This week the series “Inside the Actors Studio” had its 200th episode which featured two hours with Dustin Hoffman. This is a pretty good show, one of the better ones on TV, especially if you find the people who craft fine films interesting. Some guests aren’t that great, and some only appear to pitch their latest movie, but some guests are really worth seeing. Hoffman was such a case.

One of the first things that grabs your attention is that Hoffman is the youngest looking 69-year old you’ve ever seen. And youngest-behaving. Born in 1937, his voice and delivery and quickness shows no effects of age. It gives hope to us all.

His stories are great and an interesting contrast to the “struggles” that current celebrities talk about going through – regardless of race or gender.

Hoffman’s passion for acting is apparent. But he’s also humble about it. You get the impression that he doesn’t really think he’s that…

For starters, I think Mel Gibson has done some great movies. Not just as an actor, but as producer and director as well. “Braveheart” and “We Were Soldiers” come to mind.

But when he did “The Passion” and then he and his dad went on this anti-semitic rant about how the Holocaust was exagerated, well, I lost interest in ole Mel as an actor and as a human being. I’m old enough to have met people who had those tattoos that the Nazi’s put on people in the camps. I know it was real. And for him and his father to purport otherwise, especially in order to promote his rather biased film, is really sick.

And then this week he gets blitzed (no pun intended) and pulled over for drunk driving. During the arrest he mouths off and insults the officer, and everyone else involved … and goes on a nice little rant about the “F*cking Jews”. So now…

“Disappointment” is the only word I can muster to describe these two movies. Jarhead was supposed to be the definitive war movie of a generation, and The Ringer had the look of a classic slapstick comedy movie along the lines of a Farelly Brothers movie. Close, but no cigar in both cases.

[rate 3]
Lets start with Jarhead. There is a lot to like about the movie. It is well made and authentic in detail. From people’s comments who served in Desert Storm, it portrays the rigors of gearing up for a war that was over in half a week. The acting is good, the dialog and interaction between the characters believable.

But there are some things that don’t make sense. Like a pair of A-10′s firing on friendly troops less than a quarter mile from the Marines’ jump-off positions. A few miles in, sure. But not so close to the encampment. Then the main characters are trained as…

OK. So I helped NBC and the TV industry last month with a critique of the Olympics coverage. Now Hollywood needs help.

During the Oscars (go Jon Stewart!) they made a lot of noise about getting people back into the movie theatres to see movies. Why? Because they make more money if we do than if we rent a DVD. Duh.

So lets start there. Movie Industry: Do you really think we’re so dumb that we don’t know why you’re saying this? Home Entertainment Systems are as good as anything you can throw into a building. I know, my neighbors have a great one and I can get my martini shaken (not stirred) by setting it on the table when they have that bad boy blasting. Maybe they aren’t as big, but the quality of the image is damn near perfect and you can sit where ever you want to get the full effect.

Next, watching at home means you…

NBC’s rotten Olympics coverage.