gdp's Comments

Big Hollywood : HomeVideodrome: 'Star Wars,' 'Citizen Kane,' and a Podcast!

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:30:04 +0000

I'm not so sure about that. A contact that Bryan Young (of "Big Shiny Robot!") has at Lucasfilm said "We hope fans will wait to see for themselves how they fit into the Saga before making any judgments." So that seems to suggest a different theory ... Lucas, upset that the big dramatic "NOOO!" at the end of Episode III was universally derided (and not the big, powerful emotional scene he was hoping it would be), so he tries to "win fans over" to "appreciate" that scene by connecting it with one of the most powerful scenes of the saga. That it does, of course, bring down the latter scene is not the point. George Lucas ... morally bankrupt charlatan, or just creatively bankrupt artist offended by mass criticism? Then again, it might not be Lucas at all... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM ;)

Big Hollywood : What Constitutes a Conservative Film?

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:53:15 +0000

>a serial-killing, eco-terrorist Marxist does not become a conservative hero just because he spouts off that he doesn’t trust the federal government to provide quality health care. ... and yet a pro-adultery, pro-selfishness, anti-Christian work like "Atlas Shrugged" is called a conservative "must-see" movie (with a "timeless" message) simply because it supports free enterprise and opposes statism... :rolleyes: I'm just sayin'...

Big Hollywood : Rand Was Wrong, Hollywood Was Right, so Let's Spread the Wealth Around

Tue, 24 May 2011 21:10:22 +0000

Did you have to bring *this* dreck up again?! I thought we'd finally been over the fawning over this evil work around here. The fact that the movie bombed should be a cause for rejoicing, not for articles like these. "But Rand attacked the welfare state!" So? She not only rejected that, but private charity as well - in fact, she opposed the very *idea* of one man serving another. It still amazes me that people who claim to be Christian put their heart and soul into defending and promoting works such Rand's, works that are fundamentally at odds with the Beatitudes. "But it's a timeless message for all time!" No, it's not. Do you really think the Tea Party came about because of a massive surge of people reading "Atlas Shrugged," "Anthem" and "The Fountainhead?" No, it's because people were sick of the ineffectiveness and other deleterious effects of the welfare state. (Look at the former Warsaw Pact- why do you think Solidary came about: Catholicism, or Rand?) What would a successful "Atlas Shrugged" movie result in? Best case scenario: people go in, hate it, and it becomes the cinematic equivalent of Rebecca Black's "Friday." Worst case scenario: formerly God-fearing Christians turn to a philosophy that's just as sexually licentious as liberalism, and the nation further declines into depravity and decay. Of course, for daring to be less than enthusiastically praiseworthy of Rand, I will be castigated as a leftist, an entitled state employee, and a "libtard." I am none of these things, but tribalism has a nasty of habit of infecting people's minds...

Big Hollywood : Kirk Cameron to Stephen Hawking: You're Not So Smart

Thu, 19 May 2011 15:53:14 +0000

OK, so perhaps Cameron isn't the most qualified person to respond to Hawking. Still, that doesn't mean that Hawking is right. Hawking's speciality is science (physics, to be exact), but in his recent comments he's veered off from physics to philosophy and theology, fields in which he is not trained. For a better response to Hawking than Cameron's here's author Mike Flynn: http://m-francis.livejournal.com/200441.html And Fr. Barron, who's published a large number of videos on different topics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-yx5WN4efo

Big Hollywood : G.I. Film Festival Review: 'Ironclad' - 'Seven Samurai' Meets 'Braveheart' Hits Theatres July 8th

Tue, 17 May 2011 18:03:26 +0000

P.S. Also, when King Johns yells out "Albany! Albany!," I can almost hear the MST3K/Rifftrax crowd start to should random state capitals and/or NY state city names...

