Posted by Excess Hollywood in Columns at 6:23 AM
PST
If you ask me what is the one thing I’m thrilled about coming out that is movie-related in the next six months you may be surprised by my answer. It’s not “Grindhouse” or “Hostel 2,” though I am looking forward to both of those films. It’s really a book that has my pulse racing.
Stephen Thrower (“Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci”) has written “Nightmare, USA,” a tome (400 plus pages) due out from FAB Press that examines the exploitation movie genre from the ‘70s and ‘80s — one of the most innovative periods in motion picture history. (I hope to have an interview with Thrower fairly soon, so keep your eyes open.) Why am I excited about this? It should be obvious to anyone who has read my columns for any amount of time.
Exploitation movies are some of the best and worst of what film has to offer. They are exercises in excess, budget control and wild imagination. They are dangerous in the sense that you never know what will happen next. They are rebellious, and they are unrepentant. They represent everything art should be, and I’m thrilled to see a book of this size tackle the subject.
The moment I saw “Nightmare, USA” advertised on the back cover of “The Dark Side” magazine, I pre-ordered a copy. That’s how excited I was. I didn’t care about the price (it’s around $70 US). I didn’t care that it wasn’t due out until the end of April (and I think that may be stretching things). All I cared about was that FAB Press was doing it , and that it was going to be a labor of love, much like the films it will cover. And what films will it cover?
Classics and not-so-classics like “I Drink Your Blood,” “Don’t Go In The House” and “Messiah of Evil” are included along with quite a few others. There are over 175 film reviews, exclusive interviews with over two dozen directors (some of whom discuss their various works in print for the first time), rare photos and so on. In other words, it’s an exploitation junkie’s dream made flesh. Will it cover everything? No. There is far too much material out there to do that, but it will cover more than any other book I know of.
So why be excited about this and not some film that’s coming out? That’s fairly easy. With the exception of a few recent movies (the “Kill Bill” films, “Haute Tension,” “The Devil’s Rejects,” “Hostel,” and so on) there hasn’t been much coming out — at least on a national level — that really pushes the envelope. Hell, even a lot of independent cinema is playing it safe these days. Where is the next “The Great American Snuff Film”? Nowhere easily found, that’s for sure. Granted, the past few years have been better than the ten before them, but it still isn’t enough.
Cinema, for the most part, is taking the easy way out. Sure, there are exceptions. There always are. But those years from 1970-1985 (and I would contend even a bit before that) were cinematic chaos. It was the Wild West and the far reaches of space all in one. It was a time when horror films weren’t PG-13, and drive-ins weren’t memories. It was an era when films created real controversy (think “Bloodsucking Freaks” and NOW) and contained real transgressions (“Cannibal Holocaust”). These days the only controversy we get is from perceived slights (such as the albinos and “The Da Vinci Code”). Remember the radio talk shows that went nuts over “Kill Bill Vol. 1” being too violent? Imagine how “Evil Dead” would play in the media if it came out now. (“A tree does what?”) That’s why I’m excited about this book; it will bring back memories of a time that can’t be replicated today. It’s the last great age of cinema, and I like to know all I can about it.
Any serious book done about current film genres would be as boring as the crap coming out of Hollywood (again, with few exceptions). To really excite, to really grab people, you have to go back, go back to a place where watching film wasn’t only subversive, it was daring. That sort of thing doesn’t exist anymore.
I could be wrong, and “Nightmare, USA” may be the absolute worst book ever written (it would still be better than anything having to do with “Epic Movie,” though). I doubt it, however. FAB Press is not known for putting out garbage. If it is dedicating so much time and money to a book that will reach a decidedly fringe audience (though one that has money, as proven by the DVD sales of those long forgotten gems), you just know it has to be good.
