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"Reagan" film: Is it any good?

So I generally find historical flicks interesting, and I was considering checking this one out at the theater, but most reviews I've seen are so preoccupied with praising/criticizing Reagan's worldview and policies that any meaningful assessment of the film itself has been lost in the noise.

Anybody here seen it? Is it at least entertaining as cinema, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the man and his politics?
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I can't really comment because I haven't seen it
But It's has Dennis Quaid so it gotta a least be decent.
It looks like critics hate but the audience like it.
So it must be a great film.
 

Pegasus Actual

Gold Member
uqxEtOD.png

Not sus at all.
 

WoodyStare

Member
The director is one of the worst in the business, directing such classics as Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby, Casper Meets Wendy, 3 Ninjas at High Noon Mountain, Bratz: The Movie, Cats and Dogs 3 among many others. Just take a look at his filmography and try not to laugh.

The trailer for this looked laughably bad, and audiences in general tend to like biopics even when they’re bad to mediocre so the difference in scores isn’t all that surprising. I’d say view it at your own risk.
 
The director is one of the worst in the business, directing such classics as Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby, Casper Meets Wendy, 3 Ninjas at High Noon Mountain, Bratz: The Movie, Cats and Dogs 3 among many others. Just take a look at his filmography and try not to laugh.

The trailer for this looked laughably bad, and audiences in general tend to like biopics even when they’re bad to mediocre so the difference in scores isn’t all that surprising. I’d say view it at your own risk.
The movie is good, despite his past directing.
 

12Goblins

Lil’ Gobbie
Trailer looked better than expected given that abysmal filmography from the director, but why is Dennis Quaid playing jack Nicholson and Jon voight playing James Lipton? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
Trailer looked better than expected given that abysmal filmography from the director, but why is Dennis Quaid playing jack Nicholson and Jon voight playing James Lipton? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
There's not a single thing he does in this movie that even remotely resembles Jack Nicholson. He does a decent job of portraying Reagan. As for Jon Voight, the James Lipton thing is spot on. :messenger_grinning_sweat:


I want to see it because I grew up in the Reagan 80s
You'll like this movie then.
 
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DKehoe

Member
A film praising Regan would be review bombed by the "professional" critics even if it was a colab between Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese, Nolan, PTA and the Coen brothers.
Going by the above screenshot shot it's only gotten 44 critic reviews so that's not review bombing. And it's not like critics can review bomb things anyway since they can't just create accounts, post reviews on those and have it count towards the score.

I'll maybe check out the film though.
 

TDiddyLive

Member
The director is one of the worst in the business, directing such classics as Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby, Casper Meets Wendy, 3 Ninjas at High Noon Mountain, Bratz: The Movie, Cats and Dogs 3 among many others. Just take a look at his filmography and try not to laugh.

The trailer for this looked laughably bad, and audiences in general tend to like biopics even when they’re bad to mediocre so the difference in scores isn’t all that surprising. I’d say view it at your own risk.
sTptrvU.jpeg

Ummm… if he made this masterpiece then he deserves all the money I can give him!!!
Any director than harness the power of not only Hulk Hogan, but also Jim Varney, aka “KnoWhutImean, Vern?” Ernest P. Worrell, in the same film is beyond legendary!
 
The director is one of the worst in the business, directing such classics as Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby, Casper Meets Wendy, 3 Ninjas at High Noon Mountain, Bratz: The Movie, Cats and Dogs 3 among many others. Just take a look at his filmography and try not to laugh.
But does this mean he's a bad director? I think it likely means he's worked on only kids crap his whole life. It's not as if Tarantino could have brilliantly directed these movies. I'm guessing he didn't write them. It seems he's not made any serious respectful movies in his career, which is probably the reason he agreed to do this.
 
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Hahaha, no, of course it's not good, it's a low budget Christian Ronald Reagan biopic from the director the fourth Three Ninjas movie. Have you seen the trailer? It's hilarious.

But low key I am excited to hate watch this movie ironically. Bad biopics are kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I hope it's as good as the the James Woods Rudy Giuliani movie.

But does this mean he's a bad director? I think it likely means he's worked on only kids crap his whole life. It's not as if Tarantino could have brilliantly directed these movies. I'm guessing he didn't write them. It seems he's not made any serious respectful movies in his career, which is probably the reason he agreed to do this.
I guess there is an argument to be made that directing direct-to-video children's films would qualify you to make a movie for dementia-addled Fox grandpas, sure.

