Dublin Solo:
Wow, I'm not the only one who seems to remember who Xanatos is!

I take it you don't go to TVTropes then? And have never heard of the Xanatos Gambit? It's named after him, for being such a magnificent evil mastermind

Movie Bob has gone off the deep end. Wrong about movies, wrong about politics, wrong about life. Good job internalizing the liberal narrative though Bob.

drisky:
I like that statement about how america has it ether be the most important good or evil, I doesn't matter which, just that were most important. Also I like the comparison to a "liberal rambo" makes me wish the movie took it self less seriously.

^^this

The review was all well and good, but that segment about America was was so true and so hilarious that I found myself watching it over and over, grinning to myself about how ridiculous it was. Because, pretty much, that's how it works. Yay us! XD

ObsessiveSketch:

drisky:
I like that statement about how america has it ether be the most important good or evil, I doesn't matter which, just that were most important. Also I like the comparison to a "liberal rambo" makes me wish the movie took it self less seriously.

^^this

The review was all well and good, but that segment about America was was so true and so hilarious that I found myself watching it over and over, grinning to myself about how ridiculous it was. Because, pretty much, that's how it works. Yay us! XD

When you're older you'll understand how the world works. For now you should start educating yourself because your worldview is seriously fucked.

What the bloody hell!?

You used to watch Gargoyles Movie Bob?

I am a little taken back.

Oh lord, flame wars inc.

Not because of the politics. You insulted the Bourne movies!

Also your dig at Hurt Locker humors me. How long until your write a long article on how Avatar was snubbed and Hollywood is a bunch of idiots and genre fiction gets overlooked and etc? Please forgo that article and just rant on how Bullock won for The Blind Side. THAT I would love.

Seriously, though, love your reviews. I trust your opinion more than any other movie critic, even when I disagree with you.

This movie got four stars by Ebert (so I assume it must be good) I probably wouldn't go see the movie on my own (it'd have to be my kind of movie) but if I went to see it with my dad or someone then I'd probably see it

Your discussion about America's arrogance just reminded me so much of why I want them to make SEVEN ANCIENT WONDERS (7 DEADLY WONDERS in the US...yeah, cos that what sells there), an action book by Australian author Matthew Reilly, into a crazy over-the-top action movie!

Movie Bob, If you havnt read any books by Matthew Reilly, I recommend '7 Deadly Wonders' because it is a book that puts a small team of 'good guys' which come from independent smaller countries (led by an Australian) in a race to find the golden capstone from the Pyramid of Giza against the 'bad guys' which is...the US and Europe (three-way struggle).

Its a full-on, over-the-top action book which reads like Indiana Jones on crack! That is, lots of big booby-trap-filled chambers, car chases and shooting scenes. I want them to make a big-budget movie from it but the problem is that only America has the resources for what I think would require a budget of up to $200 Million and America doesnt want to make a movie that shows the dark-side of being the only superpower left in the world.

MovieBob's right, America IS arrogant.

Chiefwakka:
""most countries werent built off slavery like the U.S""

Have you ever opened a history book before? European Imperialism was built on the back of the slave trade. Who do you think sold America the slaves? Hell even Wikipedia could tell you that one.

You're welcome to your opinion, luxury of being the strongest militarily means you don't have to care about sentiment. But ignorance spouted off to sound santimonious makes you look moronic.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to name an empire that wasn't built on the back of slavery.

Why is everyone making such a big deal aboot the Hurt Locker???? It was good...but its being blown way out of proportion. It shouldn't have won Best Picture.

I can't wait to see MB's look at the Medium Sea Green Zone 8 years after we go into Tehran in 2012. Meet you all here in 2020?

Soo... you reviewed Green Zone instead of The Crazies?

Every time I see Matt Damon doing an action role I feel like it's an attempt at parody. Sure, he can go through the movements but he never manages to be convincing. I didn't care much for the Bourne movies just because from start to end it never really felt like his opponents stood a chance. Especially the second movie... Supremacy is right, he pretty much just mops up his bland opponents and calls it a day. It's not The Fugitive exactly...