If you haven’t heard of the book before this column, I’m glad I could introduce you. If you have heard of it, but haven’t yet ordered it — what are you waiting for? An invite? Here it is. Get it while you can, people. Spend the money on it, and not on tickets to see the latest John Cusack tumor. You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor. And if you decide it sounds good, but you’ll wait until the initial reviews come out to see if it’s worth your time — well, I can understand that. Just don’t be dumbfounded when you find all the printings have sold out and now it’s going for a couple hundred dollars on eBay. Check out previous FAB Press books and you’ll see what I mean. Yes, they are that good. And no, you can’t have mine.
It’s been called “The Gay Super Bowl” and with all the emphasis on fashion, that’s probably accurate. But actually watching the Oscars must only be for old school film freaks like me, or those who enjoy torture. Yeah, I mean, when they are clapping for performances of “shadow puppets,” we have really lowered the bar for entertainment. Thank God for Tivo - I watched the nearly four hour broadcast in less than two hours.
Okay, based on my Oscar picks from a few weeks ago, I only got 10 of 24 “guesses” correct. That puts me under 50% which is bad and if you used my choices as a guide and lost money in your Oscar pool, well, I am deeply sorry.
Unfortunately, the Oscar show is yet another reminder reminder that those who make the major movies are as out of touch as they have ever been. While movie theaters are in no danger of going away anytime soon, the regular movie-going audience is shrinking. That is a fact. There are too many other viable entertainment choices — internet, gaming and television. To me, television now a more satisfying experience than going to the movies. Television has gone beyond a golden age, it’s like a revolution in entertainment, and the TV business has learned how to harness the internet and sell or give-away programming whereas the film busines is still trying to figure out what the internet is and how to include it as something more than a marketing tool.
Anyway, if suffering through the nearly four hour show wasn’t enough for you, check out this five-minute Loop segment from Attack of the Show which aired the Monday after. Oh, and I slept in that tux…
Posted by Felix Vasquez Jr. in Writer's Corner at 4:57 PM
PST
Okay, folks, a quick write-up before the Oscars start here in the East Coast around 8:30pm, and the madness from the writers ensues. Here’s a quick list of the nominations and my predictions.
The bold/asterisk is what I want to win, and bold is what I predict will win.
BEST PICTURE: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, *The Queen
BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel, *Martin Scorsese - The Departed, Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima, Stephen Frears - The Queen, Paul Greengrass - United 93
BEST ACTOR:Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond, *Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson, Peter O’Toole - Venus, Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness, Forrest Whitaker - Last King Of Scotland
BEST ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz - Volver, Judi Dench - Notes On A Scandal, *Helen Mirren - The Queen, Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada, Kate Winslet - Little Children
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: *Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine, Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children, Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond, Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls, Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Adriana Barraza - Babel, Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine, Cate Blanchett - Notes of a Scandal, Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls, *Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Babel, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, *Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Borat, *Children Of Men, The Departed, Little Children, Notes On A Scandal
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: After The Wedding, Days Of Glory (Indigènes), The Lives Of Others, *Pan’s Labyrinth, Water
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Deliver Us From Evil, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq In Fragments, *Jesus Camp, My Country, My Country
ANIMATED FILM: Cars, Happy Feet, *Monster House
Deny it all you want, I know you’ll be watching. Adios.
Sure, I dig the Oscars. Part of me thinks there shouldn’t be awards for art but anyone who thinks film is purely art and not a business is just plain daft. But the Oscars are stuffy and frigging long. Thankfully IFC has taken to televising the “Independent Spirit Awards” the day before the Oscars and it’s a much more laid back affair. You can even drink and curse!!
This year I’ve decided to steal a blog idea from Mr. Pete Vander Haar and blog the “Independent Spirit Awards.” If you grab a beer and some cheese while you read along here, it’ll be like you’re watching it alongside me…minus the farting.
2:02 p.m. Ah yes, my lil Sarah Silverman is back this year! Best joke in the opening skit “Man Push Cart? Man…give…shit.”
