From my new movie review in Taki's Magazine:
Among literary critics, a controversy has been raging tepidly over what purpose reviewing might hold in this age of crowdsourcing. Why rely upon one fallible pundit’s thumbs up or thumbs down when you can access the wisdom of crowds by averaging many ratings, whether elite or mass?
As a 21st-century movie reviewer, I’ve always found this catcall hard to dismiss, which is why I try to only write about movies where I can explain something more interesting than whether I liked it or not. While I take a backseat to no one in admiration of my own taste, I have to admit that the aggregation sites are reasonably reliable.
Consider Mel Gibson’s new crime movie Get the Gringo, which debuted in Israeli theaters back in March but is finally out now on Netflix and DVD here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Read the whole thing there.
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57 comments:
Digressing, but related: I visited Tijuana a few years ago, and the impression I got was that it was a leftist caricature of capitalism. Everybody's got a hustle, there aren't any consistently-enforced rules, and there are lots of poor people. All it needed was a few factories belching colored smoke into the air to complete the vision.
Tijuana is like "a leftist caricature of capitalism"
Yup. And all the hired muscled carrying AK47s -- this was back in 1996, long before La Violencia, in otherwise pleasant Rosarito Beach down the coast from TJ.
Tijuana is like "a leftist caricature of capitalism."
Or a libertarian idea of Paradise.
Steve,
I had never heard of this movie until yesterday when my husband started watching it on Netflix. I was so shocked that there was a new Gibson written and directed movie and I had no idea. For three minutes I emoted, asking my husband if he was sure, how did he find out about it, how could I have not known, etc.
I even wondered why "Steve hasn't mentioned it or if he did, I missed it!"
Blacklisted, indeed.
Tijuana is like "a leftist caricature of capitalism."
Don't forget the donkey shows.
I saw this the other night, something else my bigger half will answer for.
First, Mel Gibson looks horrible. He's trim and moves well but his face is a ruin. And not in an interesting way like, say, Edward James Olmos, more like someone just released from his umpteenth stint in rehab. He's younger than I am, for heaven's sake, but he looks like one of those alkies who's going to expire just in time to make his kid miss graduation to attend his funeral instead. With all his money, he can't get his skin fixed?
Second, where were the cucarachas and the ratas? That was the most vermin-free though filthy outdoor prison in a warm climate that I've ever seen depicted. It was just silly. It might as well have been designed by Terrence "If Only I Were God, Things Would Be Prettier" Malick.
Mel still has some screen presence but most of his performance seemed phoned in to me. It's not just that, like the rest of us, he's older and less energized, he seemed less there.
The movie itself was one cliche after another. Despite being distracted by Mel's lizard look, I was able to predict the plot and even some of the dialog with stunning accuracy.
Maybe it wasn't so much that it was bad as that it was empty.
How about we start a gang called Mel's Angels?
Why rely upon one fallible pundit’s thumbs up or thumbs down when you can access the wisdom of crowds by averaging many ratings, whether elite or mass?
I don't know, that used to be true. But of late I find that sites like IMDB are giving a slanted picture. Too many fan boys or paid shills of the studios giving top marks to everything.
Prometheus is dropping slowly, but it's still given a 7.3 at IMDB. And that movie was rubbish.
Atacolypto
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/1013/A-public-law-school-faces-trial-over-liberal-bias
more blacklisting
First, Mel Gibson looks horrible. He's trim and moves well but his face is a ruin. And not in an interesting way like, say, Edward James Olmos, more like someone just released from his umpteenth stint in rehab. He's younger than I am, for heaven's sake, but he looks like one of those alkies who's going to expire just in time to make his kid miss graduation to attend his funeral instead. With all his money, he can't get his skin fixed?
He's aged badly and quite rapidly with all the controversy involving him over the past decade. Stress from The Passion, his controversial comments and media attention, divorce, etc. seemed to have had an effect.
Get the Gringo? Waaaaay too depressing. How about you review a nice, inspirational movie, like Argo?
What's the story behind the debut in Israel?!!!
Yeah, the film was not that bad, not that good either. It was not directed by Gibson, tough. (I think produced and co-written). There was something phony about that El Pueblito prison, but apparently it was something like that in real life... A mall-prison. Weird.
