Tag: movies

Mailvox: Justice League review

DJ watches it so you don’t have to.

I had some time to kill in town today. Didn’t want to drive back home just to turn around. Decided to roll the dice and see the Justice League Movie. Consider this me taking one for the team.   It was abysmal. Just flat out boring. But it was offensive, too.

Before the opening credits even completed, while the movie tries to convince us the world has gone to hell with the death of Superman, we witness two angry white men (one with a shaved head, of course) assaulting a grocery owning Muslim family.  But that’s actually the only “bad” scene we see. All the other scenes were just of urban decay and sad people in mourning.

Yet, that’s not the only reason I found the movie offensive. It was a horrendously dumbed-down version of the DC Apokolips/Darkseid mythos. Truly awful. Further, the introductions of Aquaman and Flash completely rewrite those characters, making them as annoying as they are impotent.

Flash is a self-described fearful Jew who admits being scared of bugs and running away from trouble, perfectly ok letting others do all the fighting. Arthur Curry is a depicted as a petulant and spoiled resigned member of Atlantis, who even with near godlike power and freedom, drinks himself silly while complaining about his mommy.

Cyborg was pretty on point and probably the best part of the movie.

A risen Superman?  Boring. Made more so by returning him to his all-powerful, Silver Age, personality-missing, truth and justice (minus the American Way) flying savior.

Wonder Woman?  Well…let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if Zach Snyder ends up on the Miramax Scoreboard soon considering how many times we got to see a center focus shot of Gal Gadot’s rear. As for her character?  By the end of the movie she’s telling us Batman wanted her to lead the team (which he never actually does), and that she’s supposed to be the glue for the league, all the while smiling patronizingly at all the “supermen” around her…until of course a shirtless Clark Kent arrives on scene, at which point she drops the smile and visibly quivers at the sight of hairy Henry’s chest.

Not ever how the angry-and-suspicious-of-all-men Wonder Woman was ever depicted.

Bruce Wayne/Batman?  Fat. Fat, and not at all intimidating on any level. The Batman. Not intimidating. It’s a joke, but when Barry Allen asks what Bruce’s super power, Bruce responds, “I’m rich,” but that’s clearly what we’re supposed to take away from Batman. He’s too old, too slow, past his prime, useless without real powers (as even stated by Arthur Curry), and nothing without his money.

What. The. Hell.  Not the greatest tactician to ever live. Not the world’s greatest detective. Not the most feared crime fighter villains have ever faced – also, every human bad guy in the movie is a white male; even Steppenwolf is depicted with pinkish white skin. No. Batman is just sort of the Justice League’s bruised-and-broken, Scotch-drinking rich uncle.

There was never any real danger once they raised Superman. None. No challenge. No real conflict. Just that tired trope of “if only we come together as a team, we can defeat anything,” and do it better than all those who did it before. Before, it took the combined forces of all the Amazons, all the Atlantians, all the heroes of all the tribes of man, AND the old gods to defeat Steppenwolf and the danger of the trinity box. This time it just takes a desire for justice as stated by Superman at the beginning of the final battle.

Ahhh!!  Even the CGI landscape the League flies into for the final battle looked cheap and fake!  Nothing about this movie reminded me of the hours I’d spend reading comics growing up!  None of it!  Not even the rise of Superman carried any inspiration whatsoever.

These mythical stories and adventures are supposed to inspire us to be better people, but this movie wasn’t that at all. It was plain and not mythical. It was common and trite. It wasn’t even good brain candy. It was exhausting.

It was just boring.

Dopplegangers

So, I’ve been trying to watch as much superhero stuff to get a better idea of what is out there, what works, and what doesn’t. At this point, I have to say that The Gifted is a LOT better than either Arrow or the Flash – I tried, but I simply cannot watch Supergirl or the other show that is somehow even more SJW-converged than the other three shows. It’s particularly good because while the show is clearly on the side of the mutants, it also shows some sympathy to the humans who have good reason to not want them roaming free in their society.