2:12 Best Supporting Actor is up first. Way to be against those Oscar peeps who always present Best Supporting Actress First. Who I want to win is Channing Tatum who was a badass in “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.” He stands no chance though. Who I think will win is Alan Arkin, Who won is…Arkin. ZZzzz. His speech…also ZZzz.
2:17 Best First Screenplay? I guarantee you these people have about 20 shitty screenplays in their dresser drawer. I’m sure Michael Arnt will win for “Little Miss Sunshine,” but I want “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” (I frigging loved that one) or “Half Nelson,” but LMS is a shoe-in….and it just won. Where’s that link to that site that compares LMS to National Lampoons “Vacation?” ZZZzzz.
Silverman: “What a shock, Alan Arkin won.”
Ohhh! Winona is on!!
2:25 Best Supporting Actress…has anyone seen any of these movies? Frances McDormand…wow, shocking. Jeez. Wow. More beer here. She isn’t even there?! Lame. Almost as lame as “Friends With Money.”
2:32 Best First Feature. Now here’s a category that’s cool. But, it’s next to impossible to see these films until DVD’s are released. “Sweet Land” wins. I hear it was better when it was called “Days of Heaven.”
2:40 John Cassavettes Award for best feature under $500,000. Wow…people make features for under half a million dollars!!?? Wow, shocking. How ever do they do it? Cynicism aside, “Cavite” won last year and this is another cool award. I hear “Chalk” is great. But can anything stop “Four Eyed Monsters” from winning? I hope so, otherwise we’ll get another 1200 myspace bulletins and rerun screenings in our area in which the filmmakers “desperately need our help to spread the word about their award winning film.” I’m pulling for “Old Joy.” Ohh…”Quincenara” was also great…it just won! Woot!
2:42 Guillermo del Toro awkwardly introduces the first clip for best picture (and the one I hope wins) “Pan’s Labyrinth.” That goes into the little deal where people sing the nominees for best picture. Minnie Driver sings an ode to “Pan’s” set to the tune of “I’ve Got a Brand New Pair of Rollerskates.” Cute. Minnie’s hot and can sing real purty too. Why is Cuba Gooding Jr. there?
2:50 Dennis Hopper is hamming it up doing his “Don’t you fucking look at me” routine. He’s here to do a Special Distinction Award to David Lynch. $10 says Lynch gives the same ole down-home speech he always gives. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy, but I haven’t even seen this speech and I know I’ve seen it. How very Lynchian of me. Oh wait, the award is for Lynch and Laura Dern, nice. No Lynch though. What the fuck? Maybe if the IFP would have nominated his amazing and epitome of “indie” film “Inland Empire,” he would have made the trip. Dumbasses.
Matt “No” Dillon looks like a Cro-Mag.
3:02 Man, boring. Boring boring boring. Best Foreign Film is up. It’s hard enough to see foreign films in theaters, let alone independent foreign films. “The Lives of Others” won. Yay.
3:06 Best Actress…finally something I’ve heard of the nominees in. I’m pulling for Shareeka Epps from “Half Nelson.” WOW!!! She won! Nice! She’s the America Ferrara of the Indie film world for the day! I know she’s just a kid, but that’s one crappy outfit.
3:08Taylor Dane sings the ode to “Little Miss Shoe In” err…”Sunshine.” Yeah, Taylor Dane. Seriously. Even more freaky, it’s a song called “Screw the Family” sung to the tune of “We Are Family.” There’s not enough beer in my fridge to wash this bad taste out.
3:17Another cool award, the “Someone to Watch” award. The winner gets $50,000 which is enough to compete for the Cassavettes Award next year. Or, buy hookers and booze. Julia Loktev, director of “Day Night, Day Night” won. I hear it’s great film so congrats.
Right after that is the “Truer than Fiction Award” that goes to a doc filmmaker. Adele Horne who directed “The Tailenders” wins. Huh? Who? More beer.
