What’s wrong with theaters that you’ve never heard of before? It’s not exactly a movie that you need a top-of-the-line sound system to enjoy. In fact, if you are unhappy with the offerings in your area, this might be exactly the place to take your movie-going dollars.
There used to be an ‘art house’ theater near my parents house in Phoenix that is now gone. It was a shame, it was a nice change from seeing the movies at the mall.
It’s Bill Mahar unfunnily mocking religion (‘A Jewish carpenter? Yeah right!’)…It’d help spread an atheist message not at all, even if it was in every theatre in the country. It’s a movie designed not to start discussion, or even convince anybody of a point, it’s a movie that will only be seen by people who already agree with it.
That it’s playing anywhere at all proves the power of the ‘tell me I’m right!’ part of the atheist community. This ‘They’re Keeping Us Down!’ nonsense is every bit as unpleasantly silly coming from the atheist side as the religious side.
Speaking as an atheist, I am entirely comfortable with any concerted effort to discredit Bill Maher as a spokesperson for atheism.
In fact, if any religious group wishes to take it upon themselves to convert the man to their faith, I might even be persuaded to donate to their cause. Please, I beg of you. Scientologists? Anyone?
I kinda like Bill Maher, I’m an atheist and I’ll be waiting for the DVD on this one–then again I hardly ever set foot in a theater and then only for stuff that really needs a big screen and massive sound to fully appreciate. For the life of me I do not understand the mania to see a move RIGHT THIS MINUTE WHEN IT OPENS OMG! Isn’t it going to be the exact same movie on DVD, but with special features, no lines, nobody coughing or talking on their phone, better snacks and more comfortable chairs? Not to mention being able to pause for a pee break? I can assure you Netflix will have this movie, probably in about four months, maybe six. It’s all good, you can see the movie, y’know?
I don’t get HBO so I haven’t seen real time, but I remember Politically Incorrect. Bill Maher would go on and on about how ghosts were real and how John Edward et al can talk to the dead. Also UFO’s and radical animal rights. Penn Jillette spent a whole show staring at him in astonishment. Bill Maher’s a credulous fool. If he’s an atheist that’s a small point in religion’s favor.
I already subscribe to HBO. Why would I spend extra money to watch Bill Maher in a theatre? Is there anything he did in this movie that he couldn’t have done either on his show or on an HBO special? :dubious:
Whether or not Bill Maher molests children is beside the point.
The POINT is, he made a movie that is not a movie-theater movie.
“Look at me, I’m smarter than all these stupid theists and here’s a strawman wrapped in a lame joke to prove it!” plays just as well on the small screen as it does on the big.
Even people who think Bill Maher IS smarter than theists and that his strawmen ARE logic and that his jokes ARE funny are unlikely to pay 15 bucks to hear ol’ Bill tell them something they already think they know.
It’s economics.
More atheists are likely to pay to see it to prove a point (or to support more atheist offerings by proving there is a market for them) than curious people are likely to pick “Religuolus” over “Nights in Rodanthe.”
Why is Billy M any more unqualified to be our “spokesperson” than anyone else? Jeez, people, he’s a comic not the anti-Pope. Let him run with it. It just might do some good.
Look back over some of the atheist threads. A lot of you avoid speaking your views because of what others will think or because you might not get a promotion. How can this movie be a bad thing if it enlightens even just a few?
Additionally, I do think he’s funny.
I just can’t summon up any fury. Rampant indifference about sums it up.
One, I loathe when people shove their religious beliefs in my face. Okay, there are exceptions for friends but strangers? Don’t want to know, none of my business. Anything beyond a casual mention is a clear signal to leave.
Two, given my distaste for strangers making a parade of their religious beliefs, there is zero chance I would ever, in this or any other universe, pay money for a movie on the subject.
Three, I don’t like Bill Maher much. The few times I’ve seen him on television he struck me as unpleasantly desperate. Not intense, just gratingly off-kilter in his comments and timing. Maybe he’s usually great; don’t know. Based on this admittedly small exposure though, I’d go to considerable inconvenience to avoid this movie.
The clip I saw of Maher doing a crazy street preacher impersonation while spouting the ultrasecret tenets of Scientology elicited a chuckle from me. Gotta figure that Maher’s gonna need some bodyguards after that bit.
I lost all respect for Maher when he was discussing population growth on an episode of PI with Adam West in the panel.
Maher was going on about how the world was going to have eleventy jillion people by 2010, and we were all going to starve to death*, and West pointed out that the UN had recently released numbers, in which the upper bound suggested that, at the then-current rate of growth, the population would top out at 11 billion at approximately 2150. Maher flew into a frothing rage, accusing West of being stupid and uninformed (when he was the one quoting actual researched numbers).
I have little patience for Malthusian doomsayers or deliberate ignorance in the face of actual facts…combining both is especially annoying.
Really?
I’m not calling for a cite or anything, but … uh … cite?
That just doesn’t sound like anything I would remotely expect to spring from his mouth. He’s the most cynical realist I’ve heard on the TeeVee.
Apart from bringing up some relatively goofy conspiracy theories with a straight face, I’ve never heard him give any credence to anything supernatural at all.
Just stop looking in your underpants. Problem solved.
Unfortunately my post will have to be my cite, as I’m not sure how to begin looking for old PI transcripts. But I have a clear memory of at least two pro-ghost/medium shows. Hopefully someone will back me up on this. Maybe he was doing this to be provaocative, but he seemed pretty adamant.
Again, this was back in the 90’s and he may have changed. I haven’t seen Real time.
Other theaters prefer showing films that don’t earn them a boycot by a large part of their clientele. Or a gasoline bomb tossed in during a late-night session.
Interesting…An American Carol is playing in 3x as many theaters as Religulous, but their box office gross for this past weekend was almost within $300,000 of each other. Either nobody’s going to see An American Carol or a LOT of people are going to see Religulous relative to the number of theaters they’re showing in.
Because he’s kind of a dick?
Also, despite all available Hollywood makeup technology, he still manages to appear embalmed. Seriously, what is the deal with that man’s skin? I demand a spokesperson for atheism who doesn’t already appear cursed by God, and who won’t frighten the children with his weird flaking undead flesh.
It could be a bad thing if it enlightens a few people at the cost of making a whole lot of people think atheists are automatically dicks. The potential benefits needs to outweigh the cost. I came by my dickishness honestly, through hard work and study, long before I became an atheist; and frankly I resent Bill Maher trying to diminish my accomplishment.
Anyway, what are the odds that anybody is going to come away ‘enlightened’ from such a movie? Is any ‘unenlightened’ person even going to see it in the first place?
I know.
Everybody funny.
Now you funny too.
I’m agnostic, leaning towards atheist, but there is no fucking way that I’m going to watch some retard who thinks that Western medicine is poisoning the world as he smugly pretends to be smart for 90 minutes.
Nor will I pay to see an idiot who thinks that flu shots compromise the immune system and lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
I love Georgie and the DD.