http://www.quadlings.com/rssLogo.png http://www.quadlings.com/ 135 31 Argument for Argument's Sake! http://www.quadlings.com Kris writes about Scorsese's return to the crime genre: I had more or less assumed the worst about this film before I saw it. Not only was it a remake (too many of those these days), but the cast looked like Scorsese’s attempt to make a Steven Soderberg film. I mean, what was he going for? Once Flew Over the Ocean’s Boogie Beach? It seemed off. I couldn’t picture how Jack Nicholson was going to blend with the likes of Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen (Martin Sheen!), and Alec Baldwin—and, oh yeah, Leo. I’ve been wrong before. Perhaps the most wrong I’ve ever been was when I said that the idea of Peter Jackson (who I knew and loved from his early films, especially Braindead) was the exact wrong person to make The Lord of the Rings in a way that would have even the slightest chance of being appealing to a wide audience (I cite the lawnmower scene from the end of Braindead—how is that going to play in Kansas, I ask you?). That was the most wrong I’ve ever been, but I was nearly as wrong with my early assessment of The Departed. Every actor involved shows something new and surprising here (including a wonderful, surprising moment for Martin Sheen that I won’t spoil here), and the movie puts a great director right back on top where he ought to be. http://www.quadlings.com/daukDeparted.php Elie writes: Schadenfreude leads to civil disobedience, and lord knows we need to get some disobedience (civilized or no) up in this declining civilization. Systematically learning how to take pleasure and participate in the ruination of the lives around you can only lead to applying those lessons to society as a whole. Project Mayhem is the natural evolution of Fight Club and we all know that Fight Club starts with hitting someone “as hard as you can.” The system, the Man, the military-industrial complex, whatever you want to call it, they are winning and we—the young, the new, the ones with nothing to lose—we must stop them. Without oil the engine grinds to a halt; it falls to us to remove that viscosity. http://www.quadlings.com/countSchaden.php Elie writes about Aaron Sorkin's return to television: Luckily, everything is a cycle. The abandonment of intelligent television inexorably led to the day where a major television network would find itself relying on Howie Mandel and his math-less band of box pointers to prop up their faltering ratings. NBC turned to Sorkin and apparently gave him enough control that his entire pilot could revolve around eviscerating the ravaged corpse that used to call itself Saturday Night Live. Those of us who like both thought and entertainment at the same time once again have reason to rejoice. http://www.quadlings.com/daukStudio60.php Elie writes: There is only one man who can capture Osama Bin Laden, restore peace to the Middle East, give the government back to the people, and make us all feel safe. His name … is Batman. http://www.quadlings.com/countBatman.php Elie writes: Having already been through 400 years of slavery, segregation and oppression, could the next 400 years really be any worse? http://www.quadlings.com/brBlackocaust.php Elie and Kris debate Survivor's decision to split the competing teams down racial lines. http://www.quadlings.com/countSurvivor.php