Thematically, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is just as good as its predecessor. Unfortunately, it falls short in other important ways, S. T. Karnick writes.
Monthly Archives: June 2009
Review: The Stoning of Soraya M
The Stoning of Soraya M. is a "Schindler’s List" for a new generation — a film that starkly exposes the brutality of a regime that is almost impossible for the modern Western mind to comprehend, but is true nonetheless. It won’t be seen as that, I fear, by the elites in modern American culture. After all, it condemns an immoral Iranian culture and power structure the enlightened President Obama is trying to respectfully engage.
Christian Serial Killer TV Episode Surprisingly Fair to Christianity
The most recent episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent presents a serial killer who believes he’s doing God’s work, yet the story manages to be fair to religion and in fact present a positive view of Christianity, S. T. Karnick writes.
Little Miss Parenthood
While Away We Go offers some wonderful performances and two leads with real chemistry, it’s lacks any real dramatic development. Moreover, in its earnest desire to be this year’s Little Miss Sunshine, it passes off quirky individuality as a recipe for successful parenting.
The Next Next Generation
Fleeing from the beatification of Michael Jackson, I stumbled onto the TV show pilot, Virtuality, on Fox last night. Written by Ronald Moore and Michael Taylor, the show takes numerous Star Trek: The Next Generation staples and turns them on their head. It’s certainly not perfect, but if I could be so bold, it’s definitely television with more than one brain cell.
The Tragedy of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson’s life was a tragedy, but not a particularly edifying one, S. T. Karnick writes.
Confronting Liberal Snobbery
The other day, I had reason to have e-mail correspondence with the head of the criminal division of the Attorney General’s Office of a state that will remain unnamed. Don’t worry. I’m not in any legal trouble. I simply had publicly opposed the idea of imposing a 15-cent "fee" on one’s Internet-access bill — something that Congress had put a moratorium on with the "Internet Tax Freedom Act," which was recently renewed. The fee is intended to fund a special task force to fight Internet-based crime … for "the children," of course. Anyway, this public servant took time out of his publicly funded work day to send me a snarky email, lecturing me in a condescending way that I have no idea what I’m talking about. See, I’m not a lawyer. So I don’t get it. The 15-cent charge is a "fee" and not a "tax," so it’s entirely legal. I didn’t go to law school, nor am I a high-powered bureaucrat, so I should not dare to question my liberal puppet masters. Silly me. Anyway, here’s the text of the email I received (with identifying information redacted):
Burton Tackles Alice
Filmmaker Tim Burton is in production on a film based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Burton, director of Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and other successful fantasy films, is using digital manipulation of real-life actors and actresses to recreate the inhabitants of Wonderland, such as the Mad Hatter (Burton regular Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bohnam-Carter), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Jabberwock (Christopher Lee, a superb choice), and Tweedledum and Tweedledee (both played by Matt Lucas (Little Britain). The film has Alice (Mia Wasikowska, Defiance) returning to Wonderland as a teenager. Given that Burton said he chose Wasikowska because she has a "certain kind of emotional toughness," and putting that together with the director’s track record and the use of a significantly older protagonist than in the books, it’s likely that this new version of the story will be much darker, disturbing, and grotesque (as opposed to Carroll’s charming use of the bizarre) than Carroll’s books and the various film and theatrical versions. Judging by Burton’s previous work, the film is also likely to be interesting, inventive, cinematically smart, visually arresting, emotionally affecting, and quite
McMahon’s Affability Demonstrated Real Virtues
Television personality Ed McMahon was a celebrity without any real talent, but he did some good with what he had.
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