You can always count on some kind of anti-American screed from the likes of Matt Damon:
And his latest has been thrown in the dumpster with all the rest of the anti-American Iraqi war movies:
“Green Zone” is the last drama set to be released by a major studio related to the Iraq war, and Hollywood is undoubtedly grateful for it after the picture, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matt Damon, opened to just $14.5 million domestically and $9.7 million overseas.
It’s the latest in a string of flops that include “Body of Lies,” “The Kingdom” and “Stop-Loss.” Even “The Hurt Locker,” while not a major disappointment given its low budget, is the lowest- grossing best picture Oscar winner in recent history.
Recognizing that worrisome history, Universal Pictures focused its marketing on Damon and Greengrass’ popular collaboration on “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” but was apparently unable to sell the movie based on its action elements.
“This picture has done better than most of today’s modern war stories,” said Nikki Rocco, Universal’s domestic distribution president. “But we were hoping for better.”
Universal and its financing partner, Relativity Media, spent about $100 million to produce “Green Zone” and tens of millions more to market the picture, meaning it will be a major money loser.
The conspiracy loving lefties will love the movie, you can count on that, but the blatant attempts in rewriting history does not go unnoticed:
It’s one thing to make a fantasy film laced with snarky jibes at the United States and its military. It’s of another order entirely for an American studio (Universal, a unit of GE) to perpetrate, during an ongoing war, such vicious anti-American lies disguised as cheap entertainment.
“Green Zone” tells US troops that all of their efforts have been based on a deliberate deception. Worse, it blames the insurgency that has killed so many of our fighting men and women on US treachery.
Movies like “In the Valley of Elah,” “Rendition” and “Redacted” have shown US forces doing nasty things — but none went anywhere near as far as this picture in suggesting original sin corrupted the entire Iraq war and that American officials are more blameworthy than the insurgents for the most violent years.
“Green Zone” isn’t cinema. It’s slander. It will go down in history as one of the most egregiously anti-American movies ever released by a major studio.
Released and on it’s way to utter failure.
See author page
I’ll save John Ryan some time and pre-emptively copy-and-paste his cookie-cutter response here:
So, when are BRob and john ryan gonna post about how great and accurate this film was at depicting “neo-con duplicity?”
/snark
Edit: D’oh. Beat me to it!
He and his buddies Affleck and Kimmel think it is so cool to be anti-American. The 3 were brought up in comfortable surrounding and are intellectually unable to connect that good fortune to the Flag.
I don’t think these pansy ‘holes should wander too far afield of their protected surroundings. There are many enraged Americans over the way things are leaning…disastrously towards socialism, and gun control. Not good. Wouldn’t trade place with any of those 3 in the years to come. So glad that I see the light.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt Daaaaaammmmmon.
MATT DAMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Poorly done movie. Typical anti-American trash.
The right doesn’t really object to what movies are MADE nor to what newspapers are PUBLISHED. Their objection is to what American consumers choose to buy, their dislike is that Americans like Matt Damon. Forbes Magazine rated him as the most bankable Hollywood star. According to Wikipedia he has 5 more films in the pipeline including one for Clint Eastwood and also a remake of True Grit. And Hollywood no longer finances films, the financing is done by Wall Street, They are the ones that bankroll damon and his films. The last film I saw of his, in a movie theater, was actually the last film that I saw, it was the last Jason Bourne film and I liked it. I don’t see many movies. And take a close glim at exactly who the “left” are: they are women, they are Jews, they are Blacks, they are people with post grad degrees. These are the people that are despised as lefties and consistently vote for the Dems. Oh and also people who go to and enjoy Matt Damon movies, they are people to be despised also.
Damn…he still posted a new comment, anyway. 🙁
@John ryan:
Yup. Team America did do well at the box office, I’ll give him that one.
Let’s see how bankable he’ll be in Green Zone.
@John ryan:
There’s nothing wrong with us venting our dislike. But if you’re suggesting Hollywood is pooping out these types of movies because they’re “bankable”, then we’re living on different planets.
