Jane Fonda Urges FCC to Jettison Rush Limbaugh

The activist-actress, along with Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan, compare the radio host to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Jane Fonda and her feminist colleagues Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan have weighed in on the Rush Limbaugh controversy. Their conclusion: The FCC should ban him from the public airwaves.

“Ironically, the misogyny Rush Limbaugh spewed for three days over Sandra Fluke was not much worse than his regular broadcast of sexist, racist and homophobic hate speech,” write the co-founders of the Women’s Media Center.

The authors cite four examples: In 2010, Limbaugh called female cabinet members “sex-retaries"; that same year, he called the National Organization for Women “a bunch of whores to liberalism”; in 2000, he said the NAACP “should have riot rehearsals”; and in the 1970s, while a music DJ operating under the name Jeff Christie, he told an African-American caller, “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

The three, writing at CNN.com, also liken Limbaugh to a Nazi war criminal.

“He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets,” they wrote. “Like the sophisticated propagandist Joseph Goebbels, he creates rhetorical frames -- and the bigger the lie, the more effective -- inciting listeners to view people they disagree with as subhumans.”

The three call it a “fitting time” for Limbaugh’s corporate partners, Clear Channel Communications and Premiere Radio Networks, to drop him. If they don’t, Fonda, Steinem and Morgan encourage readers to complain to the FCC.

“He is indeed constitutionally entitled to his opinions, but he is not constitutionally entitled to the people’s airwaves,” they write. “It’s time for the public to take back our broadcast resources. Limbaugh has had decades to fix his show. Now it’s up to us.”

Naturally, the reaction from the right has been swift, especially since the trio went back to the '70s for an example of Limbaugh’s “hate speech.”

“Here is what Jane Fonda was broadcasting into North Vietnam during her visit in 1972, while American troops were fighting and dying in Vietnam," writes Dan Riehl at Breitbart.com, linking to Fonda’s famous war-protest broadcasts and photos.

“Using Fonda in an effort to stifle free speech is a tactic that drips with Hollywood irony,” writes James Hirsen for Newsmax.com, where he also notes Fonda's visit to North Vietnam.

“Interestingly, while expressing disdain over the use of the term ‘femi-nazi,’ Fonda and her cohorts have illustrated why Rush’s coined phrase for radical feminists has a ring of truth to it, since they are choosing to follow in the footsteps of totalitarian dictators who seek to silence those with whom they disagree,” Hirsen writes.

Weekend Report: 'The Lorax' Defeats Disappointing 'John Carter'

After months upon months of box office speculation, John Carter finally opened and as expected was a huge disappointment. The mega-budget sci-fi epic wasn't even able to unseat The Lorax, which held first place for the second-straight weekend. The other openers, Silent House and A Thousand Words, also performed poorly on a weekend where the Top 12 earned an estimated $123.35 million (up just five percent from last year).

The Lorax fell 44 percent to an estimated $39.1 million. The movie held about as well as Horton Hears a Who! (45 percent), and a bit worse than Despicable Me (42 percent). On Sunday, The Lorax is expected to pass The Vow to become 2012's highest-grossing movie at $122 million.

John Carter opened to an estimated $30.6 million from 3,749 locations. That's lower than practically any similar movie, beginning with those that came out around the same time of year. It was obviously way off from 300 ($70.9 million) and Watchmen ($55.2 million)—what's more concerning, though, is that it was even a tad below 10,000 B.C. ($35.9 million) and Battle: Los Angeles ($35.6 million), both of which were modest movies in comparison.

Among past Mouse House franchise attempts, John Carter isn't looking so good either. Back in 2003, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl debuted to $46.6 million, or the equivalent of over $60 million. Tron Legacy opened to $44 million in December, which is a month with notoriously low openings (the movie ultimately closed with four times as much, a fate that's unlikely for John Carter). One very minor bright spot is that the opening was slightly above that of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($30.1 million), but with 3D and IMAX surcharges John Carter even lagged behind that dud in initial attendance.

Disney's marketing department has been beat up on pretty good for the lackluster John Carter campaign, and to their credit the movie doesn't really lend itself to an easy sell. Still, making the movie is the responsibility of production, and selling the movie is the responsibility of marketing, and in that regard they clearly failed.

The movie is called John Carter, but aside from the fact that he can jump far and looks good without a shirt on, what else did commercials really convey about the title character? Also, what was John Carter doing in this desert landscape occupied by tall green men, aside from fighting giant furry white creatures? If the characters don't seem interesting, and the stakes are low (or poorly explained), it doesn't really matter how much money the movie cost or how many advertisements are run—audiences are just not going to show up.

