it's friday afternoon and i'm toure. this hour mitt romney is releasing his taxes for last year and a summary for 20 years before that. professor kornacki can't contain his excitement. >> mitt has had a rough couple of weeks. >> i'm steve kornacki. i'm from massachusetts so i'm pumped about the senate race between elizabeth warren and scott brown. >> i'm krystal ball. barack obama and mitt romney wants you to like them, poke them, tweet them, vote for them, too. now the man behind david letterman is getting in on the action. >> don't make your weekend plans just yet. i'll tell bu the best movie of 2012 so far.

that should keep you around for the entire cycle on this friday, september 21. there's only seven days until early votes begins in iowa, 12 days until the first presidential debate, and 46 days until america goes into the booth and decides who will occupy the oval office the next four years. according to the latest poll, the election is still air-tight. history may one day recall romney as mr. 47% and spoke of his moment the day the music died. people on both sides admit the race could still change. there's always an october surprise. steve can name them all off the top of his head. trust me. both candidates are on the campaign trail today. this afternoon president obama made a stop in virginia. >> i don't believe we can get far with leaders that write off half the nation as a bunch of

victims who think that they're not interested in taking responsibility for their own lives. i don't see a lot of victims in this crowd today. i see hard-working virginians. >> i apologize to krystal ball and the people for virginia for calling it a state and it's a commonwealth. >> commonwealth. >> just this hour the romney campaign released the 2011 tax returns. he paid an effective tax rate of 14.1%. two hours from now mitt is in sin city for his sixth trip to the cash-strapped state of nevada. nbc's peter alexander is with the romney campaign. let's begin with kristen welker at the white house. the white house knows it's winning this race by a small amount, but anything could arise in october and knock them off

course. are they concerned about the thing they don't know is coming? >> reporter: absolutely. they're concerned about the fact that they're expecting those polls to get tighter again. they like what they see right now. the president has a little bit of a lead in some key battleground states, but they say this is a volatile field, and they're expecting this race as we get closer to election day, to again narrow. there are a lot of uncertainties right now. the unrest in the middle east and the economy. you have two more jobs reports coming up including one that comes out before voters head to the polls. they will watch closely for that. republicans feel confident about their ground game right now. that's another uncertainty as we get closer to election day. don't forget about the debates. mitt romney has been prepared for the debates extensively, and remember, he has a little bit more practice, if you will. he has been debating this year as compared to president obama who hasn't debated in about four

years. so the white house certainly and the obama campaign concerned when they think about that. they're preparing for this race to get tighter again. do they like what they see rilt now? yes. they say they're not ready to rest on their laurels at all at this point, toure. >> let's bring in peter alexander. we have tax returns to look at finally. the romney campaign must need to change the conversation. >> reporter: yeah, toure. we landed here with the romney campaign in the last hour or so, and mitt romney today is doing what millions of americans and people around the world do in las vegas, he's laying his cards on the table. this is months of pressure from the obama administration and critics. as you look at the numbers right here, this comes at the end of the worst two to three-week period for mitt romney during the course of this entire campaign cycle. it began with heavy criticism of his handling and his response to

the attacks at u.s. embassies and consulates in egypt and libya. new poll numbers including those within nbc news show that mitt romney is increasingly trailing his opponent, barack obama. in the state of iowa that gap has swelled to 8 percentage points that romney is trailing barack obama. his own wife ann romney was there just yesterday. the 47% number, that secret videotape where that number was basically used now by the president and everybody else who has heard it to attack him as being out of touch and effectively writing off 47% of americans as victims and government dependents. toure. >> peter, no gambling tonight, okay. >> reporter: yeah, right. >> let's put this in the spin cycle. when romney releases tax returns and professor kornacki is

digging through stuff and he sees he did something that disqualifies him for being president by his own standard. tell him. >> we have a trademark made for only mitt romney moments. we've had a few in this campaign, and this is one of them. earlier in year when he came under pressure to put out tax returns, he put out one for 2010 and one for 2011. the estimate said i paid an ektive tax rate. over the summer bh the issue was pressed, i went back and looked and never paid less than 13%. they went down to actually do the returns for 2011. they found out with the charitable giving, they're eligible for charitable deductions that take the rate all the way down to 9%. it would be less than 14% he was saying he paid. to make up for the difference, he voluntarily paid more so the rate would be 14%. problem? over the summer when he was defending himself and people said 14% is a little low to begin with, isn't it, mitt?

