'Airplane!' Director Eyes Michael Moore - (new conservative comedy blasting Michael Moore)

politico.com ^ | July 23, 2008 | JEFFREY RESSNER

[Free ThinkerNY]

The comedy director who gave us such immortal movie lines as “Oh stewardess, I speak jive” and “Don’t call me Shirley” is now leveling his sights at documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

David Zucker, the director and writer who helped create “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” franchise has called on Hollywood’s tiny but tightly knit Republican A-list crowd to help him make a broad yet unusually right-leaning political satire titled “An American Carol.”

The low-budget indie co-stars Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer with Oscar-winner Jon Voight, cinema icon Dennis Hopper, model-heiress Paris Hilton and frequent Zucker stooge Leslie Nielsen in minor roles. Release is planned sometime by year’s end; the director suggested Friday, Sept. 12, to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Zucker and his associates have been keeping the film under fairly tight wraps for months. When hyping the usual casting updates to showbiz trades, those associated with the production would only describe the movie as “a spoof of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and contemporary American culture,” avoiding any mention of its political perspective.

Zucker had, however, mentioned the project to a handful of reporters and talk radio hosts, telling one columnist at the Wisconsin State Journal, “It outdoes any movie I have ever done in tasteless, offensive, un-PC humor.”

[weegee]

Didn’t grandpa cut Paris Hilton and her parents out of his will because of her antics?

[Bigg Red]

Finally, a movie the husband and I might actually want to see.

But Paris Hilton? Whassup widat?

[PzLdr]

Yes. I have it in my library. Try “The Devil's Horsemen” by Chambers. Excellent, and readable. Then you can read almost any version of “Secret History of the Mongols”, usually done in a translation of the Chinese version.

For general background, I recommend:”A Thousand Years of the Tartars”, by E. H. Parker;”The Empire of the Steppes”, by Rene Grousset,tr. Naomi Walford; “The Barbarians of Asia”, by Stuart Legg.

For the Mongols, in general:”The Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire”, by Christopher P. Atwood; “Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire”, by Paul D. Buell; “History of the Mongols”, by Bertold Spuler; “The Mongols”, by David Morgan; “The Mongols: A History”, by Jeremiah Curtin; “The History of the Mongol Conquests”, by J.J. Saunders; “The Mongols” [Osprey Mn at Arms Series]; “The Mongol Art of War”, by Timothy May”Mongol Warrior: 1200-1350 [Osprey Warrior Series]; “Storm from the East” Robert Marshall.by

For Chinnghis Quan: “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World”, by Jack Weatherford; “Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy”, by Paul Ratchnevsky; “Genghis Khan”, by R.P. Lister; “National Geographic”,Vol. 190, No. 6, Dec. 1996

For the Great Khans:”The Mongol Warlords”, by David Nicolle; “National Geographic”, Vol. 191, No. 2, February, 1997; Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times”, by Morris Rossabi

The Mongols and the West:”The Devil's Horsemen, supra; “The Mongols and the West”, by Peter Jackson; “Kalka River 1223” [Osprey Campaign]”Russia and the Golden Horde”, by Charles J. Halperin; “Mongols and Mamluks”, by Reuven Amitai-Preiss.

Miscellaneous: “Genghis Khan's Greatest General: Subotai the Valiant”, by Richard A. Gabriel; “Qaidu and the Rise of the Independent Mongol State in Central Asia”, by Michael Biran”The Tartar Khan's Englishman”, by Gabriel Ronay

[weegee]

Hopefully he's had a low profile second unit crew filming the real life actions of Code Pinko, C.ANSWER, and other Communist hate groups preaching sedition, violence, and general nuttiness in American streets.

After all if it "is" a satire of Michael Moore, it'll need some "documentary" coverage. Of course the critics would say that it is "wrong" to put such obvious "plants" into the film:

Caption this "U.S. Out of Iraq Now" Anti-War Rally in San Francisco (extreme barf alert) (Zombietime.com 3/17/07)

[thefactor]

supposedly he cut paris out. probably not her sister and brother. and never heard the parents were cut off. but you know she has a trust fund anyway along with all of her own stuff.

her grandfather decided to give most of his money away before he died anyway. but the family currently owns plenty to keep them in the black.

