Rich Lowry Explains
I apologize for falling for the trap the media's been laying down for and setting up.Wow, those ScAlito hearings are something, huh? Watching this man outright lie and try to obfuscate critical details of his past doings is quite interesting. Trying to distance yourself from a group you were a part of at Princeton that selectively excluded women and minorities and your wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade, among other things, is crazy stuff. Head on over to the best damn blog on the Internet, Daily Kos, at DailyKos.com for more info and commentary on the whole ScAlito affair. This bastard cannot get confirmed; otherwise it's back-alley abortions and racial discrimination, plus civil liberties will be rolled back (yes, I know they're already listening to our phone calls) even further than you can imagine.
I'd heard alot about this 1988 horror film. Way back in the early '90s, I used to devour movie guides (VideoHound, Ebert, Maltin). You name it, I'd buy it. Remember folks, this was *before* IMDb and the Internet was available to everyone. I can recall reading reviews of this and wanting badly to see it. Unfortunately, it's been out-of-print forever and ever and was only released for a very short time on VHS back in the late '80s. So imagine my delight when I was perousing my TiVo for horror movies and this movie popped up! I'd planned to TiVo its airing at 4:35AM on The Movie Channel's West Coast feed, but instead watched the 1:35AM airing on The Movie Channel. I'll still TiVo this and then transfer that to tape later.
After more than a decade, I can safely say that William Wesley's Scarecrows is a creepy horror film that is immensely enjoyable. Military deserters steal $3.5 million from the Federal Reserve and hijack a plane. One of their crew splits...well parachutes....away with the money. The rest of them decide to follow. They discover an abandoned, condemned house with nothing around for miles except a very large cornfield and...dozens of scarecrows.
The film is very well-written, evenly paced, and features some of the scariest-looking scarecrows I've ever seen, plus great cinematography from Peter Deming (who's gone on to lens such films as David Lynch's Mullholland Drive, i heart huckabees, The Jacket, Scream 2, Scream 3, From Hell and the recently released Rumor Has It...)The budget for this film was not that large; however, the makeup and costumes for the straw-filled villains are quite disturbing. Seek this puppy out if ever you get the chance. It's worth the effort.
Interestingly enough, fresh episodes of The WB's horror series Supernatural returned tonight. The series follows two brothers who are in search of their father. He seeks out occult and supernatural occurrences and his sons are following in his footsteps while remaining on his path. Tonight's episode featured the boys contacting their dad, who tells them to stop looking for him and head to a town where people are being sacrificed in a pagan ritual. The episode is titled "Scarecrow" and features possessed scarecrows. That's currently housed on TiVo.
I saw Hostel on Friday. It was quite good. Eli Roth has certainly grown up since his debut feature Cabin Fever. I look forward to the sequel as Lionsgate (all one word now) has given a green light for one after Hostel took in $20.1 million this past weekend.
I also saw Brokeback Mountain. WOW! I'm fairly certain this movie's going to sweep the Oscars. Heath Ledger will get nominated as Ennis, no doubt about it.
Ang Lee has always been an amazing director and he really managed to outdo himself with Brokeback Mountain.
It was a quiet, elegant film with a sad undercurrent. The two wanted so bad to be together yet kept subscribing to the lives they'd been taught to live, hurting others in the process. The scene where Ennis finds Jack's shirt is just *so* full of pain and sorrow.
Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway (a long way from The Princess Diaries) also did stellar work.
Brokeback Mountain is the one of the very best films of 2005. I will confidently state that I believe it will be nominated for and win the Oscar for Best Picture and deservedly so. Hopefully, capote and some of the other Oscar hopefuls will get some play here soon. Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale will screen at The Lucas Theatre this Sunday; I may just go. It's part of the Reel Savannah Film Group's film series.
I also hope to see director Kevin Reynold's (Waterworld) latest film Tristan and Isolde. Starring James Franco and Sophia Myles, the movie takes place after the fall of the Roman Empire. English orphan Tristan meets and falls in love with Irish princess Isolde. However, she is set to marry Lord Marke, who raised Tristan. While unaware of her identity, he has won her hand in marriage for his lord and future king of the two countries. But now the passion of the two young people causes a rift leading to a devastating battle. I've heard good things and director Ridley Scott and his director brother Tony produced it.
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