6 Laughably Bad Liberal Propaganda Films

Conservative News DailyApril 7, 2021

Even Al Gore’s harshest critics will admit his 2006 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” — despite its numerous inaccuracies — changed the national conversation on Climate Change.

Not every left-leaning film scores such a pop culture bullseye. Many do just the opposite, flailing to find purchase, let alone changing hearts and minds.

The following six films fall squarely into that category. Their ineptitude, and galling bias, failed them where it counted most.

‘Vice’

The very best part of far-left filmmaker Adam McKay’s screed is Christian Bale’s transformation into Vice President Dick Cheney. He’s a great actor, but the makeup required to turn him into the older, portly man is stunning.

McKay’s attack piece isn’t actually about Cheney, though. It’s really an assault on conservatives, from Fox News to Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh. McKay could have made a better movie by sticking to the source, an interesting fella no matter where your political leanings may be.

Instead, he gathered some fine actors (Steve Carell, Amy Adams and Sam Rockwell) to do “Saturday Night Live” impressions from his rickety script.

The most dispiriting part of the film, which lost its studio millions, is how arrogant it appears. Audiences just aren’t bright enough to see the real Cheney and co. like McKay can, even though his film stoops to every liberal cliché in the book, and pens a few new chapters, too.

‘Truth’

The title alone is a howler, especially since its subject matter leaned even harder into his biases since the movie’s 2015 release date. The sorry saga of how famed newsman Dan Rather lost his CBS anchor perch by pushing phony documents would make a great film about journalistic malfeasance.

Instead, the team behind “Truth” pretended Rather (Robert Redford) got a raw deal. It’s laughable on the surface, and even funnier when you watch it on the big screen.

Except “Truth’ isn’t a comedy.

What went wrong? For starters, the filmmakers leaned on a key figure behind the fiasco, Mary Mapes, and her book attempting career damage control — “Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power.”

“It’s astounding how little truth there is in Truth. There are, in fact, too many distortions, evasions and baseless conspiracy theories to enumerate them all. The film tries to turn gross errors of journalism and judgment into acts of heroism and martyrdom,” Gil Schwartz, CBS’s spokesman, said at the time of the movie’s release.

To no one’s surprise “Truth” flopped in theaters, generating $2.5 million.

‘Game Change’

You don’t have to admire former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin to see this HBO film for what it is — a hit piece of the highest order.

Hit pieces can still be entertaining, smart and/or illuminating despite the overt bias in play. The 2012 “Game Change” offered little of that, instead turning a credible politician into a cartoon character.

Once again a film stumbles upon a powerful story — a little-known politician gets thrust into the limelight during a presidential campaign — but doesn’t know what to do with it.

Hollywood and the Left loathed Palin at the time, a precursor to their nonstop rage against President Donald Trump.

What we see, instead, is Julianne Moore adopting a political caricature which makes an unforgivable mistake: It pretends the real Palin had no political instincts, insights or career coattails.

John Nolte’s review sums it up nicely.

“Moore portrays Palin as a Manchurian Candidate for the extreme right who is activated by a phone call from the McCain campaign. Like a hypnotized spy, she’s humorless, incapable of any kind of emotional connection with anyone, bewildered by circumstance and absolutely determined to meet the goal she’s been programmed to complete.

‘Fahrenheit 11/9’

Movie goers should know not to take any Michael Moore film seriously. The far-left auteur can assemble images in a compelling fashion, but his brand of filmmaking falls short when it comes to the trust factor.

Still, nothing could prepare us for this venture into Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s a potpourri of rage, conspiracies and downright deception with little of the wit displayed on your average late-night show.

Of course Moore draws a bright line from Hitler to Trump, but in a way that should embarrass anyone with a fully functional cortex.

The film even shows photos with the watermarks still on them, a sign Moore’s budget wasn’t as robust as in the past. Perhaps that’s a reflection of his shrinking fan base. His 2004 film “Fahrenheit 9/11” earned a whopping $119 million, the most for any political documentary. Subsequent Moore films earned increasingly less. This sort-of sequel? A meager $6.3 million. No one buys what Moore is selling these days, and “11/9” helps explain why.

‘Bushwick’

You’d think the programmers behind the Sundance Film Festival would have glanced at this stink bomb and said, “no, thanks.”

Instead, this far-left actioner graced the prestigious festival’s lineup in 2017.

Why? Let’s assume the festival types adored its hard-left edge and social commentary. Everyone else saw a rancid film with sad talking points shoved into the narrative.

Brittany Snow stars as a young woman trying to stay alive during an American revolution, of sorts. Several red states are trying to secede, by force, and the Bushwick section of New York is ground zero for mayhem.

Blame The Fathers of the New America Coalition, eager to create a new country “free from government tyranny.” Of course, they’re racists, one reason why they chose to attack an ethnically diverse section of New York – Bushwick.

It’s lazy, B-movie chaos without the sense of fun similar projects create.

‘The Day After Tomorrow’

Director Roland Emmerich may be the least subtle filmmaker alive. His films blow up stuff real good, witness “2012,” “Midway” and “Independence Day.”

This 2004 clunker tries to warn us about global warming, but all it did is leave us snickering.

Roger Ebert dubbed it “profoundly silly,” and that’s being kind. Dennis Quaid stars as a scientist who predicts a new ice age is just around the corner, but he’s tut-tutted by a Vice President who looks suspiciously like … Dick Cheney!

In case there wasn’t enough progressive messaging in the movie, Americans start flocking to Mexico for safety, becoming illegal immigrants in the process.

Only in Hollywood.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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