list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Dave on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Dave/8115/default.aspx Title: Dave
Year: 1993
Director: Ivan Reitman
Plot: The ghost of Frank Capra must have smiled when he saw Dave, an amusing and effective update of one of Capra's favorite themes -- the scrupulously honest little guy who becomes a force for good against a corrupt system. Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline) runs an employment agency and seems to genuinely enjoy finding work for people who need it. He also bears a striking resemblance to the president of the United States, Bill Mitchell (also played by Kline) and occasionally gets work as a Bill Mitchell impersonator. One day, Dave gets a call from the Secret Service -- for security purposes, they want to hire him to act as a decoy for an upcoming appearance by the president. All goes well, but later that evening President Mitchell suffers a massive stroke while in bed with his mistress. Wanting to keep the matter a secret, two of the president's top advisors appeal to Dave to stand in as Bill Mitchell until he regains his health. One of the men behind this scheme, Bob Alexander (Frank Langella), hopes to use Mitchell's absence to promote his own right-wing political agenda, but after a few weeks "in office," Dave decides it's time to promote some changes of his own that will help increase employment and keep homeless shelters open. Dave also finds himself growing fond of Ellen Mitchell (Sigourney Weaver), the President's wife, while Ellen sees in Dave the idealism her husband left behind years ago. Dave features numerous cameo appearances by politicians, Washington insiders, and journalists; Oliver Stone also appears to explain a conspiracy theory regarding sudden changes in Bill Mitchell's behavior. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 34
Number of Lists: 23
Number of blog posts: 3
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Fri, 15 May 2009 17:14:13 GMTDave1993Ivan ReitmanThe ghost of <a href="/players/P____84082/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Frank Capra</a> must have smiled when he saw Dave, an amusing and effective update of one of Capra's favorite themes -- the scrupulously honest little guy who becomes a force for good against a corrupt system. Dave Kovic (<a href="/players/P____38699/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Kline</a>) runs an employment agency and seems to genuinely enjoy finding work for people who need it. He also bears a striking resemblance to the president of the United States, Bill Mitchell (also played by Kline) and occasionally gets work as a Bill Mitchell impersonator. One day, Dave gets a call from the Secret Service -- for security purposes, they want to hire him to act as a decoy for an upcoming appearance by the president. All goes well, but later that evening President Mitchell suffers a massive stroke while in bed with his mistress. Wanting to keep the matter a secret, two of the president's top advisors appeal to Dave to stand in as Bill Mitchell until he regains his health. One of the men behind this scheme, Bob Alexander (<a href="/players/P____40453/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Frank Langella</a>), hopes to use Mitchell's absence to promote his own right-wing political agenda, but after a few weeks "in office," Dave decides it's time to promote some changes of his own that will help increase employment and keep homeless shelters open. Dave also finds himself growing fond of Ellen Mitchell (<a href="/players/P____75144/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Sigourney Weaver</a>), the President's wife, while Ellen sees in Dave the idealism her husband left behind years ago. Dave features numerous cameo appearances by politicians, Washington insiders, and journalists; <a href="/players/P___112907/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Oliver Stone</a> also appears to explain a conspiracy theory regarding sudden changes in Bill Mitchell's behavior. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide34Tag Target (>10)2333http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t00878vcfbx.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Dave/8115/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_September_7_Infidelity/625/43857/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 9/10/2009 2:06:12 PM
Body: [quote user="mercurial"] Awesome topic. Probably my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is Dressed to Kill. The first twenty, thirty minutes of the film is so insane, so mind blowingly intense - a woman in an unhappy marriage is hooked into a quickie with a stranger and . . . I can't say anymore because it's just so awesome you have to watch for yourself. True Lies had fun with the typical affair plot with Jamie Lee Curtis wanting more from her marriage and toying with the idea of having an affair with sleazy Bill Paxton. Of course there is Fatal Attraction which made every man think twice before committing adultery. Dave is a great film about the president of the United States having an affair and his staff having to cover it up in an absurd yet amusing way. Monsoon Wedding dealt with a woman dealing with an arranged marriage and the other man she is madly in love with. American Beauty was another film about a bored suburban marriage falling apart. Rushmore had that great little love triangle with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman duking it out. More when I think of 'em. [/quote] Oh boy. It would seem weird for me to say something like "my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is..." because I realize a lot of times any kind of affair / infidelity / promiscuity in movies turns me off. At least when I am supposed to be sympathetic to the characters. That's just me. And I realize it's a thing that really turns me off to a lot of movies that some peopel otherwise thing are great. But that's why we are all different I guess! Two movies I saw recently that both have "brief" in the title came to mind. David Lean's Brief Encounter and Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation. They are also both similar in that they deal with good women with no so perfect husbands (but who do love them) getting sucked into affairs with much more appealing men, but not going as far as they could have before retracting. I liked them both well enough. They say that Brief Encounter is still the best classis "chick flick" that a lot of guys seem to like as well. The Coen brothers first movie Blood Simple deals with an affair which results in some death and violence like a lot of their subsequent films. And Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut seems to be a warning against even taking the first steps towards the world of infidelity. Emery, I see you mention Romance & Cigarettes so often I don't know why I haven't seen it yet. But I trust you, and I'm curious to see what Turturro did with these great actors too. Hopefully it will rise to the top of my Netflix queue soon.