he said i don't pay any more than are legally due. if i paid more than legally due, i don't think i'll be qualified to be president. i'm just thinking, you know, there's a certain caricature of an incompetent presidential candidate. mitt has had moments like this. i think of the debate in the primaries, and wolf blitzer was asking the candidates of a 10-second introduction. my name is wolf blitzer and yes my first name is wolf. my name is mitt romney and yes, mitt is my own name. no, it's willard. only can he get his first name wrong and disqualify himself. >> let's hang him. >> it's comical if nothing else. >> i think you're better than this. i think you're better than this. i understand the point you're trying to make, but come on. this is a man who was land basted as a cheat and liar, someone dishonest. for months harry reid said he paid no taxes. that's shameful. he owes him a policy.

>> not yet. >> that's the last ten years. >> we only have returns now for 2011. >> this is a man who gave 44% of his money away, 44%. >> i understand. >> you're better than this. >> you made a comment, and let's make it clear here. what mitt romney is releases is one year, 2011, for which he already released a estimate. the call from democrats and from harry reid is ten years. i don't know. harry reid may be -- >> inirspot's irsfons i believe. >> what mitt romney did does not exonerate. >> that's the story. he exonerated himself. >> really? >> he didn't pay for ten years? we have two years now. >> it's not that he actually 14.1% in 2011 or that he gave away 44% of his income to charity and taxes in 2011. the story you want to make is that one day he said, i'd be disfall kwied if i voluntarily paid more.

>> he actually would have paid 9% if he didn't artificially inseminate the numbers. >> he didn't artificially do anything. >> he paid more than he was supposed to. >> he did not pay more. he gave aaway the tax deduction on his charitable contributions. >> and paid more -- >> what's really going on -- >> that's the story. i got it. >> what's going on is there's a break glass in case of emergency box in every campaign office. they broke it today. they said we can't talk about this 47% thing. let's talk about the thing we least want to talk about, our income taxes. >> so he's a liar and has something to hide, and when he does, he's out of ideas. >> here's the thing i see. i don't think steve is making the argument that romney has disqualified himself for the presidency. he's making the case that romney has been a comedy of errors. even going back to when he said that he'd never paid less than 13% over the last ten years. according to the "new york times" mr. romney's decision to

address the tax question at that moment appeared to be an off the cuff attempt to put the issue behind him once or for all. he put that out without even thinking it through, and now you can only imagine this week, after everything that's happened and the whole 47% flack, and they're faced with this decision. do we come out with a 9% tax rate after we've just castigated half of america for not paying enough taxes, or do we have to pay more than we really owe and face the fact that romney said by his own standard he would be disqualified from the presidency if he paid more than a dollar more than he owed. >> i can appreciate that mitt romney has been inartful and inelegant in some of his -- if you want to classify it as a comedy of errors, okay. my point is -- >> i do. >> the other story today is he's an incredible generous comedy of errors. >> i go back to the -- you know, i go back to the bible.

>> it has to be addressed. >> i will meet you there. >> we will wash it under the table. i want to get it out there. >> generous comedy of errors. >> go back to the bible that the rich man giving a bunch it means less than a poor person giving a penny. he makes hundreds of millions of dollars gave aaway a lot. >> that's really cheap. >> no. this is the gang that couldn't shoot straight, and that's what we have to deal with. it's not just about the presidential election at this table. the geek skward that is "the cycle" was in effect last night during the big debate in massachusetts. warren versus brown is like the yankees versus the red sox to us. we're going to break down both debates next as "the cycle" rolls on for friday, september 21st. barack obama, i don't know. i already have one wife telling me to eat healthy. he promised me death panels and

grandpa is still alive. mitt romney? i hear he wears magic underpants. his horse choked at the olympics, and he did invent obama care. stop! stop! stop! come back here! humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our optional better car replacement. if your car is totaled,

