So... Contact.

I saw it when it came out. I liked it but it annoyed me. Then a few days ago I found a used DVD for $5. And found that it still annoys me. The whole message of "we need science and religion" just rubs me the wrong way. And the way at the end it equates faith in God and faith in science (IIRC, haven't finished it yet) especially annoyed me.

Is it just because I'm an unrepentant atheist?

Is it just because I'm an unrepentant atheist?

Possibly. That part of the movie annoys me as well.

It opens with the world's coolest dolly-back, though. I liked it better than when they did essentially the same thing in ST:First Contact.

I saw North Country tonight, followed by a Q&A with Charlize Theron and Niki Caro. I have to say, Charlize seems like a terribly nice person. It's a pity I want to smack every character she's ever played across the face.

The movie is good -- much better, IMO, than Whale Rider, which I thought was only okay. It ends in a really odd place, but it's a well-told story with a really good sense of place, and all the performances are excellent. (Including, probably, Charlize's, but she just bugs me.)

I just saw a sneak preview of Domino. It was all right, but not what I expected. The marketing make it out to be some sort of Domino Harvey biopic, but it's more of a heist movie. I don't feel like I really learned anything about Domino Harvey or how/why she became a bounty hunter. It's worth seeing for the twisty-turny plot and the overabundance of visual style. The color palette, the fast zooms, the frenetic editing, the random title cards...it's trying way too hard to have flair, but it's not so bad that it's off-putting. Also, if you like your violence set to raucous hip-hop and/or big-band-y rock.

I'd found it interesting that the production comments I'd heard were this is not Domino Harvey's real life.

I very much doubt Tony Scott has it in him to do a straight bio. Tony Scott makes Tony Scott movies.

Yeah, the movie begins with:

THIS IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY

SORT OF

Regardless, I thought we'd get more insight into her character than I ended up getting.

I saw North Country tonight

That's one of those I have to see just to see who I know.

Signed, the woman who owns Untamed Heart.

Is it just because I'm an unrepentant atheist?

I'd think that maybe playing a part; I can't imagine a religious person being rubbed the wrong way by a statement like "we need science and religion". Well, maybe the science part but not the religion part.

I've never seen Contact but as someone who thinks that in a sense faith in science is equitable to faith in God and that in a sense we need science and religion, I'm curious to hear exactly what it has to say. Nothing too insightful if I know my Jodie Foster blockbusters.

Looks at Panic Room

(Forgive the cheap shots taken at Panic Room, which I enjoyed thoroughly, and Contact, which, for all I know, may be a dramatic interpretation of a theology dissertation.)

They say he literally disappears into this role.

They're right. The movie is pretty great, and Hoffman and Keener are both fabulous.

What's gonna be disappointing is if "Have you Heard?" (the OTHER Capote biopic coming out next year) has a better screenplay (Capote's was adequate, and I mostly didn't pay attention to it because acting. so. good. but it could have used work) and worse acting. Because then I'll just be sad that they cast the wrong Capote in the wrong movie.

ETA: Oh, and Contact mostly annoys me because the whole religion thing is really poorly executed. I'm not an atheist - I'm an agnostic who leans towards monotheism, doing serious research on conversion to Judaism at the moment - and it still sucks. And this is from the perspective of somebody who happens to think that faith in science IS a religion - I could write a whole essay on it (it's the second religion I've lost faith in in my time), but I'm not gonna cuz thread is about movies.

Basically, my point is, even as somebody who thinks the movie's intended points are not too shabby, the writing stinks to high heaven. I also hated the book a lot, though it was rather different, thematically.