Can it really be fair to critique a passion project? No matter what you say about it, the person who got it made only wanted one thing and that was to bring this particular story to the screen. Whether good or bad, they did it and their mission is complete, so good for them and congrats to them for overcoming numerous odds to get it done. Yet, for the rest of us, whose passion is only to see a good movie, now there’s where the story changes and the responsibility of the people behind the camera suddenly comes into focus. Sadly, this passion play does not satisfy both sides of the screen. Continue reading →
There are certain things a country does when it goes to war, the economy usually booms into action, the populace rally behind the sitting President and Hollywood starts production on films portraying America as the patriotic force of good against whatever evil it is we are currently fighting with. And so it went during the early years of the Iraq War, but as time dragged on everything started to slip away. The economy slid into one of the worst depressions on record, the general populace turned on the sitting President with such vitriol and distaste it is a wonder he’s still in office, and lastly Hollywood began to show another side of the conflict, one where we were not cast in the best of lights. The movie going public usually eats this all up with a popcorn flavored spoon, but eventually there is a line crossed where the audience just doesn’t care anymore. We’ve moved on, the war has become old news and we don’t want to be reminded anymore about how badly we screwed the pooch. But films take a long time to go from start to finish, so this weekend we were graced with one more wartime vision, Body of Lies, this one from greatly acclaimed director Ridley Scott and powerhouse actors Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. Continue reading →
