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Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Hollywoods exploitation of Margaret Thatcher?

Hollywoods exploitation of Margaret Thatcher?

This article in the Daily Mail has a lot of interesting comments by a lot of people who knew Margaret Thatcher personally. I suspect that these articles are as interesting as the new movie about her is. One typical comment is given by Eve Pollard:

this invasion of the privacy of an 86-year-old-widow is truly shocking.
It reveals the most powerful woman the West has ever known as frail, feeble and lonely. But, you feel, almost against their will, director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan (neither of whom, I suspect, would have approved of Mrs T when she was in office) couldn’t help but make an ill and powerless Margaret Thatcher sympathetic. . . .
Movie stars put up big bucks for Obama's re-election effort

Movie stars put up big bucks for Obama's re-election effort

This is a bit of a dilemma since I had liked some of these stars. There has been some speculation that Tom Hanks outspoken and nutty support for Obama has actually hurt his star drawing power for his movies.

big-name movie stars including actors George Clooney, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, also gave to the 2012 campaign, according to the latest Federal Election Commission report. Jennifer Garner and Gwyneth Paltrow both contributed under their married names —Affleck and Martin, respectively.
“30 Rock” actor Alec Baldwin, who has often toyed with a potential political run, also shelled out cash for Obama’s second-quarter fundraising haul. And several other TV actors — such as “Monk”’s Tony Shalhoub, “Glee”’s Jane Lynch, “24”’s president Dennis Haysbert and sci-fi stars Scott Bakula and Richard Dean Anderson — joined Baldwin in contributing to the president’s reelection bid.
Comedians Will Ferrell, Carl Reiner and “The Simpsons”’s Yeardley Smith also doled out money for Obama, whose campaign attracted a record-breaking $86 million in donations. . . .
Michael Medved reviews Atlas Shrugged

Michael Medved reviews Atlas Shrugged

You can listen his review here. A written copy of the review is available here. Michael gives the movie just two stars out of four, but I think that he is being much too harsh on the decision to move the movie to the current day. It seems to be much of his motivation for only giving the movie two stars. That said, I agree with him that Taylor Schilling is "luminous" in the role of Dagny Taggart.

Atlas Shrugged Part 1 is Awesome

I saw Atlas Shrugged over the weekend (I actually saw it twice) and I thought that it was great. Movie review critics have been vicious, big surprise given their liberal biases, and all the more reason that I hope that people give this movie a real chance. The trailer is available here. A positive review of Atlas Shrugged 1 is available here.

But what about the movie itself? There’s no big name actors (unless you count genre actor Armin Shimerman from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Deep Space Nine”) and a very small budget. Yet a story told from the point of view that rich guys are trying to save society while an apathetic government is content to let it lapse into ruin is itself highly unusual and does make one think. This is a thought-provoking film that asks you to use your brains instead of enduring explosions, car chases, and weapons fire, meaning that, by definition, it was never intended to be a mainstream film. The director, Paul Johansson, is himself credited for playing the mysterious John Galt, not to mention that this is part one of three (as the book is reportedly 1100 pages.) For what they had to work with and what was accomplished, the film succeeds in creating heroes of the main characters, making the mystery of John Galt’s designs and motivations compelling, and most importantly, setting up the remaining two parts of the trilogy.


See Atlas Shrugged

See Atlas Shrugged

The Atlas Shrugged trailer is available here. This is a great movie. It is amazing that it was made on less than $10 million. While it hasn't gotten the wide play on a lot of screens (Box Office Mojo shows that it is playing on only 300 screens), on Friday its revenue ranked it 3rd on a per screen basis (RIO had $2,666; Scream 4 had $2,421; Atlas Shrugged had $2,277; Insidious had $1,041; and Hanna had just $841). Atlas Shrugged was just barely out of 1st or 2nd and way ahead of 4th. Possibly if it does well this weekend, it will pick up some more screens.
Top 10 Conservative Movies of the past decade

Top 10 Conservative Movies of the past decade

Nile Gardiner has put in his list for the top 10. I would be curious what readers think should be included on the list.

