the OBJECTIVE JERK

HOLLYWOOD IS ASH AND I'M HERE FOR IT: This is another reason as to why.

• Jerk • Season 4 • Episode 204

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We share a quiet post-Christmas reflection on grief easing with time, then dive into a Gary Oldman story that opens a larger critique of Hollywood power, partisanship, and why some fans step away from movies and football alike. The thread ties personal choice, media fatigue, and trust in storytelling.

• Grief anniversary and how the holiday feels lighter this year
• Boredom scroll that leads to Gary Oldman and Tiptoes
• Shock at Oldman’s 2002 slump after major roles
• The Contender controversy and alleged partisan edits
• How industry power shapes narratives and careers
• Losing interest in hype cycles and theatrical must‑see culture
• Thoughts on Nolan, accuracy debates, and waiting for streaming
• Stepping away from football and reclaiming attention
• Choosing not to support systems that feel hostile to values
• Closing blessings, thanks, and request for feedback

Let me know what you think. Comment down below, smash the like button.


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Again, thanks for hanging out with me!

Please feel free to comment or send an email to theobjectivejerk@gmail.com

SPEAKER_01:

What's going on? This is the Objective Jerk, and I am said jerk. I messed it up. I mess it up every time. You are listening to the Objective Jerk. That's what I'm trying to say. Anyway. Merry Christmas. It's not Christmas for me now. It was Christmas for me yesterday.

SPEAKER_00:

But as I'm recording this, it's Christmas for a lot of people. So there you go. Merry Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm getting a lot of like, you know, there's not a whole lot going on like Facebook and like my messaging for me on Christmas for me, because it's not Christmas for most people that I know. So I don't, you know, I start getting all the stuff the day after, which is fine, whatever. But it's just kind of it's like I feel like I got two days of Christmas, sort of. But yeah, so it's day after Christmas, which is the so I don't like to give too much personal information about myself, but it is the third anniversary of the death of someone very significant for my family.

SPEAKER_00:

And so there's, you know, there'd be some things regarding that today.

SPEAKER_01:

But this year is actually the first year where it doesn't feel like Christmas was kind of overshadowed by, you know, that because this, you know, time heals all wounds, I guess, right? But yeah, so it's just usually it's kind of a somber, or at least the last few years for, you know, some people in the in the family.

SPEAKER_00:

So this year kind of it's a little it's seems like it's you know, start wounds are healing.

SPEAKER_01:

I wasn't actually going to pretty much like all my podcasts. I wasn't planning on doing one, but I just kind of sitting here not doing much. And I I saw this video. I was just kind of w looking for, and you know, there's nothing on YouTube today because it is Christmas, you know, nobody and well, even people who don't really believe in you know Christ and it's his birthday and you know all that stuff, they still celebrate Christmas, so no. And then plus everything's just kind of closed on Christmas. Except here though, man. Yesterday we went to the mall, which was kind of weird. It was Christmas, you know. But all the small businesses, which the you know, around here it's it's a lot of them. Family-owned stuff, you know, there's they're not open. So but anyway. I saw him just you know, drinking coffee, just scrolling, nothing really. And I came across the video, I think it was a short or something, and it was it was yeah, I gotta look up.

SPEAKER_00:

Hold on a second.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll forget the name. I'm so bad with names, dude. Gary Oldman. Gary Oldman, the actor, right? So, real quick, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

