Sunday, April 17, 2011

Overheard in the Movie Theater:

The trailers are showing before the start of Atlas Shrugged:
Movie Screen: "Disneynature proudly presents: The next great Earth Day adventure!"

Me: *snort* "Wow! Target marketing fail!"

People Inadvertently In Earshot: *laughter*

Actually, the movie in question looked pretty cool, what with it being about big kitties and all. I refuse to go see it on Lenin's birthday, however, lest I inadvertently contribute statistically to the propaganda effort. (Conversely, I planted my butt in a theater seat for Atlas Shrugged two days in a row, for just the same reason.)

27 comments:

  1. Realized this morning (Sun) that Atlas Shrugged had come out but when I went to check times I found that it isn't in any theater in my area. The info on the movie says 'limited release' but this does nothing to placate my anger and suspiscion. Guess I will be getting on the phone to vent but it will be half-hearted as I do not know who is responsible.

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  2. So, what did you think of it? I haven't read the book, so I'd like to hear your opinion on the plot and how well it conformed to the book.

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  3. Alan J.,

    That's a complicated question; I'll put up an actual review-type review later today.

    It's obviously a very Cliff's Notes version of the book.

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  4. Oh, you're one of them.

    Did you remember to bring your laser pointer and cellphone too?

    (j/k)



    wv: faili

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  5. Well, I just found a review of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ in our local paper, and the critic claims that “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1” just isn’t very compelling and isn’t nearly as bracingly provocative as it is no doubt meant to be. He writes, “Society is on the verge of collapse, largely, it is proposed, because of the jackals of conformity and mediocrity who are baying at the heels of creative, wealth-producing entrepreneurs.”

    Unfortunately for him, his column was right next to the column showing that tonight’s Prime Time TV entertainment is ‘Undercover Boss’, ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’, ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘The Family Guy’, and ‘Ugly Betty.’

    Sometimes the irony doesn’t simply grab your attention; it reaches out and slaps you in the face.

    wv: siesall - Yes, we do, despite the critics.

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  6. We have it in our area, but, being a quasi-Randite, I play on seeing it mid-week at the Matinee using a Discount Card. The money that I save will go into the Ammo Fund. Never hurts to have extra Ammo if one may need to take a Trip to Gault's Gulch and "THEY" try to stop you....

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  7. Standard Mischief,

    "Oh, you're one of them."

    I am foursguare against talking or other distractions during the entertainment for which I paid.

    Whispering during the commercials that are forced on me beforehand, however, bothers me not a bit, especially if it's that one where Kid Rock is doing his community service by making a National Guard recruiting video.

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  8. I'm glad someone got to see it. It'll be a cold day in hell before they play it in theaters near my location. Someone tell me when it's on Netflix for those of us who live a million miles from a city.

    If it was playing here I'd instantly see it. Like you I'd probably see it a couple times just to boost numbers. Mostly because the irony of a "charitable purchase" just to "boost the numbers of an objectivist enterprise" is irony squared.

    I'd have done the same thing for Idiocracy if I'd been aware of it at the time. Both are movies that annoy exactly the right market demographic until they desperately try to wish it away.

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  9. Having read the book 3 times in my life. I'd say save your money.
    If your one of those that don't read books, ya probly don't have any money anywho...jes jokin folks

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  10. I'm wanting to see it, but I have a hard time believing anyone in Hollywood would get anything Ayn was trying to say. I'm betting they put in all the sex scenes and not much else?

    jf

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  11. "I'm betting they put in all the sex scenes and not much else?"

    You'll be happy to know you'll lose that bet. :)

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  12. Adactive -

    It's not charity if you spend money on something if you find worth it and expect to get a return i.e., more moves like it and the ability to make parts two and three.

    :-)
    Josh

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  13. Sorry, Adaptive misspelled your nom da plume.

    :-(
    Josh

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  14. That's OK, Joshkie .... we kinda expect that....

    Saw the movie, and was relieved they did not screw it up....

    In my mind's eye, though, I had pictured Jim Taggart as shorter, and fatter .... balder, even .....

    And where was the gaint illuminated calendar? That would have been important, I think.

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  15. You know, I was actually going to defend Ebert, but then he had this in another (one-star) review:

    "Natalie Portman is the Xena clone, a fierce warrior, laid on for anime fans who seem to regard such characters as masturbatory fantasies."

    Fuck you, Ebert. You just had to insert a barb to fans of an entire medium in a review about a live-action medieval "comedy".

