The Dictator, Mel Gibson, History and Comedy

The Dictator is an outstanding satire which is not burning up the box office in America as it should and has gotten temped ratings on rotten tomatoes. Too bad. A movie that swings for the fences will impress those it was meant to impress (people like myself who find it refreshing) and will alienate people who are either strict formalists who insist a movie can only be a satire or a rom-com. It will also annoy morons, but we'll leave that aside. I love the fact that this is both a satire and a somewhat disingenuous rom-com with a protagonist who gets to do heroic deeds and still has a back-story and attitudes that are off-putting. Too many movies are running for office. This movie expects you to know when it is giving movies the finger. Some people don't get it. I got it and appreciate it. This is the sort of movie I would like to be doing. Get the Gringo appears to be released somewhere and I like what I am hearing about it, that it has the quips of a Lethal Weapon and it has a tone like Robert Rodriguez flicks. I look forward to Machete Kills, in which Mel Gibson is supposed to play a bad guy. This all happens around the same time Joe Eszterhas is coming out with an e-book called Heaven and Mel which will fine-tune his own spin on the creative falling out he had with the actor-director over the Maccabee script. I have only the other day heard that he released audio of Mel's alleged rant to him in Costa Rica, but it is clearly from another room and kind of low key as rants go. Mel yells at him for not writing a darn thing over 14 months of being employed to do a screenplay, then yells "Who wants dinner? Yum!" or something. No big deal. He also apparently appeared on Jay Leno and (appropriately) made light of it. It is a shame. I have a copy of Basic Instinct which is entertaining. I also have a book, "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood," wherein one presumes our guide is Joe. After the downbeat visit to Costa Rica (where another writer was having better luck writing with Mel, one Randall Wallace who wrote Braveheart and directed Mel in We Were Soldiers) Joe did finally whip-up a screenplay draft. But it was apparently slip-shot and not reflective enough of what Mel wanted. Warners rejected it and then Mel rejected it. Warners had already paid Joe for the work thus far. Now without Joe's spin, it is the tale of a screenwriter who hasn't cranked anything out since An Allan Smithee Film, Burn, Hollywood, Burn in 1997 if you don't count the 2006 foreign polo film Children of Glory which has three other credited screenwriters and I've never heard of it. Getting his draft of the Maccabee script rejected by Warners would be such a blow to this latter phase of his career he knows his posterity is at stake so he has to make something else of it. Why Mel or Warners chose him to work on this material is unknown. Maybe this time-honored story of Jewish history needed a "Showgirls" touch. Joe wants to amp up the perception that Mel Gibson is not only a lunatic but anti-Semitic. Is The Passion of the Christ a slam against Jews? I didn't feel it as such when I watched it. And it didn't motivate anyone to go out and commit acts of violence against Jews either. It is a very contemplative film. I don't know if Hindus deny that Hindus killed Gandhi or whether the Nation of Islam says their members had nothing to do with killing Malcolm X. The facts don't seem to be much in dispute. People see evil done do Jews OSTENSIBLY for the killing of Christ and therefore can't suffer the fact that not only a Jew named Jesus got crucified and that some high-ranking Jews insisted on it but that crucifixion was common, as was public flogging. I have not heard any dispute of the line "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" spoken supposedly by Jesus, which would (one thinks) wipe the slate clean for all of JC's persecutors. But even then to not know "what they do" is to assume they don't realize they are killing the Son of God but believe they are merely torturing and killing an ordinary person for blasphemy. So any way you slice it, people have been barbaric and stupid throughout history. Hopefully we will get to see Randall Wallace's Viking film which might very well push Viking violence to the limit. It's a little too easy for people to whine that they don't agree with their employer. It creates a climate where famous employers can't write you a letter or an e-mail without fear that you will release it to the public. I likely will read Joe's e-book, but I already don't respect it. Sascha Baron Cohen (The Dictator himself) has made a couple of digs against Mel Gibson but they are inspired digs. I can respect both in that case. Gibson is made an easy target for accusations of racism. Hopefully meanwhile I will soon find a copy of Get the Gringo. Apparently it is in theaters overseas.