]]>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:06:12 GMTRisseladaWeekly Theme9/10/2009 2:06:12 PM[quote user="mercurial"] Awesome topic. Probably my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is Dressed to Kill. The first twenty, thirty minutes of the film is so insane, so mind blowingly intense - a woman in an unhappy marriage is hooked into a quickie with a stranger and . . . I can't say anymore because it's just so awesome you have to watch for yourself. True Lies had fun with the typical affair plot with Jamie Lee Curtis wanting more from her marriage and toying with the idea of having an affair with sleazy Bill Paxton. Of course there is Fatal Attraction which made every man think twice before committing adultery. Dave is a great film about the president of the United States having an affair and his staff having to cover it up in an absurd yet amusing way. Monsoon Wedding dealt with a woman dealing with an arranged marriage and the other man she is madly in love with. American Beauty was another film about a bored suburban marriage falling apart. Rushmore had that great little love triangle with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman duking it out. More when I think of 'em. [/quote] Oh boy. It would seem weird for me to say something like "my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is..." because I realize a lot of times any kind of affair / infidelity / promiscuity in movies turns me off. At least when I am supposed to be sympathetic to the characters. That's just me. And I realize it's a thing that really turns me off to a lot of movies that some peopel otherwise thing are great. But that's why we are all different I guess! Two movies I saw recently that both have "brief" in the title came to mind. David Lean's Brief Encounter and Vittorio De Sica's A Brief Vacation. They are also both similar in that they deal with good women with no so perfect husbands (but who do love them) getting sucked into affairs with much more appealing men, but not going as far as they could have before retracting. I liked them both well enough. They say that Brief Encounter is still the best classis "chick flick" that a lot of guys seem to like as well. The Coen brothers first movie Blood Simple deals with an affair which results in some death and violence like a lot of their subsequent films. And Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut seems to be a warning against even taking the first steps towards the world of infidelity. Emery, I see you mention Romance &amp; Cigarettes so often I don't know why I haven't seen it yet. But I trust you, and I'm curious to see what Turturro did with these great actors too. Hopefully it will rise to the top of my Netflix queue soon. http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_September_7_Infidelity/625/43832/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 9/9/2009 4:05:16 PM
Body: Awesome topic. Probably my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is Dressed to Kill. The first twenty, thirty minutes of the film is so insane, so mind blowingly intense - a woman in an unhappy marriage is hooked into a quickie with a stranger and . . . I can't say anymore because it's just so awesome you have to watch for yourself. True Lies had fun with the typical affair plot with Jamie Lee Curtis wanting more from her marriage and toying with the idea of having an affair with sleazy Bill Paxton. Of course there is Fatal Attraction which made every man think twice before committing adultery. Dave is a great film about the president of the United States having an affair and his staff having to cover it up in an absurd yet amusing way. Monsoon Wedding dealt with a woman dealing with an arranged marriage and the other man she is madly in love with. American Beauty was another film about a bored suburban marriage falling apart. Rushmore had that great little love triangle with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman duking it out. More when I think of 'em.
