I Hate Message Films
The new film, Lord of War, is out and I'm not sure if I want to see it. After reading Megan Basham's review on Townhall, though, I think I might. There seems to be a glimmer of fun in a preachy movie by a director who hates the gun culture.
From Morgan's review, what makes this Message Film probably worth the view is that it absolutely fails to make a good case for guns being the root of evil in the world, which is obviously the writer/director's intention. The only way he can even lean back to it is to have Cage give some preachy dialogue here and there, allegedly, to make up for it.
Here in lies my conflict. I hate message movies, which Hollywood is full of these days. I'm not talking the "It's a Wonderful Life" kind of message. I'm talking the "I'm from California and I know better than you and the rest of the world how everything works so sit down and let me spoon feed you my 1st year college philosophical/psychological crap for two hours and you will shut up and take it and pay $9 for it!" kind of message.
Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned blow'em up kind of films with no message and where the main character delivered pithy one-liners while laying waste to his nemeses? I guess they're still around, but occasionally you get one like this who figures he can impress his view of the world on people who normally wouldn't stop and listen long enough for him to breathe in to say "Hello".
I still have yet to determine how governments and groups of thugs owning guns are morally superior to the average citizen owning a gun, something even this movie seems to have trouble reconciling. This is, however, what the UN and most of the dictatorial countries who are part of it want, and about what they are trying to con the democracies and Leftists in those democracies into agreeing with them.
The general leftist/facist contention is that you or I are not grown-up enough to own firearms. We're such children, that only those in power should have the guns or weapons of any kind. They spend inordinate amounts of money for media campaigns and studies to try and prove that guns are useless to their owners for either personal protection or protection from tyranny. Not that I've seen one of those studies or media reports stand up to any degree of scrutiny, but again what's truth to someone with a leftist agenda. Truth is the casualty of progress on the Left and none suffers more than the person who owns a firearm to protect themselves.
Consider this, yes, the weapon trade is a horrible business. It arms thugs and outlaw governments as readily if not moreso than it does those who would fight for their freedom against such oppression. As long as there are those with power, they will need a way to exercise it, and those buried under that power will need something to help get them clear of it. Ghandi and Martin Luther King had relatively benign governments for their peace movements to succeed. The world has seen far more Stalins and Hitlers than it has seen Ghandis and likely always will.
Until then, I'll stick with the right to defend myself and encourage the rest of the people of the world to think likewise. At least we might be able to keep the wolves from the door.
The new film, Lord of War, is out and I'm not sure if I want to see it. After reading Megan Basham's review on Townhall, though, I think I might. There seems to be a glimmer of fun in a preachy movie by a director who hates the gun culture.
From Morgan's review, what makes this Message Film probably worth the view is that it absolutely fails to make a good case for guns being the root of evil in the world, which is obviously the writer/director's intention. The only way he can even lean back to it is to have Cage give some preachy dialogue here and there, allegedly, to make up for it.
Here in lies my conflict. I hate message movies, which Hollywood is full of these days. I'm not talking the "It's a Wonderful Life" kind of message. I'm talking the "I'm from California and I know better than you and the rest of the world how everything works so sit down and let me spoon feed you my 1st year college philosophical/psychological crap for two hours and you will shut up and take it and pay $9 for it!" kind of message.
Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned blow'em up kind of films with no message and where the main character delivered pithy one-liners while laying waste to his nemeses? I guess they're still around, but occasionally you get one like this who figures he can impress his view of the world on people who normally wouldn't stop and listen long enough for him to breathe in to say "Hello".
I still have yet to determine how governments and groups of thugs owning guns are morally superior to the average citizen owning a gun, something even this movie seems to have trouble reconciling. This is, however, what the UN and most of the dictatorial countries who are part of it want, and about what they are trying to con the democracies and Leftists in those democracies into agreeing with them.
The general leftist/facist contention is that you or I are not grown-up enough to own firearms. We're such children, that only those in power should have the guns or weapons of any kind. They spend inordinate amounts of money for media campaigns and studies to try and prove that guns are useless to their owners for either personal protection or protection from tyranny. Not that I've seen one of those studies or media reports stand up to any degree of scrutiny, but again what's truth to someone with a leftist agenda. Truth is the casualty of progress on the Left and none suffers more than the person who owns a firearm to protect themselves.
Consider this, yes, the weapon trade is a horrible business. It arms thugs and outlaw governments as readily if not moreso than it does those who would fight for their freedom against such oppression. As long as there are those with power, they will need a way to exercise it, and those buried under that power will need something to help get them clear of it. Ghandi and Martin Luther King had relatively benign governments for their peace movements to succeed. The world has seen far more Stalins and Hitlers than it has seen Ghandis and likely always will.
Until then, I'll stick with the right to defend myself and encourage the rest of the people of the world to think likewise. At least we might be able to keep the wolves from the door.
posted by Rob Beck | 1:44 PM
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