One less RINO strengthens a Party that desperately needs to rediscover its core principles.
Now, if only McCain would leave the GOP too…
Archive for the ‘Movie News’ Category
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Leaves GOP (Yeah!)
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007Some of the Jobs Americans Won’t Do
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007Throwing rocks (Intifida style) at U.S. Border Patrol Agents is one of the many jobs Americans just won’t do.
And shooting at border agents while drug smuggling from Mexico is a big category of jobs Americans won’t do too.
Yet another job Americans just won’t do is to impede U.S. Border Patrol agents by practicing arson:
U.S. Border […]
Fences Work
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007Charles Krauthammer has a great column, the commonsense of which has long been apparent to paleoconservatives (and the base of the Republican Party).
There is only one provision that has unanimous support: stronger border enforcement. I’ve seen senators stand up and object to the point system, to chain migration, to guest workers, to every and […]
Scorsese and friends
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Maybe you've seen this American Express ad featuring Martin Scorsese directing a most random group of celebrities (Shaun White and Alicia Keys?) in a fake spot about soliciting humanitarian ideas from card members. It's been running for weeks in heavy rotation, so it's a safe time to ask: huh? Until that preppie interrupts the shoot, it's undeniable that the ad is earnestly un-Scorsese. It's creepy, actually.
A friend, who thinks this ad is funny, pointed out that it's a mock-public service announcement, which might be the case. But that drab location looks like an unused set from a no-budget Aaliyah video, and the only person who doesn't look trapped in this wax museum is Ellen DeGeneres. She delivers the comic relief, which is funny simply because it cracks up Andre Agassi, and that seems spontaneous. But, seriously, what a weird commercial: why is Shaun White wearing that suit, and why is he straddling that poor ugly chair, and would Scorsese, who directed the whole commercial, really use such a plain wide shot?
But to quote my friend: "Dude, it's to change the world. What's wrong with you?"
On Singing and Dancing Australians
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
My first contribution to CoP is an old remniscence on Grease I (another on Star Wars III is to follow shortly). The movie proves that a good soundtrack can go a very long way. Easy Rider, for example, is very boring without music, unless you like watching post-card perfect pictures of the American West of strange looking men on Harleys. (By contrast, the battle at Helms Deep at the end of the second Lord of the Rings just needs rain on the soundtrack). While there were a few scenes where I expected The Fonz to make a cameo appearance, Grease surprised me with its sense of humour (you keep a straight face during Frankie Avalon’s “Beauty School Drop Out!”), and its treatment of 50s (or high school) nostalgia. The musical succeeds because even though it does not aim to rise above ‘mere entertainment,’ it does not condescend to its characters or its audience. (More ’serious,’ artsy/indie movies would do well to remember this.)
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Primeval (2007)
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
“Inspired by a true story” says the opening message of the film Primeval, and as one might suspect, those words like most other films that carry the phrase, does have some elements of truth. Everything else is made up by various rumor and imagination. Bad news for Primeval is that it also contains uninspired imagination and out of place one-liners that don’t belong. Out of place actors, too. (more…)
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Indie Bites: Simmons is ‘The Wreck,’ ‘Tehuacan’ Part of Online Fest and Moore Lashes Out
Monday, June 18th, 2007
To start off your week:- Not to be confused with this year's upcoming thriller called The Wreck, there is a British drama of the same name coming from David Rocksavage, who penned the script along with Margaret Glover. The film will star Jean Simmons (double Oscar nominee for The Happy Ending and Hamlet) as an elderly widower named Hannah, who becomes close with a young man who brings her pot to ease the pain of an on-going illness. However, things get tense when her son (James Wilby of period pieces like Gosford Park) comes to visit and questions the young man's motives -- damn drugged hippies! Add an ex-male model, Jamie Dornan, who I assume will be the young stranger, and you've got a pretty interesting cast list.
- If you're one of those people that can never get to the film fests, you might want to check out the Independent Features Festival. Instead of a star-studded locale, there are more than 200 films, full-length and short, that can be seen online and voted on -- all from the comfort of your couch, bed, toilet, office chair or wherever else you choose to watch them on. Winners will be shown at New York's Tribeca Cinemas next month and the top prize gets a premiere and distribution deal. One of the films in the running is a documentary short called The Tehuacan Project, which is about a Mexican school for the deaf that is narrated by Adrien Brody and executive-produced by Brad Pitt.
