The Totalitarian Prime Directive is simple: Permit no escape. After all, the evidence is copious that oppressed and subjugated people will flee if they can. Therefore, the totalitarian must block all escape routes, station men with guns at each of them, and shoot those who attempt to breach them as an example to others. …
Category: cinema
Aug 29 2023
Upsetting, Terrifying, And Vital
You can approach a movie many ways. Directors view it as a kind of statement. Cinematographers and set designers view it as a kind of visual art. Actors view it as a demonstration of their skills. And producers – mustn’t forget them! – view it as a kind of muscle-flexing: “See what I can …
Aug 27 2023
Massive Concurrence
Every now and then, an artist in some medium will come along to remind us about what really matters. Today, AoSHQ co-blogger “The James Madison” highlights one such artist: Listening to [Australian film director Peter] Weir in interviews, I find it hard not to really like the guy. He’s soft-spoken, unassuming, and very …
Jul 14 2023
Sabotage Of A Movie
You wouldn’t think anyone would find it desirable. You’d doubt that a movie, even one based on a true story about a heinous crime, could threaten the powers that be. And perhaps, under the circumstances Americans of a few decades ago enjoyed, you would have been correct. But not today. The Sound of …
Jul 09 2023
More SOF News
This is greatly disturbing: The comments to the video, and the tweets sent in response to it, strongly suggest that this is a national pattern undertaken to suppress viewership of The Sound Of Freedom. I find that more than plausible: The theaters’ great challenge since the COVID-19 pandemic has been getting people back …
Jul 09 2023
The Assaults Continue
The Left simply cannot allow Americans any genuine heroes. The ongoing campaign against Jim Caviezel and The Sound of Freedom is a demonstration: Bramesco’s review of the movie is what we used to term “pissing on it from a great height.” He actually goes so far as to deny that child-trafficking operations exist. …
Jul 08 2023
Perspicacity Is Encouraged
I’ve often speculated that the loneliest people in America must include actors who are openly Catholic and openly conservative. Add to that the utter brass of starring in The Passion of the Christ as Jesus of Nazareth Himself, and you have the almost unique lot of Jim Caviezel: To prepare for this role, …
Sep 25 2022
Against The Anti Brigades
The following video is a snippet from a 1977 BBC interview of Sylvester Stallone about why he wrote Rocky. It’s both surprising and, to those who doubted his intellect, revealing: Stallone’s diagnosis of the cultural trends is dead on – and even more important for our time. Americans wanted entertainment that would resonate …
Jan 24 2022
WTF Department
Sometimes, there are no words: Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Mimi Cave’s “Fresh” is a movie about cannibalism. Yes, cannibalism, the eating of people. Yes, Disney. It’s not a parody or a satire like “Get Out.” It’s a straight up horror film about a charming doctor, played by Sebastian Stan, who seduces …