]]>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:05:16 GMTmercurialWeekly Theme9/9/2009 4:05:16 PMAwesome topic. Probably my favorite film about cheating / having an affair is Dressed to Kill. The first twenty, thirty minutes of the film is so insane, so mind blowingly intense - a woman in an unhappy marriage is hooked into a quickie with a stranger and . . . I can't say anymore because it's just so awesome you have to watch for yourself. True Lies had fun with the typical affair plot with Jamie Lee Curtis wanting more from her marriage and toying with the idea of having an affair with sleazy Bill Paxton. Of course there is Fatal Attraction which made every man think twice before committing adultery. Dave is a great film about the president of the United States having an affair and his staff having to cover it up in an absurd yet amusing way. Monsoon Wedding dealt with a woman dealing with an arranged marriage and the other man she is madly in love with. American Beauty was another film about a bored suburban marriage falling apart. Rushmore had that great little love triangle with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman duking it out. More when I think of 'em. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/10/21/36545.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 10/21/2008 11:01:01 AM
Body: This past weekend, Saturday Night Live received a huge ratings boost thanks to the appearance of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But as much fun as it was seeing her act the good sport next to a jokingly critical Alec Baldwin, it only made me anticipate her inevitable feature film debut. I mean, did you notice she was the only person who didn’t need to keep reading from the cue cards? She’s a natural. And whether her ticket wins or loses the race on November 4, it’s certain that one day Palin will at least make a cameo in some kind of fictional movie, whether she means to or not. So, as we wait for her to show up in a small part in the Coen brothers’ adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (both because she’s from Alaska and reminds me of Frances McDormand in Fargo), let’s take a look at some other politicians who’ve made interesting film cameos, some intentionally and some not. John McCain in Wedding Crashers (2005) Few of us noticed or thought much of it when Senator McCain appeared as himself, shaking hands with Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour, in this romantic comedy. But so far this year you’ve probably seen the cameo, or a photo from it, more times than you’ve seen the rest of the movie. I wonder if McCain and Walken had time to chat about the latter’s role in The Deer Hunter. Christopher Dodd in Dave (1993) When I was in high school, I had no idea who my state’s U.S. Senators were. Fortunately, I saw Dave and saw Dodd’s cameo, complete with a caption telling who he is. Other state’s youth who might have had similar experiences include Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and Wyoming, as the political comedy also featured cameos from Senators Tom Harkin, Howard Metzenbaum, Paul Simon and Alan Simpson. Representative Tip O’Neill also appears, but everybody knew who he was, right? Patrick Leahy in The Dark Knight (2008) What’s a U.S. Senator doing in a comic book movie? More importantly, what’s a Democrat politician doing in a Republican’s wet dream? Well, Vermont’s Leahy is apparently a huge Batman fan and has also appeared in Batman and Robin and lent his voice to an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Al D’amato in The Devil’s Advocate (1997) There’s no more appropriate place for a politician to make an appearance than a movie about the Devil. Right? Well, D’amato’s cameo is unfortunately a little more innocent than it seems, though he is still seen cavorting with employees of Satan. Rudy Giuliani in The Out-of-Towners (1999) It’s definitely appropriate for an NYC mayor to make an appearance in a movie that promotes Manhattan tourism, but Giuliani picked the wrong movie to be associated with. Possibly one of the worst remakes ever, it’s more likely to dissuade viewers to come to the Big Apple. Ed Koch in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) Koch, on the other hand, is a huge cinephile (he even moonlights as a film critic) and has appeared in a ton of NYC-set films, good and bad. When I was a kid, nothing made me think Koch was cooler than his appearance alongside the Muppets. Jim Garrison in JFK (1991) It’s typical for people to have cameos in films about themselves, so it’s not too surprising to see the former District Attorney show up in Oliver Stone’s film. Not only did he get to make a small appearance, though, he actually got to portray someone as famous as Earl Warren. And he kind of did a better job of it than Kevin Costner did of portraying Garrison. John F. Kennedy in Forrest Gump (1994) Thanks to movie magic, the former President of the United States was able to make a cameo