Society & Culture

The Movie Industry and 2021 Oscars

There’s no business but woke business

Published

2 years ago

April 24, 2021

Jeff Davidson

You’re not going to watch the Oscars telecast on Sunday night, and I don’t blame you: Leftist Doctrine has infiltrated the movie industry to the degree that there is no business but woke business. Nonetheless, I’ve briefly reviewed the eight nominated films, and some others:

The United States vs Billie Holiday

This film is captivating. On par with Renée Zellweger in Judy, singer Andra Day in the title role, is quite convincing. Along with Carrie Mulligan, in Promising Young Woman, I think she shares the lead for the best female actor award.

As with four of the other nominated movies for the April 25 telecast, in arguably the worst line-up of nominated films in Oscar history, the upshot is the same: All white men are bad, all black people are exploited.

Judas and the Black Messiah

Starring the British Daniel Kaluuya, and Lakeith Stanfield, both of whom who have excellent futures in the movies, Judas and the Black Messiah is a surprise despite the ultra-clunky title. I was expecting a heavy philosophical overlay of how the Black Panthers’ experience then, somehow translates to Black Lives Matter today.

Indeed, 300+ movie reviewers fervently want to connect the two experiences but they differ vastly: 50 to 55 years ago the FBI, Chicago Police, and other police departments were verifiably hostile to black people. Today, the FBI knowingly and blatantly shields Black Live Matters crimes, be it rioting, looting, mayhem, and even murder.

While a handful of regrettable “death by cop” cases arise each year, in general, police are not out to get black people, who are given more leeway and understanding than anyone from the 1960s could presume. And minority officers now represent 40% or more of many city police departments.

Of note: Martin Sheen hits a new low, not helped by the makeup director, playing an unconvincing J. Edgar Hoover.

The Trial of the Chicago Seven

Although it take liberties with the actual events, this is a reasonably good movie with many excellent supporting cast members, good pacing, and humor, and is worth viewing. Afterward, look up the fact and fiction within the film.

Minari

Set in the 1980s in rural Arkansas, Minari offers an endearing portrayal of what one generation does for the next, as viewed within a single family, in this case, Korean immigrants. This film is garnering rave reviews from every quarter. The ensemble cast performs well, led by Yuh-Jung Youn who adds spark and verve.

The Father

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Coleman, and Olivia Williams, The Father is a 93-minute movie that is 63 minutes too long. You could watch the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes and be no less informed.

We should all be thankful if our parents, or our future selves, do not suffer from the level of dementia portrayed here: He can’t recall what happened yesterday, sometimes an hour ago, and sometimes minutes ago.

The film shows reality from the father’s perspective, which is a constant jangle of dates, times, people, situations, and places; and the reality of those around him who have to deal with his constant ramblings, false assertions, obstinance, proud declarations, and outright inaccuracies. Save time, watch the trailer and read a long review.

Mank

Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried star in this biopic about Hollywood screenwriter Frank Mankiewicz. Strattling the 1930s and 40s, while penning Citizen Kane, ‘Mank’ has a fondness for alcohol and for saying whatever he thinks.

Charles Dance, as the preeminent but affable William Randolph Hearst is notable. This is an insider’s movie for the thankfully shrinking number of people who know or care about Hollywood.

Nomadland

Starring Frances McDormand, Nomadland offers a view of the American west and people who choose to no longer have permanent roots. The film presents one brief encounter after another, moving to the next scene, and the next.

It does impart the sense of loneliness and in some cases emptiness of the people who have chosen this lifestyle and so is somewhat engaging while watching it, but otherwise totally skippable.

McDormand has been nominated for an Oscar, however, this is not among her best. The film itself is regarded as profound by many reviewers, but then so was The Shape of Water and Roma (!)

Promising Young Woman

With Carey Mulligan, in an Oscar worthy turn, this movie represents a new step in her acting career. Without giving away any of the plot, it is both compelling and lingering.