Yes, he's probably being blacklisted, but his temper and the whole Oksana thing didn't help.
I never saw the Passion and I didn't think Apocalypto was that great, but the Maccabees film, if it ever comes out, is going to be interesting one way or the other. The Berserker project seems interesting too.
Don't forget the donkey shows.
Do they really have those?
I always felt the intended horror of the prison in Oliver Stone's Midnight Express was undercut by the fact that it hosted an indoor market for the inmates every week. Compared to the THX1138 nightmare of modern Anglo prisons it seems almost humane.
It hasn't been reviewed by major critics because they don't review direct-to-DVD movies, they review movies in theaters. If there is a blacklist, it's at the distribution end, not the reviewer end.
All the major papers reviewed The Beaver - many even liked it! That one, rightly or wrongly, failed due to lack of public interest.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_beaver_2010/reviews/#type=top_critics
Nobel peace committee should give the prize to the Nobel peace committee.
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2012/10/joe-mccarthy-and-the-jews/#more-4675
The organized Jewish community consistently opposed measures intended to make it more difficult for communists to operate within the American system even as it officially opposed communism. For example, Jewish organizations objected to any infringements of civil liberties or academic freedom enacted to firm up national security. Weingarten attributes this stand to a principled Jewish respect for human rights (e.g., p. 66), particularly on the part of the AJCongress, the Jewish organization most closely identified with the far left.
"But it can be easily seen that Jews and Jewish organizations have not consistently been on the side of civil liberties and academic freedom. During the 1920s and 1930s mainstream Jewish organizations and Jewish intellectuals rationalized Soviet despotism and turned a blind eye to Soviet mass murder during a period when Jews were an elite within the Soviet Union. And in the present era, Jewish organizations, most notably the ADL, have been prime advocates of “hate crime” legislation aimed at penalizing beliefs and ideas. Jewish organizations have alsoattacked the academic freedom of professors who have been critical of Israel. The ADL has also been critical of my writing and, along with the $PLC, engaged in public denunciations of my writing and associations at the university where I work. In general, perceived interests are a much better predictor of Jewish behavior than principles."
what purpose reviewing might hold in this age of crowdsourcing.
As a critic, reviews are about saying something interesting on the subject, bringing expert knowledge to bear, historical context (even if that context is "other movies"). You can get some of that from intelligent fans, but hordes of thumbs up or down mean little.
As a consumer, reviewing is about finding people whose taste you generally trust. For me, James Bowman is a fantastic film critic. He often dislikes things I enjoy, but if he gives something one or two stars (his highest ratings), I'm virtually guaranteed I will like it. John Simon as well. If he likes it, I usually like it too.
Political alignment can be important, but not required. The music critic Robert Christgau is an ossified old Commie -- one of the stupidest people on earth politically -- but if he tags a record A or A+ I almost always love it (the exception being rap which I detest, and which Christgau fetishizes like a good Lefty).
For film, I also like Richard Brody blogging at The New Yorker, though he, too, is a political nit-wit.
Very interesting musings from Steve. The Santa Muerte cult reminds one of the "dances of death" so prominent in late medieval artwork. Death was a daily occurence because of the black plague.
I recently came to a realization about Apocalypto, which may interest people. The film is heavily influenced by the rightest classic from the 60s "Naked Prey", in which an African safari hunter is hunted like a wild beast by natives. Naked Prey makes many subtle rightest points, such as that blacks were really enslaved by other blacks. Watch for all the parallel scenes between the two movies. Interesting to know that Apocalypto had a precursor, or that film would have come out of nowhere, ie. too much talent for one man (Mel Gibson).
"He's aged badly and quite rapidly with all the controversy involving him over the past decade."
Yes, some actors, like Eastwood and Wayne, obviously spent a lot of time outdoors and their faces got a not unattractive weathered or lived-in look. But something else is going on with Mel's face.
By the time they were in their 50's, Eastwood and Wayne looked like their age was catching up to them. Gibson looks like his past is catching up to him. Frankly, he looks kind of seedy.
Even worse, though, is that the vitality that was so much a part of his youthful acting style has nearly vanished. At his age, Eastwood and Wayne may have exhibited diminished vitality but a kind of authority had taken its place. Gibson doesn't have that, he just looks hollowed out.
