Miss Sloane a dud

I didn’t see that coming (Sarc)

So it looks like the highly touted anti-gun / anti-NRA movie is bombing badly at the box office.

Miss Sloane is a story of a DC lobbyist that takes on the “most powerful opponent of her career”, an obvious reference to the NRA.

So the elites in Hollywood somehow thought that a film where the hero is a lobbyist would make for a good movie. I suppose in progressive land this makes sense. However, in the really real world where the American public is growing tired of the self-righteous elites dictating our rights, it may not have been such a smart move.

The movie according to Box Office Mojo, had a total revenue for Miss Sloane at a paltry $3.188m. That’s after 4 weeks. Let’s compare to say, Bad Santa which has also been out for 4 weeks and has made over $17m in about 1/3 of the number of theaters.

I saw the preview for Miss Sloane while waiting to watch Arrival. My wife and I looked at each other and laughed, nope we wouldn’t be wasting money on that propaganda.

Jessica Chastain may be a good actress, I don’t know I haven’t seen anything she has been in. Zero Dark Thirty which would normally fall into my range of films, had some elements that didn’t meet the smell test so I may catch it on TV someday.

Bias alert: I am an NRA member….

In other news:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Permits to carry concealed handguns are up in the second-most populated county in Colorado.

El Paso County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Natalie Sosa told The Gazette that officials noticed the spike after last year’s shooting on Halloween was followed by another on Black Friday.

The department issued 7,100 concealed carry permits through November this year, almost twice as many as it did in 2015.

#Miss Sloane, #dumbideas #Guncontrol

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My Movie Review – The Accountant

Before seeing the accountant my wife told me the reviews were pretty bad. Well its Ben Affleck so that really wasn’t a surprise. Don’t get me wrong, I think Ben is very talented just not necessarily at acting. But then it has been awhile since I watched an Affleck movie.

Surprisingly this one was a very good movie.

Ok here is the canned description:

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a mathematics savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Using a small-town CPA office as a cover, he makes his living as a freelance accountant for dangerous criminal organizations. With a Treasury agent (J.K. Simmons) hot on his heels, Christian takes on a state-of-the-art robotics company as a legitimate client. As Wolff gets closer to the truth about a discrepancy that involves millions of dollars, the body count starts to rise.

Like I said the reviews are pretty low for this movie. Maybe that’s why I liked it. I hate movie critics. Plus after watching the last Jason Bourne movie (sucked bad) any action flick with half a story is impressive. Where there holes in this one? Sure it’s not 10 hours long so sure there are some holes, but I liked the character. I liked the idea. I was entertained. That’s the part that counts for me.

Movies I’ve seen lately

Captain Phillips – There has been some controversy over the true character of the real Captain Phillips. This may have had some effect on the total box office draw. Putting that aside, the movie was good. The suspense worked even though I knew the outcome. It was also a great reminder of just how good the SEALs shots were that day. Multiple shots from two moving watercraft is pretty amazing. It’s worth seeing.

Movie description: IMDB

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

Ender’s Game – Since my son said this was the best story he’s ever read and I feel similar so we had to see Enders Game. It was pretty true to the book although it had to be condensed considerably. In the book Enders progression took a few years. The key points were still there though and it was entertaining. The movie did leave out a pretty significant part of the story regarding Enders Brother and Sister and their influence on the situation on Earth. Ender’s Game is definitely worth seeing.

Movie description: IMDB

The International Military seek out a leader who can save the human race from an alien attack. Ender Wiggin, a brilliant young mind, is recruited and trained to lead his fellow soldiers into a battle that will determine the future of Earth.

Thor The Dark World – What to say about Thor the dark world. I guess if you have some time on a Saturday AT HOME and it was on a free station it would be ok to watch. But I don’t recommend paying for this movie. It was too convoluted and other than Anthony Hopkins nobody really stood out. It’s not that you can’t enjoy this film but it’s just doesn’t pull you into the story. At least for me and those I watched it with. So it’s not a full price movie in my book.

