Sunday, March 7, 2010
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Worldwide Blows Past 'Avatar' For Biggest Domestic 3D Bow
SATURDAY PM UPDATE: Disney's Alice In Wonderland is a monster hit despite blowing past its budget and bringing back mediocre reviews. It clearly becomes the biggest 3D bow ever and the best March release ever and the highest grossing movie of 2010 with $41 million on Friday and $44.3 million on Saturday. Remember, those higher priced 3D tickets make all the difference. Even so, the Tim Burton-directed, Johnny Depp-starring fantasy flick had the biggest 3D release of all time. Of its 3,728 North American locations this weekend, its total domestic 3D count is 2,063, plus 180 Imax 3D engagements. That helped the pic post a $116.3M opening weekend with numbers blowing away Avatar's first Fri-Sat-Sun. IMAX on Friday had the biggest day in their history with $4.3M for Alice. The IMAX weekend take of $11+M also is a record for the big screen company. Overseas, Alice shot to #1 almost everywhere after opening day and date in 40 territories beginning Wednesday. Disney narrowly avoided a boycott overseas when UK and other exhibitors were angered by the studio's plans to shorten the theatrical-to-DVD window from 16 weeks to just 12 weeks. (UK Exhibitors End Boycott Of Disney's Alice)
As for foreign grosses, Alice debuted to $94 million in 40+ markets representing only 60% of the international marketplace. That means the worldwide box office was $210.3M. That's only 2nd to Avatar's $242M global bow, but Wonderland's domestic total blew past Avatar's.
This would be a huge triumph for Walt Disney Studios except this also is one of those awkward Hollywood situations where a studio cleans house of top executives only to have the new management preside over a hit courtesy of their predecessors. In this case, Rich Ross et al will benefit from what Dick Cook and Oren Aviv hath wrought. Everyone knows that Dick had a very special relationship with both Tim and Johnny. But what's really amusing is the way that one of Alice's producers, Joe Roth, is trying to use the film to claw his way back into Hollywood. I see the former Disney and Fox production chief who failed miserably with his Revolution Studios is up to his old trick of manipulating the media, this time with a tale of how he put together Wonderland singlehandedly. (Oh, puh-leeze.) "Don't you think 4 years in the penalty box is long enough?" a Roth pal emailed me today. Not when considering how arrogantly he made so many awful movies. And not when knowing that Alice blew past its budget. (Roth admits to $150M, but I hear the real figure is $200M.)
The only other major newcomer this weekend was Overture's Brooklyn's Finest directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke opened like most R-rated action films: it had a $4.7M Friday and $5.5M Saturday for a $13.5M weekend.
Here's the Top 10 as of Saturday. (Numbers will be refined in the morning.)
1. Alice In Wonderland (Disney) NEW [3,728 Theaters]
Friday $41M, Saturday $44.3M, Weekend $116.3M, Worldwide $210.3M
2. Brooklyn's Finest (Overture) NEW [1,936 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M, Saturday $5.2M, Weekend $13.1M
3. Shutter Island (Paramount) Week 3 [3,178 Theaters]
Friday $4.0M, Saturday $6.0M, Weekend $13.0M, Cume $95.6M
4. Cop Out (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,150 Theaters]
Friday $2.8M, Saturday $4.0M, Weekend $9.1M, Cume $32.3M
5. The Crazies (Overture) Week 2 [2,479 Theaters]
Friday $2.3M, Saturday $3.0M, Weekend $6.9M, Cume $27.3M
6. Avatar (Fox) [2,163 Theaters] Week 12
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $3.6M, Weekend $7.7M, Cume $720.1M
7. Percy Jackson (Fox) Week 4 [2,994 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.1M, Cume $78.0M
8. Valentine's Day (Warner Bros) Week 4 [3,040 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.2M, Cume $106.4M
9. Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight) Week 12 [1,274 Theaters]
Friday $925K, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.3M, Cume $29.5M
10. Dear John (Sony) Week 5 [2,496 Theaters]
Friday $965K, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $76.6M
7:40 PM: I'm hearing that Friday's North American grosses for Disney's 3D Alice In Wonderland are looking like $35+M and maybe even as high as $40M from 3,728 theaters. This would make it the biggest film of 2010 so far and its aleady the biggest 3D bow ever. Also opening this weekend is Overture's cop drama Brooklyn's Finest which could hit $5M today for a possible $13M weekend.
10:55 AM: I just learned that today's matinees for Disney's Alice In Wonderland are running ahead of Avatar's so far.
FRIDAY AM: First it was $90+M. Now I'm hearing from Hollywood that Disney's Alice In Wonderland has a real shot at $100 million weekend.
info came from http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/100m-weekend-for-alice-in-wonderland/
As for foreign grosses, Alice debuted to $94 million in 40+ markets representing only 60% of the international marketplace. That means the worldwide box office was $210.3M. That's only 2nd to Avatar's $242M global bow, but Wonderland's domestic total blew past Avatar's.