The one problem is that it has a very distracting element, as one of the characters looks almost EXACTLY like my younger brother. I don’t mean, “oh, there’s kind of a vague resemblance,” I mean, the actor looks considerably more like my brother than I or our other two brothers do.

The Great Reckoning

I rather like that name for the ever-expanding Hollywood Values revelations. Hollywood and the media are in serious trouble and they know it.

‘Fear is everywhere’: a quiet paranoia haunts post-Weinstein Hollywood
The industry is on edge as allegations of sexual misconduct reach dizzying heights. The question on everyone’s mind is: ‘Who will be next?’

Week five of the great reckoning and Hollywood is frightened and lost, drifting deeper into uncharted waters with no script, no direction and no sense how it will end.

Scandal was always part of the entertainment industry, a ritualised process of rumours, denials and hush money, publicists and fixers, banishment and redemption. But the vortex of sexual abuse allegations which started with Harvey Weinstein spins ever faster, whirling beyond control of the studios.

Who is next, asks the reporter in the Guardian? Apparently two Guardian editors.

The Guardian’s digital editor Ian Prior has been absent from work after female staff members reported harassment allegations to management, BuzzFeed News has learned. Guardian sources say Prior — the UK news organisation’s digital editor and former head of sport — is away from work while management investigate the allegations, made in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations that have created shockwaves across Hollywood, the media industry and politics…. The latest allegations against Guardian editors come after BuzzFeed News revealed earlier this year a complaint had been filed against former deputy Guardian US editor Matt Sullivan.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s great experiment in attempting to SJW-converge American sports is collapsing.

ESPN will lay off more than 100 staffers after the Thanksgiving holidays, multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated. The layoffs, which were described by a person briefed on the plans, will hit positions across ESPN including front-facing talent on the television side, producers, executives, and digital and technology staffers. The SportsCenter franchise is expected to be hit hard—including on-air people—given the frequency of the show has lessened considerably on main network ESPN.

The network declined comment to SI on Thursday afternoon.

Though hiring has continued and the network remains one of the great destinations for jobs in sports media, ESPN has experienced significant layoffs over the last two years. In Oct. 2015 the company laid off roughly 300 employees, about 4-5{666e5e86189a1fe5e2247551e7a4443f43206d2d8b82140cfc9efd38c8e16ed5} of its workforce—a particularly brutal act of gutting given the long tenures of many of those who were cut.

These are glorious days indeed. Drive on through the false narratives, punch through the flimsy armor of distractions and dissimulations, and find the truth! Hunt the witches without mercy. Encourage those who have been victimized to Be Brave and Be the First! The God-Emperor wills it!

UPDATE: DC is going down hard. It’s not even a little bit surprising that some of the most SJW-converged shows on television were being run by a (((gamma))) given to sexual harassment:

Andrew Kreisberg, co-creator and executive producer of the CW/Warner Bros TV DC series The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow, has been suspended from his duties by the studio today over allegations of sexual harassment. Tonight, WBTV also say they are launching an investigation into the accusations.

“We have recently been made aware of allegations of misconduct against Andrew Kreisberg,” Warner Bros. TV Group said in a statement Friday night. “We have suspended Mr. Kreisberg and are conducting an internal investigation. We take all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously, and are committed to creating a safe working environment for our employees and everyone involved in our productions.

Kreisberg has been one of the top lieutenants of Greg Berlanti, the boss of the CW/DC universe. He has been a key auspice on all DC series, with primary focus on serving as showrunner of The Flash.

“We were recently made aware of some deeply troubling allegations regarding one of our showrunners,” Berlanti Prods.’ principals Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter said in a statement. “We have been encouraging and fully cooperating with the investigation into this by Warner Bros.

