Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to choosing good movies to watch yourself!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – Just Okay (All the Bad Guys Are White; Heroes All Minorities)

By Debbie Schlussel



I saw the new Star Wars prequel, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” yesterday morning, under heavy security and lock and key. But it ain’t all that. The movie–which debuts in theaters Friday (early screenings Thursday night)–was just okay. Plus, I couldn’t help but notice a stark casting decision: all the evil Empire leaders are old White men, and all the rebel leaders and heroes are minorities (including a whiny Muslim dude) and a perpetually-miserable chick.
At some point, one would expect that people will get sick of Disney/Lucasfilm serving up what is essentially the same Star Wars movie plot over and over again with more and more politically-correct, watered-down characters. But apparently not yet, as this movie is expected to do blockbuster numbers at the box office. Still, the movie is exactly that: a watered-down rehash of the original Star Wars movie from 40 years ago, with flat, boring characters picked for their nationalities and non-White status only. The story is okay, but there’s no magic here, no excitement the way there was for Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and his suave smart-aleckiness, no naive but noble Luke Skywalker. Instead, we get New Coke . . . or probably Crystal Pepsi, because it tastes flat and it’s so clear and obvious you’re being served up an inferior imitation of the original thing. Mediocrity gets old . . . eventually. Though not in America.
Yes, there are a few characters from Star Wars movies past, including Darth Vader. I won’t reveal those familiar old faces who make cameos, but I’m not spoiling anything by telling you Vader’s in this (it’s in all of the trailers and press coverage). And at least one evil old White man from the original is back, too, courtesy of the magic of computer and digital regeneration. But the story isn’t that exciting. Been there, seen that. And it was done better the first four times, including in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which I liked a lot better (read my review), despite it’s verge into political correctness. This one is over the top in that department. I mean, we’re talkin’ hitting you over the head with a two-by-four with it.
All of the generals and directors and commanders of the Empire look the same: old, White, and evil-looking. And the rebels are some Hispanics (Diego Luna and they even rehabbed Jimmy Smits from some crypt), some Asian dudes (one of them blind), some Black guys, a dour chick, and a Pakistani Muslim–Muslim-grievance-theater rapper and actor Riz Ahmed, who plays Bodhi Rook. I’m bummed there was no Egyptian transsexual vegan knitter. Would it have killed them to have even just one White male rebel hero? Or was Jedi “White privilege” used up in the first Star Wars flick? Maybe I can start a hashtag: #EvilEmpireSoWhite. Funny how the #OscarsSoWhite isn’t whining about no minorities cast for those roles.
The movie takes place before the original and after the Jar-Jar Binks fiasco set of movies. There aren’t any Jedi Knights or Kedi warriors per se, although we know that there is a Force and it is with some of the characters. Still, the Force seems to be missing most of the time, if not all of it. The characters are boring, the story is full of holes, and as I noted, it just lacks any charisma or magic. There’s no charm here. And it’s missing any kind of warmth, the kind you felt with the original Star Wars trilogy, back in the day. I guess maybe that’s the times we’re living in–a colder world.
Felicity Jones–the dullest, most overrated actress on Earth–is a dud as the heroine Jyn Erso. She looks bitter and sour all the time, and her acting is equally unremarkable and unenthusiastic. Even though, supposedly, the Force is with her (or something), it’s hard to believe that she has the chops of a male MMA fighter. But in today’s Star Wars world, everything has to be chickified (” target=”_blank”>as it was in last year’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”–again, read my review). Just how many times must Luke Skywalker be remade into a girl? She’s the daughter of the White male architect of the Death Star. But she’s been captured and joins the rebels. Plus her dad isn’t as evil is you might think. She and a band of others–again, all minorities–come together with the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for the Death Star. That a band of rebels stole those plans, was referenced in the original Star Wars movie, and from that, the filmmakers created this movie.
There’s no Yoda here, but there are the traditional scenes of aliens in a bar, however so brief. And there’s the usual magnificent John Williams music, although the Darth Vader theme is muted and the main Star Wars theme is as well (at least until the closing credits roll). There’s also a more rudimentary droid than the shiny gold C3PO we’re used to (why do all Droids have an English accent?). The studio asked me not to provide intricate details of plot points or to give away twists and other spoilers. But, sadly, other than the cameos I alluded to above, there really aren’t any of these to give. The movie just wasn’t that suspenseful or exciting.
I didn’t hate this movie. And there is–per usual with Star Wars flicks–stark good versus evil, which I like. But I hated the PC casting. And I just wasn’t very overwhelmed (or whelmed in any way) by this movie. It’s just a churned out factory product, and nothing I’d watch again like I did with other Star Wars movies. While it’s not objectionable, it’s not that likable, either. It’s just . . . okay. Color me disappointed.
As Darth Vader might say, I find this film’s lack of imagination disturbing.
Forget the Evil Empire. I’ve met the Mediocre Empire. It’s called Disney.
***
BTW, I say all of this as someone who is a tremendous, life-long Star Wars fan. (Since we aren’t Trekkies, are we “Warsies”? We don’t have a term.) My late father took me to see the original when I was just seven years old. In a day when parents still cared about what their kids consumed, he went to see it first. “Kids, you have to see this great movie!” he said. When it comes to Rogue One, I can hear my dad wondering, “Is that all there is?”
HALF A REAGAN PLUS ONE DARTH VADER

