Movie of the Moment

[efghijiloveyou]

Now hold on just a minute there Mr. H. I have heard of Red Tails and no, I haven't seen it, but it's not because it was about black people. I too am a white, republican male and I'm gettin' kinda tired of having to prove I'm not a racist every other day. Everybody needs to chill out on the subject and quit being so hyper- sensitive. The truth is I didn't vote for Obama, not because he's black, but because I'm not a liberal democrat and didn't think he really had a platform that gave me confidence in his abilities (heck, I'm still trying to figure out who this guy is!). Now I understand you didn't point out anyone specifically and I don't think you're refering to anyone on this forum, but I feel like I've been ambushed by your sudden turn of politics. Seriously, H , we can't assume racism when someone doesn't want to see a certain movie or vote for a certain someone and we don't want to violate our beliefs (whatever they may be) only to pander to a certain group. Are those who don't want to see a movie made by Robert Rodriguez racist? You say you're a republican and you voted for an extreme liberal...please don't tell me you voted for Obama just cause he's black, cause that's shallow. Don't misunderstand me, though. I been around here a little while now and have come understand that you're definitely not shallow and I'm not angry or anything, just responding thoughtfully to a thoughtful post. I always enjoy your posts and am willing to forgive you your rant if you'll forgive me mine.

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[mr h atom]

no worries, EF, but...with all due respect...i simply do not mean you..me or most people...as being active racist of the KKK sort

but we'd be ignorant beyond the pale not to notice what is a very much true..

we ask ourselves, almost every day, when any incident involving the 'bad' muslims occurs, why the 'good' muslims don't intervene...yet we do not take the same due diligence when it comes from our own

i was incensed, back in,..what, maybe..2000...when a political hero of mine, john mccain, was 'swiftboated' not by the (d)'s but by the far right of our own party..simpy because he stood up for religious freedom...

nothing made me more upset, tho, when 4 years ago, mccain stood by for so long while his audiences reffered to obama in such an ill-light...the fact that it took him that long to put a stop to it shows that even the good guys are frightened of what is going on: if john mccain can't stand up to the idiots...how can he stand up to the really bad guys ?

i don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times some average american has told me aloud and in public that he can't wait for us to get the monkey out of the white house...a texas judge, just this week, said that if obama is re-elected, there will be a race war...and no (d)'s that i know of have ever as disrespectful of a sitting president as so many members of my side of the aisle have been to this president

i'm an ike kinda guy...i liked bob dole, loved nancy kassebaum...i could add howard baker, allen simpson and a host of others..but i am a deeply independant voter who studies the issues and the candidates closely..and i will definately cros party lines,especially if my party offers up the weaker candidate

having grown up watching 'firing line' , i feel william buckley would be rolling in his grave at our partys continual forays to limit individual freedoms...and aghast at the idea that we no longer seem to be able to win an election by offering up the very best ideas...but by offering only repeated attacks against an american citizen based silly things like ficticious rumors of where he may or may not have been born: that is us, my friend..we are doing that...we are encouraging that

in my state, they just spent oodles and gobs of special interest $$ to defeat fellow (r)'s because the powers that be have decided they were not the right kind of (r)...and the same party leaders have already tried to put a party wide allegiance pledge in place for any elected official...

for the first time in my life...after over 30 years of voting...i had to prove i was who i said i was..just to vote..just like they do in those third rate dictatorships...or did in communist russia...all because of immigration, illegal or otherwise, that really has not changed one iota in the last 200 years ?

this isn't about actual racists...that is where you get it wrong...this is about the good people who stand by and do nothing, or worse...with all the information we have at our fingertips every day...make lame excuses for not knowing what is really going on

name me a rousing war hero film that doesn't rise to the top of everyones lists and be the talk of the town...never mind barely get made...never mind barely get seen...never mind get the tepid reviews this film did

this film isn't about a political 'left vs right'...it is about moral right vs immoral wrong...this film deals with that in an honest, forthright manner

[efghijiloveyou]

Good points, Mr. H. I totally agree with you about people not being informed enough about what is going on, giving lame excuses when so much information is available...it's a shame really...I'd suggest having a standardized test to pass before voting, but that might be taken as racist. I think you used to have to own land to vote back in the day...imagine the trouble the founders would be in if that were suggested today. As for william F. Buckley, you're right, if he wasn't dead already, the fact of our rapidly vanishing freedoms would probably kill him (although I think he be tickled by the efforts of Colorado, Washington and Oregon trying to legalize marijuana, regulate and tax it like alcohol).