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like every american, you love the republican and democratic national conventions. the speeches, the pageantry. now that they're over you want to relive the most glorious moments of all. introduces convention cut-aways features the very best audience shots from both conventions. like woman sobbing before anyone started speaking and guy who is

dancing to no music whatsoever. relive the majesty of woman walking around and guy who brought props that only make sense to him. stunning can you tellut-aways o shaping history. guy pretends he was just asleep and a woman with way too much arm flab and guy who didn't know there were balloons. >> to one of the most catched contests of the election sight. that's the fight for the senate in massachusetts where first-term incumbent scott brown holding the traditionally blue seat occupied by the late ted kennedy for 46 years and his brother jack before him. he nearly won the seat in a special election when he rode a national wave of tea party anger. last night brown came in his usual green pickup trucks and reminded voters he's one of the

most independent senators. this election he finds himself awash in wall street money from bigwigs dead set on keeping his challenger out of office. at the debate warren attacked brown's record claiming he holds 98% of the families hostage, working for the top 1% or 2%. brown fired back by repeatedly referring to warren as professor warren, trying to paint her as a liberal elites. >> she's obsessed with raising taxes. i'm not going to raise taxes. i'm going to protect the pocketbooks and wallets of everybody listening. if you want someone to spends your tax dollars, give it to professor war len. >> it's about whose side you stand on. he stands for subsidy for the oil companies and breaks for the billionaires. he stands for the top folks gekt special deals. i'm out there for working families and small businesses. >> now, both sides have agreed

to discourage outside spending in the state as if they needed it. warren is one of the most successful fund raisers this cycle bringing in more than $28 million. brown trails that but raised an impressive 19 million. joins us now is david bernstein. he's a political reporter for the boston phoenix. he watched last night's debate. thanks for coming on. i start with this. my reaction from watching this debate last night was brown wants to paint warren as a liberal elites and he called the professor about 62 gazillion times. his best hope in the race is about partisanship. massachusetts doesn't elect republicans much, and i didn't hear until the end if you like scott brown, you're empowering the party you don't like. did she play that card enough last night? >> personally i don't. i agree with your assessment. there's very little question people i talked to within both camps and around the political

world here really think that what this comes down to is about 10% in the middle. both sides have about 45%, more or less locked up, and then there's 10% in the middle. those 10% generally like scott brown. they feel favorable to him. they're all voting for barack obama for president, and they all dislike the national republican party. that's where the fight is, and, you know, obviously the more that elizabeth warren can tie scott brown to that national party. they've done it mostly, tried to do it mostly by painting him as a conservative, and that, i think, hasn't been as successful as like you said what she started to do towards the end of the debate and she hasn't done much in her ads, which is to say regardless of what his views are, he's putting guys like mcconnell and so forth in charge of the senate if you send him back. >> wheth >> when people talk about massachusetts, i grew up there, it's a democratic state and not

nearly as liberal as you think it is. when i look at brown's success i look at where i grew up, maybe cultural conservative. there's something about scott brown that really appeals to them. what do you think those voters see when they look at elizabeth warren? how is she doing with them? >> i think that it's on the edge. i think that's why this debate last night was really key introduction for a lot of them because most of them have really only seen her through, you know, some tv interviews and her ads obviously, a lot of advertising. but they haven't really seen her go back and forth. a lot of people have the type you're describing, and i completely agree with you about the makeup of massachusetts. it's not as liberal or knee jerk democrat as its often painted. but the problem that a lot of people are having, the types of people they find her to be

elitist and a little shrill and lecturing and times and that image. i think she was pretty successful in this first debate of toning down her voice, toning down her demeanor, not rising to scott brown's bait on some things. i thought she did a fairly good job of presenting herself to the types of voters you talk about. >> david, i'm also from massachusetts as is my other panelist, toure here. >> feeling a little left out right now. >> you know, i'm sure i don't have to tell you if massachusetts isn't a liberal state, they sure do like their democrats. really hard for a republican to win. even harder for a woman to win at it this level. no woman has ever won the governorship or senate. it's interesting, i think, to point out that states including north and south carolina, oklahoma, louisiana, kansas, texas, new mexico have all had

women governors. there's a quote i'd like to read from you a piece in the daily beast by linda killian and get you to comment. massachusetts, the home of kennedy dynasty, the only one to vote for george mcgovern rebels in the uber-liberal reputations. while democrats hold most of the elected offices that matter, the paradox is most don't seem comfortable electing women to statewide office. what are your thoughts? why does this happen? >> this is a pet topic of mine. i don't disagree in any way. we elected one woman to congress in recent history. for a variety of reasons i think to a large extent it's cultural. it's a very sort of old-fashioned irish catholic, you know, sort of patriarchal kind of establishment here.