Daystar Clarion:

OWENR22:
Sorry to disappoint you Bob, but Baseball wasn't actually invented in America

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/7610016.stm

Ironically, the only sport invented by America, is basketball. Everything else is an adaptation.

You forgot about Ultimate Frisbee, the "ultimate game experience", which definitely was invented in America.

BOOYAH AMERICA WINS AGAIN!! /caps /sarcasm

Excellent review, MovieBob.

Allow me to let all you stinky foreigners ;) in on a little American secret: NOBODY thinks Saddam had nukes anymore. I'm placing bets it was an excuse by Bush and co. to bury ourselves in filth while we clean the Augean Stables of the new millennium for the next decade. Nobody's eyes have been opened. It was a brash move by an angry man in power against a dictator who'd tried it before. There's just no way Congress would have approved a military adventure under the proposition: "We want to fly half-way across the world to destroy--once and for all--an ideology that is almost mainstream with the civilian populace."

The only question I ask myself at night now is did Bush always know there were no nukes, or was it just wishful thinking?

As a storage device for little known (or in this case little acknowledged) facts, I take it upon myself to inform you that America didn't invent baseball. So you just get corn dogs and Jazz for now.

Ha.

Chiefwakka:
""most countries werent built off slavery like the U.S""

Have you ever opened a history book before?

[quote="Chiefwakka" post="6.180439.5300617"]""most countries werent built off slavery like the U.S""

Have you ever opened a history book before? European Imperialism was built on the back of the slave trade. Who do you think sold America the slaves? Hell even Wikipedia could tell you that one.

You're welcome to your opinion, luxury of being the strongest militarily means you don't have to care about sentiment. But ignorance spouted off to sound santimonious makes you look moronic.

Yeah I have actually. Imperialistic Countries did use slavery, but where have you read the bulk of enslaved countries throughout time have accepted slavery as a foundation of their culture? How about in the cradle of life 'Africa' before caucasions introduced there apartheid and slavery? China or Japan? Russia was well established before Stalins Gulag's...same with Germany. England occupied, not enslaved if I'm not mistaken. France...nothing that I remember (Didn't they reliquish Haiti as their colony?), though I don't know much pre Napolionic era. I can think of those that have (Egypt, and I think Rome and the Neitherlands)...I'll easily give you 3...but not most. You still going to tell me most countries were built off slavery like the U.S though?

Yeah, I almost forgot, Americans also love to pick one bloody irregularity in a footnote, and refute the rest of the message because they don't agree. Yeah, your country lied to invade and bomb a nation, destroying a built culture...but thats ok because Saddam nerve gased some Shittes and Kurds. So when did it stop being ok for Saddam to nerve gas Shiites from Iran with U.S brand gas? During and after Kuwait, correct? When Saddam stopped being the U.S's personal divide and conquorer in the middle east. They have Israel for that now don't they, or have you looked at the distance apart between West Bank and Gaza. Syria wont take the Refugee's, and Iraq is in political termoil...ipso facto; divide and conquor. between Palistien, Jordan and Egypt. Etc, etc.

These actions may fly for you, but I'm pretty bloody disgusted by it. Now what were you saying in your post again now that I have elaborated some more? It seem's to me that you sir are the one spouting off crap that you read from unknown sources. You know that users write that content on wikipedia, correct? You think its not American biased since its an American product used mainly by Americans in an overly patriotic nation?

Whatever man, fall back in line with the rest of your flock. This is why I warned not to reply.

Daystar Clarion:
You're wrong MovieBob! An all American movie is not complete unless the bad guy is British! Mwahahahah! Fear our superior linguistic skills as we cunningly act out our plans for world domination. Of course, by 'world', I just mean America.

Hahah, love the last line.

because it's true.

Pallindromemordnillap:

Dublin Solo:
Wow, I'm not the only one who seems to remember who Xanatos is!

I take it you don't go to TVTropes then? And have never heard of the Xanatos Gambit? It's named after him, for being such a magnificent evil mastermind

Ah damn, you're right. I will make sure I check this out BEFORE I post something like that in the future!