3:20Robert Altman honored. Sally Kellerman still looks hot and it’s always great to see Elliott Gould. When did Kellerman start sounding eerily similar to Norma Desmond? Overall a pretty rinky-dink tribute, but they’ve created a “Robert Altman Award” for ensemble films. Pretty cool.
3:33Neil Patrick Harris sings the song for “American Gun.” Did you guys know he’s gay? O.K…well…did you know he’s a shitty singer?
3:35Best Cinematography goes to Guillermo Navarro for “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Cool, I guess. It looked like standard fantasy photography to me and I dug the stuff in “Wild Tigers I Have Known” and “Four Eyed Monsters.” But “Pan’s is so great, I don’t mind so much.
3:39Best Doc. Should be “When the Levees Broke.” That’s a great movie period. But who wants to think about real life horrors that are still going on and fairly easily fixable by any and all Americans? It’s not even nominated. “Road to Guantanamo” is NOT a doc. I loved the film and it needs to be seen. It has all kinds of fictional re-enactments in it though. Lame. And it just won. What a crock.
3:45Best Screenplay…presented by John Waters! Jason Reitman swings it for “Thank You for Smoking.” Following that is Rosario Dawson sucking on a red lollipop and singing the song for “Half Nelson.” Yum.
3:50Best Director…now we’re cooking. Will they kick one posthumously to Altman? Nah, this is “Little Miss Sunshine” weekend, I think. Yup, I win again and so does “LMS.”
3:54Best Actor or…as I just noticed it’s “Best Male Lead” here. Well la-tee-da. I’m pulling for Gosling and don’t see how he can lose this one. He’s doomed tomorrow, but today…winner! I didn’t realize Forrest Whitaker was a nominee for “American Gun” so I almost ate my ellipses there. Ironically Gosling looks cracked out. Hope he cleans up (or lights up) for Oscar night tomorrow. Awesome speech though.
4:00Best Picture time in one of the snooziest Independent Spirit Awards ever. I’m pulling for “Half Nelson” or “Pan’s Labyrinth” but it’s all “Little Miss Sunshine.” It’s inevitable. Yawn, “LMS” wins again.
So, that was boring. At least this blog will be amongst the first places to read the show’s results. But now I’m out of beer and this boredom has killed my buzz. Off to the store…
Everyone in Hollywood wants to get their hands on a naked gold man. And everyone is so excited that for weeks there’s a frenzy over speculation about the lucky folks who will be stroking some shiny bald guy. Well, everyone, that is, except for me.
If you want to read my full Oscar picks for this weekend, and win your office pool, check out my column at Suicide Girls.
I’ve posted two stories at SG, one addressing my Oscar picks titled, oddly enough, Os-Gore Predictions and another called What’s wrong with Oscar? Plenty… Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. Just don’t do what I do when I go to the Suicide Girls site which is to get distracted. It’s hard to stay focused on film when there are so many beautiful ladies on the site.
Martin Scorsese has been nominated six times for Best Director and never won. Will he lose a seventh time for The Departed? If he walks away Oscarless this weekend, Marty may lose it altogether.
Check in after the show to see how close my Os-Gore predictions were to the actual outcome… I’m kind of excited to find out.
Posted by Excess Hollywood in Columns at 6:31 AM
PST
“Cannibal Holocaust” is from an era when films actually seemed dangerous. It’s a reminder that for all the hype about the evils of Hollywood from the Right Wing, movies like the aforementioned Italian flesh-eating epic can’t be made today. They can’t even be remade properly. Michael Bay can’t decide he likes the title and buy the rights to it and then try to do something comparable to the original. It can’t be done. It’s not the rape, the violence towards men and (especially) women, the gore, the execution footage or even the real animal cruelty (and if you bought Grindhouse Releasing’s incredible DVD set you are able to watch a cruelty-free version as well as the original). It’s all of those things combined. Put “Cannibal Holocaust” in front of the brain dead goons at the MPAA today and forget any possibilities of a wide release. Do a remake and tone it down, and you don’t have “Cannibal Holocaust.” You have “Wrong Turn 2” or something.
