Quick note: For the sake of this review it’s important to explain the world in which “In Time” takes place. The film itself provides details but “The Minutes,” a special feature included with the Blu-ray/DVD set, is all about the origins of this society, so some things you read here come from that.

Director Andrew Niccol’s “In Time” opens with  a lot of promise and no small amount of tension, thanks to a terrific premise. Unfortunately, the narrative sputters and misfires in the second-half, but as a political allegory, by design or accident, we are treated to a damning look at what our culture and country might look like should Obama and his fellow leftists continue to prevail.

The year is 2161 and some years ago, due to fear of over-population, scientists not only discovered a genetic cure for aging, they implanted a clock in the forearm of every newborn that counts down the years, hours, minutes, and seconds you have left before you die. No one ages a day after they turn twenty-five, but once that birthday hits, you’re given a year to live. That is, unless you’re able to earn more time. Where Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) lives, a working class ghetto called Dayton,  your choices are limited to manual labor, begging, and crime.

Will’s not alone, either. In Dayton, the average person won’t survive the day unless they can earn more time. Here, a cup of coffee costs you four minutes, a bus ride two hours, and the rent a couple of weeks. Time is this nation’s currency, and with the cost of living always going up, it’s a hand-to-mouth existence for the half-million or so residents who live with their mortality constantly hanging over them and in the knowledge that something as mundane as missing a bus can mean you count down to zero and die on the spot.

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Why does the Hollywood Reporter say this as though it’s a bad thing…?

Sticking to its simplistic, patriotic origins, where a muscular red, white and blue GI slugging Adolf Hitler in the jaw is all that’s required, Captain America trafficks in red-blooded heroes, dastardly villains, classy dames and war-weary military officers.

With the MSM , patriotism is always “simplistic” and/or “jingoistic.” You never read reviews that say, “simplistically angsty” or “simplistically brooding” or “simplistically dark.”

Yesterday in the comments, someone quoted someone who said something the effect of “angst is much easier to write than nobility.” And this is very, very true. The same is true with sincerity over irony and inspirational over nihilism.

This approach to patriotism is all a lie, a ploy from the Left to turn what really is simplistic and lazy (nihilism, angst, irreverence, irony) into “art,” when just the opposite is true. What the Left despises about themes that lift the human spirit is that they’re more often than not, conservative themes — themes of self-sacrifice, selflessness, fidelity, manhood, bravery, and nobility. Whereas darker, simpler themes or a complete lack of theme, appeals to the all-about-me, chaotic narcissism that so defines the Left.  

Mock everything + respect nothing = A Leftist

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“Entertainment Weekly,” which (I think) Nikki Finke hilariously and accurately describes as a magazine for waiting rooms, has come up with ten ways to save the movies. Most of the ideas are just warmed over warmed-over ideas we’ve all heard a hundred times before, but #3 caught my eye:

3. Stop killing us with your popcorn.

A 2009 study found that a single medium-size bag of popcorn from the Regal theater chain contained 1,610 calories and 60 grams of saturated fat. Add in a large soda (350 calories) and some Reese’s Pieces (1,200 calories for an eight-ounce box), and you’re taking your life in your hands. John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, insists theaters are just giving moviegoers what they crave. ”When people go to the cinemas, they want to escape — from their diets, too.” Still, popcorn shouldn’t have to come with a warning label. Some theaters, mostly in upscale neighborhoods, have been offering healthier, higher-quality concessions.

Why are Lefties always so eager to strip us of our own personal choices (unless that choice is for taxpayers to fund sucking unborn babies through vacuum tubes)? And this is coming from someone who doesn’t eat junk at the movies. Popcorn and soda at my age goes right to my hips. But is my self-discipline unique? Am I a better person person than the elites looking down on us from Mount EW? Okay, well, most of us are because we believe in liberty, but my point is that if I can control myself, anyone can. And who is EW to control others for their own good. Sorry EW, there’s no such thing as second-hand popcorn calories, so there’s no second way to skin this cat.

How can the same Left in favor of euthanasia have such a thick stick up their backsides over nachos?

