Going to a movie theater is still out of the question for a lot of us, on account of the coronavirus pandemic. It has been out of the question for the president of the United States since probably Teddy Roosevelt’s time. The Secret Service doesn’t like the idea of a president sitting in a darkened theater where anyone can buy a ticket.
Plus there’s the matter of logistics. If the president is called away to handle some urgent matter, he might like to be able to pause the movie and resume it later right where he left off. So the president has access to a private theater in the White House and another one at Camp David.
According to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, President Reagan (R, 1981 — 1989) and his wife mostly watched movies at Camp David. Makes sense. Despite his many, many, many flaws, Reagan put in a lot of the work we realized we had been taking for granted in 2017.
We don’t know much about which movies President Barack Obama watched during his presidency, aside from a special screening of Men in Black III which President Obama hosted to an audience of mostly military officers and senior enlisted. We know of that particular screening because of a photo taken and captioned by Pete Souza.
Matt Novak is writing a book, with working title “All the President’s Movies,” about movies U. S. presidents have screened during their presidencies. That includes the current office holder, Trump, whose name needs a lot of distance from the title he holds thanks to Russian interference and our convoluted Electoral College.
Trump is such a weird bastard, even the way he watches movies is strange. Brian Lloyd for entertainment.ie:
Trump doesn't even watch films - he speed-watches them. In a 1997 piece in The New Yorker, Trump explains that he can get any film down to 45 minutes. Why? Because he's a monster, that's why.
No, as the piece describes it, Donald Trump has someone man the remote and fast-forward through plot, substance and exposition so that he can get to the action scenes. No, really. As the article tells it, Trump got bored watching Michael - yes, that terrible film with John Travolta as an angel - and decided to watch Jean-Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport instead.
"(He) got bored and switched to an old favorite, a Jean Claude Van Damme slugfest called Bloodsport, which he pronounced 'an incredible, fantastic movie.' By assigning to his son (Eric Trump) the task of fast-forwarding through all the plot exposition - Trump’s goal being 'to get this two-hour movie down to forty-five minutes' - he eliminated any lulls between the nose hammering, kidney tenderizing, and shin whacking."
Not only that, it seems Donald Trump isn't just a lying sack of s--- when it comes to everything; he also lies about his favourite films too. In a piece published by Movieline back in 2012, Trump called Citizen Kane his all-time favourite film and said it was "one of the greats of all time."
So, the 74-year-old 10-year-old who can’t sit still for all of the 92-minute Bloodsport watched all of the 2-hour Citizen Kane? Yeah right.
I’ve seen Citizen Kane, but I probably would never have seen it if it hadn’t been for my useless Film Studies degree. And I certainly wouldn’t go around saying it’s my favorite movie. I don’t say that even though I have seen it.
Novak doesn’t know much about which movies Trump has screened at the White House, but it’s not for lack of trying. “One movie that we know the … [Trump] has screened at the White House? Pixar’s Finding Dory, oddly enough. But we don’t know whether he sat through the entire thing.”
Maybe the nominal commander-in-chief was called away for a legitimate emergency. But with Trump it’s just as plausible that he found the plot of the 97-minute PG-rated film about a fish looking for her parents to be way too cerebral.
On the Instagram page for the book, Novak notes that Finding Dory
was an odd choice, especially with the benefit of hindsight. “Finding Dory” explores themes of being separated from your family, a tactic that the Trump regime employed to deter immigrants from entering the United States. Children as young as toddlers were systematically taken from their parents and placed in “baby jails,” potentially causing lifelong emotional damage. In fact, Trump’s concentration camps for immigrants sparked widespread backlash, and although the family separation policy was supposedly ended it actually continues to this day.
It’s an irony beyond the comprehension of Trump’s tiny brain.
There are some movies coming out today. Presumably Trump could screen any of them at the White House, but I doubt any of them are up his alley. And because of his utter failure to properly handle the coronavirus epidemic, his failure to handle it at all, many of these movies are available for streaming by anyone, and some of them might be eligible for Oscar consideration (as long as a theatrical release had been planned, if I understand the rules correctly).
Here’s some information about movies coming out today. If you write a review of one of these movies, or any others, please send a message to Movie Review Group so we can reblog it.
Alive — Horror movie about a sanitarium. Available for streaming.
