en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/613888 Comments by Tom_S http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rcapshaw/2011/11/11/j-edgar-films-most-accurate-portrayal-of-a-complicated-figure/#IDComment220594632 I think I may have a glimmer of an idea as to why Hollywood types, even the group that writes for this site, must accept completely that J.E. Hoover was homosexual and pivot all of their "complexity" theories around that, regardless of the lack of evidence. Could it be that if he wasn't homosexual it would push his character beyond their capacity to understand. There is virtually nothing complex about homosexuality in and of itself, so is it intellectual laziness or a genuine incapacity to understand? Is this distance from genuine human experience rather than the canned homosexual, racist, bigot, fill-in-the-angst trope the reason that the American film industry churns out ever cruder, less entertaining remake after remake and seems to have forsaken creativity? Why does reviewer after reviewer take away from this movie nothing but the skillfully nuanced treatment of Hoovers's homosexuality (which if you remove the name Hoover has only been done about a thousand times) when it is a complete fabrication? What is up with the mental block? Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:04:59 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rcapshaw/2011/11/11/j-edgar-films-most-accurate-portrayal-of-a-complicated-figure/#IDComment220594632 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2011/11/10/why-are-audiences-laughing-at-j-edgar/#IDComment220192899 Neither. If you have also read the U.S. Army handed out small pox tainted blankets to "Persons of Post-Glacial Pre-Columbian Trans-Barent Asiatic Descent" for the purpose of genocide, and believe it, then I have a bridge to sell. Three's the charm. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:51:21 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2011/11/10/why-are-audiences-laughing-at-j-edgar/#IDComment220192899 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2011/11/10/why-are-audiences-laughing-at-j-edgar/#IDComment220186830 Riiigggghhhht! Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:34:43 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2011/11/10/why-are-audiences-laughing-at-j-edgar/#IDComment220186830 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2011/11/10/why-are-audiences-laughing-at-j-edgar/#IDComment220051932 " ...the historical record is just fuzzy enough for them not to fully commit to that narrative." As in so fuzzy that not a shred of said record exists. When a scene in a biopic is crafted to advance a proposition which is utterly devoid of factual support then the audience is free to twist it to its own purposes. They snickered because they relished the innuendo, like teen-agers hearing a dirty rumor about an unpopular teacher. It sounds like "J. Edgar" hit its target audience. Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:13:26 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2011/11/10/why-are-audiences-laughing-at-j-edgar/#IDComment220051932 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2011/05/22/todays-open-thread-18-carole-lombard/#IDComment155059262 This photo goes a long way towards explaining Clark Gable's grief. Good pick. Sun, 22 May 2011 22:22:22 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2011/05/22/todays-open-thread-18-carole-lombard/#IDComment155059262 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2011/05/12/shame-on-america-for-celebrating-death-of-bin-laden/#IDComment151766436 Gore Vidal? Thong? Chafing? Didn't know Depends came in a thong model. You'ld think they would come pre-powdered or something. Fri, 13 May 2011 16:13:21 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2011/05/12/shame-on-america-for-celebrating-death-of-bin-laden/#IDComment151766436 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lmnorton/2011/03/25/battle-los-angeles-review-american-exceptionalism-on-the-big-screen-1-film-overseas/#IDComment137508358 The civilian conceit of mortality is brought up again when another Marine demands to know if their all "expendable". Real world would not be asked. People in uniform are vastly more aware of their mortality, and its value, than the typical civilian. On military installations virtually every building, tree, shrub, or rock larger than a baseball is named after a dead soldier, airman, sailor, or marine. They all know that ultimately everyone is expendable, they see it every day. The object is to not make it a cheap deal for the other side. The word for someone who thinks they are unexpendable is slave. Horatious knew it at the bridge. Xerxes understood it and that is why he made sure that all the dead, both Greek and Persian, were removed from sight before he let his army march through the pass at Thermopylae, not wanting his troops to contrast the mountain of Persian corpses with the pitiful little pile of Greek bodies. The Marines above all know it. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:39:16 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lmnorton/2011/03/25/battle-los-angeles-review-american-exceptionalism-on-the-big-screen-1-film-overseas/#IDComment137508358 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lmnorton/2011/03/25/battle-los-angeles-review-american-exceptionalism-on-the-big-screen-1-film-overseas/#IDComment137508300 Only two minor quibbles: 1. The Shakey cam was just too shakey, thought I was going to up-chuck a couple of times due to sensory induced vertigo. 2. The scene where the LCpl (I think) tells the 2ndLt that the squad will ditch the SSgt in a heart beat. Very unrealistic. In the real world the LCpl would know better than to even hint that he has less than complete faith in the Chain-of-Command to an Officer. If he had been so stupid as to express the opinion that he could pick and choose who he will allow the MC to put in charge he would have been doing push-ups 'til he puked and removed a stripe from his uniform on the way to the head to clean up. Unless the MC has changed a very great deal in the last 20 years directly undermining the authority of a superior is about as near to Original Sin as one can come. I understand that it was a script expediency to move the story along, but for me that was stretching the "suspension of disbelief" to just shy of the breaking point. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:38:58 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lmnorton/2011/03/25/battle-los-angeles-review-american-exceptionalism-on-the-big-screen-1-film-overseas/#IDComment137508300 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtapson/2011/03/09/the-l-a-times-announces-the-triumph-of-conservative-hollywood/#IDComment133629501 The article begins, “[I]t’s become an article of faith in Conservative America that Hollywood is a ‘collection of hopeless la-la-land liberals — or worse, an elitist gaggle of heartland-bashing snobs.’” Unfortunately he is so out of touch that he can't even get his sneering generalization correct. Its not Conservative America: it's virtually all of working America (union company excepted of course), and the correct charcterization is - A droll collection of dysfunctional Marxist tools in monomaniacal pursuit of being honored as Most Useful in a Supporting Role, thereby gaining entry into the Neo-nomencultura. Wed, 9 Mar 2011 16:36:12 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtapson/2011/03/09/the-l-a-times-announces-the-triumph-of-conservative-hollywood/#IDComment133629501 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/02/09/top-25-greatest-christian-films-and-the-nominees-are/#IDComment126933330 Coppola reduces him to be a parody of evil by making his vampirism a mere purgatory, punishment by a petty spiteful God, for a moment of passion rather than a reflection of the very core of his soul. The 1931, Tod Browning, version was much more in tune with the moral of Stoker's work than Coppola can imagine. Remember, in Hollywood evil is merely a construct; background to showcase CGI and FX. Wed, 9 Feb 2011 16:19:35 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/02/09/top-25-greatest-christian-films-and-the-nominees-are/#IDComment126933330 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/02/09/top-25-greatest-christian-films-and-the-nominees-are/#IDComment126933314 No Bells of St Mary's? One wonders at the selection of Coppola's 'Dracula' (couldn't find a 2000 version listed on IMDb), which twists Stokers story about the faith needed to not be disuaded by moderninity in recognizing and confronting evil, and the perseverance and sacrifice required by that confrontation, inside out. Stoker did his homework well and researched the model for Dracula (Vlad Tepes) in depth, from his years as a young hostage in the household of the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, to the application of the same brutal terror tactics as his enemies used throughout the Balkans, through the abandonment of his wife to defend his castle against besieging Turks by escaping through a secret exit, and her subsequent suicide rather than enduring the Mohammedan retribution for defying them. Vlad was considered by many contemporaries, both Mohammedan and Christian, to be the very embodiment of evil. Wed, 9 Feb 2011 16:19:27 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/02/09/top-25-greatest-christian-films-and-the-nominees-are/#IDComment126933314 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/driehl/2011/02/04/madison-theatre-company-angry-at-arizona-and-tea-party-come-watch-us-kill-some-conservatives/#IDComment125933531 One wonders how many fallacious cliches are put into the mouths of the spurious conservative characters to justify their murder. One gets the impression that the next to last paragraph of the channel3000.com article is incomplete: Funny, offensive, or both? The creative minds behind the Mercury Players Theatre said that they hope that people on all sides of the debate keep talking. Without succumbing to the violence portrayed in "The Last Supper." The tone of the "creative minds" implies that the last sentence should finish, "...; but it's understandable if this is the way it has to end." Fri, 4 Feb 2011 15:51:39 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/driehl/2011/02/04/madison-theatre-company-angry-at-arizona-and-tea-party-come-watch-us-kill-some-conservatives/#IDComment125933531 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2010/08/09/investment-opportunity-my-ground-zero-gay-bar/#IDComment91876066 One question. Are you going to have Happy-Hour Friday afternoons? Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:25:10 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2010/08/09/investment-opportunity-my-ground-zero-gay-bar/#IDComment91876066 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2010/08/07/roseanne-rants-against-israel-announces-presidential-bid/#IDComment91875174 Roseanne! Moral courgage! Who knew? Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:21:12 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/hollywoodland/2010/08/07/roseanne-rants-against-israel-announces-presidential-bid/#IDComment91875174 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/06/09/speech-police-county-commission-refuses-to-authorize-val-kilmers-plans-to-develop-property-until-he-explains-ethnically-insulting-comments/#IDComment79342399 When given sour grapes one should attempt to make grape juice, or something like that. At the Thought Ministry meeting, where he must explain himself, he should fess-up that the drunk remark was actually a compliment. After all, the next morning that 80% will be sober; the remaining 20% will still be stupid (paraphrasing either W.C. Fields or Winston Churchill, can't recall which at the moment). Wed, 9 Jun 2010 19:30:00 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/06/09/speech-police-county-commission-refuses-to-authorize-val-kilmers-plans-to-develop-property-until-he-explains-ethnically-insulting-comments/#IDComment79342399 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/wthuston/2010/06/05/sir-paul-deep-as-a-thimble-classy-as-a-gushing-groupie/#IDComment78858970 Specifically I want his library records from Harvard, where he became an expert in Constitutional Law. Mon, 7 Jun 2010 03:17:10 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/wthuston/2010/06/05/sir-paul-deep-as-a-thimble-classy-as-a-gushing-groupie/#IDComment78858970 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/wthuston/2010/06/05/sir-paul-deep-as-a-thimble-classy-as-a-gushing-groupie/#IDComment78858738 Very witty Mr. McCartney: now name one book The Obama has read, much less a library reading list. Does anyone remember the stink Librarians raised nationally over the mythical requirements to turn over reading lists to the CIA in the Patriot act? Where's Barry's? Why can't we get it under FOIA? Help us, the weak and helpless proles, Mr. McCartney! Mon, 7 Jun 2010 03:13:36 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/wthuston/2010/06/05/sir-paul-deep-as-a-thimble-classy-as-a-gushing-groupie/#IDComment78858738 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.38ae4aeee4e5a9a3906a957141100904.a1&show_article=1#IDComment75830457 Perhaps Mssr. Mitterrand has a comment on Mr. Allen's assertion that living in France, and hobnobbing with the creme-de-la-creme of French society, is essentially compariable to sharing a cell with Bubba at CSP-Corcoran for 32 years. Who knew Woody Allen had such a low opinion of the French. Mon, 17 May 2010 14:47:05 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.38ae4aeee4e5a9a3906a957141100904.a1&show_article=1#IDComment75830457 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rtrzupek/2010/04/22/an-earth-day-message-for-green-hollywood/#IDComment69726145 Not exactly on topic, but not exactly off. Here's a big shout-out to the patron saint of useful idiots everywhere. Happy Birth(Earth)day Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov! Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:46:01 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rtrzupek/2010/04/22/an-earth-day-message-for-green-hollywood/#IDComment69726145 http://bigjournalism.com/bhallowell/2010/01/26/media-matters-vapid-response-to-air-americas-crash/#IDComment54021208 The fact is that conservative radio was never the competitor for Air America. That is like saying Caterpillar and Toyota are competitors. If you need earth moved you shop Caterpillar; if you need a high tech clown car you shop Toyota. Air America's market share competitor was NPR, and what happened is a harbinger of what will happen to medicine when the government becomes the bottomless pockets competitor of free-market insurance. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:43:41 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/bhallowell/2010/01/26/media-matters-vapid-response-to-air-americas-crash/#IDComment54021208