So this story that I'm going to share is a prime example of the I don't know how to, but just how liberal and disgusting Hollywood is, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, Hollywood's been a liberal shithole. You know, it all s it started in, you know, the 50s or before that really, but with McCarthy calling it out and everything. But at that time, people were like, oh crap, then you know, people were blacklist, whatever, and you know, it actually, you know, people, it was like the opposite of what's been going on lately. Did that make any sense? I don't think anything I say does. Anyway, so you know, you had everybody was, or a lot of people were part of communist groups, it was cool. I mean, watch if I think the film Oppenheimer kind of shows a good, you know, example of how it was, you know, everybody who was educated, you know, were communists and and and all the colleges and stuff, and that went, and of course, like actors and stuff, they want to be cool, and so they do the same thing. But it all it was all happening then, you know, and it's just slowly it's so it's not like it's oh my gosh, what but it's I don't know, it's just it's another reason why I don't really you know like I see I see these certain posts for like films that are coming out. Ooh, which one are you more excited for? I don't know, I can't think of any right now, but I'm just like, man, none. I don't care anymore. It's it's it's a little bit of I'm tired of being disappointed because the films are crap, but it's also because I just don't want to support the you know the demonic anti-Christian, you know, it's just like even though maybe this movie has nothing to do with any of that, it's still I don't like supporting these individuals anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

Like I love Christopher Nolan. Pretty much all his films are pretty great.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't watch the the I can't I don't even know what it's called. It's one with the uh like Denzel's son in it, I think. Some kind of weird, it's kind of like a it's like I don't know something with time going backwards or something. I don't know, but I don't know. So I didn't I didn't watch that. I didn't even, you know, Oppenheimer, I I did eventually see on uh Netflix, and you know, that's kind of it. Like so he's got the Odyssey coming out, and I haven't seen the trailer, but like people are kind of like not liking some of the costumes and stuff, and it's like, yeah, I mean I think it's a fair argument, you know. So what? People don't, but it's I don't know, just with social media and everything, everybody's gotta like flip out about oh my gosh, well, you know, uh it's not historic. It's like it's dude, calm down. It's like, yeah, if they made a lot of crap more historically accurate, it wouldn't be as appealing, you know, and and and what's his face?

SPEAKER_00:

Christopher Nolan's very it's kind of like he's like Zack Snyder, but he's a little bit better with writing, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Very visual, epic shots, you know, and but I don't know, just people just I don't know, just get so it's like you can criticize something that, you know, because the dude does I understand why people don't like it's like this armor of this guy, it's cool looking, but I don't know. And then people comparing it to Troy, which you know, it just Troy just like when it shows like the two Trojan horses, like the one with Troy was like scraps from the ships and whatever, like it just seemed realistic, you know, and then I don't know, but it's like you know, people are I don't know. My point is I'm not excited to watch Odyssey. I'm not like, oh man, I can't wait. It's probably an awesome movie, it probably is, and I'll see it someday. I'll see it.

SPEAKER_00:

