Been away from the ol' blog recently. Still trying to catch up with other parts of my life. But I'm back and have a pretty good movie for you all to check out this weekend! This week's movie is Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker which smoked Avatar (and its director and her ex-husband James Cameron) at the 2009 Oscars. Bigelow even gave a shout out to the troops at the Oscars which I'm sure made a lot of the Hollyweird elite just want to puke in the aisles.
I have to admit as I sat down in the theater to watch this movie, I braced myself for a 2 hour liberal lecture about how war was the worst thing in the world (which it's not not my dear friends...living without freedom... THAT would be the worst thing.) and why our troops are a bunch of sadistic blood thirsty bunch of a--holes.
However, that was not the case. Not at all.
Nile Gardiner from the Telegraph.co.uk wrote an excellent article about the best conservative movies from the last decade. You all might want to make a note that most of the movies he mentions have already been reviewed by yours truly!
Below is what he wrote about The Hurt Locker...
Kathryn Bigelow’s critically acclaimed tribute to the heroism of US Army bomb disposal experts in Iraq has already been nominated for three Golden Globes. It is a searing and tense war film that has been the surprise hit of the year in the United States. What is refreshing about the film is its willingness to portray the US military presence in Iraq in an overwhelmingly sympathetic light, and the al-Qaeda-backed enemy as barbaric and fundamentally evil. There are no shades of gray in The Hurt Locker, and this is a strikingly patriotic motion picture that has been embraced by an American public weary of the anti-Americanism churned out by Hollywood in its portrayal of the War on Terror – from Rendition and Lions for Lambs to Redacted and In the Valley of Elah. The Hurt Locker is by far the best conservative film of 2009, and one of the greatest of the decade.
Bill Murray has starred in more conservative movies than any other star according to MY blog (which as we all know is the first and last name of conservative movies). The Lost City, Ghostbusters, Stripes, and now City of Ember!
He should rank with all of the great right-wing Hollywood royalty: Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart. And wouldn't you know it? He teams up with two of Hollywood's biggest libs Tim Robbins and Tom Hanks (producer) of this week's conservative movie. Ya gotta love it!
We all trust our government...right? The all knowing all caring government is always right and we are always wrong. That's the premiss of this week's film City of Ember.
Would you like to live in a state where your government strays from historic values and teachings that work? Or where your government picks out your child's future? Or tells you lies when your world is slowing being destroyed?
Ohhhh.
Hmmmm.
Perhaps you should just read this review from IMDb...
Ember is a city built to last 200 years from the Earth Destroyed by Blobs Humans Aliens called "Drei" . The builders of Ember left instructions to the mayors in a box that would open by itself. Unfortunately, one of the mayors was lazy and tossed the box into a closet, where it was forgotten for generations.
The year is 2416 A.D. After the Earth's destruction. Lina Mayfleet, and Doon Harrow are two children in Ember who find themselves on a mission to save their dying city. The city's lights are beginning to flicker and food supplies are running out.
Doon lands a job at the Pipeworks where he wants to try to repair the failing generator. Lina's job is simple - she is a messenger, but she soon finds herself in over her head when she discovers the box of instructions left by the builders so long ago.
Doon and Lina find themselves on a wild adventure when they discover the way out of Ember, but corrupt officials and a treacherous mayor stand against their wish to save the city. With courage and heart they brave the darkness - all to help their fellow citizens escape the dying city.
If you have a kid and want to teach him/her some early political conservative values, folks this is the film for your family! I highly recommend City of Ember and welcome your comments when you see this film.
This could be one of the classics your kids will remember!
The Stoning of Soraya M. is an intense film. It is a beautiful film. It is a disturbing film. Mostly, though, it is an important film--one that reminds us, powerfully and without apology, what evil looks like, what it feels like, and why it's crucial that we recognize and condemn evil when we see it, even when it might be easier to downplay or rationalize or ignore it.
For that reason, Soraya might be the best-timed movie release in decades. Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and produced by Stephen McEveety and John Shepherd of Mpower Pictures, it is set in a rural Iranian village in 1986. It is based on the true story of Freidoune Sahebjam, a French-Iranian reporter who happened upon the town one day after the public stoning of Soraya M., and learned of the horrific act from Soraya's aunt.
