July 18, 2025
“I will never watch any movies with Robert De Niro in them. Or George Clooney. I have a long list of actors I will not watch anymore.”
X commentator known as moose227
Robert De Niro’s latest movie, The Alto Knights, didn’t perform well at the box office. It earned $9.5 million worldwide against a $45 million budget, making it a commercial disappointment. I read somewhere that his last four films have all lost money, but I couldn’t find confirmation of that. Critics gave it a 39% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, calling it a “competent but tired retread of mob movie tropes.” However, audiences were more forgiving, giving it a 71% “fresh” rating. Microsoft CoPilot
Just to make a comment here, the biopic Reagan scored the greatest disparity between audience rating and critic’s rating, ever, on Rotten Tomatoes:
We watched Reagan, we thought it was fine, somewhat stilted and awkward but I guess I’d give it a B…it hit the high notes. But you can’t tell me this disparity above is simply an opinion on the artistic merits. There is, to me, a definite political edge to the reviews. Just full disclosure, I think Shin Godzilla to be one of the greatest movies of all time, so you can adjust your opinion of my critical review for that bias.
Leads me here: I have watched with interest but also, dismay, the slow evolving into unhappy and angry, Robert De Niro. For my entire life, I was a big fan. His portrayals of Vito Corleone, Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver), Jake LaMotta (Raging Bull) and others were iconic, riveting, and the best examples of the craft. There was of course that ethnic pride (both Americans of Italian ancestry). So, it is hard for me to believe that this same person is now capable of this:
“I just want to start, it makes me so f***ing angry that we’re here talking about a piece of s*** like Donald Trump.” De Niro at a rally in Philadelphia.
“Robert De Niro earned a standing ovation from the audience when he walked onstage toward the end of the Tonys and stated, “F* Trump,” which was bleeped out of the telecast. After thrusting his fists in the air and declaring “F* Trump” one more time, the actor introduced Bruce Springsteen onto the stage for a performance of “My Hometown.” “Bruce, you can rock the house like nobody else,” said De Niro. “Even more important in these perilous times, you rock the vote. Always fighting for, in your own words, truth, transparency, integrity in government. Boy, do we need that now.”
Well, moving along then, Mr. Springsteen exercises his vocabulary to an audience in the United Kingdom:
“In my country, they are taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers, they’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society,” he said. Bruce Springsteen in Manchester England
Mr. Springsteen might want to consider this: No worker has been more disadvantaged than those loyal American workers, citizens, at the bottom of the economic food chain. It’s simple 101…you increase the supply and the price goes down. More, if the increased supply is willing to work for $10, it drives the price further. This terrible effect on those Americans is never reported. So, I would take issue with Mr. Springsteen…the pain inflicted on loyal American workers is not new. More, his take on it is at best inaccurate, at worst, tone deaf.
Then: “As Best Of climbs to the top once again and returns to the Official Albums Streaming chart at No. 89, a newly released surprise EP gives Springsteen another top 10 win. Land of Hope and Dreams opens at No. 8 on the Official Album Downloads chart this week. Springsteen returns to No. 1 on the Official Americana Albums chart this week, stepping up from the runner-up rung with Best Of, his simply titled compilation of hits. In doing so, he replaces Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé, which recently secured another stay at the top.”
Compilation from Forbes, among others.
Well, I’m sure there was no economic motive for Mr. Springsteen’s recent comments, right? I can just imagine his people saying, “You know Bruce, it might be helpful to speak out to our base…” and Bruce pushing back…”No! I’m not about selling albums! If that happens, well fine, but I feel COMPELLED to speak my truth.”
Ummm, so this is not something that is the sole province of the Left. You find it on the Right:
“As a longtime supporter of Donald Trump, controversial singer and rapper Kid Rock has made no secret of his aversion to Joe Biden. That was evident in his 2022 single, “We the People,” with its singalong chorus of “Let’s go, Brandon!” a seemingly innocuous phrase that became Trump supporters’ coded but hardly secret variation on “F*** Joe Biden!” nikiwswift.com
“In 2024, (Lee) Greenwood was hit with backlash when he partnered with Trump to shill his “God Bless the U.S.A.” Bibles, which boasted the addition of the text of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the lyrics to Greenwood’s song — at a retail price of $60. Interviewed by Newsmax, Greenwood insisted that pushback was coming from Biden’s supporters. “I think it’s just from the Trump haters,” Greenwood theorized.” Nikiswift.com
I don’t know, the Lee Greenwood offering feels somewhat greasy to me.