This is how it is for me. I'll when it comes on Netflix, I'll watch it.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't watch it like immediately, like Oppenheimer, I think it was it was like it labeled as leaving soon, so I was like, oh crap, I better watch it, you know. And I liked it, but I don't think I'd watch it again. So, you know, if Odyssey comes out and everybody's just like, dude, it's so badass, it's so awesome, just you know, nothing but praise. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on Blu-ray, and then that's when I'll watch it, or you know, like I said, Netflix. But I don't know, I'm just you know, people are like, well, if you don't support the films, then they're getting it. It's like, I don't care, I really don't care. They're all garbage people in Hollywood, at least the people kind of in charge of anything, and I don't know. It's just I don't I don't I don't care. You know, I already I'm already through that hurdle of not caring, you know. I it doesn't bother me. Like it was hard at first, it was hard to not watch football. Not as hard for if I was living in the States, so like if for people who are like, you know what, I'm so tired of this crap, black national anthem, male cheerleaders, all this kind of crap, I'm done. I'm done living in the states, and then you try not to watch football. If you can do it, man, more power to you because you know it's it's you see, you go to sports bars or you go whatever, there's football, there's commercials, there's you know, you're bombarded with everything, especially during you know, football season, right? Here, being in the Philippines, it's a little easier, so it was easier for me to disconnect myself as I'm wearing a Vikings thing. But this is the only Christmas hat I got. I'm still, you know, but I don't know. I just, you know, and it was kind of it kind of sucked at first not watching, but I got over it pretty quick, pretty easy, wasn't too bad. Do I miss kind of you know having people on Sundays and having some food and hanging out and watching? Yeah, I guess, but not to the point where I'm gonna start watching the football games at two in the morning because that's how I'd have to watch it here. Like they have they have some games that's gonna be on Netflix. Actually, I think a Vikings game, really. And I might watch it later because I don't follow anything, so I can watch it without knowing the score, I think. But I just I don't know. I'm not it's not I don't have to get up at two in the morning to watch, you know. It's not like a drug for me anymore, you know? And it's just like when certain films, certain films would come out, and it was like, oh man, I gotta go see that. I want to go see it before people start talking about it. I just bubble, you know what I mean? Now it's like I I don't give a shit. And then if I see spoilers and people talk about it, I don't care. So anyway. But so Hollywood sucks, and it's always sucked, it's always sucked in my lifetime. Bunch of liberal communist pieces of crap, you know, anti-Christian douchebags. But here's something I never knew, though, is so I was watching the clip, go back to my when I first started, Gary Oldman, right? And he was talking to somebody who was I don't know what it was, it wasn't a podcast, but or it was, but it was in front of an audience or something. And he's talking about a movie called Tiptoes, which I had never seen. I guess it's a comedy or something. And he's talking about how he was like, he was broke and he was living underneath the Hollywood sign, you know, whatever kind of I don't know. And it just so he's talking, and I'm I think I was kind of listening and I was kind of doing something else, and I remember just like as he was talking, I'm thinking it's like in the early 90s, you know, when the situation he's talking about. And I was like, man, this has gotta be like right before Dracula, or maybe it was like right after Dracula, because he wasn't well known yet. Maybe it was before the professional or something. Like, that's what I'm thinking. That's what's going through my brain. Because Dracula was what, 92, 93?

SPEAKER_00:

I want to say. I guess I could pull it up and know for sure. And and then the the professional, I want to say, is 94.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's see how good I am. I'm pretty good with knowing stupid shit like that. So let's see. Let me check real quick. Let's see, blah blah blah blah. Oh crap. He's got like so much crap. Okay, here we go. So, what did I say? I s Bram Stoker's Dracula. Okay, let's see. Where's that at? Oh, so it did JFK before that. Okay, I didn't know so 92. That's what I said, right? 92, 93, that's what I said. And then the professional 94. Man, I'm good. See, why can I remember stupid shit like that? But whatever. It's annoying. Anyway, I mean it's good if I'm doing like some kind of you know, board game about film trivia or something. Yay. Anyway, so he's talking about this, and that's what I'm picturing in my head. I was like, oh, it's gotta be early 90s sometime or something like that. And then he's like talking about it more and more, and then he mentions Matthew McConaughey, and I'm like, Matthew McConaughey? I mean, I don't think he he did when was Dazed and Confused? Wasn't that like about 94 or something like that? And that was like his first role, really. So I'm kind of like, you know, then I started kind of paying attention more and trying to figure out. And I'm like, maybe it's just like, you know, oh, you know, I have all this money, and then I was broke because I don't know. I didn't, you know, I was just kind of thought it was weird. So they talked about the film, and he was like, oh my gosh, and it's embarrassing, whatever. So then I pull up his filmography and I'm like, tiptoes, tiptoes. Okay, let me see. Where's this at? Tiptoes, tiptoes, tiptoes, 2002. I'm like, what? Everybody knew who he was in 2002. How is he broke?

