Mark Steyn writes about Hollywood, and the war:

Which brings us back to those yelps of delight when the Americans clobbered the jihadists two hours into the test screening of The Kingdom. Pace Peter Berg, it's not "bloodlust": if you want that, you're best to stick to the amoral fetishization of violence in the 3.10 remake. What the preview crowd were telling Berg is, hey, we'd love to see one film where our guys kick serious terrorist butt — and there isn't one, and there hasn't been one for six long years. If you buy the argument that Hollywood's anti-Americanism derives necessarily from its role as purveyor of entertainment to the entire planet, well, so what? Terrorists killed a bunch of people in Bali, Madrid, London. Alongside the kick-ass Americans, sign Hugh Grant as an MI6 agent and Penélope Cruz as his Spanish dolly bird and Cate Blanchett as the head of the Australian SAS and Russell Crowe as her Kiwi bit of rough. As long as the enemy's the enemy, and not a Dick Cheney subsidiary. It's fine to show the American war machine warts and all, but Hollywood is showing only the warts — and, even if you stick perky little Reese Witherspoon in the middle of it, it's still just another pustulating carbuncle.

I had dinner with Bill Whittle when I was in LA a couple months ago, and he was ranting about this as well (given that it is his own industry). "Why can't, for once, they root for the damned home team?"

Rand, go and see the movie. Don't mindlessly repeat drivel from others who haven't seen it either, you look like an idiot.

I personally know Cate through the STC. (I used to do a lot of contract work.) and she would not have been involved with any movie of this sort if it were anti-US/occupation propoganda.

My only gripe with The Kingdom is that the director can't figure out whether he wants a political thriller or an action movie. Cate was fine in it though, she almost always is.

Confusion galore! There's a Cate in The Kingdom?

I understand Cate Blanchett is in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and may actually be fine in it, but seeing as it's not released yet, that might be difficult to say. Unless one has access to a time-traveling toaster.

Anyway, Steyn's point wasn't about The Kingdom. It's about the bizarre reaction of its director when audiences had the temerity to cheer justice being meted out to jihadis.

One quite agrees; the Kingdom made so much progress showing the real enemy; recreating the 2003 attack on the Dhahran compound; evoking
the the beheading of Paul Johnson in Al Suweidi.
Showing how toxic Wahhabism is to all living
things; making a terrorism investigation
impossible for instance; showing "Abu Hamza" the face of evil; who got his training in Afghanistan and Iraq (despite the fact that the consultants are McClarty and Fisher would be more likely than not to whitewash the real story)That the "Black
Hawk Down" meets "Bad Boys 2" firefight in Suweidi; has to be 'contextualized' by the supposed moral equivalences of the FBI time and
the jihadist's family.

There are two conflicting instincts here.
Instinct Number One: Root for the Home Team.
Instinct Number Two: Root for the Underdog.

Since Good Liberals are World Citizens first, last and always, Number One might not apply unless we are invaded by Space Aliens…and I wouldn’t bet too heavily on that.

Instinct Number Two is just trying to be a Good Sport. Too damn bad it means supporting the Jihadists. Oh well, it will have to do until President Kucinich’s Department of Peace takes care of matters.
Craig

Rand, go and see the movie. Don't mindlessly repeat drivel from others who haven't seen it either, you look like an idiot.

What an idiotic argument!

Adrasteia, do you still have to burn yourself before realizing a stove is hot? Most people develop simple reasoning skills by age 3 and can determine what they do and don't like without the absolute need of first hand experience.

I sure as hell know I can tell a dog of a movie without having to fork over $10 and 2 hours to watch it.

You don't have to buy or rent it to see it. I hear they have this think called 'the internet' for that.