Conservative take on movies: Gran Torino v Milk

Andrew Breitbart in the Washington Times:

Milk: small businessman goes into politics, does a more effective job and takes a principled stand against firing people for actions unrelated to their job performance. Isn't this precisely the sort of discrimination the GOP shrieked about for the last 15 years?

Gran Torino: Clint baits bad guys into excessive violence so he himself can be non-violent and let police safely handle it. ie. an eye for an eye means the whole world goes blind. The ends don't justify any means. This is more Ghandi than Dirty Harry. What part of it is “conservative”? Surely not the racial slurs Eastwood's character made earlier on.

 

I think reading anything into the decisions of the Motion Picture Academy is a stretch.

 

Why on earth do people care about entertainment industry awards? Hollywood types are flakes. Is there any group of people with a less credible opinions? They love Sean Penn for some weird reason. They loath Clint Eastwood for some weird reason. Hollywood's take on these actors has nothing to do with the entertainment value of their films. I refuse to read more deeply into the issue than that.

 

^What my friend Joe said.

I like Penn better as Spiccoli.

 

There's nothing new under the sun in Follywood. Conservative movies get snubbed. Conservative actors get passed over for work. It has nothing to do with the quality of the script of final product.

Also, as Acree has stated, then trying to figure out who wins is another joke in and of itself. In the end, nothing that comes from there is supposed to be more than just mindless entertainment anyway. I am sure Eastwood would like to be nominated or win something, but I am also sure that he's more content with selling out at the box office more than winning a gold plated naked man trophy.

 

I have to admit I don't know which actors are conservative or not. Can you name five good ones so I can decide if your statement that they don't get work has any credibility?

You're right, movies like Schindler's List or Hotel Rwanda would never make one think about serious topics.

Again, do you have anything to back that up? I have yet to hear an actor say they don't care about getting an Oscar.

 

Not Republican neccessarily, but judged by the website I googled to be conservative to libertaran in their political views. I have not checked for accuracy nor passed judgement on the quality of their work.

Charlton Heston
James Woods
James Reynolds
Bruce Willis
Bo Derek
Clint Eastwood (should be Clint...lol)
Patricia Heaton
Rick Schroeder
Ann-Margaret
Emma Caulfield
Pat Sajak
Arnold Scwarzenegger
Lisa Kennedy
Tom Selleck
Jesse Ventura
Shannen Doherty
R. Lee Ermey
Kim Serafin
James Earl Jones
Cheryl Ladd
John Malkovich
Heather Locklear
Drew Carey
Kurt Russel
Barret Swatek
Tracy Scoggins
Edward Hermann
John Larroqutte
Denis Leary
David Ruprecht
Aaron Russo
Chuck Norris
Gerald McRaney
Fred Thompson
Kelsy Grammer
John Gavin
Delta Burke
Tony Danza
Robert Klein
Johnny Grant
Richard Lee Jackson
Johnathan Jackson
Fred Grandy
Connie Stevens
Dixie Carter
Jimmie "JJ" Walker
Dale Dye
Jim Nantz
Bob Gale
Adam Sandler
Micheal Moriarty
Robert Duvall
Glenn Ford
Danny Aiello
Gary Sinise
Jerry Doyle
Denzel Washington

 

If I removed from that list those who actually have no problem getting work, those who are too old to work, those who have a reputation for being impossible to work with (e.g. Shannon Doherty), and those who have made tens of millions of dollars, there are very few people left on that list...

 

I wish he would stay out of politics but Penn was fantastic in that movie. When he is on he is truly a great actor. Ironically his best previous performance (IMO) was in Clint Eastwood's film, Mystic River.

Still, I feel robbed. I had such high hopes for Mickey's acceptance speech.

 

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I agree he is a fantastic actor.

I don't care about his political activism, I have never paid attention. The only time I watch those people outside the movies is the Tonight Show.

 

A good actor gets work and is paid well. Hell, even bad actors get work and are grossly overpaid. Awards are another topic entirely. There is no rhyme or reason to determine how the academy is going to vote. Spielberg made a lot of great (or at least hugely popular) movies before he won an Oscar. Clint has at least two wins for directing.

 

"Slumdog Millionaire" is actually a good movie dispite winning awards. That's not very common in my experience. I'm not sure what criteria the Hollywood types use to judge movies but it's very rare that it agrees with what I consider entertaining.

 

No argument here. I was questioning the claim that conservative actors get passed over for work. If he was saying they get passed over for awards, I would think it's not necessarily an unreasonable claim.

 

I wouldn't argue that, except that there have been some notable liberal leaning actors and directors that got passed over for years, Spielberg for instance.

I'm beginning to think they sit down and think, "The public expects "A", therefore we will vote for anything but "A"."

 

Penn wrote some mindless drivel on HuffPo about his meeting with Chavez. He is about as bad at journalism as Fred Thompson is at politics.

I don't mind celebrities using their fame to help a political or charitable cause. My only complaint is when they start ad libbing w/o a script.

 

I don't mind them expressing their view so much as I hate when objective journalists seek them out.

 

People are under the assumption that sticking a camera in someone's face or a mic in their hand makes them somehow better informed and more intelligent than the ignorant masses.

This holds true for the public's regard of entertainers and politicians. Why do you think millions are glued to their tv to watch a "celebrity" dance or go shopping or just walk around on these idiot shows. They assume that because a person is on camera they must be worth watching. It's sad it what it is.

 

Ben Stein has been passed over for both roles and awards. That guy is awesome.

Anything Sean Penn can do he can do better.

 

<cue Ben Stein Voice>Dude, I'm so wasted.<end Ben Stein Voice>