(Pacino's face has been a wreck for forever but his eyes are still blazingly alive and he, too, has that authority that easily compensates for loss of youthful good looks.)
Few libertarians are found in libertarian paradises like Tijuana or sub saharan african countries where the governments are not strong enough or efficient enough to collect taxes or contain the armies of drug lords or strongmen.
I didn't think Apocalypto was that great
I thought it was excellent. Would have been better with slightly less graphic violence, but still one of the better movies I've seen.
Do they really have those?
It's the only reason to ever visit.
It seems that plots about Mexico have boundless opportunity-but the question is how do you get a white guy in there? Recall the story of the sexy beauty queen---who couldve made a damn fine career on Telemundo being chased by short fat guys per one of Steves old posts--who took off with some drug cartel guy. OK,you have the makings of a good film right there.Now as much as white (and black & latina & asian--well,maybe not Asian)women hate,hate,hate boring white guys,you canNOT have a money making movie w/o a handsome daring white guy hero. (The exeption being those execrable--to borrow a word from the Stever--Eat,Pray,Love type movies,which employ minority guys who are white-looking).No one wants to see a movie with beetle-browed dumpy brown guys s heroes,however brutal they are.Got to figure out the white guy angle. The obvious choice being the white law enforcement dude,(with Mexican or black and pretty little skinny white/latina partner(s) to make it kosher) but that isnt nearly as fun as what mel does,which is be the white bad guy who gets mixed up in all this latino craziness. And takes away the sexy latina from the bad guy.Thats important. Or she betrays him. or something,just so its sexy. White women will be happy to see the star bang a south-of-the-border beauty and white guys of course,well we know what white guys will think,now dont we??
Ironic that it debuted in Israel considering Mel's supposed crimes. Maybe they are thicker skinned over there?
FYI, my Amazon payments donation attempt failed according to an email from them. Did anyone else get this?
Great piece.
LOVED "Apocalypto" -- demented genius. If a filmbuff can dig and revere Sam Fuller's movies, why can't he/she dig and revere "Apocalypto"? All speculations here welcomed.
Great hook for a movie with a Mexico angle: birth tourism.
Few libertarians are found in libertarian paradises like Tijuana or sub saharan african countries where the governments are not strong enough or efficient enough to collect taxes or contain the armies of drug lords or strongmen.
Yeah. And oddly enough, few libertarians are found working in the free market. They are mostly lawyers, professors, or law professors. They congregate in well paid and secure guild jobs.
Good call on James Bowman petrieke. Probally not paleo-enough for this crowd but he like Steve should be way more famous.
OT, but interesting:
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8513332/donald-trump-says-fire-alex-rodriguez-new-york-yankees
"Speaking as both a Yankees fan and an A-Rod detractor, Trump told Michael Kay on ESPN NewYork 98.7 FM Tuesday afternoon, "I would terminate his contract, personally. I think George would've done that. I would terminate his contract on the basis that when he signed, he didn't say that he took drugs.
"Since he signed his contract, they found out that he took drugs. ... He actually admitted that he took drugs. Now he's not taking drugs anymore, and without the drugs, he's a less than average player."
"Told it would be difficult to terminate A-Rod's contract given how strong the MLB Players' Association is, Trump responded, "I disagree. It's called misrepresentation. He never told the Yankees he was all juiced up. That all came out after he signed his contract.
"I don't care about the Players' Association. If somebody misrepresents and they're paying him $30 million a year ... I don't think he has a clue when he's standing up at the plate. I've never seen anything like it.""
Kylie,
I didn't watch, and DH fell asleep during it. He does that a lot, sometimes taking him three nights to complete a movie. I don't think he was that into it, though.
I'll share your thoughts with my husband when he debates whether to finish.
Apocalypto is one of my favorite movies. Very similar to Braveheart which itself seems to be standing the test of time as a true classic.
In the early part of the 20th century, Mexico, like Russia, was appealing for both its backward primitivism and forward progressivism.
One part of the advanced white man disillusioned with too much modernity and too much progress looked back to Russia and Mexico as the preserve of old values, old ways, old cultures, and etc.
