Movie and Television Reviews

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The large computer generated battle in the trailer portends Lord of the Rings derivative cliche', but The Golden Compass looks fantastic and could very well be a great movie.

Like TGC, The Chronicles of Narnia climaxes in one of those CG showcases. In addition, both movies have child leads, are set in a fantastic alternate reality that snuggles against our own, and are based on a children's book series that allegorizes an ultimate philosophy (Christianity for TCON and atheism for TGC). The producers of TGC hope that their movie mirrors TCON in another way: TCON pulled in an unGodly amount of money. At least part of TCON's success had to do with churches and peripherally pro-Christian institutions (talk radio) encouraging its members to view the movie. Parents entered the movie confident that they'd get two hours of "positive values."

How will TGC' underlying anti-religion affect it's box office? Most people either won't know about it or won't care, but the controversy will have a negative effect on ticket sales.

First, non-nominal believers won't take their children to see the movie. From what I've heard, the film-makers snipped TGC's overt anti-religious bits (offended tens upon tens of American atheists) For many religious people, however, the film's mere association with the source material is enough to sway their ticket-purchasing decision. Religious parents don't want their kids coming home from the movie and asking them for the box set of Phillip Pullman's “His Dark Materials” series.

Can secularists overcome the loss of religious Americans? Unlikely. All declared secular people, atheist and agnostic, in the United States number 20,000,000 (about eight per cent). Atheists also tend to lack much TGC's target demographic, children.

Finally, for those secularists that do have children, I don't see them using TGC as a teaching moment like Christians did with TCON. I'm inclined to think that most secular parents would feel something inherently wrong in explicitly teaching their six-year-old the dispiriting lesson that life is metaphysically worthless.

The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Widescreen Edition)

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set

His Dark Materials Trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) (His Dark Materials) by Philip Pullman

In this post, I was curious if Americans can be so stupid that they would find this ha..not even, one-100,000th truth (about 500,000 troops have served in Iraq) movie by Brian DePalma of any consequence in their decision to support the United States against Al Qaeda and Hazbollah.

Apparently Ray Bennett is that stupid. He thinks this movie will be "a ferocious argument against the engagement in Iraq for what it is doing to everyone involved," yet he acknowledges that most of it is made up. That's his standard? That's how he makes decisions? Whoever makes the best movie?

Does Ray Bennett realize that Redacted is trying to say that the men entrusted with the security of his nation aren't capable of handling war without turning into emotional cripples and homicidal maniacs? Does he realize that the people who protect his ability to bang away on his Macbook are being called either blithering fools or pathetic and worthy of sympathy from movie critics?

Read his astonishing review:

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Let's pretend we wanted to make a point about nursing or teaching or unions or illegal aliens or the history of blacks and you chose film as your medium. Would you make one focusing on Donald Harvey, the "Angel of Death," Mary Kay Letourneau, Jimmy Hoffa, Eddie Carbajal, or O.J. Simpson? I mean, you might make it, but would it be suitable to use those people to make a larger point either about the professions or any issue confronting that line of work?

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Two stars aligned to make this post relevant.

First, Merv Griffin passed away this week (R.I.P). I remember watching his show a few times as a kid and enjoying it. The interviews I've heard this week all speak kindly of him and certainly he's a man to admired for his work ethic and success in business.

Second, I watched the movie El Cantante, which I'll review later today. In one scene, Jennifer Lopez competes with a television image of Iris Chacon for husband Marc Antony's attention by dancing for him in a sort of "battle of the butts" (and earning El Cantante one bonus star in the Asymmetric rating scheme).

In a lot of ways, Lopez and Chacon are very similar. Both are Puerto Rican; both can dance well, but can't sing; and both are paid attention to for one (or two, depending on how you count) physical...umm...asset; although Iris Chacon is funnier and more likable than the imperiously obnoxious "diva," Jennifer Lopez.

Although both were popular at the same time, for reasons that had more than a little to do with the fact that I was a healthy boy of 12 at the time, I remember Iris Chacon better than Merv Griffin.*

In the interview above, Iris Chacon contrasts the female beauty ideal in Puerto Rico with that in the United States. Basically, Chacon points out that Puerto Rican men prefer a more voluptuous body (Iris, J-lo, Vida Guerra, Eva Mendes, etc.) than American Men (Elisha Cuthbert, Scarlett Johansson, with Paris Hilton the "skinny chick" apotheosis).

It seems to be true if you look at American media, but I don't think that it's a conscious decision or conspiracy on the part of men in Puerto Rico or the United States- American men didn't get together and deliberate until they decided on a beauty standard.

(Listen to a proper rendition of El Cumbanchero here)

Any difference in beauty preference between Puerto Ricans and Americans probably has to do with the simple truth that American women happen to have more slender bodies than Puerto Rican women. Assuming that people prefer that with which they're familiar, it makes sense that American men and Puerto Rican men would have different taste in women- that's what they see around them. I mean, I expect Intuit men to prefer women with those traits advantageous to cold climes and I don't expect Thai men to like Cameron Diaz.

And, when presented with women of "substance," American men have shown great enthusiasm. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, Sophia Loren, were all sex symbols in America. If you look at the Ask Men top ten admired women in America (I always research my posts-It's a tough job, but somebody has to so it), you'll see a large chunk of the women are of chunk, so to speak:

10. Elisha Cuthbert
9. Angelina Jolie
8. Maria Menounos
7. Shakira
6. Alessandra Ambrosio
5. Jessica Biel
4. Adriana Lima
3. Jessica Alba
2. Scarlett Johansson
1. Beyonce

I don't think most Puerto Rican men would find Scarlett Johansson disgusting, either.

Beyonce': Not exactly Twiggy.

*In the late seventies, only one television station, Univision, graced Los Angeles' airwaves, and even then, it was only on part of the day. The Iris Chacon Show was one of the variety shows shoehorned in between the telenovelas (soap operas).

I was reading this interview with Don Cheadle, the actor starring in Talk to Me, when I came upon this question and his response:

Q: With international box office becoming an increasing part of the Hollywood financial equation, are you worried that it will negatively affect black actors who, some say, cannot be relied upon to draw people to box offices overseas?

A: I don't necessarily believe that black films and black actors don't travel. There's sometimes a lack of (marketing) on those films. It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy if you don't spend 'Spidey' money on a movie like "Talk to Me" and then say "oh, it doesn't work." When I do international press, people approach me all the time and say "we love you in Europe, in Asia, in South America," and so on. There's definitely an audience there."

It's an interesting issue. I'm wary of the lack of marketing excuse; I assume studios want to market any movie they think will make them money. I couldn't imagine the following statement coming out of Universal president Ron Meyer's mouth, "yeah, we can market this movie and make a ton of cash, but let's not because it has black actors."

If it's true that black actors aren't as marketable overseas, it may have to do, just off the top of my head, with (by region):

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