Sunday, June 27, 2004
Movies and Moore
Moore...get it? As in Michael Moore, the creator of the new film Fahrenheit 9/11. I saw it last night in Bethel, CT along with a few friends. I really enjoyed the film, which I guess tells you how I feel about the president. Still, I didn't enjoy it as much as Moore's last film, Bowling for Columbine. Part of what I didn't like about F9/11 was the tone of the movie. One moment in particular stands out. The film shows President Bush in a Florida elementary school on the morning of September 11th. As you may have heard, or seen, he remained in the classroom for about seven minutes after being informed of the second plane's impact. The footage is pretty chilling, because George has this look of bewilderment on his face. But Moore adds a smarmy narration and jokes about what the President might have been thinking. It just felt unnecessary. Thankfully, he refrains from trying to affect a Texas accent.
What was really exciting about the movie didn't happen on screen. As I said, we were in Bethel, and there were five of us which took up an entire row. During the first few minutes of the film, my friend Joe snickered and said something like "What a fucking hick," referring to GW. This little man in front of us, who slightly resembled Moby, turns around and asks "Could you please watch your language? This is a public forum," or something like that. Now I would have shut the hell up because I am, at heart, a coward. But Joe doesn't sit still for that kind of shit. I mean, we're all sitting there to watch a movie that derides the President, a movie which is rated R for "some violent and disturbing images, and for language." If this guy didn't want to hear a swear word he shouldn't have been in there. Anyway, Joe decided the best response was "Go Fuck Yourself." Two seats over (on the aisle) I cringed, and the guy ran out of the theatre. Inside, I was laughing but at the same time I was a little nervous. Maybe antagonizing that guy wasn't the safest thing to do, but at the same time I knew from my experience working in movie theatres that no one gets in trouble just for talking.
When he came back he was waiting in the aisle for someone to come in. This is the best part: On screen, there was no picture. Moore decided not to show any footage of the 9/11 attacks, just an audio sequence with a black screen. This guy was standing in the aisle and people started yelling at him to sit down! Now I was going totally crazy inside. This whole thing was hilarious but the film happened to be at a highly emotional point. Somehow I kept my composure. An old man came down the aisle and the little guy pointed at all of us. Now I was pissed and I realized Joe was right all along. This asshole was trying to finger all of us! The old man asked us nicely to "avoid swearing" and Joe denied everything with a straight face. No further incidents occurred during the film but Joe and this guy had a few words after the film about freedom of speech. I couldn't hear most of their conversation because of the exiting crowd noise. Let's just say they didn't kiss and make up, although Joe did rub the guy's shaved head. I told you he looked like Moby.
FYI, I also rented Death Race 2000 and Bad Santa this week on DVD. I recommend both, especially Death Race 2000. The disc features lots of trailers for other 70's exploitation cinema and an interview with Roger Corman by Leonard Maltin, a close personal friend of mine. ^_^
What was really exciting about the movie didn't happen on screen. As I said, we were in Bethel, and there were five of us which took up an entire row. During the first few minutes of the film, my friend Joe snickered and said something like "What a fucking hick," referring to GW. This little man in front of us, who slightly resembled Moby, turns around and asks "Could you please watch your language? This is a public forum," or something like that. Now I would have shut the hell up because I am, at heart, a coward. But Joe doesn't sit still for that kind of shit. I mean, we're all sitting there to watch a movie that derides the President, a movie which is rated R for "some violent and disturbing images, and for language." If this guy didn't want to hear a swear word he shouldn't have been in there. Anyway, Joe decided the best response was "Go Fuck Yourself." Two seats over (on the aisle) I cringed, and the guy ran out of the theatre. Inside, I was laughing but at the same time I was a little nervous. Maybe antagonizing that guy wasn't the safest thing to do, but at the same time I knew from my experience working in movie theatres that no one gets in trouble just for talking.
When he came back he was waiting in the aisle for someone to come in. This is the best part: On screen, there was no picture. Moore decided not to show any footage of the 9/11 attacks, just an audio sequence with a black screen. This guy was standing in the aisle and people started yelling at him to sit down! Now I was going totally crazy inside. This whole thing was hilarious but the film happened to be at a highly emotional point. Somehow I kept my composure. An old man came down the aisle and the little guy pointed at all of us. Now I was pissed and I realized Joe was right all along. This asshole was trying to finger all of us! The old man asked us nicely to "avoid swearing" and Joe denied everything with a straight face. No further incidents occurred during the film but Joe and this guy had a few words after the film about freedom of speech. I couldn't hear most of their conversation because of the exiting crowd noise. Let's just say they didn't kiss and make up, although Joe did rub the guy's shaved head. I told you he looked like Moby.