it's very much you sort of work your way up through the last congressman's office, and then you get appointed and everyone rallies around to put you into the seat next. that tends to be from man to man. i think that's changing a lot now, but we aren't seeing it move up the offices as quickly as in other states. i think it is changing. i think there are a lot of perceptions, and it certainly does not help matters at all that elizabeth warren is running in the immediate wake of martha coakley, who is, you know, for whatever set of reasons did not leave a favorable impression. a lot of people in the state still like her but did not -- were not thrilled about -- >> not a great campaign. >> not thrilled about the job she did against scott brown. >> david, the debate started with the elizabeth warren, is she or is she not part native-american? let's run a clip about that. >> professor warren claimed she was a native-american, a person of color. you can see she's not. >> when i was growing up, these

are the stories i knew about my heritage. i believed my mother and my father and my aunts and my uncles, and i never asked anybody for any documentation. >> scott brown framed the issue in this really simplistic way that doesn't fit with modern america at all. you don't look native-american, ergo, you're not. which is the cab driver test. if a stranger thinks you're something at 10 yards away, that's what you are. i feel like lielizabeth warren dismantled him on that. i was a kid, and this is what the family told me. i didn't ask for documentation. do you think that issue goes away now? >> i don't think it goes away, because scott brown won't let it go away. i think elizabeth warren had clearly practiced that response every day for the last six months or so and delivered it pretty well. i think that certainly the polling shows everything that i see and anecdotally shows the only people that feel that they

care about that issue at all are people who are ready, solid scott brown people. clearly the scott brown people believe otherwise. they believe that this does cut at her credibility in a way that perhaps lets them make other charges down the line. for instance, the working for travelers insurance against asbestos victimie victims charg. when you saw scott brown charge out of the gate and pound on this native-american issue means that it's an issue they want to keep pounding out and will for the rest of the race, i imagine. >> david, i want to go back to something you said earlier about the challenges facing women in massachusetts. you mentioned that people found elizabeth warren shrill and she needed to tone it down or her tone of voice. isn't that pafrt of the double standard women face?

i haven't heard a male canada described as shrill. >> absolutely. it's amazing how often i hear from acquaintances and people in the business and what i hear back from other jurournalists o people doing polls and stuff. they're a real negative reaction among men and women, a lot of them, to this sort of professorial almost better than kind of attitude that they feel coming from her that i think you're right. i don't think that they would feel the same way coming from a man doing the same thing. >> all right. david bernstein, "boston phoenix." thanks for joining us. straight ahead, a historic day in the afghan world. . joshua davis ntz frustration of looking for funding.

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there's a lot of news coming

out of the middle east today. in afghanistan the troop surge is officially over. the last of those 30,000 troops deployed have now left the country. 68,000 american soldiers remain to aid in the transition to afghan security control. in the meantime this afternoon, deadly protests in neighboring pakistan supposedly in the name of that anti-muslim film. at least 15 having killed and 160 more wounded in stviolent clashes. in half a dozen other countries thousands took to the streets in protests as expected on this friday. those demonstrations remained mostly peaceful. iran put on quite a show holding a massive military parade of weapons and troops and publicly warninging israel and the u.s. against aacts of aggression as israel is ratcheting up the anti-iran rhetoric and putting pressure on the u.s. to get involved. this is a hot election topic. should it be? our next guest says or relationship with the middle east will stay the same whether