1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)
2. Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott, 2001)
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Peter Jackson, 2001, 2002, 2003)
4. Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)
5. The Pursuit of Happyness (Gabriele Muccino, 2006)
6. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
7. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)
8. Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004)
9. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
10. 300 (Zack Snyder, 2007)
Avatar movie review: add an anti-Vietnam war attack and political correctness to environmentalist platitudes

Avatar movie review: add an anti-Vietnam war attack and political correctness to environmentalist platitudes

The WSJ likes the eye candy in Avatar but is put off by the heavy handed leftwing tilt of movie:

The fantasy quotient of "Avatar" takes its first major hit when the Na'vi take their first hit from the American military. Mr. Cameron has devoted a significant chunk of his movie to a dark, didactic and altogether horrific evocation of Vietnam, complete with napalm, Agent Orange and helicopter gunships (one of which is named Valkyrie in a tip of the helmet to "Apocalypse Now.") Whatever one may think of the politics of this antiwar section, two things can be said with certainty: it provokes an adrenalin rush (what that says of our species is another matter), and it feels a lot better when it's over.

Other narrative problems intrude. For all its political correctness about the goodness of the Na'vis, "Avatar" lapses into lurid savage rituals, complete with jungle drums, that would not have seemed out of place in the first "King Kong." While Ms. Weaver's performance is a strong one, it isn't clear what her character is doing as an avatar, or how the Na'vi perceive her. . . .


UPDATE: Another review claims that the movie is inherently racist.

By far the most contemptible theme in Avatar involves the hero, a young disabled American called Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington. Before the humans declare war on the Na’vi, Sully is sent to them (in the form of a blue-skinned avatar) in a last ditch attempt to find a diplomatic solution. But, lo and behold, he becomes one of them – sympathising so much with their plight that he decides to lead them into battle against the humans.
As Left-wing conceits go, this one surely tops all the others: the ethnic Na’vi, the film suggests, need the white man to save them because, as a less developed race, they lack the intelligence and fortitude to overcome their adversaries by themselves. The poor helpless natives, in other words, must rely on the principled white man to lead them out of danger. . . . .
A very amusing review of the new movie "Che"

A very amusing review of the new movie "Che"

Kyle Smith has this very funny review of the movie:

MEET Che Guevara. Just think of him as Jesus plus Abraham Lincoln with a touch of Moses and Dr. Doug Ross. After 4½ hours of watching Dr. Ernesto "Che" Guevara heal the sick, teach the illiterate, daze the women, execute the lawless, defeat the corrupt, uplift the peasantry and spew the sound bite, I was convinced there would be a scene in which he turned water to Bacardi.

You can't spell cliché without "Che." And as I endured this mad dream directed - or perhaps committed - by Steven Soderbergh, I wondered where I'd seen it all before. The booted stomping through the greensward, the jungly target shooting? It's a remake of Woody Allen's "Bananas," right? Minus punch lines - or perhaps with them. "We are in a difficult situation," Che observes, at a point when his army is surrounded and forced to eat its horses.

The story of the Argentine doctor Ernesto "Che" Guevara is played with much broody self-importance by Benicio Del Toro. It will be shown in two parts after its one-week opening run. That way, on consecutive evenings, it can bore everyone but activist grad students. . . .
Movie: Swing Vote

Movie: Swing Vote

I got to see a preview of the new movie Swing Vote last night. Grover Norquist put on the event. It was fun. Got to meet Tom DeLay for the first time and a few other interesting people. In any case, the movie was just OK. Some funny lines and some attempt at balance, but there was just too much: people need help and the government has to help them. Whether the issue was health care or something else, the answer always seemed to be the same, more government. The first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie was pretty biased, but it leveled off for a while after that. Overall, though, the message of government just came through much too much for me. The person whom I went with to the movie liked it more than I did, but when I explained my objection they agreed with me. The movie's notion of balance at one point was to have My advice is not to go. Possibly catch it when it comes out on DVD.
Wacky Movies: "The Happening"

Wacky Movies: "The Happening"

The movie "The Happening" is about plants releasing a toxin that causes people to commit suicide. The reason for this is that the plants are turning against us because of all the pollution that we have emitted -- apparently read "global warming."

