Check out today’s NYT homey article about Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson. At MaximsNews, Russ Baker reviews Judith Miiller’s reporting on the U.N. And, tonight Keith Olbermann interviews John Dean about the Karl Rove affair. (P.S. Do not waste your money on War of the Worlds.)
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
There’s also a very nice column from yesterday’s WaPo by the ombudsman, “Wave a Flag, Read a Newspaper.” Elegant and subtle evisceration of the BushCo lies.
I, for one, have no intention of seeing “War of the Worlds.” Tom Cruise can’t act his way out of a paper bag, and I’ve never understood the buzz about him, unless it’s solely the creation of well-paid flacks. He’s more than a little creepy–a little creep, as it were.
I went mostly to be a companion for my daughter. But, I also went BECAUSE THE NEW YORK TIMES LIES!!!!!!!!
There now, Susan. Calm down.
The NYT review of War of the Worlds was rather favorable.
Only after seeing the dumb thing did I check out The Guardian’s reviews (that’s the link I put in the story above) and even Roger Ebert — who usually poinies up for Hollywood — but found WOTW a bit ponderous.
It’s also very illogical. I can’t say much to spoil it for those who see it.
Thankfully my brother called and warned me about it. Said it’s pretty sad when his 10 year old can spot errors in the logic. He didn’t say it was terrible, just not worth the money to see at the theater.
I love a riveting thriller. “Jaws” was damn fun and scary.
Something else…. Tom Cruise is a good actor. But he’s not great. After we came home, we flipped channels and watched a bit of “Runaway Jury” starring Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman. Those two are great actors.
A slightly younger Dustin Hoffman would have done a better job with the WOTW role that Cruise had.
ALSO: Collateral. Very interesting movie. But flat as a pancake. I couldn’t quite figure out what was missing but I think it was in good part because there’s something missing in Cruise himself. A depth that gifted actors like Hoffman and Peter O’Toole have. (I also watched parts of Troy over the weekend…. Peter O’Toole and a couple other British actors stole the movie from Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom, neither of which has the stage experience and what comes from that.
Gene Hackman is one of my favs.
And I agree about Cruise. To compare him to someone around his age I think of Sean Penn. Who, although in some forgettable movies, has done some amazing and diverse work.
I saw Collateral and liked the idea but not the execution. I wonder how different it would have been with Christian Bale from American Psycho in Cruise’s role. Or Jean Reno from The Professional. Both of whom do aloof killer much better and they could have added the edge that Cruise lacked.
Maybe whenever I see a Cruise movie I’ll just imagine how many other actors could have done it better.
and Christian Bale was incredible in Batman Begins.
And then there was Richard Burton. Lord god. That man melted me.
Yes. Sean Penn is incredible. And I think that part of it is that he is himself such a DEEP person.
It’s so obvious in interviews that he is tormented by all that he learns about the world and all the thinking he does about the world’s ills. He’s an exceptionally sensitive, tuned-in, vibrating person.
Hey, SYBILLLLLLL! Did Sean Penn ever post reports from Tehran? I missed them.
and came to the conclusion that he is a good actor for the parts he’s suited for. He was very good in “Rain Man” and “A Few Good Men,” for instance, but if he strays too much from that type of part, he gets lost. Maybe it’s the lack of depth you mention.
I don’t plan to go see War of the Worlds, but then we don’t really get out to see movies much these days. Although having said that, on Sunday as part of our vacation we went out to see “The Adventures of Shark Boy And Lava Girl In 3-D.” It’s a good idea that wasn’t particularly well executed, but it had some good bits in it, and most importantly, my granddaughter liked it. Since we spent most of the weekend going to baseball games and watching fireworks and sleeping in and other stuff that she suffers as best an impatient eight-year-old can, we made sure that we spent some time taking her swimming and letting her watch a movie she wanted to watch and doing a few things that she wanted to do, since after all it was her vacation too.
You are a GOOD grandparent.
My mother was useful in that regard. She took my daughter to ALL of the Care Bear movies so I didn’t have to. THANK GOD.
On the other hand, my daughter reported — and still talks about it lo these many years later — that my mother and stepdad took my daughter to VERY BORING places like fruit stands and people’s houses where the people had elk jerky or something.
So, try not to take her to too many boring places, poor kid. She’ll be haunted by those memories.