Like you, I marvel when celebrities just can’t stand their own silence any longer and for the good of the Republic are motivated to help us all with their commentaries and thoughts. Playing Othello from a script is quite different that then concluding you are Othello on your own, but they do.
Thus, very often, you get a thought or idea (expletive laden for emphasis…that’s weak) but I think lacking in a firm grounding in politics or economics, the thought doesn’t get developed. It truncates and perhaps helps explain all the expletives.
Context. I also read some of the prepared comments they make and the writer in me begins to itch when I wonder if these are professionally prepared by PR staff or the work of the celebrity. You have an opinion, no doubt. For me, they often have that PR agent ring to them.
I mean, a guy comes out with a C&W song entitled, “Your Wife’s Been Cheatin’ on Us Both” and then comes out with his political views:
“I am of the opinion that the truncation of much of media messaging…”
Yeah. Sure
On one level, I just don’t know how much of all of this is economically motivated and how much is simply personal elan and angst. I do notice that as often as not, there is a new album, a new book, a new movie lurking somewhere in the vicinity of the commentary. And if I was advising stars, I might very well encourage them to “solidly energize the base” to maximize sales. I mean, they’d be paying me for the money ideas.
But there is a price paid in all of this. Call me crazy, call me stupid, I think it’s a very bad idea to insult your customers. When Mr. De Niro expresses himself energetically and profanely, does he connect the fact that 70+ million Americans simply disagree with him as shown by the last election? It is my best guess that as an established and wealthy man, he probably just doesn’t care. But if the movie shows up light at the box office, well, you might want to be sure you can self-finance your next one or your career is effectively shut down.
Maybe it’s smart economics. You do energize your base, and you go to even greater extremes to elicit fist pumps and credit cards to buy tickets and so forth. You segment the market, and instead of looking for 20% market share across the potential customer base, you go for 80% activity from your own.
After nearly 50 years of chasing money, I have a kind of nose for when money lurks close by. Mine is twitching at all this stuff, Right and Left.
And then we have all of those who threatened to leave the United States if Trump won and the same if Harris won…My country, not right or wrong, but your country if I don’t like the outcome. I don’t have the time for people like that. And for those who actually carried out the threat, I believe they will eventually regret doing that.
So here are my takeaways.
First, as a country, we need to heal. We need to come together and find common ground. All of this above does nothing to do that. It simply attempts to divide us, to drive us apart, to teach each other to mistrust and deny. As such, I think all of it, Right and Left, needs condemnation.
Second, we need to remember that at least some of the time, we are being played. Someone is amping us for an economic reason, but of course, that is hidden from us. Thus, I have a blanket rule: I ignore all political/social commentary from entertainers. As a corollary and to be fair, I ignore all acting advice from politicians, even though many are masters of the art. It’s a simple thing: An actor spends his/her entire life pretending to be someone they are not. So, when is F* Trump an act and when is it real? Is there a blur? Do they even realize it?
Third. Everyone has a right to speak up and speak out. Free speech is honored more in those creases where it becomes uncomfortable. But when you are a celebrity, when you are admired for your talents and have fans, you accumulate an obligation. Most especially to younger people who no doubt look up to you and want to emulate you.
And that obligation is to play fair with them, to try and lead them to a better, not a worse place. To get on a private jet, go to Europe and trash your President and your country I believe lacks, if nothing else, grace and gravitas. At worst, petulant, lack of character. The only thing about which I am aware that America left behind in Europe was our war dead. To then stand in front of Europeans and denigrate our country is to me terrible.
Well, I didn’t go to see Mr. De Niro’s latest movie, the only one I’ve missed. When I saw Tom Hanks make terrible fun of the people of Appalachia on Saturday Night Live recently, a group that has always loved his work, his real character stood out for me in bold contrast. I am biased, yes. I live part of the year in Western NC among those people, and so, my wallet and time is now shut to Mr. Hanks and his work. His net worth is estimated to be $400 million, I don’t think he cares.
I’m not encouraging you to do the same, I’m not promoting a boycott or anything like that. I’m not wearing it on my sleeve; I just don’t want to give him the money. My heart isn’t in it and in the end, I don’t need to watch him to be happy. I only wish he had shown the quality of character equal to the characters he has portrayed in his movies, as opposed to grabbing the cheap laugh. We’re still reeling from the hurricane up here, would rather he sends a check to the Asheville NC Red Cross.
It is also a reminder that when we reward rabid dividers with our mouse clicks and eyeball counts, that is not going to help us all get to be the country we want to be.
We need to move toward the light, not the darkness.
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