gdp's Comments

Big Hollywood : Daily Call Sheet: Tom Hanks: Action President, Why Leo Didn't Have to Die, and 'Liberty Valance'

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:52:30 +0000

I'm a fan of Pixar, but that trailer for "Brave" makes it look like the movie's plot is going to be one cliche after another. A Disney movie about a girl who chafes at the lady-like roles her culture has assigned her? NO WAI!!!

Big Hollywood : Sucker Punch Squad: 'The Whistleblower': Anti-Americanism & Factual Inaccuracies Plague Screenplay

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:28:14 +0000

The marketing for this movie is already very clever. They've figured out that Americans are sick and tired of the same old blame-America war movies, and many Americans also know about the horrendous human rights record of UN peacekeepers around the world. So if all you know about this movie is what you see in the trailer, it looks like the UN is the bad guy! Protecting its own, covering up for sexually deviant behavior among its useless peacekeeping troops, etc. Add a brave, American, female cop as the whistle blower? That doesn't sound half-bad. Word of mouth likely will overcome the effects of the deceptive trailer, but this movie will probably get more business than most of the recent anti-war movies have.

Big Hollywood : 'L.A. Times': Films Must Stop Making Fun of Gay People

Tue, 9 Nov 2010 01:32:01 +0000

This is similar to the recent campaign to stigmatize the use of the word "retarded." Advocates of the mentally challenged who advocate that stigmatization need to toughen up and realize that if they just wait awhile the word will lose all of its power. It will still be used, it will just lose its association with disabled people. Exhibit A would be the use of the word "lame" to describe something that is undesirable, poorly executed, and so forth. Does anyone honestly think that the use of that term harms cripples? It's the same thing with "gay." The word's meaning has changed meaning significantly over the last fifty years. So now it continues to change... big deal. Sack up, Gleetards.

Big Hollywood : Top 25 Greatest Halloween Films: #18 - ‘Near Dark’ (1987)

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 02:47:10 +0000

I really enjoy this movie--it's one of the few flicks for which I have a DVD. It's very bloody, so if that troubles you then stay away from it, I suppose. I love that picture at the top of the post, btw: great to see Bishop, Vasquez, and Hudson together again!

Big Hollywood : Open Happy Birthday Thread: Clint Howard

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:07:53 +0000

"It's classified, Ice Cream Man. It's classified."

Big Hollywood : Hollywood: Whose Side Are You On?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:35:10 +0000

Despite my other issues with "United 93"--the infernal shakey-cam being my main problem with it--at least its makers didn't change the terrorists into white supremacists or neo-nazis. The "Sum of All Fears" adaptation is still the nadir of that particular aspect of what you're talking about in this post, Mr. Hudnall. But you're right: if "The Sum of All Fears" were to be adapted today, would the filmmakers change the terrorists into American employees of Blackwater... or perhaps disgruntled American officers trying to wag the dog to get the country to properly invest in our wars...? It's hard to say. But we can probably all agree that they wouldn't use the villains from Clancy's book.

Breitbart.com : Swiss court accepts Polanski bail bid: official

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:23:23 +0000

wat

Big Government : Palin the Libertarian?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:00:04 +0000

Please, Sarah, PLEASE stay politically relevant by being a lower-case-L libertarian Republican, not a capital-L Libertarian. American voters will never go for things like privatizing the military, privatizing the courts, isolationist foreign relations, and so forth. A libertarian Republican, on the other hand: that would appeal to a lot of voters--more and more as time goes by...

Big Hollywood : Bob Dylan is the Anti-Gates: What CNN Doesn't Want You to Know

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:04:33 +0000

inb4 But Dylan is whiiiiiiiiiiite!

Big Hollywood : James Cameron's 'Avatar' Slams America

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:35:41 +0000

Does anybody watch a James Cameron movie for the wisdom and social commentary? He's just so ham-handed with that stuff. His villains practically twirl their mustaches after strapping damsels to railroad tracks. Actually, now that I think about it I'll bet a lot of the Cameron world-view seeped into the culture at large thanks to the success of things like Titanic. (grumbles) Dagnabbit...