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Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to choosing good movies to watch yourself!

Weekend Box Office: Miss Sloane, Office Christmas Party

By Debbie Schlussel



It’s nearly Christmas time. So, this is supposed to be the time of year when most of the new movies are very good. That ain’t happening. Two new movies this weekend, neither of them good.
* Miss Sloane – Rated R: This is a very cold, very harsh, very dark, and very overwrought picture of the kind of lobbying that happens on Capitol Hill. As one who worked for several Congressman on the Hill, I can tell you that this movie is ridiculous and bears no resemblance to reality. The cat-and-mouse absurdities that go in during the course of this movie are just not how it’s done in real life. Not even close.
Plus, while the movie pretends to be even-handed on the gun control debate, it really isn’t. The protagonist, a female lobbyist, risks it all in order to get stricter gun control laws passed–it’s the only “moral” position she’s ever taken in her life. And with that, the movie is a more subtle version of the gun control propaganda we’re used to seeing in the movies, on TV, and throughout pop culture. On top of that, this is an attack on the free market and makes no bones about it. Our “heroine,” the lobbyist, is a free marketeer and evil until she gives it all up to pull out all the stops in favor of more gun control.
On top of that, the movie is long, slow, and boring, taking up 132 minutes of your life that just aren’t worth the wasting here.
Jessica Chastain–in very dark, harsh makeup–is a Elizabeth Sloane, the aforementioned lobbyist, who tells us flat-out that she believes in the free market and American free enterprise. That’s “bad” in the filmmakers eyes, as she bends the rules to almost the breaking point in order to get tax laws and import duties to go her clients’ way. But she’s also smart (or so we’re told). In order to get a client’s sugar-laden breakfast cakes out from under restrictive regulations, she recommends reclassifying them as cookies, which are covered by more relaxed rules.
But that’s the humdrum stuff. Now, a new client–the gun lobby (and presumably, the NRA)–wants to hire her lobbying firm and her to in order to relax gun laws. The lobby wants her to present guns as the ultimate equalizer for women against violence and would-be attackers. But Elizabeth doesn’t want that and laughs in the new client’s face, as well as that of her boss (Sam Waterston). Soon, she’s gone from her big firm to a smaller one in order to lobby for more gun control and fight her former employer in the fight.
Elizabeth has no life. She never sleeps (and takes a lot of pills to stay awake). She hires male prostitutes for sex, as there’s no time for a relationship. And so on. In the meantime, the team she’s poached from her former firm, helps her pursue several senators to get their votes for gun control. They’re working with a victim of “gun violence.” However, later in the film, there’s an incident that makes the gun lobby’s point.
The various machinations in this movie just don’t happen on Capitol Hill. The lobbying in real life is a lot more dry and basic. There just isn’t the intrigue–to the point of the cockamamie in this film–that is presented here. Not even close. And there aren’t mechanical bugs with cameras crawling into Senators’ and lobbyists’ cars. There also aren’t major Senate hearings into the personal lives of lobbyists. The only thing I can ever remember happening that was even close (and it didn’t involve an examination of the lobbyist’s private life or health), were the Senate hearings into corrupt, convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s multi-million-dollar rip-offs of federal Indian tribes. But in that case, there was major money-laundering, tax-evasion, and other crimes going on, including the use of jihadist Muslim Grover Norquist’s “non-profit” Americans for Tax Reform to launder Indian tribe money and hide the source and ultimate destination of it. Apparently, some of that money went to Islamic terrorist outfits tied to Al-Qaeda, too. That’s a legit inquiry by Congress.
The Senate inquiry into Miss Sloane, a major and prolonged scene in the movie, is just ludicrous, and it would never happen. After nearly 2.5 hours of this movie, there just isn’t a worthy payoff. Not even a little bit. (Unless gun control is what you consider a worthy payoff.)
The movie’s just a high-styled, low-brow bore pretending to be something important. It isn’t. Certainly not important enough for 132 minutes of your life and ten-bucks-plus from your wallet.
Yawn.
TWO MARXES

Watch the trailer . . .