opposite Tom Hanks sixty years after he’d been assassinated. Of course, another actor provided his line for him, but I’m sure the real JFK would have been down to knowingly costar with an Oscar winner and memorably say, “I believe he said he had to go pee.” George W. Bush in Death of a President (2006) Thanks to similar movie magic, the current U.S. President was able to be seamlessly edited into this movie so that it truly appears as though the real G.W. Bush has been shot. To think, back when Forrest Gump was made, there were such innocent ways of featuring a deceased or unauthorized personality in a movie or TV commercial (remember John Wayne hawking Coors?), but now they’re killing presidents and employing dead child stars (that controversial new Poltergeist Direct TV ad). I wonder how far the ethics will be stretched in another decade. Gerald Ford in The Bees (1978) This is another cameo that probably wasn’t authorized, but it’s even more innocent than putting words into Kennedy’s mouth. Plus, it’s not a very good movie, and so the former U.S. President’s uncredited appearance probably wasn’t a very big deal. Even if the filmmakers try to make it seem that a swarm of killer bees are a threat to Ford as he’s riding on a Rose Bowl Parade float. If Hollywood ever remakes this film, they’ll probably use effects wizardry to make it look like the President actually gets stung and dies. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:01:01 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com10/21/2008 11:01:01 AMThis past weekend, Saturday Night Live received a huge ratings boost thanks to the appearance of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But as much fun as it was seeing her act the good sport next to a jokingly critical Alec Baldwin, it only made me anticipate her inevitable feature film debut. I mean, did you notice she was the only person who didn’t need to keep reading from the cue cards? She’s a natural. And whether her ticket wins or loses the race on November 4, it’s certain that one day Palin will at least make a cameo in some kind of fictional movie, whether she means to or not. So, as we wait for her to show up in a small part in the Coen brothers’ adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (both because she’s from Alaska and reminds me of Frances McDormand in Fargo), let’s take a look at some other politicians who’ve made interesting film cameos, some intentionally and some not. John McCain in Wedding Crashers (2005) Few of us noticed or thought much of it when Senator McCain appeared as himself, shaking hands with Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour, in this romantic comedy. But so far this year you’ve probably seen the cameo, or a photo from it, more times than you’ve seen the rest of the movie. I wonder if McCain and Walken had time to chat about the latter’s role in The Deer Hunter. Christopher Dodd in Dave (1993) When I was in high school, I had no idea who my state’s U.S. Senators were. Fortunately, I saw Dave and saw Dodd’s cameo, complete with a caption telling who he is. Other state’s youth who might have had similar experiences include Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and Wyoming, as the political comedy also featured cameos from Senators Tom Harkin, Howard Metzenbaum, Paul Simon and Alan Simpson. Representative Tip O’Neill also appears, but everybody knew who he was, right? Patrick Leahy in The Dark Knight (2008) What’s a U.S. Senator doing in a comic book movie? More importantly, what’s a Democrat politician doing in a Republican’s wet dream? Well, Vermont’s Leahy is apparently a huge Batman fan and has also appeared in Batman and Robin and lent his voice to an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Al D’amato in The Devil’s Advocate (1997) There’s no more appropriate place for a politician to make an appearance than a movie about the Devil. Right? Well, D’amato’s cameo is unfortunately a little more innocent than it seems, though he is still seen cavorting with employees of Satan. Rudy Giuliani in The Out-of-Towners (1999) It’s definitely appropriate for an NYC mayor to make an appearance in a movie that promotes Manhattan tourism, but Giuliani picked the wrong movie to be associated with. Possibly one of the worst remakes ever, it’s more likely to dissuade viewers to come to the Big Apple. Ed Koch in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) Koch, on the other hand, is a huge cinephile (he even moonlights as a film critic) and has appeared in a ton of NYC-set films, good and bad. When I was a kid, nothing made me think Koch was cooler than his appearance alongside the Muppets. Jim Garrison in JFK (1991) It’s typical for people to have cameos in films about themselves, so it’s not too surprising to see the former District Attorney show up in Oliver Stone’s film. Not only did he get to make a small appearance, though, he actually got to portray someone as famous as Earl Warren. And he kind of did a