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Liberal film critic, Roger Ebert, called Battle: Los Angeles “noisy, violent, ugly and stupid”.  BigHollywood.com Editor-In-Chief, John Nolte, called it “wildly entertaining and subversive”.  That was all I needed to read to know this was a “must see” movie.  And it most definitely is…in fact, movie goers overseas agree as this epic sci-fi film garnered a first place finish in its second weekend overseas bringing in $27.1 million…with Rango, the animated film about the chameloen sheriff (Johhny Depp) earning $17.5 million in its third weekend.  Now that’s American exceptionalism…on the big screen!

As a retired Air Force veteran, I viewed this movie from a slightly different vantage point than one who has never served in our armed forces. And I loved every minute of this fast-paced, heart-stopping, riveting movie…silently cheering on the small platoon of courageous Marines, led by 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), sent out on what seemed like a suicide mission to rescue a few stranded civilians in Santa Monica before the Air Force was to completely level the entire city that had fallen to a devastating alien invasion.

What was originally reported to be meteors falling into the ocean along the Los Angeles coastline (as well as the coastlines of 20 other major cities around the world) was quickly determined to be a well-orchestrated invasion of a massive force of seemingly impossible-to-kill aliens… and they were everywhere… annhilating everything and everyone in their path.  As I watched the fast-paced, chaotic, and gripping action unfold, I often found myself holding my breath and sitting on the edge of my seat — myheart racing wildly, pulling for our heroes.  It has been a long time since I’ve been to a movie that left me exhausted like that, in a good way.

I appreciated how they introduced each member of the platoon and gave us a little insight into their frame of mind just prior to their embarking on this terrifying mission, setting the stage for some of the heart-wrenching actions and decisions that occurred throughout the movie.  It made them more real to me, as real as the stories and situations faced every day by our men and women deploying overseas into hostile combat zones.

The main hero of the movie, Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), was very convincing as a tough, no-nonsense, war-weary Marine.  In spite of having just gotten his retirement papers signed — a man who was struggling with some demons from his past (something not uncommon to our brothers and sisters who have served in a war zone) — SSgt Nantz displayed the kind of leadership, ingenuity, courage, selflessness, and compassion commonly found in the members of our military, most especially in our Marines, who are always on the front lines … and go where few dare to go.

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So by bombing Libya, Obama succeeds in pissing off his key supporters: the anti-war left.

Which shows you how naive the anti-war left is. if you actually believe a president will not go to war, because HE PROMISED YOU! – then you’re like every girl on Rock of Love.

Hopelessly disappointed.

And high as a kite.

People who campaign on peace, often wage war in office.

They’ll just drag their feet a little longer, which is what Obama did.

But I support the President because I try to be consistent on military matters.

And to be fair, so are some on the anti-war left.

Compare the currently angry Michael Moore to those lefties who, after reaming Bush for 8 years, are now oddly silent on Obama’s war. That’s kinda weird.

Anyway, after Obama’s behavior toward Egypt, he had little choice. Avoiding Kaddafi, after kicking a meeker Mubarak out the door – would smack of weakness.

But here’s why bombing Libya may be good: for forty years we’ve had to deal with Gadaffi’s vile mug. It may not be a “vital interest” to “get” him – but it’s justice.

Think of all the crap he’s done to innocent people, including Americans.

Lastly, the action angers the right people.

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For me, the CW TV series Smallville has always been pretty much a guilty pleasure.

Yes, it’s cheesy. Yes, for a very long time it devolved into a teenage soap opera. And yes, it’s written with the subtlety of a car wreck… but it’s about how Clark Kent becomes SUPERMAN. How can I not watch that?

The series has ranged from “decent” to “awful” to “OK, that was kind of cool” over the course of its nine year run. It started out fairly family friendly, but as time went on succumbed to the typical CW temptation of adding some female skin, sexual situations and even one episode that was as close as they dared get to one of the Saw movies as far as gore. I’ve never missed an episode, and as far as I can remember they always stayed away from politics.

Until this (supposedly) final 10th season.