This would be a huge triumph for Walt Disney Studios except this also is one of those awkward Hollywood situations where a studio cleans house of top executives only to have the new management preside over a hit courtesy of their predecessors. In this case, Rich Ross et al will benefit from what Dick Cook and Oren Aviv hath wrought. Everyone knows that Dick had a very special relationship with both Tim and Johnny. But what's really amusing is the way that one of Alice's producers, Joe Roth, is trying to use the film to claw his way back into Hollywood. I see the former Disney and Fox production chief who failed miserably with his Revolution Studios is up to his old trick of manipulating the media, this time with a tale of how he put together Wonderland singlehandedly. (Oh, puh-leeze.) "Don't you think 4 years in the penalty box is long enough?" a Roth pal emailed me today. Not when considering how arrogantly he made so many awful movies. And not when knowing that Alice blew past its budget. (Roth admits to $150M, but I hear the real figure is $200M.)
The only other major newcomer this weekend was Overture's Brooklyn's Finest directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke opened like most R-rated action films: it had a $4.7M Friday and $5.5M Saturday for a $13.5M weekend.
Here's the Top 10 as of Saturday. (Numbers will be refined in the morning.)
1. Alice In Wonderland (Disney) NEW [3,728 Theaters]
Friday $41M, Saturday $44.3M, Weekend $116.3M, Worldwide $210.3M
2. Brooklyn's Finest (Overture) NEW [1,936 Theaters]
Friday $4.7M, Saturday $5.2M, Weekend $13.1M
3. Shutter Island (Paramount) Week 3 [3,178 Theaters]
Friday $4.0M, Saturday $6.0M, Weekend $13.0M, Cume $95.6M
4. Cop Out (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,150 Theaters]
Friday $2.8M, Saturday $4.0M, Weekend $9.1M, Cume $32.3M
5. The Crazies (Overture) Week 2 [2,479 Theaters]
Friday $2.3M, Saturday $3.0M, Weekend $6.9M, Cume $27.3M
6. Avatar (Fox) [2,163 Theaters] Week 12
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $3.6M, Weekend $7.7M, Cume $720.1M
7. Percy Jackson (Fox) Week 4 [2,994 Theaters]
Friday $1.3M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.1M, Cume $78.0M
8. Valentine's Day (Warner Bros) Week 4 [3,040 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.2M, Cume $106.4M
9. Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight) Week 12 [1,274 Theaters]
Friday $925K, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.3M, Cume $29.5M
10. Dear John (Sony) Week 5 [2,496 Theaters]
Friday $965K, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $2.8M, Estimated Cume $76.6M
7:40 PM: I'm hearing that Friday's North American grosses for Disney's 3D Alice In Wonderland are looking like $35+M and maybe even as high as $40M from 3,728 theaters. This would make it the biggest film of 2010 so far and its aleady the biggest 3D bow ever. Also opening this weekend is Overture's cop drama Brooklyn's Finest which could hit $5M today for a possible $13M weekend.
10:55 AM: I just learned that today's matinees for Disney's Alice In Wonderland are running ahead of Avatar's so far.
FRIDAY AM: First it was $90+M. Now I'm hearing from Hollywood that Disney's Alice In Wonderland has a real shot at $100 million weekend.
info came from http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/100m-weekend-for-alice-in-wonderland/
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Porsche unveils 'green' supercar for petrol-heads
Published: 2 Mar 10 12:34 CET
Porsche unveiled a futuristic hybrid supercar this week that it claims can hit 100km/h in just 3.2 seconds while emitting just a tiny fraction of the carbon put out by most sports cars.
Click here for a photo gallery of the 918 Spyder.
The 918 Spyder prototype is the German carmaker’s offering to the growing market for hybrid cars that combine an internal combustion engine with electric propulsion, dramatically slashing the amount of greenhouse gasses the car emits.
Porsche unveiled its creation at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. It claims the car has a top speed of 320 km/h but uses just three litres of fuel for every 100 kilometres - equivalent to 94 miles per imperial gallon.
“We are a sports car manufacturer and that means it's about driving fast – but at the same time about cutting pollution and conserving natural resources,” Porsche chief Michael Macht said according to the website of news magazine Der Spiegel.
Critically, the Spyder emits an average of just 70 grammes of carbon dioxide, the firm claims. According to Britain’s Department for Transport, the third-generation Toyota Prius – the best-known hybrid car – emits 89 g/km.
Many conventional supercars, including models made by Ferrari and Lamborghini, emit between 400g and 500g of carbon per kilometre.