For whatever reason, the marketing mainly ignored the movie's central romance, and as a result it paid dearly with women, who represented just 37 percent of the opening weekend audience. Crowds also skewed slightly older (59 percent over the age of 25), and they awarded the movie a solid "B+" CinemaScore. 3D presentations accounted for 64 percent of the gross, and included within that figure was a very high 16 percent from IMAX 3D showings.

Game Change: TV Review

It's nearly impossible to make a political film based on real-life events without immediately polarizing one side. We are a fiercely partisan country that has never let facts get in the way of perception. We see what we want to see, and if someone, some book, some film or some cable news channel tries to distort the image we want to see, there will be blowback and outrage.

Which brings us to HBO's Game Change, a film focusing on 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and the fallout that ensues.
Despite virtuoso (and likely Emmy-winning) performances from Julianne Moore as Palin, Woody Harrelson as McCain's strategist Steve Schmidt and Ed Harris as McCain, there will be charges of left-leaning Hollywood bias in the portrayals.

"I haven't seen HBO's latest effort at manipulating history," Tim Crawford, a top aide to Palin, told The Washington Post on Feb. 17. "However, based upon the description and reports from people who have viewed the film Game Change, HBO has distorted, twisted and invented facts to create a false narrative and attract viewers. They call it a docu-drama; there is little 'docu' in it. HBO must add a disclaimer that this movie is fiction."

And so it begins.

Based on the best-seller of the same name by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, Game Change was directed by Jay Roach and written by Danny Strong, the duo behind another HBO political film, 2008's Recount.

The film isn't trying to break ground with revelations, so what it comes down to is whether Game Change is a good movie, as opposed to a balanced documentary. For the most part, it is.

While Moore manages to nail the Palin character without being a mere caricature (a la Tina Fey, whose Saturday Night Live bits appear in the film), it's Harrelson as Schmidt and Sarah Paulson as senior adviser Nicolle Wallace who provide the film's behind-the-scenes drive. If the conceit is that McCain needed a game-changer to battle the charismatic Barack Obama, then picking Palin had a "high-risk, high-reward" element, made more so by the fact that she had to be vetted in five days, instead of the normal weeks-long process. Mistakes were made in the vetting, and as Schmidt, who lobbied McCain to pick Palin, and Wallace, who was in charge of prepping her for the press assault to come, both realize how out of her depth Palin is, the drama ratchets skyward.

In the process, interesting strands to the storytelling evolve. First, Palin becomes a sympathetic figure as she's pulled away from her family and tossed into a situation she isn't equipped to handle. National ridicule and the explosion of stories about her family begin to take their toll, and Moore effectively mines that vulnerable territory. While she's doing that, Game Change boldly raises the question about whether Palin is mentally unbalanced. The right will no doubt see that as twisting the knife. It's not until later, when Palin "goes rogue" and is more engulfed by fame (and increasing power), that you begin to hold her lack of intellectual gravitas against her. And again, Moore's transformation into the more confident -- and dangerous -- Palin is spot-on.

It would be hard to call the portrayal sympathetic, however. The movie is told mostly through the eyes of Schmidt, whose gamble backfired, and his disdain for Palin grows exponentially as the story progresses.
McCain comes off best here, a maverick whose greatest flaw is how ambition blinds his natural political acumen. Even when he realizes Palin is a liability, the depiction is more sage and fatherly than embittered. The worst that could be said of McCain in the movie is that he, too, is complicit in the rash decision, and he allows himself to be steered too easily in pursuit of the White House.

Schmidt's role is the most interesting -- and ultimately damning for Palin, given that his interview on 60 Minutes at the end of the film lays the blame at her feet. Paulson's Wallace portrayal also is a blunt hammer to the Palin camp, as her nuanced patience with Palin runs out when she sees her transform from neophyte to loose cannon. That undoubtedly will be perceived as lefty spin, no matter how exceptional Paulson's performance, particularly because of the blatant comparison to Hillary Clinton's accomplishments.
And that's the ultimate problem with Game Change. It's a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at politics -- as long as you're a Democrat (or a Republican willing to admit that Palin was a blunder -- but even then, the other elements will likely put you off). And yet, credit Game Change for at least trying to dramatize that moment in time. It is, for the left especially, an indictment of anti-intellectualism and our inherently flawed system for choosing our leaders.

Airdate 9 p.m. March 10 (HBO)
Cast Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris
Director Jay Roach

'Terra Nova' canceled by Fox

The ambitious time travel-based drama series "Terra Nova" has been canceled by Fox. Despite a great deal of hype and widely-watched first few episodes, the show never caught on the way creators expected. As a result, its first season will likely be its last, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The dinosaur-heavy series, which debuted this fall, came from executive producer Steven Spielberg. Although it attracted an average of 7.5 million viewers during its 11-episode run, viewership faltered greatly toward the end and with several hour-long dramas slated for the coming months, it did not fit the bill.