Produced by Margot Robbie, who seems to have a knack for the zeitgiest, you really can’t forget this movie.

Sound of Metal

An inside and gripping portrayal of what it’s like to go deaf, as experienced by a drummer for a heavy metal band. Rapper and now actor, Riz Ahmed, in the lead role, offers moments of denial, rebellion, and poignancy.

Not nominated, fittingly, is this film:

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

This forgettable movie, nominated for several acting Oscars no less, is as revolting as its regrettable title, surprising for a film produced by Denzel Washington. The makeup and wardrobe to make Viola Davis look 40 pounds heavier and decades older is ridiculous.

The first 20 minutes of the film is nearly unwatchable, like a bad Eugene O’Neill play, all staged-dialogue, in one room. As the braggadocio horn player, the non-stop banter by the late Chaz Boseman, to whom the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will posthumously award an Oscar, is simply irritating.

The use of blatant stereotypes – black and white – in this ‘woke era’ is mindboggling: Ma’s white manager is a milquetoast, the recording studio owner is exploitative, the Klansmen (only referred to in a soliloquy by Bozeman) vicious, Ma’s niece is promiscuous, the black band members are accommodating, etc.

Finally, here is one movie that is an under-seen gem:

The Courier

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, this is a Cold War era spy movie, par excellence, a bit reminiscent of the German film, The Lives of Others. Overlooked by the ridiculously woke AMPAS, and probably way too subtle, The Courier is a great movie, easily among the best five pictures of the year, if not the best.

A friend said, “Loved The Courier. It deserves consideration especially with the unpatriotic events unfolding.” And I replied, “but woke Hollywood would object to the less-than-vocal wives and to no minorities in the film. So it had no chance to be nominated for an Oscar.”

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Jeff Davidson

Jeff Davidson is the world's only holder of the title "The Work-Life Balance Expert®" as awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is the premier thought leader on work-life balance, integration, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management. Visit www.BreathingSpace.com for more information on Jeff's keynote speeches and seminars, including: Managing the Pace with Grace® * Achieving Work-Life Balance™ * Managing Information and Communication Overload®

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News

Mainstream Media: Intentionally and Diabolically Unfair and Unbalanced

All pretense that the mainstream media strives for objectivity is gone

Published

3 days ago

May 25, 2023

Jeff Davidson

by Jay DeLancey and Jeff Davidson

The grandest mistake the American populace committed in the last half-century was assuming that our media was even somewhat fair and balanced. Likewise proceeding in the last two decades as if the Internet giants had no dog in the political arena proved to be a mistake of historical proportions.

Today because so many people, still, are conditioned as such, the mere fact that say, a CNN, has a website prompts some people to believe that the network have something of value to offer. Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, whose focus is classics and military history, says that the New York Times is “a shell of what it used to be.”

Nothing Objective to Offer

The paper always leaned to the left, since it’s founding, but it did an intermittently semi-decent job in reporting the facts. The Times sent their reporters out to the streets to do hard-core reporting. The mission was to gather relevant data, identify sources, talk to people, find eye witnesses, speak to bonafide experts, attain corroboration, and then when they were sure of what they had written, submit the story or feature.

Their articles probably never represented a 50-50 balance – perhaps 55-45 or 60-40 in favor of the left. Today, no rational media observer would contend that the balance is 70-30, or even 80-20. Study after study reveals, say, in the case of covering Donald Trump, that 92% of all features are negative, and that is not to say the remaining 8% are positive. Mostly, they’re neutral.

If you are a Trump or DeSantis supporter, or a Republican running for Senate or the House of Representatives, for governor in your state, or for any other position of prominence, you simply cannot expect a fair shake from the press, nationally, and in most cases locally. Indeed, you’re likely to be demonized, endlessly, over issues for which Democrats receive a free pass.

Compromised to the Breaking Point

The New York Times and The Washington Post of old, as biased as they might’ve been, at least offered some semblance of up-to-date information, with facts and figures when they had them, and timely reporting as situations unfolded. Hansen remarked that today the people who run these newspapers are trading on the decades of hard work and the reputations built up over more than 100 years.