“There is nothing more important to us than the safety and well-being of our cast, crew, writers, producers and any staff,” they added. “We do not tolerate harassment and are committed to doing everything we can to make an environment that’s safe to work in and safe to speak up about if it isn’t.”

According to people familiar with the situation, several staffers on The Flash have complained about Kreisberg’s behavior.

15 women and 4 men registering complaints. Shut them all down.

Closing in

Remember what I said about the big Hollywood dam starting to crack the other day? This would appear to be a very large fissure developing.

Anyway, on this particular show, there was a special guest star. A very special guest star. Still not a tween, everyone knew who she was. Executives flocked to the studio that day to see her. She was first molested when she was 5 or 6 and had continued to be molested throughout her hit movies and also on a previous show.

One of the stars of the show who has spent her life bouncing in and out of rehab because of what she saw, and who was actually nominated for awards from the show, described the atmosphere that day.

“A bunch of f**king pigs. I had just turned 12 or 13. I was the same age as the actress coming in. Maybe a little older. We had been shooting for months and I was old news. They knew I would do what they wanted, but they always wanted someone new. This was someone new and someone they all knew. They had it set up like a peep show almost. She had finished shooting that morning and they brought her out on a stage. The stage was used most of the time for a game show that was taped there. That game show is still on today. I can’t watch it knowing what happened to her there. They brought her out and the front four rows of this theatre were filled with guys who were already rubbing themselves. The girl was wearing a bikini. The show took place around a beach just so they could make these girls wear next to nothing. They had her walk around under the lights. The lights were focused on her and she couldn’t really see out to the audience. She was squinting. It must have been blinding for her. They had her walk back and forth. Then they had her start dancing. All of these guys were doing what another star at that same studio got busted for. This went on for about 20 minutes. Then three of the guys took her to a different area of the studio.”

Item: “She was first molested when she was 5 or 6.”

Item: “Heather O’Rourke was discovered by director Steven Spielberg when she was visiting MGM’s studios.”

Item: “That crap story ended up killing the girl because the parents believed the executives.”

Item: “Heather O’Rourke died at the age of 12 of cardiac arrest and septic shock.”

Item: Do you believe Steven Spielberg is an ideal guide and influence for our culture? Do Steven Spielberg’s films question our culture? What do Steven Spielberg’s films question? Does Steven Spielberg focus much of his fantasy life on young people? Did he portray children wallowing in sewers filled with fecal matter in Schindler’s List? Did he use children to finger paint an adult in Hook? Does he collect the illustrations of Norman Rockwell, such as the one showing a young boy in his underwear examined by a doctor? Are the inclinations of Steven Spielberg above suspicion by the media-fed culture? Was Steven Spielberg very friendly with Michael Jackson? Wasn’t Michael Jackson supposed to play Peter Pan in Steven Spielberg’s version of the story? Now that Michael Jackson is no longer held in favor by the mass media, does Spielberg associate with him? Do Michael Jackson and Steven Spielberg share similar opinions about the sexuality of young boys?
– Crispin Glover

It’s only a matter of time now. I have always disliked Spielberg’s movies, even since I was in elementary school. There was always a wrongness about them, as if they gave off a repellent odor that one could detect even from the trailers. To this day, I haven’t seen many popular Spielberg movies, including Close Encounters, ET, Poltergeist, and Gremlins; after reviewing a comprehensive list of his filmography, it turns out that I’ve seen a total of nine movies in which he has played some role.

And now it appears we have a pretty good idea of exactly what that wrongness was.

UPDATE: I think we now have a clue as to why my Twitter account was suspended. Remember the meme about Indiana Jones being a pedophile? Unlike all of my other tweeted images, including the mock Beard covers, it is no longer available. As is the recent /pol/ thread on Spielberg’s List.