Samcanuck:

Chiefwakka:
""most countries werent built off slavery like the U.S""

Have you ever opened a history book before?

[quote="Chiefwakka" post="6.180439.5300617"]""most countries werent built off slavery like the U.S""

Have you ever opened a history book before? European Imperialism was built on the back of the slave trade. Who do you think sold America the slaves? Hell even Wikipedia could tell you that one.

You're welcome to your opinion, luxury of being the strongest militarily means you don't have to care about sentiment. But ignorance spouted off to sound santimonious makes you look moronic.

Yeah I have actually. Imperialistic Countries did use slavery, but where have you read the bulk of enslaved countries throughout time have accepted slavery as a foundation of their culture? How about in the cradle of life 'Africa' before caucasions introduced there apartheid and slavery? China or Japan? Russia was well established before Stalins Gulag's...same with Germany. England occupied, not enslaved if I'm not mistaken. France...nothing that I remember (Didn't they reliquish Haiti as their colony?), though I don't know much pre Napolionic era. I can think of those that have (Egypt, and I think Rome and the Neitherlands)...I'll easily give you 3...but not most. You still going to tell me most countries were built off slavery like the U.S though?

Yeah, I almost forgot, Americans also love to pick one bloody irregularity in a footnote, and refute the rest of the message because they don't agree. Yeah, your country lied to invade and bomb a nation, destroying a built culture...but thats ok because Saddam nerve gased some Shittes and Kurds. So when did it stop being ok for Saddam to nerve gas Shiites from Iran with U.S brand gas? During and after Kuwait, correct? When Saddam stopped being the U.S's personal divide and conquorer in the middle east. They have Israel for that now don't they, or have you looked at the distance apart between West Bank and Gaza. Syria wont take the Refugee's, and Iraq is in political termoil...ipso facto; divide and conquor. between Palistien, Jordan and Egypt. Etc, etc.

These actions may fly for you, but I'm pretty bloody disgusted by it. Now what were you saying in your post again now that I have elaborated some more? It seem's to me that you sir are the one spouting off crap that you read from unknown sources. You know that users write that content on wikipedia, correct? You think its not American biased since its an American product used mainly by Americans in an overly patriotic nation?

Whatever man, fall back in line with the rest of your flock. This is why I warned not to reply.

The Africans had their fair share of slavery even before we Europeans got there. Ever heard of Shaka? He was a Zulu king, a brutal usurper, dictator and conqueror. He "united" various tribes by simply taking them over with the massive armies he commanded.
Similar story in China with the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The whole country was united because he conquered it all. The people were made slaves, working all the while Huang was having his colossal grave mound built. We still haven't excavated the entire extent of that thing, the terracotta warriors were just one small part. It's like Egypt, which you bring up later, The people who built the temples and pyramids were all farmers, not slaves, who didn't have any other work to be doing until the yearly flood of the Nile. But they were treated like slaves, being pushed hard and getting little reward (a day's pay for a labouring Egyptian would be some onions and radishes)
In colonial times the term for what we did to land was occupy. What we did to the people was effectively slavery. Us Brits lording it over India for example, treating the locals as servants and underlings. And France didn't relinquish Haiti. The Haitians won it off them in a bloody revolution. Empires and colonies are always built off the backs of slavery. No exceptions

I shall quote TV Tropes for the reason for American movies having "America Save The Day:"

TV Tropes:

This trope describes any instance where, because the story was made for American audiences, the writers create a world-wide problem to be solved by Americans (and typically Americans alone). The reason for this is simple. The movies are made for Americans and most Americans want to see other Americans as the heroes, also, most of the available actors are American. Whether or not the problem actually starts in the USA doesn't matter. Americans always save the day when this trope is invoked.

