Spielberg's LINCOLN: bad

Camera movement was good.  The art direction lush and good performances from Sally Field, David Strathaim, Spader, Holbrook and Jones.  Jackie Earle Haley had the best scene in this movie.

JGL sucked in the movie.  What a surprise.  He has not had a good movie since he was in 500 days of summer.  By the way, if JGL was playing Lincoln's son Robert because I was not sure what he was doing while he was on screen maybe he didn't know either, Robert Lincoln was 22 years old and not in his 30s like JGL is.  JGL is the very definition of an overrated matinee idol who, like Ryan Gosling, gets by sheerly on his looks and the cozy relationship his agent has with the butts of studio execs.

This was a terrible movie.  Really bad.  Chris Stuckmann says the Spielberg is an actor's director.  If that means giving the actors no direction and letting them do whatever the heck they want, then yes.  He is an actor's director.  A good director will make a bad script compelling and stack the scenes with tension. There was no tension movie

‪JeremyJahns‬ compared this movie with John Adams.  Sad.  John Adams was good so was Paul Giamatti.  DDL was better in there will be blood.

His performance was weak.  I never felt like he was Lincoln but rather DDL was caricaturing an archetype.  His role adds nothing new and leave much in doubt about who Lincoln was.  In fact, DDL's contribution to Lincoln as a historical person in art leaves much to be desired.  DDL plays Lincoln as if he's some Holy Man without an arc when the most compelling thing about DDL as Lincoln is when he talked about the tyrannical powers he wielded dubbed war powers.  The movie celebrates corrupt lobbyists.  It makes me want to read Thomas DiLorenzo's "Lincoln Unmasked" and "The Real Lincoln."

Horrible script

Battle scene was terrible.  The script was weak.  But maybe the source material was weak as well because if the movie was based on a book, than SS would be better of making Bill O'Rielly's books Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy into movies.  And oh by the way, I despise Bill O'Rielly's have it both ways politics.

Spielberg is in decline which is sad.  But that's what happens to directors that don't believe in anything and like Lucas have rested rather comfortably on their laurels too long.  Do you think Kubrick was or even Polanski in decline?  Spielberg is. Lucas maybe in decline.  I have not seen red tails.

Wliberforce was better than this really bad movie.  The best political talky movie I have seen was the madness of King George.  Nigel Hawthorne was King George.  There are scenes from that movie that I remember.

Praise for Courage, NH

De : James Bretney
À : James Riley ; "monique@colonybay.net"
Cc : "info@rileysfarm.com"
Envoyé le : Mercredi 8 août 2012 12h53
Objet : Re: Thank you from Courage, New Hampshire!

Dear James and Monique,

I watched episodes 1 thru 3 and I can't wait for 4.  I learned about the series through a mutual friend, Patrick Finerty.  I think Finerty plays a Tory.  (I love Finerty - underrated actor.)  My general impressions is that it is a drama told from a Christian evangelical point of view.  There are some first time filmmaker mistakes.  At times, I think the performances are campy.  There are some actors I like and some I don't like conversely there are some characters I like and some I don't like.

The production design is beautiful.  The visual effects are very good.  I admire your bravery in taking on such an awesome subject matter.  I really enjoy your social commentary laced inside the subplots.  I enjoyed seeing AlfonZo Rachel and Governor Wentworth's character.  I googled and wikipedia'd Wentworth.  My favorite actor is Nathan Kershaw mostly because I identified with his problem in Episode 1.  I think Episode 1 is your best though you keep upping the ante and we are starting to get to know these characters more.  

My favorite characters are the baddies.  I sympathize with Edmund Burke's conservatism and would probably be a Tory until I was on the wrong side of the Crown's whims.  Though Burke and Pitt the Elder wanted to avert a confrontation with the colonies.  Your series is in the same niche as Mel Gibson and that series about Adams.  My own sympathies would be that of John Dickinson of Delaware until the bullets are flying or that of Sam Adams.  I can be a bit of a firebrand if provoked.    

But England is still preferable to an alliance with capricious France the enemy they went to war with not more than 10 years ago.  England did have a right to tax the colonies to pay for their own protection.  

The fact that your show can evoke such thoughts says something of its power.  

It is a hard thing you are doing.  I have tried it myself and I regret to say that I am not nearly along as you are, but I admire your success and will patronize the series as a customer and a donor until you get the big bucks from History Channel or something like that.

God Bless!

 

James A. Bretney
President, Airborne Productions, Inc | 
520 255 4137
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with Writer, Producer, Actress and Stuntwoman, Arron Marie Fenton

Adventures in PTSD Episode 7

Western Thesaurus - V

Folks in the 19th Century spoke differently than we do.  Just as every generation has its own lingua franca, post-antebellum America was no different.