SPEAKER_00:

Not getting work. 2002. I mean, he, you know, he did, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you had what I talked about, yeah, Dracula, true romance, movies in between what I'm mentioning. The Professional, Scarlet Letter, The Fifth Element, Air Force One, Lost in Space, which I guess, you know, you know, and it's like Hannibal. I'm like, how is he not getting work? Like, what is going on? The reason he's not he wasn't getting work is because of a film he did called The Contender, which came out in 2000. I had never seen the film, but opening the the the poster, whatever on Wikipedia, the theatrical poster, I recognize it. But so and on it says, sometimes you can assassinate a leader without firing a shot. So it's it's a fictional political drama, but it plays heavily on like Bill Clinton and his sexual stuff and all this kind of crap, right? Supposedly, I don't know, it's just you know, from what I've read because I haven't seen it. But I'll write let me see. I was gonna read the little synopsis for it. If they have one. I thought they do on that's the thing I hate about Wikipedia. It's like it's not really standardized. Sometimes there's a synopsis, or sometimes it's the plot. I don't want to read the whole damn plot, I just want like a quick little synopsis of the film. I'll cast production. Yeah, see, it's oh, storyline. Here we go. Okay. A political thriller about Lane Hansen, a senator who is nominated to become vice president following the death of the previous office holder. During the confirmation process, Lane is the victim of a vicious attack on her personal life in which stories of sexual deviancy are spread. She is torn as to whether she should fight back or stick to her high principles and refer to and refuse to comment on the allegations. So supposedly it's like a feminist kind of movie. It's like women empowerment thing, you know, which you think that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00:

Like all these people that oh, feminist and this and that, it's all it's all for theatrical, it's all bullshit. They don't care. But so yeah, so that's basically what it is, and it has let me go back.

SPEAKER_01:

So Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater, William Peterson, Philip Baker, Sam Elliott's in it. So I guess Jeff Bridges is playing basically like Clinton, and he does like a Clinton kind of, you know, but it's just, you know, it's not a direct, you know, it's a it's it's a homage, I guess. So and then everybody was saying, like, you know, the the reception was great, and all this kind of stuff. Oh, look at Roger E, which, you know, okay, critics, whatever. But they weren't, you know, so four out of four stars, all this kind of stuff, blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah. So then here it is. So I'm gonna read. I haven't read this part yet. I've only kind of heard some so controversy. The film has also been the subject of controversy in an October 2000 issue of Premiere magazine. Oldman supposedly alleged. Gary Oldman also produced the film, too. I forgot this, I got to I forgot to mention that. Anyway, Oldman supposedly alleged that editing cuts were made due to the studio's democratic leanings. Oldman and his co-producer Urbaninsky reportedly accused DreamWorks Studio and director Rod Lurie of editing the original film to make it more Democrat biased, mainly by making the Runyan character less sympathetic than was originally intended, who was probably Republican, I'm assuming. However, Oldman stated in other interviews that his criticisms were only directed at Lurie and that the quote was bastardized, kinda. When reprinted on internet sources, he went on to complain that his issue with the film was how it became progressively less ambiguous. As the editing went on, specifically citing the music as the as a problem and turning it into a film about good guys and bad guys. Roger Ebert stated that Oldman's denunciation of the film never happened. And quoted Urbaninski as saying, Oldman is the least political person I know. Taking credit for producing the film independently. Oh, so that's not but he was basically blacklisted after this film. That's what nothing official came out, but that's what Let me see.

SPEAKER_00:

There's another it talks about it briefly. Let me see.

unknown:

Here.

SPEAKER_00:

Oldman. And it's all just like, you know, speculation. But if he wasn't getting work, you know, then what else would it be?

SPEAKER_01:

So the professionals. Let me see. Oldman appeared, Jeff Bridges. Okay. Oldman appeared opposite Jeff Bridges as a zealous American Republican Party congressman. So I guess he was kind of more likable at the beginning, and then they wanted him to be more unlikable. They didn't want they didn't want audiences to like a Republican.

SPEAKER_00:

How dare they? Sheldon Runyon and the contender, of which he was also the executive producer.