The Porsche prototype makes it around the legendary 22.8 kilometre Nürburgring race track south of Cologne in less than seven-and-a-half minutes, Macht boasted.
Driving legend and Porsche representative Walter Röhrl concurred, saying: “This car goes even faster than the last super sports car from Porsche, the Carrera GT.”
Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, Porsche’s parent company, added: “Porsche is showing the future.”
The open two-seater has a high-performace V8 engine with more than 500 brake horse power and a maximum engine speed of 9,200 rpm as well as electric motors on the front and rear axle.
The electric motors are powered by a fluid-cooled lithium-ion battery than can be recharged by plugging it into a normal power point.
Porsche also used the Geneva show to release two other hybrids: a Cayenne S Hybrid SUV and a 911 GT3 R Hybrid racing car.
info came from http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100302-25605.html
President Obama to Say Democrats Will Use Reconciliation to Pass Senate Health Care Reform Fix, If Not Given Up or Down Vote
White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will say that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial reconciliation rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed.
In his remarks, scheduled to be at the White House, the president will paint a picture of what he will say will happen without a health care reform bill – skyrocketing premiums, everyone at the mercy of the insurance industry as recently seen with the 39% premium increases proposed by Anthem Blue Cross in California.
He will note that the “fixed” bill will include the proposal for a new "Health Insurance Rate Authority" to set guidelines for reasonable rate increases. If proposed premium increases are not justifiable per those Health Insurance Rate Authority guidelines, the Health and Human Services Secretary or state regulators could block them.
The president will outline the plan to pass the bill, including having the House of Representatives pass the Democratic Senate health care reform legislation as well as a second bill containing various “fixes.”
He will call for an up or down vote, as has happened in the past, and though he won't use the word reconciliation, he'll make it clear that if they're not given an up or down vote, Democrats will use the reconciliation rules.
White House officials will make the argument these rules are perfectly appropriate because the procedure is not being used for the whole bill, just for some fixes; because reconciliation rules are traditionally used for deficit reduction and health care reform will reduce the deficit; and because the reconciliation process has been used many times by Republicans for larger legislation such as the tax cuts pushed by President George W. Bush.
The president will also extend a hand to work with Republicans on measures they have pushed, including $50 million for state grants for demonstration projects to explore alternatives to medical malpractice cases, and a crackdown on Medicaid and Medicare fraud as proposed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
He will also herald the removal of extraneous provisions in the bill such as the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback,” a deal to secure the support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., in which the federal government would pay for Nebraska’s Medicaid expansion; and “Gator-aid,” the provision to shield Florida seniors from cuts to the Medicare Advantage program, secured by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
Mr. Obama will say that he will be working on exact legislative language in the next few days. Republicans can join him and Democratic congressional leaders of the House and Senate to makes these changes and to pass the bill, but either way the bill will be moving forward.
-Jake Tapper
info came from http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/obama-democrats-will-use-reconciliation-to-pass-senate-health-care-bill.html
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed.
In his remarks, scheduled to be at the White House, the president will paint a picture of what he will say will happen without a health care reform bill – skyrocketing premiums, everyone at the mercy of the insurance industry as recently seen with the 39% premium increases proposed by Anthem Blue Cross in California.
He will note that the “fixed” bill will include the proposal for a new "Health Insurance Rate Authority" to set guidelines for reasonable rate increases. If proposed premium increases are not justifiable per those Health Insurance Rate Authority guidelines, the Health and Human Services Secretary or state regulators could block them.
The president will outline the plan to pass the bill, including having the House of Representatives pass the Democratic Senate health care reform legislation as well as a second bill containing various “fixes.”
He will call for an up or down vote, as has happened in the past, and though he won't use the word reconciliation, he'll make it clear that if they're not given an up or down vote, Democrats will use the reconciliation rules.
White House officials will make the argument these rules are perfectly appropriate because the procedure is not being used for the whole bill, just for some fixes; because reconciliation rules are traditionally used for deficit reduction and health care reform will reduce the deficit; and because the reconciliation process has been used many times by Republicans for larger legislation such as the tax cuts pushed by President George W. Bush.
The president will also extend a hand to work with Republicans on measures they have pushed, including $50 million for state grants for demonstration projects to explore alternatives to medical malpractice cases, and a crackdown on Medicaid and Medicare fraud as proposed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
He will also herald the removal of extraneous provisions in the bill such as the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback,” a deal to secure the support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., in which the federal government would pay for Nebraska’s Medicaid expansion; and “Gator-aid,” the provision to shield Florida seniors from cuts to the Medicare Advantage program, secured by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
Mr. Obama will say that he will be working on exact legislative language in the next few days. Republicans can join him and Democratic congressional leaders of the House and Senate to makes these changes and to pass the bill, but either way the bill will be moving forward.