* Office Christmas Party – Rated R: I hated this poor excuse for comedy. You’ve seen this crap–waaaaay toooooo muuuuuch of it–already in recent years. Juvenile, crass, depraved jokes pretending to pass for funny. And they just aren’t. Sure, I laughed several times. But most of this movie was just dumb. Extremely dumb. On top of that, it’s the usual message from liberal Hollywood: loser, drug-using, incompetent, unethical schmucks are the good guys and the heroes; straight-laced, disciplined people, who actually work for a living are the losers and the villains. (Ditto for the human resources manager who objects to female employees wearing too-sexy-for-work outfits–she’s “too uptight”). So typical, so stupid.
The story: Jason Bateman is the Chief Technology Officer at the Chicago branch of Zenotek, a failing internet-hosting and online promotions company. Everyone at the branch is either incompetent or a whiner. The boss is Clay VanStone (T.J. Miller), a rich idiot who wastes money and acts like a child. His rival sister, Carol (Jennifer Aniston), is the hard-working, responsible adult in the family and the company CEO. She wants to pull the plug on the Chicago branch and end the bleeding. She’s right. But, of course, in all Hollywood movies these days, responsible people and responsible decisions aren’t hip and they aren’t to be admired. Instead, they are to be condemned.
Clay and his sister agree that if he can land more business and keep the office profitable, it can remain open. So, he goes about trying to recruit the account of Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance). At first, Walter rules out hiring Zenotek, and morale is lower than low. But Clay decides to throw a giant, wild Christmas party to entice Walter to change his mind and hire Zenotek. The party is filled with cocaine binges, topless naked women, a prostitute and her female pimp, and other lowlife stuff, which makes it “cool” in the world according to Hollywood. Soon, Walter is literally hanging from the chandeliers, trying to ride ropes of lighting–Tarzan-style–from across a second-floor balcony.
Ultimately there are hospital trips, annoying Uber rides, car crashes, and a power outage in the entire Chicago. Haha, funny. NOT. Also not funny: that a guy (Bateman–who is supposed to be the voice of reason here) drinks spiked eggnog from the male genitalia of an anatomically-correct ice sculpture and then gets his tongue stuck on it. If this is your idea of humor, that’s a not-so-thrilling statement on the state of America. And, sadly, that’s where we are. Forget Kris Kringle. This is Kris Kringeworthy.
Absolute garbage. And not even good for more than five or six laughs. If that.
FOUR MARXES PLUS TWO ISIS BEHEADINGS

Watch the trailer . . .

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to choosing good movies to watch yourself!

Weekend Box Office: Manchester By the Sea (America, Hillary-Style)

By Debbie Schlussel
I took off the last week or so for Thanksgiving and some good stuff I plan to announce soon. As for movies, I’ll try to put up my review of recent past movies. The only new one this weekend is “Manchester by the Sea.”



