VIDEO: Dan Aykroyd Talks ‘Ghostbusters 3,’ Bill Murray Will Not Appear

Dan Aykroyd appeared on 'Larry King Now' to chat exclusively about the upcoming 'Ghostbusters 3.' He gave away ...

VIDEO: Google Acquisition Eyes Kite Power, Flying Wings

Google has acquired green-energy company Makani Power, makers of an airborne wind turbine capable of generating power. ...

VIDEO: CAUGHT ON TAPE: Woman Fights Back Purse Snatchers

Host @DavidBegnaud delivers breaking news and today's trending buzz in 45 seconds.  Thanks for checking us out. ...

VIDEO: AMAZING VIDEO: Terror Inside Elementary School During EF-5 Tornado

Host @DavidBegnaud delivers breaking news and today's trending buzz in 45 seconds. Thanks for checking us out. ...

VIDEO: 59 Seconds: May 23,2013

VIDEO | The Post’s Emi Kolawole offers the latest on the 80-year-old Mt. Everest climber, the London machete ...

LoyalBlocks Lands $9 Million Led By General Catalyst To Scale Out Its Mobile-Based Loyalty Program

LoyalBlocks, a startup that makes a mobile-focused technology platform for brick-and-mortar businesses looking to encourage customer loyalty, has raised $9 million in new funding. The round, which serves as LoyalBlocks' Series A, was led by General Catalyst Partners with participation from Founder Collective and existing investor Gemini Israel Ventures. This brings the total investment into LoyalBlocks to $12.2 million. As part of the funding, General Catalyst's Adam Valkin, who joined General Catalyst from Accel Ventures late last year, will join LoyalBlocks' board. LoyalBlocks, which is headquartered in New York City and has its engineering operations in Israel, says it will use the new funds to further scale out its operations throughout the United States -- at the moment, it's got a solid foothold with over 1500 locations using the platform, CEO Ido Gayer tells me. The company has a full-time staff of 18 that could also grow with the new funds.

Congress Crowdsourcing New High-Skilled Immigration Bill, Contribute Here

The U.S. House of Representatives just released its own version of a high-skilled immigration reform bill and is actively seeking input through the collective IQ of the Internet. House Oversight Chairman and one of our Most Innovative People in Democracy, Darrell Issa, has placed the Supplying Knowledge-Based Immigrants And Lifting Levels of STEM (SKILLS) Visas Act on his very own public markup utility, Project Madison (we partnered with Issa’s nonprofit, the Open Government Foundation and have integrated it into our CrunchGov site). Details Of The New Bill A few important details about the bill that took an admirable bit of linguistic gymnastics to come up with a title to fit that obviously pre-determined acronym. (U.S. government 101: in order to become law, both the House and the Senate will have to combine their bills. The details below are the important differences between the House and the Senate). 1). SKILLS is a net neutral green card allotment system; the 120,000 high-skilled visas are reached by cutting out the diversity visa program and the 65,000 green cards for siblings (unlike the Senate version). It also increases 25,000 green card visas for spouses and children. 2). Expands the the foreign worker visa (H1-B) cap from 65,000 to 155,000 (about 30K more than the Senate). 3. Allots up to 10,000 startup-visa cards. Right now, immigrants are tethered to a sponsoring employee, which has prevented brilliant workers from striking out on their own. Immigrants are eligible so long as they can create 5 American jobs and have at least $500,000 in investment. 4. Attempts to get rid of abuse in the H1-B system by allowing the federal government to audit businesses and requires that they give immigrants a prevailing market wage. How to Contribute Issa is seeking your brilliant ideas! His staff helped create the historic crowdsourcing platform and will be actively looking at your recommendations. Head over to our version of the public markup utility here. There are (very simple) instructions about how to get started. On Project Madison, you can amend the SKILLS act line-by-line and vote up the best suggestions. We at CrunchGov love direct democracy and look forward to your contributions

Adele Lim Signs Overall Deal With CBS TV Studios, Joins ‘Oxygen’ As Co-Showrunner

Adele Lim (Private Practice) has signed an overall deal with CBS TV Studios. Under the pact, she will serve as executive producer/co-showrunner on the studio’s new CW drama series Oxygen alongside the project’s writer-executive producer Meredith Averill. Oxygen chronicles the epic romance between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind are integrated into a suburban high school. Also executive producing the series are Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Scott Rosenberg, Richard Shepard and Bryan Furst. This marks WME-repped Lim’s return to the CW and CBS Studios where she served as co-executive producer on Life Unexpected. Her credits also include Life On Mars and One Tree Hill.

Matt Rogers Set As Host Of USA Competition Series ‘Summer Camp’

Matt Rogers will be the host of USA Network‘s new competition reality series Summer Camp, which will pit 16 die-hard campers in over-the-top competitions inspired by classic camp games. The final competitors eventually face off in an Olympic-style finale to determine the winner. The eight-episode one-hour series will premiere July 11. Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan are producing the Sony Pictures TV series via their Fly on the Wall Entertainment. Rogers was the former host of GSN’s Beat The Chefs, Discovery Channel’s Really Big Things, CBS’ There Goes the Neighborhood and Lifetime’s Coming Home. He is repped by APA and Untitled Entertainment.

