Who else could possibly turn a seemingly commonplace movie review into an indictment of pretty much everyone and everything in this country besides eentertainment lawyer/scribe Bob Leftsetz?
That’s a rhetorical question, btw.
But take my word for it, Lefsetz “movie review” of Snowpiercer – may be incredibly long – but it’s a journalistic train trip that won’t disappoint.
Check it:
*******
“How do you get from the back of the train to the front?
Greetings from sunny Southern California where it isn’t. That’s right, unlike in that old Albert Hammond song, today it’s RAINING! Something seen once every decade. Which is why if you bring up board games Angelenos are flummoxed, they know not about rainy days and Mondays where you stay inside and try to entertain yourself. Then again, everybody’s staying inside these days. Because of TELEVISION!
Ah, the idiot box that’s now a flat screen, that is your window to the world, upon which you can view not only cable and network fare, but movies on demand.
That’s the new thing. Who wants to go to the theatre anyway?
Certainly not me. Because the time is never convenient, and the people keep talking and I need to study the flick, it’s my lifeblood. So when I read that you could pull up “Snowpiercer” on your cable system…
I was wavering, I was thinking about going to the multiplex. But reviews were not stellar enough to push me over. But to spend $6.99 to watch at home?
So we pulled the curtains, dropped the lights, clicked the remote, and saw an allegory about America, even though Americans don’t know it.
Americans are stupid. That’s why there will be no revolution.
Well, let me change that, they’re not stupid, they’re UNEDUCATED! They might know how to use YouTube, but they know nothing about the news, nothing about economics or the human condition other than what’s in front of their very eyes.
And the self-satisfied smarties are just as bad, especially the Republicans. They read the Wall Street Journal and think they know everything, when the truth is a very small sliver of people know what’s going on, and they’re running the train.
Forget all the ink about inheritances, how bozos are living on the untaxed assets of their parents. As Bob Dylan said, “he not busy being born is busy dying,” and if you think money is enough, you don’t know that Mike Tyson went broke. Sure, you’ve got to have cash, even better you’ve got to know the score. And almost nobody in America does, otherwise there’d be revolution.
Brownback’s Mountain: Abracadabra
Like Sam Brownback lowering taxes in Kansas but the aforementioned WSJ not mentioning the consequences, continuing to parade the fiction that lower taxes drive business development, when in this case not only did revenues go down, but jobs.
But that’s the way the rich wanted it. The rich want so much. And they convince the poor if they just play nice and follow in their footsteps, they’ll get a few crumbs.
Hogwash.
Then again, the unwashed lefties keep clamoring to bring manufacturing back, which is pure insanity, and the poor are clueless and auditioning for reality TV.
So it’s after the apocalypse, and everybody left is circling the frozen earth on a train. And the poor are afraid to speak up. But someone does…
Who’s going to speak up in America? We used to count on middle class college students, like Mark Rudd. But now all the middle class kids at good schools want to be upper class, they don’t want to rock the boat, they just want to make sure they’re not down there with the hoi polloi.
Starving artist my ass. Used to be, but now they’re just starving. Because it’s a full time job putting food on the table, you’ve got no time to be an artist.
And the poor have no awareness, they don’t know their food is made from bugs. They’ve never eaten at Chez Panisse, they think McDonald’s is good, as they get fatter and fatter and die of heart disease and the rich eat vegetables while their women become x-rays. If you think being skinny is the end all and be all, I pity you. That just means you don’t understand the game. It’s not what you look like, it’s what’s inside your brain.
That’s the mantra of Silicon Valley. Of Monsanto. Read this BusinessWeek article to make your head spin. You may think Monsanto is the genetically modified seed maker but that’s just a tiny sliver of their business, they’re selling insurance and software and they’re so far ahead of the game that if you think labeling genetically modified food is the answer, you don’t know that most of their products come from breeding and that’s been done for a hundred years!
Yup, that’s the problem with the lefties, always speaking from their emotions, facts are irrelevant.
While the rich right wingers tilt the facts in their favor, to keep the ignorant down.
So we need a leader. But no one wants to lead. And the battle is long and the rewards aren’t clearly defined. And the truth is those at the top are not as evil as we believe them to be. They’ve got good qualities, it’s just that these people are myopic, believing they know what’s good for everybody when they know nobody other than themselves.
And this is all in “Snowpiercer,” which everyone would know about except a major studio doesn’t want to risk dollars promoting it, so it only opened in eight theatres and is now on VOD. Maybe it’ll have an impact on Netflix, when it finally reaches there. You see art lives on forever, but very little is art.
I thought “Snowpiercer” was an action flick. And it was for the first third, but then it raised the big questions, the ones the musicians used to ask in the sixties, before selling out became the mantra and the rich kept eviscerating the safety net and we saw poor on poor crime. Yup, while you’re battling each other, the rich are unreachable, behind walls, flying private.