This movie is a dog (with apologies to canines for the comparison with this tripe-on-film). We’re taking Gitmo torture material . . . though I’m not sure we can torture anymore because Trump’s James “Mad Dog” Mattis says we can’t torture terrorists.
Most movie critics are raving and gushing over this piece of crap (and heaping the awards on it) because it’s an anti-American, pretentious, tragic bore. And they eat up that stuff. When it’s not incredibly long, slow, boring, and the cure for insomnia, this movie is incredibly miserable and dreadful. If you don’t like that kind of stuff, most film critics dismiss you as a simpleton and not sophisticated enough. The movie critic emperors wear no clothes.
This film is a Hillary-Clinton-style attack on working-class American life (and, frankly, all American life). The movie basically says that the working class in America have horrible lives filled with tragedy, boredom, poverty, drudgery, and mishaps. It all sucks and is completely hopeless, the filmmakers want you to know. Yeah, that’s the ticket, Hollywood . . . to selling fewer tickets. Anybody who reads my review and then pays to see this anyway is a glutton for punishment. You would have more fun literally flushing the ten-bucks-plus you’d have paid to see this, down the toilet. Oh, and it stars the poor man’s Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck (although I would argue that Ben Affleck is also the poor man’s Ben Affleck).
The story: Affleck is a janitor in Massachusetts. He is the maintenance man at an apartment complex and is miserable. All of the women come on to him (why is not apparent–he ain’t all that). And, then, he gets a call that his older brother (Kyle Chandler) is dead. His brother had a heart condition (or something–I was so bored an annoyed by this excuse for a movie that I didn’t care enough to pay much attention). And his brother had a will making Affleck the guardian of his brother’s son a/k/a his nephew. The nephew is a sleazy jerk of a high school student who is sleeping around with several female students. The nephew is also disrespectful to everyone, including his hockey coach whom he attacked and swore at.
Affleck doesn’t want to be his nephew’s guardian. He’s selfish. He doesn’t want to change and upend his life and he doesn’t want to move to Manchester By The Sea, the Massachusetts town where his brother lived and where his nephew lives. He’s divorced and, we later learn, was befallen by a great tragedy involving his children–a tragedy of his own accidental making. His nephew’s mother cannot be found or reached for most of the movie. Then, she is reached, and we find out she is now a devout Christian–something the movie mocks intensely, because that’s what Hollywood does to Christians (but never Muslims).
On top of that, the movie is filled with annoying, distracting flashbacks–more than enough to give you a headache.
This movie was incredibly grey (not fifty shades of it, just one–which is more than enough) and depressing and a totally pointless waste of time. It’s like a bad reality show of someone’s awful life. Why would you want to pay to go see that when you can see it every day on the streets and other locales of America?
Like I said, this is the stuff of high-quality Gitmo torture material (plus it fulfills their view of America as a miserable place and American life as something to be condemned–so it might make a great ISIS recruitment video). I’d show it to the Muslim terrorists over and over again. They’d beg for mercy pretty quickly.
This is garbage.
FOUR MARXES PLUS FOUR ISIS BEHEADINGS

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about movies. This follows this post about music.  For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.

Movies and the Culture Wars

 by Larry Greider Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

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A look back tells us clearly where today's movies are headed. Are they morphing—shape shifting—your values?

The 63rd Golden Globe Awards in January 2006 shocked some people with four awards validating director Ang Lee's movie Brokeback Mountain . Academy Award nominations followed, and this story about two homosexual cowboys received considerable media attention and promotion around the world. The movie attempts to warm the audience to a sensual relationship between two married men. These are not the cowboys of your parents' era.
My generation could hardly imagine John Wayne falling in love with another cowboy. I don't think it would have made Clint Eastwood's day either. Yet Hollywood producers try to convince us that we must lighten up. Cowboys used to be quintessentially masculine role models that spoke of a lifestyle that defined bedrock values including displaying men as leaders of traditional families.
Shaping our culture