FYI, I also rented Death Race 2000 and Bad Santa this week on DVD. I recommend both, especially Death Race 2000. The disc features lots of trailers for other 70's exploitation cinema and an interview with Roger Corman by Leonard Maltin, a close personal friend of mine. ^_^
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Yes Dan, that was certainly an interesting experience. When I initially said, "Fucking Redneck!" Moby sitting in front of me turned and said something to me. Over the sound of the movie I couldn't hear him and I assumed he was smiling and agreeing with me. We were after all not at the Republican convention, we were watching a showing of Fahrenheit 9/11! So a minute passed and a WOMAN a few rows back called out a full voice comment as well. Moby again turned around and made a comment and again I didn’t hear what he said so I leaned forward. He said right to my face, “Watch your language, we are in a public space!” A million things went through my head at that moment like other than my initial comment we didn’t say anything and also…who cares if I curse? This isn’t kindergarten or a showing of Shrek 2. This is a showing of an R-Rated movie and I can call the President a fucking redneck if I please. So instead of debating him I resorted to my favorite fuck all saying and told Moby to “Go Fuck Yourself!” And in that instant, as if on cue he smiled and jumped out of his seat. I thought he wanted to fight me or something and while Michael Moore may be a pacifist…I am not. As the saying goes, “Skinny guys fight to the burger.” And this skinny Moby guy was about to become burger. Instead of fighting me in a crowded theatre, he ran like a child to go tell on me. As described in Dan’s telling of the story, after the theatre owner arrived, this Moby like child pointed out all four guys sitting in my row as the culprits. The theatre owner looked as though he was being hassled not by our alleged disruption but by this ass hole dragging him away from the lobby to ask us NOT TO CURSE in an R-rated film. And I said in the straightest of voices that we had done nothing wrong. As soon as the owner was gone and Moby took his seat I said in a full voice, “I guess we just got FUCKING TOLD!” Moby had no response.
As the movie progressed I couldn’t concentrate on the film and had to distract myself from the fact that I wanted to boot this guy in the back of the head. I restrained myself and subdued my friend Mike who also wanted to fuck with him. I told him to chill and watch the movie and after the movie if anything is to be said, let me do it. He agreed and we watched the film. During the scenes where soldiers used profanity Mike and I couldn’t help but make comments. “Oh the language in here…this is a public space!”
[This is an abbreviated summary of my post-movie conversation with Moby]
AS SOON AS THE FILM WAS OVER, I leaned forward and asked him if he thought it was weird that he asked me to watch my language in a showing of an R-Rated movie. He defended his comments by saying that it was a public space and that people have the right not to hear profanity. Obviously he slept through the film we just watched so I told him I had the right to use profanity in public. He then said that if I have the right to say anything I wanted to shout “FIRE!” And he smiled and egged me on to do it. Knowing enough not to fall for his childish response I informed him that the Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech is protected so long as it does not endanger the public good for example it is unlawful to yell fire in a crowded theatre. (As stated in the case.) He seemed taken back that I knew that. (By the way I hate dropping 1st amendment this or that in a street debate like this because it’s silly and over used. This guy was fucking with us and I was putting him in his place.)
So then I asked him if he thought it was weird that I was the only person sitting behind him to use profanity and so he tried to get not only me but the two people sitting to my right and the one person sitting to my left kicked out of the theatre. He blew that off and responded, “When did the theatre owner kick you out?” Okay DICK, he didn’t kick us out but that was definitely your intention since you made so much effort to go get him and point all of us out to him. At this point the conversation was winding down and he just gave me a stupid grin to my points and had nothing else to say so I did something to fuck with him more. I reached over the seat and rubbed his bald head! He panicked and threw his arms in the air to stop me but I pulled away laughing and walked off. It is best to walk away from a fight before it starts, while I am not a pacifist I don’t like fighting.
