tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post7386330529146656557..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: "Argo"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81199161693446684512012-10-31T22:07:46.371-07:002012-10-31T22:07:46.371-07:00Whiskey's comment reminded me of The Last Acti...<i>Whiskey's comment reminded me of The Last Action Hero, which I thought interesting and underrated</i><br /><br />Despite the horrified early reviews it actually turned out to be quite a funny flick when I saw it during theatrical, and it's worth catching on cable or Netflix on some hurricane-plagued evening. John McTiernan was a genius testosterone director who unfortunately got in with the Pellicano crowd at the close of the Clinton Administration; thus nowadays most studio movies have to be adaptations of effete graphic novels or twee children's shows... As that made-up Jack Warner producer in Argo said in a different context, This is what's left of America.<br /><br />btw was thrilled to see the CGI-decrepit Hollywoodland sign but in the overseas trailers they use the present restored sign!--completely defeating the "dingy 70s" vibe. John Goodman's line about how every komiteh's got an aspiring-screenwriter cousin "selling rugs down on La Brea" was also choiceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-57512409743464618212012-10-29T07:15:28.806-07:002012-10-29T07:15:28.806-07:00If you want to know what actually happened read Ro...If you want to know what actually happened read Robert A. Wright's "Our Man in Tehran: The Truth Behind the Secret Mission to Save Six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Ambassador Who Worked with the CIA to Bring Them Home." The book is based in large part on Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor's recollections of the affair. Old Fogeynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-36418352231947000002012-10-27T13:21:43.300-07:002012-10-27T13:21:43.300-07:00The intro completely killed this movie for me. We...The intro completely killed this movie for me. We foolishly deposed the Communist that the people of Iran elected, who nationalized the oil industry to give their wealth back to the people from the (implied) evil British and American corporations. Then the Shah came in and lived in a Louis XIV lifestyle that by itself made the rest of the country completely impoverished. All this b.s. in the first two minutes, and the Carter worship is what was most offensive to you?<br /><br /><br />"And, most of the last half hour of exciting plot twists didn't actually occur, but they were all plausible enough that they well could have happened."<br /><br />Really? Come on, Steve. The last half hour took me entirely out of the movie. The race to contact Jimmy Carter to have him personally approve the CIA buying 7 airline tickets? Seriously, anyone in the CIA got a credit card? If that really happened, we'd be screwed as a country, that is, moreso. <br /><br />And the Iranian airport security call the fake studio to check on these people, from Iran, and are satisfied that some guy says the name they are looking for is out of the country. Right.<br /><br />And then the police chase of the plane taking off? Come on, you get a call saying the Americans are escaping, and you're the Iranian security in charge of the airport, you try to chase a plane in police cars instead of grounding all the flights. Uh, what?<br /><br />Everything that didn't happen in reality that was in the movie felt like it was written by an 8-year-old (or by Ben Affleck). No wonder every other person in the theater loved it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-38957246682435544012012-10-25T18:29:57.946-07:002012-10-25T18:29:57.946-07:00Note that Whiskey didn't include James Cameron...Note that Whiskey didn't include James Cameron among that list of directors.TGGPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11017651009634767649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-29093541597146953722012-10-25T11:48:23.518-07:002012-10-25T11:48:23.518-07:00"Particularly I was thinking of the trailer-w..."Particularly I was thinking of the trailer-within-the-movie for a Baysian (Bayesque?) Hamlet. "To be or not to be? Not to be."" - "Who says I'm fair."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-31816649851481087512012-10-25T10:30:23.135-07:002012-10-25T10:30:23.135-07:00".. Planet of the Apes..."
