Photograph by Warner Bros. Pictures/Everett Collection

Ben Affleck in “Argo.”

Divisive national and international issues have been known to shadow — and at times dominate — Hollywood’s annual celebration of itself. That wasn’t the case during last night’s 85th Academy Awards presentation. Host Seth MacFarlane may have raised hackles with jokes and songs that, for some, obliterated the good-taste boundary, but mining sequestration for material would be a reach even for him.

There has been some political blowback to the Oscars, though — from Iran.

Best-picture winner “Argo” has been banned from playing there — not too surprisingly, given the film’s depiction of the creative and successful CIA plot to snatch six Americans out of Tehran while 52 others were being held captive at the nearby U.S. embassy in Iran’s capital city. Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini previously has called the movie “an offensive act” motivated by “evil intentions. “

The film’s Oscar victory — and the Academy’s surprise in having Michelle Obama make the big announcement from the White House —  sparked further criticism.

“In a rare occasion in Oscar history, the first lady announced the winner for Best Picture for the anti-Iran film Argo, which is produced by the Zionist company Warner Bros,” the Iranian Fars News Agency wrote.

It also offered its own type of fashion critique of the silver gown Obama wore for the occasion, designed by Naeem Khan. The photo run by the news agency added sleeves and extended its top to Obama’s neck.

Tehren-based Mehr News, meanwhile, took umbrage to comments by Ben Affleck — the director, star and one of Argo’s main producers who in his acceptance speech gave a nod to “our friends in Iran who live under terrible circumstances.”

The reaction from Mehr: “After distorting history, Ben Affleck continues to show a bleak picture of Iran: Iranians live in terrible circumstances.”

Original post is ‘Argo’ Win Sparks Poor Reviews in Iran by Political Capital.

Photograph by Pete Souza/White House

First Lady Michelle Obama

On a night of celebrities answering the question — “Who are you wearing?” — the announcement of the Academy Award for the best motion picture came from someone wearing a gown straight from a dinner of the nation’s governors in the White House.

Photo of First Lady Michelle Obama announcing #Oscar2013 best picture winner from @whitehouse to ARGO. twitter.com/petesouza/stat…

— petesouza (@petesouza) February 25, 2013

White House photographer Pete Souza was ready for first lady Michelle Obama’s surprise announcement of the Oscar for “Argo,” following a formal dinner that she and President Barack Obama hosted at the White House for the National Governors Association.

There is a White House nexus to this saga, after all — seeing as the 1979 taking of American hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran served as the backdrop for the Ben Affleck film about the freeing of a select group who had escaped during the raid on the embassy and found refuge in another’s residence, and seeing as the general plot surrounding those 444 days of captivity for 52 Americans and a failed rescue mission for them was instrumental in the retirement of another president, Jimmy Carter.

Michelle Obama’s communications director, Kristina Schake, issued a statement: “The Academy Awards approached the First Lady about being a part of the ceremony. As a movie lover, she was honored to present the award and celebrate the artists who inspire us all — especially our young people — with their passion, skill and imagination.”

And for the record: The first lady was wearing Naeem Khan in her announcement broadcast live from the Diplomatic Room.

It was a thrill to announce the #Oscars2013 best picture winner from the @whitehouse! Congratulations Argo! -mo

— FLOTUS (@FLOTUS) February 25, 2013

Original post is Michelle Obama: ‘The Oscar, Argo’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by David James/20th Century Fox Film Corp/Everett Collection

Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln, center, in the film "Lincoln."

Kevin McCarthy is big on the big screen.

Last year, during the debt debate on Capitol Hill, the Republican congressman from California and House majority whip showed his troops a clip from the film “The Town,” the Ben Affleck-directed film about a career thief planning his next heist — appropriate for the deficit talks?

He also organized a caucus screening of “Moneyball,” Brad Pitt’s portrayal of a market-minded baseball manager.

This week, McCarthy is taking fellow Republicans to see “Lincoln,” the film portrayal of the party’s most honored president, played by Daniel Day Lewis.

“We do movie nights from time to time,” McCarthy explained today outside an official meeting of the Republican conference in the Capitol. The viewing will take place at an undisclosed location, for security reasons.

Lincoln, whose memorial on the National Mall stands as the grandest reminder of a nation held together amid unspeakable bloodshed, and freedom for the enslaved, often plays an inspirational role in modern-day Washington.

And this film may hold special significance for lawmakers as they brace for weeks of high-stakes negotiating during a post-election session on averting the fiscal cliff. It focuses on Lincoln’s successful efforts in 1865 to horse-trade and cajole members of Congress — some of them so-called “lame ducks,” having just lost their re-election bids — into supporting the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery.

President Barack Obama looked to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, “Team of Rivals,” for inspiration in Lincoln’s assemblage of advisers of clashing persuasions.

Follow the subtitle of that book: “The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.”

Perhaps McCarthy’s caucus will take away some of that from the show.

Brian Faler, Kate Hunter and Mark Silva contributed to this review. 

Original post is Republicans Rallying for `Lincoln’ — Majority Whip’s `Movie-Night’ Out by Political Capital.