They can’t handle the truth…Senator John Warner (R-VA) takes heat from his fellow Republicans for leading the inquiry into Abu Ghraib.
Author: KcM
Attack! Attack!
Be afraid. Be very afraid. And don’t say we didn’t warn you. Nothing changes an undesirable news cycle quite like another terror threat, does it? As the AP article notes: “The sudden warning returns the nation’s attention to terrorism, the issue that President Bush has highlighted as a central theme of his re-election campaign, after intense focus on other subjects like Iraq and prisoner abuses in Iraq. Bush has lost ground in the polls, falling in approval ratings to the lowest point of his presidency.“
To be fair, releasing pics of the possible suspects is probably more helpful in preventing a future attack than the usual exhortations to buy duct tape. And nobody want to see another 9/11, particularly those of us who live in NYC. Still, the very fact that news articles have to concede that Dubya may just be pushing the Panic button for political points proves how untrustworthy this president has become. And don’t you love how Bush officials keep suggesting that Al Qaeda wants to “have some impact on the electoral process,” as if voting Democratic means the terrorists have won? Sorry, but you’ll have to count me among the many Americans who thinks that terrorists have more to fear from John Kerry than they ever would from Dubya’s haphazard and crony-driven homeland security agenda.
The Unsubtle Pie.
Will Chris Weitz of American Pie direct His Dark Materials? This sounds like a terrible idea at first…then again, I thought he and brother Paul Weitz did a solid job with About a Boy. Well, hopefully they won’t throw out the Tom Stoppard script too quickly…
Back in the Saddle?
While Indy 4 flails about in Development Hell, Harrison Ford signs on for James Cameron’s Godspeed, which so far sounds like something between Solaris and Outland. Unfortunately, Cameron is only producing this flick, and so his much-awaited sci-fi 3D spectacular still waits in the wings.
Ogling the Ogres.
I was remiss in noting in my last update that I — like most of America — caught Shrek 2 over last weekend. Not much to say about it really…I thought it was as entertaining, eye-popping, and effervescent as the first outing, if ultimately somewhat insubstantial. I enjoyed myself while Shrek was on, then promptly forgot about it, but what more can you really expect?
Antonio Banderas as Puss-in-Boots (at left) was a quality pickup for the franchise, and I particularly liked the COPS takeoff and anything involving the blind mice. Still, if I have a beef with Shrek 2, it’s mainly that the movie wouldn’t stop trying to sell me the associated soundtrack of easy listening tunes and contemporary standards. Enough already! I prefer my fairy tale adventures without merchandising tie-ins…there’s only so many Versarchery, Farbucks and Old Knavery jokes one can make before the film feels complicit in the commercialism it’s sending up. But, that’s the ogre talking…All in all, Shrek 2 is 100 minutes of solid escapism, which is more than you can say for a lot of films so far this summer.
Bend it like Baker, Pertwee, and Davison.
Word is BBC’s new Dr. Who will face David Beckham and a handful of other celebrities when the Autons take over Madame Tussaud’s in the forthcoming new series. I hadn’t heard that Christopher Eccleston has been confirmed as the ninth Doctor before, either. That’s not bad, although he’d probably have made a better Master.
Irkutsk from Yakutsk…
Ok, I’ll take a card. The teaser for Oliver Stone’s Alexander hits the web and, while I generally enjoy Oliver Stone movies, this look doesn’t differentiate the film from Troy, King Arthur, or any other recent Gladiator meets RotK-CGI type flick. Uh oh.
A GOP Blood Feud.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, Democrats abused their majority status at about a level 5 or 6,”[conservative think tank AEI’s Norman] Ornstein observed. “Republicans today have moved it to about an 11.” Salon delves into the growing rift between Tom DeLay and Dick Armey over conservative politics and principles. Hmmm…Mordor orcs or Isengard orcs, take your pick.
From Greeks to Goblet.
With Prisoner of Azkhaban right around the corner, casting continues for Mike Newell’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And for Year 4, the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher — Mad-Eye Moody — will be Brendan Gleeson, most recently seen as Menelaus in Troy. I like it.
Wobbly Leadership.
So apparently Dubya handles a bike about as well as he handles a Segway (or the nation)…poorly. Well, at least one benefit of this nasty scrape for the viewing public is that, when Bush addresses the nation on Iraq tonight, you’ll literally get to see the blood on his hands.