Movie description: IMDB

Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

The Beaver a serious movie

I was lucky enough to have recently viewed Mel Gibson / Jodi Fosters “The Beaver”. The idea sounds ridiculous. A man on the brink of a complete mental breakdown / illness finds himself taken over to some extent by a beaver puppet. The beaver (himself) turns his life around only to eventually take over his life. It’s a story of one man’s fight to stay sane.

He is losing his family. A wife that can’t stand his depression any longer and kicks him out.  His oldest son hates him and post notes of similarities they have in order to be less like him. Then there is his youngest son who simply wants his father’s attention.

The film starts rather depressing and only gains in its dark descent. If you were looking for a feel good movie this probably isn’t it. It is however very good.

For all his faults Mel Gibson once again shows he knows good films and can put on a great performance. Jodi Foster should be given great credit for continuing with this project and the release with Mel having so many problems at this time.

I only wonder how much of his personal life Mel was able to channel into this character.

For me, this was a movie well worth seeing.

Transformers – doesn’t work this time

The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets. IMDB

Last weekend our family went to see Transformers – dark of the moon. My 9 year old son likes the transformer movies so a day out together seemed like good way to start the weekend. Unfortunately the movie wasn’t as good as we’d hoped. Now my standards aren’t real high for this type of movie. It’s a fantasy and so implausible that you just have to go with the premise without too many questions. It would be silly to nit-pick a movie based on a robot war where the robots can change shape to any form and size, I mean how does a giant robot change to a small car? Where does all the metal go?

This movie however didn’t even reach my low standards. It was pure whining chaos. I don’t think two minutes of the entire film made any sense. While I’m no fan of the transformer concept the first film wasn’t too bad. But here the characters haven’t grown a bit. Shai Lebouef’s character Sam seems to have regressed in age, mental age anyway. He spends the whole time running around complaining about how he gets no credit for saving the world twice. Great hero?

Then there is the new girl, Rosie Alice Huntington-Whiteley who only attribute is a top lip that looks like she was repeatedly punched in the mouth. Look I don’t know who’s telling these Hollywood women that a fat lip is sexy but stop. Plus her character provided nothing to the movie.

With that said there are a couple high points. Ken Jeong plays a pretty funny part, but then is killed. Leonard Nimoy voices one of the Autobots with some references any Star Trek fan will recognize. Yeah that’s about all the good points I can think of.

Having said all that my son thought it was ok and we did have a good dinner afterwards. Even a bad movie is good with the family.

The expendables

Sylvester Stallone has been relatively busy the last few years.  With Rambo, Rocky Balboa and the expendables he’s made a bit of a comeback.  When you go to a movie like this it’s not really about a great story, we really don’t expect that, or great acting, we are not watching hamlet but we do expect action.  In this department the expendables delivers.  In fact that’s just about all this film is.  With the added feature of having so many named stars albeit older stars, it adds up to fun.  Who doesn’t want to see for example Micky Rourke.  I mean he’s that loser to cheer for and Dolf Lungren.  Come on Dolf has paid his dues and he can act at least as good and Chuck Norris.  Yes I’m smiling as I write that since I like Chuck a lot.  Fact is we often like these guys because they aren’t great but great to watch.  They also give us hope, if the old guys can stay in that good of shape maybe we can to.  Ok I know we don’t have the personal trainers or the time to spend in the gym all day but still….

There was a down side of the film for me though.  The fights had too much gore.  I mean really, do I need to see a guys gut blown in half?  Nah,  I’ve seen the real thing and don’t need it on film.  The explosions were huge but didn’t make sense.  That’s pretty normal these days in films though so don’t let it stop you from watching. Besides it’s pale compared to the latest in horror movie gore. 

Robin Hood

First off I liked the movie.  Contrary to what some critics have said I didn’t find it too long (2 hrs 20 minutes).  It’s not as good as Gladiator but was a good movie.  The key parts I took away were the desire for liberty under the rule of law and not the rule of kings and the idea that to a man has the right to earn his own way free from tyrannical rule. (over regulation,  Deer for example all belong to the King and hunting them can bring a death sentence)

Some on the right have been overly critical in my opinion about the one question in the movie referencing the crusades.  It’s a small incident but used to point out Robins honesty even facing the King. 

