Posts tagged President
“Fair Game” The Target, Not Spying
Nov 17th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“The Target, Not Spying”
FAIR GAME tells the real-life story of an incredibly serious incident that happened in recent history that is not talked about anymore and unfortunately seems to be on its way to becoming forgotten.
This is unfortunate, because what happened was so serious that the law makes committing it a crime punishable by death.
Ironically, the law was passed during the administration of President George H.W. Bush, former CIA head.
The crime? Exposing the identity of an undercover CIA agent.
And just to make matters more intriguing, a case has already been made that Bush the son was obsessed with outshining his father’s accomplishments and might have invaded Iraq in 2003 because his father had failed to do so in 1991 during the First Gulf War.
The events of this movie are the background for the reasons stated at the time that led Bush the son to invade Iraq.
The subjects who were involved were CIA agent Valerie Plame, played so well by Naomi Watts, and her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, played just as well by Sean Penn.
The movie begins shortly after 9/11 with some stock footage of Vice President Dick Cheney saying to the camera, “We will take whatever action is necessary to defend our security and our freedom.”
What he doesn’t say, but what turned out to be the case is “even if it is illegal.”
Then we see scenes of the professional life and family life of Valerie, who was an expert on the Middle East, but she cannot tell Joe where she has been or what she has done. They communicate by Post-It notes on the refrigerator.
Because of his qualifications and familiarity with Africa, Joe is asked by the CIA to go to Niger to investigate if Saddam Hussein were obtaining uranium from there for his nuclear-weapons program, and Joe’s report is that Hussein was not.
That is not what President Bush said in his infamous State of the Union address, Iraq was invaded, Joe wrote an article in THE NEW YORK TIMES entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” and in retaliation the White House leaked that Valerie worked for the CIA.
FAIR GAME refers to the target and not to spying, and it is a great movie that should never be forgotten for its subject matter and its message.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Nixon, The Election Years” Haunted by Ghosts
Aug 28th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Hotshots Movie Reviews
Haunted by Ghosts
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
NIXON: THE ELECTION YEAR EDITION is the recently released video of the 1995 acclaimed film biography by Oliver Stone of the first President to resign from office, and it should serve as a warning to all Presidents current and future.
In the words of the accompanying press release, this film “is a spellbinding examination of the man who became known as America’s ‘imperial president.’ Nixon’s ruthless ambition puts him at the pinnacle of American politics, until he begins a disastrous attempt to wrest control of the nation away from the Congress and the courts. As a small group of political zealots seek to concentrate the power and prestige of the United States in the hands of one man, his personal demons drive him to undermine his legacy with political ‘dirty tricks’ and a conspiracy to cover them up.”
In that case, this film should also serve as a warning to all American citizens, current and future, because a case can be made that what Nixon did with his presidency is happening again. Just substitute the words “incurious indifference” for “ruthless ambition.”
Anthony Hopkins plays Nixon and leads a stellar cast including Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, E.G. Marshall, David Paymer, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, and James Woods as the major players in the downfall of the President, with Larry Hagman, Madeline Kahn, and Michael Chiklis showing up as minor players, among many others.
The story begins in 1972 with the infamous Watergate break-in and then moves into Nixon’s past to show what demons drove this complicated man. After Nixon loses the presidential election in 1960 to John Kennedy, he says to his wife, Pat, “I can take the insults, I can take the name-calling, but I can’t take the losing.”
The film also goes back into Nixon’s childhood and shows how certain events could have shaped his future and might have turned into obsessions.
It can be heavy-handed in some of its implications, but the parallels with today’s Bush Administration are striking and staggering.
As always, Stone uses innovative editing and filmmaking techniques, and this DVD edition is an extended director’s cut with 28 additional minutes and five bonus features.
NIXON: THE ELECTION YEAR EDITION shows him haunted by ghosts, some real and some imagined, and we owe it to ourselves to see it again.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Nixon, The Election Years – Movie Trailer
Aug 20th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
Oliver Stone, the most outspokenly political American filmmaker of the 1980s and ’90s, directs this epic-length biography of Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the U.S., who was re-elected by a landslide in 1972, only to resign in disgrace two years later. Taking a non-linear approach, Nixon jumps back and forth between many different periods and events, from Nixon’s strict upbringing at the hands of his Quaker mother, through the many peaks and valleys of his political career, to his downfall in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The facts of his life are blended with supposition and speculation to create a portrait that is often critical of the man’s policies but displays an unexpected compassion toward his failings as a human being. Anthony Hopkins stars as Nixon, Joan Allen plays his long-suffering wife Pat, Mary Steenburgen portrays his mother Hannah, Bob Hoskins is cast as J. Edgar Hoover, Powers Boothe plays Alexander Haig, Paul Sorvino portrays Henry Kisinger, and Ed Harris plays E. Howard Hunt.