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7/14/2005
FILM FLAM
Tuesday degenerate CD and myself headed to the drive in for Bewitched, only to
find ourselves alone on the front row. SW had a screening to attend, drive
invasion organizer SG was out of town, and I don't know where the rest of the
wankers who voted for Bewitched were. CD and I weren't really interested in the
film, so we ditched and headed over to the screen showing War of the Worlds
instead.
I've read several reviews of War of the Worlds that say the film equates aliens
with terrorists, sort of implying Al Qaeda in the same way W married Saddam to
9/11. Personally, I think the match is about as valid as W’s. Sure, someone asks
if the alien attacks are the work of terrorists before they understand what's
going on but beyond that the aliens are only a metaphor for terrorists in the
way that anything violent and terrifying can be a metaphor for terrorism.
Apparently none of these critics have read the original or heard the original
radio play or even seen the 1953 version of the film. The 2005 version stays
true to these forerunners in ideas, if not scene for scene. They're scary in
parts, most often when they're off screen and we're focusing on the characters'
reactions more than the special effects (which are pretty special.) And the
scenes of apocalyptic destruction are imaginative and fun (I don't want to give
anything away.) The only thing I don't like about the film is something I never
liked about the story - the lame ending. Crap, H.G. Wells didn't give us the
mother of all battles you want after seeing our world reduced to ruin. Instead,
we stagger out into the aftermath and mumble, "Uh, what was that all about?"
Sounds like big portions of my own life, now that I think about it…
BLASPHEMY
According to CNN, "A former star of the 'The Dukes of Hazzard' TV show is urging
fans to skip the forthcoming movie version, calling it 'a sleazy insult.' Ben
Jones, a former Georgia congressman who played the wisecracking mechanic Cooter
on the popular series from 1979 to 1985, said profanity and sexual content in
the film make a mockery of the family-friendly show."
So a show about a couple of guys who've "been in trouble with the law since they
day they were born" who speed around in a rebel-flag painted car shooting
dynamite-laden arrows into things is family-friendly, yet when Jessica Simpson
shows a TAD more flesh than Catherine Bach and they add some modern, realistic
language suddenly it's a sleazy insult?!? Sorry, Cooter, but I'm insulted you
never thought the original show was a sleazy insult, both to Southerners and my
intelligence.
CNN has recently added free video clips to a lot of their stories, something you
used to have to pay for. This is a nice feature, but it makes for some
disturbingly worded links:
Toddler killed by LAPD bullet | Watch Free
Shark attacks teen off Texas coast | Watch Free
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