Those who put in the seed work are dead and gone and thus, obviously, have no say about what’s going on today. The Times and the Post, in less than a generation, are destroying their own reputations. The people who currently run these ‘news’ organizations are dragging them down at warp speed and don’t even recognize the damage that they are doing.

By 2030, what is now a shell of an organization will be less so, and it wouldn’t be too wild to predict that the Times could totally morph into something else. The Post is not far behind in devising its own demise.

The Pretense is Gone

Each of the countless newspapers that feed off of these two publishing giants suffer as well. All such pretense that the mainstream media strives for objectivity is gone. The good news, if you could call it that, is everyone on the right is now vitally all aware that this has happened.

Those who strive for integrity in elections, those who are on the right, and those who are routinely demonized by the left, understand what’s occurring to the nth degree. It’s not fair, but to know what you face is a benefit of sorts.

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Elections

Democrats Once Made Sense Occasionally

By today’s standards JFK would be considered a conservative

Published

5 days ago

May 22, 2023

Jeff Davidson

With RFK, Jr. already favored by a sizable percentage of Democrats for the 2024 nomination, I recall a visit I made to his mother’s home. In 1988, I was invited by a friend to attend a Democratic fund raising reception for a congressional candidate, running in Northern Virginia. The reception was to be held at the home of Ethel Kennedy in McLean, VA.

I was eager to attend, although skeptical that the reception would actually be held in Mrs. Kennedy’s home. I felt certain it would be held in the back yard, or in a special tent on grounds that were meticulously groomed for the event.

To my surprise, the event was held in her home and the hundreds of people who attended apparently were free to roam about the first floor without restriction. I found this to be totally amazing. Here was a home, that by any measure, contained artifacts which future generations would clamor to see.

A Panoply of Pop Culture and History

Every room contained personal photos of Bobby Kennedy, Jack Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and the entire clan, as well as awards, citations, and personal mementos. Guests could have pocketed their choice of mementos at any time. Apparently none did – at any time. More astounding, Mrs. Kennedy seemed completely unconcerned about the possibility.

As I meandered about the grounds, I made my way to the pool house. Between a couch and a chair, on a phone stand, along with the phone, was a roster of phone numbers typed and inserted in a plastic sleeve. I looked at the list. Ted Kennedy’s congressional phone number and his private number in Hyannis were listed. Jackie Kennedy’s personal phone number in New York was listed. Other family members, celebrities’ and luminaries’ personal phone numbers were listed.

Any reporter or paparazzi could have cashed in simply by copying the numbers on the list and selling them to the tabloids. This backyard, this yard, this house, on a typical street in McLean, VA had no fences, no guard dogs, none of what I would have expected the widow of a historical figure – a millionairess – to have.

People-oriented to the Max

I thought about all the time and energy that I, and most of the people I know, spend to safeguard our privacy, to ensure no one is looking over our shoulder when we’re doing something as simple as reading a newspaper on an airplane. Ethel Kennedy, however, was a public person, circa 1988.

It seemed inconceivable that an Ethel Kennedy could be so open and people-oriented, and not need the barriers and protectors that most of us believe we need.

As that night’s affair ended, I marveled when Ethel Kennedy stood at the door and bade all guests a fond farewell. She shook my hand and thanked me for coming as if I had been one of the Democratic Party’s most staunch supporters and honored guests in her home.

Accessible and Not-off-the-Wall

I was not a Democrat and never seek to be one, but this I know: by today’s standards JFK would be considered a conservative, or certainly someone ‘unworthy’ of the Democrat nomination. RFK senior likely would be in the same category.

Sure, many of their views and policies would be appear to be be left of center or at the center, but perhaps no more so than John McCain or George W. Bush. In any case, any Kennedy would be preferable to the tyrannical Leftist monsters currently in power, seeking to destroy America.

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