V

Valley Tan	A kind of liquor sold in Mormon Country.
Vamoose	To disappear or leave quickly.
Vamos	A Spanish word signifying let us go.
VAQUERO	Spanish term for a man who takes care of cattle.  Mexican cowboy.  From the Spanish word "vacca" --meaning cow.
Varmint	A corrupt pronunciation of the word vermin.
Vaulting House	Brothel.
Velvet Couch	A cowboy's bedroll.
Venting our gall	expressing anger, getting things off their chest.  "While we were thus venting our gall against we knew not who..." P.186
Verdant	lush, fertile. "...for it yet seems to my fancy...like one of those little verdant plats of ground between the burning sands of Arabia so often described by travelers." P.250
Vexation	annoyance, frustration. When the British were avoiding battle-- "But perhaps they thought that, as we had undergone so much fatigue and vexation on our journey, we might feel cross and peevish, and perchance some unlucky accidents might have happened. The British were politic, and it is good to be cautious and discreet." P.78
Viands	food, probably choice dishes. "Here we again regaled ourselves on Thanksgiving viands..." P.254
Vum	A form of swearing. "I vum!" similary to "I vow!"

Twitter Wars: Gay marriage, Buffy Producer Drew Z. Greenberg, Bristol Palin

So I went on online town hall: Twitter to condemn Obama's election year flip flop on gay marriage only to be confronted by the "No H8" crowd.  These Neo-Communist pro-deviancy partisans ape the words of tolerance while practicing the tactics of a neighborhood bully and mafia thug.  This week's target - Bristol Palin.  Why?  Because she said two words: I disagree.

Here is a sample of one such exchange:

It is a bit shocking that so many Americans have renounced their heritage of free and open debate in favor of the the Alinsky tactics of identify, freeze, personalize, and polarize the target.  As a man who has spent the better part of my youth defending America, it is hard to see other Americans as targets.     It is also disgusting that other Americans would ridicule each other rather than debate.


I am a Roman Catholic.  My God prescribes my conduct.  The Bible demands that I love these unlovable people in the same way that God loves me.  Therefore I cannot engage in the intellectual dishonesty and hate speech of these Alinskyites.


Instead I have to use reason, wit, humor and logic to save those that can be saved and identify, isolate  and shame those that cannot.   I have to treat these folks with love because love conquers all.  It conquers the sad people like these guys and it conquers the sadness in all of us.

But just when you thought this horror movie could not get worse, the plot thickens as the the 2 idiots I "debated" on twitter are not your John Q. Obama-Zombies.  They are apart of the Glitterati Media elites that are destroying this county.


Meet Drew Z. Greenberg.  His resume reads like a Horatio Alger novel of Hollywood success.  his credits include Warehouse 13, Caprica, Star Wars: The Clone wars, Dexter, Inconceivable, The O.C., Smallville, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Queer as Folk.  I really enjoyed Caprica.  I bought the entire series on iTunes.


The writer and producer of Caprica may have bested me in a battle of nit wits.  But the showrunner of Warehouse 13 felt it absolutely necessary to ridicule little ole me the writer, director and producer of Black Magic Barbie.  He just seems a lot smaller than he use to be. 

When people ask me whether or not they should continue to watch Hollywood media even after it violates their values, I hem and haw.  On one level, art is subversive.  A truly good piece of art can transcend all divisions.  Second, film is a collective art piece so you may hate the writer but love the art direction or acting.  Third, there is a lot of competition for your time.  You don't have to settle for less.  Fourth, is it real for you?  If entertainment isn't real or compelling for you, if it doesn't match your experiences or validate the values you hold true,  time to find something else to watch or do.  Lastly, they aren't the only game in town.  Hollywood is losing money because their material doesn't sell in fly over country like it once did because they purposely and arrogantly alienate their viewership.  Hollywood has to remember that they aren't just competing against each other, but they are competing against other media centers like Bollywood, Japanese Anime, South Korean soap operas, Old Hollywood on Hulu and webis and independent media.  They are also competing with video games  and social media which gross a ton more money than the old Box Offices which continually raise ticket prices.

The Buffy vampire squad kind have the Hollywood thing locked up.  They are on every network.  They have huge studio backing and their names and their fame testify to their achievements.  Writers are important because they reveal their humanity in their verse.  They are the beacons of a generation and a civilization speaking with one voice.  But what values does this crowd hold to be true?  What does this crowd write about?  Fantasy really.  Unreal fantasies of their imagination and experiences from their unreal life.  I have served with real heroes.  I have buried a few as well.  Can they write that story?  


You have to write about what you know.

Western Thesaurus - W

Folks in the 19th Century spoke differently than we do.  Just as every generation has its own lingua franca, post-antebellum America was no different.