“Cannibal Holocaust” leaves nothing to the imagination. Women are raped. Babies are stolen from wombs. A penis is forcibly removed from its host body. Animals are brutally killed for food and kicks. There is nothing subtle about its message or presentation, and it takes the unfamiliar (cannibals deep in the jungle) and makes them the very thing viewers shouldn’t be frightened of. Instead, viewers end up fearing the white film crew. They were out of control. They taunted the natives. They committed rape. Sure, the native tribes did some unsavory things to each other, but that is the law of the jungle. They didn’t antagonize for sport, and they sure as hell didn’t do it to make a good documentary. Pogo would have been proud, as the enemy was us and nothing else.
It’s been said that the makers of “The Blair Witch Project” got much of their inspiration from “Cannibal Holocaust.” That may be true, but they didn’t get their execution from it. Their movie plays on the senses. Ruggero Deodato’s masterpiece assaults all values and morals and destroys senses, and that’s why it can’t be duplicated today.
Our current films assault the senses, but they do nothing for the mind. We are bombarded with images of violence, explosions, brief glimpses of nudity and so on. But none of it is very cerebral, none of it sticks, and it pulls back before it gets to be too much. That’s safe. That’s candy. “Cannibal Holocaust,” on the other hand is far from safe. It makes no apologies for what it is. It doesn’t try to save the audience from itself, and it definitely isn’t candy. Instead, it takes an almost perverse glee in going as far as possible while keeping within its own boundaries, but ignoring the boundaries of the audience. And it wasn’t typical of its era, either. Upon its release, the director was arrested and the movie was seized; authorities believed he had made a snuff film (and there was that sticky cruelty to animals issue). I doubt that will happen to Steven Spielberg anytime soon.
The most interesting and disturbing part of all of this is that the movie is more than just a gore show. It’s actually quite good, and its social commentary is still relevant today. It holds up and doesn’t feel aged. If anything, it feels even more timely with the advent of reality television and people filming all sorts of sick matter for the Internet.
I once took a creative write course in college. I did it simply for laughs. I wanted to go in and write something so outrageous, so disturbing, that it would cause a stir. And I wanted to do it well. It’s a hard line to walk, but shocking merely for shock’s sake rarely works. There needs to be something behind it. Did I succeed? I think so, as the teacher spent the first half of the next class giving a lecture about my story. She noted how it bordered on pornography without ever crossing the line. She also compared it to a horrible car wreck you couldn’t help but look at. In other words, it did exactly what I wanted it to do. “It was good,” she said. “Don’t do it again.”
“Cannibal Holocaust” is good, and it can’t be done again. And nor should it be. The world only needs one film like this to remind us of what miserable shits we are. The exploitation of foreigners has been going on since humans began to travel, and it continues today in places like Iraq. Do we need to be reminded of it by a graphic, morally despicable and highly offensive film? Yes, because we obviously haven’t learned its lessons.
My friend, Exhumed Films and Diabolik DVD’s Joseph Gervasi, is shown on one of the bonus features on the Grindhouse Releasing version of “Cannibal Holocaust.” He, too, says the film could never be made today. Imagine, however, that it was produced in today’s climate. What do you think would happen? I can tell you.
Religious pundits would crucify it. Democrats and Republicans, who have been in power during administrations where American soldiers have acted like the film’s documentary crew, would call it a crime against decency. And the media? It would play up the controversy to the hilt, with commentators being appropriately outraged and questioning how far filmmakers should be allowed to go. The funny thing is, all these groups would be operating on one simple assumption. It’s the assumption that we forget, and they would be right … for the most part.
