What's in the news?

[Oniya]

Well, it's quite obvious that all / most of these commenters are actually Polish. Who else would know and care about this movie?

People with friends in Poland?  I mean, anyone following this thread knows about the movie, even if they haven't seen it. 

[Beorning]

Hm. Maybe. Still, I really suspect are simply Poles :) But maybe I'm mistaken...

[TheGlyphstone]

Don't forget all the Russian trolls.

[gaggedLouise]

Well, it's quite obvious that all / most of these commenters are actually Polish. Who else would know and care about this movie?

I remember browsing some of the discussions relating to Andrzej Wajda's movie about the Katyn massacre (a film I was very impressed with when I got around to seeing it at a local theatre - very good acting and it avoids coming off as shrill or simple-minded). Those talks were wild and aggressive too, some of them, and they veered widely off the actual film or the historical event, but at least it wasn't all Poles discussing the movie, many of them seemed to be Americans or West Europeans. Some of them may have been of Polish descent though.

[Renegade Vile]

And another funny image that I cant find that were a list of rules of the UN and ended with "If this were a real Emergency you should have called the US"  X3

Too bad the US isn't all that intimidating anymore either. One bad military defeat and the country's screwed as it can barely keep up with the cost of its army as it is, let alone having to replace lost material with brand new.

[Anteros]

Bigot tried ripping off two Muslim women’s hijabs as they strolled with their babies in Brooklyn attack: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bigot-ripping-muslim-women-hijabs-hateful-attack-article-1.2785475

[Oniya]

DAPL construction on/near tribal lands halted pending investigation.

Joint statement from the Department of the Interior, Department of Justice and the Department of the Army.

This isn't a guarantee of a win, but it's a step forward.

[HannibalBarca]

It's much more than I hoped for.  Not a light at the end of the tunnel, but a brighter shade of gray perhaps?

[TheGlyphstone]

Does blocking the pipeline actually stop that mine from being dug? Or can the corporations build a different route, if the increased cost is still less than the profits the mine will generate?

[Oniya]

Does blocking the pipeline actually stop that mine from being dug? Or can the corporations build a different route, if the increased cost is still less than the profits the mine will generate?

If you're referring to the Alaska thing from the Stonekettle posting, that's a whole different issue.  This is an oil pipeline that's crossing tribal sacred lands, as well as quite a bit of Iowa farmland.  Jim brought it up because the hazard is similar in both situations - downstream from each project is the potential for a lot of damage.  DAPL could potentially impact the Missouri/Mississippi river if there are any spills.

I suppose that in the end, the corporation will do a cost/profit analysis and decide whether to try a different route.  What really needs to be done is a benefit/risk analysis.

[TheGlyphstone]

Ah, okay. I thought the pipeline was carrying material from Alaska.

[Cassandra LeMay]

... Who else would know and care about this movie?

German public broadcaster ARD mentions it today. The verdict is pretty damning : "Wooden characters, lousy dialogue, and lets not even talk about the plot." "If there were an Academy Award for worst movie of the year, Smolensk would win it", and "crude propaganda".

I doubt many Germans care all that much what happens in Poland, but parts of our media still keep an eye on our next-door neighbour.

[gaggedLouise]

It feels a bit premature to make an action thriller (more or less that, it seems) about such a controversial real-life topic just six years after the event. I really liked the two U.S. movies about Flight 93, but they were not primarily thrillers or conspiracy flicks, rather they were carefully constructed docudramas about a very painful story (and not trying to manipulate the viewers with heavy emotional playout either). And they had been made with a great deal of cooperation from the families of those who died in the Shanksville crash.

[Missy]

@Pipeline
It makes me wish Obama could stay president for a while longer, how often do you get a president like that?

@North Korea Nuclear
It's scary, more so when you take into account that note about the submarine launched missiles. Submarine mounted nuclear armament is a viable platform utilized by the US Navy which enables a 98% coverage of the surface of the earth as a potential target zone.

[Oniya]

It feels a bit premature to make an action thriller (more or less that, it seems) about such a controversial real-life topic just six years after the event. I really liked the two U.S. movies about Flight 93, but they were not primarily thrillers or conspiracy flicks, rather they were carefully constructed docudramas about a very painful story (and not trying to manipulate the viewers with heavy emotional playout either). And they had been made with a great deal of cooperation from the families of those who died in the Shanksville crash.