Despite so many anti-Iraq war/anti-U.S. military movies not doing well at the box office (Avatar did well in spite of its storyline and plot), Hollywood still produces their crap out of ideological beliefs. Not solely out of profit-motive.
I saw the preview for this on a movie preview site and thought that it looked good. I enjoyed the Bourne series and I think that Damon is a good actor as well. What I don’t like are his political leanings and his “need” to use his status as a film star to push them. So after seeing the preview, I started seeing reviews of the film and at once decided that I am not going to see it, no matter how well acted or produced it is. I choose, as a consumer, not to endorse Damon’s products that depict his political leanings, ideology, and history rewriting. Damon and the others, including guys like Clooney, another good actor, need to keep their beliefs at home when deciding what parts to play in movies, or I and millions of other like minded people will vote our conscience and with our pocketbooks and not contribute to their products.
John Ryan
You are right in who you name as to who is the “left” in our country, just don’t make the mistake of thinking that you have everyone in those groups. More and more they are waking up to realize that the left’s ideology is not in their best interest. As for Damon, and his upcoming films, I will choose to see them, as long as they don’t have a leftwards political message to them.
@Wordsmith
The only reason that Avatar was able to be a finanacial success was due to what a lot of other Film Sites I vist are calling Nerd Porn. Cameron gave the fanboys what they wanted in a movie, a blue anime chick, dragons and a cool planet to fight on with guns and robots. None have stated they went for the story or the message.
Now Damon and Greengrass missed the boat when it comes to a “war movie”. They made thier hatred of Bush and his military policies too blatent and didn’t give anything for them to root for. And if I can debunk John Ryan again, Invitus failed miserably at the box office even with Damon and Morgan Freeman on board, so the assertion that Damon is a bankable star doesn’t hold water.
I find myself at a loss, I don’t know who Matt Damon is and I don’t care. Hollywood turns out crap for movies that are steeped in the propaganda of International Socialism and their puppet Princess Obama. It is noting but tripe and mindless ‘Soma’ for the Witless legions of public education graduates who couldn’t resist the ‘Washing of the Brains’ during the Socialist Indoctrination that is our public education system.
The Independents will rob Hollywood of its tradition of being the world’s leader in the production of movies, and why not? Propaganda has never been considered a form of cinematic art by intelligent people, but the witless eat this Leftist drivel and swear by it as if it had been directed Princess Obama himself.
Hollywood is suffering from the creativity of the “Free Thinker with a Creative Mind” that are making the independent films, Hollywood’s demise is on the horizon and it’s passing will only be mourned by Socialists who feel so empty and alone without their propaganda pablum.
Skookum
You are right on the money, especially with your free thinker with a creative mind phrase. That has to be the case when it seems that hollywood has a remake for everything in the works now, even ones as recent as the 80’s films. I have to wonder where the creativity has gone. Even Avatar was a partially remade film that only had the special effects, and as Aleric eluded to, the “nerd porn” going for it. I think I saw that movie before when Disney made it and it was called Pocahontas. This goes into a much deeper topic of today’s society that I don’t really want to expound on here, but briefly, I think that people don’t even try anymore. Locally, you will find that sort of mindset at the local fast food joint with the teenagers throwing your stuff together without care. We see this in hollywood with putting out remake after remake with very little original thinking in the mix. What is original is likely to be the tripe such as this Damon film, where the lefty blogosphere’s mood is input directly into the film and when the final product is offered to the public, as a whole it is rejected. Here’s hoping that this latest by Damon ends it’s theatrical run by next week and is a huge loss.
I think Mr. Damon is a very good actor, although I haven’t seen all of his work, and haven’t liked all the films I’ve seen him in. Still, his work is consistently solid, even if he’s found himself in the trap of being pigeonholed. (my primary beef with him is that he’s a Red Sox fan!) But you cannot demand better movies from actors, they’re just doing the job. It all starts with the writer, then goes entirely into the hands of the director (with producers watching over their shoulder at every turn, unless they’re one of the A list directors, and even then..), and the editors. You’d fare better taking up such complaints with the studios, rather than the actors.