better job of it than Kevin Costner did of portraying Garrison. John F. Kennedy in Forrest Gump (1994) Thanks to movie magic, the former President of the United States was able to make a cameo opposite Tom Hanks sixty years after he’d been assassinated. Of course, another actor provided his line for him, but I’m sure the real JFK would have been down to knowingly costar with an Oscar winner and memorably say, “I believe he said he had to go pee.” George W. Bush in Death of a President (2006) Thanks to similar movie magic, the current U.S. President was able to be seamlessly edited into this movie so that it truly appears as though the real G.W. Bush has been shot. To think, back when Forrest Gump was made, there were such innocent ways of featuring a deceased or unauthorized personality in a movie or TV commercial (remember John Wayne hawking Coors?), but now they’re killing presidents and employing dead child stars (that controversial new Poltergeist Direct TV ad). I wonder how far the ethics will be stretched in another decade. Gerald Ford in The Bees (1978) This is another cameo that probably wasn’t authorized, but it’s even more innocent than putting words into Kennedy’s mouth. Plus, it’s not a very good movie, and so the former U.S. President’s uncredited appearance probably wasn’t a very big deal. Even if the filmmakers try to make it seem that a swarm of killer bees are a threat to Ford as he’s riding on a Rose Bowl Parade float. If Hollywood ever remakes this film, they’ll probably use effects wizardry to make it look like the President actually gets stung and dies. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/1/23/24249.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/23/2008 11:01:09 AM
Body: The combo of last week’s DGA contract agreement and yesterday’s announcement of the Oscar noms may have set the WGA in a new direction towards ending the writer’s strike. Yesterday afternoon the WGA announced it had withdrawn demands for jurisdiction over reality and animation, which the AMTPT was dead against recognizing. The two sides are reportedly meeting together today. Even if the strike is not over in a month, let alone today, there will still definitely be an Oscar telecast. It will be heavy on clips honoring the past 80s years of cinema, according to Gil Cates, who compared the strike to the presidential race. As far as the Oscar-nominee responses go, the most noteworthy are those of Julian Schnabel, who is sorry The Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn’t get a Best Picture nod but who feels he could one day have his Departed moment, and Jason Reitman, who points out that if he can be nominated for directing Juno then his father, Ivan, should have been nominated three or four times (sure, for Ghostbusters, Dave and Stripes, but what would be the fourth? Father’s Day?). It made me think of the above scene from papa Reitman’s Kindergarten Cop. 2008 Oscar-nominee Michael Moore is making a stand on the issue of documentary and foreign film exhibition, stating that his new year’s resolution is to sit down with theater owners and urge them to reserve one auditorium per multiplex devoted to specialty films. Hopefully he’ll document it, and one day we can sit in that auditorium and watch the result. The fate of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has not been officially announced yet, but Variety points out that Heath Ledger’s involvement in the movie was integral to its financing. I doubt the film could easily replace the late actor and go back and reshoot all of his scenes, but I also hope Gilliam isn’t left with another unfinished work (ala The Man Who Killed Don Quixote). Could Gilliam & Co. go the route of The Crow and digitally add Ledger’s face to a double? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:01:09 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/23/2008 11:01:09 AM The combo of last week’s DGA contract agreement and yesterday’s announcement of the Oscar noms may have set the WGA in a new direction towards ending the writer’s strike. Yesterday afternoon the WGA announced it had withdrawn demands for jurisdiction over reality and animation, which the AMTPT was dead against recognizing. The two sides are reportedly meeting together today. Even if the strike is not over in a month, let alone today, there will still definitely be an Oscar telecast. It will be heavy on clips honoring the past 80s years of cinema, according to Gil Cates, who compared the strike to the presidential race. As far as the Oscar-nominee responses go, the most noteworthy are those of Julian Schnabel, who is sorry The Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn’t get a Best Picture nod but who feels he could one day have his Departed moment, and Jason Reitman, who points out that if he can be nominated for directing Juno then his father, Ivan, should have been nominated three or four times (sure, for Ghostbusters, Dave and Stripes, but what would be the fourth? Father’s