Posted on 03/04/2013 12:54:42 PM PST by Nachum
Will Smith once stood as arguably the most bankable film star in Hollywood. That was so 2007. The actor suffered a rare box office disappointment a year later with Seven Pounds, and then he kept out of the limelight until last year´s obligatory sequel Men in Black III. This year offers the biggest challenge to Smith´s star status. Can the erstwhile Fresh Prince survive a film project directed by Hollywood laughingstock M. Night Shyamalan as well as a blow to his bipartisan appeal? Over the weekend we learned Smith was one of President Barack Obama´s superbundlers,
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
If anything, I’d expect this to enhance his popularity. It appears to me that 95% plus of Hollywood types are Baraqqi partisans.
How is M. Night a laughing stock. I like his movies.
Another one bites. I am running out of stuff to watch!!!
It is no surprise that Will Smith is an Obama bundler.
I doubt t this will hurt his boxoffice.
I have seen a couple of Hollywoods latest productions and they mostly appeal to idiots, and that’s what Obama voters are. IMO Men in Black falls into this category. As well as Independence Day.
“How is M. Night a laughing stock. I like his movies.”
Agreed. That was an unnecessarily snarky comment. Most of his movies are pretty good. Signs, Unbreakable, Sixth sense. Even the Happening was OK.
Of course this won’t hurt his popularity. Left-wingers will love him more for it, and conservatives don’t seem to give enough of a damn to stop giving money to Hollywood. People need their circuses and they’ll throw principle to the wind to get it.
I seem to recall Will Smith’s daughter performing at one of the Obama daugher’s birthday a few years ago.. seem they’ve been chummy for a while.
It always amused me that when draft dodging Clinton was President Hollywood gave us “Independence Day” where a fictional president is portrayed as an heroic fighter pilot. Then we got “Air Force One” where a fictional president, who also happens to be the father of one daughter, personally takes on a group of terrorist hijackers.
What did we get when Bush became President? All I can think of is “The Death of a President” though that was from the Brits. Or was it the Canadians?
Absolutely not. We already have him on our democrat/socialist ban list, along with all the other celebrity/entertainer/business/restaurant chain/media hacks out there involved in re-electing and/or praising this man as if he were God Himself. That includes online streaming, no matter how "popular" the film was.
Quite frankly, I like movies because I like movies. I just don’t care much about the politics when it comes to that.
Will Smith, Scientologist, is a seriously twisted freak of nature.
I think the biggest problem the movie will have is brand confusion, 6 weeks before AE comes Tom Cruise’s Oblivion. There are definite differences in the movies, but a lot of similarities that will challenge the ad guys to not accidentally promote the other movie.
Because he used to be awesome and now his movies stink and make no money. The big rising star out of Philly seems to have set. His Rotten Tomato scores are lesson in how to kill a career: from 85% for Sixth Sense down to 6% for Last Airbender.
Ever since "Lady in the Water" he has been not so well-respected.
I thought had some very good aspects to it. They did nearly ruin it when they finally showed the aliens, who were really cheesy, but the scene described below saved it for me.
The dialogue in one particular segment was very, very good, I thought. It was very powerful. Mel Gibson's character (Graham) was a priest, and lost his faith when he was called to the scene of a car accident to deliver Last Rites, only to find out that it was his wife who needed them. She was still alive, pinned between the truck and a tree, but was going to die for certain when they tried to move the truck. He left the clergy after that, and in the scene below, is talking with his younger brother (played by Joaquim Phoenix)
Everyone around the world watching their news is looking at some city with invisible alien ships hovering above it. The viewers can't see them, but the evidence is clear that something is right there.
IN THE FAMILY ROOM - MIDNIGHT
(The family room lights are off now. The TV is still on. The SOUND IS MUTED. There are a couple glasses of Bo's water on the television now. The fourteen lights are still hovering on the screen. Morgan is asleep on Graham’s lap. Bo is asleep on Merrill's shoulder. Everyone knows there are aliens out there, they have been watching this unchanging scene for hours.)
MERRILL: (whispers) Some people are probably thinking this is the end of the world.
GRAHAM: (whispers) That's true.
MERRILL: (whispers) Do you think it's a possibility?
GRAHAM: (whispers) Yes.
MERRILL: (whispers) How can you say that?
GRAHAM: (whispers) That wasn't the answer you wanted?
MERRILL: (whispers) Can you at least pretend to be like you used to be? Give me some comfort?
GRAHAM: (whispers)...There are all different ways you can tell that there's someone really there watching out for us. You see signs. Sometimes they're little ones. You think of someone. The phone rings. They're on the phone... Sometimes they're big, like fourteen lights hovering over Mexico City. Sure, there are a lot of people watching this who think this could be a bad thing. But there are a lot of people watching this, who think it's a miracle. A sign of God's existence. It's all in how you look at things Merrill. What you have to decide is what kind of person you are? Are you the type who believes in miracles and looks for signs or are you the kind who believes, things just happen by chance?
MERRILL: I was at this party once. I'm on a couch with Sara Mckinney. She was just sitting there, looking beautiful and staring at me. I go to lean in and kiss her and I realize I have gum in my mouth. I turn and take out the gum. Stuff it in my paper cup next to the sofa and turn around. Sara Mckinney throws up all over herself. I knew the second it happened. It was a miracle. I could have been kissing her when she threw up. That would have scarred me for life. I may never have recovered.
MERRILL: I'm a miracle man. Those lights are a miracle.
GRAHAM: (smiles, whispers) There you go.
MERRILL: (whispers) So which type are you?
GRAHAM: (whispers) Do you feel comforted?
MERRILL: (whispers) Yes.
GRAHAM: (whispers) What does it matter then?
(Long pause here)
GRAHAM: (whispers) Do you know what Colleen's last words were before they killed her?
GRAHAM: (whispers) She said, "See", and then her eyes glazed a bit and she said... "Tell Merrill to swing away
GRAHAM: (whispers) Do you know why she said that?
MERRILL: "No."
GRAHAM: (whispers) Because the nerve endings in her brain were firing as she died, and some random memory of us at one of your baseball games popped into her head.
GRAHAM: There is no one watching out for us, Merrill. We're all on our own.
Lady by the Lake (or pool) was great IMHO. So was Signs.
In the old days, you had a few “sheriff” types like Reagan who kept Hollyweird fairly honest.
These days it’s all “progressives”
Add in the “regular” media and the internet moguls and no wonder that Gen X, millenials, and current 10-somethings are solidly in the pockets of Democrats.
Signs carried a message very unpopular with Hollywood. Family, isolation, reflection, beliefs, casual regard for government authority, individuals dealing with anger and aggression in a pensive inward manner, dealing with your own failures, the strength of a father in a single parent family, nobody is a victim crap, and listening to ones inner voice which just may or may not be directed by a higher god.
You framed it well.
That scene resonated with me, because it boiled down to essence one of the questions many people have: Is someone or something looking out for us, or are we just a collection of random molecules gravitating towards entropy?
What really made the scene effective was the priest who had lost his faith, and his pent up bitterness towards God for visiting on him his wife’s death in that manner.
Just his flat “There is no one watching out for us, Merrill. We’re all on our own.” response pulled at my heart.
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