VIDEO: Shakira Sofia Vergara Make Forbes List

Forbes just released its 2013 list of The 100 Most Powerful Women and two Latina celebrities made the ...

VIDEO: Shakira Sofia Vergara Make Forbes List

Forbes just released its 2013 list of The 100 Most Powerful Women and two Latina celebrities made the ...

VIDEO: Entertainment News Pop: Nick Carter To Star In His Own Reality Series

Nick Carter To Star In His Own Reality Series. Lea Michele has book scheduled for 2014 release. Brad ...

Shareholders Quiz Time Warner Chief On Political Ties And Gun Coverage

CEO Jeff Bewkes must be glad that he only has to meet with ordinary shareholders once a year. Two dominated the Q&A session at today’s gathering with questions based on a view that Time Warner is engaged in campaigns to promote President Obama’s political fortunes, and gun control legislation. One found it suspicious that Michelle Obama awarded the Oscar for Best Picture, won by Warner Bros.’ Argo. He noted that actor George Clooney — one of the film’s producers — had hosted fundraisers for the Obama campaign, and that the President and First Lady attended TNT’s annual Christmas In Washington special to raise money for the Children’s National Medical Center. “What a way to say ‘thank you’,” the shareholder said. Bewkes explained that the TNT show invites “sitting office holders that we have elected, whether wisely or not. They are not candidates.” As for the Oscar, “that’s done by the members of the Academy….That’s a whole forest if you wander into that.” A second questioner said that Time Warner was “hypocritical” for allegedly deciding to reject some gun ads after last year’s Sandy Hook tragedy, and airing pro-gun control commentary from CNN’s Piers Morgan, even though the company’s entertainment often depicts gun violence. The shareholder said that gun crimes are down, but people believe that they’re increasing. “Why would the company’s leaders make a political decision” based on “extreme bias,” he asked. Turns out the policy to ban ... Read More »

RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Modern Family’, ‘Law & Order: SVU’ & ‘Criminal Minds’ Hit Finale Lows, ‘Masterchef’ Down In Season Debut

The final night of the 2012-2013 television season saw six finales and one season debut. On ABC, Wednesday was the season 4 end for Modern Family (3.6/11) at 9 PM. In a season that saw the comedy post its first adults 18-49 win over American Idol, last night’s Modern Family dipped 3% from its May 14 show. While the highest rated show of the night by far, Family also fell 12% from its season 3 end on May 23, 2012 to hit an all-time season finale low. That result could change a bit in the final numbers as the extra minute of Family is factored in. Last week the show went up from its 3.5 in fast affiliate rating to a 3.6 later in the day. The season 4 finale of The Middle (2.0/7) started ABC’s primetime last night. The sitcom was up a slight 5% from last week and even with last year’s May 23, 2012 finale. A Modern Family (1.6/5) encore followed The Middle at 8:30 PM. How To Live With You Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life) (2.2/6) was the only non-finale original on ABC on Wednesday. The newbie comedy was up 10% from its May 14 show. Nashville (1.9/5) wrapped up its freshman cycle with cliffhangers galore show that saw a 12% rise from last week. Related: CBS Wins Season; ABC Tops Adults ... Read More »

Google App Engine Drops Some High Replication Datastore Prices By Up To 25%

At Google I/O last week, Google announced that its Google App Engine High Replication Datastore (HRD) - its schemaless object data storage service - currently processes over 4.5 trillion transactions per month, has an uptime of 99.95% and stores over a petabyte of data. Today, the company announced that it is dramatically reducing the pricing for some Datastore features. Storing a gigabyte of data previously cost $0.24 per month, but the company has now reduced this price to just $0.18 per month.

Lyft Lifts $60 Million From Andreessen Horowitz, Gives 30,000 Rides A Week A Year After Launch

It was almost one year ago (to the day!) that we first wrote about Lyft and how the company was going to offer some lower-priced competition to on-demand ride leader Uber in San Francisco. Now, 366 days later, Lyft is celebrating the anniversary of that launch with some huge news: It's raised a $60 million round of financing led by Andreessen Horowitz.

CANNES TOLDJA! Weinstein Co Officially Acquires ‘Philomena’, Eyes Fall Release

This turned out to be the first big bidding battle of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which is now winding down. The Weinstein Company won out after sparking to the seven-minute teaser reel shown to buyers during the fest, outbidding others including Focus Features. Now it will join the distributor’s already bursting awards-season slate that includes Sundance winner Fruitvale Station, August: Osage County with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, Long Walk To Freedom with Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela, the Lee Daniels-directed The Butler, Grace Of Monaco with Nicole Kidman, and the Shane Salerno-directed documentary Salinger. Here’s the official release:

CANNES (May 23, 2013) – The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today from the 2013 Cannes Film Festival that they are acquiring distribution rights in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Spain to director Stephen Frears’ (HIGH FIDELITY, THE QUEEN) dramedy PHILOMENA. Seven minutes of the film were shown to buyers in Cannes on May 16th, with TWC outbidding a number of other studios vying for rights. Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope penned the screenplay, which is based on the 2009 novel The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith. The project stars Judi Dench (NOTES ON A SCANDAL, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL) and Coogan (THE TRIP, WHAT MAISIE KNEW) and was produced by Coogan, Tracey Seaward and Gabrielle Tana. Baby Cow’s Henry Normal, BBC ... Read More »

Vin Diesel Talks Marijuana, Steroids and Facebook in Bizarre ‘Tonight Show’ Interview (Video)

Vin Diesel's still got it, at least according to the women in Jay Leno's audience. Oh, and Leno himself, who swooned over Diesel's cover photo on this month's Men's Fitness magazine. Leno comically referred to the workout magazine as "my bible."

