A movie not meant to be anything but an entertaining "popcorn/sci fi/action" flick gets one thing right and the leftist critics are foaming at the mouth to bash this film with the fervor of Michael Moore at an all-you-can-eat Vegas Casino Buffet. They portray our military as competent, heroic, and proud of our country.
You see in film critic land that lets them pull out their stock put downs of "jingoistic", "flag waving", "cheesy", etc. Any film that is pro-military is also labeled "military propaganda", as Slant Magazine's review adamantly stated. Roger Ebert says the film is so bad that anyone who disagrees with him and likes the film is an "idiot", so he's clearly projecting that only conservatives will love seeing our military as heroes. Roger prefers seeing them as blood-thirsty monsters killing women and children in Iraq with a Bush or Cheney look-alike covering up their crimes. (see almost any other Hollywood war movie in recent history and that just about sums up their combined plots) And of course it's only the liberals in the movie industry who get to use terms like "idiot" with those who disagree with them with impunity. (although Ebert I would consider an "outsider" and "hanger-on" rather than an actual part of the industry)
So the critics who loved Avatar, with it's anti-military, and even anti-human, ecological message are predictably pulling out all stops to try and make sure you don't go see this film. You see, they're afraid if you do, you might just come away being proud once again of our Marines. And to them, that's an unpardonable sin.
Mark Valley (a West Point grad, who if he were younger would've made a much better choice to play Captain America), Chi McBride & Jackie Earl Haley made this a great show. The chemistry between the actors was fantastic and the almost phycho Guerrero played by Haley was the real reason to watch this show. You got a feeling this character would get the job done no matter what.
The first season was great, very little of the typical leftist Hollywood storyline mantra where the bastions of the left are always the heroes and anyone associated with anything on the right are always the villains. But alas, the ratings weren't great so Fox decides to screw with it and effectually killed off the audience it DID have, instead of bringing in more viewers.
Fox insisted on adding not one, but TWO, utterly useless female characters who do nothing to further the plots other than provide 'eye candy' for the young males in the form of actress Janet Montgomery as Ames and the also annoying Indira Varma as Ilsa. If they had stuck with the characters emotional make-up as established in the first season, Guerrero would've already killed Ames for being so annoying and incompetent, and Chance and Winston would've never signed off on Isla being their "silent partner".
Add to that the typical Hollywood idea of villains creeping in this season such as the last episode I watched with the always evil 'defense contractor', and it's adios for viewers like myself.
If Hollywood would just get off their indoctrination 'high horse' and maybe allow some conservative writers for a show like this, perhaps they could carve out a niche and make some money. But in Hollywood, the propaganda is more important than the money, as evidenced by conservatives leaving the viewing audience in droves, and Hollywood standing firm in not changing their ways.
When it comes to comedy there's nothing that touches the Andy Griffith Show. (seasons 1-5) My family and I watch it at least 4 or 5 times weekly.
I do find it strange how Andy Griffith himself has come out in his old age in support of the current administration and even went so far as to do a lame campaign ad for Obama during the election and recording a PSA for his health care takeover, uh, "plan".
There was so much in the things the Andy Griffith show brought to us every week that go against the grain of our modern day progressives, I wonder if Andy himself still has his faculties about him. Of course, there were a couple of 'big government is ok' messages in the show as well. Eminent Domain was favorably portrayed by making the fellow who refused to sell to the county a bootlegger and criminal. Mostly though, it was just a wholesome family friendly show.
Whenever you want to clear your mind of the things that are now called "entertainment", just load an Andy Griffith Show DVD in the player and enjoy.
I’ve been cautiously entertained so far by the new Fox show “Chicago Code”. I say ‘cautiously’ entertained for two reasons: One; while it does portray some un-PC villains, I know how soon all that can change in Hollywood “land”, and two; I know Fox is not shy in pulling the plug on a show before it’s given a decent chance at success.(Nathan Fillion’s “Drive” for instance)
The main villain is a corrupt African American politician who makes himself feel better about filling his own coffers by occasionally ‘spreading the wealth’ to his poorest constituents, thereby securing his election wins time after time. (Oh and he’s in bed with the mob as well) Just the fact that the villain is African American is a leap forward for the ever PC Hollywood, who in their attempt to portray African Americans in nothing but positive light, have all but disqualified said actors from winning very many Emmy or Academy Awards. It’s the ‘bad guy’ roles that get the over the top attention and critical acclaim, and actors themselves love playing ‘bad guys’, but Hollywood has deemed for their own good, that’s just not in their best interest. I can’t even watch CSI anymore because it’s so easy to pick out the villains. (“..um let’s see, this week it’s the most white and most wealthy suspect….what do you know, right again!”)
This particular episode of “Chicago Code” focused on bombings that are happening across the city. The culprits (spoilers ahead) end up being the son of, and former members of a radical hippie environmental anti-capitalist terror organization eerily similar to the Weather Underground! Kudos to the writers for that choice! Now in today’s PC, liberal run Hollywood world, THAT is an ‘edgy’ choice! Not once was the tired overused cliche of the white neo-nazi used. I do admit, I found it hard to enjoy the episode because I kept thinking, “..ok, when are they going to find out the the hippie terrorists are being ‘set up’ by the Tea Partiers..”, but it thankfully didn’t come.
