LATImes:

– it took a lot of special effects to make the toned actor look like the skinny military hopeful he’s supposed to be at the beginning of the story.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Evans told Reuters. “They took shape out of my jaw line, they shrunk my skeleton and they made my shoulders less broad.”

Those rippling muscles on his Captain America alter-ego, however, are anything but CGI — the actor put on 15 pounds of muscle to play the part.

Everyone’s raving about Chris Evans in the film and how, thanks to CGI, they are able to make the actor look like a 90 lb soaking-wet weakling when the actor has in fact packed on 15 lbs of real muscle; but what they aren’t telling you is that after his character receives the super-soldier serum, that body doesn’t belong to Chris Evans either.

FA has obtained the exclusive rights to a behind-the-scenes photo of the real actor/stunt double, who just happens to be a real-life super-soldier about to deploy to Afghanistan:

Behind that Captain America half-mask, the rugged patriotic scowl, and brandishing that star-spangled shield,is FA’s very own CJ. Believe it or not, neither CGI nor photoshopping was involved in this picture of America’s finest super-soldier! The Taliban and al-Qaeda have no idea what’s coming their way!

Based upon the above photo, an artist made the following rendition of CJ (most have confused it for Chris Evans as the artist’s live model):

WaPo:

Even his name exudes an America that time forgot: Steve Rogers, who as channeled by Chris Evans embodies the kind of wisdom, bravery and fairness that a country mired in debt and political rancor could use right around now. “I don’t like bullies,” Rogers says simply before joining the U.S. Army in 1942. Some time later, after he’s been pumped up by a muscle-building serum even Roger Clemens would envy, someone asks Rogers, “What makes you so special?” “Nothin’,” he replies. “I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.” Sure, but one who was knocking Hitler on the jaw when he was first introduced to comic book readers in 1941 (goading a recalcitrant administration into doing the right thing).

This seems to be the year of the super hero movies:

The movie looks enjoyable. Anyone who is seeing it care to offer up a review?

I was never a fan of Captain America as a comic book reader growing up; but as an adult, I’ve become sensitive to how symbolic the character is (he turned my stomach when he fell into the clutches of anti-Bush writers); or at the least, the potential this character has in embodying American idealism and exceptionalism.

I’m not expecting this to be a flag-waving, “rah rah America #&%@ yeah, we’re #1!” kind of movie; just good old-fashioned entertainment, good vs. bad, that is respectful of America and absent of Hollywood liberal worldview messages.

Michael Medved writes:

Hollywood increasingly depends on overseas markets, so executives at Paramount Studios worried about anti-American sentiment hurting their new film, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. They therefore offered foreign distributors the chance to sell the film simply as THE FIRST AVENGER, but only three nations made that choice: Russia, Ukraine and South Korea.

The rest of the world embraced the CAPTAIN AMERICA title, suggesting that hatred of the US may be less a factor than we think.

I’m still baffled that they didn’t capitalize upon a 4th of July weekend opening here in the States.

Previously (Related post):
Truth, Justice, and the UN Way

Is this a serious discussion of raising the debt ceiling or the opportunity for a failing president to gain control of center stage in a desperate attempt to assert his authority and relevance before the 2012 election?

Obama seems to be playing the role of Marshal Will Kane (Will relates to the character of the Marshal) straight from the movie High Noon, arguably one of the best films ever made. Filmed in 1952, at the height of Senator McCarthy’s claims of Communist agents and influence within the federal government and the entertainment industry, (claims that were largely proven to be correct by the Verona Cables and declassification of KGB files) it is a movie that emphasizes the ideals of the strength of the individual in standing up to evil.

It is ironic that Obama, the hero of the Progressive Socialist movement in the US, has seemingly cast himself as a prototype Marshal Kane, played by Gary Cooper. Marshal Kane is the epitome of how the American male likes to imagine himself, the self-assured cowboy hero facing incarnate evil. He is also the fantasy image of American women who dream wistfully of the mythical cowboy hero. Many American facets of personality were portrayed in the movie and Obama is manipulating these traits to his advantage in a real life interpretation of High Noon. Foremost is the allegorical image of a hero, who is abandoned by those he has served and loved.