obama or romney hits the white house. in the guest spot, aaron david miller scholar at the woodrow wilson sfwernlts and former state department official. aaron, thanks for joining us. i want to start with the peace you recently wrote about that subject and ask you about your first assertion, which is that under obama or romney, the quote-unquote love affair with israel will continue. i think i'd prefer we call it an alliance, but go ahead and tell me what you mean by that. >> the reality is this relationship, which is now 60-plus years old has proved to one of the most durable and resilie resilient. you have an unfunctional pair with netanyahu and barack obama. they share values, the behavior of israel's neighbors, the strategic relationship with

israelis suggest to any and i have watched this relationship under half a dozen secretaries of state. the abrupt contours of the relationship don't change. romney will have a more -- an improved personal relationship with benjamin netanyahu, assuming romney is elected and netanyahu is a prime minister the israel. they're friends, and romney is more in line with bill clinton and george w. bush in terms of being emotionally and instinctively supporting israel. this president is much cooler and much more detached on the issue. the important thing is there's no chance of a divorce anymore. the love affair may be too strong a word, but there ain't going to be any divorce. that's a reality, and that's going to set the tone for many policies in the region. >> let me go to the next point. you say our dysfunctional relationship with arab nations will continue. i think it's certain the relationships will be troubled regardless of who was in the office. it wasn't the point of at least

some of the soft diplomacy that obama promised, the open hand instead of a clenched fist. wasn't the promise to ease some of that? >> yeah, but the problem is that our policies under both republican democratic administrations for years are policies that are almost certainly designed to -- again, i'm just reporting here. i'm not suggesting that it they change. so don't kill me. >> okay. >> the policies essentially provoke rage, humiliation, feelings of impotence. the arabs and muslims, the vast majority simply do not like the broad par meters of our policies. they don't like our special relationship with israel and our policy on predator drones and our double-standards with, yes, israel and india can have nuclear weapons but the iranians can't. that dysfunction and the perfect storm that is gathering now

played out in the last couple weeks with violence and protest demonstrations against american embassies, consulates and diplomatic facilities. as bad as the israelis may behave, count on this. the neighbor's behavior is going to be worse. assad is killing thousands of his own citizens. you have attacks on the american embassy in cairo. the benghazi consulate is torched. not to mention the iranians that most americans confuse with arabs anyway who, you know, every other day you open the paper, and here's ahmadinejad or khomeini talking about holocaust denial, israel is an insult to humanity. with these relationship with the israelis remaining intact and the dysfunction, the relationship with key arab states, you'll see more continuity than change.

>> is there something to worry about there? when barack obama came in, he started to apply a little bit of pressure to israel on the settlement issue. if israel is our friend and ally and we have a genuine long-term interest in stability in israel's region and the long-term health of israel, israel needs to be nudged on the settlement issue. you apply that pressure and take a lot of flack. they back off and say they've been successful by backing off and they can win re-election. is there a long-term problem there that we can't nudge israel on something they need to be nudged on? >> i worked for a couple secretaries of states, bush 41 and jim bakker. they nudged the israelis plenty. i'm arguing at that no serious american negotiator, president or secretary of state who wants to get anywhere has to cajole and push both parties. the key is to find an issue that can actually produce a result. the president thought it was

settlements. i think he was dead wrong, and you know what happened? our street kred is way down not just with the israelis, but with the arabs as well. so you find the right issue at the right time, and you get a smart strategy and maybe, although nobody ever lost money berth against arab israeli peace, maybe something will happen. >> aaron david miller, thanks so much for joining us. >> always a pleasure. >> straight ahead he was a football player and a wwe wrestler. his story and why the danger is more serious than anyone is willing to admit next. >> he got leveled, and he did not see that coming. >> he caught every part of me, and i was down. i was probably out for a brief period of time, it was 10, 15 seconds. taken off the ice on a stretcher only to return to play two nights later.

