With you there Jilli. I actually enjoyed it as a popcorn/adrenaline movie, but I felt it vastly inferior to the original in all respects except the SFX they used for vampire disintegration.

Oddly enough, Polanski's wife is Lucifer. I was shocked myself.

I was shocked that she appeared to be in her 30s.

I was under the impression that her reasons for helping/manipulating Corso were similar to those of God in Dogma. If naughty man ascends, or whatever, she screws up the divine order.

My take was that 'she" was much more interested in the corruption of a smart, nominally good man than in Boris, whom she would undoubtedly be seeing again soon enough.

unless Hearst and Marion Wassname

Marion Davies. Starred in a number of movies -- including a pleasant little silent comedy called The Patsy.

The conventional wisdom is, Hearst tried to make her a star in overblown costume dramas, ignoring her comedic talent.

ita, the news broadcasts says the deaths of -- etc. -- or do you mean that they faked his death?

Well, that would be pretty pointless and there is no way I'd enjoy a sequel as much.

I have seen the original (it was probably on PBS but not Saturday night -- a number of years ago) and I feel as though this version dragged me into more. I mean, it could have been the difference between watching something on the big screen and watching it on a small tv screen or just that with the first one you can distance yourself from the whole anti-commie paranoia.

Not that I don't have quibbles with this version -- but they were mostly things I could live with for the duration of the movie.

My quibbles are:

1. When the unit was debriefed by army intelligence following their recovery from the desert, wouldn't the Intelligence officers noticed the rather blatant similarity of all the soldiers responses when asked what happened? Or were we suppose to believe the U.S. Army was part of Manchurian Global's plot?
2. That shoulder implant? Okay -- were we supposed to think that Ben's and Al's implants were no longer working and that is why they had the dreams? And that Shaw's continued to work because it was getting regular check-ups and that is why he didn't get the dreams until Ben removed it?
3. What about those head wounds? Wouldn't/shouldn't the doctors at the VA hospital have found something suspicious about v. similar wounds on the top of the heads of all soldiers from this unit? Or are we to believe that they were disappeared long enough for the drillwork to no longer be in evidence?

One thing distracting to me and probably only a small percentage of the Manchurian Candidate audience is that everytime Robyn Hitchcock was on screen part of me was all "Robyn!!!!"

I am not sure, that if I had watched this movie with my other fangirl friends whether we would have been able to NOT say it out loud. So, probably a good thing I went to the movie alone.

And sadly, I did not wake up early enough to go see Barak Obama, I hear that there was a good crowd. (They actually needed security and crowd control.) Also, when I was waiting for the bus to get out to where the movie theatre is I saw three helicoptors flying in a northwesterly direction -- wonder if that was Obama and crew?

It is true, they did say the Shaw assassinations. But they also said that a white guy killed them, so ...

I love the idea of remaking a classic with another good movie, and then ruining it later by making an unwarranted sequel.

You love the idea? Okay.

Whatever.

BTW, a friend of mine is v. worried (not having seen any of his work except Hulk) that Eric Bana will be Timothy Daltonish as Bond. I think she is wrong, but still think that it should be Clive Owen. Clearly.

Also, she wanted a Hugh Jackman Bond and then is complaining that Eric Bana is too old, but Eric and Hugh are the same age.

I have a weakness for irony.

Because, really, you can't ruin the first film (at least how I view films) with a second one. But I bet it would be cited as justification for never having made the first one.

Yes, perhaps I went a little far with one particular hypothetical scenario, but it amuses me to no end.

Also, she wanted a Hugh Jackman Bond and then is complaining that Eric Bana is too old, but Eric and Hugh are the same age.

I was going to say, also, that you can't have a Bond younger than a certain age, or else he will come across as a sociopathic wunderkind. Like, license to kill at age 25? I fear him. License to kill at 33, a little less so.

I fear him.

Aren't you supposed to?

How old is he in the books, when he gets all empowered?

BTW, a friend of mine is v. worried (not having seen any of his work except Hulk) that Eric Bana will be Timothy Daltonish as Bond. I think she is wrong, but still think that it should be Clive Owen. Clearly.

The picture of Clive Owen in the lastest EW under the "Who Will Be The Next Bond?" column is awful. Honestly, I didn't know it was possible to make him look bad, but they managed it.

Yes, perhaps I went a little far with one particular hypothetical scenario, but it amuses me to no end.

Now I'm imagining Manchurian Candidate 2: The Revenge, starring Carrot Top as The Candidate.

Now I'm imagining Manchurian Candidate 2: The Revenge, starring Carrot Top as The Candidate.

See, that wouldn't work, cause 1-800-COLLECT would take him out almost immediately.