Little Miss Porn

The Nav Log ^ | 9/3/06 | ltn72

[pabianice]

Hollywood is all abuzz about “Little Miss Sunshine,” a deftly presented piece of porn pretending to be a “heart-warming Oscar contender.” The bubbly adjectives simply swirl about this recent release: “brilliant, deftly drawn, heartwarming, raucous, superb, human, engrossing, fun, ingenious, brilliantly hysterical, warm, moving, endearing,” and more. The truth is far less sunny. “Little Miss Sunshine” is a $10 million kiddie porn movie that displays just how rotten Hollywood has become and just how far its powerbrokers have moved from America. That it was the hit of the Sundance Festival was pre-ordained.

It’s hard to know where to begin in talking about this movie and what it tells us about the current business of making movies. The cast is, to be fair, very good, the direction competent, the scene dressing excellent. But the movie itself is tasteless and basically disgraceful, an updated version of “All in the Family,” in which evil, stupid Red America is brought up short by savvy, hip Blue America. Alan Arkin plays grandpa, an aging bum who snorts heroin (yuk, yuk) and was expelled from his nursing home because he is a dangerous, in-your-face loser who counsels others to live irresponsibly. One of his character’s two sons has just tried to kill himself because he was jilted by his gay lover (audience eyes tear up because it’s so, you know, sensitive and, you know, PC). The other son is a financially failed, unsuccessful huckster of a step program for self-improvement who is taken advantage of by Evil Big Business. The teenage grandson is apparently a lunatic who is determined to get into the Air Force Academy and who has taken a vow of silence until he is accepted (that there is a huge poster of an F-18 – a Navy airplane – on his bedroom wall clearly escaped the schmucks who produced this film). We never learn how he plans to do well in high school while refusing to speak. In one violent sequence we learn what potential US military officers are really like when this clueless, friendless loner goes berserk. Nice touch, Hollywood.

And then there is the grand daughter, Olive, a perky seven-year-old who becomes the winner of a local talent contest when the winner is disqualified for what sounds like doping (although we aren’t sure). Olive has a routine of which we remain uninformed until the final sequence. During the 800-mile cross-country drive in a rolling deathtrap of a VW minibus (so, so, 60s! you know), grandpa dies of a heroin overdose while baby-sitting Olive (Manson family values are on display everywhere in this film), so the family steals his body from the hospital, wraps him in a sheet, and stuffs him in the back of the bus. This sequence simply sparkles with the kind of wit for which Hollywood has become so justifiably famous and was getting old when it was done in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” thirty years ago. Of course, the bus is stopped by a cop on the road, but no problem. The cop is, as are all cops, you know, a leering, loathsome policeman who, upon finding a stash of porn magazines, trades some comments with dad that are so uncomfortable for the audience as to make grandpa’s death look like an episode of “Teletubbies.”

Complete Article

[goldstategop]

Liberal Family Values! Get me a hankie! Chic Pedophilia Coming To The Theater Nearest You!

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[CIB-173RDABN]

"It is a Movie that's all...

---

I am curious, why do you think businesses spend billions a year on advertising?

Could it be that these little 30 seconds spots can influence the way people think about somthing?

It is never just "a movie, or just a book, or just (fill in the blank)."

I do not know what the motive of the producers of this moive was, but good, bad or otherwise, it can influence people. If you do not understand that, they you understand nothing.

Having said that, why is it people that may find the whole concept (as described in the review) offensive not be allowed to comment on it. I have not read anything to this point to indicate that the produceers should be arrested and jailed for their movie, only that some find it offensive.

Does Hollywood have a monopoly on free speech?

[csvset]

I rarely " go " to the movies anymore. The only current film I'm curious about is Idlewild. I'll wait until it's out on CD and rent it.

[samtheman]

You called me closed minded, on the basis of a single post.

You are trying to project an image of wisdom and forebearance.

You have failed.

You are projecting an image much different than what you think.

[Strategerist]

That'll never happen. You can yell at them and call them names, but they won't change. Too many like being told what to think instead of thinking for themselves.

That's not really it - it's that there's a lot of people (and hardly confined to this board or to the Right) that derive near-sexual levels of pleasure from being constantly outraged at stuff. Somehow makes them feel special or makes their day more exciting.

