War of the Worlds screenwriter says Martians slaughtering humans are metaphore for U.S. military

Larry Elder Talk Radio Show on KABC AM 790 Los Angeles ^ | Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | Larry Elder

[FraudFactor.com]

War of the Worlds screenwriter David Koepp admits political propaganda in movie

KABC talk show host Larry Elder said today that David Koepp, one of the two War of the Worlds screenwriters, stated in a recent interview for a Canadian publication that the Martians slaughtering the humans are a metaphor for the adventurism of the American military forces, i.e., for the Bush Administration's war on terrorism, and the human civilians are a metaphor for the Iraqi people. He stated that this is going back to the original H. G. Wells book upon which the movie is loosely based.

However, the original story took place in England, and as Larry Elder pointed out, the book was written in the late eighteen hundreds (first published in 1898) at a time when British imperialism was at its peak, when the British Empire had authority over one out of every four human beings on Earth. Clearly, the United States is not an imperialist country, especially when compared to England, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, and the communist Soviet Union, Turkey/The Ottoman Empire, and the Arab Muslims.

One of Larry Elder's callers pointed out that we should expect leftist political propaganda in any movie directed by Steven Spielberg and including actor Tim Robbins, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration.

Tim Robbins played a survivalist named Ogilvy, who is the Hollywood-left's stereotype for a conservative - a distasteful "red neck" character portrayed as a crazy shotgun-wielding suspected child molester. He was in one of the two anti-gun scenes in the movie. This is another example of the bigotry of the Hollywood-left.

[FraudFactor.com]

The problem I had with Terminator 3 was I felt cheated, because I expected that movie to be the last in the series - the War Against the Machines.

Instead, there was the long chase like in the previous two movies, but all the while I was waiting to see the War Against the Machines. Then in the end, I realized the producers strung me on for another movie.

This is how I felt watching the second Matrix movie (Matrix Reloaded (Unloaded), except that Terminator 3 was a good chase movie if you were not expecting to See the War Against the Machines.

BTW, I found it somewhat difficult to engage in voluntary suspension of disbelief with regards to the liquid metal terminator in Terminator 2. I had to force myself to pretend it could be possible, and then I really enjoyed the movie. Of course, the great special effects helped.

[Darkwolf377]

I really liked T3 but you're so right on the liquid metal thing. It's more like science 3000 years in the future. But this goes back to my point about movies not being logical--I mean, it was COOL. :) So Cameron thought of it (trying hard not to steal as he did on T1) and he didn't go "Hmm, this would look cool but it's too advanced..."

Movies and fiction are about emotion, first and foremost.

I didn't feel cheated because I'm so old by now (39) that I kind of get a feel for something I want to see and then don't look at previews, though I do read a lot about movies I don't know about yet or have already seen.

It's great reading your posts, btw, too bad there wasn't a FR movie corner. AICN is all about people screaming "YOu suck!" at each other, people who have no knowledge of movie history. I watched Rear Window three times this week, btw...

[FraudFactor.com]

"I agree with so much of what you said--now get out there and get a movie critic's job!"

Thank you for the fine compliment!

"As for the liberalism of movie makers, my personal belief is that it's truly funny to hear all these liberal sentiments, these lessons on how to live with our fellow man, coming from people who live in gated communities with personal security details."

LOL - This is so true!

This reminds me of a radio talk show host who managed to get Cher on his show for an interview. It may have been Larry Elder on KABC, or perhaps Larry Marino on KRLA. She was spouting leftist nonsense that made her sound like a high school student. When she was challenged and debated, she could not respond in a coherent manner.

It was an obvious intellectual mismatch, and she was not used to being challenged in her normal interviews. It was clear that she had no idea how the average middle class or lower class person lives. She sounded like a spoiled brat! I believe she refused to come back on the show after that.

[FraudFactor.com]

"I watched Rear Window three times this week, btw...

Rear Window is one of the great Alfred Hitchcock movies.



I also enjoyed North by Northwest and Frenzy. Frenzy was interesting but somewhat eerie.

Alfred Hitchcock created excellent movies with great suspense, often using symbolism (like the shadow of an arm holding a knife moving down on its victim), without all the modern special effects.

Although Psycho (1960) did have the graphic bloody shower scene. I guess the color of blood is one big difference between color and black and white movies.

[FraudFactor.com]

Watch for a cameo appearance by Alfred Hitchcock when you watch one of his movies. Sometimes it is very brief. I don't know if he did this for all of his movies.

[FraudFactor.com]

There isn't a net figure to find. The studios don't publish net figures. They charge a bookkeeping fee to themselves and recycle the accounting so movies never, or rarely, go into the black to people on the outside. They charge overhead to a movie's profits, they have all kinds of profit participation and distribution deals, and they charge THEM for the accounting--which the studio itself performs. They do this everytime they give an accounting to one of their participants, so the "profit" keeps dropping to the naked eye while the studio enjoys the profits.