They would assume we forgot about 9/11 and how religious leaders blamed homosexuals and abortion for it. They, however, would also have forgotten that our government’s policies and strategies not only helped to train those terrorists, but it also created them. And they would forget that for days the media attacked us with endless footage of the World Trade Towers crumbling to the ground, of people jumping from windows, of endless blocks of missing posters. I remember one reporter asking, “What are you feeling?” I remember the blank stare that was his answer.
They would forget all this, and they would assume we would to, just like we forget everything else ten minutes after it is over.
“Cannibal Holocaust” is the very thing they represent, and they either don’t realize it or hope we don’t. If you watch the film, however, one thing is certain — it is made in such a way that you’ll never forget it. Its strength is its curse. Its indictment of the world is its crime.
The simple explanation is that this is a mindless splatter movie meant to make somebody a little scratch. That explanation puts minds at ease and requires no further thinking. It’s a great way to end all debate and ensure the film is never taken seriously as social commentary, art or anything else. It’s also very wrong.
The state of the world is not Forrest Gump playing football and hobnobbing with presidents. It’s an out-of-control outsider destroying that which he does not understand in order to gain fame and power, and his fate is easy to see. It may not come right away, but it will come. He will tumble off this mortal coil with his head three feet away from his body, his penis torn in half and his intestines held to the sun before being devoured by that which he sought to exploit.
Simple gore film? No. More like a warning delivered with napalm … or a very sharp blood soaked spear.
Posted by Felix Vasquez Jr. in Writer's Corner at 1:54 AM
PST
I hate country music, I really do. But the only band I can hold any sort of tolerance for is The Dixie Chicks. Am I a fan? No. Am I fan of their views? God yes. Particularly Natalie Maines that little hot firecracker. Outspoken, charismatic, and intelligent, you just have to love her. Hats off to you, babe.
In 2006, no two documentaries were more inadvertently paralleled than “Shut up & Sing,” and “The US vs. John Lennon.”
A long time ago, John Lennon, sitting with the Beatles, explained to a reporter, in sheer shock, that he couldn’t believe the way fans were gushing. It was almost as if they were bigger than god.
Fans, thanks to the media, took it out of proportion, and wholly out of context.
What John Lennon meant was that this group was basically being revered and salivated over more than god, and at that time it wasn’t completely a far off concept. When The Beatles were at the height of their fame, it was almost as if the Earth shook, to paraphrase a certain Ken Dashow.
In 2003, in a UK theater, the Dixie Chicks were playing to a sold out crowd, a day subsequent the biggest recorded anti-war protest in history, where thousands flocked and stormed the streets. Maines was also keeping track of the rising tensions with the war.
Maines, before the concert, proclaimed to the audience, “Just so you know, we’re on your side, and we’re ashamed President Bush is from Texas.” The crowd roared.
Fans outside the UK, thanks to the media, took it out of proportion, and wholly out of context.
If you want to truly see what “free speech” means in America, and how fictional a concept it is, be sure to check out “The US vs. John Lennon,” and “Shut Up & Sing.” Both of which are truly excellent documentaries exploring the height of two music juggernauts who decided to speak out against their government and paid the price. Don’t believe the hype grade schoolers, you can’t speak your mind in America.
I gained a whole new level of respect for Lennon after the documentary chronicling his inevitable lead into becoming a peaceful leader of a rebellion against the Vietnam war and the government’s terrorism on him. He staged protests, he spoke out, and he was forced to deport to his homeland against his will, stalked by government agents day in and day out, and he inevitably won out in the end.
However, with the Dixie Chicks, there’s a brand new sense of respect not just for the group, but for Maines whose statement was taken from an ample single minded point of view.
What Maines’ states is not only a heat of the moment high, but also an assurance to their audience that just because they’re Southern fried all American girls, it doesn’t mean they’re automatically for the war, and against the protests. The thousands who didn’t bother to examine the comment and instead took it at face value, staged the same protests the Beatles suffered.
Radio stations wouldn’t play their songs, the media induced the rage, the government intervened, the group lost franchising deals, their records flopped, fans protested at concerts, and crushed all of their albums (still unaware they’re pissing away their own money, but hey, little minds think alike), except there was a difference.
