Tag: Clint Eastwood

“American Sniper”: Why America Is Supporting It

On By kingsjesterIn Entertainment, PoliticsLeave a comment

American Sniper“American Sniper”, the movie about American Hero, Chris Kyle, continues to play to sold-out crowds at movie theaters across America.

According to deadline.com,

With Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s American Sniper shooting down more box office records this weekend with an updated industry projection of $61.2M, another star-studded bomb went off at the B.O. following last weekend’s Blackhat debacle: Johnny Depp’s $60M R-rated comedy Mortdecai flatlined with an estimated $1.6M on Friday at 2,648 theaters, on track for a horrendous $4.6M weekend in eighth place – far below the $10-$12M that distributor Lionsgate was expecting for the OddLot co-production. Among Depp’s wide releases, that bow is lower than his 2011 Hunter S. Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary, which posted $5.1M and was also overpriced ($45M) in relation to its final domestic cume ($13M). It’s Depp’s fourth flop domestically after Alcon/WB’s Transcendence ($100M budget, $23M domestic B.O.), The Lone Ranger ($215M budget, $89M domestic) and Rum Diary (This is outside his ensemble work in Disney’s Into the Woods which is looking to take tenth this weekend with a projected cume through Sunday of $121.29M).

In fact…

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper is proving both a big draw and talking point in Iraq and across the Arab world, where the film opened wide yesterday. In Iraq, where much of Chris Kyle’s story takes place, the film has reflected the bitter political divisions in the country. In capital city, Baghdad, the management of Iraqi Cinemas, which operates a four screen theatre there, pulled the film ahead of its scheduled bow Jan. 22 for fear of inciting protests and violence.  In the semi-autonomous north of the country in the Kurdish cities of Irbil, Suleimaniya and Dohuk, however, American Sniper has opened strongly, second only to Liam Neeson-starrer Taken 3.  To give  a sense of the complexity of politics in the country, Iraqi Cinemas actually operates the three screen theatre in Dohuk and had no problem releasing the film there, despite its own self-imposed Baghdad ban.

“The Kurds don’t like the Baghdadis that much so they have no big problem seeing them getting shot by an American,” said one film exec who operates theaters in Iraq. “So far, the film is working well for our screens in Kurdistan.”

In Lebanon, American Sniper opened uncut and at number one with over 3100 tickets sold on its first day alone, comfortably ahead of Taken 3 and local Lebanese hit Single, Married, Divorced.  

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, recently posted the following on Facebook:

God bless our troops, especially our snipers.

Hollywood leftists: while caressing shiny plastic trophies you exchange among one another while spitting on the graves of freedom fighters who allow you to do what you do, just realize the rest of America knows you’re not fit to shine Chris Kyle’s combat boots.

May the epic “American Sniper” bring nothing but blessings to Taya and the children of this true American hero.

Thank you Bradley Cooper and Clint Eastwood for respecting the United States Military.

– Sarah Palin

There are several reasons for the popularity of “American Sniper”.

First, there is a reason that Hollywood has having more misses than hits, in the last several years.

The Liberals who run “Hollyweird” are totally disconnected from the average American’s belief system of ethics, values, and faith.

In other words, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”.

All of the great movies and television shows my generation watched while we were growing up, reinforced those values.

One of the movies expected to be a blockbuster a while back, “The Lone Ranger”, cast Johnny Depp as Tonto, and rewrote the legend to center around him, instead of the title character.

The audience simply did not buy Captain Jack Sparrow as Tonto.

When Americans envision the crime fighting duo of the Old West, Americans see Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. Two outstanding gentlemen, both on and off the television screen.

We knew that the Lone Ranger and Tonto would beat the snot out of the bad guys, and rescue the rancher’s daughter. We knew that James Bond would defeat SPECTRE and get the beautiful Bond Girl.

We smiled in admiration when we heard that Superman fought for “truth, justice, and the American Way”. We threw our rubber tomahawks at the trees in our front yards, just like “Daniel Boone”. We knew that John Wayne would rescue Dean Martin in “Rio Bravo”.

And, all the guys in the 1970s wanted a red Gran Torino with a white stripe down the side, like “Starsky and Hutch” drove.

Even though they “underperformed”, you want to know why  Americans go to see movies like “American Sniper”, the Captain America Movies, the Spider-Man Movies, the X-Men Movies, and  “Guardians of the Galaxy”?

They are throwbacks. They are entertaining. They are not dirty or vulgar. There is plenty of action with a great story line wrapped around it, and GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL.

We go to movies to be entertained, not to be lectured to by a bunch of snotty-nosed, America-hating, relative morality, situational ethics-loving Liberals.

Also, Americans have to deal with enough ugliness trying to survive under the harsh reality of America under Obama.

American Sniper shows very plainly that we can triumph against Radical Islam, the Political Ideology masquerading as a Religion, which Obama dares not call out by name.