    I guess Ghost in the Shell is pron now?

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  16. Son James made a very similar "target audience" fail remark during the previews about different movies at our location as well.

    James has read the book three times and I read it once then listened to the unabridged audio version once (yes, Galt's eight hour monologue actually takes eight hours). We both liked the movie but had some minor criticisms about the movie skipping over some points too rapidly for "newcomers" to really understand the points being made.

    We both really liked that the sex scene with Dagny was not the way Rand always portrayed an ideal man/woman relationship.

    The scene wife Barbara liked best was where the guy wanted Rearden's money but asked Rearden's name not associated with the donation.

    I agree with the commenters who said the casting of James Taggert was a little off.

    I was uncomfortable with a train going 250 MPH on those curves with the passengers standing up. Sorry, but I don't think they ran the numbers through the physics equations before they filmed those scenes. And the curves had better have some appropriate slope to them to keep the train from rolling over or pushing the tracks off the railway bed.

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  17. I went in expecting the theater to be pretty empty, but it was a packed house. Movie was pretty good, though it did have its failings. It assumes that the audience has already read the book and agrees with the premise. It's also a bit rushed, but that's probably to be expected. Oh, and at the end, the audience gave it a standing ovation. God, I love Tucson.

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  18. Joe,

    "We both really liked that the sex scene with Dagny was not the way Rand always portrayed an ideal man/woman relationship."

    As my muse, Florence King, has pointed out, Ms. Rosenbaum was more than a bit of a misogynist. ;)


    Mister_V,

    "Oh, and at the end, the audience gave it a standing ovation. God, I love Tucson."

    You'd love Indianapolis, then. Except for the part about the cold and the snow. ;)

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  19. The audience applauded in Bellevue Washington too.

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  20. The audience was smaller than I'd have hoped for but everyone applauded at the end.

    What was a little disturbing was seeing how many people showed up wearing alex jones 911 truth shirts and the little girl handing out infowars truther propaganda on the way out of the theater.

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  22. Rand's message in Atlas Shrugged is an important one but she does beat it to death, as she does with a different message in the Fountainhead.
    Not much chance of it screening here in OZ but from the comments it seems there was a missed opportunity. If a talented, well funded bunch of people (Look what Mel Gibson did for Christians in the Passion of Christ) could have taken the novel and removed all the clunky, tedious dialog and outdated technology we could have had something great. Let's hope it makes a bunch of money and some greedy bastard behind the scenes in Hollywood get on the bandwagon for the next 2 films.

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  23. I loved the movie. I was afraid it would end up looking like made-for-TV, low budget, outside-looking-in claptrap. Though somewhat stilted, and often in parts that were straight from the book, the dialog was pretty fair. It brought the point across, with only a few appropriate monologues, that the prevailing societal view that actions should be for the good of society, and not for the individual. The collectivist view was made to seem stifling and an impediment to the very progress that they claimed to be for. I very much liked how they handled all the political maneuverings. It frees the movie (not that Ebert or anyone else of this ilk would pay attention) from being dismissed as simply greedy me-first propaganda. The villains are crony capitalists, who abuse the system to achieve their own goals; mouthing collectivist mantras, they are destroying competitors and making their own fortunes. This is set against Dagny and Rearden, who though unabashedly are for their own self-interest, it is as the embodiment of the soul, the lifeblood, of their company. WIthout them, every employee would be in the street and the economy would die for all they keep running.

    I agree with Joe, though awe inspiring, the train scene rang a bit hollow. As an engineer, I cringed at a number of things, but I imagine any profession is the same (I don't know how people in the medical can take TV seriously at all). Hard to tell with the zoom, but most of the ground level shots, the train was going 40-50mph. They couldn't just rebuild the line, they would have to change the slope and curvature of the rails....*mumbles shoptalk*

    Best casting: the engineers union rep, a dead ringer for a particular oldhead co-worker who games the system to screw everyone else.

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  24. Maybe we can see a GOOD adaptation of "The Moon is A Harsh Mistress".

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  25. My only problem that I had with the movie was Dagney was timid. She actually tried to make an excuses to Ellis Wyatt.

    Other than that I thought the move well done.

    Josh

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  26. adaptation of "The Moon is A Harsh Mistress".

    My initial reaction was "DON'T DO IT!" But then I remembered I had the same fear for LoTR and it turned out well enough to find copies on my shelf. Hmm...

    Has a Heinlein adaptation ever been done that doesn't just take the name off the cover (looking at you starship troopers)?

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