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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
 Posted - 08/14/2008 : 11:33:29 PM
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Just in case anyone thought it was only Hollywood liberals who could churn out shrill political screeds disguised as motion pictures here comes An American Carol (opening in October), a spoof reworking of A Christmas Carol about a left-wing documentarian named Michael Malone - can't imagine who that's supposed to be based on - and his organization MoveAlong.org who are trying to repeal the Fourth of July; three angels - the Angel of Death (Trace Adkins), George S. Patton (Kelsey Grammer), and George Washington (Jon Voight) - give him the Scrooge treatment trying to convince him to change his America-hating ways. One critic who has already seen it made comparisons to Skidoo and Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe in terms of quality. Ouch!
This is something I could see the South Park guys doing and actually making something funny out of it. Instead it's David Zucker. Sure, Zucker is one of the guy's responsible for the Airplane and Naked Gun movies but he's also the same guy who has spent the past decade making comedic dreck like My Boss's Daughter, Scary Movie 3 & 4, and earlier this year's Superhero Movie. He's also the same David Zucker who has produced a series of conservative political ads in recent years that rival MoveOn.org in the dogmatic propoganda department. He seems to have combined his love for lame spoof comedy and heavy-handed conservatism into one for An American Carol if the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CYSGCoflAA - that premiered on The O'Reilly Factor is any indication.
FYI - O'Reilly appears in the movie as himself, a guy who enjoys slapping people around. Quite the stretch for him.
Scenes not in the trailer but reportedly in the movie according to the libertarian website Reason Online:
quote:
Patton and his soldiers storm a courthouse that's about to remove the Ten Commandments and start opening fire on the people trying to stop them. "You can't shoot these people!" Malone says. "They're not people!" says Patton. "They're the ACLU!" At this point we see that the ACLU members are unkillable George Romero zombies."
And here's the whopper:
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In a clip we saw, Washington takes Malone to St. Paul's Cathedral to lecture him on freedom of religion and "freedom of speech, which you abuse." Malone is grossed out by dust in the priest's box, so the doors open onto the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center. "This is the dust of 3000 innocent human beings!" bellows Washington. Malone whimpers that he's just making movies. Washington won't have it. "Is that what you plan to say on Judgment Day?"
Good grief! At least that opening scene in Uwe Boll's Postal with the 9/11 terrorists crashing a plane into the World Trade Center was meant to be offensive.
The film's producer is quoted as saying the following:
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"Last year you saw a bunch of anti-military movies like Redacted and In the Valley of Elah," Sokoloff said. "All of them had big stars, and, thank God, they bombed. America didn’t want to see that stuff on screen. We have to show up to a movie that has our values. If this succeeds, if could change everything."
And if we're lucky America won't want to see this stuff on the screen either.
Now Playing in Foyeurism at Foywonder.com: RANDOM ACTS OF FOYNESS - Featuring The Mummy 3, The X-Files 2, and the new Knight Rider pilot
Plus: B-WARE THE BLOG is alive at http://www.livejournal.com/users/foywonder |
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New Hinda
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Israel
469 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 12:38:54 AM
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| You're right. The South Park guys could do something like this and make it funny, but this is WAY too heavy-handed. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 2:02:07 PM
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If I want to see a "conservatives are stupid brutes" message, I'll go to a Liberal website. Are you sure this was done by CONSERVATIVES?
I understand that this is supposed to be broad comedy, but satire and parody should be used as if it were a small knife, not a chainsaw!
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
Edited by - Greenhornet on 08/15/2008 2:03:31 PM |
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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 3:29:51 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Greenhornet
If I want to see a "conservatives are stupid brutes" message, I'll go to a Liberal website. Are you sure this was done by CONSERVATIVES?
I understand that this is supposed to be broad comedy, but satire and parody should be used as if it were a small knife, not a chainsaw!
I know what you mean. When I read that description of the 9/11 scene I kept thinking that sounded more like something meant to spoof reactionary conservative media, not promote it.
It also doesn't help that the film looks painfully unfunny. You know a comedy is in trouble when you watch the trailer and it's loaded with numerous shots of people getting slapped around by accident.
Now Playing in Foyeurism at Foywonder.com: RANDOM ACTS OF FOYNESS - Featuring The Mummy 3, The X-Files 2, and the new Knight Rider pilot
Plus: B-WARE THE BLOG is alive at http://www.livejournal.com/users/foywonder |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 3:34:04 PM
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More info here:
[url]http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/385rlkfy.asp?pg=1[/url]
Personally, no interest here. The only movie I've seen in the past year has been Dark Knight and I have no burning to desire to see anything else currently on the Hollywood roster. But from reading the above-linked article, a couple of scenes described did sound pretty funny.
But then, I thought Student Bodies was funny, so... well... ya know...
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Edited by - zombiewhacker on 08/15/2008 8:34:33 PM |
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TVsGrady
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
671 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 7:43:39 PM
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quote:
Patton and his soldiers storm a courthouse that's about to remove the Ten Commandments and start opening fire on the people trying to stop them. "You can't shoot these people!" Malone says. "They're not people!" says Patton. "They're the ACLU!" At this point we see that the ACLU members are unkillable George Romero zombies."
quote:
In a clip we saw, Washington takes Malone to St. Paul's Cathedral to lecture him on freedom of religion and "freedom of speech, which you abuse." Malone is grossed out by dust in the priest's box, so the doors open onto the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center. "This is the dust of 3000 innocent human beings!" bellows Washington. Malone whimpers that he's just making movies. Washington won't have it. "Is that what you plan to say on Judgment Day?"