Trailer looked better than expected given that abysmal filmography from the director, but why is Dennis Quaid playing jack Nicholson and Jon voight playing James Lipton? :messenger_grinning_sweat:
Scott Stapp from Creed is playing Frank Sinatra and that's really all you need to know.
 
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DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
It's in Cinemas? Is it streaming yet because this is the first I've heard of it.

So it's a "Christian" biopic? Showing him in a great light as if he was handpicked by God?

I'll watch the trailer and read some user reviews ... I'll wait for streaming, tho. Can't be as bad as the Guiliani movie.
 

ManaByte

Member
It's in Cinemas? Is it streaming yet because this is the first I've heard of it.

So it's a "Christian" biopic? Showing him in a great light as if he was handpicked by God?

I'll watch the trailer and read some user reviews ... I'll wait for streaming, tho. Can't be as bad as the Guiliani movie.

Not really. It's more a response to the horrible TV mini-series 20 years ago that tried to paint him as literal Hitler.
 
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Quasicat

Member
I love watching biopics and documentaries, but it needs to be a very accurate depiction for me to like it…and I really liked Reagan, with one knitpick.

A little context: I have taught American History for 20 years and hold a Master’s degree in History. Reagan is absolutely well done. The only problem I have is Jon Voight’s character, Viktor Petrovich…he wasn’t real. They made him up to bring together some plot points. Other than that, it was a really good movie and I think anyone with a little bit of interest in Reagan’s life should watch it.
 

WoodyStare

Member
But does this mean he's a bad director? I think it likely means he's worked on only kids crap his whole life. It's not as if Tarantino could have brilliantly directed these movies. I'm guessing he didn't write them. It seems he's not made any serious respectful movies in his career, which is probably the reason he agreed to do this.
Yes. It shows that he’s been a director for hire his entire career, and the last person who should be directing a Reagan biopic. Give Uwe Boll a script written by Tony Kushner about Obama and I’d still expect it to be terrible. The trailer for this looked like a cheap parody, which seems par for the course considering who made it.

Now that you mention it, I’d love to see what Tarantino could do with Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby. It would probably be a Grindhouse masterpiece.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
It's in Cinemas? Is it streaming yet because this is the first I've heard of it.

So it's a "Christian" biopic? Showing him in a great light as if he was handpicked by God?

I'll watch the trailer and read some user reviews ... I'll wait for streaming, tho. Can't be as bad as the Guiliani movie.
Yeah it's in a limited theatrical release. But probably streaming soon.

"Christian" movies are a weird genre in America, they kind of intermingle Christianity and conservative politics as if they're a single thing, and while they always have a faith journey as a plotline, it might be secondary to values like guns and flags or whatever. They get really deeply weird about it a lot of the time too. Like some examples I have watched.

The Trump Prophecy -- A "true story" about a Fireman who gets traumatized on the job, and is haunted by visions of fire demons, and gets repeatedly diagnosed with PTSD but continues to seek alternate diagnosis until he finds a doctor who will tell him he's being haunted by actual fire demons. Also he has a dream that Trump will run for President in 2012, which doesn't happen but does happen 4 years later so therefore God.

Acquitted by Faith -- The guy from Starship Troopers stars as a lawyer who runs over a child while texting and driving like an idiot. The rest of the movie about the bad old family and the mean lawyers that tried to sue him for it, and the faith journey is the parents deciding to forgive him and not sue. As soon as they do that the girl miraculously wakes up from her coma.

To Die For -- One of the guys from Dukes of Hazzard stars as a guy who likes to drive the American flag in circles around the local high school while blasting God Bless America because kids today hate the flag. He is a grouchy old racist like the Clint Eastwood from Gran Torino, but unlike that movie he never learns anything and gets shot trying to protect the flag on his front long.

The Reliant -- Kevin Sorbo stars as our hero, a dad who passes out with his loaded gun in his holster and his three year old tries to give his little sister a "haircut" and blows her brains out. The dad suffers no consequences for this other than his surviving daughter being resentful of him leaving guns all over the house. Then, one day, antifas attack the town and the daughter must learn to get over her hang ups and love guns again I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS ACTUALLY THE PLOT.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Yes. It shows that he’s been a director for hire his entire career, and the last person who should be directing a Reagan biopic. Give Uwe Boll a script written by Tony Kushner about Obama and I’d still expect it to be terrible. The trailer for this looked like a cheap parody, which seems par for the course considering who made it.