The segments got even more charming -- and slightly weirder -- from there.

The topic segued from the "Fast & Furious" star's bulging horseshoe triceps to his feelings on drug use, where Diesel admits to smoking a joint, but swears he never used steroids. Where have we heard that before though? Oh yeah, every athlete ever. But Diesel sounded pretty convincing and made for a really engaging, if atypical, "Tonight Show" guest.

Also read: How an Extreme Movie Makeover Saved 'Fast & Furious' From Going Direct to DVD

At one point, the jacked-up action star brought out his children for some reason. Diesel explained the unrehearsed moment as it related "Fast & Furious 6" being "all about family." And here we thought it was all about high-speed driving in exotic cars.

The conversation eventually turned to the odd topic of Vin Diesel believing that Facebook owes him billions of dollars. It seems that the reason the on-screen car thief feels that way is because he was one of the first celebrities who switched from MySpace to Facebook. While an entertaining argument, we're not sure that Diesel understands how stock works.

Watch below:

YouTube Network FullScreen Hires HBO Go Co-Creator Tim Mohn

Massive YouTube network Fullscreen has hired Tim Mohn, one of the people who created the HBO Go app, as its new SVP of engineering, Fullscreen CEO and founder George Strompolos announced in a blog post. Strompolos said Mohn would be focusing on t...

6 Lessons Hollywood Needs to Learn From ‘The Fast & The Furious’

"Fast & the Furious 6" is widely expected to dominate the Memorial Day box office and potentially become the highest grossing film in the lucrative franchise's history.

For a franchise keep growing as it enters its second decade and sixth installment is nearly unheard of in Hollywood, where sequels tend to burn hot and fast, dying out quickly. Yet Universal Pictures has adroitly managed the car racing series by tapping into international markets, catering to under-appreciated moviegoing audiences and recognizing the power of Diesel fuel -- Vin Diesel that is.

Also read: How an Extreme Movie Makeover Saved 'Fast & Furious' From Going Direct to DVD

Here are six takeaways from the "Fast & the Furious" franchise's success for rival studios trying to engineer their own box office Maserati's.

Vin Diesel Is an A-Lister, Get Used to It

He may not wield the clout or boast the magazine covers of a Depp or a Pitt or a Smith, but make no mistake, Diesel is a star. After getting lost on the C-list in the mid-aughts and seeing his once white-hot career fizzle out with bombs like "Find Me Guilty" or artistic embarrassments like "The Pacifier," Diesel cannily returned to the franchise that made him a powerhouse with 2009's "Fast & Furious."

In the process, he helped the series consistently build its audience with each new film, allowing the franchise to gross nearly $1.6 billion globally. With this September's "Riddick," Diesel will see if he can revive another of his action franchises that has run out of steam. If he can pull it off, that will give him two massive tentpole roles in his quiver. Few actors other than Robert Downey Jr. with "Sherlock Holmes" and "Iron Man" can match that kind of track record.

Also read: Vin Diesel Talks Marijuana, Steriods and Facebook in Bizarre 'Tonight Show' Interview

The U.S. Is Nice, But Foreign Countries Are King

Though "The Fast & The Furious" started out as a depiction of L.A. street racing, few franchises  have done a better job of embracing the global marketplace. Starting with 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," the third film in the franchise, the series has traipsed around the globe, conveniently stopping in many of the movie business' most important emerging markets. Along the way, the crew of car racers and thieves have evaded the law in exotic settings like Brazil, Mexico and, in the latest iteration, Spain and the United Kingdom.

With 70 percent of box office revenue coming from abroad, an international flavor is no an longer exotic icing on any big-budget confection. It's an essential ingredient to making the sprawling community of moviegoers feel like they are watching their dreams and lives reflected back to them on the big screen.

The reward for this cosmopolitanism? "Fast & Furious 6" is off to a white-hot start at the foreign box office; its opening in the U.K. and Ireland last Friday gave Universal the studio's biggest opening day ever in that market with $4.6 million. "Fast Five," the previous film in the franchise, more than doubled the largest foreign gross in the franchise's history and most box office analysts predict the latest adventure will eclipse the last film's $416 million international take.

Also read: 8 Burning Box Office Questions: Is Hollywood Ignoring Women?

