My friend Major Rory Aylward of the United States Army - aka, the Good Guys - is in Afghanistan, defending Tim Robbins while he sleeps, not to mention the rest of us. This weekend, he sent out a general mailing that said the following:

“Maybe you can tell me why Hollywood feels compelled to make movies like the despicable RENDITION instead of stories like this one? When did self-loathing become the national pastime? It sure as Hell isn’t based on box office.

I’ll spare you the rest of my rant, but please do take the time to read this:”

What follows is the story of Operation Kaika, a 17-hour fire fight profiled last night on “60 Minutes.” The operation helped dispose of murderous Taliban forces who had been terrorizing the villages near Kandahar. It included several incredible acts of courage. At one point, Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor took off his body armor in order to crawl through an irrigation ditch under withering fire to rescue two wounded comrades. He’s to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor.

Painting “Any Soldier” by J. L. Fleckenstein

I pass Rory’s letter on in the hope that someone in Hollywood will remember that the men and women who protect us and make our free lives possible go to the movies just like the rest of us, and that it might not be a bad or corny or unhip thing to honor and thank them with the films we make. Operation Kaika would make a great movie. These are real Americans really risking real lives against a real enemy. It’s not too much to ask that movie actors - who only pretend to be heroes - occasionally pretend to be them.

Yesterday’s lovely and lazy Sunday afternoon was the perfect opportunity to take in all of  HBO’s John Adams in one big gulp, which I found to be one the finest anything ever produced for television. The miniseries was superb at catching the laconic feel of David McCullough’s first-class biography. In the reading you get a sense, not of history, but of a man set in and making history. Of his life, relationships, and his many setbacks which are both real and products of his neurotic insecurities. 

The sweet smell and cool breezes of the Adams’ farm contrasted perfectly with stifling Philadelphia and grotesque Paris. We share the pull Adams felt to stay home with his beloved Abigail as we swelter along with him in the small, tense room where American independence was finally agreed upon. This sense of being transported to that time and place was essential to the success of the book and was perfectly captured on screen. It made all the difference.

The casting and acting were also perfect. Paul Giamatti as John Adams, Laura Linney as his “friend” Abigail, and Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin were just fabulous. They inhabited those roles and brought to life icons by making them so very human, but without deconstructing them. They remain in our hearts, larger-than-life but more real, more human, less a symbol on our coins and postage stamps. But it was Stephen Dillane’s characterization of Thomas Jefferson that most impressed. So much has been written about Jefferson and yet no one can quite grasp him. That’s the man Dillane portrayed perfectly; a man’s whose gears are always turning but you don’t know quite how, why, or to what end.

Most refreshing, is that John Adams is old-fashioned storytelling …  with a steadi-cam. It’s themes are of honor, loyalty, faith, liberty, self-sacrifice, and patriotism. The villains were not this-or-that party or holders of a certain idea. Rather, they’re those in it for themselves, like the big government Hamilton or Adams own son-in-law.

My one concern was that the film wouldn’t have the stomach to honestly portray Abigail Adams as being in favor of, and urging her husband to sign, the Alien and Sedition Acts, but they did, while helping us to understand why.

The greatness of the John Adams’ miniseries is that it’s product of its sincerity and the use of the full scope of historical context. By looking at the idea of America, and those who fought for and invented that idea through the wide lens of truth, as opposed to the soda straw of agenda we see much too much of these days, something honest, uplifting, and magnificent was produced.

Don’t get me wrong, from top to bottom there were superb craftsman involved in the production of this masterwork, but somewhere along the line a decision was made that fidelity to history was the goal, and from that a foundation of truth was created for all those talents to build their works upon. Without that foundation, the work and talent would’ve been for nothing. 

Want to see what a real blacklist looks like?  Right here.

The Writers Guild of America has released the names of any writer who went “financial core” during the strike. This is an irreversible change of status where the writer gives up voting (and other) rights in the Guild but are allowed to continue working without them or their employer being in official violation of the strike.