Big Hollywood : 'The Dowd Conundrum'

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:05:57 +0000

That was very well done! Gee whiz, just the Star Trek analysis in it tempts me to forward links to a number of friends of mine who would not welcome the political analysis at all. Incidentally, what is that goofy mug of Perez Hilton's doing on the wall at 12:26? I don't know my Star Trek well enough to recognize that shot--is it the "Mirror/Mirror" Kirk, perhaps, and the portrait is covering his redshirt-annihilation device?

Big Hollywood : James Cameron's 'Dances with Avatar'

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 19:56:55 +0000

I haven't read The Word for World is Forest, but if it's unsubtle for Le Guin then that's saying something. This is a woman for whom making characters non-white is the ne plus ultra of social commentary. http://slate.com/id/2111107/

Big Hollywood : 382 Days From Release -- 'Toy Story 3' Teaser Arrives

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 22:15:58 +0000

Ouch, that's too bad. The original short was very atmospheric and dark. It also had no voice work--just sound effects. Were the voices part of the problem in the test screening you saw?

Big Hollywood : 382 Days From Release -- 'Toy Story 3' Teaser Arrives

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 20:17:43 +0000

Wow, I would have thought that this teaser would have excited me, but nope: I feel nothing. Once too many times to the well for Pixar, perhaps? Now "9" on the other hand--that looks cool.

Big Hollywood : Ride 2 Recovery: Day 6 — Hampton to Virginia Beach

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 02:25:57 +0000

Great series! And yes, please be sure to give forewarning here for the California challenge. October is so far off, after all--on the other side of summertime.

Big Hollywood : Celebrity Enforcer E! Takes Their Shot at Those Who 'Love Them Some Jesus'

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:31:31 +0000

"Don’t set out to raze all shrines, you’ll frighten men. Enshrine mediocrity and the shrines are razed… Kill by laughter. Laughter is an instrument of human joy. Learn to use it as a weapon of destruction. Turn it into a sneer. It is simple. Tell them to laugh at virtue." – Ellsworth Toohey in The Fountainhead

Big Hollywood : Review: Up

Wed, 27 May 2009 23:20:17 +0000

Great review, Mr. Nolte. I'm looking forward to watching this movie, and I hope it's as good as you and others have said it is. I have one snarky question though: why did they make Russell a "Junior Wilderness Explorer" instead of a Cub Scout or Boy Scout? If the character is as positive and endearing as he sounds then I really doubt that the BSA would object to his being a Scout. So what's the deal? Is it too cynical to assume that the filmmakers would worry that for quite a few reality-based audience members making Russell a Scout would be making him a homophobic, creationist Bible thumper? I hope there's another explanation.

Big Hollywood : Summer Movie Season: The Good, the Bad and the Maybe — Part III: Could Go Either Way

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:29:53 +0000

Yes! 9 looks amazing. The short at http://preview.tinyurl.com/2lz8nf is very, very good.

Big Hollywood : Summer Movie Season: The Good, the Bad and the Maybe — Part III: Could Go Either Way

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:27:36 +0000

Strange Days is also a fantastic movie from Bigelow. Some of the stuff seemed a bit dated even when it was released (basically anything having to do with the Rodney King-ish sub-plot), but Angela Bassett's Mace made up for any and all shortcomings. That movie still has one of the best kisses I've ever seen in a movie. I can't get excited about Up yet. I don't mind animation, but nothing about the premise of this particular movie grabs me. People who have seen it already say it's really good though, so I think I'll wait for word-of-mouth from people I know. I'll be there for opening night of Drag Me To Hell. It sounds like a great PG-13 genre movie. I can't believe my fingers just typed those words, but there y'go. :)

Big Hollywood : Cameron Soon to Be King of Universe

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:07:15 +0000

I'm really looking forward to this movie, but please please PLEASE tell me that Michelle Rodriguez isn't playing a tough-girl marine whose expressions cover the entire range of scowling all the way through sneering, and who at 5' 5" and 110 lbs. will kick the 'tocks of men three and four times her mass. Also, please assure me that Giovanni Ribisi will not play a hollow-eyed loser whose actions get capable, diligent characters killed while he single-handedly sucks all of the lifeforce and energy from every scene he's in. Get back to me on those, all right? Thanks, Big Hollywood!