Day?). It made me think of the above scene from papa Reitman’s Kindergarten Cop. 2008 Oscar-nominee Michael Moore is making a stand on the issue of documentary and foreign film exhibition, stating that his new year’s resolution is to sit down with theater owners and urge them to reserve one auditorium per multiplex devoted to specialty films. Hopefully he’ll document it, and one day we can sit in that auditorium and watch the result. The fate of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has not been officially announced yet, but Variety points out that Heath Ledger’s involvement in the movie was integral to its financing. I doubt the film could easily replace the late actor and go back and reshoot all of his scenes, but I also hope Gilliam isn’t left with another unfinished work (ala The Man Who Killed Don Quixote). Could Gilliam & Co. go the route of The Crow and digitally add Ledger’s face to a double? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/marymcilwain/archive/2007/8/15/18162.aspx Post By: marymcilwain
Post To: Dollar Video Curator
Post Date: 8/15/2007 5:00:30 PM
Body: Remember the days when the American Presidency was honorable? When the white man in charge of the rest of us was a symbol of heroism, strength, grand-fatherhood, power and hope? He was the American Dream personified; a symbolic pillar of our nation’s pride, wealth, freedom and justice. Remember? Well, neither do we, but we do seem to recall such references being made to our past Presidents’ noble statures in our ratty, broken-binding Public School history textbooks – the ones that covered current American History all the way up to the fine and memorable presidency of William Taft. Patriotism lives in our heart of hearts, after all. And in honor of what the US Presidency should be, or at least, should aspire to be, here is a list of fictional film Presidents who, for all their faults, are still better than our current White House Resident-Evil. The American President – President Andrew Shepherd’s major flaw is horniness. Lonely widower wants to make time with a hotty environmental lobbyist. And what’s wrong with that? Well, Americans like their Presidents either in sexless marriages or completely virginal, for one, and opposition Senator Rumsom really knows how to hit below the belt. He attacks the Prez on the grounds of moral corruption, and the lady on the ground of “Grand Slut-itude” with the usual right-wing flourish for keeping sex in the headlines and on the minds of the very American People who claim to abhor it. But President Shepherd knows there’s what’s right and there’s what’s right, and sticking up for his lady rather than siding with the Phantom Moral American Electorate, despite his poll numbers, makes him the bigger man in the end. Air Force One – It’s fairly hard to find any weakness in Harrison Ford’s portrayal of the ass-kicking President James Marshall, save one, and it’s a big one: He NEGOTIATES WITH THE TERRORISTS!! The first rule of American Presidenting, the very first thing they teach in Presidenting 101, is that, We the American People NEVER Negotiate with Terrorists. Unfortunately, President Marshall breaks that rule here when under duress, to save his daughter’s life. Huh. But do we hold that against him, when looking upon his administration’s legacy within the historical context of the film? No, because he made up for it in spades by kicking ass in major ways, killing the bad guys, the bad guys helpers, and saving the day. Dave – This guy really puts our current “leader” to shame. He is everything that W claims to be, just a normal, beer-drinking kind of guy with a no-nonsense view of the world, and simplistic solutions to complex policy problems. The difference? Dave actually solves the problems, explains the issues with clever antidotes, and gets his cabinet to agree to self-explanatory, meaningful budget cuts for the greater good of furthering actual policy. We suspect the fact that Dave has a 5th grader’s command of the English language is giving him a bit of a unfair advantage when in direct comparison to George, so maybe we are bit being a bit unfairly biased here. But P.S., he's not even really the president, and he still does a better job. Idiocracy – There is no better way to describe the smack-down awesomeness of President Camacho than as evidenced by his State of the Union speech: “Shit. I know shit's bad right now, with all that starving bullshit. I understand everyone's shit's emotional right now.” He knows how to sway a crowd, speak moronically to the masses, pass blame around a room and make plenty of empty promises. Well then, how is he better than Bush you might ask? Simple. He admits when he is wrong. He may have condemned Secretary of the Interior Not Sure to death for failure to fix “all the shit’s that’s fucked up,” but when he finds out that Not Sure in fact, DID fix up all that shit, he stopped the public execution by Extreme Monster Truck Elimination. Now that’s the kind of president we want in our corner. Ding! Conclusion: Needless to say, there is hardly anything earth shattering being stated here. At this point, anyone, from the idealistically- portrayed, Hollywood movie characters, all the way down the line to that guy outside our office eating the last quarter of week-old burrito from a trash can, would do a better job than our W.Only 17 months to go… Originally posted on:Dollar Video Curator
