Many of us are already familiar with Andrew Klavan. I've enjoyed many of his YouTube offerings over the years, but I don't follow him and hadn't seen anything recently. It was a complete surprise, and a complete accident, to discover this.
The linked review makes the case that three relatively recent films -- Hail Caesar (2016), Tropic Thunder (2008), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) -- should be considered conservative films. I've only seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I had not thought much about it and had not added it to my conservative movie list, but I see Klavan's point.
Klavan offers an interesting reason that these three films run counter to the general Hollywood trend. There are, of course, more conservative movies than these among the recent fare, but Klavan picks these three because they are all movies about movies and the movie industry. They are therefore films about something the writers and directors actually know a good deal about, and it is notable that they are all extremely critical of the industry. Self-criticism is interesting. Klavan may have a point.
Here's another Klavan recommendation: Dead Man Walking -- Andrew Klavan review
If you watch one of these pieces, take a moment while you're on YouTube and browse Klavan's other reviews. He has a lot posted. You don't have to agree with him, but he seems to be one of us, he knows a lot about films, and his stuff is well-reasoned and well-presented.
I was unaware of Klavan's movie reviews until yesterday. Another blind spot revealed. I now have another go-to source. If you're looking for a good movie to watch, here's a source to consult. Or if there's really nothing on your streamer that catches your interest, watching a few of these reviews by themselves is better than watching most of the tv movies on offer.
Klavan has a consistent point of reference. He argues relentlessly that reality is conservative and if filmmakers, or any other cultural producers, want to tell honest stories, they will end up giving conservative themes fair play. By the same token, running everything through a woke filter will kill creativity and be the death of art. Once again, the left destroys everything it touches.
Andrew, if you lurk here, thanks.
Your thoughts on these four films? Other recommendations? Other critics to whom you pay attention? And as always, recent recommendations are particularly encouraged, because a lot of us will not have heard of them yet.
Blind spots, I suppose.
I’ve seen and liked all three, but I realized I don’t pay as close attention as he did.
The problem with seeing movies on video is we are multitasking and not paying attention to all the subtle details.
When he showed the clips of Tropic Thunder, it was heartbreaking how far race relations have been set back since Obama was president. That was pure comedy that everyone can laugh at, now you can’t make it without some militant wokester cancelling you. Even Robert Downy Jr. says he wouldn’t do it today.
Hail Caesar: one of my favorite things about that movie is that the Coen boys have the nads to actually mock the so-called “Hollywood Ten” (commie sympathizers like Dalton Trumbo) and that they not only pull it off by making those pretentious jackasses look like total goofs, but apparently they do it without being black-balled by the lefty element in Movieland.
Jonathon E is quite analogous to Donald Trump.
James Caan's best movie.
Moses Gunn's best as well.
Same goes for John Houseman. Who plays New World Order personified.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a great movie. It was very tough on hippies.
Almost all Quentin Tarantino movies are great and conservative in their way. I did not like Inglorious Basterds when I first saw it, but it has become one of my favorites.
I'm not going to bother watching the review at this time but I will say, after seeing it, that I think this film covers bother sides.
The film features both Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, well-known Hollywood lefties as well as R. Lee Ermey, a Hollywood conservative.
And both sides are portrayed.
Penn, as the remourseless killer who deserves to die, Sarandon as the bleeding heart liberal nun who wants to save him, and Ermey as the slain girl's father who wants and deserves to see justice served.
Hollywood doesn't make movies like this anymore. Everything has to be totally one-sided.
It’s a terrible premise for an article, for anyone who just loves to watch movies. There’s been tons of good movies made in modern times, as long as your number one concern isn’t that you are also attending church while you watch.
Hail Caesar is hilarious. And yes it pokes fun at Hollywood commies. It really is a movie about the movie business and rather inside baseball (which may explain its poor box office) but I loved it.
Dead Man Walking is a great movie. I saw this with friends and each of us came out switching their opinion of the “Death Penalty”... One idiot liberal ended up “pro-death penalty”, I was leaning against the death penalty and came out “anti-death penalty” as well as one friend was anti and she came out as pro. I was surprised at how good it was. It wasn’t preachy like “The Life of David Gale” where people walked out smiling that the lead character finally stopped talking.