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Is 2006 Hollywood’s Turning Point?

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(CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LINK TO TRAILER)

After watching this powerful and, frankly emotional, trailer for “Superman Returns“, (h/t – Malcontent) it made me think of Dan’s posting a few months ago.
A Screenwriter’s Solution to Hollywood’s Slump – GayPatriotWest
Dan highlighted a column by his screenwriter friend Craig Titley about Hollywood’s slump and the need to get back to more traditional, pro-American movies. From Craig’s piece about 1985’s successful movies:

[T]hese films were optimistic in a time of fear, and they didn’t endlessly bag on their own country or send a negative message to the world implying that America is full of corrupt, greedy, selfish, dishonest, Capitalist pigs and that the Russians have every right to hate us and nuke us. On the contrary, these films wore the flag proudly, celebrated American valor and the American spirit, and used the real world villains as the reel world villains.

There has never been a film screen character that epitomizes American values more than Christopher Reeve’s “Superman.” Based on what I’ve seen in this trailer, Brandon Routh (a Midwestern boy like Clark Kent himself) has channeled Reeve in a way that is nearly mindboggling. I hope “Superman Returns” lives up to this trailer and helps Hollywood rediscover the America it is a part of.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Time Travel Celebrates 50 Years!

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How did I miss this anniversary yesterday given the fact that I saw the first Back to the Future movie 20 times …. in the theatre… in 1985?
It was on Saturday, November 5, 1955, Dr. Emmett Brown fell off of his toilet, struck his head, and had a vision of the flux capacitor — the invention that made time travel possible.


He would then incorporate that technology into a DeLorean and create a time machine that had its first trip on October 26, 1985.

While checking out various links on this important movie date, I was shocked to learn something I never knew before. President Ronald Reagan was offered, and declined, to play the mayor of fictional Hill Valley, California (circa 1885) in Back to the Future, Part III. I so wish he would have said yes! That would have been fantastic.
Some great lines from the first Back to the Future movie that I love:
“When this baby hits 88 miles per hour…. you’re gonna see some serious shit.”
“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
“You are my density….I mean my destiny.”
“Now make like a tree, and get out of here.”
Marty: “This is heavy, Doc.”
Doc: “Gravity has nothing to do with it!”
”Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and he told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out, that he’d melt my brain.”
Marty: “Bullet proof vest, how did you know? I never got a chance to tell you. What about all that talk about screwing up future events, the space time continuum?”
Doc: “Well, I figured, what the hell.”
Happy 50th Anniversary to Doc Brown’s invention! November 5, 1955 — “a red letter day in the history of science!”
-Bruce (GayPatriot…. and major BTTF fan)
PS – I’m soooo pissed I didn’t know about this event. I probably would have figured out a way to go!

Romantic Chemistry – A Lost Cinematic Art?

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Just returned from the movie Prime and while there is much to commend in that flick, some smart dialogue, Meryl Streep‘s brilliant portrayal of a bright Jewish psychotherapist caught in a complex situation, the movie didn’t hold together all that well. For the second night in a row (last night it was Shopgirl), I saw smart flicks where I just didn’t believe the relationship between the romantic leads. While Bryan Greenberg was quite fetching as Dave (in Prime), he just didn’t seem to connect with Uma Thurman, Rafi, his love interest.
Last night, I didn’t believe that either Ray (Steve Martin) or Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) had fallen for Mirabelle (Claire Danes). (That said, there were elements in that story that really intrigued me and I’m likely to buy the book.) Today, it seems that the greatest problem in movie romances is that the leads don’t match. This is true for gay as well as straight love stories. Last December, I found that the gay romance in Oliver Stone’s Alexander fell flat because “there wasn’t much chemistry” between Colin Farell and Jared Leto, playing lovers Alexander and Hephaistion.
Good chemistry between the (romantic) leads can make up for flaws in the script, as in The Trip, one of my favorite gay flicks. We see this is straight movies as well. Although I found the script for Two Weeks Notice kind of weak, I quite enjoyed the film because I believed Hugh Grant had fallen for Sandra Bullock (and vice versa). Most film buffs overlook the flaws in The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not because of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall‘s palpable romantic sizzle. And even the worst of the Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy comedies come alive in the scenes when they’re on screen together.
While the major flaw in Prime was the absence of chemistry between Thurman and Greenberg was the major flaw in Prime, another irritant the movie’s portrayal of its the gay characters–they were all effeminate. I did a crack a smile when one of those characters was identified as a Republican, but he seemed defensive about his politics, saying it was only about the tax issue.
All that said, I might be faulting the movie less had I believed the love story more. Meryl Streep once again proves why many people consider her “the greatest living film actress.” And Uma Thurman delivers a touching performance as a woman in her late thirties who falls for a guy in his early twenties. I just wish directors would pay as much attention to the relationship between the actors in their movies as they do to their talent.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Hollywood Conservatives: Armed with a Sense of Humor and the Wherewithal to Make Great Movies

