Another Troop-Bashing Hollywood Film?
by Big Hollywood
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Here’s the description of the Danish film “Brothers” is based on:
On his way to report for a peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, Danish Army officer Michael stops to pick up his brother Jannik, who is getting out of jail that day. In Afghanistan, Michael’s helicopter crashes and he is presumed dead. Jannik and Michael’s wife Sarah discover that they don’t hate each other as much as they had thought, and Jannik decides to reform and make himself useful around Sarah’s house. Then Michael comes home with a full-blown case of post-traumatic stress disorder because of what he had to do to survive in captivity. Write your own ending and draw your own moral conclusions, if any.
From What Would Toto Watch:
Movie cliches don’t have to be old to be moldy.
Lately, we’ve seen more than a few films featuring U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan who can’t handle re-entry into society – or simply go ballistic soon thereafter.
Think “Home of the Brave,” “Stop Loss” and “The Lucky Ones” for the latest examples.
Will “Brothers” serve up the same ol’ story?
More from WWTW here.
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53 Comments
Yup more of the same, America's heros are all trash, losers, murderers, drug abusers, ex-convicts and scum. This like all ther other trash movies will tank and the producers and directors will be left with no clue why. It's to bad Hollywood has lost their way concerning America and the people who pay the bills. We can see the massive liberal slant and we don't go to movies that trash us and our values.
I am Ex-Army AND Navy and a proud American. Three things Liberal Hollywood hate and spit on.
Too true! We salute you and your service here…thank you!
WTF?
Is this Toby McQuires attempt to shed his goody two shoes image from Spiderman? This reminds me of a Lifetime movie with the war theme thrown in.
I love how in the headline you condemn it as a Hollywood picture, and then blithely divulge in the lede that it's Dutch.
Holland. Los Angeles. Two different places. Check it out.
Oops. My mistake. Never mind. Hollywood film, based on Dutch film, now I see. We can agree that it won't make a dime, how's that?
If this movie gets a release here it'll tank just like all the other left-wing piles of cinematic excrement….
Lars Van Trier rip-off?
I think I'll pass on this one thanks. Why not just re-name it "Epic Fail" because that's what it will do at the box office!
i've seen the original Danish film, and it is actually excellent, not political at all. That said, the American version will most likely be awful.
Let me clarify, the american version will be awful b/c they wont be able to make this film without pushing some sort of leftist philosophy into it.
Okay, that's settles it. If that's the ending, I'm buying my tickets right now.
Looks boring
Want to know why movies like this did not come out after world war 2? It was because most actors at that time served in world war 2. There is little chance they would portray themselves or their friends in such negative stereotypes. Now all it takes is spending a weekend with Dale Dye and every hollywood star thinks they are the baddest man in the valley. Jake Gyllenhal did Jarhead not out of some desire to show the life of a Marine but to cleanse himself and his screen image of all traces of homosexuality after playing a queer cowboy.
I read it on Wikipedia so it's gotta be 100% true.
That looks so bad that it's hilarious.
Maybe, but I don't think so… there doesn't seem to be enough wiener mutilation.
I just saw this trailer in front of "Public Enemies." It was a full house and the audience was IN LOVE with the first half of the story… You know, Screw-Up Brother steps up to help family of Dead Brother, falls in love w/Sister-In-law. The audience was teary, expecting a touching story of love and redemption…
Then, the "dead brother" shows up, a "psycho vet," of course. I could feel the "money" draining from the theater. Nice job, Jim Sheridan, you Irish screw-up. Another loser for your imdb.
This is unbelievable. We are in the middle of a recession – in Oregon, nearly 1/5 of the population is jobless. That's how bad things are. And a business – which cannot survive unless it makes films that the audience wants – deliberately makes films that the audiences loathe. This isn't just unbelievable – this is lunacy.
How do you get a job in Hollywood? You answer 'yes' to the question 'do you like to destroy your job and every one of those around you?'????
I have been waiting for a long time for a movie with these two guys to be brothers, because they're both the real deal when it comes to acting. What a disappointment.
Holland (the Dutch) and Denmark (the Danish). Two different places. Two different nations. Check it out.
I've seen the original DANISH movie which was OK and the stars looked like men. I'll give this a miss mainly because the trailer told me exactly what it would be like and why waste the time. Anyway, I can't stand Macquire and Gyllenhaal who are not stars but two of the long list of movie wimps who have turned me off Hollywood movies.
