Well, it wasn't as good as I hoped. I can see it being maybe more inspirational to teenagers, but I thought there were a couple things hurting the film:

1. The Mask: I can see how this would work great in a comic book, but on film the lack of expressiveness coupled with the amount of screen time kind of takes the life out of things.
2. Lack of Backstory: There just wasn't enough attention paid to the context. The Fascism wasn't really realistic... seemed like too much of a disconnect between how evil/hitlerian the High Chancelor was, and how benign most of the people who worked for him were and how bland daily life seemed to be.
3. Essence of Drama: I wasn't consistantly hooked. Like, there was no oppression, no evidence of discomfort or fear, no uber-patriotic hooligans. It's not until 3/4 of the way through that you really get anything to empathize with or against. I just was never emotionally sold on the stakes, which is close to a mortal wound for this story.

Still, enjoyable, if not the masterpiece some were hoping for. And Natalie Portman is pretty easy on the eyes, so there's that.

Finally, as an afterthought, here's The Koran, searchable, browsable, etc. Good to know about.

Well, it wasn't as good as I hoped. I can see it being maybe more inspirational to teenagers, but I thought there were a couple things hurting the film:

1. The Mask: I can see how this would work great in a comic book, but on film the lack of expressiveness coupled with the amount of screen time kind of takes the life out of things.
2. Lack of Backstory: There just wasn't enough attention paid to the context. The Fascism wasn't really realistic... seemed like too much of a disconnect between how evil/hitlerian the High Chancelor was, and how benign most of the people who worked for him were and how bland daily life seemed to be.
3. Essence of Drama: I wasn't consistantly hooked. Like, there was no oppression, no evidence of discomfort or fear, no uber-patriotic hooligans. It's not until 3/4 of the way through that you really get anything to empathize with or against. I just was never emotionally sold on the stakes, which is close to a mortal wound for this story.

Still, enjoyable, if not the masterpiece some were hoping for. And Natalie Portman is pretty easy on the eyes, so there's that.

Finally, as an afterthought, here's The Koran, searchable, browsable, etc. Good to know about.

Update: Crooks and Liars has the Video

I only caught part of it, but I don't think I've ever heard an elected get that kind of audience response in John Stewart's studio. DC dems take now, Russel's message resonates.

I'm skeptical about his presidential chances, mainly because I'm pessimistic about America's willingness to accept a twice-divorced Jew as president; but hey, I'd hustle more for him than for Hillary, that's for damn sure.

Update: Crooks and Liars has the Video

I only caught part of it, but I don't think I've ever heard an elected get that kind of audience response in John Stewart's studio. DC dems take now, Russel's message resonates.

I'm skeptical about his presidential chances, mainly because I'm pessimistic about America's willingness to accept a twice-divorced Jew as president; but hey, I'd hustle more for him than for Hillary, that's for damn sure.

Update: Crooks and Liars has the Video

I only caught part of it, but I don't think I've ever heard an elected get that kind of audience response in John Stewart's studio. DC dems take now, Russel's message resonates.

I'm skeptical about his presidential chances, mainly because I'm pessimistic about America's willingness to accept a twice-divorced Jew as president; but hey, I'd hustle more for him than for Hillary, that's for damn sure.

Amanda Marcotte on Professional Prude Jennefer Morse:

So that clarifies why Morse can be so absolute in her belief that sex shouldn’t be a good time and relaxing but something only undertaken with the proper terror of getting pregnant again–she had her fun, it’s in the past, now you can’t have yours.

I think it's interesting and good that we have women debating women around these issues.

I also wonder what the male response is supposed to be. It's rare to see any male pundits make the kinds of pious claims that these Professional Prudes do, even preachers. I've not heard of any books coming out in which a Male Author laments his promiscuity and admonishes other young men to settle down with their high school sweetheart.

Perhaps I'm uninformed, but this looks suspiciously like another iteration of the stud/slut double-standard.

Amanda Marcotte on Professional Prude Jennefer Morse:

So that clarifies why Morse can be so absolute in her belief that sex shouldn’t be a good time and relaxing but something only undertaken with the proper terror of getting pregnant again–she had her fun, it’s in the past, now you can’t have yours.

I think it's interesting and good that we have women debating women around these issues.

I also wonder what the male response is supposed to be. It's rare to see any male pundits make the kinds of pious claims that these Professional Prudes do, even preachers. I've not heard of any books coming out in which a Male Author laments his promiscuity and admonishes other young men to settle down with their high school sweetheart.

Perhaps I'm uninformed, but this looks suspiciously like another iteration of the stud/slut double-standard.

I haven't been up on the ol' Homestar lately, but this is a real good one: Head-nub, nub-head and "rioting against the municipality."

Awesome.

James Wolcott Gives it Two Fists in the Air (mild spoilers behind link):

...when it was over I knew it was the movie our post 9-11 minds craved and unconsciously had been working towards, a movie that conjured the fear of terrorism and repression and didn’t just tell us how we got into the Orwellian predicament we’re in (terrain already attacked by Fahrenheit 9-11, Syriana, Why We Fight), but made the imaginative leap that would lift us out of the news, out of the political present, and stand up to that fear—face it with fury and compassion.

...

And make no mistake V for Vendetta is fun, dangerous fun, percussive with brutality and laced with ironic ambiguity and satirical slapstick (a Benny Hill homage, no less!). But gives the movie its rebel power is the moral seriousnessthat drives the action, emotion, and allegory. That’s what I didn’t expect from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), this angry, summoning Tom Paine moral dispatch that puts our pundits, politicians, and cable news hosts to shame. V for Vendetta instills force into the very essence of four-letter words like hate, love, and (especially) fear, and releases that force like a fist. Off come the masks, and the faces are revealed.

I wanna see it.

Walk the Line was really quite good! And not a bad choice for Valentines day either.

I actually thought it was a better film than most of those up for major awards, even though it comes up somewhat short of what you'd want from a Johnny Cash biopic. I agree with my man Shouter Dauter that it's more of a "tribute" film. In addition to compressing time and leaving out some of the better/wilder Cash exploits, they also radically simplified the religious and substance-abuse angles, but it's a movie. They needed to build a basic narrative, and following on the formula that Ray etched out -- great music, great actors, and a plot arc about a good man who has to kick his habbit to reach his full potential -- is a pretty logical choice.

I really have to give it up for Reece Whitherspoon, who I have an instinctual loathing of as a person (for no good reason, really), but who continually impresses me as an actress and manages to be downright attractive in character. That's talent.

The movie made me miss the South from last summer. Like, I got all excited when they showed Sun Records. It's a small place, you know; and I been there. That's always a little thrill. But it's more than that. It's the vibe of the whole thing, the South, from the bit at the beginning in Arkansas farm country through to the Carter family coming over in a pickup with Thanksgiving.

For a lot of us Northerners and urbanites, all the good essential bits of humanity that are a bound up in those cultural traditions and places are mixed up in ideas about Southern/rural racism and ignorance, which is in itself a form of ignorance, which is too bad.