Quick Review: THE GHOST WRITER
Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer is an eloquent cinematic message. The message is: I’m so good at my job, I will have you on the edge of your seat for two hours even though you don’t care about the protagonist and can see the ending from a mile away.
Polanski directed the hell out of this film. The script is pathetic. Ewan McGregor plays a ghost writer who is brought into finish penning the memoirs of Adam Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan), England’s ex-Prime Minister, after the previous ghost writer dies under mysterious circumstances. Within the first twenty minutes, the phrase “I’m/You’re way in over your head,” (or some variation thereof) is uttered at least four times. Lang is being investigated for war crimes and he’s staying in the U.S. and fears returning to England where he’ll face a war crimes tribunal. Polanski not only steps in front of the camera and waves, “Hello!” during a scene where Lang and his wife (Olivia Williams) discuss his options with his lawyer, but he then takes a dig at the U.S. Explaining why Lang can’t be extradited to England, a character notes that the U.S. doesn’t acknowledge the ICC (International Criminal Court) along with Iraq, China, and other nations whose company we tend not to celebrate. It’s clear Polanski thinks his situation is ridiculous and he basically blows a big whistleberry at America even though he finished this film while under arrest in Switzerland.
Special Comment: “Help.”
This is one of Olbermann’s best. Give it a look:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
SHUTTER ISLAND Review + Podcast
My Shutter Island Review (Rating: A)
And the second installment of my new podcast, Running Dialogue, with Russ Fischer and Curt Holman
National Pancake Day
To celebrate IHOP’s National Pancake Day (free short-stack from 7am-10pm today), please enjoy the following comic:
Batman Should Put His Foot in His Mouth
Artwork by Cliff Rathburn
That way he’ll know where it is. He tells the Joker to “Eat foot,” but kicks him in the back of the head. Way to go, “World’s Greatest Detective.”
This Is Our President
Earlier this week, President Obama finally laid out clearly and concisely what he wanted in a health care bill (and only 14 months after he should have!). What he didn’t want: a public option. No government-run health care even though 23 Senators recently signaled that they would support it if the bill were going to go through reconciliation and would only need 50 votes instead of 60. Also, polling shows that a majority of Americans wants a public option. But Obama didn’t include it in his wish list. Why?
As Press Secretary Robert Gibbs revealed today, “We have seen obviously that though there are some that are supportive of this, there isn’t enough political support in a majority to get this through.” They don’t have the votes. Because the President thinks that the measure wouldn’t pass, he doesn’t support it. It isn’t because he thinks the public option is bad or that it needs better definition. It’s because he thinks he might lose. He is a coward.
So this is our President: a man who will fight for the people as long as he thinks he can score a political victory. He won’t fight for us, he won’t fight for change, he won’t even fight for what’s popular. He’ll fight for what he thinks Congress can accomplish. He’ll fight for nothing.
Go Throw Yourself into Mount Doom
If you look at the Amazon pre-order page for the upcoming Blu-ray box set of The Lord of the Rings, you’ll see it has a 1 1/2-star rating based on 1,979 “reviews”. Why all the negativity? Because the extended editions aren’t included. This is the problem with consumers who think they’re owed something by a company because they’re not getting the product they wanted. Not that they bought, but the one they wanted. Here’s a very simple solution:
Don’t buy it.
Presidents Day
Aaron Sorkin’s tales of politics may be the stuff of fairy tales, but it helps bring out of the cynicism by reminding us what we should want in a leader. No real President will ever meet an Andrew Shepherd or a Josiah Bartlett, but they should inspire us rather than disappoint us. President Obama has not been the president we hoped he would be. He has offered no substantive change in our politics, only in our president. I shudder to think what a John McCain presidency would look like, but Obama has been a letdown in a big way. We need to remind him what we voted for. It’s not enough to just bitch about it. You have to write a letter, donate to a cause you believe in, educate yourself about the discussion rather than just echo talking points. We should always hope for Shepherds and Bartletts, but we can already make ourselves better citizens.
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