plus 4, 'Hillary: The Movie': The film That Cracked the Case (Washn) - Birmingham News

'Hillary: The Movie': The film That Cracked the Case (Washn) - Birmingham News
Movie review - Concord Monitor
Corbin Bernsen seeks help for soap box derby movie - Morning Journal
Wrestler John Cena talks about latest film - San Francisco Chronicle
Movie Review 'Tooth Fairy' - Courier-Journal

'Hillary: The Movie': The film That Cracked the Case (Washn) - Birmingham News

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 02:55 PM PST

(AP) — c ()-2010, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON-David Bossie, a veteran Republican campaign operative who made his mark investigating the Clintons, thought his group could offer a conservative answer to Michael Moore's successful films. After Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" premiered in 2004, Bossie's Citizens United group released "Celsius 41.11."

And after it became clear that Bossie's longtime enemy Hillary Rodham Clinton would run for president, Citizens United released another flick: "Hillary: The Movie." Featuring a who's-who cast of right-wing commentators, the 2008 film takes viewers on a savaging journey through Clinton's scandals. The sole compliment about the then-senator comes from conservative firebrand Ann Coulter: "Looks good in a pantsuit."

But "Hillary: The Movie" never became a blockbuster. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) restricted Citizens United's ability to advertise the film during the 2008 primary season, a decision that Bossie and other conservative activists saw as a threat to their freedom of speech.

"The marketplace for my movie was completely and totally shut down by the Federal Election Commission," Bossie said in an interview Thursday.

So he sued-and thus was born Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the legal drama that resulted in Thursday's dramatic Supreme Court decision to overturn restrictions on corporate spending on behalf of or in opposition to political candidates.

Critics said Citizens United created the withering movie knowing that it would fall under the tangle of broadcast and advertising restrictions in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

"The movie was created with the idea of establishing a vehicle to chip away at the decision," said Nick Nyhart, president of Public Campaign, a group that opposed Thursday's decision. "It was part of a very clear strategy to undo McCain-Feingold."

When the Citizens United case went to a lower court in 2008, the court sided with the FEC, saying that the film was effectively a 90-minute campaign ad "susceptible of no other interpretation than to inform the electorate that Senator Clinton is unfit for office, that the United States would be a dangerous place in a President Hillary Clinton world, and that viewers should vote against her."

Bossie and his legal team fast-tracked the case, appealing to the Supreme Court. They easily recruited one of the right's most experienced lawyers, Theodore Olson. He worked with the group's counsel, Michael Boos, and Floyd Abrams, a veteran First Amendment lawyer who worked on the Pentagon Papers case.

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Movie review - Concord Monitor

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST

Just weeks after something dubbed a "squeakquel," we have a movie advertised with the tagline: "You can't handle the tooth." One quakes for the marketing that awaits us for Marmaduke.

Just as Hollywood has been digging through the superhero archives, it has also been marauding the cupboard of mythical childhood creatures - they come with a "built-in" audience, after all. Yes, following the big-screen exploits of elves and bedroom monsters, the Tooth Fairy was inevitably ready for its close-up.

Tooth Fairy is very much what you'd expect: a tale of optimism overcoming disbelief; family fare with comical casting (Julie Andrews as a Fairy Godmother); a PG-rated SNL skit; The Rock in a tutu.

But despite its predictability and pat Hollywood cliche, Tooth Fairy is mostly charming.

Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) is Derek Thompson, a formerly skilled hockey player who, after injury, has wound up "a goon" - a bruiser whose muscle shields more talented players - on a minor league hockey team in Lansing, Mich. He's beloved by the fans, who chant his nickname "the Tooth Fairy" because of his ability for sending bicuspids flying.

His overriding philosophy is akin to the early rounds of American Idol: Dreams are nothing but delusion. He dashes the hopes of pip-squeak fans and very nearly ruins them for the two young children (Chase Ellison, Destiny Whitlock) of his girlfriend, Carly (Ashley Judd).

In violation of "dissemination of disbelief" (Bill Maher be warned) he's summoned to Fairyland, where he's sentenced to two weeks of Tooth Fairy duty by Andrews's Fairy Godmother.

Johnson is perhaps ill suited to believably play a cynic. His enormous grin, even when in repose, is never far below the surface. Nevertheless, he's exceptionally winning.

Director Michael Lembeck shows little imagination in what could have been a quirkier, more interesting kids' tale. He does direct surprisingly good hockey sequences, though, including an overhead shot of an airborne tooth.

But movies that implore whether or not you can handle the tooth aren't to be picked apart like a dentist. Suffice to say, families could do a lot worse than spend some time with the toothy smiles of Johnson and Merchant.

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Corbin Bernsen seeks help for soap box derby movie - Morning Journal

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 10:55 PM PST

Click to enlarge

Corbin Bernsen poses on the press line at the Eighth Annual Discovery Award Dinner hosted by Zimmer Children's Museum in Beverly Hills, Calif. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

AKRON (AP) — Corbin Bernsen is hoping to help the financially struggling All-American Soap Box Derby.

The "L.A. Law" actor is seeking investors to make a movie about the derby, which takes place every year in Akron. He needs about $1 million to finance the project, in which some of the proceeds would go to the derby.

Bernsen was in the city Thursday talking to potential investors about his screenplay, "25 Hill." Plans call to shoot part of the movie during this summer's race, which attracts about 600 racers and their families.

The nonprofit derby has gone two years without a corporate sponsor, and an Ohio bank is suing the organization to repay a $580,000 loan.

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Wrestler John Cena talks about latest film - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 20 Jan 2010 04:38 PM PST

The "WWE Monday Night RAW" star's only two previous movies — 2006's "The Marine" and last year's "12 Rounds" — were action films that involved "blowing things up" and "dodging bullets," Cena said Wednesday.

While in New Orleans for the filming of "Brother's Keeper," a World Wrestling Entertainment movie that also stars Danny Glover, Patricia Clarkson and Devon Graye, Cena called the project "a great change of pace."

"This one is a lot less physically demanding," he said. "I feel like I've been able to get involved in the story, and it's an easy story to embrace. I think everybody will be able to pull something from it."

The plot centers on a socially awkward teenage boy, played by Graye, who tries to reconnect his family after the death of his collegiate wrestling star father by following in his father's footsteps. In a scene being filmed Wednesday, Cena, who plays Graye's estranged older brother, shows up at the younger boy's high school to watch him compete in a wrestling match.

Clarkson plays their mother and Glover plays the role of a charming and mysterious man who shows up at pivotal times in the life of Graye's character.

"It'll be a good watch," Cena said. "People will walk away from this movie feeling good about themselves."

Filming is scheduled to run through the end of January, said David Calloway, the movie's producer who is also vice president of WWE Studios.

___

On the Net:

World Wrestling Entertainment: www.wwe.com

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Movie Review 'Tooth Fairy' - Courier-Journal

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 11:59 PM PST

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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tries to cash in on his "Game Plan" — proven kid appeal — and Fox strains to find a little Disney magic in "Tooth Fairy." This time he plays Derek, a washed-up minor league hockey player who must learn to ...