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Clint Eastwood’s "Invictus": A Colossal Bore
Pajamas Media ^ | Dec. 11 | John Boot

Posted on 12/11/2009 7:46:57 AM PST by AJKauf

South Africa is plagued with astonishing levels of crime and poverty, its peoples segregated and suspicious of one another. But the new Clint Eastwood-directed movie Invictus says that’s all okay, because the country’s rugby team won a few games in 1995.

Coming off last winter’s excellent and far more challenging Gran Torino, Invictus is shockingly pedestrian and cliché-ridden. Its level of racial naivety makes it a sort of Driving Mr. Damon, with Morgan Freeman accepting a demotion from his usual roles as God or the president of the United States. This time he merely plays a saint — Nelson Mandela.

Although in one scene we are told that Mandela is a flesh-and-blood human being with family troubles, the rest of the movie shows the man working himself to exhaustion, protesting that he is overpaid, putting himself in physical peril for the sake of his country, forgiving sinners, and generally glowing from the halo over his head. As played by Morgan Freeman with maximum beatitude, he’s one of many reasons why this movie is a colossal bore.

Another is Matt Damon who, as the blond captain of the South African national rugby team the Springboks, is a total blank except that he really wants to win. His team plays so badly in the early stages of the movie that he orders everyone to drink the worst beer he can find — to symbolize the bitter taste of defeat. If putting together a championship-caliber team were that easy, wouldn’t the Detroit Lions simply order in a few cases of Pabst?

Despite Eastwood’s eagerness to portray Mandela as a sort of Jesus with a funn...

(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bore; clinteastwood; eastwood; invictus; southafrica
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1 posted on 12/11/2009 7:46:57 AM PST by AJKauf
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To: AJKauf

Did it show any of the burning tire neckties


2 posted on 12/11/2009 7:48:24 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Lukenbach Texas is barely there)
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To: AJKauf

The only thing I’d watch with Matt Damon in it, is if he filmed his self-immolation. Damon is in a dogfight with Sean Penn for the title of “Most Irritating & Overrated Actor”.


3 posted on 12/11/2009 7:49:15 AM PST by OldDeckHand (Obamacare - So bad, even Joe Lieberman isn't going to vote for it.)
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To: AJKauf
Well they can't all be Unforgiven I guess.
4 posted on 12/11/2009 7:49:29 AM PST by domenad (In all things, in all ways, at all times, let honor guide me.)
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To: AJKauf

Mandela a “saint”?

Here’s one of his “miracles” (WARNING GRAPHIC)http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NgXrMnZHoL4/R-5DZrhpgHI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ETzwsjUE0rQ/s400/black~teenager~tire~necklace.jpg


5 posted on 12/11/2009 7:49:40 AM PST by BenLurkin
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To: OldDeckHand
Damon is in a dogfight with Sean Penn for the title of “Most Irritating & Overrated Actor”

Politically, Sean Penn is a POS. Acting-wise, he's fantastic.

6 posted on 12/11/2009 7:52:40 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: AJKauf

Why is this jerk knocking Pabst?


7 posted on 12/11/2009 7:53:25 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: domenad

Gran Torino was very good. Clint earned the right to try a high-risk clunker. I’ll skip it, like I skip most of his artsy, directorial experiments.


8 posted on 12/11/2009 7:54:22 AM PST by Huck (The Constitution is an outrageous insult to the men who fought the Revolution." -Patrick Henry)
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To: OldDeckHand

Bourne series was excellent.


9 posted on 12/11/2009 7:55:16 AM PST by edcoil (If I had 1 cent for every dollar the government saved, Bill Gates and I would be friends.)
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To: AJKauf

You could tell it was going to be a PC worship film. My daughter complained because they pronounce Invictus wrongly. It’s In-wik-toos


10 posted on 12/11/2009 7:55:41 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: AJKauf

Give me The Outlaw Josey Wales or Dirty Harry EVERYTIME. The glorification of Nelson Mandela is not my idea of a good time. Great that South Africa has been able to maintain relative peace since Apartheid ended, but, no...


11 posted on 12/11/2009 7:56:18 AM PST by patriot preacher (To be a good American Citizen and a Christian IS NOT a contradiction. (www.mygration.blogspot.com))
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To: BenLurkin

mandela was a terrorist. THAT is why he was in prison.


12 posted on 12/11/2009 7:57:03 AM PST by weezel
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To: Puppage
"Politically, Sean Penn is a POS. Acting-wise, he's fantastic. "

Did you see "All the Kings Men"? That's 2 hours of my life, I'll never get back.

13 posted on 12/11/2009 7:57:50 AM PST by OldDeckHand (Obamacare - So bad, even Joe Lieberman isn't going to vote for it.)
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To: AJKauf

Heck, even the trailers are boring... nothing in them made me want to go see the movie... just more rewriting of history and social engineering from the left... poooy!


14 posted on 12/11/2009 7:57:57 AM PST by dps.inspect
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To: AJKauf

I could tell from the trailers this would be a monumental turd. It’s clearly just a vehicle to tell the masses how wonderful Nelson Mandella is.

I don’t know a lot about Mandella, he may be a very fine person, but to have a movie beating you over the head with it, well, that’s just not entertainment.


15 posted on 12/11/2009 7:59:02 AM PST by brownsfan (The average American: Uninformed, and unconcerned.)
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To: Huck

Agreed, but I really thought the “Jesus Christ pose” at the very end was really, really ham-handed, other than that I enjoyed the heck out of it. And oddly enough, you can buy a mint condition Gran Torino for under $10k


16 posted on 12/11/2009 8:00:00 AM PST by domenad (In all things, in all ways, at all times, let honor guide me.)
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To: AJKauf

I was considering seeing this one this weekend. I typically like Damon, Eastwood and Freeman ... so I was optimistic. Not so sure anymore.

SnakeDoc


17 posted on 12/11/2009 8:00:00 AM PST by SnakeDoctor ("Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much." -- John Wayne)
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To: AJKauf

Client you poor old man, don’t you have enough money to retire yet???


18 posted on 12/11/2009 8:00:53 AM PST by org.whodat
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To: dps.inspect

****just more rewriting of history and social engineering from the left.***

Clint Eastwood - doing masterful undercover work;)

Boring liberals to death!


19 posted on 12/11/2009 8:01:45 AM PST by sodpoodle (Stop wasting our wealth and start telling the truth.)
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To: OldDeckHand
Did you see "All the Kings Men"? That's 2 hours of my life, I'll never get back.

Don't confuse the movie with the performance. IE "Milk". Utter boredom, however his performance was incredible.

20 posted on 12/11/2009 8:02:06 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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