Simple Man Entertainment

I was taking it easy this weekend having had a thoroughly horrid week and was cruising my premium channels on cable and came across a movie starring Kevin Bacon called “Taking Chance”. I saw in the preview that Mr. Bacon was wearing a Marine Corps uniform, and I thought to myself that this was just another one of those shoot-em up war movies that have seemed to become so popular in the last few years.

You know the kind of war movie I’m talking about. The kind of movie that portrays our troops as mindless killers, that kill everything in sight from the terrorists to innocent civilians and all in the name of the country, flag, and freedom. These kinds of movies not only give a false impression of our troops, but do not endear our nation to the global community.

In the case of “Taking Chance” I was pleasantly surprised to find out that such was not the case. “Taking Chance” is based upon actual events experienced by the writer of the story Mike Strobl Lt. Colonel USMC Retired who is played by Kevin Bacon. The story is a very powerful account of the emotional and psychological impact that KIA’s returning from Iraq have upon their families and those in uniform they come into contact with.

In this film Kevin Bacon/Mike Strobl who does man power studies for the USMC at Quantico VA, comes across the name of Chance Russel, Phelps PFC USMC who was posthumously promoted to Lance Corporal in a list of KIA’s returning to the US for transport back to his family in Colorado.

Lt. Colonel Strobl who is from the same town in Colorado requests permission to escort the PFC home in hopes of reconnecting with his roots, only to find that the PFC is going to Wyoming where his family has since returned. He is informed by his chain of command that it is unusual for a senior officer to escort the remains of a PFC, but is granted permission to do so anyway.

The trip begins at Dover AFB in Delaware at the mortuary located there. At Dover he observes the care our returning dead receive from these tireless and dedicated military personnel who are usually the last to see the bodies before they are laid to rest. To say the least he is impressed with their professionalism and decorum. He is also greatly impacted by the honor and respect each KIA is afforded as well.

All along his journey to Dubois Wyoming Chance Phelps final resting place Mike Strobl encounters many different people from all walks of life and notices the effect his presence and his obligation to Chance Phelps has on those he meets. From the driver that takes him to the airport with his charge to meeting the family of Chance and the funeral, he is ripped to his core with guilt for not having gone to Iraq.

Many of his friends whom he had served with in the first Gulf War had gone back and he didn’t, opting instead to request another office tour so that he could stay with his family. He constantly reflects upon his decision to stay home as an act of cowardice and feels ashamed at his actions especially after coming into contact with others who are currently stationed in Iraq, but have returned to take their buddies home and in one case a brother.

“Taking Chance” is not really a feel good story nor is it a war story, this movie is simply a humanist movie. It humanizes our brave men and women in uniform by showing that they to are affected by a wide range of emotions particularly with regard to the service that they render to our nation and us citizens. There is no star studded soundtrack, or an entire cast of headliners, but it does have one thing in it that most of the tripe coming out of Hollyweird doesn’t have, and that’s the truth.

I hope you all have enjoyed this blog and that you enjoy the trailer I am including as well. On a scale of 1-10 this one is definitely a 15 and I recommend that you all watch it if you have the chance. That is all I have for this post, but I will be back again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. To Lt. Colonel Mike Strobl USMC Retired Sempre Fidelis and OOHRAAAAAAAAA Sir!!!!!

Finally someone is going to get to see “Hillary: The Movie”, but unfortunately it is not because it has been released for public viewing, it is because it is at the center of a Supreme Court case regarding the governmental regulation of a political film as a campaign ad. The decision in this case might well determine how people can make movies and educate the people about them.

David Bossie who is a former congressional aide produced the Clinton movie as well as another film titled “Obama: The Hype Effect”. David Bossie ran into legal problems regarding both of these films because he wanted to release them during Hillary’s run for the White House and in Obama’s case during his general election campaign against John McCain. Bossie says that both of these films are about important moments in American politics, but do not tell people not to vote for either Clinton or Obama.

“Hillary: The Movie” was originally shown in eight theaters, and Bossie’s group also wanted to run ads on television and as well as show the movie on cable TV’s video-on-demand in key election states at the height of the primary season. Unfortunately federal courts cited the McCain Feingold law saying that Bossie’s ads would violate that law.