There was a time when movies validated traditional Christian values rather than pushing the limits of what many thought to be appropriate. We have come a long way from the epic Civil War picture, Gone With the Wind, first shown on the big screen in late 1940. At the time this cinematic showpiece was accused of pushing the limits when Rhett Butler said a four-letter word and left his shirt unbuttoned. Many movie theaters boycotted this risqué rendition of Margaret Mitchell's tale of sacrifice and hardship during America's bloody Civil War.
The makers of movies and television shows have often been accused of moving society along a liberal path, all the while insisting that they just reflect the latest trends.
For Christians, this is another test of our bedrock values. Either we spot the slippery, moral slide, or we float slowly along with the murky current of change. At the end time, the Bible reveals that the state of mankind will become worse and not better. “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13 2 Timothy 3:13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
American King James Version×).
A movie comparison
A good illustration of this remaking of American values is revealed in two different movies based on a similar script: Academy Award winners High Noon in 1952 and Unforgiven in 1992 .
Peter Gibbon, in his book A Call to Heroism , makes the case that people today have a different view of heroes and a different culture to evaluate them. He compares these two movies produced 40 years apart. In the earlier version, Gary Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a U.S. marshal in High Noon. Forty years later, Unforgiven also won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.
High Noon opens in the morning sunshine with a wedding, while Unforgiven opens in the night rain in a brothel. High Noon starts with a kiss; Unforgiven with the slashing of a prostitute. Will Kane, the hero of High Noon , is a U.S. marshal; Will Munny, the hero of Unforgiven , was a reformed killer and alcoholic reduced to pig farming. High Noon was set in the town of Hadleyville; Unforgiven in a town called Big Whiskey whose sheriff, Little Bill, was a sadist.
High Noon ends with order restored. Unforgiven ends essentially as it opens–in the dark and rain, in sorrow and violence, with anarchy ascendant. High Noon was about physical bravery and moral courage, about overcoming fear and fatigue, about doing the right thing no matter what the cost. Unforgiven was about weakness and revenge (Peter Gibbon, A Call to Heroism : Renewing America's Vision of Greatness , pp. 144-145).
What's the message?
A day at the movies offers a titillating opportunity to experience the latest adventure with high-tech graphics and special effects, including dynamic digital sounds. But the most critical part of high profile entertainment is the message that is communicated. Movies have often been an accurate commentary of culture. Directors feel they are reflecting the world around them. Arguably, the film industry picks up on marginal themes and moods that often shape the attitudes of others.
More and more people use sensate imagery to form their values rather than the written Word of God that makes them think through a scenario and compare it with the moral laws given to mankind. Powerful images, especially those coupled with high technology, sound and glamour, can move the emotions and taunt the conscience. Are you wise enough to notice the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, provocations?
A few days ago, my wife and daughter were watching a 1942 black-and-white film about famous baseball player Lou Gehrig, The Pride of the Yankees, with swelling big band sounds and formal clothing (men wore ties and ladies were in dresses). My initial inclination was to see what else was on (a bad habit of mine), but I soon realized this was not a cheap, old movie (starring Gary Cooper and Babe Ruth), but a touching tribute of courage, love and responsibility. I don't advocate that we go back to black-and-white Turner Classics, but audiences don't need crassness and vulgarity to entertain them. Good values can entertain and also inspire!
How to make a difference
The issue here is who defines values. Is it Hollywood or the Holy Bible? The way to make a difference is to boycott the type of material that degrades Christian values. There was a time when the majority of people recognized when something was outside acceptable bounds. The “bounds” seem to be moving more and more with some advocating that “bounds” are archaic.
The current interest in culture wars is encouraging, when we consider the number of people who feel some things in our culture have gone too far. But how far the entertainment industry will go largely depends on the next generations of ticket buyers. Patrons can vote with their wallets and decide what to put into their minds.
Perhaps there are a few people reading this who might want to make a few movies of their own, based on vertical themes that inspire and teach. How wonderful it would be to have access to good, wholesome entertainment that takes the high road of morality and virtue. The future belongs to our young adults. If you want to win the culture wars, speak up and make it clear what you want to see at the movies. VT