Newsflash! Latinos Go to Movies

Latino audiences have pushed "The Fast & The Furious" series into rarified blockbuster terrain. Thanks to stars like Michelle Rodriguez, and a healthy amount of Spanish dialog, the films have gone out of their way to court this too often neglected demographic.

Pay heed studios! Latinos represent just 17 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 26 percent of ticket sales, according a study by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the case of "Fast Five," catering to this crowd resulted in a monster turnout, with Latinos representing 33 percent of its opening weekend U.S. audience.

Also read: 5 Breakout Movie Stars of Summer 2013

...Oh, And So Do Women

Casting women as more than scantily clad helpmates and arm candy has further broadened "The Fast & The Furious" franchise's appeal.

Women represent 51 percent of the U.S. population and 52 percent of the moviegoing public, but according to a 2012 study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, only 11 percent of the protagonists in top grossing films are female.

Yes, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are the top-billed stars in the series, but what's refreshing about "Fast & Furious 6" is that Rodriguez and co-star Gina Carano have roles that are integral to the action. In fact, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal Pictures co-president of production, told TheWrap that the most recent "Fast" film is the highest testing among women.

He added that the on-screen throw down between Rodriguez and Carano is a key selling point of the film and "trumps" the fight between Diesel and Dwayne Johnson that was a heavily promoted part of "Fast Five."

Don't Idle at the Starting Line

Beginning with the fourth film in the series, 2009's "The Fast & the Furious," Universal has rigidly adhered to a release schedule of one "Fast" picture every two years. The studio is accelerating the schedule with "Fast & the Furious 7," which will roar into theaters in 2014, roughly a year after the sixth film was unleashed on the summer box office.

At CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show in Las Vegas, Diesel told theater owners that the studio was able to rush into production on a follow-up to "Fast & the Furious 6" because they had carefully mapped out a direction for the series. In a digitally connected age where platforms like Twitter and Facebook have intensified the rate at which entertainment and media is anticipated, consumed and discussed, it is critical that studios move nimbly to exploit buzz before this morning's hot thing become that afternoon's tired idea.

Allow a Director to Grow With a Franchise

Justin Lin didn't have the kind of CV that would instantly make a studio feel comfortable about handing over the keys to one of its crown jewel franchises.

When Universal tapped the UCLA grad to inject new life into the "Fast" series, Lin was best known for the Sundance breakout "Better Luck Tomorrow" and the James Franco bomb "Annapolis." But whatever studio executives saw Taiwanese-born director has allowed the series to reach new heights.

Under Lin, the four "Fast" films he has directed have grown more global in scope, more financially successful, more technically audacious and more critically acclaimed. The decision to move up production on "Fast & the Furious 7," so it can open next year, means that he will have to yield the director's chair to James Wan ("Saw"), but studio executives and producers tell TheWrap that after the success of the "Fast" movies, Lin can write his own ticket.

"He's on the A-list," a rival studio executive enthused. "If he wants to do a Bond film, he can. If he wants to do a Chris Nolan-type 'Inception' movie or a smaller personal movie, he can. Everyone wants to work with him."

 

Hammond On Cannes: Paramount’s ‘Nebraska’ Hits Town As Only Major Studio Movie In Competition

Alexander Payne says he only finished postproduction last Friday on his Cannes competition entry Nebraska, which had its press screening this morning and will premiere tonight. Reviews coming in so far are largely mixed to very good. Even though Paramount won’t release it until November 22, Payne likes to take awhile in post to get everything right. There was initial concern about even making the Cannes date, so that is why until just a week before this year’s official lineup was announced did Paramount and Payne even decide to take a shot. He brought the film to Paris, showed it to Thierry Fremaux with only two days to spare, and landed tonight’s slot. Payne is becoming somewhat of a Cannes regular — although other than 2002′s About Schmidt, this is only his second film in competition. He has served on the juries of both Un Certain Regard and, last year, the main selection. Nebraska, which will be one of Paramount’s Oscar hopes this year, played well to nice but brief applause from the press at the screening and at the press conference that followed (especially when stars Bruce Dern and Will Forte were introduced). It’s pure Payne in its humanist, gently funny style and captures that Middle America folksy style in beautiful black ... Read More »

Evernote Adds Reminders To Help Users With To-Do’s, Tasks & Projects

For those who use Evernote as a to-do list application, the service just became more useful today with the launch of a much-requested feature: reminders. Available to both Evernote and Evernote Business users on Mac, iOS and web (to start), the option now appears as an alarm clock icon at the top-right of the note on Mac and web, and the bottom of the note on mobile (iPhone and iPad). Though a seemingly minor addition, the feature actually addresses the top three user requests, Evenote’s VP of Marketing, Andrew Sinkov, explains in the official announcement about the release. Besides the reminders themselves, users wanted a way to more quickly created note-based to-do lists as well as pin notes to the top of their Note list. Now, all of these items are supported. Reminders are simple to use – you just click the button, add a time and time, and then you’ll get both an in-app alarm as well as an optional email when a reminder is due. The note title will also appear in a new section at the top of your Note list, and you can reorganize Reminders by dragging them around. When the task is complete, you tap the check or, on iOS, swipe to remove the Reminder from your list. Though everyday organizers will appreciate the addition, of course, the feature is also useful for Business users, and it’s supported in Evernote’s shared notebooks. The end result turns a shared notebook into a something that’s sort of like a very basic project management utility. Evernote itself uses Reminders for the company’s Video Projects, Sinkov says. Reminders could also appeal as an alternative to the common hack of using Calendar appointments when all you really needed was a simple reminder, not a scheduled meeting. Evernote makes a few other suggestions for Reminders which also see in encroaching more into the calendaring space, including birthday reminders and doctor’s appointments (with notes and questions attached), as well as packing checklists. The company has been busy expanding its feature set designed for business users in recent months, having not only taken the app to new markets, including a localized version for China, but also enabling enterprise-ready options like a Business Library, Related Notes, and improved search. This new Reminders option is something personal and business users would both want, however. Evernote is now working to bring the Reminders feature to other platforms, and