Financial core is a perfectly legal move, a right allowed per the WGA, and now the WGA is out to blacklist these writers by hoisting them up for all to see. The website listing their names was included in a letter which said, in part:

In the face of enormous personal and financial hardship on the part of many, you sacrificed in the knowledge that your refusal to work would reap benefits not only for yourselves but countless others in the creative community, now and in the future. Your stalwart resolve paid off.

Yet among the many there were a puny few who chose to do otherwise, who consciously and selfishly decided to place their own narrow interests over the greater good. Extreme exceptions to the rule, perhaps, but this handful of members who went financial core, resigning from the union yet continuing to receive the benefits of a union contract, must be held at arm’s length by the rest of us and judged accountable for what they are — strikebreakers whose actions placed everything for which we fought so hard at risk.

“…must be held at arm’s length by the rest of us and judged accountable…” This is truly despicable behavior. Union intimidation at its On The Watefront worst. I’m not in the Guild, and were I, I would not have chosen to go fi-core, but to call those who did “strikebreakers” and listing their names as “disloyals” is McCarthyism in its purest form. And how can someone be a strikebreaker while following the rules of the Guild? And who knows what these individuals were dealing with personally.

If anyone was a strikebreaker it was the Guild itself in offering “waivers” so certain writers could work on certain politically correct events such as the NAACP Awards. If you want to cause dissension in the ranks, put a few back to work for reasons that have nothing to do with the negotiation at hand.

At least this new blacklist is historically correct, Like the famed blacklist of the 1950s, this one is also a product — not of a right-wing government or some red-baiting Senator from Wisconsin — but of Hollywood. The industry created the blacklist then, and they’re doing it now.

I understood and shared the frustration with those who went fi-core during the strike, but now they have my sympathy.

Now that every single one of their serious films about the war on terror have flopped miserably (except the pro-American hit no one likes to talk about), Hollywood has taken a different route … ridicule:

The conflict in Iraq may go on for years, but it appears the end is nigh for Hollywood’s ponderous, heavy-handed treatment of the war on terror. That’s because most new movies about the subject this season are lowbrow and cringe-inducing comedies.

Over the next few weeks, theaters will be screening far-out fare such as an Osama bin Laden documentary by the maker of “Super Size Me”; an absurdist slam against merchants of war featuring John Cusack; a zombie soldier flick with XXX star Jenna Jameson; a stoner movie about Guantanamo Bay; and a Sept. 11 parody — yes, parody — made by Uwe Boll, a little-known filmmaker often ridiculed as the worst director in Hollywood since Ed Wood.

Just how off-the-wall is the genre getting? Over the past six months, filmgoers have been turned off by overearnest snoozers (“Lions for Lambs,” “A Mighty Heart”), low-budget losers (“Redacted”) and far worse.

With the arrival of a half-dozen comedies, however, the post-Sept. 11 movie has quite possibly reached a new low.

These may do well at the box office, who knows? But just remember, Hollywood supports the troops.

With the inevitable pre-trashing of Indy IV in high gear, we now see how eagerness overwhelms common sense and knowledge of how movie making actually works:

TheRaider.net has received official confirmation, directly from Paramount Pictures, that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be 2 hours long, including credits

Thus not 2 hours and 20 minutes as was mentioned earlier this week. The assumption must have come from the info that the film was distributed on 7 reels. And each reel can take “maximum” 20 minutes.

Why would anyone assume 7 reels automatically equates a 140 minute run time? Reel breaks are never at the exact 20 minute mark. They can be a hair over and as under as you please. A reel change has to come at a clean place in the film — where both the sound and picture break is clean. If score takes you from one scene to the next, that’s not a clean break and the reel change will be disruptive to the audience, as opposed to going unnoticed, which is the idea.

If Indy IV is in fact 123-minutes, that probably could’ve been accomplished on 6 reels (each reel has a minute or two of give), but the other six reels are probably 18 minute reels, 19 minutes… looking for that clean break.

Officially, we’re being told Indy IV is 123 minutes. The standard is 5 minutes of credits, so we’re looking at 118 minute film — well in line with what’s come previously.