The cancelation brings Fox's costly experiment to a close. The show had been in production for years and the much-anticipated two-hour premiere cost as much as $20 million to make. Despite its cancelation, studio officials are not disappointed.

"['Terra Nova'] was an exciting bet to take and it's proven that it was worthwhile," Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly told the publication.

Tribeca expands world view in film fest lineup

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Films about the treatment of women in India and a gay man in Israel will open the competitions at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival among a range of foreign stories and dozens of movies starring James Franco, Abbie Cornish, Kate Bosworth and others.

Ninety feature films, many from around the world, will screen at Tribeca, one of the largest film festivals in the United States that showcases independent cinema and was co-founded by actor Robert De Niro. It runs from April 18 to April 29.

"Yossi," a fiction film about a closeted gay man living in Tel Aviv, will open the narrative competition, while "The World Before Her," which connects women in India from the Miss India Beauty pageant to a fundamentalist Hindu camp for girls, will debut the documentary lineup, festival organizers said.

Among its lineup of 12 fictional films in competition, half are international productions including the world premiere of "The Girl," an American/Mexican production starring Cornish as a single mother who helps smuggle immigrants over the border.

Other world stories include Argentinian director Daniel Burman's "All In" ("La Suerte En Tus Manos"), a romantic comedy about a professional poker player and "Una Noche," set in Cuba, which depicts one day in the life of two teenagers contemplating fleeing to Miami.

The experimental, "Francophrenia (or Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is)" offers audiences an indie look at Oscar nominee James Franco's turn on the TV soap, "General Hospital" and a portrait of one celebrity's paranoia. It screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival earlier this year and is co-directed by Franco and Ian Olds.

"First Winter" is a fictional tale about a group of Brooklyn hipsters coping with a blackout in a remote farmhouse. It screens alongside other U.S. indie films such as "While You Were Here," starring Kate Bosworth as a wife looking to reinvigorate her marriage.

Among U.S. documentaries, "The List," tells the true story of how a former American reconstruction contractor in Iraq, Kirk Johnson, founded a project upon returning the United States to help abandoned Iraqis who have risked their lives working for the military trying to flee the country.

"Downeast" shows America's job struggles through one Italian immigrant's push to open a lobster plant, "Off Label" shows wayward uses for pharmaceuticals outside their prescribed function, and "Sexy Baby" examines social media," sexting," and sex culture in America.

Outside the United States, "High Tech, Low Life," takes a look at a pair of rogue bloggers aiming to stem Internet censorship in China, while the Algerian "El Gusto," which premiered to acclaim in Abu Dhabi in October, promises a catchy look at music's healing power centered around a once popular musical form known as chaabi.

"Town of Runners" follows two teenage track hopefuls from a rural Ethiopian town of Bekoji that has produced several Olympic champions, and "Turn Off The Lights" reveals the moral complexities of three men rediscovering their lives in a community in Romania after years in prison.

The New York City festival features films from 32 different countries and for the first time has designated opening films for narrative and documentary competition sections.

Weekend Report: Little 'Lorax' Is Box Office Giant

Combining a strong brand and an impressive marketing effort, The Lorax crushed even the wildest expectations with one of the best opening weekends ever for an animated movie. Project X also had a respectable debut on a weekend where the Top 12 grossed an estimated $153.5 million, which is up 27 percent from the same frame last year.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax opened to $70.7 million, which is by far the best opening of the year. It's also the sixth-highest debut ever for an animated movie and second-best for a non-sequel behind The Simpsons Movie ($74.04 million). Among March openings, it ranks third all-time behind Alice in Wonderland ($116.1 million) and 300 ($70.9 million). It also topped Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me ($56.4 million), and scored the best opening ever for a Dr. Seuss movie ahead of How the Grinch Stole Christmas ($55.1 million) (the Grinch did sell more tickets, though).

It's not really hyperbole to say that Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment knocked this one out of the park. For the production itself, they opted to keep the look and feel of a Dr. Seuss work while mixing in some slightly off-kilter humor, and then they hired recognizable, distinct vocal talent like Danny DeVito, Taylor Swift and Betty White to bring the characters to life. Aside from highlighting these features throughout the marketing campaign, there was an aggressive cross-promotional effort with a number of organizations including IHOP and Mazda (which obviously runs contrary to The Lorax's environmentalist, anti-corporate message, but I digress). The title character even made an appearance as a "guest judge" on NBC's The Voice, which reinforces the advantages of having a TV network at your disposal.

Exit polling indicated that parents and children 12 years of age and under represented 68 percent of the audience. The movie received a strong "A" CinemaScore, and since it's really the only major family entertainment for at least three weeks it should be in line for a lot more money.

