Heart and Soul Plane

You know, for somebody who has nothing but contempt for Hollywood and the people who live and work here*, President Bush sure likes to rip off our movies' soundtracks:

For Bush's final campaign swing, Rove tapped powerful presidential symbols. Bush's arrival for a Thursday rally at the airport in Elko, Nev., was choreographed so the crowd on the tarmac cheered as Air Force One swooped out of the sky to heroic theme music from the movie "Top Gun." When the familiar blue-and-white Boeing 747-200B rolled right up to the rally, the loudspeakers switched to the soundtrack from the film "Air Force One." All that was missing was Harrison Ford.

By the way, does anybody even recognize the score from Air Force One?

And speaking of hypocrites, I wonder if the recent allegations about Rev. Ted Haggard will prompt Magnolia to try to relaunch Jesus Camp, as Rev. Haggard has an extended cameo in the documentary. Though there was a lot of buzz when the film was released in September, its box office has stalled out at less than a million dollars and it never went wider than 52 theaters. This is a movie that everyone should see before Tuesday, if only to be informed of what is going on in this country below the mainstream radar.

Well, it turns out Magnolia has already seized the moment by leaking a brief clip of Rev. Haggard's appearance from the film (there's more of him in the movie than these 42 seconds, and it gets a lot creepier) on YouTube:


*I'm specifically referencing, as I have before, President Bush's 2004 stump speech, where he often led off with something along the lines of:

But it is great to be in a place where people work hard and make a living off the land, raise their families. It's what I call the heart and soul of the country. (Applause.) The other folks believe the heart and soul can be found in Hollywood. I think it's found right here in [insert pandering to state he's in]. (Applause.)

On a personal level, this infuriated me, and I've never forgotten, nor forgiven, it. This wasn't some botched joke. It was a lame, yet deliberate joke and its meaning can't be misinterpreted. But nobody ever called him on the fact that he essentially claimed that everyone in this town is heartless and soulless. Yes, there may be a lot of heartless, soulless people here in Hollywood, but there are heartless and soulless people everywhere (if I'm not mistaken, Enron was based out of the president's hometown of Houston). And there are plenty of good, decent people here in Hollywood as well. People like Patricia Heaton and Jesus Christ Jim Caviezel.

Previously, on The Dish: Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs, Maybe, But Still No Heart and Soul, Giving is its own Award, BUSH DECLARES WAR ON POP CULTURE!

PG Or Not PG?

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt doesn't like the allegations that Facing the Giants, "a Christian-themed movie about a football coach's faith in God," was allegedly "rated PG instead of G due to religious content."

"This incident raises the disquieting possibility that the MPAA considers exposure to Christian themes more dangerous for children than exposure to gratuitous sex and violence."

Now, his use of the word "more" in that sentence suggests that if Christian themes are warranting PG ratings, then gratuitous sex and violence are slipping by in G-rated movies.

Really? Innuendo and cartoon violence, maybe, but gratuitous? How about some examples Rep. Blunt?

And while you're at it, where's the outrage over An Inconvenient Truth's PG branding? The only thing offensive about that film is that it's scary as hell. It's rated PG for "mild thematic elements" while Facing the Giants is rated the same for "some thematic elements." In either case, does a G versus a PG make any difference at all? Doesn't the House Energy and Commerce Committee have better things to spend its, uh, energy on?

Previously, on The Dish: Bigger, Longer and Cut?

I've Created Luthor-ans!

Well, they are both bald...

Surely this casting mistake is the only thing off base in the CAP Movie Ministry's Christian analysis of Superman Returns, right?:

Superman Returns is also a tale of how Lex Luthor (Ben Kingsley), who is now out of prison, again plots and plans to destroy Superman and billions of humans in the process of acquiring -- you guessed it -- land.

Right?:

Isn't there an increasing trend in the prevailing centers of childhood development -- in public schools for example -- to teach that the only safe sex is no sex (not that the school has any business teaching kids about sex in the first place)? If true and if movies really do reflect real life instead of engineer it, shouldn't movies follow suit instead of conflict with it? But then, if movies did truly reflect real life and its apparent trend to teach abstinence, Superman Returns would probably not contain the cohabitation and pregnancy out of wedlock. Now, wouldn't that be a shame?

Even Christopher Moltisanti's not spacey enough to confuse these two

For a somewhat more (surprisingly) reasonable Christian reading of Superman Returns, check out the *gulp* American Family Association.

Previously, on The Dish: Superman-on-Man Love, (pop) Culture (a)War(d)s