But another part of advanced white man saw messy and rough Mexico and Russia as the new blank slate for a brand new order. Since Mexico and Russia were as yet untarnished by advanced capitalism, new utopias could be imagined and grafted onto them.
In many cases, the charm of oldness and promise of newness could appeal to the same person.
It's there in Eisenstein's QUE VIVA MEXICO where Mexicans are both salt of the Earth people rich in tradition and the raw human material for the revolution.
It's also there in THE WILD BUNCH, which romanticizes Mexico as the old culture that never changes(in contrast to overly moralistic and rational Anglo-America) and as the hotbed of social revolution for peasants who've finally gained the consciousness to unite and fight.
But we don't much care about Russia or Mexico today. The idea of salt-of-the-earth peasants now seems quaint, and the core of leftism is 'gay marriage'.
"Kylie,
I didn't watch, and DH fell asleep during it. He does that a lot, sometimes taking him three nights to complete a movie. I don't think he was that into it, though.
I'll share your thoughts with my husband when he debates whether to finish."
Thanks a million for trusting my judgment enough to share it, Dahlia. But I'm not sure "Mel looks too old and seedy!" will carry a lot of weight with a man. The guys at the IMDb loved the movie and loved Mel in it.
It was the kind of movie that's a "vehicle" tailored to a specific star. Somehow it didn't seem to have any guts, if that makes any sense. It was very prefab to me. Now Mel looks tough, now Mel fends off the bad guys, now Mel bonds with the kid, etc.
I'll have to check out Apocalypto.
Do they really have those?
Yes, and they're fantastic. Definitely worth visiting at least once for.
The idea of salt-of-the-earth peasants now seems quaint, and the core of leftism is 'gay marriage'.
Mainly because the sheer conservatism of salt-of-the-earth peasants has become more apparent to the leftists. Peasants, even the tsar-hating, shah-hating, Diaz-hating, Batista-hating, Yankee-go-home ones, are never liberal in the western sense.
OT--but I saw a movie on TV last night which, I believe, was transformative in a certain way.
The movie, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, is one that's been seen by many. I first saw it not so long after it came out, which was in 1955. (I graduated high school in 1953.)
One of the very dramatic scenes was of an altercation involving the one-armed hero (Spencer Tracy) attacked by a violent, stupid thug (Ernest Borgnine) and besting him with "martial art" techniques we'd call "karate."
Except that in 1955, the very word "karate" was unknown either to me or to anyone with whom I spoke in those days. And, lest anyone think I might have been simply ignorant of common knowledge< I'd wrestled several years, read "men's" magazines like SAGA, and knew the words judo, jiu-jitsu, and savate. I don't think I even heard the word "karate" until a year or two after the movie--I can't remember just when I first heard (or read) it. But it's relatively clear to me that the movie itself was a powerful and far-reaching stimulus of public interest in the topic.
Someone with a bit of googling expertise might even track down the earliest uses of the word.
Movies are dull, real life is more thrilling: consider this, from an obit in the Telegraph.
Norodom Sihanouk, former King of Cambodia, born October 31 1922, died October 15 2012.
Sihanouk had two official wives, Princess Thavet Norleak (his first cousin) and Princess Monique. He and Norleak separated in 1968, and they had no surviving children . Monique, née Izzi, daughter of a French entrepreneur of Italian origin and a Phnom Penh divorcee, became Sihanouk’s closest companion.
The elder of her two sons, Sihamoni (born in 1953) became a ballet coach at the Paris Opera, and succeeded his father as king in 2004. The second is Narindrapong (born in 1954) .
The young king also fathered several children out of wedlock, including two by a dancer in the royal ballet. These were Princess Bopha Devi (born 1943), who herself became the star dancer in the ballet, and Prince Ranariddh, who studied law in France.
Princess Monikessan, Sihanouk’s young aunt, bore him a son, Naradipo (born 1946) , who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
Another aunt, Princess Pongsamoni, bore him four sons: Yuvanath (born 1943); Ravivong (born 1944) who died during the Khmer Rouge period; Chakrapong (born 1945); and Khemanurakh (born 1949), who was also a Khmer Rouge victim. Princess Pongsamoni had three daughters: Soriyaraingsey (born 1947) and Botumbopha (born 1951), both of whom were killed by the Khmer Rouge; and Kantha Bopha, who died in infancy — the inconsolable Sihanouk carried her ashes with him on all his travels.