-Jake Tapper
info came from http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/obama-democrats-will-use-reconciliation-to-pass-senate-health-care-bill.html
Monday, March 1, 2010
Pennsylvania Man Killed By Pet Bull
WERNERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) ― An eastern Pennsylvania man was attacked and killed by a "temperamental" pet bull a day before his 53rd birthday, the coroner's office said Monday.
Ricky Weinhold, of Reinholds, was attacked Saturday by a 1-ton bull on a farm where he leased barn space in Wernersville, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Berks County Deputy Coroner Terri Straka said. The son of the farm's owner found his body Sunday in an outdoor pen.
The property owners had encouraged Weinhold to get rid of the bull, Straka said. She said the same animal believed responsible for the weekend attack rammed Weinhold last summer, breaking several of his ribs.
"He's been known to be temperamental," Straka said. "The property owners just didn't trust him. They told Ricky, 'This bull has got a bad disposition."'
Weinhold kept about 10 head of cattle at the farm, all of them as pets. Straka said it's not clear what precipitated Saturday's attack. The bull recently fathered a calf, but Straka said bulls are not as protective of their offspring as cows.
"We don't know if this is a playful thing, or a nasty, agitated, angry thing," she said.
No one witnessed the attack. All of Weinhold's injuries appear to have been inflicted by a bull's head and hooves.
"The poor man, he loved his animals," Straka said. "They were his pets."
info came from http://cbs3.com/local/bull.killed.pennsylvania.2.1528214.html
Ricky Weinhold, of Reinholds, was attacked Saturday by a 1-ton bull on a farm where he leased barn space in Wernersville, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Berks County Deputy Coroner Terri Straka said. The son of the farm's owner found his body Sunday in an outdoor pen.
The property owners had encouraged Weinhold to get rid of the bull, Straka said. She said the same animal believed responsible for the weekend attack rammed Weinhold last summer, breaking several of his ribs.
"He's been known to be temperamental," Straka said. "The property owners just didn't trust him. They told Ricky, 'This bull has got a bad disposition."'
Weinhold kept about 10 head of cattle at the farm, all of them as pets. Straka said it's not clear what precipitated Saturday's attack. The bull recently fathered a calf, but Straka said bulls are not as protective of their offspring as cows.
"We don't know if this is a playful thing, or a nasty, agitated, angry thing," she said.
No one witnessed the attack. All of Weinhold's injuries appear to have been inflicted by a bull's head and hooves.
"The poor man, he loved his animals," Straka said. "They were his pets."
info came from http://cbs3.com/local/bull.killed.pennsylvania.2.1528214.html
Some Iraq, Afghanistan war veterans criticize movie 'Hurt Locker' as inaccurate
By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 28, 2010; E01
Time magazine called "The Hurt Locker" "a near-perfect war film," but Ryan Gallucci, an Iraq war veteran, had to turn the movie off three times, he says, "or else I would have thrown my remote through the television."
Critics adore the film and it has been nominated for nine Oscars -- a feat matched only by "Avatar," the top-grossing movie of all time -- but Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says that's "nine more Oscar nominations than it deserves. I don't know why critics love this silly, inaccurate film so much," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Many in the military say "Hurt Locker" is plagued by unforgivable inaccuracies that make the most critically acclaimed Iraq war film to date more a Hollywood fantasy than the searingly realistic rendition that civilians take it for.
To which you might say: It's just a movie and an action flick at that. It's Tinseltown fiction -- an interpretation of war such as "Full Metal Jacket" or "Apocalypse Now." It's supposed to entertain. It's not a documentary, not real life.
But to those who were there, Iraq is real life. And they're very sensitive -- some would say overly so -- when their war is portrayed via a central character who is a reckless rogue.
Hence a rising backlash from people in uniform, such as this response on Rieckhoff's Facebook page from a self-identified Army Airborne Ranger:
"[I]f this movie was based on a war that never existed, I would have nothing to comment about. This movie is not based on a true story, but on a true war, a war in which I have seen my friends killed, a war in which I witnessed my ranger buddy get both his legs blown off. So for Hollywood to glorify this crap is a huge slap in the face to every soldier who's been on the front line."
Even Brian Williams, the NBC News anchor, took a shot on his blog, writing a post titled, "The Hurt Locker: Hurting for a fact-checker." The movie's positive reviews could not have been "written by anyone who had spent any time with U.S. armed forces in Iraq," he wrote, wondering why none of the soldiers in the movie dipped smokeless tobacco or said "hoo-ah" -- "the universal term for hello, goodbye, understood, etc."
'Reckless' character
In an interview, Rieckhoff said the anger about "Hurt Locker" stems not so much from such small inaccuracies -- for example, the uniforms the soldiers wear in the film weren't available until well after the time the story took place -- but rather from the depiction of the main character, Sgt. 1st Class William James.