Heck, as the article explained, “American Sniper” is even doing well in Islamic Nations.

Why? As President Ronald Reagan realized, all those decades ago, the followers of Mohammed respect strength, not weakness.

So, why are Americans flocking to see this movie in record numbers?

Americans are living vicariously through the late American Hero Chris Kyle.

Americans respect his legacy of heroism. That is why, when Former Professional Wrestler, and lunatic Jesse “The Body” Ventura sued Chris’ widow, Americans wanted to string him up in the middle of the Town Square.

As I have written several times, America is still a Majority Conservative Nation.

Look at an Electoral Map. America is a Sea of Red, with little Blue Enclaves, up in the Northeast and on the Left Coast.

Finally, the last reason that “American Sniper” is blowing the doors off at the Box Office, is the fact that average Americans are being forced to cut back on their Entertainment Budget.

Americans have to pick and choose very carefully the movies they go to, simply due to the high price of tickets, refreshments, and gasoline and Obama’s stagnant economy.

There is a reason that Redbox is so popular.

Americans can choose to view the movies they like to watch.

A while back, my bride and I made the mistake of renting “Noah”. Thank the Lord, we only paid $1.28 for it. Even at $1.28, it was still over-priced. But, I digress…

Hollywood needs to pay attention to which movies the American public is watching at home…and make more just like them.

Average Americans are more perceptive than Liberals think we are.

Until the Liberals in Hollywood (and New York City and Washington, DC) realize that, they will continue to fail.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Dickensian President…Barack Hussein Obama

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

At dear old Wooddale High School, in Memphis, TN, in 1976, I had my first speaking part in a theatrical production, as one of the night watchmen in Charles Dicken’s epic tale of redemption, “A Christmas Carol” (1843).

Little did I know, at the time, that I would perform in 9 Dinner Theaters as I got older, singing and dancing, and acting the part of comic relief in the productions (who woulda thunk it?).

But, I digress…

In a classic scene, two men approach the miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge in an attempt to solicit funds for the impoverished of London:

…“a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”

“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.

“You wish to be anonymous?”

“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.”

“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides — excuse me — I don’t know that.”

“But you might know it,” observed the gentleman.

“It’s not my business,” Scrooge returned. “It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!”

Little did Charles Dickens know that, almost 200 years later, the United States of America would have a President as callous toward the murder of an Ambassador he chose, as Scrooge was toward the suffering of the poor.

The Wall Street Journal has the story:

Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama on Monday of downplaying recent foreign crises as he seeks to gain an edge on foreign policy – a relative area of strength for the president.

President Barack Obama was assessing his support for the governments that have sprung up in the wake of the Arab Spring when he argued in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday that “I was pretty certain and continue to be pretty certain that there are going to be bumps in the road.”

“Bumps in the road?” Mr. Romney said Monday as he sized up Mr. Obama’s interview performance and rattled off examples of tumult abroad. “We had an ambassador assassinated…twenty thousand people have been killed in Syria. We have tumult in Pakistan and of course Iran is that much closer to having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. These are not bumps in the road, these are human lives.”

While Mr. Romney has been a regular critic of Mr. Obama’s foreign policies, that’s rarely been truer than in the last few weeks. Amid uprisings in the Middle East that led to the death of an American ambassador, Mr. Romney’s team blasted out a statement that caused a blowback even from conservatives who saw it as inappropriately timed.

Mr. Romney’s team has embraced his sharp tone as a winning strategy to help them contrast with Mr. Obama. Some 45% of registered voters said Mr. Obama would be a better commander in chief, compared with 38% who said Mr. Romney would, in a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

But there are signs that Middle East turmoil has eaten into Mr. Obama’s credibility on the issue. In the recent poll, 49% of voters said they approved of the president’s handling of foreign policy, a five point drop from August.

“This is time for a president who will shape events in the Middle East, not just be…at the mercy of the events of the Middle East,” Mr. Romney said Monday at his rally on a tarmac here in Pueblo.

The Obama campaign said Mr. Romney was taking the president’s words out of context. Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, said: “He’s purposely misinterpreting the president’s words and making reckless statements about the death of four Americans in Libya, apparently for the sole purpose of his own political gain. Using this incident to launch political attacks should be beneath someone seeking to be our nation’s Commander-in-Chief.”

The Democrats also noted that Mr. Obama was referring to the climate in the Middle East more broadly and not specifically addressing recent events in Libya or Benghazi.

“There will probably be some times where we bump up against some of these countries and have strong disagreements, but I do think that over the long term we are more likely to get a Middle East and North Africa that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more aligned with our interests,” Mr. Obama said in the interview.

At the end of “A Christmas Carol”, Dickens wrote the following,

…He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

Unfortunately I don’t see the same sort of 180 degree turn-around in Obama’s future.

So, I guess I’ll settle for his firing on November 6th, instead.

As Clint Eastwood said, 

If someone’s not doing their job…we’ve got to let them go.