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Just over a month ago, I blogged about the warm reception I received at a National Review fundraiser in LA. The conservatives there welcomed me even when I introduced myself as gay. I experienced the same thing this past weekend at the Liberty Film Festival, a festival to promote conservative and libertarian films and filmmakers.
In a post on Tuesday, I noted how impressed I was with the panel on the Hollywood blacklist (so impressed that I bought books by two of the panelists). Well, that wasn’t the only thing I enjoyed about the fest. I saw some great films as well.
The fest opened with Fellowship 9/11, a hilarious short imagining Michael Moore‘s journey to Middle-earth in the aftermath of the War of the Ring. Evan Maloney’s amusing Brainwashing 201 showed the liberal bias on many college campuses today while Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60 explored how the U.N. has failed to lived up to the promise of its founding. It has not intervened to protect civilians victimized by terrorists or rogue militias. Indeed, the film related how U.N. workers forced Moslem refugees from a secure compound, effectively delivering them to Serbian troops who would subsequently murder the men and boys.
As engaging as those films were, the most entertaining event of the evening was when angry protesters stormed the stage, trying to prevent David Horowitz from speaking. Security quickly ushered the hecklers out of the auditorium as we in the audience erupted in laughter and applause. (Check out Cathy Seipp’s more in-depth coverage of the spectacle.) A few minutes later, fellow blogger, radio commentator and out-lesbian, Tammy Bruce, addressed the gathering.
On opening night of this conservative fest, when we saw a film about liberal intolerance, leftists tried to prevent a conservative from speaking freely while the audience enthusiastically welcomed a pro-choice lesbian feminist. Doesn’t seem like an image of the conservative world the MSM is likely to present.
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Gone With the Idealism–The Cynicism of Today’s Leftists

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This past weekend at the Liberty Film Festival, in addition to the great flicks I saw, I also enjoyed some fascinating panel discussions. My friend Craig Titley and one of my favorite bloggers, Roger Simon, participated in the Screenwriters’ Panel (perhaps more on that anon) while a panel on the Hollywood Blacklist, a diverse array of speakers considered the question, “Was Communism a Threat to Hollywood?” (I wonder if a liberal film fest would include such a mixed group.)
Impressed by the panel, I bought two of the participants’ books, Richard Schickel’s book on Elia Kazan (in large part because that graduate of America’s finest small college is one of my favorite directors) and Ronald Radosh’s Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colony’s Long Romance with the Left. I began reading Radosh’s book just a few minutes after buying and have found it hard to put down.
In the early chapters, he addresses the idealism of the early Hollywood communists. Back then, communism represented a path to build a better world. Some Hollywood celebrities who joined — or were linked to the Communist Party through their associations or their support of causes with which Communists were involved — did so because of their own experiences with poverty. Others signed up because, in the 1930s (until the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939), the Communists provided leadership “in the resistance to fascism.”
In testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in 1940, James Cagney explained his involvement:

Under the circumstances under which I was raised . . ., I saw poverty on all sides for a long time. Such a thing leaves its impression; you can’t go through life and build a wall around yourself and say “Everything is fine for me and to hell with the other fellow.”

