The Invisible Counterpoint

Hacksaw Ridge 
Hollywood had shelved Mel Gibson as one of the worst ill-repute -- as antisemitic -- and it's been awhile since we've heard from him. And it looked like for a moment in the film that it might contain little inferences here and there that didn't distract from the plot, but basically let Hollywood know how he'd felt about that. There's a character in the film, you see, who's nicknamed Hollywood, and we meet him early on, well before they get to the war zone. He's very beautacious and full of himself, and he wilts when under pressure. Classic attack upon liberals; close to classic antisemitic attack against Jews. But he's not revealed as empty and worthless. Really, he ends up basically just average, as an average soldier, who performs but also gets dismayed in fear too. And in this film that actually counts for a lot, because Gibson is with them all, the great and merely adequate soldiers, and soldiers of all ranks too (officers can b...

BOYCOTT THE HACK ZACH ... in perpetuity I think it's simply a "travesty" that a supremely spoiled sophomoric pack of so-called ACTORS can RULE the film industry. LIKE anybody in THAT CAST has EVER DONE anything (frankly) remarkable in THEIR ENTIRE LIVES. WHO HASN'T DONE THINGS THEY REGRET ?? ... THAT they SHOULD JUDGE MEL GIBSON? Basically "character" actors, which NEVER had the IMPACT in this industry -- or THE WORLDWIDE audiences Mel has. (iconklee, response to post, “‘The Hangover 2’s’ Mel Gibson controversy, Matt Zoller Seitz, Salon, 22 October 2010) . . . . . Roman Polanski is a child molesting douchebag. he doesn't seem to have stopped his shenanigans, evades punishment, has been arrogant and crazy and makes movies I won't watch. (mrsmonkey) . . . . . Significant artists throughout history have had reputations Not all guys who do questionable things are great artists or creators, but many of the most respected and lauded art...

Substituting a goat And in other miracle-related news, some people in Hollywood decided to stand on principle. The issue was Mel Gibson, charismatic movie star, Oscar-winning filmmaker and drunken, bigoted, death-threat-issuing lout. Gibson was supposed to make a cameo in "The Hangover 2," the sequel to the 2009 hit "The Hangover," but was booted from the production , reportedly after cast members -- supposedly led by costar Zach Galifianakis -- told the film's director, Todd Phillips, that they were uncomfortable working with Gibson. The cast apparently was not uncomfortable appearing in the last "Hangover" opposite convicted rapist and onetime mugger Mike Tyson, who subsequently told ESPN radio that he did the cameo "for drug money." [. . .] If artists should be publicly censured and denied employment on the basis of offenses they commit in private life, how come Gibson is a pariah right now for threatening and hitting his ex-g...

The time has come to admit it -- Jodie Foster is not all that. Foster, beloved child actress turned two-time Academy Award winner, Yale magna cum laude, respected director and person who has lived in the public eye for 40 years without a nip slip, bar brawl or nutty Twitter outburst, seems in many ways the epitome of graceful modern womanhood. She is serious about her work, she is devoted to her children and she was honored Monday as one of Elle magazine's top women in Hollywood. And it was there that she spoke of "an amazing actor, an incredible friend, a loyal friend of mine for 18 years." She described him as "incredibly loved by everyone who ever comes into contact with him or works with him ... truly the most loved man in the film business, so, hopefully that stands for something." She was talking about Mel Gibson. Say what? [. . .] Yet Foster's suspect loyalty to internationally acclaimed, unrepentant creeps doesn't end with "the most...