Now that you mention it, I’d love to see what Tarantino could do with Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby. It would probably be a Grindhouse masterpiece.
I dunno, seems like a "director for hire" who can competently manage the shoot, get the cameras facing the correct way, get the shots in the can, and wrangle the actors into delivering ok performances is about what a project like this needs. No need for some creative "vision" or a lot of action scenes/horror.

Now if they got Alan Smithee to direct, then I'd worry:p
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Yeah it's in a limited theatrical release. But probably streaming soon.

"Christian" movies are a weird genre in America, they kind of intermingle Christianity and conservative politics as if they're a single thing, and while they always have a faith journey as a plotline, it might be secondary to values like guns and flags or whatever. They get really deeply weird about it a lot of the time too. Like some examples I have watched.

The Trump Prophecy -

Acquitted by Faith --

To Die For --

The Reliant --
Oh man, there is gonna be an AWESOME Christian team up film with all these guys, isn't there?!? Let's get a kickstarter launched right away!
 
Yeah it's in a limited theatrical release. But probably streaming soon.

"Christian" movies are a weird genre in America, they kind of intermingle Christianity and conservative politics as if they're a single thing, and while they always have a faith journey as a plotline, it might be secondary to values like guns and flags or whatever. They get really deeply weird about it a lot of the time too. Like some examples I have watched.

The Trump Prophecy -- A "true story" about a Fireman who gets traumatized on the job, and is haunted by visions of fire demons, and gets repeatedly diagnosed with PTSD but continues to seek alternate diagnosis until he finds a doctor who will tell him he's being haunted by actual fire demons. Also he has a dream that Trump will run for President in 2012, which doesn't happen but does happen 4 years later so therefore God.

Acquitted by Faith -- The guy from Starship Troopers stars as a lawyer who runs over a child while texting and driving like an idiot. The rest of the movie about the bad old family and the mean lawyers that tried to sue him for it, and the faith journey is the parents deciding to forgive him and not sue. As soon as they do that the girl miraculously wakes up from her coma.

To Die For -- One of the guys from Dukes of Hazzard stars as a guy who likes to drive the American flag in circles around the local high school while blasting God Bless America because kids today hate the flag. He is a grouchy old racist like the Clint Eastwood from Gran Torino, but unlike that movie he never learns anything and gets shot trying to protect the flag on his front long.

The Reliant -- Kevin Sorbo stars as our hero, a dad who passes out with his loaded gun in his holster and his three year old tries to give his little sister a "haircut" and blows her brains out. The dad suffers no consequences for this other than his surviving daughter being resentful of him leaving guns all over the house. Then, one day, antifas attack the town and the daughter must learn to get over her hang ups and love guns again I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS ACTUALLY THE PLOT.

lmao, these are comedy gold. Current media landscape is so saturated with looney lefty stuff that I sometimes forget the pendulum swings both ways.
 
I’m not one to talk, I think Rob Zombies Halloween 2 and Showgirls are masterpieces and they have terrible RT scores.
I also like movies that are considered terrible. Critics unsurprisingly hate it. I don’t think it will do well in the box office just because of how it was marketed. The movie can be extremely cheesy at times, but there are many serious moments as well. I can tell you this movie certainly won’t be for everyone. It’s also clearly a message that what happened back then with communism is starting to happen again right now (and it is).
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Yeah it's in a limited theatrical release. But probably streaming soon.

"Christian" movies are a weird genre in America, they kind of intermingle Christianity and conservative politics as if they're a single thing, and while they always have a faith journey as a plotline, it might be secondary to values like guns and flags or whatever. They get really deeply weird about it a lot of the time too. Like some examples I have watched.

The Trump Prophecy -- A "true story" about a Fireman who gets traumatized on the job, and is haunted by visions of fire demons, and gets repeatedly diagnosed with PTSD but continues to seek alternate diagnosis until he finds a doctor who will tell him he's being haunted by actual fire demons. Also he has a dream that Trump will run for President in 2012, which doesn't happen but does happen 4 years later so therefore God.

Acquitted by Faith -- The guy from Starship Troopers stars as a lawyer who runs over a child while texting and driving like an idiot. The rest of the movie about the bad old family and the mean lawyers that tried to sue him for it, and the faith journey is the parents deciding to forgive him and not sue. As soon as they do that the girl miraculously wakes up from her coma.

