McTiernan Going to Prison

[Teelie]

A year?

$50 and time served.

Do you even know what "time served" means? McTiernan's been free on bond ever since he first pled guilty in April 2006 -- he hasn't been serving time in jail / prison. There's no "time served" credit to give. He'll almost certainly be eligible for day-for-day / good behavior credit, but it's not like the guy's been rotting away in a cell waiting for the judge to render his verdict.

And why the rolleyes? First of all, you shouldn't hire someone to illegally wiretap others, and then you really shouldn't lie to federal prosecutors about it. Dude broke the law, dude's going to pay for it.

Yeah, he'll pay a minimal fine, spend a weekend in jail isolated from the other prisoners then be free to do what he wants.

He's a part of the Hollywood machine, he won't be treated like any other prisoner.

The judge's attitude I agree was unprofessional but these days it's also tame compared to what others have gotten away with.

 

[Holdfast]

Yeah, he'll pay a minimal fine, spend a weekend in jail isolated from the other prisoners then be free to do what he wants.

Is anyone else rooting for some maximum security prisoners to knock out everyone with a funky terrorist nerve gas, take over the prison and then hold the warden & surviving guards hostage while demanding a massive ransom as cover for their plans for a nationwide prison uprising that will occupy the nation's attention 24/7, thus bankrupting Hollywood by stopping people going to the movies?

McTiernan - who happened to be in isolation at the time so escaped the effects of the nerve gas - then has to single-handedly take back the prison in order to save his movie career.

 

[Teelie]

Sounds like you're writing Die Hard 5, which is going forward now. Or they'll take your idea and run with it in some way making McClane the inmate instead.

 

[Holdfast]

The Die Hard riff was kind of the gag... but you know what they say, "if you have to explain it..." Oh well, back to the drawing board!

 

[Teelie]

I know it was a gag but it's the kind of story I can see them seriously using for another movie. My comment itself was a mix of a gag and a commentary on how predictable Hollywood can be.

 

[Holdfast]

I can see the pitch meeting now...

"It's like Die Hard.... with McTiernan doing Con Air, mocking 24/7 rolling news and the Hollywood system, in a prison....!"

It's GOLD, I tell you. Sheer GOLD.

 

[Captaindemotion]

If they ever did Die Hard in a Prison, they'd just need to re-write Tim Willocks' brilliant novel Green River Rising. Maybe that could be McTiernan's first movie on release.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

He would have immeasurably improved Die Hard 4.0, a good script let down by a poor director.

I wouldn't say that. To the extent that Live Free or Die Hard had problems, I think they can mostly be traced back to 20th Century Fox's inappropriate decision to make it a PG-13 instead of an R.

That I can vouch for! Worst DVD commentaries of all time!

Tim Burton's commentaries are more boring still. At least Sleepy Hollow's certainly is - I gave up half way through

Chris Carter and Rick Berman also have done really boring commentaries. They're insomnia cures.

I've tried listening to Tim Burton's Batman commentaries and the man just can't put together more than a couple coherent sentences at any one time. (That's probably why his movies are so interesting.)

Rick Berman isn't a particularly scintilating individual but his commentary on Star Trek: Nemesis was both more informative & easier to listen to than Stuart Baird's.

I haven't listened to a Chris Carter commentary but the man does seem deathly dull in interviews and obnoxiously self-important.

But can any man possibly give a more moronic commentary than Irvin Kirshner on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. First of all, the man's voice makes Ray Romano sound positively Shakespearean! Secondly, all he ever does is explain exactly what's happening in the movie, as if you're not watching it right now! "Now, here, Han is mad because Chewie can't fix the ship right..."

 

[JiNX-01]

but do American judges usually get away with mocking people like that?

The short answer is yes. In fact, I think it's sometimes encouraged.

Wow. In Canada, that would be grounds for a mistrial due to the judge showing contempt for the defendant.

Well, in the U.S. it's pretty common for judges to upbraid defendants who bleat during sentencing (pick one):
It's not my fault.
It was an accident.
I didn't mean to.
I was (pick one)
drunk
stoned
depressed
on medication.