Longtime fans of this site know how much I liked Ayn Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged." Now it's a movie, coming out on April 15th. Man o man, I'm in Heaven! I pre-paid for a seat in the very first show. Anyway, that's the trailer, above.
Here's (above) a clip showing steel magnate Rearden coming home to his snooty wife and her loafer friends. When I watch this I can't believe my eyes. Imagine a film that actually portrays a businessman as a hero rather than a bloodsucker! How delightfully unmodern!
Here (above) the heroine socks it to a corrupt union boss. Me, I like unions, but I don't like guys like this.
The address: The Landmark Regent Theatre/1045 Broxton Ave. /Los Angeles, CA 90024-2803/ (310) 281-8223. I don't know how long the film's going to run, but advance tickets for this theatre can be had via an automated telephone service: 1(877)789MOVIE. The online site says they're not selling advance tickets just now, but that could change.
Parking can be had at public lots and on the street. The garage across from the Regent offers $3 parking after 6PM. Before 6PM the first two hours are free.
For those poor souls who are not fortunate enough to live in L.A., here's a site with the name and location of every theatre in the country that's running the film:
http://www.AtlasShruggedPart1.com/theaters#California
Wow, from the clips you showed here this movie looks really good. I hope you can make it there Eddie!
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ReplyDeleteScrawny, Koszis: If this film makes enough money there'll be two other parts. This was made for only 5 million, but every cent of it appears to be on the screen.
ReplyDeleteThe only review I've seen so far was in the Hollywood Reporter, which liked the actress who played Dagny but was indifferent to everyone else. They also said the writing and direction felt like TV.
In the two clips the writing and direction are flawless, and the actor who plays Rearden appears to have done a very good job. It's possible that the Reporter just didn't like the philosophy in the story. I'll see for myself in a week.
Oh Hi Eddie, I Got an Idea for a Post, I See you Credited as a storyboard artist on a DIC Special that was released on Video, it was called Robotman and friends, from what i know it was split into trilogies and i was wondering, what was it like working for DiC?
ReplyDeleteOh By the Way, Eddie, speaking of DiC here's one of their logos that really unnerved and tramatized me as a kid, note the music and the Background http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D71fh-tWXu4&feature=player_embedded, here's a sped up variant with a choir instead of the famous kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKvD1b9c_wU&feature=player_embedded
Here's also the infamous (for me) YTV logo that also traumatized me as a kid as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjBjOoTxB0&feature=related
Does that also give you an idea for a post about "scary" logos and why they are scary and what was their intention?
Asim.
Nice clips, Eddie! Sounds good, I don't live in LA, but I'll see if I can get around to seeing it! I hope you don't mind me asking, but where do you work? I'm always curious as to where my favorite artists are working! :-)
ReplyDeleteEddie, you are so lucky! Because I live in the People's Republic of Madison (WI) it will not be showing here. Probably ever.
ReplyDeleteAnon: Wow! Thanks!Those WERE scary logos. I guess the shorter the logo, the greater the remptation to use drastic sound to call attention to it. I'm not aware of any study that backs this up.
ReplyDeleteBlake: Like lots of bloggers, I never mention my current employers.
Lester: Aaaargh! That's too bad! Well, I expect the film will make most of its money on DVD sales.
That's Okay, Lemme Know when you do get the idea, But you forgot to reply to the FIRST one, You Know, what was it really like working for companies like DiC, you already posted filmation, though, i think.
ReplyDeleteAsim.
Haha you have no idea how much I hate that book. Many of times it flew through the room when I again was fed up with Rand's rants.
ReplyDeleteIts weird, because i find the first part is so well written but by the
3rd act i want to stab her in the face.
Still, thanks for the movie news.
I will surely watch it to compare!!
Anon: Haw! Like I said, I never discuss my employers on the net.
ReplyDeleteTek: Boy, you get emotional about your books! Maybe that's a good sign, in the sense that you take ideas seriously.
I wish there was some kind of public forum where ideas could be debated without resort to shouting. A long time ago I came across a youth coffee house that was run by a religious group. The coffee was free and every table had one member of the church (usually a good looking girl) who gently steered the conversation toward ethics and religion. She never quoted from the Bible, but just asked thought-provoking questions. It was fun for visitors to see if they could win over the table guides to their own philosophy.
Congratulations, Eddie & Prof. Dent! It looks amazing for $5million. This movie could really start some populist momentum ahead of the 2012 elections.
ReplyDeleteThey set the story in the present time, but not everything translates well. I tried to watch the trailer with an open mind, as if I didn't know the story. It needs some updating:
1) High speed rail project
It's sexy, yeah. But as a taxpayer, my sphincter clenches defensively. I reflexively think of a multi-billion dollar pork barrel & less money for potholes.
2) Manufacturing
That's OK for the post-war era when Steel was flush with war profits & the global competition was bombed to rubble. We don't do that here any more, especially raw manufactures like steel. It's all too pre-post-industrial. Besides, why would someone who wants to make money decide to make steel instead? A 21st-century Rearden would be found in the financial sector where money is created. Instead of a new metal, he could invent a new form of derivative that will save the economy, but the power-hungry & resentful SEC regulators have proclaimed it too risky, in the name of society's moochers.
The foregoing is mild sarcasm.
I heard about a movie version back in 2009 that was to star Brad Pitt.
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing a resurgence of a philosophical phenomenon known as 'Objectivisim'. This is a term Ayn Rand used to label her view-point taught in her two books "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". It's also the same thinking Aleister Crowley taught and that Rock and Roll helped promote through out the 60's. Basically it's everyone for themselves. A Darwinian mentality that tells us we aren't accountable to others and if you can't make it, too bad.
I don't know what it all means and perhaps I'm only paranoid but we are already too selfish. Yet I hate to say it but many people feel the world owes them a living and I don't know how it's going to go down when others suddenly start to see them as a drain and labeled 'looters' of society. I'm a little scared!
Joel: You found the vulnerability that Rand's ideas have, i.e. that when taken to an extreme they could lead to social darwinism and a chilly disdain for the least competent.
ReplyDeleteI think of the Irish potato famine where free market advocates urged the government to lock up its granaries and make them unavailable to the millions who were starving. I believe in free markets myself but this application of the theory defies common sense. Ditto the outsourcing of our industry on a grand scale. Free markets yes, absolutely, but ones informed by common sense.
I don't know of any philosopher that I agree with entirely, and that includes Ayn Rand. Philosophers necessarily put a high value on logical consistency and that always leads them to harsh, mechanistic conclusions.
Aristotle, who was a philosopher himself, warned of the danger of taking philosophy to ridiculous extremes. He believed that all ideas, no matter how useful, have a negative impact when pushed to the edges, and that we have to develop a balanced character so we recognize when our ideas have wandered into the absurd.
So yes, I love Ayn Rand. I just believe in seeing her through the lens of common sense and what Cicero called "right reason."
Joel: One other thought: I didn't adequately answer what you said about society already being too selfish. I think I know how you mean that, and I don't necessarily disagree. I just can't adequately talk to that point on a blog about art. I respect what you said, and will gladly discuss it over pizza if you ever come to LA.
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