Good or Bad for the Jews

"Good or Bad for the Jews"

Many years ago, and for many years, I would travel to Morocco to visit uncles, cousins, and my paternal grandmother. Some lived in Tangiers;...

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Movie of the Year: Death Wish

Took the Diplowife, Diploson 1, Diploson 2, and Diploson 2 Girlfriend to the movies tonight.

We saw the Eli Roth/Bruce Willis movie, "Death Wish."

It's the movie of the year.

Hands down.

No other film comes close.

OK, it's a remake. Sort of. It has the same basic storyline that the 1974 Michael Winner/Charles Bronson "Death Wish" had--well, sort of.

In both films, the wife and the daughter of the protagonist, Paul Kersey, are brutally attacked at home by some thugs. The wife dies; the daughter is left in a coma. Mild-mannered Paul--in the original a New York architect, in the new one a Chicago ER trauma surgeon--goes to the police, and does everything a good citizen should. The cops, of course, are nigh on useless, swamped by unsolved crimes, understaffed, and just plain numb to the suffering.

In the original, Paul has an epiphany after visiting a friend and business associate in gun-loving Arizona, who tells him the cops won't protect him, and gives him a revolver. In this version, Paul has his epiphany after taking his wife's body home to her family in gun-loving Texas, and hearing from his gun-toting father-in-law (played by excellent Canadian actor Len Cariou) how the police won't protect him and a MAN, yes, a MAN, has to protect what's his. In both films, Paul subsequently goes on a rampage against the thugs on the street, with the added twist in the new version of his seeking the actual thugs who attacked his family.

I won't give the rest away, but you're guaranteed to have a rollicking time in the theater--and watch out for that bowling ball!

How can you resist a movie which portrays the gun store clerk as an attractive, young, smart, funny, and sympathetic woman? How can you resist a movie which has a college student reading from Milton Friedman? How can you resist a movie with conservative talk jock Mancow Mueller playing conservative talk jock Mancow Mueller? How can you resist a movie that constantly cites the murder stats in Chicago? How can you resist Bruce Willis agonizing over how he failed as a MAN, yes, a MAN, in his duty to protect his family? How can you resist a movie in which the main detective (played by the always great Dean Norris of "Breaking Bad" fame) spits out an organic, gluten-free, protein bar in disgust? How can you resist a movie that gives out good advice on proper handling of a firearm, and approvingly cites and demonstrates the wisdom of the phrase "when seconds count, the police are minutes away"? You can't. Resistance is futile.

OK, it's got a few technical flaws.

First, as Diploson 2 pointed out to me, nowadays just about no college student would be assigned to read Milton Friedman--not PC. Second, the availability of fully automatic weapons is just way off--you'll see what I mean at the end. Third, too many of the Chicago street thugs are white.

Put those quibbles aside, however, forget I even mentioned them; watch a movie that the liberal/progressive critics are hating, blasting, and ridiculing as a paean to a dying white patriarchy but which audiences are loving. Go to Rotten Tomatoes, if you don't believe me, and see the striking disparity between the views of "professional" critics and those of real people.

Offend the critics. Watch it.

Movie of the year.

29 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review and recommendation. I plan on seeing it this Sunday evening. Loves me some Bruce Willis!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry, got to go with Pacific Rim 2. Giant alien monsters (Godzilla on roids) vs giant armed robots.
    What Hollywood should be making...mindless escape entertainment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. paul_vincent_zecchinoMarch 11, 2018 at 2:18 PM

      Zilla's plenty tough, but then there's Megalon with whom to reckon.

      Dare one mention the dread name, Robot Monster? Horrifying!

      Delete
    2. With barrel full of deadly Ah-Ji-No-Moto set to go off at end of meal!

      Delete
  3. The storyline sounds very interesting. Especially today when many men appear to be ambivalent about manhood. Pink hats, PC talk but all these awful, pathetic tattoos....You got me interested here, DiploMad, and Bruce Willis never disappoints.
    Swedish lady

    ReplyDelete
  4. Today's sweet irony is that those wishing to abolish the Second Amendment are the very same ones who claim that Trump wants to become a dictator ... an event that the Second Amendment was designed to discourage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That has been a recent interwebs meme...The same people who have been calling Trump a Nasi want him to take all the guns away.

      Delete
  5. That's a great recommendation- but I still fail to see the reason for all these remakes that Hollywood is so fond of trotting out.

    Next some genius will insist on doing a remake of Casablanca, or The Quiet Man. I won't be seeing them, but lots of people probably will; they won't even realize how well the orginals were done, as they'll never see them and won't know what they are missing.

    Last Christmas I watched Miracle on 34th Street. I was disappointed, as it just didn't seem right somehow. Sure enough, it was a remake done in 1994; feminism had snuck in, and (IMHO) ruined the film. There have been 3 remakes of the original 1947 movie, all of which have their admirers, but none match the original film.

    So as much as I like Bruce Willis, and as much as the reports of this film indicate that I'll like it- a part of me will be comparing it to the original, and finding flaws. Charles Bronson was magnificent in his role in Death Wish, and it's hard to improve on perfection.

    I'd really prefer to see an original film starring Bruce Willis in a role that hasn't already been done so very well. I doubt that I'm alone in that desire!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's hard to beat "Die Hard."

      Delete
    2. Very true! That's an excellent "Christmas movie!"

      And if another actor wanted to star in a remake of Die Hard- I'd certainly advise him against it, just like I'd have advised Bruce Willis against doing Death Wish!

      Delete
    3. I like that. "Die Hard with a scapel."

      Delete
    4. A movie in the same genre as Death Wish is "The Foreigner," starring Jackie Chan. Excellently done!

