If you think singing and dancing founding fathers is a bit much, here’s a more macho way to really diverge from history.
If you don’t know what else to do today and tonight, see a movie. It’s the patriotic thing to do.
Note: We’ll be doing the box office wrap-up tomorrow. Seems a bit premature to do it in the middle of the holiday, anyhow.
Okay, so as far as I know he’s never used the n-word or physically threatened anyone other than a couch, nor does he appear to have any particular substance abuse issues but, among misbehaving superstars, Tom Cruise may be someone you think long and hard about before allowing him to enter your social circle. That’s especially so if you have romantic designs on any other guests, or an aquarium.
A big h/t to the Facebook page of the award-winning blogger, Kid in the Front Row, for directing me to this mirth-inducing 2007 short, which turns out to be the first of a trilogy. Stay tuned. Oh, and you guys complete me.
As a relatively early supporter of President Obama in the Democratic primaries, one of my arguments for him over Hillary Clinton had to do with our perception abroad. On the one hand, I thought Obama had much better ideas on international relations. On the other hand, as a side benefit, I was sure that the act of electing a man with this ethnicity, international background, and named “Barack Hussein Obama” would send a message around the world that American was a far more open, diverse, and tolerant socially than either our enemies abroad, or our GOP jingoists at home, would ever believe. That would severely undercut the message of Al Queada and other extremist groups.
It goes further than I even I imagined. Here, in one apparently completely awesome and mostly pretty absurd looking Indonesian film, we get the whole freaking propaganda package made, I suspect, entirely without the cooperation of the CIA, U.S. Army Psyops, or the State Department. This comes via HuffPo and Film Drunk, and any similarities to either version of “The Karate Kid” are purely coincidental, I’m sure.
I love that last shot. Do real kids ever lay in a perfect circle to daydream about their futures?
By the way, South African anti-apartheid hero Archbishop Desmond Tutu didn’t really become an internationally known figure until the 1980s, by which time Obama was a college student in Los Angeles and New York City, but who said propaganda had to make any sense? Of course, electoral victory has a thousand father figures, and they are not always zany flamboyantly gay-acting bicyclists or taciturn martial arts instructors. Here’s another alternate history.
What’s this guy going to do with his life now?
I’ve been keeping busy and seeing some very good films at the Los Angeles Film Festival, not to mention honoring today’s holiday, but with this week’s predictably huge new major release, “Toy Story 3” ($109 million says Nikki Finke), and the impressive early limited release success of “Cyrus (a boffo over $45,000 per screen says Box Office Mojo’s chart), both reflect on odd ways on the parental experience and this mash-up seems to bring it all together.
Best wishes to all the dads out there. Just remember this, if you find yourself cutting off your son’s hand with a laser weapon, something has gone badly wrong. For the rest of you, good work.
Also, just FYI, I did see the “Cyrus” premiere at LAFF on Friday night and, if anything, I’m even more enthusiastic about the film than Jason Zingale is in his review, especially regarding Jonah Hill‘s performance, which I think may be award-worthy. More on that to come, I imagine.
Movie posting from me will continue to be light and erratic for a bit, but nevertheless watch this space.
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