]]>Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:00:30 GMTmarymcilwainDollar Video Curator8/15/2007 5:00:30 PMRemember the days when the American Presidency was honorable? When the white man in charge of the rest of us was a symbol of heroism, strength, grand-fatherhood, power and hope? He was the American Dream personified; a symbolic pillar of our nation’s pride, wealth, freedom and justice. Remember? Well, neither do we, but we do seem to recall such references being made to our past Presidents’ noble statures in our ratty, broken-binding Public School history textbooks – the ones that covered current American History all the way up to the fine and memorable presidency of William Taft. Patriotism lives in our heart of hearts, after all. And in honor of what the US Presidency should be, or at least, should aspire to be, here is a list of fictional film Presidents who, for all their faults, are still better than our current White House Resident-Evil. The American President – President Andrew Shepherd’s major flaw is horniness. Lonely widower wants to make time with a hotty environmental lobbyist. And what’s wrong with that? Well, Americans like their Presidents either in sexless marriages or completely virginal, for one, and opposition Senator Rumsom really knows how to hit below the belt. He attacks the Prez on the grounds of moral corruption, and the lady on the ground of “Grand Slut-itude” with the usual right-wing flourish for keeping sex in the headlines and on the minds of the very American People who claim to abhor it. But President Shepherd knows there’s what’s right and there’s what’s right, and sticking up for his lady rather than siding with the Phantom Moral American Electorate, despite his poll numbers, makes him the bigger man in the end. Air Force One – It’s fairly hard to find any weakness in Harrison Ford’s portrayal of the ass-kicking President James Marshall, save one, and it’s a big one: He NEGOTIATES WITH THE TERRORISTS!! The first rule of American Presidenting, the very first thing they teach in Presidenting 101, is that, We the American People NEVER Negotiate with Terrorists. Unfortunately, President Marshall breaks that rule here when under duress, to save his daughter’s life. Huh. But do we hold that against him, when looking upon his administration’s legacy within the historical context of the film? No, because he made up for it in spades by kicking ass in major ways, killing the bad guys, the bad guys helpers, and saving the day. Dave – This guy really puts our current “leader” to shame. He is everything that W claims to be, just a normal, beer-drinking kind of guy with a no-nonsense view of the world, and simplistic solutions to complex policy problems. The difference? Dave actually solves the problems, explains the issues with clever antidotes, and gets his cabinet to agree to self-explanatory, meaningful budget cuts for the greater good of furthering actual policy. We suspect the fact that Dave has a 5th grader’s command of the English language is giving him a bit of a unfair advantage when in direct comparison to George, so maybe we are bit being a bit unfairly biased here. But P.S., he's not even really the president, and he still does a better job. Idiocracy – There is no better way to describe the smack-down awesomeness of President Camacho than as evidenced by his State of the Union speech: “Shit. I know shit's bad right now, with all that starving bullshit. I understand everyone's shit's emotional right now.” He knows how to sway a crowd, speak moronically to the masses, pass blame around a room and make plenty of empty promises. Well then, how is he better than Bush you might ask? Simple. He admits when he is wrong. He may have condemned Secretary of the Interior Not Sure to death for failure to fix “all the shit’s that’s fucked up,” but when he finds out that Not Sure in fact, DID fix up all that shit, he stopped the public execution by Extreme Monster Truck Elimination. Now that’s the kind of president we want in our corner. Ding! Conclusion: Needless to say, there is hardly anything earth shattering being stated here. At this point, anyone, from the idealistically- portrayed, Hollywood movie characters, all the way down the line to that guy outside our office eating the last quarter of week-old burrito from a trash can, would do a better job than our W.Only 17 months to go… Originally posted on:Dollar Video Curator http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/comedy/MemberTagFilms.aspxcomedy
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