Who Needs A Valid Government Issued ID When We’ve Got Google?

A world-renowned philosopher named Courtenay "Nay Nay" Semel once told a Las Vegas casino security guard who didn't know her: "Google me, you dumb fuck!" Those thought-provoking and important words have lived on thanks to Amanda Bynes.

TMZ says that Amanda tried to get on a private jet headed for L.A. at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, but the pilot refused to let her on the plane, because she didn't have a valid government issued ID with her. Amanda screamed about how her license was suspended and she didn't have any other kind of ID. The pilot kept shaking his head "no," so Amanda finally told him that if he Googled her, he'd find out that she's Amanda Fucking Bynes! Strangely enough, the TSA does not accept a Google image page with your face all over it as proper ID. When the pilot asked an official from the private jet company if he can let her on even without a valid ID, he got a no and Amanda was officially denied.

Amanda told TMZ that their story is as fraudulent as those pictures of her drug den and I'm sure she also threatened to sue TMZ, the pilot, the private jet company, Google, the machine that makes government issued IDs and James Cameron, because he totally used his special effects skills to create the Amanda Bynes hologram that terrorized Teterboro.

Amanda should be happy that the pilot denied her ass. There's so many Amanda Bynes doppelgängers out there and it's hard to tell which one is the real Amanda Bynes. If that was really Amanda Bynes trying to get on that jet, she should've just said to the pilot, "You're an ugly-faced man." That's the only confirmation he would've needed to welcome the real Amanda Bynes to his flight.

Taylor Swift: Jealous of Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber?

Taylor Swift suddenly finds herself smack dab in the middle of two famous Hollywood couples.

Or non-couples. Or whatever the status of Robsten and Jelena is these days.

First, Swift reportedly played host to Kristen Stewart soon after that actress split from Robert Pattinson.

Now, following the Disgusted Reaction Heard 'Round the World (below) at the Billboard Music Awards when she spotted Selena Gomez pecking Justin Bieber, sources say Swift is "not a Belieber" in this duo.

No, really, that's how an insider put it when talking to Radar Online about Swift's reaction to Selena and Justin.

“She loves Selena and wants her to be happy, but she doesn’t think going back and forth with Justin is the answer," claims an anonymous friend close to Taylor.

The mole goes on to say "Taylor’s a little bit jealous" of Gomez and Bieber, seeing as there are clearly strong feelings there and Swift has trouble holding on to a man.

However, this source wants to be clear: Taylor may wish she were in a relationship... but she would never want that relationship to be with Bieber.

“She thinks Justin is a brat and that Selena could do way better," the site reports.

Whoa. Shots fired! T. Swizzle, prepare to hear it from Bieber fans in 3...2...1...

Starz Sets Premiere Date For ‘White Queen’

Starz/BBC series The White Queen will debut on Starz on Saturday, August 10, following the Friday season finale of Magic City. The 10-episode drama, based on the bestselling historical novels by Philippa Gregory, is set against the backdrop of England’s Wars of the Roses and stars Max Irons, Amanda Hale, James Frain, newcomers Rebecca Ferguson and Faye Marsay and Oscar nominee Janet McTeer. Colin Callender is executive producer for the series, produced by the UK’s Company Pictures. Hot TV Trailer: ‘The White Queen’

Bill O’Reilly to Jon Stewart: ‘I’ve Been Too Easy’ on Obama (Video)

Bill O'Reilly told Jon Stewart that he's been "too easy" on President Obama, and that recent cases of the Justice Department spying on reporters proves it.

Meetings between O'Reilly and Stewart are always great television: The liberal and conservative hosts have learned to play off each other and even occasionally find common ground, as they did on Wednesday's "Daily Show."

Stewart welcomed O'Reilly by saying he believed the Justice Department's monitoring of reporters -- including Fox News' James Rosen -- was "really overreaching."

Stewart also said O'Reilly and other critics of Obama "finally have a few things that really look worth investigating."

"Is it joy? Is it sexual arousal? What is the feeling over there?" asked Stewart.

"I've been too easy on the man," said O'Reilly, adding that people who deeply dislike Obama are now telling him, "I told you."

O'Reilly also said it looks like Obama "simply doesn't know what's going on within his administration."