Also unusual was a portrayal of their former leader using pretty much Bill Ayers resume as their character outline. Unlike Bill Ayers however, this villain supposedly left the group and came out saying he ‘regretted’ the bombings way back when. Just when I was thinking they were going to use this Ayers type character as some sort of hero, I was pleasantly surprised with that outcome as well. (Here I’ll just have to say go watch the episode to find out what happens at the very end)
The only drawback to the episode I would say is the predictable dismissal of Muslim Terrorists being even suspects. Hollywood STILL can’t bring themselves to admit that Muslim terrorists might blow up people now and again. When going over the former members list trying to find suspects, one is mentioned to have moved to Britain and converted to Islam, to which the main detective says something about not caring about some guy listening to Cat Stevens records and says “give me something I can use.” Maybe I could give them the benefit of the doubt and surmise that he dismissed the suspect because he was now living across the ‘pond’. But seeing as I’m a glass half full (with a crack in it) kind of guy, I’m guessing it was just another subliminal reprogramming attempt to convince us that all Muslims are peace loving upstanding citizens. I’m not saying there aren’t peace loving Muslim citizens, I’m just saying Hollywood wants us to think there are no Muslim terrorists at all.
So all in all a good episode. I saw in the credits Shawn Ryan had something to do with this show, and if memory serves it seems he had something to do with another great show a few years ago, “The Unit”. So for this series, I’m holing out hope that it continues it’s current course and also that Fox gives it a chance to succeed.
To watch this episode for free for a limited time on Hulu.com see below:
I’m a sucker for a super-hero movie or tv show. Even if it’s cheesy I’ll put up with it sometimes. (like the 80′s Captain America movie. Low budget, cheesy, but I still watched it a couple of times just to see a portrayal of ol’ Cap)
Things have been busy here lately, so it’s been quite some time since I’ve published a post. But every once in a while something is so incredibly BAD you just have to make time to address it.
Now it’s been a few weeks since I saw the 2 hour torture..uh premier, so I’ll not be offering a lot of details here. (I’ve tried to forget most of it on purpose)
Where to begin? The first hour of the premier was so horribly directed and acted I couldn’t believe this thing even made it to the air. The direction was at best, choppy; the acting either strained or over the top.
This was filled with liberal talking points: Thieves stealing from the evil corporations are actually “heroes” (and the main hero even helps them steal, even though he was supposed to be this above reproach police officer), the villain once again, an evil exec from an evil corporation, they hammered home their message of ‘government controls things better than the private sector’ by painting the evil corporation as privatizing the police force, and there were more, I just think I’ve purposely forgotten them…
Even the idea of his ‘super power’ is ridiculous. A magic “cape”? Really? I thought “..well at least this thing won’t last long and will die a quick death.” Then I read that critics were liking it and that it did ok in it’s time slot. I know why the critics liked it, they are 98% liberal and loved the talking points so they ignored the bad acting, implausible story-lines and bad directing.
Anyway, let’s hope this one goes away soon. Very soon.
Whenever I see a good show, I always have to temper that with the phrase “..so far..” So while I was VERY impressed with the premiere of CBS’s “Blue Bloods”, I’ve been burned by the liberal Hollywood pool of writers so often, I seem to always says it’s “great….so far…”
A family (last name Reagan, gotta love that) made up of police and lawyers doing their best to uphold law and more importantly, make the bad guys pay without regard to their own “careers”.
It’s not often we see a show like this. Usually what happens is the writers will put the “best” arguments in the mouths of the characters spouting the liberal party line, and the ones expressing the conservative view will get the lines which are the “failed” arguments or the weakest arguments in order to “guide” the audience into siding with the liberal viewpoint. This show so far (there’s that phrase again!) shows respect to both sides of the coin. Each side here makes valid and well thought out arguments, leaving it for the audience to decide which is the better argument.
The only downside I see is there is a sub plot in which the police department is being investigated secretly because of a “rogue” element called the “Blue Templar”. Supposedly, this element is a group of vigilantes and one of the main characters is shown in the beginning to have in his possession the ring signifying his membership in this shadow organization. Now this character is the Iraq war vet, openly conservative character. So this could be a sucker punch waiting to happen as they pull a “bait and switch” on the conservatives later in the season in order to show this character as a criminal thereby nullifying the validity of his conservative views. I’ll just have to wait and see. But so far, so good.
I gave this one a shot because I’m fond of Sasha Alexander from her days on NCIS. (before they jumped on the PC bandwagon due to complaints from Mark Harmon as to the “direction” of the show)
I wasn’t expecting a lot from it. The preview made it look like some sort of modern Cagney & Lacey. There was even a quick scene in the commercials of the two of them lying in bed together; so I was thinking this might be some sort of nod to the same sex movement by giving them a show they could rally behind. But I watched anyway, because like I said, I liked Sasha from NCIS.
I was pleasantly surprised for the first half of the show. It seemed rather gritty and I was relieved they weren’t “partners” in the modern sense of the word. In fact, they were even sort of vying for the same man’s attentions. And there wasn’t anything political going on….yet..