Just to be clear, I wasn't referring to 'Flight 93' as a truther film.  There was actually a movie that was planned back in 2013 called September Morn (long since yanked from production and IMDB, but someone on Reddit got a screenshot), much in the same vein as Smolensk.  The Guardian ran an article at the time, but it's full of dead links as well.

[Beorning]

It feels a bit premature to make an action thriller (more or less that, it seems) about such a controversial real-life topic just six years after the event.

Smoleńsk seems to be more of a drama than an action thriller. Also, the director's stated goal was to make a movie to counter the supposed government cover-up etc.

BTW. I just read a review of the movie by Tomasz Raczek, one of leading movie critics here. He reviewed the movie purely from the standpoint of cinematic value and still gave it only 2/10.

[gaggedLouise]

Just to be clear, I wasn't referring to 'Flight 93' as a truther film.  There was actually a movie that was planned back in 2013 called September Morn (long since yanked from production and IMDB, but someone on Reddit got a screenshot), much in the same vein as Smolensk.  The Guardian ran an article at the time, but it's full of dead links as well.

I know, it was a verbal slip on my part. Neither Flight 93 nor United 93 is doing anything to pitch a conspiracy theory - the point I wanted to make was there is a side element of a thriller to Flight 93 (at least), but overall those two films are real-life dramas and close-ups of one of the most intriguing parts of the wider 9/11 narrative.

Notes that Beorning is saying Smolensk is not really much of a thriller either.

[Oniya]

I was actually afraid that I wasn't clear, so we're good.  ;D

[gaggedLouise]

A much better analogy to Smolensk would be Baltic Storm, a German thriller/drama that took on the undoing of the big passenger ferry MV Estonia in 1994 - the worst sea disaster ever in peacetime in the Baltic Sea. Estonia took in water, foundered and sank in an autumn storm, in less than half an hour, and around 850 people died, most of the passengers and crew on board, including the captain. Ever since, the sinking has been surrounded by rumours and conspiracy theories, both because it went down so fast and because the Swedish government (which was in shift, after an election two weeks prior to the sinking) first vaguely promised to lift up the ship, extract all the bodies and bury them on land, plus make a thorough investigation of all parts of the wreck, and then decided it was unfeasible  to lift it out in that way. Instead they (together with the governments of Finland and Estonia) declared the ship a marine gravesite and began discussing a concrete cover over the wreck to prevent disturbances and people hunting "souvenirs" for sale (the cover was never put in place, but the idea helped stir ideas that "somebody wants to stop us from finding out!").

A big portion of the families and relatives of the dead from Sweden (in particular) couldn't accept the idea that a ship sunk at sea makes a legit grave, neither could some people accept that a ship this big and relatively modern could actually be sunk by "only" a storm, and sunk that fast. It's a bit of a Titanic syndrome: there's got to be a hidden reason, military experiments, spooky secrets that were involved in the sinking and had to stay protected, a big crime, and so on. There's been a mass of those rumours and theories, and the more mundane explanations - that the ship was badly constructed in some ways, had not been kept up too well and had a setup that permitted all cars to skid across flooded floors nelow deck, once enough water had come in, and help topple the entire ship, and a few more - didn't really stick in the flow of news about the ship.

Baltic Storm has a fictional investigation team probing into the scandal, and buys into the idea that there was a big explosion hole in the wreck, looking like it had been made from within (something in the cargo). Of course the powers that be try to stop the investigators once they are on the track....

[Skynet]

Mattress store goes out of business after airing a 9/11 sales commercial.

[TaintedAndDelish]

Mattress store goes out of business after airing a 9/11 sales commercial.

Also known as "instant karma."

[Oniya]

That's going to lead to some awkward holiday dinners.  The woman in the ad (identified as the store manager) is also the daughter of the owner.

[Lustful Bride]

Mattress store goes out of business after airing a 9/11 sales commercial.

*thinks to myself that it cant be that bad and clicks on it*

Nope, it was that bad....it was exactly that bad. And I am glad they are going out of business.

[Oniya]

*thinks to myself that it cant be that bad and clicks on it*

Nope, it was that bad....it was exactly that bad. And I am glad they are going out of business.

I'd seen a few news articles with still-shots in it.  Definitely that bad.

[gaggedLouise]

*thinks to myself that it cant be that bad and clicks on it*

Nope, it was that bad....it was exactly that bad. And I am glad they are going out of business.

*watches and thinks "OMG...no!"*

And it's defiantly cheerful in tone, too. *facepalm*