My granddaughter lives with us, so most of the time where we go, she goes. She’s been to a lot of events that we didn’t think she would care for, but seemed very interested in. For instance, a couple of years ago we took her to see a local production of Kaufman and Hart’s The Man Who Came To Dinner and she was completely fascinated by the whole thing. Much of it was completely over her head, but she remembered some of the funnier bits like the nurse screaming “A penguin bit me!!!!!” She also liked talking to the actors and getting a look backstage to see what went on behind the scenes.
On the other hand, we occasionally have to draw the line, and that’s where her uncle comes in. He loves taking the local kids to the theater so he can have an excuse to see stuff like Power Rangers movies and not feel embarassed that he’s there because he wants to see it.
And there are some things that are still way too grown-up for her. For instance, when my daughter bought me tickets to see the Seattle Opera do Carmen last year we left the granddaughter with her uncle. She probably would have liked the dancing and some of the music, but it’s an awful long opera and a lot of things happen in it that we didn’t want to have to explain just yet.
Totally agree with your review, Susan. I thought it could have benefited from having an actual,um, plot. And boy was that sequence in the basement dumb. (Not wanting to say too much, although it wouldn’t be much to spoil.) Personally, I think it needs a couple of good Velociraptors. There are very few movies that cannot be improved by adding velociraptors!
I loved “Batman Begins,” though.
Velociraptor. What’s that? A mechanized dinosaur?
COMPUTER GRAPHICS! ENOUGH ALREADY! I CAN TELL THEY’RE COMPUTER GRAPHICS! THEY LOOK FAKE!
We saw the preview yesterday for “Stealth.” Oh, do stay away. It’s about a new type of Stealth fighter that has a BRAIN and repalces all the pilots, who get very upset about that.
The graphics were so fake-looking in the “Stealth” preview that it was laughable.
Ditto most of the warriors in “Troy.”
Did you see Jurassic Park? The velociraptors were those dinos that operated as a team. Tres cool and scary! If you saw the movie you’ll remember the scene in the kitchen when the kids were hiding.
I Heart Velociraptors!
Now THAT was scary.
I didn’t get scared in WOTW. Boo.
I didn’t get scared in WotW, either. I kept feeling like laughing in places where it wasn’t supposed to be amusing. And btw. . .why didn’t it smell?? If you get my drift.
Tom Cruise is an energetic actor. His best role was
“Jerry MacGuire” when he played a character like himself, a con man. He has little to give as an actor.
In Collateral, everyone praised Jamie Fox and Jada Pinkett Smith. Cruise tried to squeeze out emotion in his role but he just can’t do it.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Sybil, you’re always so sharp. Yes, he was good in “Jerry McGuire,” and I got a big kick out of that movie. (That little boy, and Bonnie Hunt!)
Jamie Foxx was terrific in “Collateral.”
Funny thing about casting. “Gangs of New York” suffered from Leo DiCaprio in the lead … he’s a good actor, but.
After seeing “Gangs,” I kept thinking who would have been great in that role, and thought of Giovanni Ribisi, who was brilliant in ‘Boiler Room.” See that flick if you haven’t.
Did you see him in “Heaven?
“Boiler Room” one of the top movies of all time.
The father and son scenes showing the love AND
conflict in their relationship and of course
love conquers all. Those scenes were brilliant.
If you liked Boiler Room, you would like “Prime Gig”
with Vince Vaughn.
Saw “Crash” at our local theatre and I loved it.
But then I love most movies shot in L.A. and I liked
the format, from overhead shots to extreme close-ups.
Debut directorial too.
I don’t care for most special effects movies, I like
really good acting instead. I just watched “The Hustler”
and it has aged well, like good wine. What a movie!
For a compilation of all reviews and a decent rating system, I use rottentomatoes.com. It’s a pretty good source for movie reviews.
Great site!
I check RottenTomatoes for videos too.
They gave “Crash” a 77% fresh rating. I like to scroll
down and see who gave the rotten tomato rating and why.
Some critics are just giving publicity to the movie with
their critiques while there are others I trust more.
I like that site.
These days I read all the rottentomatoes “rotten” reviews instead of watching the movie. Much more fun.
LOL! Don’t you know by now that you have to read movie reviews from the Times with a large container of salt handy?