Yikes. Just...YIKES.
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"If you really want to irritate a flaming screaming skull, turn him toward something highly unpleasant, like, say, a Rob Schneider movie. He has no eyelids and no way to turn away. It's fun!"-Michael J. Nelson
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http://tvsgrady.livejournal.com |
Edited by - TVsGrady on 08/15/2008 7:43:52 PM |
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Ken HPoJ
Supreme Potentate
USA
1530 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2008 : 9:18:12 PM
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I'd hardly saw one overtly conservative comedy (good or bad) balances the scales, but it's a start. More conservative films would actually result in better liberal ones, too.
Now if we could get just *one* pro (or even neutral) Iraq war film... The real advantage is that such a film could pretty easily be seen by more people than those who've seen the dozen-plus anti-Iraq war films put together. Not that would be that amazing of a feat.
PEGGY: I don't see how having a girl on the team would ruin it. Did a woman judge ruin the Supreme Court?
HANK: Yes, and that woman's name was Earl Warren.
--King of the Hill |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 10:33:50 AM
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Interestingly, Jarhead did very well in its opening weekend because many moviegoers thought it would be a pro-Persian Gulf war movie. (Haven't seen it, but word-of-mouth has painted a somewhat different picture.) This suggests to me that a middle of the road approach to the subject (not a rah-rah, Chuck Norris/Rambo-style bash) would be met by a receptive and enthusiastic audience.
Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down were tough, uncompromising war pics that nonetheless honored the service of U.S. soldiers; both movies were critically acclaimed and box office success stories. There's a market out there waiting to be tapped. What's Hollywood waiting for? |
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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 11:36:10 AM
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War isn't hip.
"You talk to us about heavy artillery. Thank God, we don't have any. It's the lightness of its guns that make the French army what it is." - representative of the French General Staff to the budget commission of the Chamber of Deputies, 1909 |
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Ericb
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
648 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2008 : 11:43:28 AM
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I'd also imagine that war films are exceptionally expensive with lots of special effects that you don't want looking like special effects.
"You talk to us about heavy artillery. Thank God, we don't have any. It's the lightness of its guns that make the French army what it is." - representative of the French General Staff to the budget commission of the Chamber of Deputies, 1909 |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2008 : 03:47:48 AM
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zombiewhacker, HBO seems to be playing exactly that tune with Generation Kill. Is it having a good reception out there?
As for Jarhead, I don't remember it being very politically charged. It's message was more in the vein of how much it sucks to be a grunt. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2008 : 11:44:47 AM
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Haven't heard anything about it (not an HBO subscriber).
@EricB
"War isn't hip."
Neither is Osama Bin Laden's chauffeur, but that isn't preventing George Clooney from wanting to make a movie about him. |
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Bobby-G
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
904 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2008 : 02:48:19 AM
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I laughed a couple of times at the Trailer. From what I've read here, I get the impression that some of the "extreme" stuff may be an attempt at satirizing a "liberals" view of conservatives, or at least what the film maker thinks a liberal would present conservatives -- or something...
Can't say it looks like something I'd run out and pay money to see, but I think it may have a decent box office.
Rob |
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BT
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
USA
168 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2008 : 10:49:44 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
Interestingly, Jarhead did very well in its opening weekend because many moviegoers thought it would be a pro-Persian Gulf war movie. (Haven't seen it, but word-of-mouth has painted a somewhat different picture.) This suggests to me that a middle of the road approach to the subject (not a rah-rah, Chuck Norris/Rambo-style bash) would be met by a receptive and enthusiastic audience.
Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down were tough, uncompromising war pics that nonetheless honored the service of U.S. soldiers; both movies were critically acclaimed and box office success stories. There's a market out there waiting to be tapped. What's Hollywood waiting for?
I don't think the message of these films have anything to do with it. Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan did well, at least in my opinion, because they were expertly crafted ACTION movies. People like action movies. People went and saw Jarhead the first weekend because they THOUGHT they were going to see an action movie. When there ended up being very little action in the movie, word of mouth killed it at the box office. (As an aside, I'm still baffled as to why "We Were Soldiers" didn't do better, as I thought that was a really good war movie).
If a filmmaker wants to make a movie about the battle of Fallujah, and does it well, people will go see it, regardless of whether it has a "message" or if they agree with it. I am assuming plenty of people who did not support us sending troops into Somalia still enjoyed Black Hawk Down. I don't think it's any secret I'm not a fan of our invasion of Iraq, but I would LOVE to see a BHD type movie based on the Iraq War.
If a filmmaker wants to make a movie about WHY we went info Fallujah, or WHY the Iraq war was necessary, and they don't make it an action movie, but rather a talky polemic or a drama, my guess is that people won't want to see it.
For another example of another type of genre film, people like courtroom dramas, people like George Clooney, and people like thrillers. But when people saw Michael Clayton (which I actually liked quite a bit), and there wasn't many thrills (despite advertisements highlighting exploding cars), and almost no courtroom drama, word of mouth killed that movie as well.
It's my experience that people, for the most part, aren't looking for a message. If they end up getting one in an otherwise entertaining movie, it's gravy. |
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Pip
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2008 : 11:43:13 AM
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Hear, hear.
I can remember once going to the video store with my mom and, before we left, asking my step-dad what he might want to see. His response, yelled from under the truck he was "fixing":
"Nothing with a message!"
Pip |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2008 : 1:11:16 PM
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BT, well said.
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