That's Just a Little Bit More Than the Law Will Allow
October 22, 2022 5:00 PM Subscribe
Trailer for John Schneider's To Die For (2022): "It's always Fourth of July at my house."
This post was deleted for the following reason: Hey, sorry, but Metafilter isn't a great place for promoting this guy's stuff ... there are more flags on this post than in his garage -- taz
so. much. green. screen. why?
posted by slater at 5:44 PM on October 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by slater at 5:44 PM on October 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's all green screen because they filmed the whole movie in someone's garage and then did the location shoots later, didn't they?
posted by thecjm at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by thecjm at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2022
And so many out of focus shots.
posted by jonathanhughes at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by jonathanhughes at 5:58 PM on October 22, 2022
I'm sorry, can someone explain what this is? I tried googling it and just got more confused.
posted by Toddles at 6:01 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Toddles at 6:01 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
and so much virtue signalling - i mean that's what it is when you wave a flag (or a cross or a bible) in front of someone's face, right?
posted by pyramid termite at 6:02 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by pyramid termite at 6:02 PM on October 22, 2022
What is this film about? Coming at election time, and about someone who gets shot for flying the US flag? Hell they'd have to kill more than half the folks here in McCarthy town, if that is what the film is about.
posted by Oyéah at 6:03 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by Oyéah at 6:03 PM on October 22, 2022
John Schneider? Wasn't he one of the thingy guys ... with the car ... something oh yes Dukes of Hazzard. I watched a minute of the trailer and I don't understand who's supposed to be interested in it. Bad grading, bad green screen, bad editing, bad acting, bad lighting, but there's an American flag waving sometimes, and a grizzled white guy, probably doing something that a Black man would be arrested for, so that's probably a bunch of audience right there.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:05 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:05 PM on October 22, 2022
oh, now, i see - bo, dude, you done got the WRONG FLAG!! have you turned yankee?
posted by pyramid termite at 6:06 PM on October 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 6:06 PM on October 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
My neck makes that Rice Krispies sound, too, but it's just because I'm old.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:17 PM on October 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:17 PM on October 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
He also played Pa Kent, one of the epitomes of decency, which causes me to be conflicted now.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:18 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:18 PM on October 22, 2022
My guess is that the Rode Microphone company isn't going to be too psyched about the product placement in this movie.
posted by jonathanhughes at 6:45 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by jonathanhughes at 6:45 PM on October 22, 2022
It is the liberal fantasy where finally a white far right conservative man isn’t allowed to terrorize a community with his bullshit despite the reluctance of the conservative judge. 5 stars. Maybe I’ve missed the point.
posted by interogative mood at 6:57 PM on October 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 6:57 PM on October 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
In a world...where an old guy isn't allowed to hang out by a high school asking teen boys about dropping to their knees...
posted by mittens at 7:01 PM on October 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by mittens at 7:01 PM on October 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
If I am understanding the plot (and it is difficult to understand), it looks like a cry against the “woke left” that actively hates the American flag. Or something.
This is pretty pathetic, as no one cares if you hang an American flag. What does bother people is the Confederate flag, and that could make for an interesting premise, but like most right-wingers John Schneider doesn’t have the guts to make that movie. So he falls back on a straw man controversy that doesn’t exist.
And yeah the green screen is baffling. Because it was too expensive to film at…an anonymous suburban street? A random office?
posted by zardoz at 7:02 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is pretty pathetic, as no one cares if you hang an American flag. What does bother people is the Confederate flag, and that could make for an interesting premise, but like most right-wingers John Schneider doesn’t have the guts to make that movie. So he falls back on a straw man controversy that doesn’t exist.
And yeah the green screen is baffling. Because it was too expensive to film at…an anonymous suburban street? A random office?
posted by zardoz at 7:02 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
My guess is that the Rode Microphone company isn't going to be too psyched about the product placement in this movie.
Funny, I noticed that too cos it was a bit too specific. Spent a coupla mins googling freedman etc., but nothing comes up re: his politics. he's getting on in years, but no mention of his political leanings.
posted by slater at 7:03 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Funny, I noticed that too cos it was a bit too specific. Spent a coupla mins googling freedman etc., but nothing comes up re: his politics. he's getting on in years, but no mention of his political leanings.
posted by slater at 7:03 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Everything else aside (!!) it’s stunning how this looks like the product of someone who is unfamiliar with the conventions of film. Schneider has participated in hundreds of hours of television, and this is what he thinks a film should look like?