Facts of Life, The (1960) - Suburban marrieds are tempted to dabble in adultery. Cast: Lucille Ball, Don DeFore, Bob Hope, Ruth Hussey Dir: Melvin Frank BW-104 mins, TV-PG

Bob and Lucy made four films together. This is both the lesser-known of the four and the best. It is a comedy, but with a serious theme about adultery which isn’t trivialized. People forget how good of an actor Bob Hope could be and that Lucille Ball was as powerful a movie star as television star. Things get a little sitcommy near the end, but the wrap-up is powerful and both stars delightful.

This is one of those near-great films too many people have never even heard of.

Let the bad-mouthing begin:

Amid today’s reports that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s running time will be an unending  140 minutes come additional rumors that the movie itself is a giant stinker. “I have been told by a couple people to ‘keep expectations low,’” says Film’s Peter Sciretta. “According to some insiders,” adds CHUD’s Devin Faraci, “the movie may not have turned out to be what people in the industry call ‘good.’”

There’s really nothing to see here. Expectations are impossible and the naysayers were eventually going to have their naysay. Under normal circumstances (a stand-alone movie without the baggage of an Indy legacy), this talk would be troubling, but this was predictable. And the naval-gazing over the running time is especially silly.

Let’s face it, we’re all going to take our seats, hear that theme, and turn twelve again. If the movie disappoints, it won’t hit until we’re halfway home, and go, “Wait a minute…”

Joel Silver says the long, difficult, rocky road for the Justice League of All That Stuff movie has finally hit a ditch:

I briefly cornered producer Joel Silver to ask him how the Justice League movie would affect Wonder Woman. The answer: it won’t. According to Silver, who would be in the know, Justice League has been ‘tabled.’

That means a lot of you can breathe a sigh of relief; while ‘tabled’ doesn’t mean the film is officially canceled, it’s likely that it won’t be happening any time soon, and likely without that cast.

Hopefully, all involved can pick up the pieces and move on, but this was an ill-conceived idea to start with. One can only wonder how many millions were spent before some wise man or woman stepped in and said, “enough.”

“Because the Torah understands that memory is short, and human beings need physical rituals in order to keep memories alive.”

–Robert Avrech

A blessed Passover to all of our Jewish friends. 

My buddy Dan over at GayPatriot sent this. To say Baracky is all kinds of awesome would be a major understatement.

Glenn Reynolds wisely suggests that post-debate whiner Obama could use a little Rocky Balboa: “If you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

If you’d have told me four-months ago I’d personally like Hillary Clinton more than Barack Obama (or anyone, for that matter) I’d have called you crazy. She has no small number of flaws, but that is one tough woman — one tough competitor who’s earned my respect. Obama, on the other hand, is a spoiled child. Chances are he’s our next President. We can only pray he grows in office.

Thrillers are the most difficult of films to pull off. So much has to work perfectly and in sync, which is why most fall flat. The story must stay a step ahead of the audience. Two steps ahead and we’re confused, a step behind and we’re bored. The villain must have his reasons. Good reasons. Interesting reasons. The hero must be emotionally tied to events, dealing with something personal, overcoming their own flaw. When just one of these three factors falter, you’re left with a thriller that’s just “okay.“ When two fail, your thriller’s downright poor. When they all fail, your thriller’s 88 Minutes.

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Even though Ben Stein’s Expelled was released on over a thousand screens and Morgan Spurlock’s Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? was released on 102, Expelled still managed to pull in three-times the business in the all-important per theatre average and come in at #8 overall:

Expelled will deliver a weekend Per Theatre Average of $3,000 or so compared to Spurlock’s $1,300 despite the fact that Where in the World is in very limited release. …

One surprise success this weekend is Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a new doc from Nathan Frankowski featuring conservative commentator Ben Stein. Clearly Rocky Mountain Pictures has engineered a successful faith-based marketing campaign for this anti-evolution treatise. On 1,052 screens, the film finished #8 on Friday with $1.12M, and it’ll wrap the weekend with at least $3.1M. Expelled has dramatically out-performed a documentary from the other end of the political spectrum.