Portrayed by Jeremy Renner, who's nominated for Best Actor, James is a daredevil who in one scene takes off his protective armor while disarming a bomb because, as he says, "If I'm going to die, I'm going to be comfortable." He runs alone through the streets of Baghdad with his sweat shirt hood up like a gangster. Later, he takes two soldiers hunting for insurgents in Baghdad's back alleys without any backup.
James's fellow soldiers are, or try to be, by-the-book professionals. They call James "rowdy" and "reckless," and one worries out loud that his leader's crazy antics are "going to get me killed." James is as much cowboy as soldier, and vets fear he could become an iconic figure in the American imagination should the movie win a bunch of statues.
"Films, almost more than anything, will be the way Americans understand our war," Rieckhoff said. "So we feel that there is a responsibility for filmmakers to portray our war accurately. We see ourselves as watchdogs. . . . When he puts a hood on like Eminem and starts roving outside the wire, it's ridiculous."
Gallucci, a former sergeant who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, says he kept hoping James would get "blown up throughout the entire movie. I wanted to see his poor teammates get another team leader, who was actually concerned about their safety."
'Dramatic effect'
Mark Boal, the film's screenwriter, knows the soldiers in the film are wearing the wrong uniform. He was embedded in Iraq with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in 2004, and he's aware of what soldiers wore. Boal has worked as a journalist -- an article he wrote for Playboy became the basis for the 2007 film "In the Valley of Elah," about an Iraq war veteran who is murdered upon returning home -- and he feels a duty to hew as close to possible to the truth.
But "The Hurt Locker" is a movie, not a magazine article, Boal says, and screenwriters need ample artistic license to build a compelling -- and true -- story. So when he chose to have the film's soldiers wear the current Army uniform rather than the one they wore in 2004, it's to allow his audience "to relate to the imagery they saw on the news."
Yes, he had military consultants help him get details of radio protocol and uniforms right, but he never felt obliged to be precisely accurate. The consultants, Boal says, give a writer the information he needs so that "when you do choose to make a dramatic effect, [you] do it in a way that is not totally embarrassing."
The arc of the narrative, he says, has to come from the writer. "The story came out of my imagination based on my life experience and hundreds of conversations I've had with soldiers.
"I definitely tried for dramatic effect to make artistic choices, but I hope I made them respectfully and carefully and with the goal of not making a training video or a documentary, but showing just how hellish this war is. I was also aware, by the way, that there are many wonderful documentaries on Iraq and many wonderful articles, which no one has seen. And quite frankly, I was hoping that people would see the film."
Art vs. reality
Each writer's search for truth lands at a different point on the spectrum between art and reality. When screenwriter David Simon made the series "Generation Kill" for HBO, he considered it more important to have Marines find his work an accurate portrayal of their culture and experience invading Iraq than to win critical acclaim. "The real fun isn't trying to convince the average viewer" that we have it right, he told the Marine Corps Times. "It's trying to convince people who have been in the game."
Boal not only wanted to tell a riveting and important story, but also to raise awareness about soldiers who disarm bombs, a specialty known as explosive ordnance disposal, which he believed the general public knew little about, even though hidden bombs are the leading cause of casualties in Iraq.
As a result, despite some complaints about inaccuracies, many veterans of bomb disposal units love the movie, says James O'Neil, executive director of the EOD Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit that has benefited financially from the film.
"While there is some artistic license," O'Neil says, "there's a lot of good representation of the intensity and the courage that's displayed by EOD techs. What it takes to find, identify and then render safe those [bombs] -- that's a story, and it's an incredible story."
Filmmakers always worry that productions that servicemembers see as spot-on might leave general audiences cold. So: Is it really important that a war movie be accurate?
No, says David McKenna, a film professor at Columbia University. "Hurt Locker," he argues, isn't as much about Iraq as it is about one soldier's addiction to war. It's a character study, an exploration of courage, bravado and leadership told through "a series of suspenseful situations. I suppose it could have just as easily been set in outer space."
If veterans don't like it, McKenna says, "well, this is an opportunity to go make your own movie."
info came from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022506161_pf.html
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 28, 2010; E01
Time magazine called "The Hurt Locker" "a near-perfect war film," but Ryan Gallucci, an Iraq war veteran, had to turn the movie off three times, he says, "or else I would have thrown my remote through the television."
Critics adore the film and it has been nominated for nine Oscars -- a feat matched only by "Avatar," the top-grossing movie of all time -- but Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says that's "nine more Oscar nominations than it deserves. I don't know why critics love this silly, inaccurate film so much," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Many in the military say "Hurt Locker" is plagued by unforgivable inaccuracies that make the most critically acclaimed Iraq war film to date more a Hollywood fantasy than the searingly realistic rendition that civilians take it for.