      Jackie plays an ex-Special Forces man, now 61, who had already lost his wife & two of his children. He has now lost his only remaining family, his young daughter, through IRA terrorism; she was killed while shopping. He wants to know who did this, and he stops at nothing to find out.

      This film is very realistic, and Jackie doesn't play it with his usual humor. It is gritty and powerful. It's seriously excellent, and I highly recommend it!

      Delete
    5. "The Foreigner" is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.

      Delete
    6. Thanks for the recommendation The Foreigner. Saw it today and greatly enjoyed it.

      Delete
  6. My wife and I saw it a week ago. The differences are interesting. The original had more about police work and Vincent Gardenia was terrific as the cop. The Bruce Willis character was an interesting twist. I was a trauma surgeon for years and used to look at the shoes of teenaged kids coming out of the ambulance to see if I recognized them. Once I did. It was my partner's son. Fortunately, he was OK and is now a surgeon himself. Not many gunshot wounds as we were in the suburbs. Lots of auto accidents, though and a plane crash.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "How can you resist Bruce Willis agonizing over how he failed as a MAN, yes, a MAN, in his duty to protect his family?"

    Yeah, I noted that too (saw it yesterday, at the cinema). It wasn't that Dr. Kersey felt he'd failed as a citizen of the republic, or a person, or as an American Airlines Frequent Flier, or whatever identify they expect middle class White males to embrace these days, but clearly as a MAN. Almost as if men and women aren't interchangeable meatbags.

    ReplyDelete
  9. elite critics 8% vs. 83% audience rating!!! disconnect maybe? Dip- you have aroused me! I will go to the picture show for the first time in many years tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  10. OT...have they come after you yet? These 2 blogs got calls today from Reuters about lawsuits THAT HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN FILED YET! Assume you are familiar w the Gateway Pundit.
    American Everyman is a liberal that didn't support Hillary & delves into what I prefer to call "alternative theories"

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/03/reuters-contacts-gateway-pundit-interview-tells-us-sued-wont-tell-us-knew/

    https://americaneveryman.com/2018/03/12/so-now-they-are-using-the-federal-court-to-attack-bloggers-specifically-me/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seem readers have informed me that The Diplomad has been blocked at certain public libraries and schools. I have not experienced it personally.

      Delete
    2. BTW, I left a post for your attention from your Jan. write up on Churchill.

      Delete
  11. From a superb review of The Darkest Hour to this! Oh dear. My Film of the Year? "The Party" a drama in which Tim Spall is superb, the direction and camerawork are stunning and it should have been twice as long. It is a short movie at 71 mins. I am not an "elite critic" but an aging Bruce Willis in a remake of a good Bronson movie does not a great film make. Try some acting instead.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a silly circus in London. Theresa May is picking a quarrel with Putin. Why now ? Well, I remember what happened just before the Winter Olympics in Russia. The staged unrest in the Ukraine happened. Very soon they have presidential election and then the enormously popular FIFA-football event in Russia. Just a coincidence ? Maybe Mrs May should put her efforts in the Brexit negotations instead, but then, maybe this is a distraction from this or something her masters want her to do.She is not to be trusted.
    Swedish lady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, imagine her getting upset that Russia has deployed nerve agents in London. Silly. They come in, kill with impunity and injure other citizens, hey, what's the big deal. Must be some sort of conspiracy theory or something.

      Delete
    2. Especially since nothing of the kind happened...Indeed, May refuses to let anyone look at the "bodies", though the Russian embassy is entitled to do so by law. More important, the nerve agent, which May refuses to provide a sample of, also required by international law, is supposedly Nowick. Nowick is so deadly that a liter or two would call almost everyone in London, so whoever delivered it would have died instantly. Instead, we get the claim that 18 people were injured--also no proof provided of any of that... And the formula is public knowledge, so CIA and MI-6 probably have it in stock...

      Delete
  13. Well Anonymous, you obviously believe in Mrs May. She certainly makes a lot of noise and she is in a big hurry. No time for investigations here. She claims that it is "highly likely" that Russia is behind it but based on what ? The poison was Russian-made ? And why would Putin risk another fury-storm just before the election and the football event with a half-baked poisoning attempt, leaving "fingerprints" behind ? It isn´t likely, in my opinion, it is highly unlikely.And to go on like this is bad judgment on Mrs May´s behalf. As usual, this is probably about something else than it looks like.I have my speculations. I have read some of the comment sections in UK newspapers and many, many commenters are quite derisive and scornful of their own government. They think that May should mind her own business and for example take care of Brexit or all the ISIS-followers who are permitted to return to the UK. Listen, many of us Europeans are fed up with these Russia provocations, the people do not want to follow their leaders here. Europe has so many other problems, much more urgent to deal with. And we want to enjoy the football games in peace.
    Swedish lady

    ReplyDelete
  14. And why would Putin risk another fury-storm just before the election and the football event with a half-baked poisoning attempt, leaving "fingerprints" behind ?

    Why wouldn't he? Who else has motive?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obviously the Deep State, which has been trying to stir up war with Russia for several years....But you are assuming that May is telling the truth, and she transparently isn't....

      Delete
    2. Yes, Pyrrhus, that´s obvious. And now their lackey, Mrs May, is whipping up a boycott. Pathetic. They can´t have it that the football-games in Russia is a success. I knew it. The script is the same as before the Olympics in Sootchi. If you check the link please read the comments and you get a grip of what ordinary people think about this theatre.
      https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/932487/russia-world-cup-2018-uk-ministers-international-boycott-spy-nerve-agent-attack
      Swedish lady

      Delete