Posted on 05/10/2010 7:05:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Little did Aaron Sorkin suspect, when he wrote the lefty drama "A Few Good Men," that the only thing anyone would ever remember about it was Jack Nicholsons Col. Jessep speech, which Sorkin accidentally made more convincing than any liberal argument he ever offered: "Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. You want me on that wall you need me on that wall. My existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives."
Col. Jessup, shake hands with your 21st-century equivalent: Robert Downey Jr.s Tony Stark.
In "Iron Man 2," not only is Starks existence grotesque to a prosecutorial senator in Washington even as he protects American lives, but the movie shows how much we need Tony Stark on another crucial wall the wall between private industry and statism. The movie is written by Justin Theroux, but ideologically it brings to mind a slightly older screenwriter Ayn Rand.
"Iron Man" shows its mettle early on when Tony is hauled before Congress to face down a snotty senator (Garry Shandling) who demands that he surrender his rights to Iron Man technology. Tony jokes that he isnt interested in "indentured servitude or prostitution," echoes Col. Jessup when he notes, "Id love to leave my door open, but this aint Canada" and sternly informs the senator, "You want my private property. You cant have it." He adds, "Ive successfully privatized world peace ... whats wrong with these assclowns?"
Stark is threatened by the only force on earth comparable to his what Rands John Galt called "the unpredictable power of the arbitrary whims of hidden, ugly little bureaucrats."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Johannson’s character (Black Widow/ Natalia Romonov) has been in the Marvel Universe almost as long as Iron Man. Though for this movie they “skipped ahead” to her being a good guy in skin tight clothes working for SHIELD. She started as a Soviet spy trying to steal the Iron Man tech.
A film you can take the kids to? Amazing. Sounds good. LOL! The ATF would be looking around and would grab everything. It would be on the news. Gun owners has a weapons stockpile of 25 bullets.
Ah. I really want to see it again. It was fun.
I had forgotten about the "Blind Side", as I had not seen it yet, but have heard good things about it.
Passion of the Christ. You are right, I had forgotten about it as well, having not seen it either (the wife didn't want to see the gore).
However, Pixar films proves my point.
Also, I am not "complaining", I was merely pointing out something that I noticed, and was unsure about it. I'm sorry if I hit a "hot button" topic with you.
The Aviator with DiCaprio and Martin Scrosese. It was about Howard Hughes. DiCaprio is a lefty but not that bad. Just enviro stuff and Scorsese is a bit too.
The scene where Hughes visits Catherine Hepburn’s family in CT. They are rich WASP marxists. They make fun of Huges because he is an engineer who builds things. The scene made Hughes (obviously) as the good guy and Hepburn’s liberal family as insane marxists.
I saw it on TV and loved that scene. Hepburn’s family were wealthy CT WASP marxists. I would suspect today she would be a part time lesbian because it would be considered fashionable like marxism at the time.
Hughes actually would build things and create value to society. He was no angel but what his companies did in aviation, science and especially medicine has been staggering.
I knew there was a reason I liked him.
I just don’t understand your concern.
Just saying the word “movie” would seem to me to be saying “fiction”. So regardless of what genre of “fiction”, it is still open to the charges of what you are concerned about.
The subtly of messages being inserted into film is decried when it comes from the left because it is so effective, and yet when it comes from the right it seems counterproductive? I’m not buying that argument.
Overt and preachy films and documenteries speak to the true believers but have minimal impact on the culture.
I dare say that Iron Man 2’s speech concerning his private property and the Government’s attempt to take it influenced more people in it’s first weekend than Ayn Rand’s entire library of writings and her career of speeches.
That was great as well. They were such sniveling puny snobs in the presence of a man of enormous talent.
The movie theater near me had a combo pack on Thursday night - for $9.50, I got to see a 9:30pm showing of Iron Man, followed by a 12:01am showing of Iron Man 2.
It was a lot of fun!
Pasco, WA. The Tri-Cities has its fill of progressives and a large pop of illegals.
Both Robert Downey and Mickey Rourke apparently are now conservatives
cool I can add them to my good actor list!
How was ‘A Few Good Men’ a ‘lefty’ drama? It was pretty pro-Marines. All the heroes were military personnel.
What didn’t you like about it?
The constant snarky criticism of our armed forces. Everything Tom Cruise and Demi Moore said or did was intended to make our troops look like knuckledragging brutes, and Cruise's only defense was "just following orders." That worked so well at Nuremberg.
Also I just can't stand Tom Cruise, and that was even before the couch-jumping scene.
Demi Moore’s character was constantly defending the Armed Forces and the two accused soldiers. The defense he used was the only they could think of that could get them off. Lawyers do it all the time. The fact that it didn’t work at Nuremberg is mentioned in the film.
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