Soraya is convicted of adultery after Ali, her abusive husband of 20 years and father of her four children, invents a story about Soraya's supposed liaison with the village idiot, a recent widower. The charges are false. Ali, a jailer, made them up so that he could leave Soraya for the 14-year-old daughter of a local doctor under his watch in prison. Ali blackmails the local sheikh into endorsing the charges and, with this backing, eventually tricks or cajoles several others, including the town's gullible mayor, into joining the harassment of Soraya.
The heroine of the story is Zahra, Soraya's aunt, a feminist anachronism, an outspoken woman who stubbornly refuses to give up her voice in the early years of Iran's post-Revolution theocracy. And it is a haunting voice, both in tone and substance. Zahra, played by the Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, known primarily for her work in House of Sand and Fog and the fourth season of 24, has a deep, gruff voice that ads urgency to her pleas on behalf of Soraya, and adds strength to her confrontations with villagers. The Stoning of Soraya M. has a curiously suspenseful feel to it, despite the fact that the title eliminates any doubt about Soraya's eventual fate. Will they actually do it? How will they do it? Who will participate?
The stoning scene itself is gruesome. Early in the sequence, Soraya, wearing all white and buried up to her waist, is struck in the forehead with a sharp stone. Blood that begins as a trickle soon pours out of her fresh wound, discoloring her dress and the loose dirt around her. The violence, though difficult to watch, is powerful and essential: This is what evil looks like. It should be uncomfortable.
It has also proven uncomfortable for some critics. The New York Times's Stephen Holden, who once lauded Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked Reservoir Dogs as a "critic's choice," worries that the violence in Soraya veers off into "lurid torture-porn," and that the contrast between good and evil is too pronounced. Real evil, it seems, is much more difficult to comprehend than the pretend or abstract variety.
We have seen this from the White House as well. Speaking as a candidate, Barack Obama promised to stand for the human rights of Iranian bloggers and to support those who have marched and bled for democracy. Those were nice sentiments that helped him sound presidential at a time in his campaign when sounding presidential mattered most. But for more than a week after Iran's fraudulent elections, as Iranian bloggers were being silenced, and as Iran's marchers for democracy were bleeding in the streets, President Obama was virtually silent. And when the regime dispatched its thugs to smother protests with wanton brutality, Obama praised Iran's "vigorous debate."
The stoning scene was eerily reminiscent of a spectacle that unfolded in Tehran on June 20. A member of the regime's Basij militia gunned down a beautiful young woman standing on the side of the road, near a rally. A shaky video of the immediate aftermath was quickly uploaded and available for viewing on the Internet. It shows Neda Agha-Soltan--whose first name means "voice"--lying on the ground, surrounded by a group of men frantically trying to stop the bleeding from a wound in her chest.
As the camera focuses on her face, her life drifts away. And as her great brown eyes roll backwards, blood begins to flow from her eyes and nose--slowly at first, then in an inexorable flood of death.
President Obama would eventually condemn the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan and others like it. But he did so reluctantly, and only when he had no other political choice. Neda wasn't stoned to death, but she might as well have been. The method of her killing was more technologically advanced and efficient, but that was the only difference between her murder and the stoning of Soraya M.
Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard.
What if someone offered you $30,000,000? The only catch? Give someone else credit for your idea.
Your idea.
Your idea, that you developed and fought to protect. Your idea that will eventually affect the lives of just about everyone who uses a certain product every day!
Like say...a car.
But wait, your family and friends want you to take the money. Just let them have "their" invention. It's just a stupid windshield wiper!
So now the tough question. Do you take the money or do you fight? The choice is yours. Me? I'd take the money and run. Retire, drink beer, smoke cigars, and blog all day. But hey, that's me. DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!
Based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns' long battle with the U.S. automobile industry, Flash of Genius tells the tale of one man whose fight to receive recognition for his ingenuity would come at a heavy price. But this determined engineer refused to be silenced, and he took on the corporate titans in a battle that nobody thought he could win. The Kearns were a typical 1960s Detroit family, trying to live their version of the American Dream. Local university professor Bob married teacher Phyllis and, by their mid-thirties, had six kids who brought them a hectic but satisfying Midwestern existence. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants who embraced Bob's creation unceremoniously shunned the man who invented it. Ignored, threatened and then buried in years of litigation, Bob is haunted by what was done to his family and their future. He becomes a man obsessed with justice and the conviction that his life's work-or for that matter, anyone's work-be acknowledged by those who stood to benefit. And while paying the toll for refusing to compromise his dignity, this everyday David will try the unthinkable: to bring Goliath to his knees.