W

Wabble	Make free use of one's tongue, to be a ready speaker.
WADDIE	Another term for cowboy, a hired man, in the western United States, who tends cattle and performs many of his duties on horseback.  The term waddy is an old term that no one seems to be able to actually put their finger on the exact origin. It is more common in the Midwest and Southwest.   Saddlemaker Mike Brennan did research with these results.  "It originally was a very derogatory term and meant a thief or rustler, then evolved gradually into a lower class "hired man on horseback", and finally came to mean a top hand.  My grandfather carried the nickname "Waddy" from the time he was a little sprout until the day he died, in fact most people didn't even know his real name. Apparently both spellings of the term waddie as in Waddie Mitchell, were and are correct with some sources listing waddy as preferred, and some listing waddie as preferred. "
Waddy	One of the words for cowboy, especially a cowboy who drifted from ranch to ranch and helped out in busy times.
Wag	tail
WAGON	A chuck and a bedroll wagon goes out with the cowboys when they work cattle on the range for several months at a time, especially in the spring and fall.
Wait On	To court.
Wake Snakes	To raise a ruckus.
Wake up/ Woke up the Wrong Passenger	To trouble or anger the wrong person.
Walk The Chalk	Walk straight.
Wall	Roll your eyes.
Wamble	Cropped
Wampum	In the Massachusetts Indian language, this word means white, or the color of shells.
Wanton	disloyal, uncontrolled. "The case was much like that of a loyal and faithful husband, and a light-heeled wanton of a wife." P.196
Wap	To throw quickly, to flap
War Bag	Cowboys traveled light, and stored their meager worldly possessions in his "war bag". Inside was generally everything he owned, typically an extra set of clothes, extra ammunition, spare parts for equipment, playing cards, bill of sale for his horse, and maybe a harmonica or a few precious letters. Also called a "war sack" and a "yannigan bag."
War Bonnet	Hat.
Warm/ warmly	difficult, quick-paced.  Describing a battle that went badly for the British--"This was a warm day to the British." and "The siege was carried on warmly for several days..." P.234
Warrant	guarantee.  Used like the modern expression "You bet." "...'he is not thirsty. I will warrant it.'" P.24
Washy	Weak, not firm or hardy.
Wasp Nest	Light bread.
Wattles	Ears.
Wax	In a rage.
Wearing  the Bustle Wrong	Referring to a pregnant woman.
Weather	Breeder
Weed	A common term for tobacco.
Well To Live	To be in easy circumstances, to live comfortably.
Whack	To share.
Whacker	Anything very large, same as a "whopper."
Whale Away	To preach, talk or lecture continuously or vehemently.
Whaler	A big, strapping fellow.
Whaling	A lashing, a beating.
Whang	Sinews of the buffalo or other animal, or small strips of thin deer
Whap	A quick and smart stroke.
Whap	A quick and smart stroke.
Whapper or Whopper	Anything uncommonly large, as, 'That's a whopper,' meaning a monstrous lie.
Whapping	Very large.
What in the Tarnation	A polite way of saying "What the hell?"
Wheel	Horse
Whelk	An old name for a pustule, a pimple. The word is not much used in America.
Whelky	Protuberant, rounded.
Whim	Wham
Whip	belly
Whistle Berries	Beans.
White	Eyed
White Eye	Maize whiskey.
White Liner	An alcoholic.
White Tape, White Wine	Gin
Whitewash	To gloss over or hide one's faults or shortcomings.
Whittled	Drunk
Whole Kit and Caboodle	The entire thing.
Whomper	jawed
Whuppin'	Spanking.
Wicket	A place of shelter, or camp made of the boughs of trees.
Widow	The gallows.
Widow Maker	A very bad or "outlaw" horse.
Wigging	A rebuke.
Wild Mare's Milk	Whiskey.
Wild West Weekly	Pulp or "dime" novels.
Windies	Tall Tales.
Winsome	Lively, cheerful, gay.
Wipe Your Chin	Be quiet.
Withal	and all that, besides "...we lay still and showed our good breeding by not interfering with them, as they were strangers, and we knew not but they were bashful withal." Seems typically used at the end of a sentence. P.33
Wolfer	A man with a large appetite or a hard drinker.
Wolfish	Savage, savagely hungry.
Wood	Saddle.
Wooding	Place
Woolies	Sheep
Woolsey	A cheap hat, usually made of wool.
Worse Than a Cat in a Roomful of  Rockers	Someone who is really nervous.
Wrapper	A loose dress or gown.
Wrathy	Very angry.
Wrinkle	Whim, fancy, a cunning trick or artful dodge.
Wrinkled His Spine	A horse bucking.