Mam Manivann, a Laotian, bore him two daughters, Sucheatvateya (born in 1953), killed by the Khmer Rouge, and Arunrasmey (born in 1955).
But we don't much care about Russia or Mexico today. The idea of salt-of-the-earth peasants now seems quaint, and the core of leftism is 'gay marriage'.
I'd say the American left burned itself out on the Latin American Pancho Villa front with Danny Ortega and the Sandinista revolutionaries of Nicaragua during the 80s. Ortega eventually reinvented himself as a Stetson wearing Catholic rancher. Weirdly, the right picked up the tune by supporting the peasant farmers of Afghanistan & the North West frontier of Pakistan against the Soviet occupation forces, brave & proudly Islamic traditionalists fighting alien & modernist atheist invaders, a love affair which as we all know continues today with U.S. generals staging photo-ops wearing local head dress, Lawrence of Arabia style.
And on the right, Mexicans have gone from being viewed as potentially dangerous socialist revolutionaries to rock-ribbed Catholic traditionalists. For the left, the exotic aspect of the country may have declined because you can pass by it on the highway every day. Also the attraction to an older generation of ex-pat Americans, the relaxed attitudes of natives to lazy bums, sex, drugs, drink & drunks can also be found easily at home. No need for D.H. Lawrence, William S. Burroughs or Dr. Timothy Leary to stay in the country to get away from the awful, hidebound Protestant way of life.
Santa Muerte actually makes a couple of appearances in "Breaking Bad", if it makes you feel any better.
Yeah. And oddly enough, few libertarians are found working in the free market. They are mostly lawyers, professors, or law professors. They congregate in well paid and secure guild jobs.
Example: Lib Lib Libertarian and Instapundit.com blogger Glenn Reynolds, Professor of Law ( full prof., tenured ) at gooberment-supported U. of Tennessee. ( Reynolds himself is a Yale Law alum., U. Tn. being the kind of U. that seldom hires its own graduates. )
One has to admit, however, that the Instapundit has been very successful in his moonlighting job, where he crusades for smaller government.
Too bad our host Steve doesn't have tenure and a defined-benefit pension somewhere.
I haven't donated anything but I'm glad to see that other people are. Keep up the good work.
"They are mostly lawyers, professors, or law professors. They congregate in well paid and secure guild jobs."
And don't forget the 'foundations', e.g. 'Reason' [sic], where they are at least one step removed from a real market. Funny thing for people so oriented toward homo economicus, most the famous ones (Wilkinson, Welch, Cavanaugh, Gillespie) seem to have degrees in writing or journalism.
The idea of salt-of-the-earth peasants now seems quaint, and the core of leftism is 'gay marriage'.
Mainly because the sheer conservatism of salt-of-the-earth peasants has become more apparent to the leftists. Peasants, even the tsar-hating, shah-hating, Diaz-hating, Batista-hating, Yankee-go-home ones, are never liberal in the western sense.
.....which explains the modern phenomena going back to Napoleon's "Spanish ulcer" of the frequent inability of a modern army to defeat a well-organized peasant guerrilla force.
Our old friend, libertarian Tyler Cowen, is a tenured professor of economics at George Mason U.
Cowen should not be confused with our other old libertarian friend who is also a tenured professor of economics at George Mason - Byran Caplan.
Strange how all these tenured professors believe that you and I should have to compete for work with the entire population of the planet, but they should have protected jobs for life.
.....which explains the modern phenomena going back to Napoleon's "Spanish ulcer" of the frequent inability of a modern army to defeat a well-organized peasant guerrilla force.