For the 1930s idealists, Communism served as a positive means to address pressing problems like poverty and what we today would call, social injustice. And the first nation to adopt communism, the Soviet Union, became a “mythic homeland of the radical imagination where the future was being born every day.”
Contrast the idealism of the early Communists with the attitudes of today’s leftists. In the 1930s, leftists had a noble vision of a better world. Today, leftists just project a nasty image onto many present-day leaders, particularly President Bush and his closest associates. They seem more interested in trashing their opponents than in putting forward a positive vision of what they would do in his stead.
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TV’s Teletubbies Wrapped Up In Cocaine Bust

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Jerry Falwell must be thinking “I told you so!” today…
Teletubbies In Cocaine Bust – The Smoking Gun

When federal officials in New York yesterday announced the arrest of 22 members of an international drug cartel, they revealed that cocaine shipments seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were labeled with a sweet portrait of the colorful cartoon quartet.


-Bruce (GayPatriot)

A Screenwriter’s Solution to Hollywood’s Slump

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Looking at the Hollywood box office slump of 2005, my friend Craig Titley (quite possibly the funniest screenwriter in Hollywood who is also intelligent) finds similarities to the slump twenty years ago, back in 1985 when Back to the Future topped the box office charts.
Craig notes how both slumps followed the re-election of presidents who were “despised by the coasts, the media, and Bruce Springsteen.” He finds cultural similarities as well; both years saw a growth in home entertainment. And contends:

The questions Hollywood needs to be asking is not what caused the slump, but what will end it? What brought audiences back to the movies in ‘85? And what is it audiences now want that Hollywood 2005 isn’t delivering? The movies tell the tale.

By offering a detailed analysis of the successful movies (of 1985), Craig finds that they were largely pro-American flics:

these films were optimistic in a time of fear, and they didn’t endlessly bag on their own country or send a negative message to the world implying that America is full of corrupt, greedy, selfish, dishonest, Capitalist pigs and that the Russians have every right to hate us and nuke us. On the contrary, these films wore the flag proudly, celebrated American valor and the American spirit, and used the real world villains as the reel world villains.

There’s more great stuff like that in Craig’s piece so rather than having me give it you second-hand, just read the whole thing. Not only is it wise, but it’s witty as well, a real delight to read–and you’ll learn something along the way. And you’ll be reminded of what this town can accomplish when moviemakers promote what is best in this nation — and in all of us.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Commander-In-Chief Geena Davis

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As Doc Brown said in the Back to the Future movies when told Ronald Reagan was President in the future…. “Ha! What next, Jack Benny for Secretary of the Treasury?” With Geena Davis as President, do we get Susan Sarandon as Secretary of State?
Chad at Cake or Death has a spot-on review of the new ABC TV drama.
Against my better judgment, I also watched the show knowing full well that one of the writers/consultants is none other than Satan’s sister, Eleanor “Screech” Clift. Since I’m lazy, I’m glad Chad captured many of the thoughts I would have written this morning.

The issue here isn’t really the fact that a chick is running the show, it’s how she got the job. A Republican candidate with a 40% approval rating chooses an “independent” female as a running mate to up his poll numbers. Not based on merit. Not based on experience. She’s got a pair of fun-pillows and a hoo-ha. He then makes the mistake of having a brain aneurysm and dies.

Okay, I doubt I would have used the word “hoo-ha.”
Anyway, I really *wanted* to like the show. Otherwise I wouldn’t have wasted an hour of my time last night. Or I would have watched “House” on FOX, a much better drama.
‘Commander’ just stretched the realm of believeability from start to finish. Not that a woman would be President. I actually believe it will happen in the next two or three election cycles, in fact. But every other part of the show was just eye-rollingly ridiculous. An ‘independent’ former Member of Congress-then Chancellor of a university has a right-wing…. teenage daughter? The nasty (but great character) right-wing Speaker of the House winkingly shuts down Geena’s TelePrompter during her first speech to Congress? Come on.
“The West Wing” is also not exactly a bastion of conservative values on television. But it has been at times very well written, and most importantly, believeable.
I hate to make predictions because I’m pretty bad at it. But I don’t think Geena will be in the Oval Office for long.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Let Me Pick! Let Me Pick!!!