Insert comme...".. Planet of the Apes..."<br /><br />Insert comment regarding resemblance to ZIRA here Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-2563621263670211582012-10-25T08:56:19.207-07:002012-10-25T08:56:19.207-07:00@anonymous, can you give some more information abo...@anonymous, can you give some more information about that Chinese DNA in Greenland?omarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-47907746067603222742012-10-25T08:54:56.029-07:002012-10-25T08:54:56.029-07:00Its my impression that Gavin Menzies book (1421) i...Its my impression that Gavin Menzies book (1421) is mostly junk. But I have only scanned it in B and N, not really delved deeply into it...it just seems too far from recorded history for my taste, but thats just a personal shortcut (helps save time).<br />In any case, I was looking for accounts of shipboard life; in the way countless books record details of shipboard life on European sailing ships. <br />Of course, it may be that such accounts just don't exist. Things happen in history in whatever order they happen. They dont have to happen in every place in the same way (usually dont). It may be that this is a genre that just didnt get created in China or Arabia...but knowing that a lot of Chinese and Arab writing has not yet been explored by outsiders (and in the case of Arabs, was out of fashion in their own civilization for a while, maybe lost forever) its possible there are accounts out there and I have not yet heard of them. <br />Hence the question. Is there anything out there that you know of that a general reader in WI might read?omarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89906434785062552602012-10-25T06:52:40.691-07:002012-10-25T06:52:40.691-07:00It kind of touching that Whiskey is so reverant ab...It kind of touching that Whiskey is so reverant about movie directors and directing. Let me suggest a few notions that might help ground this discussion.<br /><br />I have been a director myself and I expect that many readers of this blog have also. I was for example the Director of Software Development at two different technical companies. I did all that managerial stuff that Whiskey mentions. If I had been a movie director I imagine I would have used most of the same skills. America must have at least a million guys who work every day as a director of something or other. Is directing a movie so much different?<br /><br />BTW software development is also a creative endevour. As is building the custom hot rods that are so popular now in reality televison. I'm tempted to say that management is management and the difference in movies is just glamour and publicity.<br /><br />For years I've been toying with the idea of directing operas. I have produced them but never actually directed. The main reason was that one of my best friends directs operas. I don't want to compete with him.<br /><br />When he first began twenty years ago I could barely watch, he was so bad. He couldn't even set traffic patterns so that singers didn't bump into one another or stage scenes so as to account for the theater's sight lines. He was just incompetant. The singers laughed at him.<br /><br />But then last fall I saw a Falstaff he had directed and it was brilliant. I was so happy. He had learned his craft. <br /><br />I think it must be the same way in Hollywood. Almost anyone can direct if they practice enough but of course the stakes are too high to allow for long apprentistships.<br /><br />In the course of a career Rotten Tomatoes tells us all movie people - actors, writers, and directors - get it right about two out of three tries. So success is for those who are lucky enough to by chance have their good work early and their shoddy work later after they are established. M. Night Shamalian is only known to you because his one or two good movies came early. Had his more recent films been first he never would have gotten another chance.<br /><br />AlbertosaurusPat Boylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13477950851915567863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-25234981455263910422012-10-25T06:19:40.533-07:002012-10-25T06:19:40.533-07:00Whiskey said: . . . imagine Michael Bay directing...Whiskey said: . . . imagine Michael Bay directing Lord of the Rings. Complete with take-away 80's signature lines by say, Aragorn played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. <br /><br />Hunsdon said: It must be the End Times! Whiskey's comment reminded me of The Last Action Hero, which I thought interesting and underrated.<br /><br />Particularly I was thinking of the trailer-within-the-movie for a Baysian (Bayesque?) Hamlet. "To be or not to be? Not to be."Hunsdonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-1859185689199958572012-10-25T06:16:25.297-07:002012-10-25T06:16:25.297-07:00Or you could read "1421: The Year the Chinese...Or you could read "1421: The Year the Chinese Discovered America". This is a great crank book. Vastly entertaining but completely wacko. It ranks up there with the works of Barry Fell.<br /><br />AlbertosaurusPat Boylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13477950851915567863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-35769674826258029492012-10-25T01:46:53.629-07:002012-10-25T01:46:53.629-07:00I think he forgot the dead people in Operation Eag...<b>I think he forgot the dead people in Operation Eagle Claw.</b><br /><br />Operation Eagle Claw is getting stuffed down the memory hole. Argo seems tailor made to make people believe we can win another military misadventure in the Middle East. Lugashnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-30151523883197110282012-10-25T00:36:47.467-07:002012-10-25T00:36:47.467-07:00"Seeing as Chinese DNA has been found in Gree...