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Big Hollywood
Andrew Breitbart is starting his own conservative-minded Hollywood-oriented site -- Big Hollywood -- tomorrow, and he's got Steve Mason as his box-office analyst," a D.C.-based reader asked this morning. "Will you still quote Mason from time to time, or does this put him on your shit list?"
"Of course not," I replied. "Breitbart's a good man and Mason knows his stuff so it's all fine."
It'll be fun to debate (i.e., mock, deride, joke about) the right-wing views espoused on Big Hollywood , which Breitbart says will "be a continuous politics and culture posting board for those who think something has gone drastically wrong and that Hollywood should return to its patriotic roots.
"Big Hollywood's modest objective: to change the entertainment industry. To make Hollywood something we can believe in -- again. In order to give millions of Americans hope."
In order to create this sense of hope, one presumes, a good right-wing site will, as a sideline, need to fire off rhetorical stink bombs at Barack Obama whenever possible, right, Andrew? And do whatever it can to pave the way for a return of Sarah Palin in '12?
When's the last time a really good patriotic right-wing film came along? I love good conservative-minded films (Man on Fire, Gran Torino, etc.) but they're few and far between. There seems to be something in the genes of right-thinking, God-fearing, flag-saluting types that seems to get in the way of good film art, for the most part. Obviously being a staunch right-winger didn't hurt the films of John Ford (to use but one example), but the experience of An American Carol is more typical than not.
Right-wingers can grouse all they want about Godless cynical films made my left-wing pinkos, but their own attempts to make stirring films have been for the most part pathetic.
It'll also be good to read the rants of all the right-wing machines who used to be HE commenters -- i.e., the one I got rid of during last summer's Stalinist purge.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 5, 2009 at 12:11 PM
comment #1
actionman
says ...
God I love Man on Fire.
Posted by actionman
at January 5, 2009 12:53 PM
comment #2
MikeSchaeferSF
says ...
The lead character of Gran Torino may be a conservative guy, but I wouldn't call it a "conservative-minded" film -- he grows, opens his mind a bit, talks about how killing is a terrible thing... it's certainly more humanist than anyone at Big Hollywood is likely to be.. (And as one of those who thought the trailer looked awful, I was surprised at how much I liked GT.)
Posted by MikeSchaeferSF
at January 5, 2009 12:59 PM
comment #3
Breedlove
says ...
That article Wells linked to about the site insinuated that since the Stalinist purge the site traffic here has been way down. Wonder if there's any truth to that.
Action, why don't you ditch out on work in the next 3 days and come into the city to see 'Che'...maybe Wells will meet us there...; )
Posted by Breedlove
at January 5, 2009 1:00 PM
comment #4
Gaydos
says ...
Doug Neidermeyer: How does it feel to be an independent, Schoenstein?
Boon: How does it feel to be an asshole, Neidermeyer?
Posted by Gaydos
at January 5, 2009 1:12 PM
comment #5
actionman
says ...
Nothing would make me happier, Breedlove. Sadly, after the last few weeks of barely going to work over the holidays, getting to NYC during the week will be next to impossible.
And this is totally unreleated to the post at hand, but I finally saw Let the Right One In. Incredible film.
Posted by actionman
at January 5, 2009 1:28 PM
comment #6
Aris P
says ...
I heard he was going to hire that Dirty Harry blogger, and/or his website... I might be wrong. Anyways, one conservative circle-jerk film site is MORE than enough IMO.
Posted by Aris P
at January 5, 2009 2:05 PM
comment #7
Cinematically-Correct.com
says ...
Sigh. Can't we all have places to read things written by somebody who may have the same opinion? No?
It's easy to say that right-wing flicks are usually pretty bad because, well, they are. However, can it be admitted that it is probably difficult to get movies with a right-wing or conservative agenda made in Hollywood these days? Sure, Clint Eastwood or Tony Scott can make one because they have some built-up cred, but I bet it's tough for Joe The Screenwriter to get his stuff sold.