To which you might say: It's just a movie and an action flick at that. It's Tinseltown fiction -- an interpretation of war such as "Full Metal Jacket" or "Apocalypse Now." It's supposed to entertain. It's not a documentary, not real life.
But to those who were there, Iraq is real life. And they're very sensitive -- some would say overly so -- when their war is portrayed via a central character who is a reckless rogue.
Hence a rising backlash from people in uniform, such as this response on Rieckhoff's Facebook page from a self-identified Army Airborne Ranger:
"[I]f this movie was based on a war that never existed, I would have nothing to comment about. This movie is not based on a true story, but on a true war, a war in which I have seen my friends killed, a war in which I witnessed my ranger buddy get both his legs blown off. So for Hollywood to glorify this crap is a huge slap in the face to every soldier who's been on the front line."
Even Brian Williams, the NBC News anchor, took a shot on his blog, writing a post titled, "The Hurt Locker: Hurting for a fact-checker." The movie's positive reviews could not have been "written by anyone who had spent any time with U.S. armed forces in Iraq," he wrote, wondering why none of the soldiers in the movie dipped smokeless tobacco or said "hoo-ah" -- "the universal term for hello, goodbye, understood, etc."
'Reckless' character
In an interview, Rieckhoff said the anger about "Hurt Locker" stems not so much from such small inaccuracies -- for example, the uniforms the soldiers wear in the film weren't available until well after the time the story took place -- but rather from the depiction of the main character, Sgt. 1st Class William James.
Portrayed by Jeremy Renner, who's nominated for Best Actor, James is a daredevil who in one scene takes off his protective armor while disarming a bomb because, as he says, "If I'm going to die, I'm going to be comfortable." He runs alone through the streets of Baghdad with his sweat shirt hood up like a gangster. Later, he takes two soldiers hunting for insurgents in Baghdad's back alleys without any backup.
James's fellow soldiers are, or try to be, by-the-book professionals. They call James "rowdy" and "reckless," and one worries out loud that his leader's crazy antics are "going to get me killed." James is as much cowboy as soldier, and vets fear he could become an iconic figure in the American imagination should the movie win a bunch of statues.
"Films, almost more than anything, will be the way Americans understand our war," Rieckhoff said. "So we feel that there is a responsibility for filmmakers to portray our war accurately. We see ourselves as watchdogs. . . . When he puts a hood on like Eminem and starts roving outside the wire, it's ridiculous."
Gallucci, a former sergeant who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, says he kept hoping James would get "blown up throughout the entire movie. I wanted to see his poor teammates get another team leader, who was actually concerned about their safety."
'Dramatic effect'
Mark Boal, the film's screenwriter, knows the soldiers in the film are wearing the wrong uniform. He was embedded in Iraq with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in 2004, and he's aware of what soldiers wore. Boal has worked as a journalist -- an article he wrote for Playboy became the basis for the 2007 film "In the Valley of Elah," about an Iraq war veteran who is murdered upon returning home -- and he feels a duty to hew as close to possible to the truth.
But "The Hurt Locker" is a movie, not a magazine article, Boal says, and screenwriters need ample artistic license to build a compelling -- and true -- story. So when he chose to have the film's soldiers wear the current Army uniform rather than the one they wore in 2004, it's to allow his audience "to relate to the imagery they saw on the news."
Yes, he had military consultants help him get details of radio protocol and uniforms right, but he never felt obliged to be precisely accurate. The consultants, Boal says, give a writer the information he needs so that "when you do choose to make a dramatic effect, [you] do it in a way that is not totally embarrassing."
The arc of the narrative, he says, has to come from the writer. "The story came out of my imagination based on my life experience and hundreds of conversations I've had with soldiers.
"I definitely tried for dramatic effect to make artistic choices, but I hope I made them respectfully and carefully and with the goal of not making a training video or a documentary, but showing just how hellish this war is. I was also aware, by the way, that there are many wonderful documentaries on Iraq and many wonderful articles, which no one has seen. And quite frankly, I was hoping that people would see the film."
Art vs. reality
Each writer's search for truth lands at a different point on the spectrum between art and reality. When screenwriter David Simon made the series "Generation Kill" for HBO, he considered it more important to have Marines find his work an accurate portrayal of their culture and experience invading Iraq than to win critical acclaim. "The real fun isn't trying to convince the average viewer" that we have it right, he told the Marine Corps Times. "It's trying to convince people who have been in the game."
Boal not only wanted to tell a riveting and important story, but also to raise awareness about soldiers who disarm bombs, a specialty known as explosive ordnance disposal, which he believed the general public knew little about, even though hidden bombs are the leading cause of casualties in Iraq.
