Curmudgeonly & Skeptical presents Boned Jello: Two Movies

Friday, October 03, 2008

Two Movies

Today's Bet

“

Mr. Zucker may be Jewish, but he's had it, he says, with Christian-bashing in the popular culture, particularly Catholic-bashing.

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It's a measure of Bill Maher's popularity that the most watched television clip I've posted is from 2006 where Christopher Hitchins gives him the finger, and says "F--K You! Cathartic. It happens that Maher's movie Religulous, described as "a vision of the destructive forces of organized religion, a vision no less apocalyptic than the end-times scenarios promulgated by some of his targets," opens in movie theaters this weekend against An American Carol --

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.... which its maker, Airplane! and Naked Gun alum David Zucker, describes as "the opposite of the Bill Maher movie."

Mr. Zucker's proudly conservative comedy isn't primarily about religion. It reworks the Charles Dickens Christmas Carol scenario so that a leftist filmmaker based on Michael Moore, painted here as an unpatriotic, America-hating boob out to banish the Fourth of July, is visited, schooled and slapped around by ghosts of Americans past, George Washington (Jon Voight) and Gen. George Patton (Kelsey Grammer), plus a ghost of the future, played by country star Trace Adkins. (MICHAEL PHILLIPS / Chicago Tribune)

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Maher's movie is released through Lionsgate, Zucker's from MPOWER PRODUCTIONS. Which made the wisest investment, based on the expected gross? The film that promulgates hatred, or one that promotes American patriotism? That's right. So why are movies like Religulous even made?

Rodger the Real King of France 10/03/2008 02:52:00 PM 8 Comments

"If the number of Islamic terror attacks continues at the current rate, candlelight vigils will soon be the number-one cause of global warming. "
Argus Hamilton

8 comments:

Eli said...: Going to see AAC in about 2 hours! Can't wait!; 10/3/08, 3:06 PM
DJMooreTX said...: I'm waiting for the first evening showing so I can pay full price.; 10/3/08, 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Movies like that get made for the international market.

Makes you wonder if it's time to revisit the definition of the word "treason.; 10/3/08, 6:06 PM
DJMooreTX said...: Dammit, dammit, dammit.

I wanted to like this movie. I agreed with nearly everything it said.

And I was bored to tears.

Unfortunately, it is at best clumsy, heavy handed preaching to the choir. There is nothing, nothing in this film that will explain its position to anyone that doesn't already agree with it, much less convert them.

The patriotism was cloying. The family values were saccharine. The religious faith was flimsy.

The stabs at jihadism were clumsily wide of the mark, failing to acknowledge the fanaticism at work.

Go to the evening show at a big cineplex. Pay the full price. Buy popcorn and soda and hotdogs and candy.

Then watch another movie playing at the same time, because this one, I am very sorry to say, is a dog.

I went to an eight o'clock show. Good crowd at the 'plex, but almost nobody in this auditorium. The laughs were half-hearted, forced even. Again, the people there wanted to like it, wanted to laugh. We were hungry for the sentiments expressed.

But my god, it was dry and boring.

AAC is going to bomb, I'm afraid, and Hollywood is going draw entirely the wrong conclusions.; 10/4/08, 12:34 AM
Anonymous said...: Wife and I are going to see Fireproof this weekend. Should be a better movie and has the added benefit of being based on Christian values. The producers are essentially a couple of people that belong to a church in a small town in Georgia, and their first movie, Facing the Giants, starred a bunch of volunteers from the town. They made that movie for $10,000 and so far it has brought in over $10,000,000 worldwide. Too bad Hollywood won't acknowledge that success.; 10/4/08, 9:48 AM
Anonymous said...: I enjoyed it. All of Zucker's movies require the viewer to check their brain at the door and just have fun. If you're looking for biting social commentary, read Ann Coulter's newest book. If you're looking for something that will convert hard-core Obamaites, good luck with that... If you're looking for high-brow comedy, move along, nothing to see here. This is parody, with a healthy dose of slapstick for good measure. To complain that this movie does "nothing, nothing...that will explain its position to anyone that doesn't already agree with it, much less convert them" or that "The stabs at jihadism were clumsily wide of the mark, failing to acknowledge the fanaticism at work" is like complaining that "Airplane" did nothing to address the issues of airline safety or that the "Naked Gun" movies didn't fully examine the angst associated with being an inner-city police dectective dealing with gangs and drugs. Come on, people, lighten up.

SFAOV Sgsaur; 10/4/08, 10:47 AM
Rodger the Real King of France said...: Well said Siggy ...; 10/4/08, 11:12 AM
OregonGuy said...: I went, I laughed, I talked to folks coming out of the theater. Met some folks who want to work together to Change! how we are perceived by Them.

Criticism? How about hiring a cinematographer next time. If they were trying to parody a documentary style--ala Moore--the one camera, two camera set-ups were hard to edit. I woulda hired a dolly. At least one.

Compare the film experience here with the film experience in "Team America". Even with puppets, the cinematography was compelling.

The script was decent. The cast was outstanding--I did have a problem with Chris Farley's brother playing Moore--but spending another bundle of bucks on equipment and a shooter who could see it would have moved this up a couple of notches.
.; 10/4/08, 3:32 PM

Friday, October 03, 2008

Two Movies

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