He called out after me and I responded, “GO FUCK YOURSELF!” I told this story to a girl I am friends with and the only thing she asked was, “Was he with a girl?” And he was; he was with a girl with glasses. They held hands and touched heads during the film. And my friend said, “There you go, he was just trying to impress his girl.” And I couldn’t think of how any girl would think that snitching a foul mouthed movie talker to a theatre owner and then whining after the film could be impressive and my friend agreed. Even she thought he was being a baby!
After the film I got criticism from Dylan who is a mad cool guy and I respect his opinion. HOWEVER, I think I was totally in the right to stand up to that guy, even if it meant getting kicked out of my favorite movie theatre. This guy after all tried to get a group of people (including Dylan) expelled from a theatre for using a four letter word. And as for invading that guy’s personal space by rubbing his head…fuck him. I touched him and he didn’t do anything about it and this was all done in front of the girl he was trying to impress. Whatever!
Anyway, Fahrenheit was a great film and I agree with Dan that Bowling for Columbine was the better film. Then again, Bowling was made over years and Fahrenheit was made over months. So what can one expect? You can’t go wrong with the cartoon sequence in Bowling for Columbine. “I loves my gun, loves my gun!”
コメントがあります？ Type something, please. It's less work for me.As the movie progressed I couldn’t concentrate on the film and had to distract myself from the fact that I wanted to boot this guy in the back of the head. I restrained myself and subdued my friend Mike who also wanted to fuck with him. I told him to chill and watch the movie and after the movie if anything is to be said, let me do it. He agreed and we watched the film. During the scenes where soldiers used profanity Mike and I couldn’t help but make comments. “Oh the language in here…this is a public space!”
[This is an abbreviated summary of my post-movie conversation with Moby]
AS SOON AS THE FILM WAS OVER, I leaned forward and asked him if he thought it was weird that he asked me to watch my language in a showing of an R-Rated movie. He defended his comments by saying that it was a public space and that people have the right not to hear profanity. Obviously he slept through the film we just watched so I told him I had the right to use profanity in public. He then said that if I have the right to say anything I wanted to shout “FIRE!” And he smiled and egged me on to do it. Knowing enough not to fall for his childish response I informed him that the Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech is protected so long as it does not endanger the public good for example it is unlawful to yell fire in a crowded theatre. (As stated in the case.) He seemed taken back that I knew that. (By the way I hate dropping 1st amendment this or that in a street debate like this because it’s silly and over used. This guy was fucking with us and I was putting him in his place.)
So then I asked him if he thought it was weird that I was the only person sitting behind him to use profanity and so he tried to get not only me but the two people sitting to my right and the one person sitting to my left kicked out of the theatre. He blew that off and responded, “When did the theatre owner kick you out?” Okay DICK, he didn’t kick us out but that was definitely your intention since you made so much effort to go get him and point all of us out to him. At this point the conversation was winding down and he just gave me a stupid grin to my points and had nothing else to say so I did something to fuck with him more. I reached over the seat and rubbed his bald head! He panicked and threw his arms in the air to stop me but I pulled away laughing and walked off. It is best to walk away from a fight before it starts, while I am not a pacifist I don’t like fighting.
He called out after me and I responded, “GO FUCK YOURSELF!” I told this story to a girl I am friends with and the only thing she asked was, “Was he with a girl?” And he was; he was with a girl with glasses. They held hands and touched heads during the film. And my friend said, “There you go, he was just trying to impress his girl.” And I couldn’t think of how any girl would think that snitching a foul mouthed movie talker to a theatre owner and then whining after the film could be impressive and my friend agreed. Even she thought he was being a baby!
After the film I got criticism from Dylan who is a mad cool guy and I respect his opinion. HOWEVER, I think I was totally in the right to stand up to that guy, even if it meant getting kicked out of my favorite movie theatre. This guy after all tried to get a group of people (including Dylan) expelled from a theatre for using a four letter word. And as for invading that guy’s personal space by rubbing his head…fuck him. I touched him and he didn’t do anything about it and this was all done in front of the girl he was trying to impress. Whatever!
Anyway, Fahrenheit was a great film and I agree with Dan that Bowling for Columbine was the better film. Then again, Bowling was made over years and Fahrenheit was made over months. So what can one expect? You can’t go wrong with the cartoon sequence in Bowling for Columbine. “I loves my gun, loves my gun!”
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