I did like the comment about keeping a V-8 engine on the kitchen table, as I have a friend who has been known to dump a saddle on hers. Although, with typical Times overkill, they appended this correction:
Too bad no one thought to do that with La Miller’s Iraq stories.
At one point in my vastly checkered career, I wrote dance criticism and reviews. One year, watching my umpteenth “Nutcracker,” I realized there was nothing for it but to review the scenery.
When they start reviewing the scenery, you, the reader, can be pretty sure there’s not much to see.
It’s because he sold his soul to get the role in Risky Business–that’s what’s missing.
I happen to like Cruise, though, probably because I grew up on Top Gun.
I likewise thought WotW was a bit of a waste–but if you’re going to see it I’d recommend the theater because the primary redeeming quality was the special effects.
I must ask, though, when is someone going to come up with an alien that doesn’t look like the ones in the Alien series?
Tom Cruise lost me with Top Gun…probably because I knew a bunch of Vietnam fighter pilot guys.
I snickered at way too many parts of Tom Cruise’s acting in Top Gun. Never got past it for his other movies.
Thanks for the heads up on WOTW – I was looking for a mindless summer movie….oh well back to the video store.
in “Top Gun,” you say?
I snickered at way too many parts of Tom Cruise’s acting in Top Gun.
Who knew?
LOL – sometimes I forget the literal nature of this lovely English language….
is that, by and large, they look like humans in alien suits. Bipedal, two arms, you know the drill. The reason for that, of course, is monetary — if you get too exotic with your aliens you have to start spending money on them. It’s a lot easier to, well, dress up a human in an alien suit.
The non-humans in the Star Wars movies were pretty cool, but they were still humans in alien suits. It seems like with CGI you should be able to do better than Jar-Jar Binks.
Sometimes, though, you can really get creative, and then the part of science fiction that makes you stretch your imagination shines through. Babylon-5, for instance, had not only the Minbari, Centauris and Narns, but Kosh and the Shadows. And then there was the Horta from the original Star Trek series. OK, so the Horta was a guy in a rubber alien suit, but they managed to make it not look like a guy in a rubber alien suit, and still give us some connection to an alien culture. It reminds me a little of a story called “Ambassador to Verdammt” by Colin Kapp which featured a race called the Unbekannt. It’s worth tracking the story down to see how they solved the problem of communicating with a race that was completely alien to human thought patterns.
Omir, check out Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” – there are no aliens.
It’s a deeply philosophical sci-fi based off of the Brothers Strugatsky’s novel “Roadside Picnic”. They were both Soviet scientists before they became writers. The gist is this: like humans will stop on the roadside and have a picnic and leave their garbage for ants to carry away, so did unseen aliens stop on Earth and leave their technological garbage and we humans are the ants and can’t figure out what to do with it. It’s a long movie but one of my favorites.
The Strugatsky brothers wrote a lot in the USSR (and I have the entire collection in Russian) but they were more of political-philosophical works set in the allegory of sci-fi because of the censorship (and often in authoritarian States). I highly suggest their works and they are avaible in English (some in e-book format for free on the net).
Nevertheless, aliens tend to remain abstract and mysterious and not in suits. They deal more with the human mind and the progression of humanity.
Robert Silverberg’s “Passengers,” which won a Nebula award and was nominated for a Hugo. In “Passengers,” the aliens are telepathic creatures that take over human minds and make the people they are “riding” do strange and bizarre things. Silverberg never explains why the aliens are doing this, which is just fine; you don’t have to know everything about a story, after all.
Geena Davis had no problem with aliens in “Earth Girls are Easy.”
He’s more than a little creepy. He’s a well-known member of the Church of $c13nt0l0gy. Much of that money from his movies isn’t just going straight into the Church coffers, it’s giving him a bigger soapbox from which to promote it.
Travolta‘s also a prominent member.
From the NYT article today
That’s wrong too. There’s a full-face photo of her in the Vanity Fair on the newsstands now…. the same VF with the Deep Throat story.
Meanwhile the actions taken have destroyed a perfectly good career.
There’s more interesting rumors on Rove at TPM Cafe
HI, Lahdee! How are things?
Okay Susan. I’m still commuting to Houston, two weeks there and one here. I’m currently home.
Hey, I’ll be up in Bellingham on Friday. I may be moving up there if I can’t hook up with my old company by the end of August. I’ll keep you posted.