"Don't you think they're trying to make a case for plausible deniability?" asked Stewart.

"Yeah, of course," said O'Reilly. "But the president sets a tone, like you set a tone for this program."

"I appreciate it," said Stewart. "That's very kind of you."

The hosts also addressed the IRS' probing of Tea Party groups, the differences in their audience demographics, and how O'Reilly writes so many books.

Watch the video:

Alexander Payne’s ‘Nebraska’ Reviews: Is it Another ‘Sideways’?

After a sun dappled excursion to Hawaii with his most recent family drama "The Descendants," Alexander Payne returns to his native Midwest in the aptly named "Nebraska," which debuted Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival.

It's another story of estranged parents and children and another road movie for an idiosyncratic director who has made a name for himself by contorting and collapsing the reliable genres to find something fresh and human in films like "Sideways" and "About Schmidt."

The buzz around the festival for the black and white indie was strong with critics singling out stars Bruce Dern, Will Forte and June Squibb for the lion's share of the praise. Talk on Twitter immediately after the film screened was that all three had put themselves in contention for Oscars.

Also read: Ryan Gosling's 'Only God Forgives': Critics Really, Really Hate the Crime Drama

"Nebraska" follows Dern's disheveled patriarch and his son (Forte) as they journey to Lincoln, Neb. to collect $1 million the older man believes he won in a Publisher's Clearing House-type sweepstake. Not that the film didn't have its detractors -- critics who griped that Payne, a veritable Woody Allen of the landlocked set, was mining overly familiar territory and falling short of his best work.

TheWrap's Sasha Stone didn't mind if Payne was working in his usual register, calling it one of the strongest films of his career. It's his most personal film, she wrote, but its portrait of an diminishing parent will register with anyone who has grappled with the exigencies of old age.

"'Nebraska' will break your heart in two, and it might broaden your understanding, a little bit, about welcoming your parents back into your life before the light dims on theirs," Stone wrote.

In Variety, Scott Foundas hailed the film's examination of a vanishing form of prairie life as poignant and reminiscent of "The Last Picture Show"s' depiction of a town struggling to adapt to changing mores.

"Throughout, Payne gently infuses the film's comic tone with strains of longing and regret, always careful to avoid the maudlin or cheaply sentimental," Foundas wrote.

Also read: Cannes Review: 'Nebraska' a Quiet Triumph for Alexander Payne, Bruce Dern

Foundas' fellow trade sage, Todd McCarthy was similarly taken with the film in his review in the Hollywood Reporter, although he did note that Payne's portrait of certain characters was overly "caustic." Like Foundas, McCarthy focused on the film's preoccupation with generational change.

"A strong sense of a vanishing past holds sway over an illusory future in Nebraska, Alexander Payne's wryly poignant and potent comic drama about the bereft state of things in America's oft-vaunted heartland," McCarthy wrote. "Echoing the director's most recent film, 'The Descendants,' in its preoccupation with generational issues within families, how the smell of money contaminates the behavior of friends and relatives and the way Wasps hide and disclose secrets, this is nonetheless a more melancholy, less boisterous work."

In a four star review in the Evening Standard, Derek Malcolm cited Dern's subtle work as the reason for the film's power.

"Dern, one of America's best veterans, gets a chance to deliver the kind of performance he's often been noted for," Malcolm wrote. "No grandstanding, but a thorough appreciation of the character he is playing."

Kaleem Aftab of the Independent predicted that "Nebraska" will leave Cannes with awards heat, but felt that Payne was hitting too many of the same notes.

"The trouble with 'Nebraska,' and it bubbles under the surface from the start, is that it feels like Payne revisiting familiar territory," Aftab wrote. "It is visually and dramatically very well realized, and will likely get a Best Picture Oscar nomination, yet this feels like a director working within himself."

Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere dismissed the film as "fine," in a review that damned with faint praise.

"I 'liked' it as far as it goes, but so much of it is about capturing the banality of sedentary Midwestern lifestyles, and the whole thing just feels overly measured and mid-range and almost resigned," Wells wrote.

His enervated response could just be a consequence of the bile he spewed all over Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives." Given the litany of bathroom allusions he used in his assessment of the crime drama, Payne should consider himself fortunate to be let off the hook with a slight rap on the knuckles.

Nor was Wells the only reviewer left uninspired by Payne's offering. Jessica Kiang in IndieWire faulted the film for being overly predetermined, manipulative and stale, though said it wasn't bad as these things go.

"'Nebraska' is a small-scale quixotic adventure about the importance of dreams, no matter how pie-eyed, in which the outlined flaws could all be forgiven, if it just went somewhere a bit more surprising," Kiang wrote. "As it is, 'Nebraska' follows preplanned route map just too faithfully for us to take it fully to our hearts."

How an Extreme Movie Makeover Saved ‘Fast & Furious’ From Going Direct to DVD

"Fast & Furious 6" has become a road race to riches without a finish line in sight.

Roaring into theaters Friday, the movie is expected to generate $80 million or more over the Memorial Day weekend -- astounding numbers for a franchise that is more than a decade old, and isn't "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones."