In the screenplay, a killer is arriving on the train at noon, a man that Marshal Kane arrested and sent to prison, where he was to be hanged, but he’s has been set free. He has three henchmen waiting to help him and he is determined to exact revenge on Marshal Kane. The film is staged in real time and the time is recorded on the town clock featured in the movie; in other words the film begins a little after ten o’clock and continues on in real or actual time toward High Noon.

We have the default and the possibility of financial collapse arriving in a short period of time. The henchmen are represented by the Republicans, who wait in anticipation of the train bringing chaos and the demise of Obama. Marshal Obama is pleading for help, but everyone is turning their back on him and he is struggling to persevere to save the dusty little town known as America.

The screenplay written by Carl Foreman, was based loosely on “The Tin Star” a Collier’s magazine article from 1947, by John Cunningham. Foreman is thought to have based the screenplay on his personal struggles with the McCarthy investigation, based on associations with the Communist Party. Thus we have the image of a man who is turned on by friends and associates as he struggles against evil. Foreman was blacklisted and left for London, soon after writing the script.

Amy, played by Grace Kelly, is Will Kane’s virginal bride, (they marry in the opening minutes) she is half the age of Marshal Kane and is a Quaker and a pacifist. She begs her husband to flee the inevitable bloody confrontation, as do his friends; they in effect are asking him to take the coward’s path, the path they have chosen, but Marshal Kane must be true to his ideals and show courage, even if everyone else is a sniveling coward.

The movie has also been thought to be an allegory to the US role in the Cold War and the Korean War. The hero/Marshal Kane is already retired and tired(Cooper is actually suffering from ulcers, his pain is thought to help add to the realism), but he feels honor bound to stand against evil forces.

Marshal Kane admits he has fear, a hero without fear and uncertainty doesn’t build empathy among the audience.

Marshal Kane’s former Mexican mistress, a woman of dubious virtue, is also portrayed in the film; thus adding to the conflict of good and evil.

High Noon has all the elements of the traditional western: bad guys, beautiful heroine, handsome hero, and a dusty little western town, but it didn’t involve periodic action and horse opera. The action was all in the final ten minutes; otherwise, the script built the tension around the human emotions involved: fear, love, betrayal, vengeance, heroism, and loyalty.

Obama is calling on these same emotions by creating the same tension derived from the clock ticking toward High Noon and the real action will be within the last few minutes. Will Obama defeat the evil Republicans? The climax is only temporary, the story will be unfolding until November 6, 2012. Yet a little drama can be used to catch the public’s attention in the mean time.

Unfortunately, High Noon wasn’t well received by the American public; but fifty years later, the cinematic accomplishments of the film are still being appreciated.

Will Obama benefit from playing the script to an allegorical High Noon. Americans favor the typical western with lots of action; they don’t appreciate being portrayed as base stupid and cowards in a grim serious screenplay. It’s a big gamble being played by Obama; except this time we are all involved in the script.

Let the games continue, I am enjoying the Obama Drama.

The Clock Is Ticking

Epilogue: John Wayne hated the movie and called it unAmerican because of the cowardice of the townspeople. It is accepted that it was the reason he made the movie Rio Bravo.

I finally got around to seeing True Grit. Since Flopping Aces is a conservative blog with a western theme, I find it fitting to do a movie review on a genre that Hollywood has all but forgotten about in recent years.

I haven’t seen the John Wayne classic since I was a kid. I’ve heard a couple of reviewers claim that this reincarnation of the movie (more a “redoing” than a “remake”) is better and more true to the novel (which I never read). That may be true; but I also think both versions can be appreciated on their own terms.

The acting was superb (at first, I had some difficulty understanding what the hell Jeff Bridges was saying, until I got used to his gravel voice and vernacular).

John Wayne will always be “the Duke”, whose stature as a cinematic American iconic hero is neither threatened nor diminished by Jeff Bridges’ reinventing of the U.S. marshal, “Rooster” Cogburn. But Bridges makes the role his own, as well he should (imitation is pale in comparison to the original, so why would any actor waste his time mimicking the Duke?).

