GI Joe movie director says it's not a Bush movie but an Obama movie
I thought that as a GI Joe fan, I could be relieved by this LA Times article (via Hot Air Headlines) that says:
The part about guys who met each other during the war in 'Nam is also unnecessary - if we look at this in the comic book context as per the famous comics from 1982-1994, the Joes team could've met each other at any time, and in a fictionalized war too. Why make it sound like Duke, Scarlet, Snake Eyes, Lady Jaye, etc, are real people?
Way to go there, Mr. Sommers, souring everyone's milk with needless politics. Now, I'm not sure if this will be a great movie.
Update: Big Hollywood makes a brief comment on this, and John Nolte talks about the phony claim that Americanism doesn't sell overseas.
Update 2: Paramount continues to raise eyebrows with the news that they won't be screening the movie for critics. Despite whatever defenses they may be coming up with, their refusal to screen it for the press does signal that all may not be well.
Here's some more from Ben Shapiro, and a video of an MSNBC interview with John J. Miller.
Update 3: one more item from NewsReal Blog.
Update 4: well, it's now past August 7, and from some of the reviews I've read from sources close to the right, it sure doesn't look like this movie is worth it, and here's one review for starters that tells something about this movie that should earn it a whole shower of rotten tomatoes and cabbages. The Pit base is located in Egypt?!? Wow, what a great place to set the Joes' HQ, in this day and age, a country that's steeped in Islamofascism! Not much more really needs to be said here. I guess I'll just add a few more reviews of this, including this one from John Nolte at Big Hollywood, and also Film Junk, Joe Lima, Chris Yogerst.
Paramount Pictures gave the movie its homeland premiere at the base for Air Force One, flying out its stars Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Marlon Wayans for a helicopter tour, meetings with the base commander and airmen, and a red carpet replete with paparazzi and billowing American flags.That's the great news. But then, further down, it says:
Launching the film to a military audience is just one part of a highly atypical marketing and publicity campaign for "G.I. Joe," which opens nationwide and in most foreign markets this Friday. Paramount is sidestepping the traditional Hollywood showcase and courting of the national print media in favor of taking the picture directly to America's heartland. [...]
The subtext is none too subtle: Critics are likely to roast the film, and fanboys of the original toy line and comic book may be indifferent, but if you're a flag-waving, Nascar-loving American, it's practically your patriotic duty to see this movie.
Yet overseas, where big action films often earn 60% or more of their ticket sales, rah-rah American sentiment doesn’t play well. So those references have vanished from the advertising.And then I realized that they may be talking out of both sides of their mouths! Biggest problem here is - what have all these real life presidents got to do with this anyway? Why must any marketing have to involve them? And does this suggest that liberal nonsense has found its way into the screenplay in more ways than one?
European marketing, rather, focuses on action sequences set in Paris — where the Eiffel Tower collapses — Egypt and Tokyo, and emphasizes that G.I. Joe is an international team of crack operatives and not some Yankee soldier.
When it comes to selling “G.I. Joe” outside the U.S., the message is “this is not a George Bush movie — it’s an Obama world,” director Stephen Sommers said. “Right from the writing stage we said to ourselves, this can’t be about beefy guys on steroids who all met each other in the Vietnam War, but an elite organization that’s made up of the best of the best from around the world.”
The part about guys who met each other during the war in 'Nam is also unnecessary - if we look at this in the comic book context as per the famous comics from 1982-1994, the Joes team could've met each other at any time, and in a fictionalized war too. Why make it sound like Duke, Scarlet, Snake Eyes, Lady Jaye, etc, are real people?
Way to go there, Mr. Sommers, souring everyone's milk with needless politics. Now, I'm not sure if this will be a great movie.
Update: Big Hollywood makes a brief comment on this, and John Nolte talks about the phony claim that Americanism doesn't sell overseas.
Update 2: Paramount continues to raise eyebrows with the news that they won't be screening the movie for critics. Despite whatever defenses they may be coming up with, their refusal to screen it for the press does signal that all may not be well.
Here's some more from Ben Shapiro, and a video of an MSNBC interview with John J. Miller.
Update 3: one more item from NewsReal Blog.
Update 4: well, it's now past August 7, and from some of the reviews I've read from sources close to the right, it sure doesn't look like this movie is worth it, and here's one review for starters that tells something about this movie that should earn it a whole shower of rotten tomatoes and cabbages. The Pit base is located in Egypt?!? Wow, what a great place to set the Joes' HQ, in this day and age, a country that's steeped in Islamofascism! Not much more really needs to be said here. I guess I'll just add a few more reviews of this, including this one from John Nolte at Big Hollywood, and also Film Junk, Joe Lima, Chris Yogerst.
Labels: licensed products, politics