This often happens because the US military ''pays'' films to do so. If you show them in a very positive light, they'll let you borrow top notch military planes, ships, and tanks to film, which would normally cost you millions to get access to. So long as you make sure that evil military general is French, and the army that stops him aren't, you go a long way towards making your film within your budget. Not that this is an uncommon practice or restricted to America.[\b]

Occasionally, even non-American productions will refer to this trope (although usually to subvert it), [b] but are also likely to have their own country save the day instead. Again because the audience will want to identify with the heroes and the actors available will be of that given nationality.

TLDR: every country wants theirs to save the world. It's patriotism and nationalism and helps with the audience to identify with the story/heroes.

All bold emphasis is mine.

matrix3509:

Daystar Clarion:

OWENR22:
Sorry to disappoint you Bob, but Baseball wasn't actually invented in America

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/7610016.stm

Ironically, the only sport invented by America, is basketball. Everything else is an adaptation.

You forgot about Ultimate Frisbee, the "ultimate game experience", which definitely was invented in America.

BOOYAH AMERICA WINS AGAIN!! /caps /sarcasm

Yeah but the Frisbee is based on the discus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discus_throw which was invented by the Greeks.

I know this is a movie review, but I had to speak up regarding politics.

Samcanuck:

Just reopens old wounds and reminds me you're going to do it again and again. Jeeze...name me three Americans that feel its the electorates fault for the last 4 years of Bush.

I can give you more than 3. When Kerry lost the Electoral vote but won the Popular vote, about half the country felt it was the electorate's fault. American Presidents are elected by the current Legislature, not voters. Voters tell their State representatives who to vote for. Each state has an ammount of sway in the College based on their population size. In other words, too many Texans disagreed with the numerous Californians.

There were countless calls for impeachment of Bush Jr. because of this, and Impeachment proposals even made it to the Senate floor. However, proponents of the bill were not numerous enough in the Legislature to do it. Plus, consider this: If Bush was impeached, Chaney would take his place. You know, the same guy that blasted his 'buddy' on a duck hunt and then said it was his buddy's fault for getting in his way.

*Edit: Snip. Defending the Electoral College is too involved for this forum.

Dont' bother repling to this post because you have your panties in a bunch either. I'll either think of you as some yuppie yank prick too lazy to try to change your gov't in a (gasp) democracy, some too-little too-late meet me half way person, or a person who would rather forget about the information and fall in line

Just because I AM replying...
You don't have the right to call us lazy or complacent just because we had 8 yrs of Bush.
We've fought a Civil War over being a group of Confederate States Vs being a Federal Union, and the number of causualties easily outnumbers any other war the U.S. was involved in. We've killed too many of each other in the name of politics, and that's just ONE of our military conflicts. I might accept arrogant or ignorant, but not lazy or complacent. Too bad Obama isn't good enough for you, but hard political shifts like what you're wanting won't happen in one election cycle. Peacefully, anyways.

One thing I hate more than a movie that screams patriotism, is a movie that pretends to be insightful but ultimately screams patriotism even more.

How do you think wars are fought? A government without patriotism is like a human without blood. If its anarchy that you want, can I interest you in some Crime Dramas instead of War movies?

Ugh, now to spout the same comment I always do after MovieBob Reviews: I'm still gonna see it but not 'til it hits my local cheap theater. I'm looking forward to it slightly less. Good review.

Crunchy English:
Oh well, its not like we can be too cocky up here in Canada, I mean I've been watching televised CURLING all week. That'll rot your brain in a hurry.

Same here. I know waaay too much about rocks and hammers and weights now. Oh well, now to avoid the sport until 4 years from now. Hopefully the Swedish gals don't take it from our Canuck gals then as well.

Hmmm Dissapointing :( this movie looked interesting, though i was listening to some guy on BBC Radio 1 this morning reviewing it and when he described the plot.. i could guess sort of what kind of message this movie would put across, although he gave it 5/5 but what does he know.

Great review Bob cutting through all the crap showing this movie is average at best i wont waste my money :).

PS: I love the Bourne Movies :| would never get sick of them... apart from the cloverfield camera style shot fight scenes.

CD-R:

Yeah but the Frisbee is based on the discus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discus_throw which was invented by the Greeks.