Before I go on, let me say that I’m fully aware that superhero stories have been used as allegories for what happens in the real world – it’s well known that in the X-Men comics that mutants living in fear represented gays. Marvel Comics’ Civil War saga (conceptualized and written by well known Leftie comic book scribe Mark Millar) about the “Superhero Registration Act” in which superheroes had to reveal their secret identities to the US government and go to work for it was a reaction to the War on Terror (or as it’s now known: “The disagreement with those who shall not be named”) and the Patriot Act. (more…)

My name is Joseph Lindsey and it’s been 4195 days since I last pretended to be a liberal. When I sat down to write my story my first instinct was to write it as a vapid, narcissistic autobiography, one about an actor who hides in a conservative closet while playing the part of a Hollywood liberal in the hopes of getting ahead in show business. But I couldn’t do it. Instead, I followed the lead of today’s mainstream media and didn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. So here for you is an excerpt from my novel Life to the Right of Hollywood, a fictitious story, some of which is true.

Take 31 – C.A.A. Come. And. Accept.

We walked the length of a carpeted football field, past some sort of Buddhist waterfall, through an automated Starbucks machine zone and then to an elevator that on all four sides was a fish tank. My escort waited for me to enter, followed behind me, then with his back to me pushed floor number seven. Hypnotized into a stint of free association by the fish that circled me like some sort of marine park amusement ride, I could feel the gooey ooze of my mind begin to take hold. As the elevator continued to rise, the tiny speakers above the aquarium pulled me from my hypnotic state by what sounded like a public service announcement. It went something like this, “Hello and welcome to CAA, Creative Artist Agency, the most powerful name in entertainment representation. You should know that some of our current clients have films opening this weekend, and you should go to the Cineplex and see them. Here is a short list for you to memorize and tell friends… (more…)

Can any of you remember a time when so many creative film artists in Hollywood shit where they eat by endlessly voicing such outspoken contempt and loathing for the majority of the American people, our history and our way of life? I can’t. Now I’m not talking about Hollywood Lefties going off on political tangents like at HuffPo. We do the same damn thing here. I’m talking fighting words as defined in the Chaplinsky ruling. Too many fighting words coming out of Lefty Hollywood these days.

I don’t know about you, but I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take them anymore. Prime example. Sean Penn calling for the arrest of anyone who tags dictator Hugo Chavez as a dictator. That must now include the mass arrest of the entire leadership of the OAS, which just slammed Pennhead’s hero El Chavista on his horrific human rights record. I will say it: that statement is as un-American as it gets, and is dictatorial in itself. Those are fighting words, IMHO. Tell me where I’m wrong.

Then we had Tom Hanks effectively saying that the Japanese and Americans wanted to destroy each other only because they were different breeds of racists. That intellectually vacuous statement not only slanders America’s most honorable record in the war against a genocidal Imperial Japan, it slanders the sacred memory of every US service member who fought and died in that conflict. As a Navy veteran myself, and the son of an Army veteran of Normandy Beach on D-Day? Fighting words. (more…)

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I opened TimeOut NY magazine this morning and saw that I was featured in their “Essential New York” issue. Excellent. I’m overjoyed, as most performers are when they get some press. Now among the other nice things in their profile, they said this:

“He’s the only conservative Republican comedian who’s actually funny.”

Now, what do you think was the first thing I did when I saw that in print? Defend the honor of Evan Sayet and Steven Crowder? No.

My act is personal, not political, and those are two different things, unless you believe what it says in that dog-eared copy of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” on your ex-girlfriend’s bookshelf. But since Andrew invited me to “come out” on this site last year and air my (comparatively moderate) center-right views, the word has gotten around to some of my fans and associates that I might be playing for the other team. I’ll be at a showbiz cocktail party and someone will playfully say, “I heard a rumor about you…” They’re not trying to be mean or McCarthyite-they genuinely like the idea that they may have a right-wing acquaintance. It’s fun for them! But then they want to pick my brain. “How did it happen? Was your dad a minister?” They begin to introduce me to their friends as “their favorite Republican.” (more…)

What’s most amazing to me, is that even among liberals there are very few people who can justify an anti-school choice stance. If it seems as though this video contains some “straw man” arguments… Believe me, it’s just THAT hard to find a logical case against school choice. If anyone can think of a more valid reason that hasn’t been included in the video, be sure to comment it below.