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NBC/Universal Chief Jeff Zucker dropped the “L” bomb at ’30 Rock’ today….. “Layoffs.”
Zucker Tells NBC Newsers: “There Will Likely Be Layoffs.”
This one has been under my skin since she first started…..

And this one!!! Well, I believe she has a hotline phone to Hell for tips to improve her integrity and objectivity.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Say it isn’t so!

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Colorado Patriot wrote in to tell me how poorly one of my favorite singers behaved at a concert/fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Not only am I am a fan of Bette Midler’s voice, but I often love her acting as well. In a past post, I mentioned how her “stupid comedy,” Ruthless People, changed my life for the better. I love her (and Lily) in Big Business and delighted in her cameo in Get Shorty. And, of course, I am a fan of Beaches.
At the New York concert, this talented actress and singer said:

I got a letter from the Republican Party the other day. I wrote back, ‘Go fuck yourself’ . . . George Bush is a fan of mine — he came to see me in the Seventies. His coke dealer brought him.

As Colorado Patriot put it, “Truly tasteless considering what the organizers of this event were trying to accomplish.” Exactly.
Boycotting Bette’s work is clearly out of the question; as PrismWarden put it, “Giving up Bette, it’s practically a gay funeral.” Still, Beaches may never again be the same.

NYC’s Gay Penguins Break Up

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Sad news…..
Political Penguin Would Know Not To Open Its Beak – Chicago Tribune

Roy and Silo, the two famous gay penguins at New York’s Central Park Zoo, are no longer a pair. Silo has gone straight.
They broke up after six years together. Once, they were provided a donated egg. They sat on it and hatched it and this was celebrated as some kind of penguin lifestyle choice in the New York Times on Feb. 7, 2004, under the headline “The Love that Dare Not Squeak Its Name.”
But that’s so over.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)
I’m devasted. I may not be able to blog for a week. –GPW

In Memoriam Robert Wise

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Ever since I saw The Sound of Music as a child, it has been one of my favorite movies. Thus, it is with great sadness that I report the passing of its director, four-time Oscar winner Robert Wise.
Not only did he direct that top-grossing musical of all time (for many years the top-grossing film of all time), but he also directed other great films including West Side Story and The Day the Earth Stood Still. He garnered his first Oscar nod in 1942 for editing Citizen Kane. He worked with Orson Welles later that year on The Magnificent Ambersons. His body of work included almost every genre of film; he even directed the first Star Trek movie in 1979.
He has directed many of the silver screen’s brightest lights including Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Burton and James Mason. He represents the very best of what Hollywood can be. And while he will be missed, he leaves behind a great legacy.
Thank you, Robert Wise, for your many cinematic achievements and for assuring us that somewhere there’s a place for each one of us and reminding us to Climb Ev’ry Mountain.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

VOTE for your favorite “Storm Stud”

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Based on the names offered up by GayPatriot readers… here is the official ballot to vote for your favorite “Storm Stud”.
I made some editorial judgements as to whether some of the nominees qualified…. they had to be “front and center” during Katrina coverage…. not just a pretty face on cable. *grin*
CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW!
Click on “more” to view photos of nominees…….
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Being a Republican….in Hollywood

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I think those of us who are gay conservatives can certainly relate to the “coming out” process that a conservative in Hollywood must have to go through.
Robert Averch, a screenwriter in the film industry, has a must read column on being a conservative in Hollywood. Seriously…. this is a must read. (Hat tip – Jason at Libertas)
Help! I’m a Hollywood Republican – FrontPage Magazine