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i'm not saying do away with the sport. i'm saying change the way it's played. in particular, take hits to the head out of it. >> from the moment you start playing a contact sport, you are risking concussion. for years the treatment of choice was, shake it off and get back out there kid. now driven by reporting from "the new york times" and espn and our next guest, concussions and the way to treat them are finally getting some attention. right in and out the nfl is faces 140 lawsuits from former players alleging the nfl intentionally hid the dangers of concussions. it's not just a football issue or elite athletes at risk. according to our guests, youth hockey and soccer and football put the long-term health of children on the line every day, and for some reason feels like nobody cares. joining us now is steve james

the director of "head games" and author of the book that in inspd the book. steve, we start with you. millions of kids are at risk for brain-damaging concussions. we've seen several nfl players and other sport athletes kill themselves because of cte injuries and brain damage. why are not more people freaking out about this whole situation? >> well, i do think there's a lot of freaking out going on, particularly with parents of young kids who are playing sports and older kids who are playing sports. in some ways, though, i think it's a combination of hiss tiara and denial going on as paradoxical as it seems. that's why we wanted to make the film, which was to really lay out what we know and what we don't know and give parents and amateur athletes a way of trying to decide what to do about this. >> we have another clip from the movie. let's take a look.

>> you sure scared a lot of people tonight, okay? >> it wasn't apparently, it was the head ath lettic trainer. >> you came here and talked about all these people whose brains are decays, but there are a heck of a lot of people that played ball that don't have this postconcussion syndrome. >> it went further and he said you talk about all the symptoms. my 10-year-old daughter plays soccer, and she comes off the field and complaining of dizziness and headaches after heading the ball. that's not a concussion. that's just part of playing the game. >> if your child has concussion symptoms from heading a soccer ball, that's a concussion. are you serious? i don't want to push too far. i'm worried about your job. >> wow. >> that's quite a moment. chris. i'm a parent, and i wurn what do you tell parents if your 10-year-old son wants to play football? what do you stay to that person? >> be very careful about when

you start exposed your children to repetitive brain trauma. you think about what we put in place for nfl players like teams of doctors on the sideline. we don't have those for children, and we have to realize that young children can't verbalize when they have concussion symptoms. we're trying to teach kids to report when they're messed up, but when you're so young you don't appreciate being dizzy is something to tell your parent. >> do you think the future of the nfl is at risk here? >> no. the nfl is adults who now know the risks doing a dangerous job like firefighter and policemen and our military. the issue is should kids be doing the same thing when we know how dangerous these things are for adults? their brains are still developing. we really have to reconsider how much head trauma should be involved in youth sports. >>s in a great film, a raet important issue. thank you for bringing it to the surface. i wish we had more of a moment to talk about "hoop dreams" the greatest sports documentary of all time.

we have to go. congratulations on this one. a different kind of flick. a low budget movie with big names behind it and a lot of attention. we're going to check it out. [ male announcer ] you like who you are... and you learned something along the way. this is the age of knowing what you're made of. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex.

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oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad

we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. [ male ♪nnouncer ] fedex office. ♪ ♪ ♪ there's another way to help erase litter box odor. purina tidy cats. only tidy cats has odor erasers. making it easy to keep things at home... just the way you want them. tidy cats with odor erasers. hey, all right. >> what do we have here? >> presenting mary, franklin, and leonard, the three biggest tech geeks in the freshmen

class. >> what's with the hat science. >> each of they are derby hats con se conceals a live camera. it's for bonus material for the dvd. you can't look in one place. you have to switch it up, okay? >> a group of high school friends making a movie. let the zaniness begin, right? not exactly. the coolest parts have almost nothing to do with these teenagers that actually end up from producing. from the behind of scene footage to the way how it's produced to the way it's released, there's a chance five teenagers will alter the film industry. our next guest is rob burnett, five-time emmy award winning executive produce of "the late show with david letterman." he's the president and ceo of world wide pants and he's the writer and director of we made this movie. rob, welcome. >> i broke off there. did you say five emmys? >> that is what i said.

is that right? five emmys? >> eightiyeah, five emmys. >> i want to say as many times as possible. >> we have you on the record. one thing that was amazing is you made the movie for a million dollars. which to me sounds like a lot, but for a full-length film is nothing. >> christopher nolan's suits from batman are that alone. not batman suits. christopher nolan's suits himself. it was run and gone. we shot the movie in 21 days, which is break neck for a feature film. really an unknown cast, so not a lot of money spent there. you know, we all -- you know, the kraft service was ritz crackers pretty much. it was a great experience. >> that's steve kornacki lunch. little-known fact. the other thing that is fascinating here is the way you went about everything you had.

