May 31, 2004
WHERE'S THE BLACKLIST WHEN YOU NEED IT...:
Hollywood as a Tool of German Foreign Policy? (Stephan Richter | Friday, May 28, 2004, The Globalist)
Roland Emmerich, ["Day After Tomorrow"]’s director, comes with impeccable cinematographic credentials, including “The Patriot” and “Independence Day.” Both these movies revolve around core American ideals — such as overcoming adversity, fighting for one’s way of life and the ultimate belief that good will conquer evil. [...]Hollywood has long been used as a tool to project "soft" American power around the world.
In that sense, this activist director must feel like he has achieved a perfect circle — aligning the commercial interests of the movie industry with his own agenda, which in this case is pro-environment.
So far, so good. What is completely overlooked in this tale is the fact that Mr. Emmerich hails from Germany, is an avid supporter of the pro-environment German Green Party — and is known to hang out on trendy Berlin cafes with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the leading figure of the Green Party.
Which goes some way towards explaining the near-fatal problems with The Patriot. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 31, 2004 4:47 PM
Anyone heard how "Day After Manyana" is doing at the box office?
I was actually up for it, being a big fan of weather porn. Now I'm reluctant to give it money, based on Mr. Gore, et al. I'm wondering if the studio may lose a fair bit of money for that reason alone.
'Course, I'd likely see it anyway if it had gotten good reviews, which I have yet to read a single one of. But I am interested in the numbers.
Posted by: Andrew X at May 31, 2004 5:58 PMIt did around $86M in its first 4 days in the North American market.
Posted by: DLirag at June 1, 2004 6:59 AMoj:
Regarding your drive-by of 'Red Dawn' in the 'Patriot' review: I agree, 'Red Dawn' was an atrocious film, although in my case the audience participation went a long way towards making it entertaining, since I saw it while sitting with an audience of soldiers at Ft. Bragg.
However, Iraq too is awash with weapons, including a lot of stuff that's much, much heavier and more lethal than anything a hypothetical American resistance could get their hands on.
It doesn't seem to be doing the Iraqis much good.
The Chinese occupying force in America would suffer casualties left and right, but not enough to force them to leave... Not immediately, anyhow.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at June 1, 2004 9:32 AMBut came in second to Shrek 2, in it's 12th week no less. More
World wide, DAT came in first. Hardly surprising considering the Michael Moore like content, i.e., lies, lies, lies.
Posted by: Uncle Bill at June 1, 2004 9:41 AM1) On KFI radio, the evening drive-time guys are referring to DAT as "The GLOBAL WARMING Movie."
2) Re Red Dawn, there's something about it I didn't realize until I saw it a second time back in the Eighties:
RED DAWN IS A RUSSIAN WW2 MOVIE. The common partisans organizing against the vicious inhuman invaders and fighting them off the Motherland -- it's a standard Soviet-era Russian WW2 movie plot.
3) Also re Red Dawn, I remember how Our Betters denounced it as Reaganistic Warmongering. Then I heard an urban legend that it caused quite a stir in the Russian Defense Ministry and GRU -- turns out the Russian war plan in the movie was actually pretty close to one of their actual military contingency plans, and KGB/GRU were sure there had been a leak.
Posted by: Ken at June 1, 2004 12:49 PMYou mean the Russians actually based their strategy on flying planes undetected in American airspace so they can drop paratroopers on American high schools?
Have they no shame?
Kind of makes you wonder what all those Category I divisions were doing in Eastern Europe.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at June 1, 2004 2:17 PM