Gervais Undercuts His Atheist Argument in ‘Lying’

So what we have here are two worlds. One, without God and controlled by thoughts of evolution, is a spectacularly dreary, unhappy place without love or meaning. On the other hand, even a fictional God brings the world meaning, joy, liberty, and wonder.

The Invention of Lying tells a fantasy story about a world in which people do not know how to lie. The conceit is that lying is the product of a gene no human had before it suddenly popped up in Gervais’s character, forty-something failure Mark Bellison. But instead of simply being a cute comedy based on a silly concept, The Invention of Lying is an ambitious, largely unfunny comedy based on a silly concept. It’s not nearly as cute, innocent, or funny as Gervais’s fans might expect.

In fact, it’s really rather dreary. Yet it does have some good points. Although the early scenes in the film, in which we see Mark’s sad, unsuccessful life, are pretty depressing, there as some funny moments after he invents lying. In addition, the philosophy behind the film is sufficiently confused and inconsistent to be more interesting than one might expect.

Before Mark invents lying, no one in the society is truly happy. They speak with brutal honesty toward one another, in particular calling attention to one another’s faults and their own very base desires, and no one seems to mind the situation too much. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Atheism, atheist, christian, jennifer garner, ricky gervais
Posted Oct 11th 2009 at 7:05 am in Featured Story, Film, Religion, Reviews | 244142167 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/10/11/gervais-undercuts-his-atheist-argument-in-lying/Gervais+Undercuts+His+Atheist+Argument+in+%27Lying%272009-10-11+14%3A05%3A46S.T.+Karnick

Socialism and Christian-Bashing Crash at Box Office

Tough times for leftie Hollywood. Nothing’s gone right this week. None of this is their fault, of course. In order to understand that it might not be a good idea to rally around a child rapist, bash religion in a religious country or trash capitalism in a capitalist country you have to live in the real world…

Steve Mason:

Michael Moore’s CAPITALISM tanks!

Ricky Gervais has launched his second consecutive box office bomb as The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros) only mustered $2.2M or so to start the 3-day. The comedy should finish #5 with approximately $6.5M for the weekend. … (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "Invention of Lying", box office, Capitalism: A Love Story., michael moore, Polanski
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 8:32 am in Film, News | 239942265 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/10/03/socialism-and-christian-bashing-crash-at-box-office/Socialism+and+Christian-Bashing+Crash+at+Box+Office2009-10-03+15%3A32%3A59John+Nolte

‘Invention of Lying’: Anti-Christian

After a couple of weeks of unsubstantiated rumors, it has been confirmed that the forthcoming film The Invention of Lying is indeed intended to satirize religion and religious believers.

New York Post critic Kyle Smith has seen the film and describes it as “a full-on attack on religion in general and Christianity in particular. It might be the most blatantly, one-sidedly atheist movie ever released by a major studio, in this case Warner Bros.”

Although the commercials and theatrical trailers have presented the film as a cute comedy and made no allusion at all to any religious angle, much less a concerted case for atheism, Smith reports that the basis of the film is its attack on religion:

Gervais delights in what a faith-based society would call blasphemy, setting up an imaginary world in which no one ever lies. Except his character, who spreads what Gervais obviously sees as the biggest lie of all: Belief in God.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "Invention of Lying", anti-Christian, Kyle Smith, Religion, ricky gervais
Posted Oct 2nd 2009 at 6:41 am in Featured Story, Film, Politics, Religion | 238246274 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/10/02/invention-of-lying-anti-christian/%27Invention+of+Lying%27%3A+Anti-Christian+2009-10-02+13%3A41%3A14S.T.+Karnick

‘Ghost Town’: Hollywood Comedy Isn’t Dead Yet

The Hollywood adult drama is dead. Any talk of resurrecting it is futile. Nihilism and leftism killed it. It’s gone. If you miss it, get Turner Classic Movies.

A genre still salvageable, though in need of CPR stat, is the smart Hollywood comedy. These days, it seems were stuck with only an increasingly desperate Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell, the Judd Apatow gross-out collection, and overheated romantic comedies based on lame concepts like “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” or lamer still, catchphrases: “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “What Happens in Vegas.”  

–

And while the Hollywood comedy may not be dead, every time I think it deserves to be killed there’s a spark of life, and most recently that spark came from “Ghost Town,” a delightful, heartfelt little sleeper from last year starring The Mighty Ricky Gervais and two actors I normally don’t care for: Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni (both have a television-level presence and project less warmth than ice). (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: ghost town, Greg Kinnear, ricky gervais, Tea Leoni
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 5:21 pm in Entertainment, Reviews | 151370No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/06/03/ghost-town-hollywood-comedy-isnt-dead-yet/%27Ghost+Town%27%3A+Hollywood+Comedy+Isn%27t+Dead+Yet2009-06-04+00%3A21%3A42John+Nolte

Review: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

If the first “Night at the Museum” was weighed down with a cookie-cutter plot involving the stale idea of a single dad desperate to redeem himself in his son’s eyes, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” has no weight whatsoever thanks to a flat story loaded with monstrous plot holes and a cast of dull, one-dimensional characters.

There’s also only one laugh — one — and all the special effects in the world simply can’t make up for a single chuckle over 105 very long minutes. The only good news is that Ben Stiller appeared to be even more bored than I was.

If you remember, Larry Daley (Stiller) was once a night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York City where after the sun went down, thanks to ancient artifact, the exhibits all came to life. Mayhem ensued, adventure was had and lifelong friendships were formed.

A few years have passed (between films and for our characters) and today Larry has managed to tinker his way into fortune and some fame as a highly successful entrepreneur hawking inventions, like his glow-in-the-dark flashlight (so you can find it when the power goes out, duh), on infomercials.   (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Amy Adams, ben stiller, Hank Azaria, Night at the Museum, owen wilson
Posted May 22nd 2009 at 4:52 pm in Reviews | 141850One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/22/review-night-at-the-museum-battle-of-the-smithsonian/Review%3A+Night+at+the+Museum%3A+Battle+of+the+Smithsonian2009-05-22+23%3A52%3A32John+Nolte

Overlooked: The Top 10 Best Performances of 2008 that you may not have heard about!

The Academy Awards for 2008 have been handed out, and the “popular kids” have Oscars on their mantles, but the dirty little secret about winning awards is that you’ve gotta campaign for them. Thousands of dollars were spent by the distributors and filmmakers behind Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), Milk (Focus Features), The Reader (Weinstein) and other assorted winners and nominees, but not all performances received that sort of big money backing.

I am an unabashed lover of the acting craft. I see virtually every movie, large and small, that passes through the US marketplace, and, taking nothing away from Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz and Heath Ledger, not all of 2008’s best performances have been recognized. I’m not going to be obvious here. Clint Eastwood was snubbed for Gran Torino, but he received lots of acclaim for the role including being named Best Actor by the National Board of Review. My goal is to highlight 10 performances from last year that have received virtually no acclaim in the US. Many of these roles can be found in hardly-seen, under-appreciated movies that came and went without much notice. Each and every one of these movies deserve a spot in your Netflix (or Blockbuster) cue. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "Traitor", 2008, academy awards, acting, alan rickman
Posted Mar 1st 2009 at 2:10 pm in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story | 7013043 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/03/01/performances/Overlooked%3A+The+Top+10+Best+Performances+of+2008+that+you+may+not+have+heard+about%212009-03-01+22%3A10%3A58Steve+Mason