BTW, I’m loving all your work. I don’t always comment, but I always read.
L
first the homey story about Plame and Wilson (with a bit of discredited spin slipped in) and now … reporter drama:
AP story
I can’t wait to see Miller in jail. She has a significant degree of responsibility for the Iraq war, when she falls on her sword for Karl Rove as a matter of ‘professional ethics,’ it can only be called a sublime combination of absurd theater and poetic justice.
And yes, I hope she’ll suffer. She’s a despicable human being.
personally tend to appreciate your sentiment given what you know about Miller.
However, should be wary of how this will play in terms of public opinion with people who are less informed … too easy for Miller’s case to get spun in a sympathetic light (ie, in the same vein Susan McDougal.)
it may be a gut reaction for many middle class people not paying close attention. and that would be a distraction…
“It will be a cold day in hell before I vote for a Republican, even for dog catcher.”
— Joseph Wilson, in the NYT story
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
LINK: http://rense.com/general66/remem.htm
Deep Thoughts by Rick Santorum
Oy:
But unlike abortion today, in most states even the slaveholder did not have the unlimited right to kill his slave.
I liked the one about Walmart being a “corporate good citizen”…I can’t even imagine the tripe in the rest of the book!
Behind Bars
Well, Fitzgerald says Cooper and Miller have to testify even after Time handed over the notes. This shouldn’t be too surprising, and the spin that Time did what they did, in part, to spare Cooper a jail term was always a bit dubious.
Check this out.
How ’bout that. Now Rex has his own handle.
For those who have trouble with the reference, check out this old diary at kos. Never mind the silly side-discussion, just read Rex’ comments. I recall laughing so hard that I feared getting another hernia..
I missed the discussion that spawned this diary, but I think that particular diary is the hardest I have ever laughed at anything on a blog.
Oh what did you have to do that for … it hurts. My tummy. And my cats are lookin’ at me like OMG!
P.S. I joined two RACCOON discussion groups in Yahoo Groups today. So, you might not see me as much around here. See — here’s my welcome e-mail:
From: racoons-owner@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Welcome to racoons
Date: July 5, 2005 11:42:01 AM PDT
To: susanhu@earthlink.net
For starters, I’m going to suggest that the racoon group change its name.
Your first read?
I admit to actually hotlisting that diary.
If I feel the need for a belly laugh (happens frequently in these depressing times), all it takes are a few minutes of Rex’ comments.
“Ask Karl Rove for an apology? Not me. Apologies are appropriate for foolish remarks made in the heat of argument. Rove read from a script. The White House handed out copies. Besides, what would an apology from that flabby little apparatchik be worth? He’s the human equivalent of a fear-biting dog: His Master’s Voice. “Conservatives,” Rove said, “saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to submit a petition. I am not joking.” No, he was fabricating. The House voted President Bush the authority to attack the Taliban and Osama bin Laden by 420-1. The Senate voted unanimously, 98-0. To my knowledge, nobody mentioned therapy. The usual Washington pundits say Rove wasn’t attacking Democrats, only “liberals.” Oh really? Rove claimed that party chairman Howard Dean opposed fighting the Taliban. In fact, Dean supported the Afghan war. He criticized Bush for letting bin Laden escape to pursue his obsession with Saddam Hussein.”-from the column today by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Gene Lyons.
from http://www.seattlefordean.com and http://www.howieinseattlefordean.com
http://www.hottestussenator.com/
True Patriots
by Hunter
Mon Jul 4th, 2005 at 13:04:49 PDT
It’s going to be like a kids’ fight, “HE hit me first, no he hit ME first. (hit with the information)
Wow – so many anti-Tom Cruisers! His recent idiotic outbursts have brought you all out of the closet! He is creepy, though I did think he was good in “A Few Good Men” – but he had Jack Nicholson propping him up.
But back to the original topic – did anyone see Keith Oberman and John Dean tonight? Also – more importantly – can ANYONE explain why Novak is not being brought up on charges for broadcasting the story? Did he ever reveal his sources? Who were they?
Karla Homolka has had a make-over.
She looks more French now with brown eye contacts.
old Karla
new Karla
Ex-husband said through his lawyer that it was dear Karla
that initiated the murders. Karla plans to remain in
Montreal where she thinks she can have anonymity. After
her interview on French tv, she has gained support there.