Category: Film

So Tom Cruise actually comes across looking like a sensible human being. The video of it actually makes the guy from Channel 4 look like a plonker, by virtue of the fact that Cruise takes a completely reasonable position.

Is he on cocaine, drunk or just plain crazy?

Update, June 17, 2005: The video link appears not to be working now, so try this one instead.

Doesn’t sound like a great one, but then what do I expect from Scott? Anyone else going to catch it?

I forgot to give some kind of review of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. There’s little I can add to the reviews around the net, besides that I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was full of dark humour, quirky events, and some quite memorable scenes – I think some of the reviews don’t do it justice. Bill Murray was flawless in the role of Steve Zissou, and his dry wit had me laughing out loud at times. Definately worth a look, as long as you remember it is a certain type of humour, similar to its predecessor, the Royal Tenenbaums.

Lots of new films coming out. I wonder which ones I will go see.

A rather bitter but funny contributor to Slashdot notes that:

“The BBC is reporting that the movie industry, in yet another illustration of just how much damage the Internet is doing to the long-suffering members of the MPAA, has just endured a record breaking $1Billion dollar takings for the single month of June. Clearly there is a desperate need to tighten up copyright laws in the face of this huge mountain of cash that is literally being metaphorically syphoned into the studios’ pockets. How will they survive? “

Hehe. How indeed.

Dan Drezner joins an interesting discussion on the philosophy of Spider Man 2. The film isn’t even out here yet. Do not read it unless you want to spoil the story, but I do like the way the arguments are presented. I think that Henry Farrell over at Crooked Timber probably has the best conclusion.

Matthew Yglesias also has some new takes on Moore, and comparisons with Bush, strangely enough. Of course I have read Chrisopther Hitchens’ now famous criticism of Moore. So too, I have read “Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11“, by Dave Kopel.

But I like Yglesias’s take:

The funny thing, though, is that if I wrote “The 56 Deceits of George W. Bush” (as, indeed, many people have done) then some very intelligent Volokh Conspirator (as, indeed, many of the conspirators are) would doubtless have written a post in response (as, indeed, I’ve read at the Conspiracy) arguing that most of the alleged “lies” weren’t lies per se (and, indeed, they’re mostly misleading juxtapositions of technically true information) and that these sorts of ad hominem attacks don’t really prove that the presidents’ policies are actually wrong.

The really funny thing, though, is that while George W. Bush is president of the United States and wrecking (a) the country’s foreign policy and (b) the country’s fiscal policy, Michael Moore is a somewhat famous guy who makes movies. Get it?

Hehe.