Even more astonishing, Universal's "Fast" films are the rare series that seem to pick up steam with each new sequel. And with its multi-ethnic cast and foreign settings, it's been hailed as a model for how to build a franchise that can appeal to audiences across the globe.

Also read: 6 Lessons Hollywood Needs to Learn From 'Fast & Furious'

But what is lost in all the hype is that the cars and criminals series almost sputtered to a stop before it could kick off its latest victory lap, with some at Universal fretting the series had run out of gas after its first two installments: The studio even considered releasing sequels on DVD without a theatrical run. 

Instead of throwing the race, Universal decided to give the films a new look and direction -- with a crucial assist from original series star, Vin Diesel.

Also read: Why the Rock Is the First Pro Wrestler (or Athlete) to Become a Movie Star

"The talk internally was that the franchise was played out," Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal Pictures co-president of production, told TheWrap. "At that point we were weighing whether to go straight to video or not for future sequels. We weren't sure what we were going to do."

The makeover returned the series to its heist roots and played down the underground street racing scenes that had dominated the second and third installments.

After the original cast was jettisoned and the action moved to Japan in "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, the movie still tested respectably with audiences despite all the changes. Yet Universal felt that the sequel needed more pop.

To that end, Universal Chairman Adam Fogelson and Co-Chairman Donna Langley prevailed upon Diesel to return to the series that helped make him a star, if only for a fleeting cameo. The response from preview audiences to his few minutes of screen time was electric, Kirschenbaum recalls.

"It was like a rock concert," he said. "The audience went ballistic."

Also read: 'Fast & Furious 6' Review: Bypasses Logic and Drives Straight to the Pleasure Center

Kirschenbaum said that the reaction gave Universal the confidence to effectively reboot the series with its original crew of racers, cops and thieves including star Paul Walker. At the same time, the studio decided to drill down into those elements that set it apart from summer blockbusters headlined by white males, namely a cast that included Asian, African-American and Latino actors like Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Michelle Rodriguez and Sung Kang.

"We're the Benetton of casting," Kirschenbaum said. "We're one of the few franchises that has Spanish spoken throughout it."

The result is a cast that looks like many of today's moviegoers -- social media savvy, ethnic and frequently bilingual.

The new strategy reached its apotheosis with "Fast Five," which added Dwayne Johnson to mix, set the film in Rio and drew more than $632 million worldwide, nearly $270 million more than what the next highest grossing film in the franchise had netted. Internationally the film continued to pick up steam, more than doubling the previous high-water mark for foreign grosses on a "Fast" film.

"They have done a brilliant job of managing and expanding this franchise with a principle for international success -- set it exotic, make it erotic," Bill Block, founder and CEO of the film production company QED International, said.

Analysts predict that "Fast & Furious 6," which exports the action to the United Kingdom and the Canary Islands, could top them all and gross more than $700 million globally.

Also read: How the Battle Over 'Star Trek' Rights Killed J.J. Abrams' Grand Ambitions

"They've managed to make each movie better than the last," Kevin Goetz, chief executive office of the movie market research firm Screen Engine, told TheWrap. "Each sequel feels cool and distinctive and that's rare. I've worked on a lot of franchises that just simply diminish with each film. With 'Fast' they seem to be re-imagining the series with every installment."

The studio's inclusive approach to casting has turned out to be smart business: Latinos make up 17 percent of the population in the United States and Canada, but comprise 26 percent of ticket buyers, according to a recent study by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Moreover, the movie business grows more globalized each year with foreign markets accounting for 70 percent of the overall box office, making the "Fast" franchise's international approach the envy of other studios.

"Fast Five" was able to target the Latino community, which represented 33 percent of its U.S. audience. With the return of Rodriguez, Universal hopes to pull off a similar opening for "Fast & Furious 6." To aid the cause, a Spanish-speaking Diesel presented footage from the film at the Billboard Latin Music Awards.

"Their marketing never feels like pandering; Latinos go to the 'Fast' movies because they're included," Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the advocacy group, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, told TheWrap. "When you look at this kind of attendance, we hope that studios will become emboldened and it will serve as a lesson to filmmakers about what the Latino moviegoing public can do."

The "Fast" films have also outraced the pack with social media outreach on Facebook and Twitter. Universal said it gave "Fast & Furious 6" the largest social media campaign for any film in its history, successfully building its digital support group from five million Facebook fans when "Fast Five" opened in 2011 to 34 million fans to date. 

The cast itself as played the important role as ambassadors for the series, regularly tweeting about the film and interacting with fans. It helps that Diesel boasts 42 million Facebook "likes" on his official page, while Johnson has attracted over 4 million followers on Twitter.

Online feedback has influenced the films, too. Fan requests on Twitter and Facebook led the "Fast" team to revive Rodriguez's character after she had apparently been killed off in the fourth film and helped spur Universal's decision to accelerate shooting on the next film. Now, part seven will hit theaters in 2014 instead of slogging through the standard multi-year hiatus between "Fast" productions.