you had online screening and crowd sourced the score. the crowd sourcing nas natured me. how did that process work, and is that a workable model for other films and tv shows? >> i'll say it this way. is it workable? we have what i believe to be for a tiny movie the best soundtrack of my cost us zero dollars. so, yes, it's possible, and it is the future. the way it came about is there's a place called red bull sound stage is a website for up and coming bands. they saw the movie. they loved the movie, and we made a deal with them where we put up four scenes and asked people to send us their original music to see how it would go. i had no idea what to expect. i thought we'd get maybe 30 or 40 submissions, i didn't know how good they'd be. we got 1200 and my producing partner and i listened to all of them. they were amazing. we put a total of 22 songs in

the movie and the soundtrack is just tremendous. >> amazing. >> rob, it seems like we have a real appetite right now for movies and maybe tv shows that look real but are, in fact, scripted. you know, they look vouoristic and raw. i'm thinking my favorite television show the oraniginal british office. >> this movie, you know, directing it, you know, we made sure that we only used tools that they themselves would have. so i never used any dollies or cranes. there's no shots from a blimp. everything has a very realistic look, and though the film is scripted, the factors, we made sure they were very funny kids, so we gave them some latitude to just kind of interact and some of the best things in the movie are stuff really that they came up with on the spot. >> rob, you know, we can't let you go without asking you at least one question about "the

late show." as one of my favorites and one of the things i love about what you guys do are these recurring characters you create. my favorite one is allen who is the straight laced announcer who will occasionally turn into a deranged wild man. i'm just curious, what is the real allen like? >> i think pretty much what you see is what you get. it's a deranged crazy man with a beautiful voice. he's a great guy. allen is a great guy and in his own way an amazing performer. let me say it this way, i have never heard allen say no to anything we've asked him to do, and that's something. you got to take that. >> all right. five-time emmy award winner rob burnett. >> five? >> i think it's five. >> five. >> thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, guys. >> up next, before you hit the movie theater this weekend, our own master of the universe on the new fall film he's calling an oscar contender. we've all had those moments.

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you are an everlasting spirit. >> i don't believe you. >> you make this up. i know you're trying to calm me down but just say something that's true! >> do your past failures bother you? is your behavior erratic? what are you running from? >> he's dangerous, and he will be our undoing if we continue to have him here. >> if we are not helping him, then it is we who have failed

him. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the year's first serious contender to the oscar race, paul thomas anderson's sublime film "the master." at the oscars till compete for best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, perhaps best supporting actress, best cinemaing to ra fi and other prizes because this, my friends, is the first truly great film of 2012. it's an ambitious and gorgeously shot journey into mid 20th century america just as world war ii is ending. right away we meet a navy man on his way back to american soil who is searching for his place in life, struggling to deal with rage, alcoholism, and lust, battles he often loses. this is freddy quell, a cocky tormented man played by joaquin phoenix suggesting a man beaten down by life but hardened by that beating. this young man is all it, unable

to control his impulses. he gets a job as a family photographer in a department store and falls into a wild, messy brawl with a customer because he's unable to fit into polite consumerist society. like america after the war, he is rootless and unsure of where to go and who to be until he drunkenly wanders on to a boat owned by dodd. as they meet, dodd says to quell, leave your worries for a while, they'll be there when you get back. your memories aren't invited. and off we go on a trip into both men's souls. one is the father/teacher feeding knowledge and nonsense. the other is the difficult son/student struggling to access his heart. hoffman's dodd is the sun around which the films cosmology orbits and does he ever provide all the heat this film needs. don't be distracted about the

hype by the master's similarities to scientology. it's inspired by the story of l. ron hubbard but it's no expose and the film needs ton of that link to be great. it's another epic from p.t. anderson who has given us the great boogie nights and the deep magnolia and the bittersweet punch drunk love and the incredible "there will be blood." in those films anderson mined the edges of the 20th century. with the master he dives into the middle. still, he's focused on lonely characters in dysfunctional families. anderson is one of america's top living filmmakers and in "the master" he's working at the top of his game. all right. that does it for "the cycle." martin, go see the "the master." >> it's friday, september 21st, and how bad a week has this been for mitt romney? it's been so bad he's decided to release his tax returns.