Posted by Cinematically-Correct.com
at January 5, 2009 2:10 PM
comment #8
YRG
says ...
Aren't most horror films right-wing? I wouldn't know; I don't watch 'em.
Posted by YRG
at January 5, 2009 2:39 PM
comment #9
LYT
says ...
Horror films could be called right-wing in the sense that the objective tends to be to kill the bad guy (rather than life imprisonment or therapy, let's say), though the gratuitous violence tends to put off cultural conservatives like Michael Medved, who has advocated a tax on violent movies so that tickets to them cost more.
Michael Bay's movies tend to be very pro-military and patriotic in the simplest sense, and he can get pretty much anything made.
Posted by LYT
at January 5, 2009 2:44 PM
comment #10
Cinematically-Correct.com
says ...
That is true about Michael Bay. Unfortunately, Bay is pretty much interested in as high a rate of return as possible so he is just trying to appeal to as many schmucks as possible, which includes red states. Even the chucklehead redneck in Nebraska will go see brain-numbing stuff like "Armageddon".
"Dirty Harry" is really the last great right-wing flick.
Posted by Cinematically-Correct.com
at January 5, 2009 2:48 PM
comment #11
Breedlove
says ...
Michael Bay has been dissed...if you're lucky the fact that it's 5:01 will keep actionman from tearing you a new one. For your sake I hope he's left the office.
Posted by Breedlove
at January 5, 2009 3:03 PM
comment #12
Josh Massey
says ...
So many of you are quick to forget a right-wing film just grossed over $500 million and is probably about to be nominated for Best Picture...
(That should stoke the fires).
Posted by Josh Massey
at January 5, 2009 3:25 PM
comment #13
storymark
says ...
Sure, Josh. If you like preschool-level oversimplification, then yeah, it was a right-wing film.
Posted by storymark
at January 5, 2009 3:58 PM
comment #14
luca
says ...
Conservatives really show their ignorance when they pine for this make believe Hollywood that used to be right wing and patriotic. The reality is most artists were far left. A lot more left leaning than today's "liberal Hollywood elite." The studio bosses for the most part were the right wingers. Back then conservatives considered Hollywood the center of Communist sympathy. Hence the blacklist. But then we are all to familiar with conservative's preference for myth over fact.
Posted by luca
at January 5, 2009 4:03 PM
comment #15
Jeffrey Wells
says ...
Wells to Cinematically-Correct: That's a fair point, by which I mean it's at least somewhat accurate.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells
at January 5, 2009 4:12 PM
comment #16
Josh Massey
says ...
Storymark: Instead of offering nothing but snark, tell me why I'm wrong.
Posted by Josh Massey
at January 5, 2009 4:18 PM
comment #17
K. Bowen
says ...
The Dark Knight?
Posted by K. Bowen
at January 5, 2009 5:38 PM
comment #18
K. Bowen
says ...
I'd say Man on Fire is, maybe not a left-wing film, but a critique of a right-wing vigilante film. It's abotu a man who is caught in a system. He thinks he understands the underlying morality, and he thinks it makes him a hero, and he thinks it justifies his violence, but in the end that's not right. But I think its politics are probably incidental.
Posted by K. Bowen
at January 5, 2009 5:45 PM
comment #19
K. Bowen
says ...
Oh, just to make clear, I tend to agree with Josh.
Posted by K. Bowen
at January 5, 2009 5:54 PM
comment #20
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
Good lawd, Massey...you just won't let go of this fantasy of TDK as a conservative parable. I thought that theory was put to bed pretty soundly a couple times on these very boards, most recently in that Goldstein thread from about two months ago.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at January 5, 2009 6:26 PM
comment #21
swordandpen
says ...
In The Dark Knight, didn't most of Batman's (i.e. Bush's) tactics backfire, ultimately forced him to go against his principles and lose sight of what The Joker's plan (turning Harvey Dent) was all along? Hardly a ringing endorsement of right-wing ideology.
Posted by swordandpen
at January 5, 2009 6:35 PM
comment #22
smiley
says ...