SPEAKER_01:

Oldman received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for performance, although some claims he was dis dissatisfied with DreamWorks' supposed editing of the film to reflect pro-democratic party leanings, which I mean maybe it happened, maybe it didn't, but I would not be surprised if they did, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

It's not like I don't know. It seems a little these reports were declared sloppy sensationalism by his manager, Douglas Urbaninsky, who said that Oldman was the least political person I know.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it doesn't matter if you're political or not. I mean, obviously, if they were wanting to edit the film differently for their political reasons, and if he's not political, he's still gonna be like annoyed by it, so that doesn't make any sense. He stressed that neither he nor Oldman had made the statements. Of course not. Let's see. Urban said that Oldman received creepy phone calls advising him that he was ruining his chances of an Oscar nomination.

SPEAKER_00:

So he was, you know, people they were like, what do you call it? Harassing and stuff like that. See. Oh, I I read, dang it, where did I read that?

SPEAKER_01:

I read that that, you know, so basically he was he was unofficially blacklisted, you know what I mean? That's what they did. So it's like, here, we we're gonna punish you for making this film to make Democrats look bad and whatever kind of crap. So he didn't work. That's why he was broke and he hadn't had work. I mean, he said that, and that's out of his, you know, the video he says that. So and he had to suffer, and then he was able to work again, and you know, nothing ever about it again. And that's how that's how they do it. That's why everybody in Hollywood is a liberal, anti-Christian child raping douchebag. And if you're not, if you have any kind of Christian values or you're conservative, you know, you can be conservative without being Christian, but anyway, oh man, they blacklist you, look at like so many people, like Mel Gibson. I mean, they try and say it's the thing with him yelling. I mean, he was drunk, he has you know, he has a drinking problem, he's he knows that, and but it just kind of so many people who are not Christian or not conservative have all kinds of crazy shit happen, but it never well, that's because he was yelling about this and that and anti-Semitic, and now now everybody in in Hollywood is anti-Semitic, so what I don't know, I don't get it. But the thing is that's not the reason because so many other people have done way worse shit and they're still beloved by Hollywood. It's because they're liberal and they're douchebags. That's it, that's the only reason. Look at let me see. I wonder, oh, you know what? That's a good let me I'm thinking in my head and I'm thinking so. Remember, I want to see. Remember the movie, you know, I don't think I ever saw it, but John Travolta was in a movie where he kind of played like Bill Clinton. It was a comedy, though. So it's not quite the same kind of thing. I didn't see it, so I don't know how it went one way or the other.

SPEAKER_00:

But I'm just kind of curious. Because he was on a roll again after, you know, pulp fiction and all that stuff. So Get Shorty, White Man's Burden, I saw that, Michael, phenomenon, broken arrow. Where is it at? Oh, here it is. Primary oh, 98? I thought it was sooner than that.

SPEAKER_01:

So, yeah, so that was kind of like he was in all these kind of movies, big movies, and then he does primary colors, which kind of pokes fun at, you know. I mean, it probably does poke fun about everybody, but he's playing Clinton, whatever. And then after that, I mean to be fair, he did Battlefield Earth, but just nothing, man.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like, okay, then he did Swordfish. So it's kind of I don't know. I don't know, makes you think Hillary was like, you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

But it's just it's insane. I I hate Hollywood. I'm so glad it's burning to the ground. I know that's kind of mean to say, and people are like, well, yeah, there's a lot of people that are employed by Hollywood, just normal people doing normal things, you know, building sets and doing whatever, this kind of crap. I do feel bad. But I mean, there it's it's it's been crumbling for a while now, and it's you know, it's not I you know, so yes, I do feel bad. They'll find some work and something else, but it's just I don't know. I just the snobbery and the hypocrisy and and the just straight up evilness of Hollywood, just don't care that it's crumbling. Sorry, but anyway, that's it. Let me know what you think. Comment down below, smash the like button. But anyway, thanks for hanging out. I appreciate your time. God bless. Merry Christmas and have a happy new year. I'm sure I'll make a video, I'll make another one by then. Hey, I did make one by I mean after Christmas for me, but anyway, so there you go. Anyway, God bless.

SPEAKER_00:

I'll see you next time. All right, bye.

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