- Finally, Michael Moore is finally opening his mouth about Manufacturing Dissent, the recent documentary made about him. One of the accusations in the film is that he actually has interview footage with Roger Smith for Roger & Me -- a doc that was all about how Moore couldn't get an interview. According to The Guardian, Moore says: "Anybody who says that is a f-cking liar. If I'd gotten an interview with him, why wouldn't I put it in the film? Any exchange with Roger Smith would have been valuable." (He does admit to talking to Smith at a meeting before the film, but he says that it was unrelated to the doc.) He went on to say: "I'm so used to listening to the stuff people say about me, it just becomes entertainment for me at this point." Personally, I'd rather have him take on the accusations. It would follow what he is so adamant about on-screen, and could potentially help quash qualms about the integrity of his work.
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Who is Responsible for Hollywood’s Celebrity Fetish?
Monday, June 18th, 2007Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand
Barry Koltnow, over at the OC Register, has posted a little rant about Hollywood and the rampant cult of celebrity. He asks: "In the wake of everything that has happened recently with Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, is there anyone left on the planet who doesn't think that something is terribly wrong with this Hollywood?" To him, something must be done pronto, and his suggestion: "Baby boomers need to seize control of the culture... Without our help, they will continue to worship people like Paris Hilton. They will continue to wear baseball caps crooked. They will continue to turn up their sound systems at red lights to a decibel level that would embarrass Blue Cheer." Granted, this is coming from a blogger who writes a lot about Paris and celebrity, but it's still an interesting notion: how did this all come to be?Did boomers really, step back, let what Koltnow calls "slackers" take over and run Hollywood into the ground? Could a boomer resurgence change things? As long as the internet and super-quick media exists, I'd say no, because really, I don't think the actions are changing, just the way and amount that we hear about them. There have always been questionable celebrity shenanigans and wildness. A few decades ago, it was Drew Barrymore, and many years before her -- Marilyn Monroe. I'd love a new standard of beauty, regardless of age, but doesn't our current standard come from the past? If skinny-lust was only a construct of this generation, Twiggy never would've became a widely-recognized name. What say you? Is this "a clear call to arms?" Should we "crush the youth culture and save the world," or are we continuing an ever-cycling desire for celebrity drama?
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WordPlay (2006)
Monday, June 18th, 2007
I don’t even do crossword puzzles when I get a newspaper, but I think I was drawn to this movie expecting to see a bizarre subculture of people who are obsessive about them. This well executed documentary, made me feel like I was the only person on the planet who doesn’t love a good crossword puzzle! Yes, there is a sub-culture of competitors who each year vie for the little known celebrity of being the champion puzzler. And yes, the movie shows plenty of that subculture, but the movie never patronizes these puzzlers. I may have snickered once or twice about what nerdy goofs these people are, but I also saw a good deal of myself reflected in them and I found myself genuinely swept up in the competition that becomes the narrative focus of the movie. (more…)
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Surfing the weekend box office
Monday, June 18th, 2007
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" overcame meh reviews to make a tidy little $57.4 million, with a surprisingly high $14.5K per theater. I say the trailer sold this sucker -- or, rather, the trailer's dazzling images of the Silver Surfer zipping around. Seriously, do you know anyone who was excited about Reed and Sue's wedding?
"Nancy Drew," by contrast, squeaked out a puny $2,731 per theater for an opening weekend total of $7.1 million, a clear sign the 70-year-old property has lost its grip on young girls. "Ocean's 13" and "Knocked Up" continued to do well in their second and third weeks, respectively; "Knocked Up" showed its legs with only a 26 percent drop. Compare that to "Hostel, Part II," whose bottom fell out to the tune of 63%. Sorry, Eli.
The Edith Piaf bio-pic "La Vie en Rose" contines to dominate the arthouses, going from 8 theaters to 78 and still pulling in an everage $8K per house for a two-week total of $2.8 million -- very impressive for a foreign language film. Quirky whatsit "Eagle Vs Shark" also played nicely at three theaters; it opens in Boston on Friday. Word is that it's "Napoleon Dynamite" for grown-ups. Wait, didn't we already have one of those: "Me and You and Everyone We Know"?