culture values morals Movies Entertainment Youth

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Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to choosing good movies to watch yourself!

Weekend Box Office: Sully, Our Little Sister

By Debbie Schlussel
Even though it’s now September, I feel like I’m still stuck in the August pet cemetery of movies, where Hollywood sends crappy movies to die a quick and painless death. Sad to say, that applies to both of the new movies in theaters today (go see the excellent “Hell or High Water” instead–I’ll try to post a review later today). Neither “The Disappointments Room” nor “When the Bough Breaks” were screened for critics (a sure sign that they’re stinkers).

* Sully – Rated PG-13: This movie’s been getting a lot of buzz, promotion, and Oscar talk. Don’t believe the hype. It’s a nothing and a big fat lie. The “Miracle on the Hudson” has been transformed in a reverse-Rumpelstiltskin to Bullcrap on the Silver Screen, complete with totally made-up villains who never existed and make-believe drama that never happened. The Brothers Grimm ain’t got nothin’ on this fairy tale.
I wondered how they were going to make a movie about something that’s a short, cut-and-dried event in real life: a pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (here played by a mustachioed Tom Hanks) masterfully lands a plane in the Hudson River, after both engines of the plane are blown out by birds. Miraculously, everyone on board survives. End of story. At least . . . that was the end of the real, true-life story, which is at best a 20-minute movie. Director Clint Eastwood needed drama and something with which to fill this slow, mundane storyline so it lasts another hour and some change. So what did he do? He and scriptwriter Todd Komarnicki bring us a completely fabricated, phony story in which the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is a villainous group of the usual stock Hollywood baddies: fat, old, bald White men (and one White chick) who constantly second-guess and chastise Sully for not returning the plane to the airport or landing at another one nearby. That’s more than half of the movie. (By the way, since Blacks are clamoring for more roles in movies, why didn’t they cast any Black people as the frowning, indignant, moralizing NTSB villains? Don’t Black actor’s lives matter? Just askin’.)
But, in fact, NONE of that ever happened, as well-documented in a Bloomberg News story. Yes, there was the usual, typical NTSB investigation–as there has been, is, and would be in the case of any such emergency landing in a river. But, in real life, it was a formality, and the NTSB never attacked or criticized Sullenberger’s water landing as is depicted throughout this hour-and-thirty-five-minute-long movie. In fact, the NTSB officials praised Sully for his landing, and he praised them in “his” book, “Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters,” on which this movie is supposed to be based (but barely is). [Full disclosure: the late Detroit-based journalist and best-selling author, Jeff Zaslow (a Wall Street Journal reporter)–the actual author of the Sully book (he gets co-author credit but actually wrote the whole thing)–was a friend of mine, a reader of this site, and a mensch who comforted me when my late dad was dying of cancer. We spoke about Sully and the book several times in writing and over the phone (including about the Sully sex stuff, below, which he found out about from my site). Sully spoke at his funeral. Zaslow wrote an article about me in the Wall Street Journal that I hated, but my dad loved it.]
The fact that the movie is a complete lie and defames the NTSB officials doesn’t seem to phase Sully. Apparently, Sully likes to sully others. He not only appears in the movie during the ending credits, but he is pimping the movie all over the place because he profits from it–he sold the rights to his book for this endeavor. Cha-ching! And that makes him a lot less of a “hero” than America originally gave him credit for. He was already something of a jerk in my eyes because, as I pointed out on this site, he and his wife appeared on NBC’s “Today” show to tell the world about their “rock star” sex-life after the landing on the Hudson. Um, TOO. MUCH. INFORMATION!
Yeah, this whole thing went to greedy fame-whore Sully’s head. And that’s why he probably can live with this over-hyped, hyperbolic “version” of what happened, when it is just total fiction, and he’s admitted as much on at least one TV interview I saw when asked about the NTSB dust-up and whether it really happened. But, then, he and Clint Eastwood also pimp the phony version told in this movie in a promotional video trailer they recently made. By the way, after the Hudson landing, Sully quickly quit piloting the friendly skies to become yet another motivational speaker (because America has a shortage of those and needs more!).
I hate this kind of movie because we know that morons across America will believe that the BS they see on screen is reality a la Oliver Stone’s “JFK.”
On top of this, to create more drama and–frankly–filler, the movie shows several “nightmares” Sully has of crashing his plane into buildings a la the 9/11 attacks, which is tone-deaf, given that the movie opens just two days before the 15th anniversary of those attacks. There’s also a nightmare in which he dreams that Katie Couric attacks him for landing in the Hudson. This is absurd, and I highly doubt any of that ever happened either. There are at least three of these dumb “imaginations.”
On top of that, the movie is filled with the mundanity of the heroic pilot’s post-Hudson-landing life. Do you find it exciting to see an old guy in a mustache, jogging? Then, this is your movie, as there are several scenes of that. Or how about an airline official bringing Sully a change of clothes, including socks, undies, and a sweatshirt? Wow, exciting. Only a vacuous movie needs these empty calories to fill time and space. And, then, there are the several tear-filled, overwrought phone conversations with Sully’s wife (in real life, she’s the “I’m having rock-star sex with Sully, America!” chick). He tells her he can’t fly again or come home until the NTSB investigation by the evil guys is over. Again, THAT. NEVER. HAPPENED.
Then, there are the weird scenes in which a TV makeup artist kisses Sully and a hotel manager hugs him. Did these things happen? I don’t know or care. Cuz’ I found this boring as heck, even with the casting of Aaron Eckhart (whom I normally like) as Sully’s also-mustachioed co-pilot. His presence in the movie seems like a forced bro-mance . . . and for him to utter F-bombs (and maybe to have a fellow member in the Mustache Hair Club for Men–is he not only a member, but also the president?).
The only exciting part of the movie is the depiction of what actually happened when the plane flew, collided with birds, had its emergency landing on the Hudson, and then the passengers got rescued. That showed the best in Sully and the best in America–including 1,200 (according to the movie) first-responders and others who rescued everyone. But it is so sullied (“Sully-ed”?) with flashbacks and flash-forwards that it’s a choppy, herky-jerky mess.
We already know the real story. Why pay and waste time to watch the underwhelming lie-filled version?
Time for Clint Eastwood to retire . . . along with his prevaricating scriptwriter.
I’m glad the 155 passengers and crew landed safely and lived. Sadly, I’m not happy that this fraud-on-film will also have a safe landing. With all the undeserved hype it’s getting on TV and in pop culture, it’s sure to top the box office this weekend.
But it deserves to crash and burn.
TWO MARXES PLUS THREE PANTS ON FIRE