Here are my predictions of things that will be included in the final American release of this fine cliche Hollywood flick:
1) First, we have the up-front question about Toby's GI character, and how he found himself in the uniform of one of the branches of America's armed services? Was Toby an eager, gun-loving, blood-thirsty, wanna-kill-me-some-ragheads recruit who stormed into the recruiter's office while in a drunken stupor, and the unethical recruiting staff signed him up before he sobered up? Or, was he backed into his military stint because he was too stupid to land a real job? (Maybe Pres. Bush's economic policy caused this guy's green-engine manufacturing plant to shut down and ship all their jobs overseas.) Or, maybe, Toby is just a good family man, who signed on as a weekend-warrior, never dreaming that he would be called into service, until some illegitimate president, who stole the election, illegally declared war?
Either way, Toby's character find himself in harms way, as either a monster or a dupe.
2) Now, let's discuss the circumstances that surround him being kidnapped. There absolutely MUST be some scandal around the original orders that got him kidnapped in the first place. More than likely, it will be some war-mongering higher-up… maybe a sergeant who just loves killing innocent people or livestock for sport, or maybe it'll be some soul-less officer who is trying to cover his backside (maybe he was having an affair with an underaged local girl). Whoever it was, he (yes, "he", never a "she") cruelly considers all his military troops just so many pins in a map. This higher-up orders Toby to do something HORRIBLE, terrible and villainous.
3) Once in captivity… let's see, his captors are portrayed as noble civilian warriors, protecting their homeland from the invading American hordes. They love their families, and tuck in their kids at night, and kiss their wives gently on the forehead, while spending many late night hours taking meals to the poor locals who have been displaced by the mean American carpet-bombings.
4) I'll also place a pretty confident bet on the presence of the obligatory, token Christian character. This character's role will be completely unnecessary to the storyline. The always-popular stereotype Christian character will be one of Toby's mates. Maybe this Christian character will be right beside him in battle. We will have seen this Christian character reading his Bible at some point earlier in the movie, or saying his prayers, or reciting some scripture like a cult-member, probably with a faraway stare. Then, in the heat of battle, the token Christian character will either wet himself in an embarrassing display of fright, or he will become the most crazed lunatic, shouting vulgarities at his human targets while mercilessly mowing down children and mothers and a few old people… maybe even a kid in a wheelchair, for good measure.
I will be interested in seeing how it all unfolds. But, rest assured, I ain't paying money for this flick.
Ciao, for now.
Eagerly awaiting the New Hollywood.
Hey Hollywood, is it too much to ask for one – JUST ONE – movie about the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in which the vets aren't crazed PTSD victims? How about one in which the returned veterans are actually proud of the service and would return to the colors again if asked? Too much to ask for? Okay then, how about one where they just don't trash their own country and the military and return to live normal lives among their fellow citizens?
SPOILER ALERT:
At the end of this movie, Jake Gyllenhaal's character goes back in time to make sure a jet engine falls on him to keep Tobey Maguire's character from being bitten by a genetically modified spider and moves to New York. Because Natalie Portman's character never meets Spider-Tobey in NYC, Natalie gets married to the much older French guy that lives in the apartment across the hall, and it's revealed that Jake died wearing Heath Ledger's flannel shirt… all in a montage set to a dirge-like emo cover version of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood sung by American Idol's Adam Lambert.
HA HA HA!!!
What a hoot! Hollywood produces… what?… six or seven consecutive absolute box office failures on the Iraq war… all of them with negative, depressing, dark-dark-dark portrayals of our awesome men and women in uniform (or at least, ugly portrayals of the brass). NO ONE in America, outside of the Sundance Film Festival watches the blasted movies.
So, how does Hollywood respond?
"Oh, those rubes in fly-over country are just touchy about Iraq-based storylines. This movie is different. It's more real. It's about the AFGHANISTAN storyline."
Ha, ha, ha!!! What a pathetic claptrap of heartless, soulless, gutless mannequins. They simply canNOT think an independent thought. To put out a positive movie about our armed forces would cause them to spontaneously combust.
The real question: Will I ever stop being surprised and disappointed when I see YET ANOTHER stupid movie like this?
Of course, the first thing I'm going to do (after finishing off this post) is to Google these three bigshot movie stars (Jake, Tobey, and that funky princess chick from the later Star Wars movies)… and see if they are among the blabbering anti-Bush celebs. I'll bet 90% of my baseball cards that they are… that they have gone on public record decrying Bush as the worst, dumbest, most evil incarnation of Hitler-esque proclivities since… well, Hitler.