It's one of the reasons why if you were to write a screenplay or act in a movie and are offered net points, you should laugh very hard, because you will never see them. And only a handful of people earn gross points. Spielberg is one of them, but he also owns Dreamworks, so technically his participation would cut into the net-except he's profitting.

Stop looking for the net; you won't find it.

Ditto!

A movie producer told me that in the movie business, you never accept a percentage of net profit - only a percentage of gross profit if you can get it, or a salary. They adjust, i.e., cook the books, so there is no net profit.

Maybe they find that convenient for income tax purposes. I wonder if they have really good lawyers and accountants that keep them legal, or if they think they are above the law.

[FraudFactor.com]

Speaking of treason ...

Excerpt from:

Las Vegas Tribune

Band of Half-Wit Brothers

Viewpoints column by Hugo J. Byrne
http://www.lavozdecubalibre.com/

Volume 6 Issue 17
November 26, 2004

http://www.lasvegastribune.com/20041126/viewpoints2.html

<snip>

Speilberg is not just a regular admirer of Fidel Castro. He has the highest regard for the Cuban tyrant. The director of "Saving Private Ryan" once spent a number of hours chatting with Castro in Havana as his guest of honor, and ever since he has done as much as anybody -in and out of Hollywood- to promote and propagandize the totalitarian agenda of the aging dictator.

Speilberg stated that his hours visiting with Castro were "the most important moments of his life." If we take that statement at face value, Castro's visit was more important to Spielberg than the time when his son was born and more intense occasion than those when he received awards for his artistic achievements. Could he be ignorant of the fact that he is befriending a Caribbean Hitler? How could anyone supposedly so sensitive to human suffering, feel that close to such a mass killer?

Worse, Speilberg knows for sure that Bin Laden is not the top terrorist in recent history. Castro long ago earned that dubious title, and Speilberg cannot claim ignorance of the fact. Had the Cuban despot got his way during the so-called "Missile" crisis of 1962, the loss of life and destruction in the United States would have made the tragedy of September 11 look like child's play. The record of Castro's vile wishes, confirmed by the former Soviet bosses, is at the same time horrendous and indisputable.

The only difference in fortunes between Bin Laden and Castro is that the Taliban demonstrated to be a much more reliable ally than The Soviet Union. The Afghan rulers, prime state terrorists themselves, backed Alqaeda to the bitter end. The entrenched Soviets, fat and corrupted to the core and with its own survival at stake, fortunately balked at Castro's extreme demands in 1962.

However, that undeniable fact is either ignored or purposely disregarded, not only by Speilberg, but also by almost every other Hollywood "celebrity." Many of them are in open political cahoots with the "Comandante."

<snip>

[Darkwolf377]

There is a book around, can't recall the title, about the Art Buchwald case against Paramount over their stealing his screenplay for Coming to America. The legal case blew the whole scam open and showed how the studios cook the books "legally" by charging fees for all kinds of things against their movie grosses.

People sometimes forget that the movie business is a business first. As Pauline Kael phrased it, "It's an artform run by businessmen." And as we see lately, not running it as well as they might.

[ariamne]

Did you ever see Moon Zero Zero? That has to be in the top ten worst!

[Darkwolf377]

I think it's Moon Zero Two, and it may be one of the worst, but the hottie Catherine Schell is in it, so it deserves to exist. :)

[ariamne]

Ok, we'll let it exist! What did you think of "The Mole People?" Used to scare the bejezes out of me as a kid..

I loved The Day the Earth Stood Still, Crack in the World, and When Worlds Collide. What do you think?

[Darkwolf377]

What did you think of "The Mole People?" Used to scare the bejezes out of me as a kid..

It's actually pretty bad--a classic Mystery Science Theater episode--BUT the actual Mole People are damned cool!

I loved The Day the Earth Stood Still, Crack in the World, and When Worlds Collide. What do you think?

I like TDTESS but was always turned off by it's bizarre message--stop fighting each other or we'll kill you all! Having said that, I loved the score by Bernard Hermann, the acting, and jsut the whole idea that it's a more intellectual, serious attempt at a SF film than most of the era.

CITW I saw so long ago I can't recall much.

WWC, which is being remade, was good but left out way too much material from the book. It's a pretty cheap movie, actually, but it uses its budget well. I always thought it was ahead of its time in daring to show the destruction of the planet, period, something most movies always avoided, though the actual end of the planet is disappointing. Also disappointing was the Candyland scene at the end, which I've learned wasn't intended to be the final matte painting but they used it anyway.