The tongue-in-cheek Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden (Weinstein) from Morgan Spurlock, the Oscar nominated filmmaker behind the hit doc Super Size Me. The poorly-reviewed pseudo-doc generated a dismal $363 Per Theatre Average on Friday in its 102 engagements, and it will likely deliver only $140,000 over the 3-day.

Gee, whodthunk, huh? $3 million in ticket sales for a religious-themed, freedom of speech documentary and less than $150 thousand for an American-trasher??? Has the world gone mad?

Trying.To.Stop.My.Self… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH   BWAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaa…..

Maher, making fun of Steve Irwin’s death…

This is why we didn’t watch last night. That it was a set-up was all too obvious. Maher didn’t apologize. Instead, he used the opportunity to further insult Catholics:

Okay, but, you know, you got me. The Pope was not a Nazi. When he was a teenager, he was in the Hitler Youth, which meant that he said the oath directly to Hitler and not to the Nazis, which is sorta worse! …

And the main point I was making was that if the Pope instead of a religious figure was the CEO of a chain of nationwide daycare centers, who had thousands of employees who had been caught molesting children and then covering it up, he would have been in jail.

Maher’s show is insufferable, and I’ve never been able to get through more than a few minutes. It’s not another’s opinion that bothers me — I watch MSNBC a lot more than Fox — it’s watching a black hearted bigot hold sway — it’s watching a modern day Klan meeting in full force. Maher is HBO’s Jeremiah Wright; a hate-mongering bigot spreading dark cynicism like a disease. I’d  watch an hour of Keith Olbermann’s show while kneeling on marbles before ten-minutes of Maher.

A friend of mine emailed yesterday. The subject line was “tough to release a conservative film”:

I haven’t seen Expelled yet, so this is saying nothing as to the quality of the film, but I’ve been pretty astonished today to see this movie completely ignored by both Rotten Tomatoes and, worse, IMDB.  Every Friday I tend to peruse both sites to see what’s coming out and how things are being reviewed.  They tend to list basically everything, including things in limited release.  IMDBs “Now Playing” section and movie list will even have very obscure limited releases talked about there.

But Expelled is not mentioned at all on the “Now Playing” IMDB list and it is not in the “Opening” side bar at Rotten Tomatoes.  … 

And this is a film that is opening in a wide release on 1100 screens, which has to be a record or close to it for a documentary.  Michael Moore’s films open on less than 500 screens generally (Sicko was 400, I think), but get huge write ups.  Where I live, we don’t tend to get anything that opens on less than 500 screens for a good while - not at opening - but Expelled is opening here in three different theaters in the area.

I can’t remember another film - especially one in wide release - that was completely ignored in this way by these two big Internet film sites.  Both sites list the film, but you have to search for it and they have completely ignored it, going against their normal procedures, on their main “Now Showing” and “Opening” pages.

In a way, this just further proves Stein’s point, doesn’t it?

There’s two ways the liberal intelligentsia will attempt to strangle the conservative film movement in the crib; ignore the film altogether or attack Passion-style, where you’re told buying a ticket makes you Hitler.

Expelled was released on over a thousand screens — the fourth widest release of the week – and yet Rotten Tomatoes didn’t even list it on the main page – choosing instead two films most have never heard of.

Naturally, because they’re too immature to judge a film on its own merits and check their personal opinions at the door, critics hammered Expelled. You might say we’re no better but until Hollywood makes an anti-American film that doesn’t suck that’s hard to prove. Do, however, check out my two-and-a-half star review of Sicko. 

About forty-minutes in, it finally happened; a Judd Apatow film won me over. It wasn’t easy getting to that point. The first forty-minutes are more of what makes the Apatow-brand so tedious: slowly paced, uninspired crudity for crudity’s sake and an over indulgence of unfunny improv from actors who think a pregnant pause and head-tilt before firing off a line makes everything a knee-slapper. But then “she” shows up. She being Mila Kunis, whom most of you will recognize as Jackie from That 70’s Show. This is a young girl who’s blossomed into a real actress and bona fide movie star.

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