[drjimmy]

We are then assaulted to fifteen minutes of little girls, dressed and made-up like crack whores, dancing and flirting with the adult judges while the adult audience goes wild with approval. This is a truly horrifying sequence and, I believe, the intended “best part” of the movie – sexualizing little girls for adult prurience. The little girls themselves – obviously all actors in this movie – seem confused about what they are supposed to be doing and affect a sort of frozen, death-grimace of a smile in their roles. I hope this is what they were directed to do and not how they really felt during the filming.

To make an error of this magnitude blows away almost the entire premise of your "review." According to the filmmakers, the girls in the pageant sequence--with the exception of Olive--are in fact all real veterans of the pageant world. The routines that they performed are exactly what they perform in real life, and all their mothers were in the audience as it was being filmed. They were not told in any way how to "act," but were simply doing their routine.

The only thing I agree with you about is that it is a truly horrifying sequence--horrifying because it is the most realistic part of the whole movie. And anyone horrified by it should take their anger out not on the filmmakers, but on the people who put on these pageants, which is exactly the point the filmmakers intended. In your zeal to attack "Hollywood," which isn't responsible for these child-porn pageants--that would be the mostly Red-state moms--or even for making this independent film, you just portray your own ignorance. My whole family saw this movie, and we laughed a lot. We also teared up, though not at the sequence or for the reason you make up. If some Freepers don't care to see this movie, that's fine, but if they make their decision based on your bogus review, that would be a shame.

[little jeremiah]

Sounds like a MA pingout. I'll try to get to it later.

[durasell]

....heroine kills grandpa





That's the way I want to go!

(i'm sorry, had to be said)

[little jeremiah]

In ARA's world, anyone with moral standards and principles obviously has a closed mind.

[irv]

That is the least that people can do who haven't seen the movie...

I haven't seen it and it doesn't sound interesting to me. I'm going to do the REAL "least people can do." I'm going to ignore it, just like I do with most of what comes out of Hollywood. You said it yourself: It's just a movie.

[ARA]

Sorry Mullah MHGinTN...

[litehaus]

"Bill Maher love scene in it."......No sheep were harmed in the making of this movie?

[durasell]

Sounds kinda dumb, like the Royal Tannenbaums (though that movie had something like heart).

[Melas]

Satire is just completely lost on you isn't it?

[bert]

.....but I do have a way to avoid throwing into the same sewer .......

With sincere advance apologies for the comparison but you have strengthened my argument and made Prince Bandar's point.....

"We want to modernize but not to westernize."

[JasonC]

No it is not one movie. It is a nonstop 24 hours all channels full bore commie sleezefest aimed straight at the kids, and it is long past time people went to jail for it.

Or we could just tax all motion picture profits 91%, like the left did when it was in charge.

[durasell]

"We want to modernize but not to westernize."




What an interesting thing to say. Deserves it's own thread.

[Doctor Raoul]

Hollywood mocks the beliefs, values and patriotism of half of America. They won't get a buck from me.

[Doctor Raoul]

WHat makes it REALLY reprehensible is that ther eis a Bill Maher love scene in it.

That would have to be Bill Mahr and a mirror...

[elmer fudd]

The only thing I agree with you about is that it is a truly horrifying sequence--horrifying because it is the most realistic part of the whole movie. And anyone horrified by it should take their anger out not on the filmmakers, but on the people who put on these pageants, which is exactly the point the filmmakers intended. In your zeal to attack "Hollywood," which isn't responsible for these child-porn pageants

Aside from seeing the occasional news story about Jon Benet Ramsey, I have absolutely no experience with child pageants, but I have to admit that I think the average 5 year old girl would absolutely love to dress up in a fancy costume, get up on stage and be the center of everyone's attention. I know my daughter would. I guess it's the sexualization of young children that make these things seem really creepy in comparison to something like a ballet recital. I also find it strange that this would be a part of them, (although it obviously is). I seriously doubt that many of the people involved with these pageants are pedophiles, so I'm a bit perplexed as to why they'd want to see 8 year olds acting like 18 year olds.