3D presentations accounted for roughly 52 percent of ticket sales, and IMAX contributed an estimated $5.4 million (8 percent).

Project X came in second this weekend with an estimated $20.78 million from 3,055 locations. That is off from Superbad ($33.05 million) and Chronicle ($22 million), and even a bit lower than Todd Phillips' Old School in estimated ticket sales. Still, party movies have an awful track record as of late (see Take Me Home Tonight and College, for example), so this is a pretty solid start for Project X. Also of note—this is the third-straight found footage movie to debut over $20 million, following The Devil Inside and Chronicle. As expected, the audience skewed male (58 percent) and younger (67 percent under the age of 25), and they awarded the movie a "B" CinemaScore.

Last weekend's champ Act of Valor dipped 44 percent to $13.7 million for a total of $45.2 million. Safe House held steady in fourth place, falling a light 34 percent to $7.2 million. The movie has so far made an impressive $108.2 million.

Tyler Perry's Good Deeds plummeted 55 percent to an estimated $7 million. As hard is this may be to believe, that's actually the second-best hold ever for a Perry flick, though the movie's $25.7 million 10-day total is second-worst for Perry. Last weekend's other openers Wanderlust and Gone fared a bit better, though with much lower overall grosses. Wanderlust fell 42 percent to $3.8 million for a total of $12.4 million, while Gone eased 36 percent to $3.05 million for a 10-day total of $9 million.

At 1,756 locations (up from 966 last weekend), Best Picture winner The Artist improved 34 percent to an estimated $3.9 million. That's the movie's best weekend yet, and through 101 days in theaters the black-and-white silent movie has earned $37.1 million.

Forecast: Box Office Be Warned - 'The Lorax' Set For Huge Debut

Midnight Update (3/2): Project X got off to a solid start last night with $1.15 million from midnight shows at 1,003 locations. That gross pretty much guarantees that Project X won't be a flop; however, ads for the past week have almost all mentioned the midnight screenings, which surely helped boost these grosses a bit. No midnight grosses are currently available for The Lorax, though it's unlikely they were very significant given the movie's family audience.

Forecast (3/1): On the heels of the highest-grossing February in history, the box office party looks like it will keep raging on the first weekend of March. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, which is the second fully animated movie from Illumination Entertainment, opens at 3,728 locations, including 269 IMAX venues (a 3D theater count is not currently available). Meanwhile, found footage comedy Project X reaches 3,055 locations.

All signs indicate that The Lorax is set for a huge first place debut this weekend. The adaptation of Dr. Seuss' environmentalist children's book has almost the entire Despicable Me team on board, from the distributor (Universal) and animation house (Illumination) down through the main producer (Chris Meledandri), the director (Chris Renaud) and the writers (Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul). That movie opened to $56.4 million in July 2010 on its way to a $251.5 million total. Despicable Me did come out during a year when animation was extraordinarily popular, and due partly to market saturation and partly to a subpar lineup the format took a bit of a hit in 2011.

Working in The Lorax's favor is the fact that the last major computer animated movie was The Adventures of Tintin, which opened over two months ago and wasn't all that popular ($77 million to date). Also, Universal has mounted an impressive marketing effort that nicely blends the bright colors and whimsical characters associated with Dr. Seuss' work with some slightly irreverent humor, most of which comes from the diminutive title character voiced by Danny DeVito.

The last Dr. Seuss adaptation, Horton Hears a Who!, was also produced by Meledandri while he was at Blue Sky Animation. That movie opened to $45 million in March 2008 and ultimately earned over $154 million. With four years of inflation plus 3D and IMAX ticket prices, there's no reason why The Lorax can't at least match this opening. Rango debuted to $38.1 million on the same weekend last year, and Universal's tracking indicates that The Lorax will likely wind up above that mark.

Following The Devil Inside (January) and Chronicle (February), Project X is the latest found footage movie to open on the first weekend of the month. With advertisements that specifically mention that it's from the producer of The Hangover ($277.3 million), and that it's "Superbad on crack" ($121.5 million), it's not hard to see what kind of money Warner Bros. is chasing with Project X. Even with a robust campaign, though, the movie is unlikely to match Superbad's $33.05 million debut—party movies generally don't do too well, with Take Me Home Tonight ($6.9 million) serving as a recent example.

Still, Chronicle proved that even without supernatural horror, found footage flicks can still score a strong opening ($22 million in this case). With strong word-of-mouth floating around the Twitter-sphere, Project X does seem well-positioned as the sort of cool event movie that college-aged moviegoers turn out for in droves (the "R" rating will prevent most high-schoolers from seeing it).

After winning five Academy Awards on Sunday, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, The Artist is expanding from 966 to 1,756 locations. Through Wednesday, the movie has earned $32.9 million, and it has a very good chance of winding up around $50 million by the end of its run