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I must admit to some snobbery.  My kind didn’t become cops.  My kind didn’t become fireman. We went to college as simply a rite of passage and became the “Masters of the Universe” holding meetings with others like us on the top floors of buildings like those in the World Trade Center complex.  In fact, I, at the age of twenty-three, had an office on the 106th floor of building number one with an unquestioned entitlement to it for no other reason than that was the way of the world.

The kids from the Bronx with the accents became fireman.  The kid from Queens with the gaudy chains and the girlfriend with the big hair became cops.  People who worked with their hands, people who risked their lives, I am now terribly embarrassed and ashamed to say, were thought of as just of another kind, the kind that my Leftist friends continue to deride as being from “fly-over country,” or from Kansas where the people have something “the matter” with them. (more…)

Other than a self-made governor who chose not to abort her unborn Down syndrome child, nothing gets the Hollywood Left more outraged than what they call, “tax cuts for the rich,” or “corporate welfare.” For nearly thirty-years now, studio chiefs, millionaire actors and millionaire directors have created and distributed movies and television shows laced with propaganda opposing “trickle-down economics.” Most of us have also been subjected to Reaganomics’ bashing in popular music and novels, as well. 

And yet… [emphasis added]

The California Film Commission on Monday announced that 25 productions had been awarded tax credits, which refund 20% or 25% of all spending in the state on so-called below-the-line employees, Hollywood parlance for behind-the-scenes crew. …

The state is awarding $67.5 million in tax credits for the 25 productions. Amy Lemisch, director of the CFC, said those movies and TV shows will spend $347 million on below-the-line employees. Lemisch said she was confident the vast majority of that money would otherwise not have been spent in California.

Productions using the credits include CBS Films, DreamWorks, Sony, Comedy Central, and Disney.   (more…)

Boy, did I ever kick a hornet’s nest with my tongue-in-cheek Archie Bunker-on-steroids BH post, “My Secret Life as a Conservative Republican.” Lefties called it Reaffirmation With Senator Smalley, which I expected. But Righties nearly wet their pants in fear, which I did not expect in the least. Where’s the pioneering spirit, self-confidence and gutter-level humor that founded this country?

People, this is OUR Fortress Hollywood! This is OUR sanctuary! Since when the hell do we care about what demagogues like Keith Olbermann think or say? Or any other mental tinfoil hat Lefties like Garofalo for that matter? It’s like Churchill worrying about Hitler calling him a fat cigar-chomping drunk! Who won that fight, and why? And who was in the right, despite all the insipid name-calling?

Time to grow a pair, people. It’s also time to raise the stakes. Now, I’ve heard from some contributors here at BH that it is really bad in Hollywood in places. That people might even lose their jobs if they spoke up like I do here. If true, that’s McCarthyism at its worst. Fortunately, that’s not my experience. I still have great relationships with people in the biz who could care less about politics. All they care about is finding great scripts or literary works to adapt, and telling great stories on film.

And that is where the battle really needs to be fought: on their playing ground. An insurgency of ideas, if you will. Example. Just under the Big Hollywood sign today, I saw the banner “TNT’s ‘The Closer’ Thrives on Strong Moral Foundation.” That PJM-linked article describes how The Closer, a show that portrays the border, the illegals situation, and even the cops themselves in very gritty and realistic fashion, is the top-rated scripted show on ad-supported cable since its inception. (more…)

Because televised news has been rendered obsolete by technology (who needs Christine Amanpour when every citizen has an HD camera, YouTube, and Twitter?), I turned to the Internet to keep up with the events transpiring in Iran.  I logged into Twitter and found this massive “Twitter-grid” of people in Iran and people around the world communicating.  It went something like this….

#iranstudent:please help.they are attacking the dorms.

#crzygrl:EVERYONE WEAR GREEN TOMORROW TO WORK AND SCHOOL

#iranstudent:my god.  where is help?  they will kill us.

#Evlhaliburton:this is just like US in 2000.

#iranstudent: please send troops.  they shot my friend. (more…)

Politically speaking, it’s quiet in Hollywood. Too quiet.

It’s not a foreboding kind of stillness like the sunrise on a battlefield before the ranks are formed. It’s not an anticipatory breed of shush as “jocund day stands tiptoe” before a big game or the opening of Christmas gifts. (more…)