But then came the “reveal” as to who the serial copy cat murderer was……..(SPOILER COMING..)
It was revealed to Rizzoli by the FBI agent on the show that the killer was none other than a former special forces soldier who served several tours in service to our country. The M.O. of the killings matched “war crimes” they were investigating from Afghanistan. This was not bad enough, in order to really drive home their point that the U.S. military is evil, the main character Rizzoli repeats the tired old liberal mantra “…we teach our best men to kill and are surprised when they do….” So what are they supposed to teach them, gardening?
That’s the tactic of the progressives and liberals. They are everywhere in the media. They CONTROL the media and put their beliefs in the mouths of the “heroes” of tv and film, and they put the beliefs of those they oppose in the mouths of the “villians” of tv and film.
I didn’t watch a second more of the episode. Didn’t care how it ended.
In predictable fashion, the critics ravaged this movie while the “real people” accepted it. Movie critics are for the most part the epitome of the “leftist elite”; looking down their nose at these types of films. (and by these types of films I mean the ones funny to the general public)
It’s too bad critics will enter this with a bias. Because if you were to substitute the actors with the critics favorite actors, the critics would probably recommend this for the academy awards. They would do so, because basically this is a relationship movie. No big plot line here. Just guys and their wives exploring their feelings over a weekend at a lake house. Oh wait, I forgot, you’d have to make it NOT be funny AND make the lesson learned be that Conservatives, Christians and George W. Bush are what’s wrong in America today, then they’d it’d be nominated for an academy award.
I really loved this film. I went to see it with a friend and I recommend you do so as well. Go with a friend and the laughter will be contagious. It has a good, dare I say, “family” message to it; but of course it is PG-13 so we’re not talking about a film for the entire family to SEE. I’m simply saying it extols the virtues of the traditional family. They even have a scene where they are raising the flag on July 4th, and unlike most other Hollywood films, they aren’t talking crap about how terrible we are as a nation while they do it.
I have a feeling that Sandler’s politics, are conservative in fiscal policies, yet still liberal in other ways. (re: “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”, which was great for the first 30 minutes, and then the last hour was spent preaching the acceptance of homosexuality and painting those who opposed it as bigoted)
But whatever his politics, he mostly keeps them OUT of his movies which is one of the things I admire about him. He knows, unlike most of Hollywood that, as a business, you can’t consistently slam half of your audience and expect them to keep coming back.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the film as well, so please comment if you feel so inclined!
“Edge Of Darkness”, the latest Mel Gibson action film to hit the DVD aisle, comes across for the first half of the film as though the plot may be interesting, if not ‘cliched with the usual “evil defense contractor” plot line.
Mel seems as though he’s trying to cash in just one more time on the tough guy image before his age makes these types of movies unrealistic for him to tackle. (side-note: he seems to add credence to the idea that one’s ears never stop growing) But still, he pulls off the “nothing to lose” vengeful father roll respectably.
I of course roll my eyes as we find that his daughter turns out to be a whistle blower for a private firm who makes weapons for the defense department in secret. To Hollywood, the only bad guys left seem to be defense contractors, corporations, Christians, Southerners, and Soldiers.
But the one thing I couldn’t take was a little “explanation” as to why exactly the “whistle” was being blown. The main bad guy, the CEO of course, of this company manufacturing the weapons tells his government “handler” that it wouldn’t be good for the news to come out that his company is making “dirty bombs” for the US government using foreign materials to foreign specifications so when the bombs went off they would be blamed on jihadists. (and despite spell check insisting that I capitalize “jihadists”, I refuse to do so) What a liberal “wet dream” this scenario is. A little “gift” to the 911 truthers out there I suppose. I couldn’t focus on much of the film after that little bit of delusion, but I’m guessing he killed some people and then maybe died, I don’t know.
I really don’t understand why Hollywood and liberals in general don’t re-embrace Gibson. After all, they seem to have some things in common. Gibson’s political views have always seemed very much liberal, and he’s been known to go off on tirades against Israel and the Jewish people, so why don’t the liberals like him? They trash Israel while licking the feet of the palestians constantly. Oh yea, I forgot, he defied Hollywood and made that pesky Jesus film that stuck pretty close to the Biblical story; a seemingly unforgivable sin in today’s Hollywood.
Is the action unbelievable? Yes. Does it matter? No.
Finally, an action film whose “bad guys” aren’t our own people! Travolta chews up the scenery in this action flick from “Taken”s Luc Besson.
The action is great, plot’s ok..but the main part I love about this is that FINALLY we are the good guys again. Travolta is a wild CIA agent that gets the job done. (and how!) The main “bad guys”? A Muslim terrorist cell in France plotting a suicide bombing. A story line that finally reflects our times. France has many problems with their radical Muslim population, but for the most part the news media ignores it. (wouldn’t want to portray terrorists as..uh terrorists now would we? That wouldn’t be politically correct, we all know the only terrorists are white southern extremist tea party folks!)
For a nice diversion where you can really root for the “good guys” again. I highly recommend this flick!
