Leonardo di Caprio (who still looks 18, despite the mustache) ventures into the mouth of madness in the full trailer for Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator. Cate Blanchett’s Katherine Hepburn seems quite good, but I’d say the jury’s still out on Kate Beckinsale’s Ava Gardner (and Gwen Stefani’s Jean Harlow, who didn’t make the cut here.) And is Alec Baldwin channeling his part from Team America?
Month: November 2004
All Quiet on the Unggoy Front.
“More pointedly yet, the aliens refer to their defeat in the first game as ‘The Atrocity at Halo.’ Who wrote this thing, Noam Chomsky?” Slate‘s gaming writer Clive Thompson speculates on the political economy of Halo 2. I’m still traipsing about San Andreas at the moment (finished all storyline missions and only 65% complete), but, to no gamer’s surprise, I expect either this or Halflife 2 will be my next time-suck of choice.
Free Agents.
“‘It’s the worst roiling I’ve ever heard of,’ said one former senior official with knowledge of the events. ‘There’s confusion throughout the ranks and an extraordinary loss of morale and incentive.'” Apparently, Dubya’s newly-appointed CIA chief Porter Goss is throwing the Agency into disarray and sparking a wave of resignations, mainly due to the actions of his heavy-handed lieutenants. Is now really the best time to hamstring our intelligence agency with bumbling, partisan hackery?
There Goes Da Judge.
On his way out the door, John Ashcroft calls out judges for judging. “‘The danger I see here is that intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations in these critical areas can put at risk the very security of our nation in a time of war,’ Ashcroft said.” Well, maybe now that he’s got some time on his hands, perhaps someone can explain to him that whole checks-and-balances thing.
Sai it ain’t so.
Alias meets Mortal Kombat (with a dash of The Next Karate Kid) in this rather goofy trailer for Elektra. I haven’t read anything other than the Frank Miller Daredevil arc, so I have no clue how this fits into the character’s continuity. But, I gotta say, this looks pretty dumb.
Value$-added.
Values, schmalues. Rick Perlstein suggests in the Village Voice that, in the end, Election 2004 came down to GOP avarice.
Stay on Target.
Empires collide as the Dark Lord of the Sith shills for Target (with Heidi Klum). Given that Star Wars was memorialized on Burger King glasses over 25 years ago, it seems a little late to bemoan the saga’s commercialization. Still, this makes it even harder to imagine Episode III as anything but another disappointment.
Phantom Menaces.
Some recent trailers: Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Pete Postlethwaite, and Camryn Mannheim need to call the Super in the Ring-esque trailer for Dark Water, and Joel Schumacher channels Troy McClure in this overstuffed Batman and Robin-ish look at Phantom of the Opera. I know I’m probably in the minority on this one, but if forced to choose between neverending streams of brackish water and the incessant playing of Andrew Lloyd Webber showtunes, I’d take the former.
Color of Knight.
By way of Usr/Bin/Girl, a chess program that draws what it’s thinking. (Not surprisingly, it still worked me.)
The Eagle has Landed.
It’s official…John Ashcroft is out at Justice. I have no doubt Dubya’s second-term replacement will be comparably grotesque. Still, can’t say I’m sad to see him go. Update: Dubya chooses White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who, despite his loyalty to Bush, seems like a step up…although his signing off on the Abu Ghraib terror memos gives me pause.