breakinghollywood

Have you gone to the movies lately and found yourself stewing in your seat? Did you go to see a entertaining action movie and instead found yourself in the middle of a two-hour CNN political talking points? Over the past 8 years, Hollywood has shoved their values, opinions, and political agendas down our throats. Sure they have the right to freedom of speech but don’t we have the right to say we don’t want the crap they are serving? After all, are we not the reason why they continue to make movies? It is supposed to “entertain” us, right?

Hollywood has the power of public media. When they speak, we are all forced to listen, watch, and choke on it. Not anymore.

This weekend HBO premiered a little diddy called “Recount”, based on the 2000 presidential raucous. This Kevin Spacey -driven film promised to be balanced and objective. Mr. Spacey himself visited all media outlets including Republican favored, FOX News, assuring everyone that this is not another left-wing bias but just a retelling of what happened. As I braved the 2-hour saga, I became infuriated instantly. Gore’s camp is portrayed as the victims who only seek the truth and want to uphold the rights of the American people, while the Republican’s are of course vultures and racist that will stop at nothing to block the Florida recounts. Ah…the difference 8 years makes. Who would have known that we would be back in Florida, fighting over uncounted votes, with one subtle difference, now it’s just Democrates clawing one another’s eyes out for votes. Why are they always in the middle of a voting scandal? Of course “Recount” chose to leave out an important fact, after the recounting was over and Bush was declared our President, the Democrates couldn’t let it go. They did have an unofficial recount which still showed Bush as the winner. Every recount only gave Bush more votes but no one wants to admit that. So what, Bush’s own brother (Jeb Bush) had just been reelected Govenor of Florida, proving that Florida is more independent than they are democratic. But you try and explain to Hollywood that New York and California don’t represent the majority. The closing scene is a warehouse full of boxes filled of uncounted votes. I wonder if there will be a sequel, showing the reelection of Bush in ‘04.

This is only one of thousands of Hollywood agenda-filled movies. “Lions for Lambs”, “Kingdom”, “Redacted”, “Rendition”, “Jarhead”, “Stop-Loss”. Besides their liberal agenda theme, these movies also share something else in common. BOX-OFFICE FAILURE. What are American movie goers trying to say? That we don’t all hate our country? That we are not all liberals? Could it be that we don’t all hate G.W. Bush? Why does Hollywood continue to produce movies that people don’t want to see? Is their arrogance and self-gratification more important than the art of film and entertainment?

“Stop-Loss” starring heartthrob Ryan Phillippe and new chick magnet, Channing Tatum (”Step up”), was about a rogue Marine that refuses to return to Iraq after being stop-loss, an unfortunate but necessary military policy. Kimberly Peirce, the films director, got visibly angry when reporters questioned her portrayal of our brave soldiers. She insisted that this was not a war movie but a love story between Phillippe’s character and Abbie Cornish. She obviously wanted to steer the film from the tar pit that had claimed the lives of the last politically charged films. Even MTV, who produced the film used all of their facilities to promote the sexy young cast and the alleged off-screen romance between Phillippe and Cornish. Almost everyday, MTV featured interviews with the hunks of the film, frequently showing Phillippe without his shirt, as they discuss the bond that they had formed during filming. The obvious political aspect of the film, hence the title “Stop-Loss”, is hardly mentioned. Unfortunately for all involved, movie goers were not interested in seeing yet another film that portrayed our soldiers as brain-washed, psychos ready to break. “Stop-Loss” debuted in seventh place on it’s opening weekend. Of course the films failure was downplayed by the left-wind media that runs Hollywood, as was all the politically charged box-office failures over the past year.

Mr. Tatum intrigues me the most because following “Stop-Loss” he has said that he had concerns about doing another military film, only because he doesn’t want to be type-casted. Then a little film called “G.I. Joe” came along and he jumped on board. Online the kids of the 70’s and 80’s are fuming. Why? G.I. Joe is no longer an “American Hero”, he is an “International Hero”. Many bloggers can’t wrap their heads around the change in direction for what was a cartoon evoking American pride. Is Hollywood scared of showing patriotism? I, like many movie goers, are waiting for a positive, pro-military, pro-America film. I won’t hold my breath. Many may say, if you don’t like what you see don’t watch, but this threatens to be dangerous. Hollywood constantly takes their films and agendas outside of the country. Sometimes they even premiere these films overseas before in the states. They act as the VOICE of Americans when they travel abroad. According to Hollywood, we are the ultimate villains. Should we not be concerned about the image foreigners have of us after Mark Cuban’s “Redacted”? Even Matt Damon’s highly successful “Bourne Identity” series, (which I was a fan of) has taken a sour turn. “Bourne Supremacy” pretty much summed all three films up to Jason Bourne being a brain-washed and mentally abused, trained killer. Damon himself, during a promotion tour, went to visit a college to discuss the importance of education because in his opinion, failure to finish school would land you in Iraq. Can I just take this final moment to apologize to our men and women who are serving this country overseas? On the behalf of Matty Damon and the rest of Hollywood, I sincerely apologize for their misguided excuse for entertainment.

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