But no one will tell you this, because otherwise you’ll lose hope.
But what we need is true hope. Leaders we can believe in.
And artists and leaders always go side by side.
But only in the movies. That’s right, a Korean director adapted “Snowpiercer” from a graphic novel and all we know about that far-away country is Samsung, as if our mobile phones will save the world.
But they won’t. We’ve got to save ourselves.
Which is why all those Ivy League graduates are not becoming ski bums, are not becoming teachers, but are going into finance so they can not only get ahead, but interact with others who understand the game.
The game? It’s rigged against you. The American Dream is kaput. You cannot get ahead, that’s just a fiction those who’ve already got theirs are spreading, having you believe if you just push a little harder, you’ll break through.
But the truth is we live in an information age. And he who knows most wins.
Bong Joon-ho
So surf all the porn you want, read the gossip columns. That’s exactly how the owners of this country want you, distracted. Because if you understood what was really going on, you’d rally the troops and start moving forward, start battling the resistance, move your way from the back to the front.
But you’ve got no idea where the front is.
Never mind how to get there.
P.S. “Snowpiercer” got a limited release because the director wouldn’t agree to Harvey Weinstein‘s edict that 20 minutes be cut and opening and closing monologues be added. But unlike the musicians, director Bong Joon-ho said no. Art is not about compromising, that’s BUSINESS!”
This Leftsetz proffer is an angst filled flechette skewering the usual suspects with the usual accusations. Hearne, will you be the first guy Lefsetz throws off of the “Snowpiercer”, being insultingly and insouciantly wealthy by way of birth and blood as opposed to sweat and effort?
A revolution! Bloody constraint! To get it started, I would suggest Leftsetz fuel the fire with singular and appropriate action that speaks to the sleeping righteousness of the middle class. Today he (Lefsetz) should kidnap Patty Hearst and send ransom demands to Bill O’Reilly.
Here’s the thing Bob. The middle class is somewhat distracted, it’s true, but in my opinion, it is with the Fascist Fiats from the Federal Government in the form of higher bills for Health Care that are and will ruin the personal and national economies of Americans and America. With the brazen commissioning of a willing IRS in the intimidation and persecution of political organizations whose politics run counter to the idioms of the Marxist Culturalist Kleptocrats who really run this country. With the criminal abrogation of the Attorney General to prosecute those responsible (If it isn’t a Republican, it doesn’t count Nixon’s Articles of Impeachment featured just such abuse.). With the destruction of our National Sovereignty 24/7 on our Southern border aided and abetted by those same kleptocrats.
If Americans are stupid, then maybe some responsibility rests with the 4th Estate. Maybe Americans, now familiar with the Main Stream Media’s “Pravda” position as a spokesman and supporter of the left know the news and the slant of that news before it is even reported. Maybe the lies, obfuscation and legerdemain that characterizes the delivery and content of not only the news, but entertainment to we hoi polloi has beaten us into a Stockholm Syndrome fugue that guarantees the American Suicide by way of the multicultaristic power of the New Demographik and guys like you, are grease for the wheels and grist for the mill that grinds up and spits out the middle class into the wood chipper.
Say hi to Patty.
By the way, not all journalists are cowards. This guy got fired yesterday for this report. He has some actual chops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOekY4FiGjU#t=144
Good stuff Bob. You know you hit a sweet spot when Chuck goes into his “New Demographik, Fascist/Marxist Federal Government, IRS, ACA higher health costs, Main stream “Pravda” , factless diatribe. Prepare yourself for an endless supply of “American Thinker” links.
To quote Oliver Twist / Charles Dickens, “more please !!!”
I’m with Stomps.
While certainly it was more rant than review, I think Bob did an excellent job of being an “equal opportunity offender.”
Pretty much nobody got a pass on this one.
On top of that, I had already read some excellent reviews of the movie and just learned it was on cable pay-per-view, so I can’t wait to watch it.
Count me in too fellas.
Nobody but Chuck can say so little with so much verbage. My god, I haven’t read that much bullsh!t since proof-reading one of my 9th grade essays.
Ya got me there Stomper (Except there are no “American Thinker” links. No messenger to kill I guess this time.).
The IRS isn’t a politcal weapon of the Democratic party, overrepresented by 28% minority employees (No doubt their political persuasions are right down the middle.) and union members who get out of bed with an agenda every day. Thanks for getting us all up to speed on that. There is not a “Smidgeon of corruption” and a difference of opinion is, in spite of the unambiguated evidence to the contrary, is hitting a “sweet spot”.
The individual mandate was delayed NOT because of the 2014 elections and the obvious fear of “Stupid Americans” waking up to higher heath care costs and voting against the Democrats who enacted this piece of odious, pernicious, wealth transfer legislation, it was because the President’s pen and phone did it when he was playing golf.