Okay, this may be me just being anal, but the discus throw is a completely different game. One is in the Olympics and one isn't. You cant get much different than that. /anal

JWAN:

Nazrel:

internetzealot1:
I'll just leave this here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/

Here's the importunate part:

Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.

The really interesting part is that the CIA worked with Germany, France, and England for information concerning WMD's in Iraq before the 2003 invasion. They all stated, officially, that Saddam probably still had WMD's in his possession. The U.N was suspicious after Saddam kicked out the weapons inspectors and we found vehicles used for transporting chemical agents burned out with incendiary devices (probably with thermite) and half buried in sand dunes in within a few kilometers of SCUD missile platforms, with SCUD missles that had hollow cavities used for holding chemical agents.
It turns out the SCUD missiles themselves had a greater range than what the UN sanctioned them for making them fall into the WMD category even without having NBC agents. So did we find WMD's? Yes. Were they nuclear/chemical/biological? No. But the components were there.
We really wont ever know because whatever we found had been burned out.

Anyone here ever play with Legos? you know how all the pieces come in little bags and all you need is a little bit of time and determination to take those pieces, and put them together?

WMD = Weapon of Mass Destruction

Having missiles who's range exceeds the 150Km range limit, a sanction levied only on Iraq in U.N. resolution 687, does in no way count as Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Building a nuke is nothing close to Lego.It requires facilities, processing, know how that they lacked. Yellow cake by itself couldn't even be used to make a dirty bomb let alone a actual nuke.

Even back in the day, their nuke program was nowhere close to producing anything, regardless of what Saddam thought. The scientists weren't getting the results as quickly as Saddam wanted so they started falsifying their reports.

They were so happy when the facilities finally got blown up, they were off the hook.

Just watched the movie yesterday, and I have to agree with MovieBob on most of these points, except for Syriana being better than anything since that was one of the worst movies I've seen. But what else could you expect from Soderbergh, the man behind such attrocities as Michael Clayton and The Informant!

Anyways, I digress. The one point that disturbed me most about this movie was the cinematography. Here is the anatomy of a typical action scene. Each item in the list lasts between 0 - 3 seconds, no more.

- Close up of Matt Damon's face
- Cut to close-up of gun
- Cut to long shot of enemies running around in dark
- Cut to flashes of light, with gunfire noises
- Cut to people running with shaky camera effects
- Cut to people on roofs shooting
- Repeat until scene is done, sometimes varying which scenes include shaky cameras, and the sequence of the scenes. Also, change the perspective randomly to mess with the mis-en-scene so people are as confused as possible.

Good one bob, i especially liked the arrogant american thing
although being british, i can be arrogant as well about being part of the greatest nation on earth ;)

Raregolddragon:
What the bloody hell!?

You used to watch Gargoyles Movie Bob?

I am a little taken back.

You're surprised that a nerd of his age group watched Gargoyles? I've got something else that will blow your mind: upper-middle class white kids love gangsta rap.

chenry:
Green Zone: Bad
The Hurt Locker: Overrated
The Kingdom: Good
Bourne: Boring

OH I GET IT, IT'S OPPOSITE DAY.

I agree. I also like the Bourne films and was a little let down with "The Kingdom." My gf wants to go see this movie and she never watches anything, so I'm gonna see it either way. Bob sounds like he has a political hair up his ass about something. I really don't care how the story is framed. I loved 80's movies for chrissakes, and still watch them- much to the exclusion of modern high falutin bullshit.

As an example- I'll gladly take the oldskool forumla: teens, drinking drugs and random larger-than-life slasher than any modern, up-it's-own ass, "Psychological thriller."

Movies are just meant to be fun. I was happy with Zombieland because it absolutely was an 80's movie in spirit. He made the connection to Rambo but then just said he's not fun to watch and the action scenes are meh without expounding on that. From the clips they look interesting enough.

I think movies like this will become more appreciated with time when the frame and political context becomes less of a big deal. I stopped giving a shit about anything outside of my bubble years ago, because nothing ever changes anyway.