Lennon explained his statement and apologized.
Maines explained her statement, and refuses to apologize to her fans to this day. And she refuses to forgive the folks who turned on them at their darkest time.
After the hype and ridiculous hullabaloo died down, the Dixie Chicks were never the same country band again, and that’s a great thing. The genre sucks, period, and when you watch them recording their music and belting out vocals, you can’t help but feel that they’re a little better than trailer trash background noise.
“Shut up & Sing” is a criminally underrated documentary exploring the lives of these three women, and country fans would be wise to watch it. It shows that you can be Southern and still be open minded, and most of all, Maines and company demonstrate that the real American speaks out against their government rather than playing dupes of the statesman.
At one point, Maines reads a newspaper article, in where Bush explains that they shouldn’t have their feelings hurt from the backlash, to which Maines exclaims, “They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt? What a dumb fuck.” She then looks into the camera and declares, “You’re a dumb fuck.” I’d do her in a New York minute… no offense, Adrian.
You just have to have a sense of respect for Maines who was willing to lose Lipton’s support, and endure the undermining of their entourage too stick to her assessment. And furthermore you have to admire the fact that the group faced the end of their careers and stuck by Maines. “The president will be at an all time high by the time this statement goes out,” their publicist insists, “His approval will be up, Iraq will be occupied, they’ll begin rebuilding, and Bush will be on top of the world.”
Never has such a scene exemplified the term irony. You just can’t help but laugh at the scene as Maines, Maguire, and Robison constantly pow wow with how to approach the situation. Maguire shudders at the prospect of possibly losing all of their money and support, Robison is frightened at the death threat towards Maines, and the night of their concert in Dallas, you can almost feel Maines shaking as her husband (Adrian Pasdar) hugs her and watches her walk off.
Lennon, as directors Leif and Scheinfeld explained in “The US vs. John Lennon” was just a rebellious man who was so outspoken he accidentally became a role model for those speaking out against the Vietnam war. He chanted, he performed, he challenged others with peaceful debates, and yet he was deemed incredibly dangerous. He was simply a man speaking his mind, was told to shut up, and continued to speak louder in defiance.
Much of what Lennon explains in his bids for peace with both the war, and his personal life, is quite insightful. He displays discontent to the free loving hippies who were angered the sixties didn’t cause complete peace, and he basically skewers the likes of Nixon who fell under the weight of his own corruption. Interestingly enough, much of Lennon’s friends allude that the murder of Lennon was not a random obsessed fan.
Lennon was considered an immense threat at his highest, so whether or not that is plausible is something worthy of heavy debating.
But you assume in a time of sheer evolution of technology, and media, that we’d be more open minded about opposite opinions, rather than insisting that music stars and actors stop running off at the mouth and just entertain us; which is the point of the documentary. The fans just wanted the Dixie Chicks to shut up and sing, and they paid for a passing comment about the (then) current rising tensions in Iraq.
Now, I won’t compare The Beatles to the Dixie Chicks, but when you watch both films side by side, you get it. And then you can’t help but frown a little. In our country, we’re taught to speak your mind, believe in what you believe, and are told that our Democracy allows dissension, and it’s all such a fictional concept when radio stations will not play your songs based on your views, and you’re locked out of cities to perform in.
In a world where Roman Polanski wins an Oscar and gains a standing ovation from a humongous audience, why not let a cheesy little country trio keep doing what they were doing?
Both films will make you proud to be an American, and hopefully make you re-think your stance on certain issues, and open your mind a bit, as Lennon influenced his fans to. Maines is a prime example of what Lennon applauded, and likely would have supported.
Fame, fortune, and riches be damned, self-respect is still a priceless and rare commodity in this damn country. People like Lennon, and The Dixie Chicks are an endangered species. So, go out and protest, and speak your mind.
Because, a patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.