To Die For -- One of the guys from Dukes of Hazzard stars as a guy who likes to drive the American flag in circles around the local high school while blasting God Bless America because kids today hate the flag. He is a grouchy old racist like the Clint Eastwood from Gran Torino, but unlike that movie he never learns anything and gets shot trying to protect the flag on his front long.

The Reliant -- Kevin Sorbo stars as our hero, a dad who passes out with his loaded gun in his holster and his three year old tries to give his little sister a "haircut" and blows her brains out. The dad suffers no consequences for this other than his surviving daughter being resentful of him leaving guns all over the house. Then, one day, antifas attack the town and the daughter must learn to get over her hang ups and love guns again I SWEAR TO GOD THIS IS ACTUALLY THE PLOT.


OMG! LMBO! These SHOULD be classified as comedies!

I'm a Christian but these are so blatantly far right and non-Christian I can't even keep a straight face! :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
OMG! LMBO! These SHOULD be classified as comedies!

I'm a Christian but these are so blatantly far right and non-Christian I can't even keep a straight face! :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:
Yeah the target for these movies is not "all Christians" but specifically the captive audience that is so alienated from the mainstream culture that they refuse to watch normal movies.
 
Tell me you don't know what communism is without telling me you don't know what communism is.

This country is so far removed from communism or isn't even funny!

I didn't say this country is communist. Communist/Marxist ideas are infiltrating the country and if you don't notice this, your head is in the sand. This isn't even up for debate. Tim Walz himself actively pushes for socialism. Feigning ignorance (I hope it's feigning, and not you being completely oblivious to everything going on around you) isn't making the problem with what's going in the world go away. You can see it happening in real-time in other countries and the problems it's causing.

Edit:

dsR6QdL.png


Okay, so it's the latter. You're completely oblivious to everything going on around you. You won't care about current world affairs until it starts affecting you directly. By then, it will be too late. This isn't weird joojoo conspiracy theories. Hop outside your normal worldview bubble and start legitimately researching what's going on in the world.
 
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DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
I didn't say this country is communist. Communist/Marxist ideas are infiltrating the country and if you don't notice this, your head is in the sand. This isn't even up for debate. Tim Walz himself actively pushes for socialism. Feigning ignorance (I hope it's feigning, and not you being completely oblivious to everything going on around you) isn't making the problem with what's going in the world go away. You can see it happening in real-time in other countries and the problems it's causing.


OMG! LMBO! I'm stopping right here. Not going off topic with this lunacy.


The trailer was good. Makes me want to watch.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
It isn't lunacy. Denying reality doesn't make it go away. I wouldn't want to further discuss this with you anyway since you're incapable of having a conversation without thinking everything is hilarious.


You wouldn't like this movie.

I probably will. Like I said, the trailer looks good. I grew up in the Reagan presidency. I even remember watching the RNC that year (1984). He's why I got into appreciating that stuff (not saying the word).

And I stopped talking about it because NO POLITICS on the board! It's at the top of the blooming page!

Now back to the movie...
 
I probably will. Like I said, the trailer looks good. I grew up in the Reagan presidency. I even remember watching the RNC that year (1984). He's why I got into appreciating that stuff (not saying the word).

And I stopped talking about it because NO POLITICS on the board! It's at the top of the blooming page!

Now back to the movie...
If you liked Reagan as a president, then you might like the movie, but it focuses heavily on Russia infiltrating the US with Communism.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
I didn't say this country is communist. Communist/Marxist ideas are infiltrating the country and if you don't notice this, your head is in the sand. This isn't even up for debate. Tim Walz himself actively pushes for socialism. Feigning ignorance (I hope it's feigning, and not you being completely oblivious to everything going on around you) isn't making the problem with what's going in the world go away. You can see it happening in real-time in other countries and the problems it's causing.

Edit:

dsR6QdL.png


Okay, so it's the latter. You're completely oblivious to everything going on around you. You won't care about current world affairs until it starts affecting you directly. By then, it will be too late. This isn't weird joojoo conspiracy theories. Hop outside your normal worldview bubble and start legitimately researching what's going on in the world.

So because I have Tourette Syndrome and am deaf (small 'd' because I LOST my hearing as an adult), you think I'm oblivious to the world around me? You obviously don't know what Tourette Syndrome is... Or what being deaf is about...

Nice try at an insult, btw. Wasn't very effective but hey.
 
So because I have Tourette Syndrome and am deaf (small 'd' because I LOST my hearing as an adult), you think I'm oblivious to the world around me? You obviously don't know what Tourette Syndrome is... Or what being deaf is about...