Josh Massey,
What part of the totalitarian tactics Batman used blowing up in his face did you miss?
Just one example: Batman beats the hell out of Joker instead of listening to what he had to say so he wasted precious time that inevitably cost Rachel her life.
Posted by smiley
at January 5, 2009 6:55 PM
comment #23
smiley
says ...
By the way Punisher: War Zone is a right-wing film how did that do returning America to its patriotic roots?
Regardless I'm sure Andrew Breitbart will end up with a weekly guestspot on Hannity.
Posted by smiley
at January 5, 2009 7:00 PM
comment #24
LYT
says ...
The most hilarious aspect of right-wing culture critics is their need to bend over backwards explaining how everything they like is actually conservative.
I'm fairly left-wing, but enjoy the hell out of numerous movies starring Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood. I won't try to justify how they fit my worldview, because as far as I'm concerned, the way a fictional worldview works in a fictional story has no bearing on real-world solutions.
But if a conservative columnist enjoys Star Wars, beware of the logistic convolutions that follow.
Posted by LYT
at January 5, 2009 11:35 PM
comment #25
Howlingman
says ...
Am I correct in assuming that the "patriotic roots" which Big Hollywood will actively promote will be of an exclusively Conservative Republican nature? 'Cause if I'm to believe Fox News, only Republicans can be patriotic Americans.
Posted by Howlingman
at January 6, 2009 7:25 AM
comment #26
George Prager
says ...
I'm going to create a website to encourage more Hollywood films made by vegan bisexual gun-owners who want to go back to the gold standard.
Posted by George Prager
at January 6, 2009 8:14 AM
comment #27
George Prager
says ...
Once again it's worth noting that these so-called "conservatives" are the ones that would make Chairman Mao proud.
Posted by George Prager
at January 6, 2009 8:16 AM
comment #28
Krillian
says ...
I'm a conservative who doesn't mind the small amount of conservative movies. American Carol wasn't funny. Dark Knight was great, and it illustrated just how hard it is to fight someone who just lives for destruction, but it was days before I started thinking about its "politics." When movies are overtly liberal, they're hilarious, like The Contender, or The Life of David Gale. At the same time I loved Dead Man Walking, made by liberals, but pretty fair to the issue of the death penalty. Besides, now that a Dem's in the White House, we'll get movies where the government's the good guy again.
Nixon movies - Everyone dies at the end.
Ford movies - It's vigilante time!
Carter movies - Calgon, take me away.
Reagan movies - America kicks Russian butt!!
HW Bush movies - Kevin Costner.
Clinton movies - The presidency's swell.
Bush movies - Torture porn.
Obama movies - GI Joe's an international coalition.
Posted by Krillian
at January 6, 2009 9:34 AM
comment #29
Stephen Coates
says ...
"Conservative" films like The Passion of Christ and the Narnia series have done quite well if memory serves. Also, the diatribes of Redford, Moore and de Palma were not exactly blockbusters. Pretty sure those anti-American films took it in the shorts.
Posted by Stephen Coates
at January 6, 2009 11:58 AM
comment #30
Jonah
says ...
"Conservative" films like The Passion of Christ and the Narnia series have done quite well if memory serves. Also, the diatribes of Redford, Moore and de Palma were not exactly blockbusters. Pretty sure those anti-American films took it in the shorts."
Nobody actually believes those films were Anti-American. Clearly you're just trying to stir things up. But Moore directed the highest grossing documentary of all time, smack dab in the middle of the Anti-American Bush Administrations worst abuses of power.
So suck it.
Posted by Jonah
at January 6, 2009 12:36 PM
comment #31
smiley
says ...
Absolutely Stephen, thats why Narnia's franchise ticket just got punched.
And just because I'm does any movie involving Christ automatically become conservative?
BTW when did questioning faulty beliefs or showing the plight of our soldiers overseas become Anti-American? I'll wait for Limbaugh to come up with your answer.
Posted by smiley
at January 6, 2009 12:37 PM
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