[chris]

i feel obligated to ask...what freedoms, exactly are rapidly vanishing? what can't we do now that we couldn't do 4 years ago? or 10 years ago...or even 20?

i have no interest in telling someone how to vote, or trying to convince someone they're wrong. i think politics is a personal thing where you choose the one who best represents you.

a comment was made about obama being an extreme liberal earlier. no he isn't. i know the right likes to paint him that way. but he isn't. as a lefty myself, i was disappointed in him for pandering to the right for the first two years of his administration. and an exteme anything would have a hard time getting elected...

and race is absolutely relevent to this election. it may not affect you. but it is there. i personally know more than 20 lifelong dems who never-ever voted republican until a black man ran for president. and they can't wait til they get their party back. back from what? the black guy? that's pretty racist.

now...i don't use this site as my political forum...it isn't what it's for. and it gets frowned on...usually because the crazies start chiming in and take over. but if this topic must continue...and i'm fine if it does. i suggest we start a new topic in the appropriate place for it.

[james1985]

a comment was made about obama being an extreme liberal earlier. no he isn't. i know the right likes to paint him that way. but he isn't. as a lefty myself, i was disappointed in him for pandering to the right for the first two years of his administration

This.

Our PM Cameron is the leader of the Conservative Party and he's to the left of Obama on pretty much everything. Obama belonged to a nut-job church for almost his whole life. He thinks nothing of drone-bombing the sh!t out of Pakistan. He keeps propagating a war in which Americans, Brits and Afghans are dying for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

As a foreign, left-leaning observer, Obama's been a disappointment.

BUT, the prospect of a Republican congress being in charge of the agenda with that principled capitalist Mittens in the White House is a far, far worse prospect. I just don't get why Americans on middle incomes keep voting in the supremely rich who don't want to pay taxes. Trickle down is BS. Romney paying 14% income tax in 2010 is disgusting.

[mr h atom]

with all apologies to mike (and anyone else) for the inadvert direction this has taken within this section...i'll try to make this my last thought on this and suggest that maybe, if we as intelligent adults, wish to offer ideas...we ought to take it over to the general discussion and keep any thoughts as civil as they have been so far...

and respectfully leave this as a place to dwell upon the movies....with that in mind...

attack the block - lo-fi, british sci-fi...another of those films that got my attention because so many of the film sights i peruse had championed it. a group of young ruffians, out for a bit of a rough time, discover an alien...then an alien invasion...of course, no one believes them...liked it in a b-movie sort of way...i really liked the build up, but the aliens left a little to be desired: a little too low budget on that . still, the idea of what the alins were about nad how to get around them was pretty neat. and i was very impressed that for once we didn't get some incredibly invincible threat that suddenly anyone could defeat: from the get-go, an average person had a chance if they just kept thier wits about them - good call. nice acting all around and a good steady build up. two mildly enthusiastic thumbs up

true grit - coen bros.?? a western ?? with jeff bridges ?!? if you know anything about western movies, you know this was filmed, with john wayne, once before...always liked that movie
this one is a pure winner. the coens bring their very natural eye and sense of humor to adapting charles portis' novel and come up with a western worthy of saddling high alongside all the great westerns being made in the last 20-30 years. great stuff

the green lantern - another DC superhero mobie...i had never really read any of these , so most of this story i barely knew, so it all came as a nice surprise in that it had a bit more going on, story wise...easily as good as 'thor' not quite as great as 'capt. america'...ryan reynolds was, for the most part, very good...GL's backstory is a quite complicated one, i guess: at the beginning, it left me scratching my head a few times, but they slowly wove together all the parts and it made more and more sense...nice stuff...wouldn't mind seeing another

the woman in black - ooh, one of hammers films initial offerings in its return to horror is a very, very good one. moody, atmosphereic, nicley plotted and all sort of twisty/scary. no real blood...no drooling, roaring, pouncing cgi monsters...great acting all around: daniel radcliffe shows he has, indeed, become quite a good actor, after all. good, creepy stuff

take shelter - low budget, sci-fi (?)/horror(?) drama that is either about a guy going slowly insane...or one who has visions of the end of the world...both the film and i will leave that up to you to decide. but getting their was a dramatic, edge of your set slide into...take your pick: paranoia or....nice acting off an engaing script that is far more about personal relationships than it is about larger catastrophies

finally, for this time out...