Matt Damon did such a great job in his role that for almost 2 hours I forgot that I got absorbed in his on-screen character, forgetting that in real life he is an idiot Howard Zinn-liberal actor.

Hailee Steinfeld is a rising star who plays her role beautifully.

I loved the score and the look. The violence was fitting. It reminded me in some ways of “Unforgiven”.

What are readers’ impressions?

During Thanksgiving weekend I went to see the movie REDS with Bruce Willis. Awesome movie and I highly recommend it. But during the trailers they showed the movie FAIR GAME with Sean Penn, supposedly based on the Plame/Wilson affair. I groaned when I saw it.

It appears my groan was warranted. Here is the WaPo: (h/t Dan Riehl)

In fact, “Fair Game,” based on books by Mr. Wilson and his wife, is full of distortions – not to mention outright inventions. To start with the most sensational: The movie portrays Ms. Plame as having cultivated a group of Iraqi scientists and arranged for them to leave the country, and it suggests that once her cover was blown, the operation was aborted and the scientists were abandoned. This is simply false. In reality, as The Post’s Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby reported, Ms. Plame did not work directly on the program, and it was not shut down because of her identification.

The movie portrays Mr. Wilson as a whistle-blower who debunked a Bush administration claim that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from the African country of Niger. In fact, an investigation by the Senate intelligence committee found that Mr. Wilson’s reporting did not affect the intelligence community’s view on the matter, and an official British investigation found that President George W. Bush’s statement in a State of the Union address that Britain believed that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger was well-founded.

“Fair Game” also resells the couple’s story that Ms. Plame’s exposure was the result of a White House conspiracy. A lengthy and wasteful investigation by a special prosecutor found no such conspiracy – but it did confirm that the prime source of a newspaper column identifying Ms. Plame was a State Department official, not a White House political operative.

And as is usual with these liberal vanity pieces the numbers don’t look so hot. It cost 22 million to make and since opening one month ago it has taken in 7.3 million domestically and another 5 million worldwide. Receipts continue to fall, down 32% this weekend. This movie will be lucky to get its money back.

Hollywood has a very skewed idea of what the public wants to see when it comes to movies like this. They’ve sunk mega money into anti-war, anti-Bush movies because they believe the movie going public MUST think like they do in their insulated left leaning world. Rendition, Redacted, In the Valley of Elah, Green Zone….all money losers.

But they still insist on making these kind of POS movies.

Hollywood has a habit of making movies about historical events without regard for the truth; “Fair Game” is just one more example. But the film’s reception illustrates a more troubling trend of political debates in Washington in which established facts are willfully ignored.

Sean Penn paints the Bush administration as power-mad schemers and the Wilsons as some kind of courageous patriots. Yeah, would call that facts willfully ignored and a revision of history.

Gary Cooper Plays the lead in ‘Sergeant York’ 1941; a role that set the stage persona of a quiet unassuming man overcoming great odds for good to triumph over evil, an identity that made Cooper the most popular box office actor of the 30′, 40′s, and 50′s.

In the movie ‘High Noon’, Cooper portrays an aging marshal with a young bride, an old nemesis has been released from prison and is arriving by train with his gang to kill him; he must stand to face death alone against all odds, relying on principle and justice, because the town’s people and his bride have deserted him. The film has been considered to be one of the most artistic films of all time and one of Cooper’s greatest achievements.

The theme song to ‘High Noon’

Do not forsake me O my darlin’ On this our wedding day. Do not forsake me O my darlin’ Wait, wait along. The noonday train will bring Frank Miller. If I’m a man I must be brave And I must face that deadly killer Or lie a coward, a craven coward, Or lie a coward in my grave. O to be torn ‘twixt love and duty! S’posin’ I lose my fair-haired beauty! Look at that big hand move along Nearin’ high noon.

Celebrities and artists seem to have an overwhelming majority of people who are Socialists and fervent Communist sympathizers, it’s undeniable, but it is a reasonable question to ask why? Most of us have theories that are rarely expressed; yet the true reasons might be found in the testimony of an American icon.