Or write a screenplay yourself, and let your voice be heard! This is what I’m doing next month:
http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/
The right doesn’t really object to what movies are MADE […] Their objection is to what American consumers choose to buy
You seem to have missed the point. There is actually not an objection to public tastes here; quite the opposite, an observation that the American public does not (for the most part) choose to see these anti-war / anti-US movies, and thus an affirmation that their heart is in the right place. Even a movie like ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’, which is not so much anti-American as excessively sympathetic to the Japanese, didn’t do well in the US market.
The question that is raised is why, then, they continue to be made. I think it’s a mistake to place primary blame on the actors. With some exceptions, they don’t have much control over what gets made. Obviously they could choose to decline a particular project (so they aren’t blameless) but if we’re looking for the real guilty parties it would have to be studio heads and producers.
@bbartlog: We were posting at the same time, and I think you’re exactly right.
Cary
I agree with most of what you’ve posted, however, the actors do acquire some blame for the movies, since they agree to act in them. And to have Damon, a noted lefty hero, take on a role as the hero against the evil in government during the Bush years, just adds fuel to the fire.
PS – As an aside, I apologize for lumping you in with BRob a couple weeks back. Active discussions, even between opponents, that do not devolve into the name-calling and mud-slinging that BRob so often resorts to, are more enlightening to the site as a whole.
@johngalt:
I totally understand your point. Just understand that actors can only choose from what is offered to them. And, as strange as it seems, Hollywood often lacks imagination. So, if Damon is seen by them as a political/war/action star, after success in one or two films of that genre, it’s likely that those are the only scripts that end up on his agent’s desk. Certainly he can refuse, but in an actor’s career, their main objective is to work. And their agent will push them, as the agent’s income is a percentage of what they make (industry standard is 10%.) Then there are the managers, publicist, etc.. all who make their living from the working actor (most, if not all, on this level in the business, incorporate themselves for this reason.)
In Damon’s case, he has indeed proven himself as a talented writer, and even has an Oscar to show for it. So there could be an open opportunity for him to do something entirely different, and I hope he’s working on that. Certainly he’s not struggling like most of us in the 90% who have a much harder time finding work!
As for your PS, I must confess I didn’t notice. But thank you anyway. I do enjoy our discussions, even if they get a little heated!
CARY,there is no way to know a couple of CLUES on what you will decide to write?
@ilovebeeswarzone:
haha, I’m still working all that out, but thanks for asking. If you, or anyone, wishes to follow my progress when this gets started, you can do so here: http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/user/622700
All I needed to see was the keffiyeh around his neck to know all I needed to know about this movie.
Matt Damon and most other actors stopped learning anything after they graduated kindergarten.
Congratulations kid, ya learned how to pretend.
What’s wrong with anti-war sentiment? War is one of the worst conditions human beings can find themselves in. The people who fight them are seldom the fools who start them, and the people who suffer most are generally innocent bystanders. Noble causes that justify warfare are undeniably real, but far rarer than we’re led to believe.
Was the Mel Gibson film “We Were Soldiers”–based on the book by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway–anti-war? Anti-American?
Truth is seldom as simple as we’d like. When any take on the truth is distilled down and clearly stated, it often makes us very uncomfortable.
Never watched a Damon movie in my life. He and most of Hollywood are irrelevant to a positive and purpose filled life. If you don’t believe in the message, you shouldn’t be paying money to go see it.
@Greg
I’ve been in battle. My Son’s in battle now. Thanks for playing. Run along now.
Well I am anti-war; though if we were involved in a real war I wouldn’t put up with theatres screening antiwar films. Which, in case it isn’t clear, is one of the reasons I’m antiwar: the kind of sacrifices of life and liberty required are not something I want to make, nor ask others to make, except in the gravest extreme.