Eagerly awaiting for the New Hollywood.
(Thx to BigHollywood for the heads up on this flick. "Another crazy GI." Got it.)
Yet another film that will die a well deserved unwatched death. As an Iraq Vet I often wonder why Hollywood, a town known for chasing a buck, doesn't see the real way to make money off the War on Terror. Maybe its too simple. Make a movie where Americans are the Good Guys. That's it. That''s the secret. Lone Survivor, Thunder Run, etc. are real life accounts of American heroism and would make great movies that, amazingly enough, the movie going public would come out in droves to see. Throw this in the boneyard with Rendition, Redacted, Valley of Elah, and the rest of the anti-war crap that we, the movie watching public, keep telling the studios that we don't want.
The truth is Veterans (and current military members) of any war have a much lower crime rate than the average per population even when age or combat experience is factored in. So the truth is while some members of the military or veterans do fly off the handle it is much less likely that they do than your next door neighbor who never served. I'd trust any random sampling of vets more than any random guy on the street. Yes war can leave it's marks but it results in a slightly higher suicide and divorce rate, while crime rate is still much lower.
Hollywood is looking like the big city newspapers that are going out of business. They produce a unwanted product.
Priceless
Mark,
1. Thanks for your service.
2. Yup, as soon as I saw Jake Gyllenhaal I knew this was going to be a turd, unsurprisingly it just went downhill from there.
Now if Hollywood was interested in actually doing something worthwile they might have reversed the roles of the Brothers, but that would go against the grain and we couldn't have that could we?
One of the songs in the soundtrack could be Mary MacGregor's classic "Torn Between Two Lovers" but with lyrics changed to "Torn Between Two Brothers". And by "torn" I mean bored.
EXACTLY Coyote 12 , Well stated. I can't figure out Dale Dye , that he would lend his services to film makers who salivate at denigrating those that have and do put their lives on the line for this Country. Guess ya gotta make a buck.
As for the majority of Hollyweird it's nothing but envy of those with real fortitude and character, they are too wussy to walk the walk.
Tragically the media is giving more air time to a suspected deserter than they ever gave to the ones who fell fighting for us.
Well, technically, Holland is a region in the Netherlands, not an actual nation, although the name "Holland" is often used to refer to the Netherlands.
Wether it's utter crap, or a less painful experience, I'll let it's box office tell me if it's well recieved. I'm not hopeful, as the track record of military bashing is pretty clear.
The only film to judge it by, is The Best Years of Our Lives.
http://www.fandango.com/thebestyearsofourlives_v4...
They showed us the trama, and the haunted memories, but did it with all the heroism, the integrity and basic decency of the men involved left intact. They showed us our fathers, brothers, sons as they should have been shown, with grace and dignity.
Funny… I suppose Hollywood could actually produce a piece like this ("Brothers"). And, I further suppose it's possible that they may not be making a direct swipe at any political position.
But, still… What is the bottom-line of the movie? A guy in the military goes nuts!?
In light of all the other stuff out there, real or fiction… do we really need another "military guy goes nuts" storyline? Do we?
I wonder… at the height of the Civil Rights fights… when Hollywood was trying to cast off the stereotypes of blacks… when most black characters were jive-talkers, or pimps, or drug addicts, or dumb drawling southerners in bib-overalls and barefeet… didn't someone finally say, enough?
The movie director may say: "But, we don't mean anything by that black character being a inner-city looter."
The civil rights activist responds: "That's not the point. We see SO MUCH of that kind of type-casting… let's STOP it because it propagates a negative stereotype."
So, where are the defenders of our men and women in uniform. Is anyone in Hollywood concerned about propagating a negative stereotype? Apparently not.
Eagerly awaiting the New Hollywood.
This plot has been around. A man returns from war and finds out that his brother has married his wife / girl friend. Has anyone seen Elvis' first movie, Love Me Tender? Virtually the same plot, except it occurs after the Civil War. The returning brother becomes a bad guy.
The only thing I know about Brothers is what was in the trailer, but it looks to me the movie is supposed to be about how war can destroy a soldier's life, even when he comes back alive. It looks like the returning vet is a sympathetic character. Jumping to the conclusion that it anti-fighting forces seems a bit shallow.
If anyone is actually following current events, solders returning home and committing felonies is a concern for people who really care about our returning vets. In Colorado Springs, a military town if there ever was one, it is proposed that soldiers returning from the war that commit felonies be tried in a special court to address their particular needs.
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jul/22/new-e...