As a result, despite some complaints about inaccuracies, many veterans of bomb disposal units love the movie, says James O'Neil, executive director of the EOD Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit that has benefited financially from the film.
"While there is some artistic license," O'Neil says, "there's a lot of good representation of the intensity and the courage that's displayed by EOD techs. What it takes to find, identify and then render safe those [bombs] -- that's a story, and it's an incredible story."
Filmmakers always worry that productions that servicemembers see as spot-on might leave general audiences cold. So: Is it really important that a war movie be accurate?
No, says David McKenna, a film professor at Columbia University. "Hurt Locker," he argues, isn't as much about Iraq as it is about one soldier's addiction to war. It's a character study, an exploration of courage, bravado and leadership told through "a series of suspenseful situations. I suppose it could have just as easily been set in outer space."
If veterans don't like it, McKenna says, "well, this is an opportunity to go make your own movie."
info came from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022506161_pf.html
Barack Obama should drink less alcohol and try harder to kick his smoking habit, doctors say
Barack Obama should not only try harder to kick his smoking habit, his team of doctors warned, but they also recommended 'moderation of alcohol intake'.
It would seem the pressure of the U.S. presidency - and all those White House receptions - are taking their toll after the 48-year-old's first medical checkup since winning the race to the White House.
The chief executive, who has endured an exhausting first year in the White House and year-long battles with congressional Republicans, should also eat better to lower his cholesterol, but was otherwise declared in excellent health and fit for duty.
The White House physician, Navy Capt Jeffrey Kuhlman, said Obama should stick with 'moderation in alcohol intake' and ‘smoking cessation efforts’, the use of nicotine gum, and come back in August 2011 after he turns 50.
Obama's cholesterol levels have crept up to borderline high and he should alter his diet accordingly, according to a report the White House released after the 90-minute examination at the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.
While at the facility, he visited 12 military service members receiving treatment and rehabilitation for injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The president is the picture of health, eats modest portions and exercises regularly. He is an avid basketball player and golfer.
The slightly elevated cholesterol levels, occasional smoking and tendinitis in his left knee were the only negatives noted.
Obama said at a June news conference that he still had an occasional cigarette. It was his first public acknowledgment that he hadn't kicked the habit.
He chews nicotine gum to avoid regular smoking, and his doctor said that should continue.
Occupational hazard: Obama (right) at the so-called 'Beer Summit' with (from left) Harvard Professor Henry Gates, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Police Sgt James Crowley. The summit was called after Crowley arrested Gates at his home on July 16, sparking racial tensions
On a previous occasion he said quitting smoking didn't create 'huge withdrawal symptoms', partly because he smoked only seven or eight cigarettes a day at the most.
The then senator first announced his decision to quit in 2007, in order to please his wife Michelle, while on the David Letterman Show.
Kuhlman also said the president should modify his diet to bring his LDL, or bad cholesterol, below 130.
At the time of his last exam, Obama's total cholesterol was 173, while his LDL was 96 and HDL, or good cholesterol, was 68.
This time, total cholesterol was up to 209, with HDL down slightly at 62. LDL was up to 138. Borderline high cholesterol starts at 200, with LDL considered in the same category at 130.
Bad habits: Obama smoking with a relative in front his family's hut in Kenya, Africa. He first announced his decision to quit in 2007, in order to please his wife Michelle, while on the David Letterman Show
In the U.S., the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that for healthy men, drinking more than four drinks on any day or 14 per week is considered 'at-risk' or 'heavy' drinking.
Last year Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
The law allows the Food and Drug Administration to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban sweet flavourings and block labels such 'low tar' and 'light.'
Tobacco companies are now also required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.
More...Obama warned by Nation of Islam leader that 'white right' will make him one-term president
Hillary Clinton 'stands ready' to help Argentina and Britain resolve Falkland Islands row
Strictly's Phil Tufnell: The secret of giving up smoking? Drink more red wine...
The law didn't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco, but the agency is now able to regulate the contents of tobacco products, make public their ingredients and prohibit marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children.
Kuhlman said Obama's last checkup was in July 2008 when he was seen by the attending physician to Congress when Obama was an Illinois senator.
During the 2008 White House race, his campaign released a statement from his longtime Chicago doctor saying Obama was in excellent health when examined in January 2007.
Sunday's report said Obama is 6ft 1in and weighs 180lb (82kg) in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure - 105 over 62.
The doctor recommended that Obama should:
● Have another exam for colon cancer in five years
● Continue smoking cessation efforts, a daily exercise programme, a healthy diet, moderation in alcohol intake, periodic dental care and remain up to date with recommended immunisations
● Keep up a modified exercise regimen to strengthen his legs to ward off more difficulties with his knee
● Modify his diet to lower his LDL cholesterol below 130
The doctor said Obama's vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision.
