Author: KcM

“We Got Him.”

In a hole in the ground lived a Hussein…until today. (There’s also a Gimli joke in here somewhere, but let’s not be too flippant.) Any way you cut it, this is excellent news. By capturing Saddam, we’ve struck a considerable blow against the continuing Iraqi resistance (even if this capture won’t faze many anti-American groups joining in the fight.) By capturing him alive, we’ve prevented his martyrdom. By turning him over to an international tribunal, we can now help bridge the widening gaps between the US and the world on Iraq. (And, for the Dems, it’s better for Saddam to have been found now, eleven months before the election, than for a October surprise later down the road.) Of course we still haven’t found anything to suggest our WMD casus belli was legitimate, but hopefully this capture will make the situation in Iraq much more stable and less deadly for our troops abroad. And, while it might be too much to ask, perhaps it will encourage the Bush administration to refocus on capturing America’s public enemy #1, Osama Bin Laden, before they launch any more military sideshows.

Two (Towers)…

Reelviews: “There can be no greater gift for a movie lover than the one bestowed upon audiences by Peter Jackson, whose The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is not only the best movie of 2003, but the crowning cinematic achievement of the past several years. In fact, labeling this as a “movie” is almost an injustice. This is an experience of epic scope and grandeur, amazing emotional power, and relentless momentum…Not only is this motion picture an entirely worthy conclusion to the landmark trilogy, but it’s better than its predecessors.” Mori at AICN: “[T]hese films represent a high point for genre filmmaking that will be nearly impossible to equal or surpass…It’s overwhelming. It’s incredibly powerful, with battle sequences that will sweep over you like virtual reality and emotional crescendos that would be impossible to hit in a single film.“

Three (Hunters)…

The Daily Mail: “How about amazing, stupendous, jawdropping and overwhelming? For this is wonderfully imaginative cinema on the grandest possible scale…There are sights here unparalleled in cinema…For its scale, imagination and passion, this is, without doubt, the greatest cinematic trilogy ever.” Financial Times: “This concluding film may be the greatest fantasy- adventure epic ever made. It is almost certainly the most spectacular.” Harry at AICN: “This is frankly one of the greatest films ever made…for me, it is without equal or parallel. It does not diminish the others to any degree, it is just what it is — perfect. Like when Lean did BRIDGE OF THE RIVER KWAI, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR ZHIVAGO — there was just fate leaning over the shoulder and perfection was achieved.” Wow, after all that superlative madness (which, ok, we expected from Harry), how bout a new commercial? Beware: this one’s a money-shot trailer…there’s a very good chance you might not want to see some of this stuff until after Tuesday. Then again, maybe you do…

Politics by other means.

Well, due to various other projects — end of term grading, freelance history textbook work, attending multiple job talks for a pending Columbia hire — my online note-taking has fallen even farther behind my orals reading lately. But, the spirit marches on. So, without further ado:

John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy.
David Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American Society.

Four (Hobbits)…

BBC: “The Return of the King brings an overwhelming air of expectation and of consequence – and in almost every sense it dwarfs what has come before…This three-hour, 11-minute epic is an unqualified triumph, one that raises the bar for any spectacle-respecting director of the future. The Oscar, surely, must go to Peter Jackson.” CTV: “Are there enough M words to describe Lord of the Rings: Return of the King? Majestic, monumental, magnificent.” Times Online: “AND so it ends, the greatest film trilogy ever mounted, with some of the most amazing action sequences committed to celluloid. The Return of the King is everything a Ring fan could possibly wish for, and much more.“

The Party’s Over.

Reformers rejoice as interest groups on the left and right sputter to make sense of the brave new McCain-Feingold world. Everyone seems to agree that McConnell v. FEC is both a surprisingly bold decision and bad news for the Dems in the short term. Well, so be it. With the Supreme Court finally admitting that dollars debase democracy, the door is now open for tougher campaign finance laws in the very near future.

Know Your Enemy.

“‘He’d be like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, ‘the operative said. ‘When he’s being questioned, he gets redder and redder, like his head is exploding, and then he blurts out, “You can’t handle the truth.” Dean is just exactly like that. I see it written all over him.'” Dubya’s minions prep for a race against Dean.

Five…

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly: “All hail The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King! I can’t think of another film trilogy that ends in such glory, or another monumental work of sustained storytelling that surges ahead with so much inventiveness and ardor. The conclusion of Peter Jackson’s masterwork is passionate and literate, detailed and expansive, and it’s conceived with a risk-taking flair for old-fashioned movie magic at its most precious.” And, we’ve got another clip! Gollum connives above Minas Morgul…relatively spoilerish. (If you do watch it, notice how he licks his lips. It’s amazing CGI.)