I’m a Republican. A heretofore secret Hollywood Republican. I know men and women who are heavy drug addicts and they have no problem finding employment in Hollywood. I know men and women who are gambling addicts and they work pretty regularly. There’s even a director who was arrested for child molestation and yet was hired by Disney – yes, Disney – to helm a picture, and people defended this decision by saying even child molesters have a right to work. I would bet my bottom dollar that all these people are on the correct side of the political spectrum. They are liberal democrats.
Me, I’m a Republican. A conservative Republican. I believe passionately in free market capitalism. I believe in the Second Amendment, i.e., the right to bear arms (I even own several guns and go to the shooting range with friends from shul several times a month). I despise communism and fascism, and I believe there is a special place in hell for Islamic totalitarians and their Western apologists – probably 99.9 percent of Hollywood people.

For Mr. Averch, this column is an extraordinary act of courage. It is not hyperbole to suggest that his career may be threatened, and perhaps even his personal safety.
We need more conservatives in our film and TV industry so that the one-track liberal/anti-American political thought machine can have their ideas challenged in the “marketplace of ideas.”
Please, if you have a moment today, drop by Robert’s blog — Seraphic Secret— and drop him a supportive email (link here).
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Republican Named to Head Leading Gay Organization

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Here is some very promising news in the “Maybe the Gay Community Is Seeing The Light” Department. Neil Giulano, the former mayor of Tempe, AZ, who also happens to be openly gay and Republican, was named earlier this week to be the President of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
Neil G. Giuliano Named GLAAD President – GLAAD.org
This is an important step as it appears to be the first time since the November 2004 election that a major gay organization is actually *taking action* to adapt to the reality of America’s perceptions about gay America. Rather than the useless platitudes and phony outreach promises coming from the Human Rights Campaign, and the outright aggression against the will of the people by the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force….

MATT FOREMAN: Well, fundamentally human rights should never be put up for a popular vote. Even today if we put the freedoms that we take for granted, like freedom of press or religion or speech, up to a popular vote, we would lose them in most of our states — maybe not most, but at least half of them.

GLAAD has actually done something.
Congratulations to Neil, who I have communicated with before wearing another hat, and perhaps we will have the chance to interview him here at GayPatriot in the coming weeks.
Related Story: Log Cabin Invades GLAAD – The Malconent
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

ABC’s Maverick Stossel: Cut Off PBS Funding

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Once again, ABC News reporter John Stossel proves why more conservative voices are needed in the so-called “mainstream media.”
Privatize PBS – RealClearPolitics.com
He starts off with a bang….

My cable company made me a remarkable offer: They want to add a new channel to my cable subscription — and you will pay for it. The channel will have liberal news, highbrow entertainment and a variety of educational programming.
Sounds insane, and yet the channel isn’t new. It’s called PBS.

But then he gets to the real point.

Republicans should stop dithering about reducing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s subsidies and eliminate them altogether. Of course, when anyone suggests cutting the PBS budget, people say, “they’re trying to kill ‘Sesame Street’!” But “Sesame Street” is big business and would survive in any environment. “Children’s programming that has an audience does not need taxpayer subsidies,” says Jacob Sullum of Reason. “Noggin, which is more ‘commercial-free’ than PBS stations, carries 12 hours of kids’ shows (including two different versions of ‘Sesame Street’) every day. Parent-acceptable children’s programming can also be seen on Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and ABC Family.”

Stossel ends the piece with a quote from David Boaz, the author of “Libertarianism: A Primer.”

“We wouldn’t want the federal government to publish a national newspaper, writes Boaz, “why should we have a government television network and a government radio network? If anything should be kept separate from government and politics, it’s the news and public affairs programming that Americans watch. When government brings us the news — with all the inevitable bias and spin — the government is putting its thumb on the scales of democracy. It’s time for that to stop.”

To me, the most important point is also at the end: PBS, on the other hand, is broadcasting by bureaucracy. This is not a good thing. We should have separation of news and state.
Separation of news and state. That should be the new mantra for conservatives. Sounds like the great title for a blog, too.
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com