being Pro-Mel Gibson

I just counted and I have 20 of his movies on DVD. The "publicly heckled" thing - to me - is geared more toward people who don't so much care about movies or TV anyway but just want to shit on celebrities in general. 1) If you are gay, maybe maybe you resent that he a) is Traditionalist Catholic b) may have said something about not being interested in flirtations from men (a remark I have not read or seen a link to), c) told a joke at a party in the eighties to Winona Ryder and her gay friend which you interpret as hostile as opposed to breaking the ice, of d) had a hilarious scene in Braveheart where Longshanks pretends to confide in his fey son's boyfriend and then flings him out the castle window. Or maybe they don't like Mel pretending to be gay in Bird on a Wire and What Women Want. 2) If you are Jewish and just "love to hate" Mel without giving any actual thought to the overall context of his 2006 drunk driving remarks, you may hold a grudge. If you resent the fact that he made what feels like an accurate dramatization of The Passion of the Christ, you probably already hated him when he announced the project and hadn't even written the script yet. And maybe even being Catholic is by definition some sort of offence against extreme Judaism that can't bear to imagine any distant ancestor crucifying someone for blasphemy. Or maybe you blame Mel for the sins of his own father Hutton Gibson whose ramblings about the Holocaust have been fact-free and embarrassing especially for a former Jeopardy winner. Somewhere in the middle are very smart gay activists who hate Mel for category 1) reasons, and put their time and energy into fanning the flames of category 2). I'd like to see what kind of Viking movie crazy Mel would have made. Maybe some day. Although with the release of Edge of Darkness Mel was fending off a lot of interviewers whose motive seemed to be to re-set all things back to 2006 and erase whatever cooling off had naturally happened. I think there is a destructive and misguided push against Mel. One could say that he should have assumed at all times someone will try to record his voice and he was off the rails when he phoned his ex-girlfriend (his enemy) and spoke on her level. Whatever Mel's worst haters think of him, I think worse of Oksana. Funny or Die had an interesting skit with Mel in a meeting with Jamie Fox and Gary Shandling. I think Mel basically has to tough it out. If he wasn't such a positive force in film, it wouldn't matter if he never worked again. I'll definitely see Get the Gringo, formerly How I Spent My Summer Vacation, though I expect Mel's "Vacation" has gone on longer than expected. He still seems to be in good form, but there is so much misinformation being pushed out by media that it will be a miracle if he gets anything more mainstream than the bad guy role in Machete Kills. (Although I hope it is true Rodriguez plans to use him; he will be a step up from Steven Segall). You know, there are some people I like who have a blind spot about Mel. With bi-polar disorder, alcoholism and Catholicism pressing on him, it is a miracle that he can be so funny and interesting in films. The odds may be against him getting a lead again in a big film. But then maybe big films are going down the drain anyway. It will all be niches and I still consider myself part of that niche that will see Gibson's flicks. The Maccabee story doesn't itself interest me, nor did Joe Esterhauz as a writer of it. I'm not shocked that when his last minute whipped up draft was rejected by the studio. Apparently after months of discussions with Mel he hadn't written one page when he arrived with his family at Mel's island. So there is legitimate anger there. But then he blames Mel for "not wanting to make" the Maccabee film -- when Mel has said for 8 years it was his plan and he will make it with whatever script gets green-lit by a studio. Joe felt himself being thrown under the bus, so he tried to throw Mel under the bus with his allegations about Mel's deportment on his island. Most interesting is the accusation that Mel went off on a tirade about wanting Oksana killed and what profane things should be done to her (all understandable and things I want done even though she isn't my own personal tormentor). Joe said his young son witnessed this, that he was in the room when Mel was spewing this, and that his son videotaped it. Uh, one part of that puzzle doesn't fit. First, if he had the footage, it would be "leaked" just like his letter to Mel was leaked. Second, if the little boy was in the room with a videocamera Mel would not have said profane things, given his nightmare with Oksana. Third, it's no judgement against Mel if he didn't know the kid was in the room and he only thought he was talking to the biker-like screenwriter of Basic Instinct and Showgirls. I just counted and I have 20 of his movies on DVD. The "publicly heckled" thing - to me - is geared more toward people who don't so much care about movies or TV anyway but just want to shit on celebrities in general. 