Tag Archives: movies

The Thrill is Gone

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Some people seem
to be shocked that “The Passion of the Christ” didn’t start a massive
wave of lasting Christian fervor across the country. I say to them, “Duh!”
People took from the movie what they took in (much like “Fahrenheit 9/11”).
If you expected anti-Semitism, that’s what you saw. If you expected a moving work
of religious art, that’s what you saw. If you expected sado-masochism, that’s what
you saw. I wouldn’t expect a movie like “The Passion” (lots of imagery,
little commentary) to convert someone any more than I would expect a painting to.

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

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Or tell me big, ugly ones like Michael Moore has. This article seems to really be making the rounds, and rightly so. It’s a thoughtful critique of "Fahrenheit 9/11" written by a fellow who’s left of center. Now don’t go thinking I like everything this guy has to say. He also wrote a diatribe against Mother Teresa called "The Missionary Position". Even so, it’s worth taking a look at a criticism of F 9/11 that didn’t come from the right.

Unfairenheit 9/11
The lies of Michael Moore.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, June 21, 2004, at 12:26 PM PT

One of the many problems with the American left, and indeed of the American left, has been its image and self-image as something rather too solemn, mirthless, herbivorous, dull, monochrome, righteous, and boring. How many times, in my old days at The Nation magazine, did I hear wistful and semienvious ruminations? Where was the radical Firing Line show? Who will be our Rush Limbaugh? I used privately to hope that the emphasis, if the comrades ever got around to it, would be on the first of those and not the second. But the meetings themselves were so mind-numbing and lugubrious that I thought the danger of success on either front was infinitely slight.

In contrast, I offer the following pro-Moore propaganda.

Turn Up the Heat: A National Town Meeting on Fahrenheit 9/11

Michael Moore’s new film Fahrenheit 9/11 is an incredibly powerful movie that lays bare the cynicism and greed behind Bush’s war policy. The astonishing and revealing footage in it has the power to change the course of the 2004 election. Millions of Americans will walk out of this movie angry at how George W. Bush has botched the fight against terrorism, deceived the American people, enriched his corporate cronies, and endangered lives around the globe.

Help Fahrenheit 9/11 Moviegoers Turn Up the Heat:
Leaflet at Film Screenings

Beginning this Friday, June 25, millions of Americans will get an eye-opening education about the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks when they turn out in droves to see Michael Moore’s new film Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore’s movie has great educational potential – but education about our government’s actions is only the first step toward changing harmful policies. Help F 9/11 moviegoers take the next step by distributing special action leaflets produced by United for Peace and Justice, CODEPINK, and Global Exchange for the occasion. Or, distribute some of our new August 29 RNC Protest leaflets and help build a massive turnout against the Bush Agenda at the Republican National Convention.

Ssssssmokin’

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R-Rating
Sought in Some Smoking Films

LOS ANGELES � If Nicolas Cage lights a cigarette in a movie, Hollywood’s ratings
board should respond as if he used a profanity, according to authors of a new study
that criticizes glamorous images of smoking in movies rated for children under 17.

Lawmakers
Urge Smoking-Related Film Rating

Industry Resists Calls to Use Ratings to Minimize Kids’ Viewing of Cigarettes in
Movies

May 11, 2004 — Lawmakers called on the film industry to use its rating system to
warn parents of depictions of smoking in movies, amid growing evidence that the
portrayals make children an adolescents more likely to smoke.

I think this R rating for smoking idea is deliberately extreme because controversy
gets discussions going. Do I personally think that there should be advisories or
restrictions placed on movies with smoking? If we do that, we need to put advisories
up for binge drinking, promiscuous sex, and a myriad of other negative behaviors.

I think the whole ratings system needs to be revamped. Age-based ratings don’t take
into account the highly variable maturity of children and shifts parenting away
from parents. A better idea might to put codes on shows based on particular acts
shown, such as drug use, harsh language, nudity, sexual acts, etc. Let parents decide
what’s best for their children. If the MPAA doesn’t want to break down the sinful
content of movies, then a Christian ratings organization should be formed. Perhaps
rating codes could be based on which commandment is broken or which deadly sins
are displayed (pride envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth).

Hollywood Hilarity

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Hollywood Mystery Man ‘Rance’ Has Internet Abuzz
By Dan Whitcomb

“LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – He skewers Hollywood and the cult of celebrity on an anonymous Web log that has spawned a cult following. He claims to be an A-list actor, writing under a pseudonym, but admits he may not be believed.”

I love good satire. 🙂

This seems to be another case of me being late to the party. Then again, since I hardly give a rat’s…um…whisker about the rest of the blogosphere, it’s hardly shocking. Don’t get me wrong, I like being read and being linked, but real life time takes precedence over blog time. Anyone who does the reverse needs to move out of their parents’ basement.

Rance