Link: ‘Doom’ No. 1 in Another Slow Movie Weekend

OK, here’s a prime example of what I was talking about earlier.  The number one grossing movie this past weekend, and barely so, is Doom.  A movie based on a video, a much beloved video game — a classic even, but a video game.  While a great family film like Dreamer squeaks into number two and a well-acted drama like North Country comes in at number three.  I really dispise video games made into movies and I serious doubt I will ever watch Doom.

I was over at TV Guide checking out all their hoopla about the "new" TV Guide.  The "new" is that it’s no longer digest size, but full magazine size like People or Us.  Whoop-dee-doo!  However, they had an interesting poll up asking people if they prefer to see movies in the theater or on DVD.  Right now, it’s showing 58% prefer to watch on DVD at home.  I feel much the same way.  Granted, there are certain movies you want to see first in the theater:  I couldn’t imagine not seeing any of the Lord of the Rings movies at the theater.  Certain epic film deserve a theater viewing.  However, the vast majority of films I watch are on DVD.  Release times between theater and DVD are growing shorter and I think that will continue as theater prices continue to rise.  There’s a lot of talk out there about multiple release venues for movies that could be a combination of theater, DVD, and/or pay-per-view.  Of course, theater owners hate this idea because it will cut into their profits, but times are changing.  It can cost $30 to take the family to a movie — more if everyone wants sodas and candy.  Compare that to DVDs that often priced less and you have more people waiting until they can watch it at home.  Theater chains are quickly becoming dinosaurs in their last days.

Link: Bush motorcade leaves other folks fuming

Uh, oh, so much winning the hearts and minds of the next generation!

Seriously, though, I understand the need to keep the president safe, but does that safety mean they have to inconvenience literally hundreds of people trying to get to work or their kids to school?  I know LA is as blue as any place in America can be, but this sort of inconsiderate behavior unnecessary.

Link: Miller’s Crossing

I think there’s a point to be made here.  When you compare Jayson Blair and Judith Miller you have to ask why she’s still working for the Times.  It’s obvious her own co-workers want her gone, so why is the Times keeping her around.  Could it be that they wrapped Miller in the constiution to explain away what she did and now it will look bad if they let her go?  Maybe.  Either way the woman should go and they should have the balls to fire her.

Every time you turn around there’s someone lamenting about the lack of quality films coming out of Hollywood; and it’s usually some whiny-bitch conservative crying about Hollywood’s liberal bias.  The problem is, when Hollywood does create good quality films — and believe it or not, there are several — no one goes to see them.  Kingdom of Heaven is, in my opinion, a prime example of that.  This is the best presentation of the Crusades I have ever seen.  It not only shows the heroism of the men and women who thought they were doing God’s work, but also the futility of the entire exercise.  The films also does an admirable job of presenting the Crusades in as even-handed a manner as possible. Both Christians and Muslims are presented without bias one way or another — at least for the most part.  Usually, in films of this nature, the Christians are shown as these flawless heroes setting out to free the Holy Land from the clutches of the heathen Muslims, but not Kingdom of Heaven.  I would say this film does the best job of presenting both the good and the bad qualities of both sides, and leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions.  Of course, this film does have some biases.  At it’s heart the film is very anti-war, not to mention anti-religion.  The anti-war part comes through in its depiction of King Baldwin (played by Edward Norton behind a mask) who would rather make Jerusalem of city for all faiths, with the help of Saladin, of course.  However, forces out of his control conspire to take Jerusalem to war and remove Baldwin from the throne.  It is anti-religion not because of any hatred towards religion, but because the Church used its influence with the populace to drive the Crusade and were usually the first to run and hide when the going got tough.  These are, of course, reasons why conservatives would cry liberal bias, but that’s only because they are often too narrow-minded to see anything beyond a rigid set of ideas.

I’ve always loved big historical epics like Kingdom of Heaven and I wish Hollywood would make more.  The problem is, these films cost a lot of money, $130 million in this case, and barely recouping the money doesn’t exactly make Hollywood studios want to produce more.  That’s the thing about Hollywood:  it’s a business.  If people want to see more quality films, they need to actually go see them when their released.  People say they want to see more films with a Christian message.  Well, when’s the last time you saw a successful faith-based movie that wasn’t also a cartoon?  I don’t count The Passion of the Christ because, in my opinion, much of that movie’s success is due to Mel Gibson’s trumped up controversy with the ADL.  There are a lot of families, a lot of Christians, a lot of Christian families in America, yet family and faith-based films are among the least seen movies in theaters.  That won’t cause Hollywood to make more.

[Update]  No, I have no idea if this is a factual depiction of events.  I’ve never spent much time studying the Crusades outside of what I had to learn in history courses.  As with all historical depictions by Hollywood, one should take it with a grain of salt.