* Our Little Sister [Umimachi Diary]– Rated PG: I’ve seen some really great, moving Japanese movies (such as “Departures”–read my review). This was not one of them. I found this movie to be slow, boring, and utterly pointless. Like what befell Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this too is an atomic bomb. (What–too soon?) I guess if you have more than two hours of your life to waste and absolutely nothing to do whatsoever (plus you’ve already seen every other movie and other source of entertainment ever made), this would be okay. I struggled to stay awake, waiting for a little something to happen that never did. And, again, it’s more than two hours long. Yaaaawn.
The story: three 20-something Japanese sisters go to their estranged father’s funeral in the country. He left them decades ago after cheating on their mother, and they have little connection to him. Their mother, who is still alive, also left them, after their father’s cheating and leaving, and they live together in their mother’s former house in the city.
When they go to the funeral, the the girls meet their younger, teen-aged half-sister, who is the product of the union of their father’s affair and then marriage to the woman that broke up the three sister’s parents marriage. The woman has since died, and their father is now married to wife number three
(who has a baby with him and a boy from a previous marriage). Yeah, I know, it sounds like a soap opera, a dysfunctional family, or merely a start in your typical, normal NBA player’s set of extended family and baby-mamas.
The three older sisters invite their younger half-sister to come live with them, as–with the death of their father–she now has no one.
The rest of the movie shows us the three sisters’ humdrum lives, and it’s hard to keep track of them because at least two of them look very alike. Yeah, I know, that sounds “RAAAAAYCIST!” But, sorry, they look as alike as actresses Sally Struthers and Jacki Weaver do (and they’re White). Not that I cared about these sisters. You learn nothing about them, and they’re boring. One works at a bank, another works at a hospital (apparently as a nurse), and another works at a sporting goods store. One sister is having an affair with a married man who won’t leave his wife for her but wants her to move to Boston with him, and another sister quickly goes through boyfriends. The young half-sister plays soccer at her new school and has a boyfriend. Then, the movie–running out of boring things to tell us about these sisters, starts introducing us to other boring and melancholy characters, including a woman who owns a diner, but is dying of cancer.
And the purpose of this movie is . . . I’m not sure. But it’s useless to me, and will be to you. Nothing offensive about it. But nothing worthwhile about it either.
A total waste of time.
ONE MARX

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to choosing good movies to watch yourself!

Wknd Box Office: Finding Dory, Central Intelligence, Genius

By Debbie Schlussel

Yes, I’m late with these written/posted movie reviews, though yet again nothing much to rave about. Remember, you can always hear my movie reviews live, first thing every Friday morning on “The Pat Campbell Show” on KFAQ 1170 AM Tulsa at 7:35 a.m. Eastern, and on “The James Show,” on KWTX 1230 AM at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, on “The Larry The Cable Guy Show” (sometimes on Thursdays) between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Jeff and Larry’s Comedy Roundup Channel 97, and on “The Mike Church Show” on the Veritas Radio Network/CRUSADE. I do my movie reviews on all four shows, as well as some discussion of current political issues and pop culture topics.







* Finding Dory – PG: I never saw “Finding Nemo,” the 2003 hit movie to which this is a sequel. I understand, though, that this is pretty much the same story as that one, except that “Dory,” a character from that movie, is the lead character, instead of Nemo. Although the completely unreliable site, Breitfart, claims that this movie shows two lesbian moms and has a trans stingray character, it’s not true. At least, I didn’t see it, and I was completely awake and alert throughout this entertaining, funny, cute movie. I don’t remember ever seeing or hearing the stingray claim he got a sex change or cut off any parts, as was claimed. The movie is animated in the usual high-quality Disney Pixar style. I saw it in 3D, but you need not spring for that and will have a fine viewing experience in 2D. Also, like most Pixar movies, this has a cute animated short prior to the main event.
Ellen DeGeneres voices the Dory character for most of the movie. The story: Dory, as a young fish, has short-term memory loss, and her parents are very worried about her. How will she find her way around? How will she be able to cope and take care of herself? Will anyone want to be friends with her? I was kind of surprised that such an adult set of concerns was the subject of a kids movie. But I think the movie handled it well. And while I’m not politically correct and don’t like PC movies, I liked this movie especially because I think it teaches kids to have compassion for those with mental disabilities. That’s laudable, though it is probably over the heads of the target audience. Dory, because of her inability to remember, gets lost from her parents while she is very young, and spends most of the rest of the movie trying to find them. Through that process, she meets a number of familiar characters (including Nemo and his father, Marlin, the latter of whom is voice by Albert Brooks) and a number of new ones. All of them, in their own way, help Dory make her way in her conscientious search to find her folks.
Like most Pixar movies, this has the usual colorful array of characters, sets and backgrounds, and other eye candy stuff. And like most Pixar movies, there are funny and quirky characters. Although the movie is kind of scary and serous for kids (at least, the kids when I was growing up–today, I know it’s a different story), there is a predictable and unlikely happy ending.
I enjoyed it. And it’s perfect to take your kids and whole family to see.
ONE-AND-A-HALF REAGANS

Watch the trailer . . .