Gary Cooper’s testimony before the House Panel on un-American Activities:

Several years ago, when communism was more of a social chit-chatter in parties for offices, and so on when communism didn’t have the implications that it has now, discussion of communism was more open and I remember hearing statements from some folks to the effect that the communistic system had a great many features that were desirable. It offered the actors and artists — in other words, the creative people — a special place in government where we would be somewhat immune from the ordinary leveling of income. And as I remember, some actor’s name was mentioned to me who had a house in Moscow which was very large — he had three cars, and stuff, with his house being quite a bit larger than my house in Beverly Hills at the time — and it looked to me like a pretty phony come-on to us in the picture business. From that time on, I could never take any of this pinko mouthing very seriously, because I didn’t feel it was on the level.

Was it all a lie? Cooper didn’t always live up to the images he portrayed: yet, how many of us would falter at the prospect of beautiful women throwing themselves at us continually, Clara Bow, was hopelessly in love with him as were Lupe Velez, Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Ingrid Bergman, Tallulah Bankhead, Grace Kelly and Anita Ekberg? Rocky, his wife, from old east coast money, ignored the affairs, but other than the occasional stumble in matters of matrimonial fidelity, Cooper had an excellent reputation as the understated Montana cowboy. What reasons would he have to exaggerate the influence of Communism within the theater world? Why did he refuse to name these Communists? Did he balk at condemning colleagues as Communists?

Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are lost in the myth of Hollywood and the unpopular HUAC hearings; unfortunately, Hollywood now appears deeply immersed in the Socialist movement. Is there a special place among the Elites of a Communist Utopia for celebrities?

Unquestionably , celebrities have influence over a huge segment of the population. It is an inverse equation: they have the most influence with the least erudite among us and the least influence with the more erudite. Thus it is in the interests of the Left to dumb down the public education system and use celebrities as a tool to swing public opinion. At least in Gary Cooper’s era, he was willing to swear under oath that they were offered “a special place in government where we would be somewhat immune from the ordinary leveling of income.”

Sean Penn the valiant knight for the downtrodden puts his mansion on the market for $15 million.

It offered the actors and artists — in other words, the creative people — a special place in government where we would be somewhat immune from the ordinary leveling of income. And as I remember, some actor’s name was mentioned to me who had a house in Moscow which was very large — he had three cars, and stuff, with his house being quite a bit larger than my house in Beverly Hills at the time — and it looked to me like a pretty phony come-on to us in the picture business.

How petty and selfish are these celebrities to sell out America for vague promises of a secure place among the Elites of a Communist society? Surely they are for from the altruistic individuals who try to pass themselves off as having higher moral values than the rest of us.

Hollywood is infamous for blacklisting Communist sympathizers after these hearings. Obviously they were concerned with their image and hoped to purge their ranks of undesirables.

Cooper represents the almost mythical American embodied by the Montana cowboy, values that we seldom see these days; he was the American cowboy tall, lean, with integrity and dignity, the embodiment of middle class American values.

Since Cooper’s death from lung cancer in 1961, the America of the old traditions of independence, patriotism, quiet dignity, honesty, and integrity has been eroding away. Gone is the strong, quiet man who will stand against impossible odds for those who can’t help themselves in a just cause against evil: now, integrity has been replaced by admiration for those who can milk the system with deceit and lies, while patriots are considered to be fools, con-men and opportunists are the new heroes. Justice is becoming a reward for the biggest lies and fraud perpetrated against the government and public in the name of social justice and infringement upon civil liberties that would be considered laughable in the past.

Now that America has elected a Black version of Forrest Gump without the speech impediment, America longs for the quiet assurance of a Gary Cooper type to inspire confidence once again.

A few comments gathered from You Tube:

Yep, nice looking……he and Ian Tyson. It’s a shame today’s guys haven’t figured out that women still love a rugged looking guy in a nice wide brimmed hat! And I’ll take a tight pair of Wranglers over baggies any day!