All In: The Fight for Democracy — Stacey Abrams is among the people interviewed for this important documentary about voter suppression.
Should definitely have a Daily Kos review. PrimeVideo only.
Alone — A kidnapped woman escapes, finds herself in the wilderness, miles from nowhere. Available for streaming.
Antebellum — A successful author finds herself in a strange situation. I know that sounds very vague, it’s all I can glean after clearing out the marketing puffery. PremiumVOD.
Blackbird — Might be interesting mostly because of Susan Sarandon, who plays a woman dying of ALS. Limited release.
The Devil All the Time — Technically came out Wednesday, but that doesn’t seem to matter so much now with the days just blending into each other. Not sure if this is a crime or horror flick. Netflix only.
H is for Happiness — Coming of age movie. Available for streaming.
Infidel — Doug, an American “journalist” (Jim Caviezel) is kidnapped by the Iranians and put on trial for espionage. It sounds like it should be a very good movie, until you get to an uh-oh looking over the behind-the-camera personnel: Dinesh D’Souza is an executive producer, along with his wife Debbie.
For those who’ve forgotten, D’Souza is also behind a 2016 “documentary” about Hillary Clinton that purports to expose “the secret history” of the Democratic Party, and is working on a movie titled Trump Card, about “the socialism, corruption and gangsterization” which supposedly define the Democratic Party.
But much more importantly, D’Souza pled guilty to using straw donors in 2014, was sentenced to five years’ probation, and was pardoned by Trump in 2018. Ever heard of any Democrats getting convicted or pleading to using straw donors? I haven’t.
So one would think that Infidel has an anti-Democrat agenda. But at least one professional critic, Shelia O’Malley, finds that while the movie does have an agenda, it is flawed mostly for a kind of schizophrenia that splits it into two different movies. O’Malley also questions the claim that the movie is based on true events.
Doug is described as a journalist in the promotional materials for this movie, but he’s more precisely described as a Christian blogger. Doug goes to an inter-faith conference in Cairo, where he’s kidnapped by Hezbollah and taken to Iran.
The faith aspect of this is foregrounded to some degree, but not as much as you might think. [Writer-director Cyrus] Nowrasteh does not make the mistake of presenting Doug as a saintly martyr. He's not even particularly brave. He lies in his prison cell, begging to be allowed to go home. Other viewpoints are allowed space.
…
Doug's lead captor is Ramzi, played by Turkish Cypriot-born British actor Hal Ozsan. ... His British accent destabilizes him from a specific region, and he tells Doug of his radicalization due to the brutal treatment he received in the United States. But Ramzi is no sneering stereotypical "Middle Eastern" villain. He comes from a very authentic place of anger and grievance, and isn't particularly devout. Religion doesn't come into his reasoning at all. He's a practical man of the world. It's a nice touch. He's not drawn in broad brush strokes. Like everyone in "Infidel," he is human-sized.
So even with D’Souza’s occasional intrusions, Infidel might be way too subtle for Trump. Good or bad, this movie should definitely have a Daily Kos review. Limited release.
The Nest — A businessman takes his wife and kids to England, to live in a manor he can barely afford. Limited release.
No Escape — Horror movie about a social media influencer who goes to Moscow for some reason. Available for streaming.
Ravers — Horror comedy about a contaminated energy drink. This might be less interesting than what it sounds like.
Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves — Fairy tale spoof. 92 minutes. Rated PG. Available for streaming.
Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story — This one doesn’t come out until next week, but I decided I should list it today.
Should definitely have a Daily Kos review.
The Wall of Mexico — A young handyman guards a well owned by Mexican American aristocrats.
Should definitely have a Daily Kos review.
The Way I See It — Pete Souza is an excellent photographer. Though it certainly helped his job in the White House, first under President Ronald Reagan and then under President Barack Obama (D, 2009 — 2017) that he was photographing a decent human being, and not a pile of garbage stacked into an ill-fitting suit.
It has been made abundantly clear that Trump lies about everyone and everything. And many people are quite eager and willing to believe Trump’s lies about President Obama.
Well. Souza is saying that, at least about Trump’s lies about President Obama, he’s got evidence of the truth. Because he was the official photographer of President Obama during President Obama’s presidency.
This documentary should definitely have a Daily Kos review. Limited release.