Whether it's a large crooked cooperation or a harassing government agency, the little guy dukes it out and lands a killer punch and a great story!
A few months ago, I posted a film for us all to watch called Henry Poole is Here. Unfortunately, at the time I put this on my blog, the film was only being shown to select cities across the country and very few people saw it.
Now, Henry Poole...well...is Here, and out on DVD! I hope you all will check this film out when you have a chance! Why did it make the Edge Conservative Movie of the Week? Well, it's a story of HOPE...the real kind.
Here is the story from IMDb...
HENRY POOLE is HERE is a comedic drama about a disillusioned man who goes hiding in placid suburbia only to discover he cannot escape the forces of hope. Returning to the middle-class neighborhood where he grew up, Henry chooses to live in indulgent isolation. Real life, however, refuses to cooperate with his plans. Nosy neighbors interrupt him with curious visits and prying questions. Then the situation escalates as a stain on Henry's stucco wall is seen to have miraculous powers. His last-ditch hideout becomes a shrine; his backyard turns into an arena for passionate debate about faith and destiny. Seeking anonymous oblivion, cynical Henry Poole instead finds himself right at the center of the human comedy. A modern-day fable, director Mark Pellington's new film investigates the unexpected wonders of the everyday. A faithless man finds hope. A hopeless man finds love. Whether backyard miracles are real or triggered by hope and belief, their personal effects are permanent.
Why do we do it? I guess we've all done it, right?
We sometimes...not always... look down on those who make our lives easier. The policeman. The soldier. The sailor. The Marine. We make fun of them. We put ourselves on a pedestal and look down our noses. We don't mean to do it, we just do...because it gives a good laugh at a party...or something.
The bottom line is this. Most people (not all) hate others who rid them of their demons. On September 12th, 2001 everyone was on the same page. Everyone got behind our troops and our president, remember?
"Let's go get the bad guys! Let's rid the world of terrorism. We can do it!"
But then the war began, and people got a front row seat 24 hours a day 7 days of week. Suddenly, our troops were the bad guys and the terrorist were misunderstood. Now, my liberal friends have turned their eyes away from the miltary they once supported...don't believe me? Remember John Kerry's comments? People who join the military are suckers...according to Kerry. So I guess if we just leave them alone...if WE just change, we can bring hope to our enemies. Right.
What I find so humorous is how many libs actually love The Dark Knight! It tells the very same true story! Batman is Gotham's only hope to stop the Joker's terrorism, and what do the citizens demand? They demand Batman give into to the Joker's demands! Just admit you were wrong and the Joker will stop his evil ways and we will all get along.
Now, I'm not the first person who thinks The Dark Knight is a conservative flick. If you can't take my word for it, maybe you can take hers!
It's not a kid's movie, so make sure they're in bed when you guys rent it! Oh and guess what?! It's out on DVD this Tuesday!!
Finally! FINALLY! Finally, 24 is back, and for the first time ever I got to watch it on HD!
If you guys missed it, I think it's now out on DVD! Though it was not released in theaters, it's still a great TV movie which will build up to the series return on FOX January 2009!
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) battles the bad guys again, this time in Africa. He also has to deal with the bungling US government and a UN wimp! Gotta love it!
I went to go see An American Carol the other day, and honestly, I just didn't find it funny or that entertaining. There were a few parts that might have made me chuckle, but for the most part it was pretty boring.
The great thing about the film is that it is short and will be out on DVD soon. Of course, I'm not sure I would even recommend you renting it either, but if you REALLY don't have anything else to do that day I guess it beats sticking a needle in the eye.
It's not the worst movie I ever saw (V for Vendetta still is #1 in that list), but I thought it was very disappointing. Hopefully, this won't hurt the conservative film movement in Hollyweird, but folks, it sure didn't help it either.
I want to thank the PR people from Sherwood Pictures (creators of Facing the Giants) for visiting ECM and for giving me the opportunity to tell you about their new film Fireproof due out in September starring Kirk Cameron! Below you will find the trailer for the film as well as a behind the scenes look! Check it out!
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