Fox News Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When Fox News gossip columnist Roger Friedman caused a mini-scandal the other day by casually mentioning he'd illegally downloaded X-Men Origins: Wolverine from the Internet -- and then proceeding to review it! -- a lot of us assumed he'd get away with it. Yeah, 20th Century Fox was talking a big game about chasing pirates and punishing downloaders, but we didn't think they'd go after a high-profile writer who works for their same parent company.

Well. Seldom have I been so pleased to be wrong. As first reported by Nikke Finke on Saturday and confirmed by a statement from Fox parent company News Corporation late Saturday night, Roger Friedman has been fired. News Corp.'s statement was blunt: "We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr. Friedman."

Having once been fired myself for making a dumb mistake, I do feel some sympathy for Friedman for having the same thing happen to him. He shouldn't have been fired for this -- he should have been fired a long time ago for generally being a boob, and for being a barnacle on the already-unseemly underbelly of entertainment journalism. (I invite you to peruse Defamer's Friedman-related archives for examples of his prior offenses.) Nailing him for this is sort of like convicting Al Capone for tax evasion.

When X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted on the Internet earlier this week, a month before its planned theatrical release, Fox immediately responded by enlisting the FBI to help track down the culprit who pirated it. (And thank goodness the FBI has nothing more pressing to work on right now.) The studio's official statement said this: "We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it." I can't help them on who made it available, but I do know of one person who downloaded it: Fox News gossip reporter Roger Friedman.

He wrote about it in his column on Thursday -- since removed but still in Google's cache -- describing how easy it was to find and download, and how much he love-love-LOVED it. He wrote, "Right now, my 'cousins' at 20th Century Fox are probably having apoplexy.... But everyone can relax. I am, in fact, amazed about how great Wolverine turned out. It exceeds expectations at every turn. I was completely riveted to my desk chair in front of my computer."

Did you get that? He seems to be saying that while his corporate siblings are furious about the leak, they needn't be, because the movie is really, really good -- as if that were the point! As if THAT'S why they're so angry, because they feared the movie was terrible and now the secret has gotten out a month early.

Can Friedman really be that clueless? Having read his reporting in the past, I have to say yes, he really can be. This is the guy who ranted for months about how awful Valkyrie was going to be, then had the nerve to complain when he didn't get invited to the press screening -- and then put it on his Worst of 2008 list anyway, even though he still hadn't seen it. Friedman is an embarrassment to Fox News (or, that is, he would be if Fox News were capable of being embarrassed).

UPDATE: According to Deadline Hollywood, Fox has fired freelance columnist Roger Friedman.

I wasn't crazy about touching this story to begin with (it was a slow news day, and I figured what the hell), but apparently others beg to differ. Since we first brought news of Larry Wachowski's apparent sex change (in which the director supposedly changed his name to Lana), over a half a million people stopped by to read, and folks like Perez Hilton and IMDb felt the news was worthy of a link. So be it. Thanks for the love. But now, two days later, Fox News (of all people) have decided to take it upon themselves to get to the bottom of this breaking, earth-shattering news.

According to Fox News, they've contacted everyone from Speed Racer producer Joel Silver to "one man in building operations" and "one woman who worked in the Speed Racer office" -- all of whom have denied Larry's so-called sex change. First off, I think we've got to disregard anything coming from anyone associated with the film Speed Racer. Let it be known now that I have nothing against Speed Racer, the Wachowskis, Joel Silver or the dude who works in building operations -- I seriously hope the film rocks. I'm a fan. But do you really think the folks behind that family-friendly G-rated movie want this kind of press spreading like wildfire right smack in the middle of filming? Um, no. And I don't blame them. Secondly, is it just me or have we known about Larry's quest to change his sex for almost two years now? In fact, Fox News even reported on it back in 2006. The same exact writer. Roger Friedman. Who, now, says he finds this news "rather startling." Really dude? But you already wrote about it last year? Can I get a WTF for the hell of it?

Look, regardless of what's going on with Larry (or Lana) Wachowski, we once again wish him (or her) luck. And until Larry (or Lana) steps out into the wide open arena that is the Planet Earth, and tells us which way is up, this whole thing will still be a rumor. And, in my opinion, you shouldn't think less of him or her -- there are slimier people out there to be worried about ...

Everyone's favorite entertainment journalist, Roger Friedman, is calling Angelina Jolie a hypocrite after she reportedly censored journalists while promoting her new film, A Mighty Heart. The Michael Winterbottom pic is about Mariane Pearl, widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and it deals with freedom of the press, so the idea that Jolie made reporters sign a censoring agreement before interviewing her is certainly problematic. At the premiere of A Mighty Heart Wednesday night, Jolie's lawyer presented journalists with a contract stating certain subjects that could not be discussed with the actress, including questions about her personal life. Of course, this makes sense, because otherwise some writers would attempt to stray from the topic of the film in question -- which would take away from the promotion of the film, as well as from the purpose of the press' purpose at the event.

Still, the contract does seem unnecessary and contradictory to the film's apparent message. If Jolie wanted to reject a question or topic, she could certainly just refuse to comment or leave. Most of the junkets and red carpets I've been to, this has either been addressed or accepted as a given anyway. Instead, according to Friedman, the mode of dealing with gossippy reporters made a lot of people angry, enough to cancel coverage, as USA Today and the Associated Press supposedly did. Eventually Jolie ended up refusing all print interviews because of the outrage. Friedman also claims that Jolie instructed publicists to ban Fox News (for which Friedman works) from the red carpet and any other premiere access. In the end, though, some higher ups at Paramount allowed Fox's coverage. Friedman goes on to criticize Jolie's history of press manipulation and also quotes a disappointed editorial director from Reporters Without Borders, an organization that was supposed to be supported by the film's premiere.

[via Fark.com, which has a good discussion of the article going in its comments section]

In 1992, filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus documented Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, resulting in a still-noteworthy chronicle of political contending titled The War Room. Twelve years later, co-directors Hegedus and Nick Doob (who was cinematographer for The War Room) followed the race of 2004, only this time their subject was interestingly not one of the candidates. Al Franken: God Spoke, which presents a year in the life of the title comedian/author/radio talk-show host, is a humorous, but more importantly illustrative, documentary about the weight of the media -- especially the comedic media -- on the last presidential election.

Franken, who got his break on Saturday Night Live, is one of today's most influential political humorists, and, along with Jon Stewart and Michael Moore, he represents liberal America's unfortunate dependence on jesters instead of kings. The film opens with the publication of his latest book, which attacks the Bush administration and conservative individuals such as Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, then goes on to present the beginnings of his show on Air America Radio and observes the ensuing war between him and the right-wing media, particularly O'Reilly and Sean Hannity at Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. During an early scene, he tells a classroom of students, "I take what they say and use it against them." This practice is nothing new, yet somehow in a time when kids get their news more from comedy shows like The Daily Show than from newspapers, it makes someone like Franken an important political figure.