The judges went on to say that the movie was a 90 minute attack ad ruling that if the ads appeared on TV Citizens United would have to identify its financial backers and if the movie appeared on cable television not only would Citizens United have to name it’s financial backers, but they would also have to pay the costs to air the film.

This of course prompted Citizens United to appeal to the SCOTUS arguing that their film is not a political ad, but rather a documentary style film comparable to those shown by “Frontline”, “Nova”, and “60 Minutes.” Theodore Olson who represents Citizens United stated that while “Hillary” does present a critical assessment of Clinton’s political background it does not convert the movie into an appeal to vote against Senator Clinton.

Michael Moore the filmmaker who was responsible for the controversial film “Fahrenheit 9/11” also ran into problems when he tried to air his film criticizing President Bush during the run up to the Presidential election in 2004. The people responsible for throwing up the road block that stopped Moore from airing the film was none other than Citizens United. David Bossie went on to say that Moore’s recognition of the power of documentary film is what inspired him to make this film.

I really hope that the Supreme Court treads lightly when considering this case from both sides. Not only is the infringement of free speech at risk here, but so is freedom of the press and our own right to pursue certain forms of entertainment as our pursuit of happiness all of which are guaranteed us by the constitution. With other films currently out there like “W”, “Fahrenheit 9/11”, “Frost Nixon”, and “An American Carol” Who has the right to say this is not politically motivated entertainment or to censor it for that matter.

I for one can't wait for this movie to be released for public consumption, because I really want to see it. I hope you all have enjoyed this post and the video clip of the movie I am including here. Have an awesome day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!!

Welcome back to Simple Man Entertainment. It's my pleasure to be able to contribute to Tim's blog today.

More than likely most of you have at least heard of Tupac Shakur, even if you aren't a big fan of his music. Fan or not, when music outlives a musicians death, there is something to be said about it.

Although Tupac was murdered back in 1996, his music didn't die with him. Proof of that is the fact that a brand new album that has never been released before is being released on March 20th. The title of the album is "One Nation."

Before his death, Tupac was working on this album. It was done together with Boot Camp Click to try to smooth over the feuds that were occurring between the East Coast and West Coast rappers.

Also featured on this album is the Notorious B.I.G. Tupac wanted the media to see that even though he had a bit of beef with the man, he still wasn't a bully. However, after Tupac was murdered, this album was put away to collect dust on the shelves. Then A.E.G. got a hold of the rights.

Others who are featured on "One Nation" include Snoop Dog, Big Daddy Kane (bet you haven't heard that name in some time) Greg Nice, The Outlawz, and Busta Rhymes.

Personally, I'm excited to see new music being released by Tupac. He was one of the biggest contributors to hip hop music, and he continues to contribute after his death. No doubt his new album will once again show why this man was one of the "greats," not to mention some of the other great talent included on the album.

Although the man may have died before his time, his music still lives! I hope you'll check out this new release, coming out in just a few days. Once we get a listen to it, I'm sure we'll be back to review it for you.

The better half and I were trying to decide what to do yesterday to get out of the house and spend a little time hanging out together without the kids so we decided to go to the movies. Once we decided on the movies we had to decide what to watch, and we narrowed it down to two films, the two movies were “Gran Torino” with Clint Eastwood, or “Taken” with Liam Neeson. Once we took start and end times into consideration we chose “Taken”.

Like everybody else that goes to the movies now-a-days when we got there we got our tickets, overpriced soft drinks, and popcorn and headed into our assigned theater. When we first got in there they had all of the usual trailers and ads on the screen but no sound. I had to go find the right guy just to get the sound turned on. When I finally got back to me seat we sat down and along with the four other people in the whole theater settled in because the show was starting.

Neesons character is retired CIA operative Bryan Mills who has chosen to stick close to his daughter Kim played by Maggie Grace after divorcing his wife Lenore played by Famke Janssen. The plot really gets started when his daughter invites him to lunch in order to get him to sign a release so that she may accompany her best friend Amanda played by Katie Cassidy to France in order to visit her friends cousins. The real truth is that they are going to follow the rock band U2 on their European tour, although he doesn’t become aware of that plan until just before they board the plane.