<i>"Seeing as Chinese DNA has been found in Greenland"</i><br /><br />Not surprising. The Greenlanders (and other Inuit?) were famed/notorious for the availability of wives/daughters (I think with husband compliance). In the explorer Wally Herbert's autobiography he describes how the crew of his boat (he's buying huskies for an Antarctic trip) are 'much in demand as lovers along the coast' and laments that the racial makeup of the Greenlanders is changing as more of their children are sired by foreigners.<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-52126117758855792822012-10-24T22:07:28.956-07:002012-10-24T22:07:28.956-07:00The best measure of how good or bad a director is,...The best measure of how good or bad a director is, really, is how successful the films he makes on average are, in critical reception, audience reaction, and box office response.<br /><br />Peter Jackson, Peter Weir, Michael Mann, Michael Bay, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg are good examples. Their films have a consistent visual look, common story and visual elements, and are pretty obvious who directed them. You won't confuse an over the top film by Bay with say, Scorsese's New York grittiness. Bay is fairly well known as a big budget hackery guy; loud and obnoxious. Spielberg was a fairly middle class suburban sentimentalist, now fairly elite sentimentalist (and still of course, sentimental). Mann is a master of tales of macho hard-assery. Peter Weir is deeply attracted to mystical weirdness which shows up far weirder than any maundering stuff by the Wachowski "siblings." Jackson loves and is good at Tolkein epics.<br /><br />If directors don't matter, imagine Michael Bay directing Lord of the Rings. Complete with take-away 80's signature lines by say, Aragorn played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now imagine Taxi Driver directed by Steven Spielberg, as an ultimately uplifting tale of Iris's return to suburbia helped by wacky Travis Bickle, played by Michael J. Fox. Think of "Heat" directed by Peter Weir, with leads Peter Weller and Harrison Ford over-run by symbolic floods and rains of frogs. Think of "ET" directed by Martin Scorsese, complete with a bloody showdown between the Alien and the tough FBI agent played by Robert DeNiro.<br /><br />Directors matter a lot. They're not gods, don't fix bad projects, and get more credit than they should, but they do matter. Michael Mann would have made a different Transformers movie than Michael Bay. It probably would have been unwatchable because it would have come down to some duel between two guys not giant robots bashing each other -- which is what the audience wanted.Whiskeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01854764809682029464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-6482510639561086492012-10-24T21:53:11.255-07:002012-10-24T21:53:11.255-07:00Directing is harder than it looks. You need to get...Directing is harder than it looks. You need to get emotionally correct performances from actors out of sequence. You'll deal with some actors with high skill levels, others very little, and have to mesh them. Some actors will mentor, and others will not. There's the invariable hookups among cast mates who are relatively young and attractive, bored, and isolated for a month or two on the set. Then there's the technical aspects.<br /><br />A lot of shoots require digital effects/green screens and extensive storyboarding. A director has to know what finished shot he wants and how the shoot will come together, he can't just roll the ball out like the NBA. Something like the Avengers, or even Dredd, will require lots of digital effects mixed in with live action. All of which look like crap during the actual filming.<br /><br />Then there's project management. Guys like Eastwood and Allen are great managers, they stay on budget and on time because their shoots are well planned, little action/stunts, and they select actors known for their ability to be prepared and have several emotional variants ready for each scene. Reshoots and retakes are seldom, people go home at the end of the day (no costly overtime for crews).Whiskeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01854764809682029464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-38029163577471617272012-10-24T19:58:35.788-07:002012-10-24T19:58:35.788-07:00"The recent book "1493" describes l..."The recent book "1493" describes life onboard the Chinese ships that traded with Manila in the 16th Century."<br /><br />The hard part wasn't life on board, it was life BEFORE going to sea.<br /><br />The ships, huge junks nearly five hundred feet long and built from the finest teak, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals."<br />http://timelineindex.com/content/view/2654<br /><br />Seeing as Chinese DNA has been found in Greenland and the Azores (among other ports of calls), apparently the men below deck were, shall we say, all man below deck.<br /><br /><br />beowulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14987548132065830204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-17863576422740703942012-10-24T19:54:29.790-07:002012-10-24T19:54:29.790-07:00"BrokenSymmetry said...
