The Vatican has blasted Golden Compass as Godless and hopeless. Considering their view of Monty Python’s Life of Brian this movie must totally rock, and it sounds like I could take my kids to it.
Category: Entertainment
Scabs
It looks like a number of the talk show hosts are going to cross the picket lines in addition to Carson Daley, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will all be returning to air shortly.
Leno and O’Brien are actually members of the Writers Guild, which makes it worse.
Don’t watch them, boycott their advertisers.
I think that this is very different from David Letterman’s efforts, where, as opposed to breaking the strike, he is attempting to cut a limited deal (the same is rumored of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show).
The Old Negro Space Program
If you are wondering what screenwriters are doing while on strike, some of it is private online projects that are pretty damn good, like The Old Negro Space Program (10:22).
It’s a very funny send up of Ken Burns documentaries (full disclosure, I went to Hampshire College for 2 years, and he graduated from there, though we never met, IIRC, he was up for an Oscar for his Brooklyn Bridge documentary my freshman year).
The movie studios are saying that they don’t need the writers, but it appears that a number of striking writers are in talks to launch Web start-ups, so I’m not sure if it’s not the other way around.
Jury Duty Reviews
Well, a few weeks ago, I got a summons for Jury duty, and today, I had to show up, juror number 635, so I show up to the courthouse in Towson at 9:00am. Parking is paid for, so I go up to level “L”, park, and go into the courthouse.
Taking a left after the metal detector, I then go up a short flight of stairs, hang a right, and get in line. I am given a packet with a jury badge, and $15.00 in cash for expenses.
Once we are all checked in, a woman working for the courts picks up a microphone, and explains the basics of how it works. We are to be sent upstairs by juror number, and then go through voir dire. Given my early diet of Perry Mason, it all seems pretty much second nature to me.
There are monitors arranged throughout the jury room, and they are used to show a brief, and rather cheesy video showing how it is all supposed to work. It was narrated by a judge, and showed pretty clearly just why they use actors to portray them on TV.
While we were waiting, they put a movie on the monitors to entertain us* (more on this later), but about halfway through, the paused it to call jurors 1 through 330 to court for voir dire. They then restarted the film. At about 12:20, most of jurors 1-330 (they only take twelve and a few alternates) returned to the jury room.
At about 12:50 we were sent out for lunch with instructions to return by 2:00pm. They ran the last half of the film again for the benefit of those jurors remaining from the 1-330 cohort.
At about 3:30, Judge Pat Springer came to the room, and thanked us all for our service, and we were free to go.
As a special bonus to this post, I am adding what I hope will be a VERYinfrequent feature of this blog, Jury Duty Reviews:
The movie in question was Secondhand Lions.
Michael Caine: Garth
Robert Duvall: Hub
Haley Joel Osment: Walter
Kyra Sedgwick: Mae
The film was chosen by the court staff was an attempt to find something that would not offend anyone, but still would entertain what would necessarily be an adult audience.
The film covers some fairly well trod ground, with Osmont being the 13 year old child of the feckless mother Sedgwick who is dumped off on his great uncles, Caine and Duvall.
Sedgwick has a minor roll really, and this is essentially a 3 person film, albeit one where they are played by 6 actors, because of the extensive use of flashbacks.
It is set in Texas, and Cain does his accent very well. Duvall does not do an accent, but his manner of speaking fits in well with the Texas location. Thankfully, Osmont does not attempt an accent all.
Duvall, as always, is impressive, as is Caine, who can sometimes disappoint, and Osmont does a very creditable job in playing a 13 year old.
Your kids will love this movie, and it’s entertaining for the adults.
It’s funny and…I’m sorry, but I have to say it….Heartwarming.
*Yes, I know, it’s technically a public performance in violation of US IP laws, because it qualifies as a “public performance”, but I’m not ratting them out to the MPAA.
Who Will be Stephen Colbert’s VP Choice?
Stephen Colbert is running for president.
It appears that he is trying really be on the primary ballot for both parties in his native South Carolina.
