that situation, he was going to be pilloried. He attacks (ineffectually or not), he's trying to divert attention from Lewinsky. He doesn't do anything and he's a wimp.

No the whole point is that the same people who are criticizing him for not doing enough now were the ones who criticized him into doing less.

Besides didn't most of Clinton's alledged excapades put the "ug" in ugly. Hey, whatever makes your knees knock.

Also his pool of partners was limited to people in the Whitehouse for legitiment business. Gone are the days of JFK when the secret service could sneak Hollywood actresses and prostitutes into the Whitehouse for a quick bang. These days a Hollywood starlet couldn't get within a mile of the whitehouse without the press jumping on it. As for a "professional" she'd turn around and sell her story to pay TV.

Actually, by the time of the Cole bombing, Clinton would have been a lame duck, and would have been able to retailiate without political consequences

Pesti's right about the Cole. In that case Clinton was just ••••••.

I liked the guy somewhat, but I don't tow the Dem-party line that he was the best Pres ever (Third Best maybe, Fifth Best at worst). That's part of the reason I left the DNP. I figured the insults would stop once I wasn't a Dem anymore. HA! Shows how Much I know. Of course it doens't help that I LIVE with 3 Dems.

You guys won't believe this but Wednesday night's show had on the panel a news anchor from my town and whom I watch sometimes. Her name is Christianne Klein, the cute blonde on the show sitting next to Kevin Nealon. I didn't even know she was gonna be on that show. Imagine my pleasant surprise to find out a local news anchor was on this show.

Then again, one of our weathermen did the No. 1 spot on one of Letterman's Top Ten Lists a short while back, too. I dunno why. The guy is such an absolute jerk (and trust me, that's not the word I wanna really use) in person. I guess Letterman's people didn't know that, otherwise they might've used someone else.

Among these "news" items is something on topic for this board.

http://www.onion.com/archive/archive_nib03.html

Last week's Real Time with Bill Maher was a breath of fresh air. So many commentators on the networks gingerly avoided criticising the religious right, its agenda, and its large turn out in the election. Maher was unapologetically critical of what he sees as irrationality and faith being upheld as superior to reason and facts. Evangelicals such as Falwell and Pat Robertson and the Catholic Bishops have been very politically active suypporting Bush. They want to blur the line between Church and State by influencing secular institutions such as marriage (no marriage rights for gays), education (still trying to get Creationism into public schools), medicine (trying to ban abortion and stem cell research), and a host of other issues. The Catholic Church's behavior has been especially hypocrtitical. They support Bush for his pro-life views inspite of the fact that Bush is so pro-death penalty. One columnist wrote that the Church was making a bid to regain influence and power (by supporting Bush) after its recent child abuse scandals. In any event, it really is ugly to see a church go against a politician of its own faith for seemingly political reasons only.

Senator Alan Simpson and conservative Andrew Sullivan made a fuss over religious people being held in contempt by the Hollywood elite and liberals. Maher had to remind them that the religious right always holds atheists and secularists in contempt for having no values ( or for finding value in reason and facts rather than blind faith). I've seen that attitude since I was a child. In a sort of amused amazement, I sometimes used to watched Jimmy Swaggart on tv (and be shocked at the kind of things Christians believed!). He always attacked "secular humanists" as immoral and always seemed to try to associate them with the Soviet Union (that "atheist state"). He also made some thinnly veiled anti-Semitic remarks with his attacks on Psychiatry. Faith-healing and performing exorcisms were some claims of his. His rancid influence reappeared this year when he was very outspoken against a same-sex marriage bill in LA.

Last night was the first time I've seen a talk show host request that more conservatives show up and be a part of the audience. Maher's audience has always shown a rather disrespectful attitude towards conservative guests (often booing them). Some conservatives have mentioned this as a reason for not wanting to appear on the show. Maher has shown a somewhat less negative tone toward Bush recently, but I think he's just trying to appear less biased to conservative viewers.

I had tix to see him in las Vegas. He canceled the same day. The official reason? Diarrhea!! He just lost a viewer.

Why do you say that?

KGood, if you have a bad case it is really bad.

You have painful stomach cramps. You have to run off to the restroom every 15-20 minutes.

Perhaps he felt that he couldn't put on a proper show with that?

Poor Ashley Simpson had a sore throat. She didn't cancel her appearance on Saturday Night Live.

A sore throat won't make a mess on the stage and in your pants, though.

Poor Ashley Simpson had a sore throat. She didn't cancel her appearance on Saturday Night Live.

\sarcasm{Yeah, look how well that turned out for her.}

Oh, and ditto on what The Phantom Stranger said.

BILL MAHER FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But finally, New Rule: Controlling Congress is for closers. Listen up, Democrats, it's as simple as A-B-C. "Always Be Closing." First prize: subpoena power in the new Congress. Second prize: set of steak knives. Third prize: you're fired. The election is four days away and I'm through dicking around with you.

Here are the leads. Here are your talking points.

One: when they say Democrats will raise taxes, you say, "We have to because someone spent all the money in the world cutting Paris Hilton's taxes and not killing Osama bin Laden."

In just six years, the national debt has doubled. You can't keep spending money you don't take in. That's not even elementary economics. That's just called, "Don't be Michael Jackson."

Two: When they say the terrorists want the Democrats to win, you say, "Are you insane? George Bush has been a terrorist's wet dream." He inflames radical hatred against America and then runs on offering to protect us from it. It's like a guy throwing •••• on you and then selling you relief from the flies.

Three: When they say, "Cut and Run" or "Defeat-ocrat," you say, "Bush lost the war. Period." All this nonsense - this nonsense about "the violence is getting worse over there because they're trying to influence the election"; no, it's getting worse because you drew up the postwar plans on the back of a cocktail napkin at Applebee's.

And of course Democrats want to win. But that's impossible now that you've ethnically-cleansed the place by making it unlivable. Just like you did with New Orleans.

Four: When they say that actual combat veterans like John Kerry are denigrating the troops, you say, "You're completely full of ••••." Remember when Al Gore caught all that flak for sighing and moaning during that debate? Yeah, don't do that. Just say, "You're full of ••••." If I was a troop, the support I would want back home would mainly come in the form of people pressuring Washington to get me out of this pointless nightmare! That's how I would feel supported.

So when they say, "Democrats are obstructionists," you say, "You're welcome." Sometimes, good people have to intercede to prevent dire consequences. You wouldn't like to think of me as an obstructionist, but what if Roseanne had offered to sing?

So I would be happy to frame this debate as a fight between the obstructionists and the enablers. There's your talking point. Vote Republican, and you vote to enable George Bush to keep ruling as an emperor. A retarded, child emperor-but an emperor.

So, Democrats, you've got four days to get out there and close! And it's not about slogans this time. Although, when it comes to slogans, the only one I'm prepared to accept from the opposition is, "The Republican Party: We're Sorry."

Brian, was it really necessary to post (and link) almost the entire monologue? I mean, a simple link to the video would've sufficed, and as you know, posting such things in their entirety might have copyright implications.

sorry

Actually, since he linked it, I dount know if it would be a copyright thing. It's not like he's claiming it as his work.

Copyright infringement can be any substantial use of another's work, beyond the mere snippets used as quotes, regardless of whether is it passed off as one's own or creidited to its originator.

In other words, half of YouTube and Wikipedia

The GOP divorced from reality


If conservatives don't want to be seen as bitter people who cling to their guns and religion and anti-immigrant sentiments, they should stop being bitter and clinging to their guns, religion and anti-immigrant sentiments.