After some consideration Neesons character allows her to go with a few conditions and off she goes to The City of Lights Paris. Once there, Kim and Amanda meet a charming Frenchman named Peter, who convinces them to share a cab at the airport. After dropping off the girls at their destination he calls his boss to tell him about the girls, and you immediately know that they are going to be kidnapped.

The kidnapping takes place as Kim is on the phone with Bryan/Neeson telling him they have arrived. When the find her under a bed the kidnapper Marco speaks briefly with Neeson and the hunt begins. Bryan Mills speaks with his contacts and finds about the group after giving them a recording of the conversation that he made finding out that they are from Eastern Europe. Of course then Neeson/Bryan is off to Paris as well.

Once in Paris he speaks with a former French operative he once knew who gives him a little more info but in the end winds up being involved. Once he finds the apartment where the kidnapping takes place and gathers his evidence there, he locates peter who manages to escape only to be hit by a truck and killed.

By then the damage to the criminal organization his done and Neesons pursuit of his daughter and the people responsible becomes an action packed thrill ride almost right up till the end of the movie. The action sequences are awesome and the plot line and the twists in it are excellently written and performed by the actors. If you are an action/thriller junkie you will definitely get your fix with this movie.

I was not disappointed with choosing this one over “Gran Torino” I guess Clint will have to wait till next time. I hope you all enjoyed this post and enjoy the trailer as well. Have a wonderful day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello everyone and I would like to welcome you my faithful readers back, and those of you who are here for the first time I am glad you stopped by to see what’s up.

As you all know I have been talking about writing about the Oliver Stone film “W” for sometime, well I finally watched it. I found it particularly hard to watch this film from the liberal perspective as I am a political blogger, and conservative most of the time as well, but I did it anyway.

True to the Oliver Stone style the film was very well made, however I would not say that it was his best, and I say that from a fans perspective, because I love Stones work. That being said I will say that he did the best he could with what information he had with regard to the plotline and cast. However I will caution that the film is not entirely accurate historically, but did have entertainment value none the less.

I thought that the cast was very good in the roles that they played. I particularly enjoyed Richard Dreyfuss who played the part of Dick Cheney. I really think that he nailed the look and the no B.S. attitude that the former VP is known for and did it with style. As you all know though Richard Dreyfuss is a consummate actor and professional.

I also thought that Josh Brolin who played former President George W, Bush did very well in the role although he didn’t exactly have the look down he had the accent nailed right on. I would also like to add that he played the part written for him excellently and really showed a human side to the character, which I was surprised to see done.

I really liked the character of Laura Bush, which was played by Elizabeth Banks. I think that they portrayed her very well as a smart, beautiful, and classy lady. They showed that without her that George W, Bush might very well never been President proving that behind every great man is most certainly a great woman and she is one of those.

I was really disappointed to see Karl Rove played by Toby Jones portrayed the way he was in the film. While it is true that George Bush relied heavily on Rove throughout his political career Karl Rove was anything but a behind the scenes kind of guy either in public or private. There can be no mistaking the fact the Karl was a major player in the rise of G.W. Bush to the Presidency. There is also no doubt that he is quite possibly the most politically astute figure in the arena of politics today.

I was also disappointed in the way that they portrayed Colin Powell who was played by Jeffrey Wright. Colin Powell was very instrumental in most if not all of Bush’s policies with regard to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only is Powell the soldier’s soldier, but was an excellent Secretary of State.

I must regrettably say the same about the misrepresentation of Donald Rumsfeld, who is played by Scott Glenn another one of my favorite actors. Don Rumsfeld was an excellent Secretary of defense and a very hard worker, which is good considering the responsibilities that fell upon him in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In closing this post I will caution any one who watches this movie to do so for entertainment value and that alone. Most of the conversations that take place in the movie are purely speculative as there are actually no witnesses to them and no manuscripts as well. Creative license has definitely been exercised here in an effort to support an opposing point of view. As far as creative license goes George W, Bush is not the hick redneck that they would lead us all to believe.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to give this film an overall 7 on that scale, and I feel that I am being generous liberally. If it happens that you do decide to watch this film I hope that you all enjoy it and come back here and tell me what you think. Till the next time we meet don’t forget to enjoy life and make it the best life you can, CIAO4NOW!!!!!