Big Hollywood : G.I. Film Festival Review: 'Ironclad' - 'Seven Samurai' Meets 'Braveheart' Hits Theatres July 8th

Tue, 17 May 2011 18:01:04 +0000

There's only one quibble I have with the clip ... King John's mentioning that he has the Pope's support does give the insinuation that this movie will have a "freedom good, Catholic Church bad" vibe whenever said issue comes up in the story. That would indeed be ironic, as the historical John seems to have been quite a sacreligious man, and his squabbles with the Church actually got him excommunicated and even forced the pope to put England under interdict. Now, to be fair, John and the Pope had been reconciled by the time of the film's events, but I don't think Innocent III was necessarily endorsing John's tyranny. The potential anti-Catholicism I mentioned could have been avoided with some dialogue like this from the castle side: (John says he's got the backing of the pope) Character 1: He *does* have a point there... Character 2: The Pope's all the way in Italy, right? So forgive him, for he knows not what he did... Nevertheless, this is the only pitfall I can see from the preview. Other than that, it looks like a film worth seeing!

Big Hollywood : A Christian Reponds to Bill Maher's Ignorant Bin Laden Rant

Sat, 14 May 2011 22:16:07 +0000

Nice point, but you lost me on "enhanced interrogation." (Yes, it is wrong and yes, waterboarding is torture - everyone knew it was until George W. Bush's presidency...) (N.B. I am not a pacifist. I do, however, believe that their is such a thing as ius in bellum as well as ad bellum, and that some of the US' wartime conduct - both now and in earlier conflicts - violates that.) It seems to me that Nolte, like all too many Christians in America, have automatically assumed that anything and everything that is "right-wing" and/or "American" is necessarily "Christian." It would explain why someone who claims to be a follower of Christ would support such things as torture ("enhanced interrogation"), mass murder (the nukings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and philosophies that are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel (such as that of Ayn Rand.) (Indeed, to try and reconcile Objectivism with Christianity would require mental gymnastics worthy of a pro-abortion Catholic politician.)

Big Hollywood : Interview: After Dropping Out of Hollywood, 'Bruce Almighty' Director Tom Shadyac Returns With 'I Am

Sat, 14 May 2011 21:34:14 +0000

>Do you recognize your self-righteous, judgmental, closed mindedness? Please. Flattery will get you nowhere.

Big Hollywood : Obama Administration Still Prosecuting Heroes

Thu, 12 May 2011 18:30:43 +0000

I'm not "diluting" the word. You're narrowing its definition so that it excludes whatever "enhanced interrogation" methods the US is using, and so you can claim "we're not torturing!" Oh, and waterboarding *is* illegal according to US law: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti...

Big Hollywood : Like Rapper Common, White House Guest Jill Scott 'Winces' at Interracial Relationships

Wed, 11 May 2011 16:35:12 +0000

>my royal Polish butt. So, would that be of the Jagiello, Vasa, or Sobieski lineage? ;)

Big Hollywood : Like Rapper Common, White House Guest Jill Scott 'Winces' at Interracial Relationships

Wed, 11 May 2011 16:32:38 +0000

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this ... if she will "wince" at a black male/white female relationship, what does she think of Obama, who is the fruit of such a union?

Big Hollywood : Obama Administration Still Prosecuting Heroes

Wed, 11 May 2011 02:26:28 +0000

Impeach a president for opposing something that's actually illegal? Don't think so. Now, there could be grounds upon which to impeach "The One" (such as his order to assassinate a Pakistani-American cleric who's also a US citizen.) The problem with any "impeach Obama" movement is that it will result in something not pleasant to contemplate ... President Biden.

Big Hollywood : Obama Administration Still Prosecuting Heroes

Tue, 10 May 2011 20:35:49 +0000

They're torture. Stop all this hairsplitting moral relativism.

Big Hollywood : Obama Administration Still Prosecuting Heroes

Tue, 10 May 2011 20:34:13 +0000

Those who use "enhanced interrogation" are not heroes, but criminals. One of the few *good* things Obama promised to do was to end such barbarous practices, but sadly those were just words. By saying this, of course, I will be accused of being a pro-abortion Obama-loving weeny peacenik and so many other things that in fact I am not. If he does actually prosecute the CIA guys, it will be a good thing. He might be a hypocrite for doing it, and his other policies will still be horrendous, but at least he'd do one thing right.