1) If you are gay, maybe maybe you resent that he a) is Traditionalist Catholic b) may have said something about not being interested in flirtations from men (a remark I have not read or seen a link to), c) told a joke at a party in the eighties to Winona Ryder and her gay friend which you interpret as hostile as opposed to breaking the ice, of d) had a hilarious scene in Braveheart where Longshanks pretends to confide in his fey son's boyfriend and then flings him out the castle window. Or maybe they don't like Mel pretending to be gay in Bird on a Wire and What Women Want. 2) If you are Jewish and just "love to hate" Mel without giving any actual thought to the overall context of his 2006 drunk driving remarks, you may hold a grudge. If you resent the fact that he made what feels like an accurate dramatization of The Passion of the Christ, you probably already hated him when he announced the project and hadn't even written the script yet. And maybe even being Catholic is by definition some sort of offence against extreme Judaism that can't bear to imagine any distant ancestor crucifying someone for blasphemy. Or maybe you blame Mel for the sins of his own father Hutton Gibson whose ramblings about the Holocaust have been fact-free and embarrassing especially for a former Jeopardy winner. Somewhere in the middle are very smart gay activists who hate Mel for category 1) reasons, and put their time and energy into fanning the flames of category 2). I'd like to see what kind of Viking movie crazy Mel would have made. Maybe some day. Although with the release of Edge of Darkness Mel was fending off a lot of interviewers whose motive seemed to be to re-set all things back to 2006 and erase whatever cooling off had naturally happened. I think there is a destructive and misguided push against Mel. One could say that he should have assumed at all times someone will try to record his voice and he was off the rails when he phoned his ex-girlfriend (his enemy) and spoke on her level. Whatever Mel's worst haters think of him, I think worse of Oksana. Funny or Die had an interesting skit with Mel in a meeting with Jamie Fox and Gary Shandling. I think Mel basically has to tough it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRIeT5R7edU If he wasn't such a positive force in film, it wouldn't matter if he never worked again. I'll definitely see Get the Gringo, formerly How I Spent My Summer Vacation, though I expect Mel's "Vacation" has gone on longer than expected. He still seems to be in good form, but there is so much misinformation being pushed out by media that it will be a miracle if he gets anything more mainstream than the bad guy role in Machete Kills. (Although I hope it is true Rodriguez plans to use him; he will be a step up from Steven Segall). You know, there are some people I like who have a blind spot about Mel. With bi-polar disorder, alcoholism and Catholicism pressing on him, it is a miracle that he can be so funny and interesting in films. The odds may be against him getting a lead again in a big film. But then maybe big films are going down the drain anyway. It will all be niches and I still consider myself part of that niche that will see Gibson's flicks. The Maccabee story doesn't itself interest me, nor did Joe Esterhauz as a writer of it. I'm not shocked that when his last minute whipped up draft was rejected by the studio. Apparently after months of discussions with Mel he hadn't written one page when he arrived with his family at Mel's island. So there is legitimate anger there. But then he blames Mel for "not wanting to make" the Maccabee film -- when Mel has said for 8 years it was his plan and he will make it with whatever script gets green-lit by a studio. Joe felt himself being thrown under the bus, so he tried to throw Mel under the bus with his allegations about Mel's deportment on his island. Most interesting is the accusation that Mel went off on a tirade about wanting Oksana killed and what profane things should be done to her (all understandable and things I want done even though she isn't my own personal tormentor). Joe said his young son witnessed this, that he was in the room when Mel was spewing this, and that his son videotaped it. Uh, one part of that puzzle doesn't fit. First, if he had the footage, it would be "leaked" just like his letter to Mel was leaked. Second, if the little boy was in the room with a videocamera Mel would not have said profane things, given his nightmare with Oksana. Third, it's no judgement against Mel if he didn't know the kid was in the room and he only thought he was talking to the biker-like screenwriter of Basic Instinct and Showgirls.