I mean, the trailer is not the movie, but if the editing here is any indication, it’s like 80% people talking in medium close-up. Who could watch that?
posted by uncleozzy at 7:06 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I mean, the trailer is not the movie, but if the editing here is any indication, it’s like 80% people talking in medium close-up. Who could watch that?
posted by uncleozzy at 7:06 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I saw a tweet some days ago which quoted Schneider as saying that he and his wife had put everything they had into this movie and that they'd be wiped out financially if it didn't succeed.
Did it give you a peaceful, easy feeling to read that? That was my experience, and I wanted to share it.
posted by orange swan at 7:20 PM on October 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
Did it give you a peaceful, easy feeling to read that? That was my experience, and I wanted to share it.
posted by orange swan at 7:20 PM on October 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
uncleozzy, that's exactly what's bothering me. He's an accomplished and experienced actor who has been working for literally decades now and the footage doesn't match his familiarity with the craft.
Here's the first part of the movie. The first few minutes set the scene, and we've seen this setting before: wistful country song, flags, God, small town America. And then about three minutes in, his character speaks. He's irascible, he shouts at someone selling something by telephone, he reads a headline in the paper and mumbles about doing something vaguely violent to a high school quarterback?
And then there's this clip where he gives a big speech about loving the flag, and he sounds like an unhinged conservative talk radio caller, and it's presented as heroic but instead it's just deeply weird, with all the integrity and appeal of wilted lettuce.
If he's going for an antihero vibe with a narrative arc, maybe that would be something. But I think -- and I'll never know, because this movie costs $19.99 to rent because freedom isn't free etc. -- he starts out with his character set to about a 7 and then he ends with his character exactly the same but set to 11. And that's just not that interesting to watch.
In googling this movie, I've landed on several of his recent interviews and I'm not sure what to think. I know we don't armchair diagnose people here on metafilter, but in watching him, I don't think he's doing okay. I don't even want to dunk on this movie because it just feels like it's been made by someone experiencing a deep and enduring kind of distress.
posted by mochapickle at 7:27 PM on October 22, 2022
Here's the first part of the movie. The first few minutes set the scene, and we've seen this setting before: wistful country song, flags, God, small town America. And then about three minutes in, his character speaks. He's irascible, he shouts at someone selling something by telephone, he reads a headline in the paper and mumbles about doing something vaguely violent to a high school quarterback?
And then there's this clip where he gives a big speech about loving the flag, and he sounds like an unhinged conservative talk radio caller, and it's presented as heroic but instead it's just deeply weird, with all the integrity and appeal of wilted lettuce.
If he's going for an antihero vibe with a narrative arc, maybe that would be something. But I think -- and I'll never know, because this movie costs $19.99 to rent because freedom isn't free etc. -- he starts out with his character set to about a 7 and then he ends with his character exactly the same but set to 11. And that's just not that interesting to watch.
In googling this movie, I've landed on several of his recent interviews and I'm not sure what to think. I know we don't armchair diagnose people here on metafilter, but in watching him, I don't think he's doing okay. I don't even want to dunk on this movie because it just feels like it's been made by someone experiencing a deep and enduring kind of distress.
posted by mochapickle at 7:27 PM on October 22, 2022
I mean, the trailer is not the movie, but if the editing here is any indication, it’s like 80% people talking in medium close-up. Who could watch that?
It doesn't matter. The target audience will lap this up because it sets up a straw man that gives them the ability to feel righteous indignation and justify the violence they want to be done.
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:41 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
It doesn't matter. The target audience will lap this up because it sets up a straw man that gives them the ability to feel righteous indignation and justify the violence they want to be done.
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:41 PM on October 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
it feels like 1913 to me
posted by pyramid termite at 7:51 PM on October 22, 2022
posted by pyramid termite at 7:51 PM on October 22, 2022
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posted by mochapickle at 5:18 PM on October 22, 2022 [2 favorites]