Big Hollywood : Hipster Irony Alert!: Watch Stephen Colbert Celebrate Results of Cheney's 'Secret, Lawless Assassina

Fri, 6 May 2011 17:15:18 +0000

Oh, the infamous "ticking time bomb" scenario torture apologists use to justify their means. It's about as likely as the "27 Ninjas" scenario that self-defense instructors are often asked - "if I am suddenly attacked by twenty-seven ninjas wielding Uzis, what do I do?" Ends do not justify the means. Example: the Roman emperor Commodus refrained from persecuting Christians because he had a Christian mistress. Does that justify their adultery?

Big Hollywood : Hipster Irony Alert!: Watch Stephen Colbert Celebrate Results of Cheney's 'Secret, Lawless Assassina

Fri, 6 May 2011 17:04:24 +0000

Why is torture (er, "enhanced interrogation) wrong? Because every single human, no matter how horrible their crimes, has a human dignity that cannot be violated. This dignity is what lies behind the very notion of human rights in general, and individual rights in particular. It is why the Anglo-American legal tradition says "it is better that a guilty man go free than an innocent be punished." Are the terrorist's actions evil? Without a doubt. But the terrorist is still a human. Not only that, but it dehumanizes the interrogator as well, not to mention the people he works for. Note Frederick Douglass' mentioning of how the owning of slaves degraded the character of his owner. Alexander Solzhenitsyn observed that his Soviet gulag guards were "turning into swine" because of the tormet they inflicted upon others. Also, if a "little" torture is permitted, how can it be stopped there? Once "the end justifies the means" is adopted, you'll never run out of "ends" to justify whatever evil "means" you wish to carry out. It's the crack in the dam that leads to the flood.

Big Hollywood : Hipster Irony Alert!: Watch Stephen Colbert Celebrate Results of Cheney's 'Secret, Lawless Assassina

Fri, 6 May 2011 16:43:02 +0000

And yet the tribalism that so afflicts contemporary America raises its ugly head once again - simply because I oppose torture/"enhanced interrogation," you ipso facto assume I am a anti-Christian liberal. You know what it's like when a liberal accuses you of being an anti-science misogynistic rascist simply because of your views? You are doing the exact same thing. In fact, I am a Christian, and my opposition to both torture and Ayn Rand stems from my faith. (Rand was just as ardent a member of the culture of death as Margaret Sanger and Lady Gaga: but The Lady Formerly Known as Rosenbaum supported free market in her promotion of greed, and so my noting that her philosophy is incompatible with Christianity seems to have fallen on deaf ears.)

Big Hollywood : The Adventures of Globalman

Thu, 5 May 2011 15:37:50 +0000

Well, to be fair, Superman didn't stand up for "the American Way" until World War II/the Cold War (I forget which one.) And (from the link CrisisEraDynamo provided) it seems that (to paraphrase Reagan) he didn't leave America, America left him (in refusing to support the protesters, the US could be said to have abandoned freedom and justice.) Still, Superman's story is tied to the American immigrant experience, so it's wrong to de-Americanize him. Besides, DC has said the story isn't canon, and so "Superman will remain as American as Apple pie," so it's all good. Now if only Marvel will retcon "One More Day"...

Big Hollywood : Hipster Irony Alert!: Watch Stephen Colbert Celebrate Results of Cheney's 'Secret, Lawless Assassina

Wed, 4 May 2011 00:42:44 +0000

Nope. Wouldn't bring my loved ones back or do anything else useful, and it's wrong, so no.

Big Hollywood : Hipster Irony Alert!: Watch Stephen Colbert Celebrate Results of Cheney's 'Secret, Lawless Assassina

Wed, 4 May 2011 00:38:30 +0000

If US soldiers were being waterboarded by a foreign power, would you maintain they were being treated humanely? If not, then you must admit waterboarding is torture.