Movie Updates

Movies

Haven’t made it to the film festival yet but do have some movie comments to make…

Body of Lies- yuck. I did not like it at all. It demonstrated how we have great technology to win wars but we lack human intelligence. I guess I have trouble with war and torture being called entertainment. The acting was good but the story was fairly predictable- very bloody- and really so very sad as a commentary on life.

“W”- I am not sure why I went to this but I am so glad I did. I think it just felt so good to realize I have not been the only person in the country feeling that our President’s motives were less than I’d hoped for. I saw this the day before Colin Powell endorsed Obama and it was like a continuation of the movie. I recommend this one. The acting was great by all the cabinet members. Problem was I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry through most of it.

Last Mistress- depressing. I thought it was going to be a love story but it was really not about love. It was about control and about sex. I came out very, very sad.

Burn After Reading- I usually like the Coen brother’s movies. This one was so-so. The characters were fun and well acted. The story was bizarre. The whole thing just did not click for me. The over use of the F word was tiresome and it takes a lot for that to bother ME. It was a good show but nothing memorable.

Religulous- At the end of the film I wanted to ask the audience to remain seated and talk to me about what they thought. I would love to have known who they were and how they responded.

I happen to be one of those people who think Bill Maher is funny. Since this film is really more about Bill Maher than it is about religion, I thought it was funny. He is making fun of people of faith which is likely to offend some folks. The particular kinds of people of faith he chose to mock were easy targets. He really does talk only to fringe people- fanatics- literalists- odd balls. He claims you cannot be intelligent AND have faith. I happen to disagree with that assumption in general, but in the particular people he chose to talk with, I think he was right. (With the exception of Francis Collins who is brilliant and a man of deep religious convictions but then Maher did not really let him say much) His conclusions are not unlike those drawn by many devout believers- religion can be distorted and abused to the harm of innocent people. That is true. What he neglects to ask is whether anything good can come from it.