That's actually pretty rare. It only happens when there is an imbalance of ruthlessness that favors the peasants. Where victorious, the peasant guerrilla force is generally willing to kill everyone that stands in the way of victory, whereas the government is squeamish. Peasant victories are, however, the exception to the rule. Most governments are ruthless enough to kill adversaries who would not hesitate to kill them if the tables were turned. Whether in Latin America or in Asia, most ruling regimes crushed peasant rebellions with little trouble, even though in some cases, the complete liquidation of the rebels took decades. For instance, in 1965, Indonesia dismantled a communist coup attempt by killing 500,000 people within a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_killings_of_1965%E2%80%9366
Yeah. And oddly enough, few libertarians are found working in the free market. They are mostly lawyers, professors, or law professors. They congregate in well paid and secure guild jobs.
And furthermore their strange reluctance to relocate to Sierra Leone or Somalia where the dead hand of the state is no longer an issue.
"Anonymous said...
Strange how all these tenured professors believe that you and I should have to compete for work with the entire population of the planet, but they should have protected jobs for life."
Yes, very strange. One might almost think that they were nothing but rank hypocrites. However I'm sure they could produce a detailed and sophisticated economic analysis that would demonstrate that tenure for libertarian economics professors is a very sound policy.
Thank God for Mel Gibson.
I was just railing to my girl friend about Johnny Depp earlier this week. Depp, who is I imagine the current top male box office star, is anything but masculine. How can a nation that once adored Wayne, Mitchum, Lancaster, and Douglas endure this mincing and prissy half-man?
Gibson has lost his looks? Good. He played roles in which he was deformed and ugly. He began as a pretty boy but so did John Wayne. Even Humphrey Bogart got his start as a male starlet.
One of challenges a male movie star has is - what to do with the fame? Lancaster became a producer, Wayne too. Eastwood became a pretty good director. Bravo. But Gibson has done the best of all. He made movies that no one ever dared to before. He created his own genres. Gibson is the most significant movie maker of recent times. Not Spielberg, not Scorsese - Gibson.
Who'd a thunk it?
Albertosaurus
Yes, very strange. One might almost think that they were nothing but rank hypocrites. However I'm sure they could produce a detailed and sophisticated economic analysis that would demonstrate that tenure for libertarian economics professors is a very sound policy.
There are plenty of libertarians outside of academia. Steve Jobs is obviously the most well-known of them. The reason we generally hear more from professors of all ideologies in the media is because professors have more time and freedom to do these things. The average libertarian (or person with other political leanings) working in a large corporation doesn't have time to share his wisdom with the world, and expressing his political leanings can be risky in terms of career advancement, given the politics is a lot like religion in terms of its ability to polarize.
The average libertarian (or person with other political leanings) working in a large corporation doesn't have time to share his wisdom with the world, and expressing his political leanings can be risky in terms of career advancement, given the politics is a lot like religion in terms of its ability to polarize.
Whut?
Don't all Libertarians know that big corporations -- the realm of free free free enterprise, places such as Apple Computer -- are freer than academia?
Randy Barnett is another prominent libertarian. He's a professor of law at Georgetown University.
He has blogged of late at The Volokh Conspiracy, a group blog populated by a lot of other libertarian law professors.
Of course what many libertarian professors have in common, besides being libertarian professors, is being Jewish. (Barnett, Volokh, Caplan, others) Libertarianisms current obsession with open borders and gay marriage, and relevant indifference to such traditional libertarian concerns as the size of government, are best understood as a reflection of Jewish ethnic interests.
The reason we generally hear more from professors of all ideologies in the media ..
We very rarely hear from conservative professors in the media.
>big corporations -- the realm of free free free enterprise<
Corporations are creatures of government. They have nothing to do with free enterprise in the libertarian sense.
Whatever happened to libertarians being hackers? Was that a 90s thing?
Corporations are creatures of government. They have nothing to do with free enterprise in the libertarian sense.
Has Ron or Rand Paul ever said anything like that?
I'm willing to bet that no one at Reason.com has ever published such sentiments.
Let's see, on Reason's front page tonight I see:
Capitalist Pig on Why Hedge Funds and Ayn Rand are Great for the Economy
Tracy Oppenheimer | 10.17.2012
PLAY VIDEO
"Anonymous Anonymous said...
The reason we generally hear more from professors of all ideologies in the media is because professors have more time and freedom to do these things."
If you think that professors are at liberty to discuss heterodox political views (heterodox within academia, that is), then you are quite deluded. Libertarian professors are free to espouse libertarian views, because libertarianism is deemed acceptable.
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