I’d have to say Gary Cooper is the most handsome man I’ve ever had the pleasure to view and there are quite a few , but he is very much the absolute ultimate beautiful movie star, I think River Phoenix is also in that league of the absolute ultimate beautiful movie star, but he lived only 23 years, I’m sure he would’ve remained a handsome man, like Gary did- Rest in Peace Gary and River.

His lips are gorgeous!!!

I couldn’t have said it better.

His lips are pure perfection.

OMG, those lips!.

Gary Cooper was without a doubt one of the finest American’s he was modest. a gentleman, and one hell of an actor. He had a sense of humor and he had no airs about him. He was truly Montana’s finest..

I love Gary Cooper! He was one nice looking man. I love his movies. A great video!

Epilogue: As a boy, I went to the movie house during our infrequent trips to town, at least if there was a western showing. Gary Cooper’s movies transported me to another dimension and made me sit taller in the saddle when I was back home. Yes, he was my boyhood hero.

For those with charges of racism to throw about, it has been estimated that after the Civil War, one in five cowboys were displaced Blacks from the plantation system: a fact that has unfortunately been ignored except in western parodies and comedies.

Over a year ago, in regards to an LATimes story about jihadi wannabes who went to Pakistan for martyrdom training, I wrote:

Sounds like they should have a film crew chronicle their failed exploits and turn it into a reality-based sob show: Who will be Europe’s next top tough-enough terrorist?

Well, The Four Lions, a British film directed by Chris Morris and written by Jesse Armstrong, sounds like the answer to that suggestion:

Medved:

Nationally syndicated conservative radio pundit Michael Medved recently reviewed FOUR LIONS, writing “Four Lions is outstanding, irresistible, utterly original–the funniest, fiercest movie of the year. Four stars.”

Big Hollywood:

In the movie, which opened last weekend, young Londoner Omar is frustrated with the group of fellow jihadists he has assembled to carry out a terrorist attack: the mentally deficient Waj, whose suggestion is that they “bomb the internet”; the fanatical but dense convert Barry, whose idea is to dress up like infidels and blow up a mosque, thus turning moderates into radicals and sparking a full-out holy war; clueless Fessal, who wants to train explosives-laden crows to fly into targets; and wannabe rapper Hassan, who is full of blustery posturing but has reservations about actual martyrdom.

Here’s a clip:

Anyone seen it? Opinions?

The Global Warming Scam Artists Are Willing To Resort To Murder To Promote The Great Hoax

The Global Warming Hoaxsters are willing to become fascists to frighten and intimidate children and the feeble minded. Their political campaign of international fraud is being ratcheted up to a new level, now that they are being challenged.

How quick they are to show the underbelly of evil that embodies the Hoax of Global Warming.

We can no longer indulge these criminals and their program of intimidation; the Great Hoax must be stopped in every facet of our Community to expose the fraud before it consumes us, all for control producing countries, by Elites and their sanctimonious followers so willing to employ evil or any means to gain control f the world’s superpower. No one assumes that China or Russia will pay more than lip service to the absurdity while waiting for the US and Great Britain to be weakened until they drop to their knees.

These Crypto-Nazis are more than willing to portray the murder of children to promote their scam. Now we must obey their demands or be liquidated. The Maoists and Stalinists of the Global Warming Hoax must be in an orgiastic dream world when they can glimpse the control that Elites are planning.

This film was funded in part by Great Britian, it was pulled within minutes of being shown as a result of public outrage and indignation, it will probably be pulled from You Tube within hours, but there is one copy that will hopefully not disappear from public view.

Watch it if you have a strong stomach and view these sick bastards of International Socialism as they imagine the world after they achieve their dreams of control.

There’s a new remake reimagining of a semi-classic 1981 movie out today: Clash of the Titans.

Hated it. What a colossal disappointment of epic proportion. That was 2 hours of my life I just flushed down the drain. Wasn’t the first time…won’t be the last, I’m sure.