But, to some people, the patriotic thing to do is to thank the soldiers for protecting our freedom and then ask Congress to pass tax cuts instead of paying for the war or for programs to help veterans of the war.
Looks like a soap opera.
You're right, it too simple to make a pro-America movie. If the protagonist isn't American and broken, then you need MULTILAYERS OF NUANCE.
For example, if the U.S. Soldiers are honorable and not wrecks, you need to find a way to blame America. Like have the terrorists be the descendents of once great and kindly kings who love the people so much they live in mud huts in the poorest village. Then the eeeevil Imperialistic Americans bombed their local orphanage with celulose-based glidebombs (so it'd be untracable) from the super-advanced F-37 Thunderbird Stealth Helicopters in 1734 to steal their mountain of gold and oil reserves. The main antagonist knows it's true because HE WAS THERE AND SAW IT WITH HIS OWN EYES. The upstanding American soldiers are only fighting him because they don't know the truth….
The Best Years of Our Lives is one of my all time favorite films.
After a lifetime of watching Hollywood's products, particularly those from the Viet Nam era and since then, I'm convinced that so many of them are simply projections of the contorted psyches of the writers, producers, directors, and actors that create them.
I spent a year in Viet Nam and very little of what I see on the big screen reflects what I know to be true of my experiences and those of my buddies.
My Dad's generation had an entire era of movies depicting them as heroes sometimes forced to do unspeakable things, but all in the cause of eradicating evil. Our generation gets to watch movies depicting us as twisted, damaged goods, movies produced by many of the same people who did their best on the home front to see us fail.
I think I've come to hate a good percentage of my generation, those who let others do the dirty work and then profit by distorting our ordeal in war.
Toby McQuire can kiss his career goodbye. Don't the idiots in Hollywood ever learn? If it bashes troops I will never pay to see or rent another movie with him in it again. Ala George Looney.
Off subject. The picture I have attached to my comments is my father. WW11 hero with 2 bronze stars. Passed away in March. A great Father. I figured it would br nice that many here could see one of the men when he was young who defended out freedom. Over 200 of his friends went to Europe with him. 8 came back. Hollywood can kiss my ass.
Off subject. The picture I have attached to my comments is my father. WW11 hero with 2 bronze stars. Passed away in March. A great Father. I figured it would br nice that many here could see one of the men when he was young who defended our freedom. Over 200 of his friends went to Europe with him. 8 came back. Hollywood can kiss my ass.
Sidenote, so glad the NP wife character gets a chance to show she's cool by smoking that joint. Cigarettes are bad, kids, but if you don't smoke pot…you're just too darn straight.
You are exactly right I read the book Thunder Run and my red blood took on shades of white and blue as well. But Im afraid the screenplay would be written from Bagdad Bob's perspective by one of Tinsle towns finest.
On other sites they'd post a picture of Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons laughing at you. We're above that here.
Catch the real message. "Never go to war to defend America because it destroys those that defend it." Having people from the outside destroy America through violence is okay, but destroying our own while defending it isn't.
You think that's not the logic? We're not dealing with stable people on the left.
Brothers At War.
"Brothers At War"
"Hurt Locker" even.
Don't see this "Brothers" tripe.
Maybe with Ari instead of Slap & Rape Nostrilitis, a belligerent American wind can blow once again from the Hollywood Hills.
There is an unquenchable thirst.
Bring it David. . . Rednecks from the Hinterland got yer Hebrew back, coz the IDF just kicks unmitigated ass. Bibi isda man.
Your 1st piece of legislation on Crapitol Hill should be allocating Federal money to the build out of the Pig-Man, multinational franchise.
Acorn got swerve, so why not a heroic hogg?
I know Jews & pork don't get along, but Sue-EEE gets the Koran-Thumpin', Big Mo believin' sect riled beyond belief.
Dont worry, us Latter-Day-Zionists will handle all the dipping of rounds in lard. Pig-Pickin' is in my blood.
Yahweh how I want to see Bosch's Id on Saturday mornings & in a PIG-MAN CGI flick. The effort would definitely make more jobs than Obama's Porkulus.
I think I need another High-Life….
pieces Y'all. . .
More than likely they never showed him the entire script but just his version and what was needed to get him to be a consultant.
Some people openely wish for our troops defeat and compare them to Nazis and then proceed to try and destroy everything they fought for. I love it when liberals try and play I support the troops but not the war crap. You hate and despise the military. Why should we jump to conclusions when Hollywood has been cranking movies like this out for the past 40 years?
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