Robin Hood is not the merry tale of a band of good guys but a tale of a group of good men surviving.  A tale of elites that see their authority coming to them from god and the injustices a nation not founded on laws with endure. 

I wonder, has Russell Crowe been in a bad movie?  Maybe not all were the best but I don’t recall a bad one.

Quantum of Solace. Jame Bond is action

With Mondays off I often get a chance to see matinee movies. Today was Quantum of Solace, the newest James Bond film. About six months ago I re-read Casino Royal, not the film version but Ian Flemming’s original novel. It reminded me why I like the newest version of Bond. In the novels as in this film Bond is a hard ass. Daniel Craig pulls that off well.

In this sequel Bond is after those that killed Vesper his love interest in Casino Royal. In the process he learns of a group that appears to have infiltrated nearly every government including the British Secret Service. The film would have been better had a little more effort went into the dialog. We know Bond is angry but we never feel he’s really out of control as his controllers seem to think. That should have been developed a little more.

It is however an action film more than anything else and in that realm it delivers. Action is how this film begins and ends with few breaks in between.

The only real downside was how America and the CIA were portrayed. Once again we see the US as willing to install any dictator as long as we get something out of the deal and yet the British in General are seen as the saviors. Hey Bond is British Secret Service so I just ignored that part.

All in all though it was enjoyable and that’s really what I’m looking for in a movie.

The Dark Knight

Well hell yeah I went to see this. After Batman Begins I was sure to see this one on the big screen. I do wish I’d seen it on an IMAX screen though. So to begin with yes it’s a damn good movie. It’s not just a comic book super hero movie it’s a good movie in general. It is better than Batman Begins and I thought that was the best batman.

I don’t buy hype so I didn’t expect Heath Ledgers performance to be more than good. I was surprised. But it wasn’t just his acting it was a character that was great also. Darker and more psychotic the Joker is evil. Evil that want’s nothing more than complete chaos, to see good people turn bad.

Christian Bale is still a very good Batman and his back up Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman of course don’t disappoint.

The other Characters of Harvey Dent (two face) and Rachel are fine also. I mean they were all good.

Of course Gary Oldman as Gordon was outstanding. He is my personal favorite in the movie.

Quote to think on.  Lt. James Gordon: Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight.

The Dark Knight left me with some questions though.  Why do super heroes think it’s somehow wrong to kill villains?  I mean hell how many innocent people would be saved by one bullet in the Jokers head right off the bat.  Yeah I know it wouldn’t have been quite the movie if that happened but damn.

Oh yeah best answer to a question came as Bruce Wayne asks Alfred “That man in Burma, did you ever catch him?”   “Of course”.  “How?”  “We burned the forest”.  From Michael Caine as Alfred you can believe it.

So I give it 4 out of 4.  I don’t do that often.

Note:  I Ironman was also great.  In a different vain perhaps but for comic book hero movies smoking hot.

I’m not great at reviews so here are some other links. I thought the first one interesting.

What Bush and Batman have in common

The Dark Knight Review – Todd Gilchist

The Dark Knight Review – Brad Brevet

“ROME”

During the beginning of this deployment one of our team guys had a copy of the first season of HBOs Rome.  It quickly became a cult like addiction watching the hours of sex, conniving and fighting.  After the initial exposure to Rome, I didn’t see the second season until the last few days.  Which while in transit afforded me the time to watch season two nearly non-stop.  The damn show is like crack.  You can’t walk away from it. 

This show is pure entertainment and I doubt it truly resembles what Rome was like but then again who knows.  But if it  was filled with as much debauchery as portrayed then I was born in the wrong time.  Of course with so little restrained shown I would have most likely been killed early on so maybe It’s ok Im not in that century. 

What does it really have.  Well attractive mature women, death by sword which can never be wrong, and back stabbing to the hilt.  There is sex, blood and evil.  There is also of course the noble.  Well kind of noble.  More like stubbornness in Lucius Vorenus and loyalty in his friend Titus Pullo.  The best characters in the show. 

And no I didn’t watch it just for the gratuitous sex but that sure helped.. 😉 

Oh yeah there are no happy ending however.