The script was a horrible butchering. For the life of me, I don’t understand why they need to make “reimaginings” and not just create a whole new script around original source material (i.e., Greek mythology), and do a “retelling”. It’s like making an Alice in Wonderland movie based upon the current movie, rather than adapt a movie directly from the original stories by Lewis Carroll.

I remember seeing the original on an Air Force Base theater. As a kid, it was fun to watch.

In the new movie, they traded in R2D2 (Bubo) for a frakkin’ light saber! Bubo was fine for his time (in the era of the Star Wars-craze); but even as a kid, I found the chirpy robotic owl a bit annoying and extremely anachronistic even as a kid (c’mon…an owl robot even for Star Wars-loving kids for the “awww” factor and for comic relief required quite a stretch of the imagination; even buying into Hephaestus’ smithing skills, it takes a titanic, willing suspension of disbelief).

I did like the one homage they paid to the original when they are arming themselves in the armory, and Perseus finds the original Bubo and asks, “What’s this?” And he’s told to just leave it. (For Star Wars-era kids, it worked; but today…um….no). THAT was funny.

I may be reading too much into it, but I also found the script as being laced with another Hollywood anti-religion attack by atheists. Being on the right (even though I’m not religious, myself), maybe I’m just being too sensitive here. (No, I’m not going to look up the names of the original script writer(s) and the writers of the re-imagined version (not a remake, folks: It’s a reimagining). Just too lazy to care, right at this moment.

The script logic was horribly convoluted and I really felt nothing for any of the characters. Even for an action flick.

I think the 3 minute skeleton fight in the 1963 Jason and the Argonauts was more exciting and scary than the 1 hr and 50 min of 3D CGI special effects-laden action here.

In fact, rather than slap down your dollars at a 3D theater, you’re much better off renting the original “Clash of the Titans”, or the even older “Jason and the Argonauts”. Both movies incorporated the special effects stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen. Just sheer genius:

Directed by Don Chaffey, in collaboration with animation legend Ray Harryhausen, this film is famous for its fantastic stop-motion animated monsters including harpies, the bronze giant Talos, the crashing rocks, and the many-headed Hydra that guards the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece was given from Hecate who was the guardian goddess of Colchis. The thrilling final sequence wherein an army of seven skeletons, created by sowing the Hydra’s teeth, rise from the Earth to attack the heroes is still widely considered to be among the greatest achievements of 20th century motion picture special effects.

~~~

It took Ray Harryhausen 4 months to produce the skeleton scene, a massive amount of time for a scene which lasts at the most 3 minutes.

Why does Hollywood keep churning out these “remakes” and “re-imaginings”?! Quit recycling old classics like “Planet of the Apes” and “Miracle on 34th Street”, even if you can make them “better” (like that’s happened, yet). 30 yrs from now are they going to do this to “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”? Why, why, why?! Don’t even think of touching “Casablanca”….

From 2001 to present, here’s a movie that I feel is under-rated:

I think 2001: A Space Odyssey is the ultimate sci-fi movie. Odyssey Two tried to explain too much, and fits unevenly as a movie sequel to 2001. Although not great, it is a good movie in its own right, on its own merits.

…and ask for FA readers’ forgiveness.

I thought about whether or not I should come clean with this. After some soul-searching and hand-wringing, I decided that it is best that I clear my conscience. If I didn’t, I don’t see how I could ever blog here again without feeling shame for keeping a dirty little secret.

In a moment of weakness I slapped down $10 bucks and saw “Avatar”.

Forgive me fellow conservatives, for I have sinned.

My impressions of the colossal-budget movie? If you’re a tree-hugging Howard-Zinn-raised liberal, you’ll love it. If you’re a pro-war-on-terror-American-exceptionalism-muscular-foreign-policy-believing conservative, you’ll love it and feel dirty for doing so. But hey! All you have to do is suspend reality and just lose yourself in the fantasy that is the liberal worldview.

The movie’s impressive in scope and special effects, but the storyline’s just cliché-predictable….like watching Dances with Wolves in Space meets every Hollywood anti-(Iraq)war movie in the last 8 years.

Thanks James Cameron, for the overt political messages! [/sarcasm]

Also blogging:

CJ at You Served