My particular faves of the pre-Star Wars era are (among others) The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, Five, 2001, The Andromeda Strain, Colossus:The Forbin Project, Solaris (Russian), Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, Metropolis, The Shape of Things to Come, Magnetic Monster....I could be listing all day...

[ariamne]

I could talk to you all day!! Gee, is there a Sci-fi fan thread?

I agree with most of your list: I really liked Colossus, the Forbin Project and Andromeda Strain. I try to talk movies on IMDB, but somehow I also end up fighting with a Bush-Basher or America-Basher no matter what the film is! I mean, we could be discussing the relative merits of Disney's Pochantos vs. the sequel, and someone will come up with an anti-American, anti-Bush tie-in.

By the way, when I first saw TDTESS, I was kind of young and didn't get it, but I clearly remember my grandmother being frustrated by the hypocrisy of the planets Klaatu represented--"curb your agression, you savage humans, or our robots will rip you a new one?"

Take care. It was fun.

[FraudFactor.com]

I really enjoyed the cold war era Colossus - The Forbin Project (1970).

It was an interesting and intelligent movie.

It introduced a great new theme and concept and may now "occupy the field" for those who remember it.

The only problem I have with it is that any new movie based on the same or a similar theme will be accused of copying Colossus - The Forbin Project, even though the concept is simple and can be independently conceived.

This is significant, because modern military technology has advanced to the point that armed unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., Predators armed with Hellfire missiles) have already been used in the War on Terror, and in the future, one can envision unmanned naval and land military systems.

At some point, the technology may develop to the point that there will be fewer or no humans in the control loop of these fighting systems. For example if the control communication link with an unmanned aerial vehicle is lost, the vehicle must be capable of operating in an autopilot mode.

Although Colossus - The Forbin Project dealt with computer-controlled nuclear missile launchers, modern technology allows for much more than missile launchers and missiles to be remotely controlled by computers.

The fact that Microsoft has been lobbying hard and in many cases successfully to get its Windows operating system into embedded military weapons systems could itself be the subject of a science fiction/horror movie. And such a movie could even involve viruses!

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
Rq-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
armed with two Hellfire missiles
http://www.ga.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=983174400&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&

[FraudFactor.com]

There is a book around, can't recall the title, about the Art Buchwald case against Paramount over their stealing his screenplay for Coming to America. The legal case blew the whole scam open and showed how the studios cook the books "legally" by charging fees for all kinds of things against their movie grosses.

People sometimes forget that the movie business is a business first. As Pauline Kael phrased it, "It's an artform run by businessmen." And as we see lately, not running it as well as they might.

Thanks for the great info. I am interested in reading that book.

Based on an Amazon.com search, the book must be the following one:

Fatal Subtraction: The Inside Story of Buchwald V. Paramount by Pierce O'Donnell, Dennis McDougal

The Editorial Reviews states:

"Though O'Donnell and McDougal focus on procedural aspects and the courtroom drama, they blow the lid off the major Hollywood studios's sleazy accounting practices, which have enabled them to deprive creative talent of millions of dollars in royalties by claiming that top-grossing films earned zero net profits."

I won't hold my breath for Hollywood to make a movie out of this book, even though it would probably make a great movie!

[Darkwolf377]

Yes, that's the book, check it out--a terrific education for folks on how Hollywood manages to keep afloat when so many movies appear to make no money.

[Darkwolf377]

The basic idea behind Colossus has been around for a long time, at the very least since Capek's R.U.R. (which was where the word "robots" originated) or even Frankenstein, which I believe was an acknowledged influence on the novel writer. Not to mention 2001's HAL and Forbidden Planet's Krell underground being audio/visual influences.

[Darkwolf377]

Thanks, I enjoyed the chat. It is hard to talk movies on the net, politics always comes in and many artistically inclined people are kneejerk libs, so what can ya do?

[ariamne]

Although not in the same categories as the movies previously mentioned, weren't the Terminator movies based on this concept as well?

[Darkwolf377]

Although not in the same categories as the movies previously mentioned, weren't the Terminator movies based on this concept as well?

The real inspiration for the Terminator movies appears to be a couple of sources, both of which reveal the, ah, "depth" of Cameron's creativity.

A couple of months back a woman won a huge settlement in court against the makers of both The Matrix and Terminator franchises.

http://www.terminatorfiles.com/?id=1764&arch=1

And back in the 80's, writer Harlan Ellison successfully sued Cameron because Cameron ripped off some of Ellison's concepts from two Outer Limits episodes. One part of the setllement resulted in Ellison's name being slapped on the end credits in a very obvious way; I haven't seen the DVD but in the home video, his name really sticks out because it was added after all the other credits were done.