The border isn’t secure but the economy and Americans everywhere stand with open arms, welcoming the millions of ILLEGALS coming into our country and obtaining public assistance.
Keep killing the messenger when you can’t kill the message, we are all so “stupid” here in the barnyard with the rest of you chickens.
Thanks Chuck, I always enjoy sparring with you on politics. I’m not trying to kill the messenger, just encouraging the messenger to do a bit of unbiased research before delivering your message. Let me offer my opinion briefly, on each of your points.
IRS. The IRS is not a political weapon of the Democratic Party, it’s a weapon of the office of the President. It didn’t take very long after Congress created the IRS for a republican president, Coolidge, to use it as a weapon to go after his enemies. Nixon raised the act of using the IRS to punish enemies to an art form. Yes, Democrats use it as well but don’t try to peddle that Obama is doing something that both parties haven’t done for almost a century. And then there is that pesky issue about tea party groups with an obvious political agenda trying to claim they are non-profits without any political goals so they can avoid paying taxes. Democratic groups try to do it as well and it is the job of the IRS to pursue these offenders.
Healthcare- “Healthcare that will ruin the personal and national economies of Americans and America”. Seriously Chuck?? Consider this. The US spends almost 20% of our GDP on healthcare. With a GDP of almost $17 Trillion , that means we are spending well over $3 Trillion annually. Every other developed country in the world spends no more than about 10% of their GDP. We’re about the only country among them that does not provide universal healthcare. If we could match the rest of the developed world in the % we spend on healthcare, we’d save about $ 1.5 Trillion. That would cover your beer tab for quite a while, Chuck AND leave a few hundred billion to deal with serious issues in this country. What do we get for that $3 trillion we spend? Well the World Heath Organization rates US healthcare behind about 35 other developed nations. How embarrassing is that ??? If this isn’t a situation in our country that demands action by the federal government, I don’t know what does. Our current method of healthcare delivery is doing a real fine job of wrecking the personal and national economies of Americans and America already. The ACA can’t help but improve the situation.
Border, Our border hasn’t been secure for quite a while now. Republicans in no rush to deal with this as immigrants provide a great source of cheap labor for corporations. This is a problem that demands the attention of both parties but the GOP is afraid to even talk about it. When Eric Cantor lost to Tea Party candidate Brat in the primary this year, over this issue of immigration primarily, it scared the heck out of the GOP and effectively took the issue off the table. As my “close personal friend” Harley has pointed out numerous times, if the GOP doesn’t pull their head out of their backside and work across the aisle to deal with the immigration issue, they will forfeit the rapidly increasing Hispanic vote and have no shot at the White House for decades. It won’t be long before Texas becomes a Blue State. When that happens, there won’t be a republican residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for a long, long time. There’s your “New Demographik”. Open your eyes and deal with it.
Chuck, I know you are a smart guy, you just need to take off the blinders and consider both sides of the argument before you go into your “New Demographik, etc. etc. etc.” rant.
auuuughh!!!!!!! FACTS!!!!!!! Cannot handle…must put fingers in ears……..scream loudly………turn on Fox News……..
The IRS was indeed weaponized with Nixon and he was forced from office. Again, as I mentioned, the Articles of Impeachment included that abuse of power. Will it be included in Obama’s Articles of Impeachment?
“And then there is that pesky issue about tea party groups with an obvious political agenda trying to claim they are non-profits without any political goals so they can avoid paying taxes. Democratic groups try to do it as well and it is the job of the IRS to pursue these offenders.” That isn’t just disingenuous, it is insulting to anyone with above room temp IQ. The IRS, peopled with Liberal apparatchiks from top to bottom, took dead aim at Conservative organizations by literally the hundreds and neglected to enforce the same laws for Democrats. This is a fact (Take note rkcal of this inconvenient truth.) Your pretense that an even handed enforcement of IRS statutes was effected in pursuit of both Democrats and Republicans is not just untenable, it’s laughable.
I fully expect Hillary to win the 2016 presidential election and I guarantee she will gut the ACA like a fish on the food channel. If the ACA was such a godsend, then the Individual Mandate would be in effect for all the Democrats to ride into the 2014 elections. I will remind you of the catastrophic failure of this measure again and again as it continues to destroy the American economy. We differ in opinion on this and I will be more than happy to eat crow if I am wrong over the next couple of years. You’re not only on the wrong horse, his name is Barbaro.
I agree with you that Republican sh*theels want cheap labor. F*ck them too.