The president was checked for and found free of colon cancer with a virtual colonoscopy, a scan that avoids the more invasive visual inspection with a camera device that is passed into the large intestine.
The tendinitis that Obama suffers in his left leg could be the result of his regular basketball playing.
Kuhlman said that there was mild popping and grinding in Obama's left knee and ‘some weakness’ in his left hip, also possibly a result of rigorous and extended periods on the basketball court.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1254684/Barack-Obama-try-harder-kick-smoking-habit-doctors-say.html#ixzz0gybQ0JnE
It would seem the pressure of the U.S. presidency - and all those White House receptions - are taking their toll after the 48-year-old's first medical checkup since winning the race to the White House.
The chief executive, who has endured an exhausting first year in the White House and year-long battles with congressional Republicans, should also eat better to lower his cholesterol, but was otherwise declared in excellent health and fit for duty.
The White House physician, Navy Capt Jeffrey Kuhlman, said Obama should stick with 'moderation in alcohol intake' and ‘smoking cessation efforts’, the use of nicotine gum, and come back in August 2011 after he turns 50.
Obama's cholesterol levels have crept up to borderline high and he should alter his diet accordingly, according to a report the White House released after the 90-minute examination at the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.
While at the facility, he visited 12 military service members receiving treatment and rehabilitation for injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The president is the picture of health, eats modest portions and exercises regularly. He is an avid basketball player and golfer.
The slightly elevated cholesterol levels, occasional smoking and tendinitis in his left knee were the only negatives noted.
Obama said at a June news conference that he still had an occasional cigarette. It was his first public acknowledgment that he hadn't kicked the habit.
He chews nicotine gum to avoid regular smoking, and his doctor said that should continue.
Occupational hazard: Obama (right) at the so-called 'Beer Summit' with (from left) Harvard Professor Henry Gates, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Police Sgt James Crowley. The summit was called after Crowley arrested Gates at his home on July 16, sparking racial tensions
On a previous occasion he said quitting smoking didn't create 'huge withdrawal symptoms', partly because he smoked only seven or eight cigarettes a day at the most.
The then senator first announced his decision to quit in 2007, in order to please his wife Michelle, while on the David Letterman Show.
Kuhlman also said the president should modify his diet to bring his LDL, or bad cholesterol, below 130.
At the time of his last exam, Obama's total cholesterol was 173, while his LDL was 96 and HDL, or good cholesterol, was 68.
This time, total cholesterol was up to 209, with HDL down slightly at 62. LDL was up to 138. Borderline high cholesterol starts at 200, with LDL considered in the same category at 130.
Bad habits: Obama smoking with a relative in front his family's hut in Kenya, Africa. He first announced his decision to quit in 2007, in order to please his wife Michelle, while on the David Letterman Show
In the U.S., the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says that for healthy men, drinking more than four drinks on any day or 14 per week is considered 'at-risk' or 'heavy' drinking.
Last year Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
The law allows the Food and Drug Administration to reduce nicotine in tobacco products, ban sweet flavourings and block labels such 'low tar' and 'light.'
Tobacco companies are now also required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.
More...Obama warned by Nation of Islam leader that 'white right' will make him one-term president
Hillary Clinton 'stands ready' to help Argentina and Britain resolve Falkland Islands row
Strictly's Phil Tufnell: The secret of giving up smoking? Drink more red wine...
The law didn't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco, but the agency is now able to regulate the contents of tobacco products, make public their ingredients and prohibit marketing campaigns, especially those geared toward children.
Kuhlman said Obama's last checkup was in July 2008 when he was seen by the attending physician to Congress when Obama was an Illinois senator.
During the 2008 White House race, his campaign released a statement from his longtime Chicago doctor saying Obama was in excellent health when examined in January 2007.
Sunday's report said Obama is 6ft 1in and weighs 180lb (82kg) in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure - 105 over 62.
The doctor recommended that Obama should:
● Have another exam for colon cancer in five years
● Continue smoking cessation efforts, a daily exercise programme, a healthy diet, moderation in alcohol intake, periodic dental care and remain up to date with recommended immunisations
● Keep up a modified exercise regimen to strengthen his legs to ward off more difficulties with his knee
● Modify his diet to lower his LDL cholesterol below 130
The doctor said Obama's vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision.
The president was checked for and found free of colon cancer with a virtual colonoscopy, a scan that avoids the more invasive visual inspection with a camera device that is passed into the large intestine.
The tendinitis that Obama suffers in his left leg could be the result of his regular basketball playing.
Kuhlman said that there was mild popping and grinding in Obama's left knee and ‘some weakness’ in his left hip, also possibly a result of rigorous and extended periods on the basketball court.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1254684/Barack-Obama-try-harder-kick-smoking-habit-doctors-say.html#ixzz0gybQ0JnE
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