Louis CK is up to bat

The next Hollywood Values guy to be thrown to the wolves is Louis CK:

The New York premiere of Louis C.K.’s upcoming film, I Love You, Daddy, set for Thursday, has been canceled. Reps for the premiere, due to take place at the Paris Theatre, cited “unexpected circumstances.” A source tells The Hollywood Reporter that a New York Times story on the comedian is about to break, and the premiere was canceled in case it is damaging. Additionally, Louis C.K.’s planned appearance on CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was also canceled, with William H. Macy taking his place.

I wonder what was going on there?

The film generated controversy following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. TIFF programmers had screened it and given I Love You, Daddy a world premiere after C.K. surprised Toronto organizers, letting them know the film existed. Controversial dialogue appears throughout the film, including the use of the N-word by C.K.’s character and multiple jokes about child rape.

Ah, there we go. As a rule of thumb, if a Hollywood Values guy is joking about something, or making a movie about something, he’s probably doing it. Good riddance. I never thought he was funny anyhow.

UPDATE: Louis C.K. Crossed a Line Into Sexual Misconduct, 5 Women Say

After being contacted for an interview this week about the on-the-record accusations of sexual misconduct — encounters that took place over a decade ago — Louis C.K.’s publicist, Lewis Kay, said the comedian would not respond. “Louis is not going to answer any questions,” Mr. Kay wrote in an email Tuesday night.

Neither Louis C.K. nor Mr. Kay replied to follow-up emails in which the accusations were laid out in detail, or to voice messages or texts. On Thursday, the premiere of Louis C.K.’s new movie “I Love You, Daddy,” was abruptly canceled, and he also canceled an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”

The stories told by the women raise sharp questions about the anecdotes that Louis C.K. tells in his own comedy. He rose to fame in part by appearing to be candid about his flaws and sexual hang-ups, discussing and miming masturbation extensively in his act — an exaggerated riff that some of the women feel may have served as a cover for real misconduct. He has all but invited comparison between his private life and his onscreen work, too: In “I Love You, Daddy,” which is scheduled to be released next week, a character pretends to masturbate at length in front of other people, and other characters appear to dismiss rumors of sexual predation.

The sex suicides begin

Although apparently as a result of the Pestminister scandal rather than the Hollywood Values meltdown:

Top Welsh Labour politician Carl Sargeant is found dead days after being suspended by the party over ‘shocking’ sex allegations. A senior Labour politician has been found dead in apparent suicide today just days after he was suspended from the party over claims of sexual misconduct. Former Welsh Government minister Carl Sargeant, 48, is believed to have taken his own life at home in Connah’s Quay, North Wales.

I do wonder, however, about the recent suicide of actor Brad Bufanda. He had a pretty serious case of gayface and “began his acting career before his teens”. One wonders how close he was to the power centers of the Hollywood Values crowd.

In the meantime, the New York Times is VERY unhappy about their lawyer David Boies running interference for Harvey Weinstein in order to kill stories by New York Times reporters.

“We learned today that the law firm of Boies Schiller and Flexner secretly worked to stop our reporting on Harvey Weinstein at the same time as the firm’s lawyers were representing us in other matters,” the statement read. “We consider this intolerable conduct, a grave betrayal of trust, and a breach of the basic professional standards that all lawyers are required to observe. It is inexcusable and we will be pursuing appropriate remedies.”

How very shocking to learn that a lawyer representing the New York Times would not be a paragon of ethical or professional behavior! No one finds it harder to believe he has been robbed than a thief.

And this is why I avoid Hollywood

It’s one of the few places where “guilt by association” actually is a genuine form of guilt. The whole place is like a citywide Satanic cult.

Yesterday and last night a studio (___________) was in crisis mode with executives flying in and lawyers summoned. All because this perverted jerk director (____________) and his company (_________) are such a major part of the studio’s project slate that the studio itself may be in jeopardy – especially being taken over by a publicly traded company that requires Congress’ approval.