I am not in lock step with any political party and like many folks I know, have opinions that run counter to both right and left. Women should have control over their bodies. I think we should engage Russia and stop rattling sabers. George Bush and Dick Cheney started a completely unnecessary war in search of WMDs that didn’t exist. Every time I see Dick Cheney on TV these days, pontificating on the Middle East I am sickened to my soul. 4,000 dead, 50,000 more processed through Walter Reed and a quarter million dead Iraqis for fu*king nothing. It destabilized the Mid East creating a vacuum for the rise of a Shia hegemony with the terrorist state of Iran as the guidon.
Your boy Lefsetz is a smarmy schmuck.
“Americans are stupid. That’s why there will be no revolution.
Well, let me change that, they’re not stupid, they’re UNEDUCATED! ”
Here is the thing schmuck, we can still read it. It says Americans are stupid and you left it in there with a wink and a nod to your elitist buddies who hate traditional America and traditional Americans. That lack of appreciation for blue collar nuance is a Liberal imprimatur part and parcel with the usual condescension we drown in every day 24/7 from the 4th estate.
Finally, if you refuse to acknowledge the ascension of the New Demographik and those who vote for a living, does that mean it will go away? Facts are facts, right rckal? I am pretty sure we can all count, but hey, maybe you got a different message from your Liberal overlords today and it slipped by you because of your “Blinders”.
Thanks Chuck. You wrote a couple of things that strike me as disconnects. One mild and one flagrant.
Mild – “The lack of appreciation for blue collar nuance is a Liberal imprimatur…..” I know that there is a large percentage of Americans who vote against their own best interests but the liberal/democratic agenda is far, far closer to the best interests of blue collar workers (high percentage of union membership that are pretty solidly in the liberal/democratic camp) than the conservative/republican agenda is.
Flagrant – ” I guarantee that she (Hillary) will gut the ACA like a fish on the food channel” Weren’t you following the news in 1993 when Hillary was the Clinton administration point person for universal health care? I think she is more likely to push it further than to gut it.
Not sure who you were addressing when you wrote “Your boy Lefsetz is a smarmy schmuck” but he’s not my boy. As Hearne pointed out, he trashed liberals pretty openly. “The unwashed lefties keep clamoring to bring manufacturing back which is pure insanity” and ” Yup, that’s the problem with lefties, always speaking from their emotions, facts are irrelevant.” That’s right out of your playbook, Chuck.
Anyway, keep up the good work, Chuck. You’re my reason for hanging at KCC. 🙂
No one makes any money underestimating the Clintons on a regular basis. Hillary indeed was the point man on Health Care in the early 90’s. Hillary has something to bring to the presidency that Obama never had and has been unable to translate into success, experience. No dummies those Clintons and I know it is just my opinion, but if ANYONE knows which way the wind is blowing, it’s Hillary Clinton. The ACA is an unqualified disaster and I am betting she guts it in her first year.
Back at ya.
🙂
Man, it must be tough to be this angry all the time. All sides are culpable and have blood on their hands, to be sure. It’s up to the people (tradtional and
new “demographik”) to be vigilant. But observable reality is important to the conversation. Exactly how have conservative groups been “targeted” and “persecuted”? They’re rolling in tax-free dough. I hear their voices loud and clear. They’re probably blocking a bus of scared kids somewhere as we speak. Yes, “demographiks” are changing. They will continue to, as they have throughout history. Ebb and flow of history and all that. And just what is a “traditional” American, anyway? Someone with belt buckles on their shoes, holding a Bible and a musket? Who the hell “votes” for a living..? But since by virtue of my opinions I’m a deluded sheep……baaaaaaaaaaa. Have a nice day.
Some support for Lefsetz’s argument:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/millennials-economics-voting-clueless-kids-these-days/374427/
He’s wrong about people being uneducated though: to a large extent the triumphal new demographics taking over America are uneducable. Dumb parents birth dumb kids, it’s genetic. They are doomed to becoming a permanent underclass in a status warfare game played by the 0.01%. The USA on its current course is in a long slide to becoming a low quality state like Brazil run by a few oligarchs. A long way from the nation that protected its middle class and put people on the moon…
well, so for all the political discourse of this post, what about the movie???
I saw this on PPV yesterday and having ‘read the book’ (this blog), I just had to look. (with apologies to John Lennon). everything said about the movie in Lefsetz’s write up is true. and I thought it was a pretty good movie.
several holes in the plot that I can’t talk about lest I reveal spoilers, but I can say this: it’s not the first movie dealing with class warfare, nor likely the last, not the least of which is Animal Farm. it’s also very British, which as a much older society than America, has a much greater perspective on separation of the classes than we do (tho’ we’re catching up rapidly), and it is prevalent in this film.
and the train…. freakin’ awesome, man.
I forgot to add that I thought the ending kinda sucked and revealed a hole in the plot that I found way too convenient, as tho’ the filmmaker really needed to end the dilemma on a high note. see it… you won’t be disappointed if you like sci-fi fare.