Nice try at an insult, btw. Wasn't very effective but hey.
Nothing I said has anything to do with your Tourette Syndrome or being deaf (which I wasn't even aware of and has no relevance to anything whatsoever). I wasn't even looking at your username and tying that to anything. But good job for somehow tying that to your personal struggles. My condolences for your hearing loss and your tourettes, but they aren't relevant to what I was talking about.
 
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DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Nothing I said has anything to do with your Tourette Syndrome or being deaf (which I wasn't even aware of and has no relevance to anything whatsoever).

My mistake. I'm so used to people (anywhere) insulting me about my TS and deafness I didn't even see you were highlighting my laugh react. Apologies for misconstruing your intent.
 
My mistake. I'm so used to people (anywhere) insulting me about my TS and deafness I didn't even see you were highlighting my laugh react. Apologies for misconstruing your intent.
I would never insult you about any that. And maybe I do sometimes come off as a raging douche canoe when it comes to political things. But I again would never disrespect your personal struggles. Anyone laughing at your struggles can piss right off.
 
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I didn't say this country is communist. Communist/Marxist ideas are infiltrating the country and if you don't notice this, your head is in the sand. This isn't even up for debate. Tim Walz himself actively pushes for socialism. Feigning ignorance (I hope it's feigning, and not you being completely oblivious to everything going on around you) isn't making the problem with what's going in the world go away. You can see it happening in real-time in other countries and the problems it's causing.
EDIT: OK treading light because no politics.
 
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I want you to think about the way America was at the height of the red scare, like 1955-1975, when were were as "Anti-communist" in rhetoric as it comes.

Now, I want you to consider the state of "socialist policy" in this country today. By every single metric, we have moved further away from socialism, and closer to anarchocapitalism.

Federal welfare: Essentially gone, dealt its death blow by Bill Clinton, who removed the requirement for states to spend fund on actual entitlements.
Taxes: Corporate and ultra-wealthy taxes nearly a third of what they were
Infrastructure: Increasingly privatized
Schools: Increasing funds diverted to private for-profit charters
Prisons: Increasingly privatized
Healthcare: Privatized to hell and deregulated to hell, more expensive than ever.
Social Security: Going broke

What victories have the socialist won? All they've done is lose ground for 50 years while the New Deal was slowly dismantled.
Political talk is off limits and I've ceased discussing it. I suggest you do as well so we don't get banned.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
I would never insult you about any that. And maybe I do sometimes I come off as a raging douche canoe when it comes to political things. But I again would never disrespect your personal struggles. Anyone laughing at your struggles can piss right off.

I appreciate that.

About Reagan, I hope they don't skip over Iran Contra... I want to see how he navigated that scandal because no one thinks he has anything to do with it and it was all Ollie North.

Biopics live and die by how they thread the needle between what happened and drama.
 
I appreciate that.
No problem.

About Reagan, I hope they don't skip over Iran Contra... I want to see how he navigated that scandal because no one thinks he has anything to do with it and it was all Ollie North.

Biopics live and die by how they thread the needle between what happened and drama.
The Iran scandal was in the movie. They touched on a lot more things than I thought they would.
 
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SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
About Reagan, I hope they don't skip over Iran Contra... I want to see how he navigated that scandal because no one thinks he has anything to do with it and it was all Ollie North.
No one thinks it was all Ollie North... and if you're going to do Iran Contra, you need to get into how his CIA funnelled crack into LA through Danilo Blandon, too, but we all know we're not going there.

You think they show the part where he literally called the Ayatollah during the hostage crisis and asked him not to release the hostages while Carter was in office because he'd cut him a better deal?

Reagan was a ruthless traitor, don't get it twisted. But it makes the sanitized version that much more comical.
 
No one thinks it was all Ollie North... and if you're going to do Iran Contra, you need to get into how his CIA funnelled crack into LA through Danilo Blandon, too, but we all know we're not going there.

You think they show the part where he literally called the Ayatollah during the hostage crisis and asked him not to release the hostages while Carter was in office because he'd cut him a better deal?

Reagan was a ruthless traitor, don't get it twisted. But it makes the sanitized version that much more comical.
The portrayal of Reagan in this movie certainly borders on caricature. Granted, many presidencies are shrouded in both successes and scandals. I also don't know enough about what you're saying to even remotely have a discussion on it.
 
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