Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Patrick Goldstein describes it in the LA Times.
For years, pundits and bloggers on the right have ceaselessly attacked liberal Hollywood for being out of touch with rank and file moviegoers, complaining that executives and filmmakers continue to make films that have precious little resonance with Middle America. They have reacted with scorn to such high-profile liberal political advocacy films as “Syriana,” “Milk,” “W.,” ” Religulous,” “Lions for Lambs,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “In the Valley of Elah,” “Rendition” and “Good Night, and Good Luck,” saying that the movies’ poor performances at the box office were a clear sign of how thoroughly uninterested real people were in the pet causes of showbiz progressives.
Of course, “Avatar” totally turns this theory on its head. As a host of critics have noted, the film offers a blatantly pro-environmental message; it portrays U.S. military contractors in a decidedly negative light; and it clearly evokes the can’t-we-all-get along vibe of the 1960s counterculture. These are all messages guaranteed to alienate everyday moviegoers, so say the right-wing pundits — and yet the film has been wholeheartedly embraced by audiences everywhere, from Mississippi to Manhattan.
Isn’t that just like a lefty? Their pet theories are “proven,” when the data provide mixed results as opposed to being stacked firmly and steadfastly against them. “I love reality, whenever it’s nice to me.”
Hey, liberal-movie-people. Maybe it’s something like…when you put some priority on the objective of oh, I dunno, providing entertainment to the audience — show some creativity, show respect to your colleagues who show the creativity, encourage others among your colleagues to provide this creativity, and channel it through your processes so the experience for the audience is positive and rewarding — the audience will come back again and again. And when that happens, maybe the credit should go to these efforts to provide entertainment, rather than to your liberal messages.
Put another way: Quickly, now, what was the most memorable moment of the aforementioned “Lions for Lambs”?
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Has anyone considered that maybe Avatar is doing well not because of the political theme, but rather despite it?
I’m told the special effects are awesome. Maybe that’s all people are seeing. Remember, not everyone among us reads blogs, looks for political themes in movies, or refuses to allow such references to simply go sailing over their heads. Some people just watch movies and that’s that. The ideas that you and I see as left-wing are ones that they take for granted.
Even if they do pick-up on all that, keep in mind that some forty percent of the public is moderately to extremely liberal. Those people don’t mind sitting through these America-bashing, Michael Moore enriching, ham-handed screeds that take unfair potshots at what you and I hold dear. Unfortunately – and I hate to admit this – there obviously is at least some market for this tripe, or the producers of such films would have gone broke a long time ago.
Unless it really is about something other than money. Which it could be. But movies have to make at least a modest profit, or the studio that made them will be out of business pretty quickly.
- cylarz | 01/06/2010 @ 12:58