I’m a bumming a bit, I wanted to see Jon Stewart at the top of the ticket.
Pay Per View Review
Well, it was movie night again, and this time, it was my choice (it rotates), obviously, I have to choose appropriate to an 8 year old and a 10 year old. I chose The Last Mimzy.
Chris O’Neil: Noah Wilder
Rhiannon Leigh Wryn: Emma Wilder
Joely Richardson: Jo Wilder
Timothy Hutton: David Wilder
Rainn Wilson: Larry White
Kathryn Hahn: Naomi Schwartz
Michael Clarke Duncan: Nathanial Broadman
First a spoiler warning, not about my plot synopsis, but about the first scene of the movie. It portends everything that is going to happen, and could have been left out, adding more dramatic tension to the film.
The film is based on the 1940s classic SF short story, written by husband and wife Henry Kutter and C.L. Moore, Mimsy Were the Borogoves.
The roles of the children, Noah and Emma, are clearly front and center, are well acted, and the adult roles are minor, even as potential nemisis.
Joely Richardson is a bit wooden, and Timothy Hutton is a bit underused (This may be influenced by my seeing his magnificent Archie Goodwin in the A&E Nero Wolfe series) as parents.
Rainn Wilson and Kathryn Hahn (who is probably best known for her role on Crossing Jordan) do rather well as the new-age science teacher and his live-in girlfriend as slightly kooky, if very earnest, comic relief.
It is a science fiction time travel story, which weaves in current events (Department of Homeland Security, Intel, etc.)
It was a decent movie, my son was dead set against it, but agreed afterwards that it was good. It’s a pity that the first 30 seconds of the film make it far less interesting than it would have been.
Additionally, there are some unrealistic bits (Homeland Security is remarkably nice and accommodating) that are clearly there because it was sold as a kids picture.
Pay Per View Review
Our previous cable service was plain vanilla, no cable box, so now we get pay per view, and we checked out a movie list night, Happily N’Ever After, one of the more recent CGI movies to hit the small screen.
Cast:
George Carlin: The Wizard (Sort of)
Andy Dick: Mambo
Sarah Michelle Gellar: Ella
Michael McShane: Rumplestiltskin
Freddie Prinze Jr.: Rick
Wallace Shawn: Munk
Patrick Warburton: Prince Humperdink
Sigourney Weaver: Frieda
George Carlin is amusing, but he has perhaps 3 minutes screen time in this retelling of the Cinderella story, which is juxtaposed with the metaphysics of fairy tales.
Patrick Warburton and Wallace Shawn do a journeyman job of playing…Patrick Warburton and Wallace Shawn, and they are amusing.
For once, Andy Dick is not repellent
Sigourney Weaver is a wonderful evil stepmother, easily the strongest performance of the movie, with Weaver at her scenery chewing best. What’s more, she is the sexiest animated character since Jessica rabbit, and far more interesting, both libidinally and in terms of character development.
but the two leads, Gellar and Prinze are somewhat lackluster.
Freddy Prince, who plays Rick, performs well as the Prince Humperdink’s dogsbody and dishwasher, but Gellar’s performance as Ella is rather lackluster. Some of this is not her fault, as the character is written to be a bit of a ninny.. It doesn’t help that the stepmom is way hotter.
The plot, and plot device are a bit contrived, but I enjoyed it, and more importantly, my kids enjoyed it.
It’s amusing, if fluffy, and the hidden movie references will amuse the adults watching with their kids.
And of course, the happy ending.
Deluge of peanuts brings back ‘Jericho’ TV show | CNET News.com
I’ve not seen the show, but my dad was one of the thousands of people who wrote to NBC in 1967 to save Star Trek.
Deluge of peanuts brings back ‘Jericho’ TV show | CNET News.com
An online protest involving 20 tons of peanuts delivered to CBS Entertainment in New York and California has succeeded in bringing back the television show Jericho, which the network canceled last month.….
Peanuts…Heh.