* Central Intelligence – PG-13: When a movie has posters that proclaim, “Saving the World Takes a Little Hart and a Big Johnson,” you already know what to expect: not much. And I didn’t expect anything from this. That said, I laughed a lot for the first third of the movie. It was very funny for about that much of the film. After that, it falls flat and fizzles. Plus saying it’s kinda stupid overall is the understatement of the year. The story is okay. It’s the execution that’s just dumb. And, again, I didn’t expect better, so I was pleasantly surprised if only ever so briefly . . . and then I was returned to the reality of most movies starring Kevin Hart and many movies starring Duane “The Rock” Johnson.
The story: Johnson is a fat, nerdy, poor kid in high school. He has no friends and is constantly mocked by the popular crowd, made up of mostly jocks. One day, they grab him while he’s naked in the locker room shower and throw him onto the gym floor during a school assembly. The only decent person, played by Hart, is the high school’s star athlete, who is also voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by their high school class. Hart covers up the naked Johnson with his varsity jacket and tries to shield him from further embarrassment. This kindness is something Johnson never forgets.
Fast forward 20 years later, and things are reversed. Sort of. Johnson is now a big, tall, buff guy who turns out to be a CIA operative of sorts. And Hart is an accountant who can’t get any respect at work and is bored with his life. He’s disappointed with how his life has turned out, and his wife–his high school sweetheart–wants the two of them to see a marriage counselor. It’s also the week of their 20th high school reunion. Hart, because he sees his life as so unexciting, doesn’t want to attend the reunion, while his wife does.
Soon, Johnson is back in Hart’s life, and Hart becomes entangled in a CIA plot regarding dangerous weapons and an evil villain. And that’s when it becomes stupid and mindless. Not that anyone should have expected anything different. After all, this is The Rock and Kevin Hart. Not exactly the working ensemble of masterpiece theater. As you’ll note, this only rates a PG-13, and not an R. It’s not as raunchy as what you’d typically expect for a bromance involving these two. But, again, it is as silly as what you’d expect.
HALF A MARX

Watch the trailer . . .

* Genius – PG-13: You know Hollywood is running out of ideas, when it puts out a movie about the editing of books. Yes, this is literally about that. I know–the only thing less exciting is a movie about watching paint dry. And that’ll probably be next. You literally see endless scenes of Israel-hater Colin Firth editing pages, crossing out words, and writing in the margins, as he portrays Max Perkins, the editor at Charles Scribner and Sons publishing house in New York in 1929. Yaaawn.
Apparently, Perkins was the editor of several famous, successful authors at the time, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, both of whom make appearances in this movie (played by actors, of course). But that notoriety doesn’t make this movie any more watchable or interesting. Instead, it feels like a boorish bore you were forced to eat dinner with drops a couple names during an insufferable conversation you wish you could walk out on. No, there’s nothing “genius” about Genius.
The movie focuses on Perkins’ two editing pursuits of books by a then-up-and-coming novelist Thomas Wolfe, not to be confused with the more contemporary Tom Wolfe, author of “The Right Stuff” and “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” The Thomas Wolfe of this book is a drunken, carousing, overwrought Southerner desperate to become a star and funded by his rich paramour (Nicole Kidman), a married woman who is jealous of his impending success and budding friendship with editor Perkins. In this onscreen bore, Wolfe is played–in fact, overplayed–by Jude Law. Wolfe is very wordy and writes thousands of pages for his two books, all of which must be whittled down and distilled by Perkins, who spends months rewriting the drivel and turning Wolfe into a star. Since he’s forever at work editing Wolfe, Perkins neglects his family and skips a vacation. He’s barely in his kids’ lives, yet still aware of what is going on with them.
While this movie, as with most period pieces with a decent budget, has charming clothing, cars, decor, and other accoutrements of the time, that’s where the charm ends. An irrelevant scene of editor and writer, Perkins and Wolfe, at a Black jazz club feels like filler, made to waste valuable minutes of the nearly two hours of my life I’ll never get back that this long, slow movie comprised. And I wasn’t sure what the point or purpose of this movie was, other than to enable an ensemble of filmmakers and actors to collect yet another paycheck for a job boringly done.
This movie is the cure for insomnia . . . and for the ten bucks plus and nearly two hours of your life you were dying to throw away.
TWO MARXES PLUS THREE NODOZ

Watch the trailer . . .