In these days of melting ice caps and wild weather, Shyamalan poses an interesting question: What happens if the environment, spurred by centuries of pollution and disregard, turns against us?


Plants turn against us? Ugh? OK, it just can't be because of evolution that plants happen to emit a particular toxin. They are doing it to strike back at the evil humans. Well, I had better talk to the plants in the house here before it is too late for me.

Here is a listing of five reasons the movie is filled with junk science:

1. Plants Can Talk to Each Other -- "the foliage gets furious at the mere presence of humans"
2. Plants Can Sniper Enemies -- "the film seemed to imply that the plants were purposefully, knowingly going directly after humans"
3. Plants Can Wage War With Genetics
4. Plants Can Breathe Poison
5. Plants Can Hear Us
Ben Stein's new movie

Ben Stein's new movie

This movie by Ben Stein should be a lot of fun. I might not agree with some of his discussion, but the notion of academia being closed to religious views is completely accurate. I have personally talked to academic economists who have told me that they could never vote for tenure for someone who believed in God.
Another anti-war movie flops: Stop-Loss

Another anti-war movie flops: Stop-Loss

Even though this movie has been getting very positive reviews apparently there are not enough people to see this movie to get it in the top 5 films. See here:

I'm told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4+M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn't expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. "It's not looking good," a studio source told me before the weekend. "No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time."


The fate of other anti-war movies can be seen here. Not all these Iraq movies got as positive reviews as this one.
Movies that have attempted to Attack the War in Iraq are bombing

Movies that have attempted to Attack the War in Iraq are bombing

I am not sure what this means. It could either be that people don't want to listen to this type of political lecturing or that the opposition to the war is not that deep. After 10 days in the US (including two weekends), Lions for Lambs has earned $11.6 million. At tickets going for $10, that is only about 1,160,000 people going to see the movie. BEOWULF earned about that just this last Saturday. The BEE MOVIE has been out a week longer than Lions for Lambs, but it earned as much on Friday and Saturday in each third week as Lions for Lambs has made over each entire 10 days.

LIONS FOR LAMBS
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
RENDITION
Jodie Foster's New Movie "The Brave One" Looks to be Very Disappointing

Jodie Foster's New Movie "The Brave One" Looks to be Very Disappointing

"The Brave One" looked like a revival of the old "Death Wish" movies, or at least that was what I thought at first. Warner Brothers describes the movie as follows:

The first time she shoots someone, it is kill or be killed. The second time is also in self-defense . . . or did she make a choice not to take herself out of harm's way? The fear that once paralyzed her has been replaced by something else . . .


I have posted positive notes on this movie earlier, but this summary and Jodie Foster's discussion here are very disappointing:

''Here's my commentary: I don't believe that any gun should be in the hand of a thinking, feeling, breathing human being. Americans are by nature filled with rage-slash-fear. And guns are a huge part of our culture. I know I'm crazy because I'm only supposed to say that in Europe. But violence corrupts absolutely. By the end of this, her transformation is complete. ''F--- all of you, now I'm just going to kill people with my bare hands.''' . . .


Does this mean that Switzerland isn't part of Europe? In any case, the synopsis of the movie stating she "has been replaced by something else" with Foster's own views is not very promising. It appears to give this movie a decidedly anti-self defense twist.

Well, at least some of the recent reviews have picked up on this heavily anti-self defense sentiment that seems apparent in the movie:

an impeccable dissection of gun control, as well as a wicked mockery of NRA mentality. . . .
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