Director Kimberly Peirce and actor Ryan Phillippe might be talented, but audiences don't want to see their latest movie.
'Stop Loss' bombs: Why do Iraq war movies fail?
Kimberly Peirce’s “Stop-Loss” is the best fictional film yet inspired by the Iraq war … or at least it’s in a dead heat with “In the Valley of Elah” for that honor. Which doesn’t mean “Stop-Loss” will be any more successful at the box office than its predecessors. As of late Saturday night, "Stop-Loss" was performing poorly. As much as Iraq dominates the country’s political discourse, it hasn’t been welcome on our movie screens. Still, it’s a topic filmmakers seem determined to tackle.
Why does Hollywood persist in making war films that American audiences refuse to see? Do Americans only want pro-war films? Or is it possible that the nightly news is enough to turn audiences off of fictional accounts of the war?
Thoughts
The movie
Submitted on April 4th, 2008 by AnonymousThe movie is being marketed by MTV films. I think that the public is entirely uninterested in a politically motivated movie brought to us by a network known for "Rocking The Vote" with an unregistered voter as a spokesman. Besides, when have they ever put out a good movie? They should just stick to their "consumer porn" AKA Cribs, and teen soap operas.
That is why I have no interest in seeing the movie.
I already know more than i
Submitted on March 30th, 2008 by wishnevskyI already know more than i want to know about Iraq. It's a mess. I read history. I knew it was going to be a mess before it happened.
We have been winning constantly for five years now, and it's still a mess, and we still are not even getting much oil out of there. Wheee..
So why would i want to go see a movie about a depressing mess? To get more depressed?
I managed to ignore all the Vietnam movies, except half of "Apocalypse Now." Another depressing mess. Saw "The Kingdom" which was bad enough, and anti-war in a more subtle way.
Watching an Anti-war, or a Pro-war movie does not save one life, or change one mind. This administration has made it plain that they will not ever change course, so then what?
Watch movies and feel virtuous? Is that supposed to help?
These movies are just more irrelevancies for the babbling classes to babble about, just like the Olympics.
"The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, moves on, and all your piety and wit cannot erase one line of it."
Free-market answer to Hollywood ideals
Submitted on March 30th, 2008 by AnonymousI haven't seen the film, nor have I wanted to.... Americans can watch the news for the problems in Iraq- there's plenty of negative press out there. If I were to pay to see a movie about Iraq, I want to see something that doesn't paint our troops as drunks or deserters.
No one says war is easy on the troops, and that Americans are perfect, but if I watch a movie about war, I want it's focus to be on heroism, like the movies about world war II are, or "Blackhawk Down" and "We were soldiers," or "Windtalkers." If I want to see how bad American troops are, I will watch an old Vietnam movie.
It is a free-market slap in the face to Hollywood's ideals.
Iraq films & box office
Submitted on March 30th, 2008 by MercyphotographyA little glitch here, see my comments above.
Thanks.
Mercyphotography