Last night during the investigation into the damage done by the director, and how damaged the studio can be, they discovered some bizarre business interests. Seems the director is a major investor-partner in several adult porn websites. The studio and even the director’s managers didn’t know it.  One of the porn sites in particular is so disgusting, perverted, and possibly illegal in the USA that the studio is scrambling to cut all ties and remove the director from everything, before the media uncovers this.

The site, hosted offshore and hidden beneath layers of front companies, is so awful that the analysts refused to explore it – and only finally did so after a lawyer and ex-FBI man at the studio both agreed to monitor the investigation. If the director and his pals see that website as their normal views of sex? Then those abuse allegations are just the beginning of his slide into the gutter. Even a national official (_______________) is scared. He sent a representative of his to meet studio brass all because of his own former association with the director which still reaps financial income for the official. They’re trying to quietly cover up all ties to Russian investors and Arab investors before people start looking deeply at those relationships.

This is almost certainly related.

Warner Bros. is severing ties with embattled filmmaker Brett Ratner after six women publicly accused him of a range of sexual harassment and misconduct. A person with knowledge of the matter said the Burbank studio will not renew its production deal with Ratner and the fate of his company’s $450-million co-financing agreement beyond 2018 is unclear. 

The “national official” is most likely the Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin.

Brett Ratner may lose $450M Warner Bros deal as company he launched with billionaire James Packer and Steve Mnuchin

He’s just tikkuning the olam

Harvey Weinstein isn’t a serial rapist and sex predator, he’s merely healing the world:

Harvey Weinstein believes he is a savior who was born to be accused of sex assault in order to ‘change the world’, it is reported. Sources close to the shamed producer said he has resigned himself to being punished over the allegations ‘as a martyr for social change’.

The bizarre claim emerged after more than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault and rape dating back to the 1970s. Sources told the site: ‘Harvey believes he is a savior, that he was born to take the fall for his behavior in order to “change the world.”‘

Oh, that’s a new one. I figure it will take about two or three more Hollywood Jews being busted for their predatory behavior before we start hearing about how it’s another Holocaust if sex criminals are held accountable for their crimes.

Kevin Spacey accused

Kevin Spacey has not merely been outed as gay, but has also been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy:

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Rapp is publicly alleging for the first time that in 1986, Spacey befriended Rapp while they both performed on Broadway shows, invited Rapp over to his apartment for a party, and, at the end of the night, picked Rapp up, placed him on his bed, and climbed on top of him, making a sexual advance. According to public records, Spacey was 26. Rapp was 14.

The walls surrounding the filth of Hollywood are crumbling.

As it happens, there is even a scene in Precious Sons that calls to mind Rapp’s encounter with Spacey, in which Ed Harris’s character drunkenly mistakes his son (played by Rapp) for someone else, climbs on top of him, and makes a sexual advance.

Oh, FFS. Burn both Hollywood and Broadway to the ground and then salt the Earth.

Build your own platforms

Then keep the SJWs out of them. Stop trying to play nice. Stop trying to hide what you think. Stop trying to work within their system. If you’re creative and you’re talented, then stand up to them and fight them openly. Build your own platform, foxnews them, take half their collective audience away from them, and hit them where they aren’t expecting it. This chronicle of the ideological corruption of Hollywood explains why moderation and accommodation will never work.

“The blacklist of people on the left grew out of a defacto blacklist of people on the right within the industry,” recalls Orson. “There was communist directors, members of The Party, who only would cast you if you were also a member of The Party, or they were trying to woo you as a member of The Party. A lot of rightwing actors…were really furious at them. So when the Cold War happened…these rightwing actors, who had been seething for years about the way the communists were infiltrating the Hollywood business and were infiltrating the unions too, took their revenge. I don’t think that story’s ever been written because it’s not attractive for the Left.”

Orson isn’t alone in remembering this lost history.

“Morrie Ryskind, who was a Pulitzer Prize winner, couldn’t get a job because he didn’t think exactly like these fellows,” recalled John Wayne.

After testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee as a “friendly witness”, the extraordinarily talented Morrie never received another offer from a studio again – and neither did other screenwriters that testified against communism in Hollywood. When the “official” blacklist era ended, liberals continued where they left off – freezing out conservatives…to far better effect.

“I think there’s a reverse blacklist, even today,” said director and Hollywood Ten member Edward Dmytryk in Hollywood on Trial, a 1976 documentary about the blacklist. “I think that the liberals who are riding high, are going in the opposite direction. I think some of the fellas back then, who were on the reactionary side, are having a tough time getting jobs now.”

This greylist has been fully institutionalized. “The Writers Guild of America, my union, is at a minimum 99 percent leftist liberal and, like me, socialist,” said screenwriter and MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell in 2003. In the wake of the blacklist era, the left gained complete control of La La Land using a tactic they now vilify on the big screen. In a sense, it’s a weird tribute to Morrie Ryskind, John Wayne, Cecile B. DeMille and the others concerned about how the far-left storytellers could use movies to rewrite history.

“Being not a communist is grounds for dismissal now,” says Gavin McInnes about being a right-winger in showbiz. The co-founder of Vice Magazine, Gavin is unquestionably one of the funniest people on the planet. From the founding of Vice in 1994 until he left in 2008, its comedic voice was his voice – and it was one that comedians wished to emulate. “Their brand of humor is what I would do if there were no ‘standards and practices’ on TV,” said Jimmy Kimmel about Vice during Gavin’s helm.

After leaving the magazine due to creative differences with his partners – he came up against Hollywood’s liberal enforcers. “Jimmy Miller is Dennis Miller’s brother. He’s one of the biggest managers in comedy. He managed Will Ferrell, Jim Carey. He took a real shining to me after I left Vice,” says Gavin. “Things were going great. And then he found out I was right wing. He didn’t ‘X’ me per se, but it’s exactly like being known as a pedophile…no one likes a pedophile.” (Jimmy Miller did not respond to a request for comment.) Since the election of Trump, even with his star on the rise among the right and a new show on CRTV, his entertainment peers have become even more intolerant. “I’ve lost 100{7a570d310fd04ee61246b4469264ca1004967a98be813fe63aaa5d2057987204} of my friends that are in comedy. I’ve lost 100{7a570d310fd04ee61246b4469264ca1004967a98be813fe63aaa5d2057987204} of my celebrity friends.”

This ploy keeping Hollywood a liberal bastion is subtle, but extraordinarily effective – smoke out right-wingers and their sympathizers, spread the word of their apostasy, freeze them out, repeat. This process is seen in every crevice of Tinseltown, and it quietly teaches a lesson to all watching.

Chris Roberts didn’t need the game companies to finance Star Citizen. Neither do we. PewDiePie doesn’t need YouTube or Disney. Pretty soon, we won’t need Hollywood to make our movies either. There is no place for us in their sandbox. Fine. Who wants to play in that disease-infested filth anyhow? Let us build our own instead.

After two generations of being pummeled by La La Land, the newly constituted right is punching back with a force that has Tinseltown scrambling.

Damn right we are.

But where the old right was content with closing their wallets to Hollywood, the new right thinks stopping there is the stuff of cucks. This politically incorrect movement has galvanized in a way that was unheard of just a few years ago. Instead of the Kum Ba Yah rallies of yesterday’s Tea Party, this new right prefers a more active approach. They bombard film reviews with negative grades, inundate show sponsors with calls to drop their advertising, and hit the most hate-filled celebrities with a flurry of boycott campaigns usually only seen coming from the left.

No longer afraid to be called racists, sexists, homophobes, Islamophobes, or xenophobes – because they know they’ll be branded these no matter what – the new right is going directly after their perceived enemy, rejecting traditional content, creating their own entertainment, and organizing on a scale that should make Hollywood take pause in their daily putdowns. Social norms are no longer barriers, and some are even willing to flout the law…all to even the playing field.