As in "Black Ha..."BrokenSymmetry said...<br /><br />As in "Black Hawk Down" where the contribution of Pakistani and Malaysian forces (one Malaysian was killed) was minimized.<br /><br />Disclaimer: I'm Malaysian"<br /><br />Don't feel too bad. In "U-571", they had the Americans engaging in lots of derring-do in order to get hold of an enigma-machine from a german U-Boat, whereas in reality that was an entirely British caper.<br /><br />"Black Hawk Down" also left out the reasons why the Somali militias hated us so much. Still in all, it was a pretty good movie.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-47747485680530373752012-10-24T19:53:49.158-07:002012-10-24T19:53:49.158-07:00There are clearly factors in movie production that...There are clearly factors in movie production that neither we or the people making movies know or comprehend before the project is completed - maybe its just luck? If it were as easy as it seems to be there would a lot fewer really bad movies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-6096534961145805922012-10-24T19:38:05.063-07:002012-10-24T19:38:05.063-07:00Didnt some other Americans (not diplomatic staff) ...Didnt some other Americans (not diplomatic staff) escape Iran by posing as Poles (aided and abetted by the Poles of course). Or maybe it was Brits escaping?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-43289641787748667712012-10-24T19:14:41.079-07:002012-10-24T19:14:41.079-07:00Her latest, "Take This Waltz", with Mich...<i>Her latest, "Take This Waltz", with Michelle Williams essentially reprising her "Blue Valentine" role, should provide much material for the Roissy-ites (it also features a naked Sarah Silverman in one of the most - intentionally - unerotic shower scenes ever).</i><br /><br />Of course I had to find the scene online. Daily Motion has it, in all its full uncensored glory. It's quite erotic indeed. Sarah Silverman and Michelle Williams look terrific, as does the third shower-er, Jennifer Podemski (who is mixed Ojibway Indian and Israeli). Yes, there's an older woman and a fat woman in the background, but you won't drop dead or anything from seeing them.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04266094188872421777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41269252530865492802012-10-24T19:03:20.908-07:002012-10-24T19:03:20.908-07:00" The CIA side of the extrication was kept se..." The CIA side of the extrication was kept secret until 1997, and the movie focuses on the American machinations, somewhat unfairly to the Canadians"<br /><br />As in "Black Hawk Down" where the contribution of <br />Pakistani and Malaysian forces (one Malaysian was killed) was minimized.<br /><br />Disclaimer: I'm MalaysianBrokenSymmetryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00817998587641971683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3559758433680573692012-10-24T18:42:05.821-07:002012-10-24T18:42:05.821-07:00green mamba said... Sounds like a thoroughly unint...<i> green mamba said... Sounds like a thoroughly uninteresting movie. Even the title bores me.</i><br /><br />Between the people who've seen it and like it and the person who hasn't seen it and doesn't like it, readers will have to decide whose opinion to go with.<br /><br /><i>it also features a naked Sarah Silverman in one of the most - intentionally - unerotic shower scenes ever).</i><br /><br />Excuse me, seeing Sarah Silverman and Michelle Williams naked is erotic whatever else is going on in the scene.Harry Baldwinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-24408652527492721452012-10-24T18:31:07.197-07:002012-10-24T18:31:07.197-07:00voice-over of Jimmy Carter bleating about how prou...<i>voice-over of Jimmy Carter bleating about how proud he was that this crisis was resolved without loss of life, or some such nonsense.</i><br /><br />I think he forgot the dead people in Operation Eagle Claw.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-1768344796370024562012-10-24T17:02:53.120-07:002012-10-24T17:02:53.120-07:00Sounds like a thoroughly uninteresting movie. Even...Sounds like a thoroughly uninteresting movie. Even the title bores me.<br /><br />Regarding female directors: Sarah Polley started directing while she was still young and attractive (still is, I think), and she's fairly accomplished. Her latest, "Take This Waltz", with Michelle Williams essentially reprising her "Blue Valentine" role, should provide much material for the Roissy-ites (it also features a naked Sarah Silverman in one of the most - intentionally - unerotic shower scenes ever).green mambanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-78373623752779780922012-10-24T16:41:02.932-07:002012-10-24T16:41:02.932-07:00Jimmy Carter bleating about how proud he was that ...<i>Jimmy Carter bleating about how proud he was that this crisis was resolved without loss of life, or some such nonsense.</i><br /><br />I was a first year law student at the time, and I recall that one of my professors, a giant in the field of creditors' remedies, was brought in by the State Department to design a seizure of Iranian assets. Did that turn out to be the key factor? I'm too lazy to research it. mel bellinoreply@blogger.com