new review: the happening

Wall*E is opening this weekend, fresh after a trailer campaign that is arguably the best of the blockbuster season so far. The first trailer – a tease, really – was simple and elegant; the cute little robot passing the time on a lonely junkyard planet until, suddenly, the rocket ship lands. Next up: a bit more detail, a soupçon of plot. Finally, a trailer that reveals some of the film’s other characters. Kudos to Pixar’s marketing folks for sparking and sustaining a level of excitement that is genuinely exciting without quite reaching the frenzied, much-dreaded level of hype.

Compare Wall*E to Hancock’s confused marketing. First we get comedy. Then we get a plot overview. Now we’re getting some boo-hoo to go with the ha-ha – and more spoilerish plot revelations. Sure, Hancock still seems like an extra super-duper spiffy. It might, praise all the saints in Hollywood, even be different kind of superhero movie. But the marketing proves one of two things: dramedy is harder to market than Two-Face at a dating service, or marketing wonks are deathly afraid of surprising audiences.

Speaking of Two-Face I had to say that running a close second to Wall*E in terms of quality marketing is The Dark Knight. The viral campaign featuring Harvey Dent’s bid for Gotham City’s District Attorney was, from the little I saw, pretty slick. And we even got a glimpse of other characters from the movie. But what’s particularly great about the Dark Knight is that this is a movie that stands on its own. All the elements from the first movie are in place, and the decisions Chris Nolan and his team have made so far have been spot-on. Aaron Eckardt as Two-Face? Outstanding. Heath Ledger as a chaotic, psychopathic Joker? Brilliant. The look of that bat-cycle? The buzz writes itself. The key has been to manage expectations, and I think while the bar is set quite high, everything pouring out from the film ahead of its release says the same thing: quality.

Too bad none of the above applies to the subject of this week’s review, The Happening. The trailer was intriguing. Shyamalan’s name still had (emphasis on had) shine…but it turns out that quality just isn’t a word applicable to this wreck of a movie.

The Happening: Something Happens, but It's Not Good

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And I apologize for the less-than-happenin' title for my review over at TFPO. Sometimes, the mojo just doesn't go.

eric schwartz still said it best

The song is called "Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis," and yes, it's funny as all hell and yes, it's as indelicate as the title suggests. Eric Schwartz released this a few years ago, but now seems like a good time to dust it off. And wouldn't you know it, this also marks a blogging milestone here at The Recreational Nihilist: I finally figured out how to embed YouTube videos in a post. Amazing what you'll discover in the help section.

mormons join the fray

So the Mormons are wading into the fray surrounding gay marriage in California. They’ll join a coalition of churches and “other conservative groups” in pushing for the passage of the “California Marriage Protection Act,” which would amend California’s constitution to define marriage as being solely the union of a man and a woman.

But a group of gay and lesbian Mormons called Affirmation is rejecting the Mormon church’s political action, rightly calling it “interference.” Affirmation’s executive committee phrased it well in a statement to California Mormons:

“As Mormons, we believe that respect for civil law and acknowledgment of individual freedoms is sacred. The California law affects civil marriage; it has no effect on any religious institution or religious official. To seek to revoke these basic protections in the name of God denies the fundamental freedoms on which our country was built. Constitutional law has always been about protecting civil and religious freedoms, not the denial of those freedoms.

We urge California voters to act in favor of freedom. Vow to Vote No.”

The key word is freedom. Freedom to live. Freedom to love. Freedom to marry. With a government defined as being by the people and for the people, using government to tell individuals who they can or cannot marry is contrary to valuing freedom. And Affirmation is absolutely correct in pointing out that this is a civil matter, not about how private religious institutions handle their own affairs. No one is telling churches what to do.

This is a as good a time as any to hint at a activist project I’m hoping to launch once I know what the amendment’s proposition number is. I (tentatively) call it the Always Choose Love Initiative, and it’ll be my way of raging a guerilla campaign to let people know what’s really at stake with the so-called California Marriage Protection Act: true love and meaningful freedom. Stay tuned!

BTW, here’s the official text of the proposed amendment – a lonely line prefaced by several letters. And here is a listing of the propositions slated for November 4.

new column: global warming - science, not faith

In response to my open letter to global warming skeptics, my editor at TFPO - a global warming skeptic - fired a shot of his own in which he compares global warming educators with Evangelical Christians:

Global Warming Evangelicals - Whom Do They Remind You Of?

Naturally, I couldn't let it lie. Hence, this week's topic:

Global Warming: Science, Not Faith

It's an uphill struggle, methinks.

new film review: get smart

It looked iffy for a while. The most recent trailers were a bit worrying, and I really thought I'd stumble into a "Home Alone" movie. But no: "Get Smart" really surprised me, and I'm still rather buzzed by how silly and fun it was.

Got Funny? Get Smart!

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