[weegee]

Samuel L. Bronkowitz also “directed” the 1952(?) classic Amazon Women On The Moon.

[dennisw]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144926/ very nice work and good luck with the Larry movie. I’m left cold by most comedians. Larry is actually funny and so is Ron White who I like even more

[Arthur McGowan]

What happened to the nun in that scene?

[weegee]

I remember how the media elites reacted to the comedy of Team America(!).

Jim Emerson: On celebrities, Politics, and movie critics (shilling for Roger Ebert) (Chicago Sun Times October 14, 2004 Jim Emerson, Editor of RogerEbert.com)

Q. Ebert didn't like "Team America: World Police" (1 star) because it makes fun of all sides and he's obviously a liberal.

A.That's assigning motives that aren't supported by the review itself. Ebert wrote: "If I were asked to extract a political position from the movie, I'd be baffled. It is neither for nor against the war on terrorism, just dedicated to ridiculing those who wage it and those who oppose it. The White House gets a free pass, since the movie seems to think Team America makes its own policies without political direction.

"I wasn't offended by the movie's content so much as by its nihilism. At a time when the world is in crisis and the country faces an important election, the response of Parker, Stone and company is to sneer at both sides -- indeed, at anyone who takes the current world situation seriously. They may be right that some of us are puppets, but they're wrong that all of us are fools, and dead wrong that it doesn't matter."

Now go back and look at Ebert's review of "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," where he makes similar criticisms. Perhaps a more likely explanation for his opinion is that he finds fault with these particular filmmakers' scattershot approach to comedy. (And one's sense of humor is even more personal than one's politics.) This paragraph from Ebert's "South Park" review in 1999 is remarkably consistent with his criticism of "Team America": "All it lacks is a point to its message. What is it saying? That movies have gone too far, or that protests against movies have gone too far? It is a sign of our times that I cannot tell. Perhaps it's simply anarchistic, and feels that if it throws enough shocking material at the wall, some of it will stick. A lot of the movie offended me. Some of it amazed me. It is too long and runs out of steam, but it serves as a signpost for our troubled times..."

Read the full article above. This is an excerpt of the longer discussion of why it was "wrong" (politically incorrect).

[dennisw]

You are a Mongol scholar. That’s an incredible list. I’m always intrigued by the peoples of arid and desert regions. They are natural nomads. And nomads always end up raiding the settled agricultural people because they need the vegetables fruits grains food they raise. Because nomadism can only provide an incomplete diet

They could trade with agricultural people but it is easier to raid them and more fun. Warrior kind of fun and rape and pillage

[Coffee200am]

Moreen Mcgovern AKA Sister Angelina

[weegee]

How will Paris Hilton survive? (Inheritance Cut Down)
NY Daily News ^ | December 27th 2007 | TRACY CONNOR
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944799/posts

Hotel magnate Barron Hilton announced yesterday that he’s leaving 97% of his wealth to charity, dramatically cutting the fortune his children and grandkids will get.

That means granddaughter Paris Hilton, who once stood to inherit $100 million or more by some accounts, could end up with a measly $5 million or so.

---

His “children” are Paris’ parents. She is listed as one of the grandkids.

[mkjessup]

“You have our glatitude!”

[Sig Sauer P220]

Finally, a movie I would wait in line for.

[wbill]

septal cartilage

I watched her character and wondered if there was some screwup with makeup. It's really, really noticeable...I think that you pinned it. Thanks for the clarification!

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

From the did you know category. Paris Hilton's aunt is actress Kim Richards. She was a young star, a 70s Disney fixture. Most notable appearances were 1975’s “Escape to Witch Mountain”, parts on many 1970s and early 80s TV series, and the minor 80’s teen staple “Tuff Turf.” She left acting mostly in 85 but is back now in “Race to Witch Mountain” being released next year.

[Bommer]

Exactly how intelligent does one have to be when Eberts only job in life was to get fat, watch movies and bitch about something he is totally incapable of doing?

[Cobra64]

[grellis]

Heck, I might just have to go to the movies.

[grellis]

Heck, I might just have to go to the movies.