Hollywood’s antiwar films are often offensive in various ways, whether in portraying patriotism as a vice or implying that anyone who really wants to be a soldier must be some sort of meathead, and so on. There are counterexamples but off the top of my head the only one that comes to mind is ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’, which is going back a bit. I guess setting it in another place and time, with no US soldiers involved, avoids some of the issues. I haven’t seen ‘We Were Soldiers’.
We probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions, Patvann. I spent all of 1970 in the Khánh Hòa province. Nothing like the film, thankfully, but quite enough. A tip of the hat to your son.
—
I’d highly recommend “We Were Soldiers”. A truly exceptional film.
@Patvann:
The craft of acting takes a bit more than you seem to think. But I’m glad the good ones make you think it’s easy, so I’ll leave you to your opinion.
@Greg:
I agree 100%, it aptly honors those who have served. To that, I would add another Gibson film, The Patriot.
@bbartlog: Where have you been hiding? We had some serious Ron Paul fun a few weeks back that you missed out on.
Having worked for many actors and actresses, I can assure you that these people are ‘collectively’ the most empty vessel type people I have ever met and to rely on their political opinions as being intuitive and informed is as useless as reading chicken entrails.
Obviously Ronald Reagan broke the mold, but I never worked for him nor did I meet him, to my misfortune; however, I am fortunate enough to know many who did and they all speak in glowing terms of his intellect and wit.
It is easy to get on the train with everyone else, it takes courage and boldness to make a break and risk being shunned by your peers. There are several actors who refuse to accept the unwritten creed of Socialism and to them I salute. To those who waller in the self-serving Political Correctness of Hollywood’s Socialism, they usually don’t have the ability to form an opinion without a script.
Been keeping out of politics (doesn’t look too promising these days), busy with life and getting ready for things to fall apart. Just stopped by to see what you all were concerned with these days.
@Patvann: My apologies for being remiss and not thanking you and your son for your service in my last reply, as well as Greg and everyone else who has served.
I just read this advice article from the Script Frenzy challenge website I’m involved with. It’s written by a professional Hollywood script reader who advises new writers….
http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/node/3582169
Reading this after visiting this thread, I just had to share!
Just joined his Facebook page, where he put up the following post:
Good tip for the writers and all those who greenlight films Cary. But I’ve been railing about these anti-Bush Iraq movies for years on FA, and even though every one of them has failed they still greenlight them. Why? If it was about business they wouldn’t be made, but it’s not. Most of the directors, writers and actors who are in the films are the BDS types like Damon. At least Hurt Locker tried to stay away from the politics and just focus on the story of the characters…but it still failed.
I actually enjoy Damon’s acting, as I do Clooneys, Hanks (who does an excellent job of keeping his politics out of his work), and the rest of those BDS types who are so insulated in Hollywood they can’t think for themselves. I will watch their movies unless they put their politics into it. If they do I don’t waste my money (there are two exceptions tho, Sean Penn and Jane Fonda, I will not watch ANY movie those two traitors are in). Actors have a right to their opinion, as does everyone else, BUT because of their status they get a soapbox that is higher then everyone elses to put that opinion out.
The one bit of advice I wish these actors would take is just to STFU and act. Spread your opinions to your friends and family, as everyone does, but don’t use your acting ability to try and tell me how to think.
Cary, here is a wild one for you, a political espionage script about a non-national who hides all traces of his radical past, his parentage, and radical Communist associations. Goes to Law School and writes nothing, becomes a guest lecturer at a Mid-western University and publishes nothing, has two biographical books written by two different guys before he has done anything. He is elected to a state Senate with the aid of a powerful state machine by destroying his opposition, by voting present he manages to hide his radical agenda. He runs for the US Senate and by employing the dirty politics of a corrupt political machine, he is again elected and within a year he runs for President employing nothing but charisma and empty platitudes on a disillusioned American public, and by running against a Rino who has spent his political career in the trenches with the enemy as often as he has served with his own party he is elected in biggest swindle in American Political history. He then begins the systematic destruction of the most powerful country in the world while installing an impotent and incompetent government until the US, a once proud and powerful country collapses into oblivion. I know it is far fetched, but your skill as a writer will be needed to convince those in Hollywood that the people of America could fall for such a disaster at the cost of their Freedom.
