15 April 2011
At sisu, Sissy Willis reviewed the film:
…We loved the movie — riveting, glamorous, great performances by non-celebrity actors (what a relief it is not to be distracted by knowing the performers’ political views), shot in a smoky and sensually-charged style reminiscent of our fave futuristic flick, “Bladerunner.” Production values to die for. The music was pitch perfect, lots of new, tempered but emotionally charged material with a little Chopin and a few echoes of the classics thrown in, most memorably the doom sounds of Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony at one momentous point in the story…
John Nolte wrote at Big Hollywood:
…While we have a long way to go, there is momentum on our side and this bodes very well for “Atlas Shrugged,” which hits theatres this Friday. For starters, the timing couldn’t be better. Led by President Obama, the federal government is spending us into bankruptcy and declaring war on the American Dream. You can’t say Obama’s declaring war on business, though, because when it comes to picking and choosing who will win and who will lose, Obama’s a corporatist of the first order. You think General Electric considers Obama anti-business? But those entrepreneurs who don’t own a cable network Palace Guarding for the Left like MSNBC and don’t toady up to Big Labor, are under fire and that’s the theme “Atlas Shrugged” speaks to.
Best of all, the production of the movie itself is faithful to its own themes: Risk and independence mixed with a touch of bravado. Yesterday’s L.A. Times tells the incredible story of how, after two decades of trying, someone bucked the Hollywood system and just did it — just made the damn movie. The opening sentence of the article sums it up best:
A capitalist taken with Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel spends almost 20 years and $20 million of his own money to get the first third of it filmed.
You’ll want to read the whole thing. It’s an inspiring story of the kind of filmmakers we’ve been waiting for — the ones we’ve been calling out to for years: We love movies, Hollywood. And if you build them for us, we will come.
Believe it or not, there’s a whole “conservative” subculture out there that doesn’t want our nation’s problems solved. They’re a selfish, cynical bunch more interested in themselves than what’s best for America. They know the moment the issues they fund-raise off of are actually solved is the moment they’re no longer able to raise funds off of them. They don’t fight, they talk. They don’t want to win, they want to fire off letters ginning up the kind of outrage that pushes people to write the checks that keep them in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed…
Theatres showing “Atlas Shrugged” are listed here. You can request a showing at your local theatre here.
CAJ note: The film is beautiful, frightening, and brilliant. We urge you to see it. Those readers who remember New York City during the 1970s will have an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu.
We eagerly await “Atlas Shrugged, Part 2.”
Update: At Conservative Outlooks Carol Greenberg wrote, “Loved it, loved it, loved it!!…” and has a video clip from Atlas…
Update 2: Related–The 1970s in NYC: Something Else, at The Other McCain
