In memory of comedy actor and filmmaker Harold Ramis

By the way, "Groundhog Day" is also a great day.  Ramis was a unique talent.  

Tom Hanks' movie "‘Captain Phillips’ is one big lie"

The New York Post has an article that eviscerates the new Tom Hanks movie:

“Phillips wasn’t the big leader like he is in the movie,” says one crew member, who, for legal reasons, spoke with The Post anonymously. He worked very closely with Phillips on the Maersk Alabama and was alarmed by his behavior from the beginning. Phillips, he says, had a bad reputation for at least 12 years prior, known as a sullen and self-righteous captain. 

“No one wants to sail with him,” he says. 

After the hijacking, 11 crew members have sued Maersk Line and the Waterman Steamship Corp. for almost $50 million, alleging “willful, wanton and conscious disregard for their safety.” Phillips is a witness for the defense. 

“The crew had begged Captain Phillips not to go so close to the Somali coast,” said Deborah Waters, the attorney who brought the claim. “He told them he wouldn’t let pirates scare him or force him to sail away from the coast.”  

‘REAL ARROGANT’ 

Phillips had taken command of the Maerskin late March 2009. Left for him, says the crew member, was a detailed anti-piracy plan now used by all ships per the International Maritime Organization. Should pirates get too close, the crew should cut the lights and power and lock themselves below deck. 

“He didn’t want anything to do with it, because it wasn’t his plan,” says the crew member. “He was real arrogant.” Phillips says he knows nothing about such a plan. . . .

One point that is interesting is that despite Tom Hanks being a very loyal Democrat, the movie does have a some anti-union edge.

When presented with this data, a crew member says, Phillips ignored it, too. In the film, Hanks tells his crew — depicted as lazy coffee guzzlers who fall back on the security of their union-protected employment — that their job is to get the cargo ship from Point A to Point B in the shortest, cheapest time possible. . . .

Do conservative movies make more money?

The Hollywood Reporter finds a study showing that the do (discussion available here).

New Movie: "Ayn Rand and the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged"

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

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

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' Finally Hits Theaters"

Strongly recommended. It will be expanding to about 500 theaters this weekend.

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

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.

Michael Caine on Socialism

Caine's new new vigilante movie “Harry Brown” is getting a lot of flack on the left. The interview mainly goes after Caine for that movie, but here is an interesting quote:

AVC: It has drawn criticism for presenting what some have called a “Daily Mail take” on things—that it’s tabloid fear-mongering.

MC: That was exactly the reaction. Because one of the things is that if you’re a Socialist newspaper, well, the Socialists have been in power for 12 years, and these are the very poorest people in England, and this is what’s happened to them. So you’ve got to say it’s a load of crap. [Laughs.] . . .

Liberals apparently upset with new Robin Hood movie

This more accurate version of Robin Hood seems to be upsetting some liberals.

"[T]he idea of Robin Hood as an early socialist has had a lot of currency. . . Ayn Rand declared the fabled outlaw a symbol of evil -- taking from the productive and giving to the parasites -- in her novel 'Atlas Shrugged'; on the other side of the political spectrum, a coalition of international aid groups in England recently made him their mascot when they proposed a 'Robin Hood tax' on high-profit industries to help the poor in developing nations. But the original Robin Hood, while he has many different faces, is above all a fighter for freedom from tyranny -- and that's what made him a legend." -- columnist Cathy Young on the latest "Robin Hood" film, which is drawing some critics' political ire.

"Death Wish" British Style

Charles Bronson became famous as the New York City who became a one-man vigilante squad. Playing the role of Paul Kersey, the Bronson character sought revenge after his wife is brutally murdered by street thugs. I response Bronson tries to reduce crime on the mean streets of NYC after dark. He tries to make it risky for the criminals to hunt down victims by letting them know that sometimes victims can defend themselves. Well, I just saw a trailer for a movie called Harry Brown starting the incredible Michael Caine. I don't go out to see many movies, but Caine is such a powerful actor that I am really looking forward to this movie.

Synopsis: Set in modern day Britain, HARRY BROWN follows one man’s journey through a chaotic world where teenage violence runs rampant. As a modest, law abiding citizen, Brown lives alone. His only companion is his best friend Leonard. When Leonard is killed, Brown reaches his breaking point. HARRY BROWN is a powerful, character driven thriller starring two-time Academy Award® winner Michael Caine in a tour-de-force performance.

The trailer for the movie can be found here. A small segment of the movie can be seen below.

Want to know the political views of Movie Reviewers?: See how they rated "The Green Zone"

I had noted privately that there was something pretty obvious about the reviews when I looked at them collected at Rotten Tomatoes. Here is a conspiracy theory about the Bush administration lying about WMD in Iraq to trick people into supporting the war. While trying to demonize a duplicitous Bush official as lying about the WMD, there is no mention that all the other security services in the world believing pretty much the same thing. Movie reviewer What Would Toto Watch? has a similar reaction here.

It looks as though the $100 million movie that is showing at 3,003 movie theaters will be a flop, bringing in $15 million the first weekend.

UPDATE: Here is what Box Office Mojo wrote about the opening weekend receipts.

Speaking of director-actor collaborations, director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon failed to replicate the box office success of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum with their third teaming, Green Zone. The Iraq-set action thriller posted a mediocre estimated $14.5 million on approximately 3,400 screens at 3,003 sites, and it will ultimately gross only a fraction of its reported $100 million production budget. This was the latest Middle East-themed movie to disappoint, landing between the opening weekends of The Kingdom ($17.1 million) and Body of Lies ($12.9 million). Instead of politics, though, Green Zone's marketing sold nondescript action and intrigue and stressed the Bourne connection, banking that that would carry the day. According to distributor Universal Pictures' exit polling, Green Zone's audience was 54 percent male and 67 percent over 30 years old, and its "B-" from moviegoer pollster Cinemascore suggests that word-of-mouth will likely be tepid at best. . . .

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

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"

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

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"

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

A movie about why everyone probably shouldn't vote

Here is a movie that is coming out on August 1st starring Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, and Nathan Lane.