Better yet, cubbyhole this one as a Disaster film, instead of political intrigue, Disaster flicks are always popular.
Greg
My views about the movie have nothing to do with any antiwar sentiment anyone might have. I’m 100% antiwar. I seenit and it sucks. And the Leftists in Hollywood STILL haven’t figured out that we fight (and fought) to protect the rights of Code Pink, et al. I will die to protect Matt’s film.
-My first comment had to do with the overt distortion within the film of everything that has to do with Iraq’s reality. Signified by the lead man wearing the traditional garb of the PLO, and the now usual “bad” military meme.
Your subsequent post seem to imply to me, that the movie carried some sort of legitimate posit. That it carried “weight”.
-Based on that assumption, I strongly disagreed… and implied that you have not seen/heard/tasted/smelled…and therefore was not qualified to make the comment giving this film one once of legitimacy.
Yes. I am sensitive. Sensitive to libs lying about Iraq.
I wrongly put you into that group of libs who don’t know.
But I still think the premise of this particular antiwar movie is bullcrap.
And I’ve seen; “We were Brothers Once and Young” a dozen times, after owning the book for many years beforehand. 😉
Peace.
@Curt said: “I actually enjoy Damon’s acting, as I do Clooneys, Hanks (who does an excellent job of keeping his politics out of his work), and the rest of those BDS types. ”
I have a hard time handing over major ticket money or DVD rental $$$ to these libs no matter how they try and separate their films from their politics. Deep down, we know what they think of us and whether they project that in a particular film or not I’m not going to support their career.
I make only very few exceptions to that rule.
I understand your point Mike but I’m a movie buff and I watch movies whenever I can (but rarely go to the theater anymore unless its with a date or something) and if I stayed away from all the movies that starred a lefty I would never see a movie. Hollywood is so insulated from the real world being a lefty is almost a prerequisite to be successful there it seems. It’s the same with music. So many of the good bands have young kids in them and they will spout their politics from time to time. I just ignore it.
Did anyone see The Pacific last night? Wow! Gonna be a great miniseries.
I haven’t seen the film and don’t know how the premise is presented, so it might very well be that the movie is total bullcrap. I certainly won’t pay the price of a ticket to find out. I figure the line into bullcrap is crossed when questions of actual importance are slyly “resolved” in an almost subliminal fashion. It’s a matter of taking unfair advantage of an audience’s suspension of disbelief to slip something by them that has actual consequences.
Oliver Stone’s “JFK” was one of the worst examples of that I’ve ever seen. The fact that the film was such a well constructed and compelling drama made the deliberate distortion of history even more deplorable. It left people believing they’d seen a presentation of truth rather than alternate history. The guy makes solid, entertaining films, but he’s totally lost my trust.
Hey, we all make assumptions. The fact that I ought to know better by now doesn’t seem to keep me from making them.
CURT did you mean ROSEMARY CLOONEY and HANK SNOW?…what about KIRK DOUGLAS..JAMES CAGNEY..ROBERT MITSHUM..GREGORY PECK ?..bye
I agree with Curt in comment #38.
@Curt #35:
Have you seen this? Of course, he’s not standing up on a soapbox saying this stuff; probably just responding to reporter’s questions and topic of discussion…but still highly annoying.
I guess it’s the height of great acting if you can get the American audience to see the character the actor is bringing to life on screen and not see the actor/person (or political activist) behind the character.
Avatar was “Dances with Wolves” in the far future!!! The 3d effects were outstanding…. One can see and enjoy a film AND separate the “cool” from the “bull”….
PATVANN
hi that was 15 MARCH 2010
HOW IS JOHN TODAY MARCH 17 OF 2012?
HOPE HE CAME BACK FOR YOU.
SEE what’s going on now,
your point of view?