According to Kirschenbaum, the most frequent feedback it receives is desire for less lag time between installments: He said fans keep saying after the release of each "Fast" film, "we want to see the next movie right now, we don't want to wait."

Even rival producers tip their hats to the "Fast" franchise. J.C. Spinks, the executive producer of "We're the Millers" and  "The Hangover III," which goes up against "The Fast & The Furious 6" at the box office this weekend, praised the series' longevity and the producers' push to keep topping themselves.

"It's a well-oiled machine," he said. "A lot of movie franchises get to three. Not too many get to six."

Joe Francis to Jury: You’re Mentally F–king Retarded and Should Be Euthanized

Joe Francis is not a happy convicted felon right about now. The 40-year-old sleaze entrepreneur gave an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after being convicted of assault and false imprisonment this spring. Now Joe is RAILING off against his ...

Ryan Gosling’s ‘Only God Forgives’: Critics Really, Really Hate the Crime Drama

Ryan Gosling must be feeling pretty happy about his decision to skip the red carpet at Cannes this year. Critics at the Riviera film festival vivisected "Only God Forgives," his ultra-violent collaboration with Nicolas Winding Refn, leaving it as bruised and battered as the hunky star appears in promotional art for the film. 

Winding Refn, the enfant terrible of Danish film, previously teamed with Gosling on "Drive," earning a Best Director award at Cannes in 2011 for his hallucinatory crime story. Once again, the screen pulsates with all manner of blood-letting -- from beheadings to mutilations with ice picks. The film finds a street-fighting Gosling punching, kicking and maiming his way through Bangkok to avenge his brother's death. It opens stateside on July 19.

Sasha Stone of TheWrap was left reaching for the steel wool in the hopes of scrubbing the film from her senses. Stone found Winding Refn's violent excesses soulless and despicable.

"What his film amounts to, in the end, is the careful work of a serial killer," Stone writes. "Refn isn't literally killing women, but he's indulging in one bloody killing after another, and practically licking the knife afterwards."

And likening Winding Refn to a mass murderer stands as one of the gentler critical allusions the film and its maker received. 

When "Only God Forgives" finally hits these shores, Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere may be there to welcome it with lighter fluid. Rarely do pans get more vitriolic than his screed against Winding Refn's style and the film's substance. Indeed, Wells' brutal assessment calls to mind Roger Ebert's legendary excoriation of Rob Reiner's "North."

"Movies really don't get much worse than Nicholas Winding Refn's 'Only God Forgives.'" Wells rails. "It's a shit macho fantasy — hyper violent, ethically repulsive, sad, nonsensical, deathly dull, snail-paced, idiotic, possibly woman-hating, visually suffocating, pretentious. I realize I sound like Rex Reed on one of his rants, but trust me, please — this is a defecation by an over-praised, over-indulged director who thinks anything he craps out is worthy of your time. I felt violated, shat upon, sedated, narcotized, appalled and bored stiff."

Also read: Cannes Review: Soulless, Despicable 'Only God Forgives' Shuts Up and Slices Limbs

In case you missed the point that he hated the movie, Wells helpfully entitles his review "Stink Spreads All Over."

Peter Debruge of Variety upbraids Gosling for giving a "near catatonic" performance, jabbing the actor by claiming the wall paper does more emoting. Debruge is willing to concede that Winding Refn has a mastery of film technique and an ability, like Quentin Tarantino, to repurpose the Grind House for the Art House, but he faults the director for favoring artifice over emotion.

"Watching Gosling withhold, one can practically hear the director behind the camera, demanding take after take, as he shouts, 'Let's try it again, only this time, more impassive!,'" Debruge writes.

Matt Patches of Hollywood.com gripes that "Only God Forgives" is pretentious and devoid of the little things that make films worth watching, like narrative and character development.  Oh, and dialogue, as Gosling gets to deliver fewer than twenty lines, he writes.

"The movie has tunnel vision, and while it occasionally breaks — there's a cheeky recurring gag of the cop singing karaoke — that sense of humor and personality never round out 'Only God Forgives,'" Patches writes. "Instead, Gosling is given his 17 lines and the camera starts rolling. If there were subtext underneath the silence, the brevity may have worked."

In Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman predicted that "Only God Forgives" will fail to generate the critical excitement that "Drive" experienced and suggested Winding Refn should ditch the lurid crime dramas and apply his passion for blood splatter to the horror genre. Barring that, he should perhaps invest more time in script development.

"'Only God Forgives' doesn't have a script so much as it has a body count," Gleiberman writes. "Its characters, even the one played by Gosling (his name is Julian), don't pretend to be anything more than one-note abstractions."

Of course, there are always one or two reviewers with the stones to break away from the critical pack. In this case, the producers of "Only God Forgives" owe The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw an overstuffed gift basket for his five-star rave. Bradshaw notes that the film will have some running for the exits, but praised Winding Refn's flare for crafting nightmare celluloid visions.

"It is very violent, but Winding Refn's bizarre infernal creation, an entire created world of fear, really is gripping," Bradshaw writes. "Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance. I'm afraid it's going to be even nastier the next time I watch it."

When Bradshaw goes back for that second viewing he may have the theater to himself.