god bless america - a film written and directed by bob(cat) goldthwait....it is very tempting to either not say anything about what this is about..or to be as vague a possible so that it can unfold and tell its twisted, bizarre, unique tale....to let it unfold and see what you might think.
it is a film that would work best if you didn't know anything about what it is about...for you will laugh louder and it will make you think.
having said that, the problem is, its p.o.v. is so off-center, that even the first scene will turn off most viewers: it did my wife and my 19 year old...
suffice to say the goldthwait sees our country in a vastly different light than many of us have probably thought about...all while being a rather spot-on commentator on our modern life...it is the solution he has his characters come up with that is...well...different.

i found this film to be a blast...joel murray (sibling to bill) does a fantastic job as a guy who lose his job, then loses his sanity - or, does he......i love the scene, 3/4's the way through, when he's watching his own kid from afar, and he's invitied to come over and say 'hi'...and he declines...any smart person will know, at that point, why he doesn't. i'm not sure i can blanket endorse it, 'cause it won't be for the faint of heart or weak of mind......but, if you like a film that will test your theories about life, the universe and everything, and you don't mind a bit of sick humor (from bobcat ?? naw!!) this might just be your cup of tea.

[efghijiloveyou]

I saw The Woman in Black at the theater and really enjoyed it. Good period piece with a nice creepiness. It does a great job of projecting that old Hammer vibe and it's visually attractive.

[mr h atom]

get the gringo - wow ! another really great mel gibson movie...too bad he's sabotaged his career so badly, because the performance he gives here is very good...i'm sold, once again, on him only as an actor, but as a bona fide action star...too bad there wasn't some way to have gotten george miller to have brought him back as mad max in the new movies that are just about to get under way down under: mel is primed as an action hero/antihero once again.

in this film, mel plays a man who ends up in a crazy/scary world of a mexican prison...i have no idea if mexican prisons are like they are portrayed in this film, but if so, i don't ever want to end up in one ! along the way he meets a wide assortment of people, good and bad...and trying to figure out which is which and who is who is almost as much fun as watching mels character adapt quickly and react accordingly to all that is going on around him. but when he decides to act, watch out !

the only film i can recall that might be in any way similar would be the great steve mcqueen/dustin hoffman movie 'papillion'. this film is not as good as that classic, but it is very good, indeed. it's 100% popcorn, action movie, with a bit of soul that makes the whole thing a treat to watch.

[mr h atom]

tucker and dale vs evil - oh...my...god !!

if you haven't seen this...if you love truly great, inventive movie making...if you have a strong stomach...this may be one of the finest 'unknown' films i've ever seen....

even beginning to describe the plot would be to give too much away...

one part comedy, one part slasher...one part awesome greatness: start with an extremely smart script...toss in the fantastic acting by everybody in it, but especially the two leads...stir in some note perfect direction; this is one wickedly cool little film

if you're the kind of movie fan who loved 'evil dead', 'evil dead 2', 'army of darkness', 'return of the living dead' and 'an american werewolf in london'...and have been looking for a film that just might be that good, here it is...

everything stupid flicks like 'scream' and the 'scary movie' franchise wish they could be...this is better !!

imho, the highest praise is in order and deservedly so

[efghijiloveyou]

Just saw a flick called "Shutter Island" starring Leo Decaprio. It's a few years old now, but new to me. I loved it. Very creepy and suspenceful (two qualities I like in a movie). It's one of those movies where all is not as it appears, so I can't say too much if anyone hasn't seen it and wants to. It takes place in the fifties on an island with a civil war era prison housing the criminally insane! How's that for a setting? Well acted, great visually...(there are some truly bizarre dream sequences)...it's a bit gloomy and a lot of fun to watch at night with the lights out.