More on Prop 8

I know I promised to stop politicking, but California's Prop 8 debacle has everyone in the LGBT Community up in arms. As we should be. And so should our straight allies. The fight against bigotry is education. And I'm not talking about teaching homosexuality in kindergarten - that's just patently absurd. Would you teach about heterosexuality in kindergarten? Hardly. In fact, I'd want any kindergarten teacher who taught about sexuality at all, arrested immediately. I'm talking about educating the public in general. It's the 21st Century, folks. We're not going away and we're not about to get any quieter about it.
I've always found the old saw about pictures speaking louder than words to be so true. More people need to see images like the one above (via Towleroad).
Then there is this encouraging and appropriately ironic news from LAWeekly: Apparently, anti-Prop 8 protesters are denying Mormons the right to marry.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/queer-town/los-angeles-protests-stop-morm/index.php
And say what you will about MSNBC's Keith Olberman (who can sometimes be quite the pill, no matter what your political leanings may be), this is the most heartfelt commentary I have ever seen. I urge you all to share it with everyone you know.

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And finally, just to lighten the mood, this very funny and silly commercial parody from SNL (I must admit I've taken quite the fancy to Will Forte):

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

More of this, anon.

Prosper

Review: "Eagle Eye"

I know this is rather late, but I haven't had the chance to actually get to the movies for a while, but here is my latest review:

Shia LeBeouf (Transformers; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Disturbia) is Jerry Shaw, a slacker whose twin brother Ethan (a military operative) was recently killed. Returning home from his brother's funeral, Jerry finds his modest apartment filled with weapons. A phone call from a mysterious woman (voiced by Julianne Moore) warns him that the FBI is about to raid his home. Thus starts a wild journey with stranger Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) which leads to a series of increasingly violent events, all tied to a conspiracy to eliminate the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. Pursued by FBI agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) and Navy Agent Zoe Perez (the always beautiful Rosario Dawson), Jerry and Rachel are forced by the mysterious voice to carry out a sequence of events beyond their control.

Director D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) keeps the action moving along at a nice pace, and the script (credited to four writers from an idea from Executive Producer Steven Spielberg) is a pulse-pounding rollercoaster ride. Incorporating elements from 2001: A Space Odyssey; I:Robot and Spielberg's own Minority Report, Eagle Eye is a slick thriller in the tradition of The Bourne Identidy and an action-packed adventure ala the Die Hard series. It features some the most intense chase sequences I've ever seen (in fact, I can't remember when I've seen more vehicles so elaborately destroyed on film) and some terrific performances from LeBeouf, Thornton and Dawson. The supporting cast (including Michale Chiklis) is fine and the paranoia about modern Big Brother technology hits all the right notes. My only real complaint is with the typical Spielberg happy ending. But overall, Eagle Eye is a decent thriller with loads of action sequences.

*** (Three out of Four Stars)

Post Fail II

I feel I must apologize for the quality of my recent post about child actors. It seems that there was some HTML error in the post that won't allow me to correct many of the typos (I'm not the world's greatest typist) and formatting errors in that post. I don't know if that's mine or Blogger's fault - I just know that the post is a mess.

Bear with me, folks. I'm still on the learning curve when it comes to this stuff. I'll try to do better. Stick with me and keep commenting. I love hearing from you.

More of this, anon.

Prospero

DVD Review: "Get Smart"

When I was a kid, I loved "Get Smart," the Cold War spy satire created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Don Adams Was the embodiment of ineptitude as Maxwell Smart, a bumbling agent for CONTROL, the government agency that fought against the nefarious group KAOS. Barbara Feldon played Agent 99, Max's unnamed partner both on and off the job. 1980 saw an exceptionally lame movie version of the show, called The Nude Bomb. And bomb it did. Earlier this year, the characters were resurrected for an update starring Steve Carell ("The Office;" The 40 Year-Old Virgin), Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) and former pro wrestler Dwayne Johnson (The Scorpion King).

Since this is a re-boot of sorts, the story concerns Max's rise from Intelligence Analyst to Field Operative. Carell's Smart is a sincere guy who wants to prove he has what takes, and after seven previous attempts, finally manages to pass his field test. But CONTROL's Chief (Carell's Little Miss Sunshine co-star Alan Arkin) won't promote him because he's too good an analyst. Even his idol and mentor, Agent 23 (Johnson), can't help him move up. When KAOS attacks CONTROL headquarters and wipes out many of their field operatives, Max is finally called into service and named "Agent 86." Teamed up with Agent 99 (Hathaway), Max is sent to Moscow to uncover the whereabouts of yellow cake uranium that KAOS has been stealing for use by unfriendly governments. The story takes Max and 99 from D.C. to Russia to L.A. (where the President - James Caan - is attending a concert in his honor). Along the way, Max encounters evil KAOS agent Siegfried (Terrance Stamp) and his rotund henchman, Shtarker (Borat's Ken Davitian).

While not exactly a laugh-a-minute riot, Get Smart certainly has its moments, including a very funny dance-off and some truly outrageous action sequences which had me saying "As if!" at least a dozen times. Carell is perfectly cast as the over-confident (if inexperienced) Max and Hathaway (well on her way to being a major star) balances sexy, smart and dangerous as 99. Johnson isn't really given much to do here, but his transition from his wrestling persona "The Rock," into a family-friendly movie star is well underway. Arkin is fine as the aging but still vital Chief and supporting bits from Masi Oka (NBC's "Heroes"), David Koechner (Anchorman) and Nate Torrence all lend just the right amount of silliness. And a cameo from reliable Patrick Warburton ("Seinfeld;" "Family Guy") as robotic agent Hymie sets up both the recent Direct-To-DVD tie-in movie (Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of CONTROL) and the announced sequel, Get Smarter. The script by Tom Astle and Matt Ember is as much an homage to the original series as it is an update, and director Peter Segal (Anger Management; Tommyboy) manages to keep things moving along nicely.

While hardly the funniest film ever made (or even of this year), Get Smart is certainly among the better classic TV-inspired movies of late. **1/2 (Two and a Half Stars out of Four)

Child Actors

I'm not always a fan of child actors; they're usually too precocious for my taste. But every once in a while, there is a kid who stands out and makes you take notice. For example, I really love Tatum O'Neal's performance in Peter Bogdanovich's hilarious grifter comedy Paper Moon. She's spot on as a young orphan who may or may not be the biological daughter of Ryan O'Neal's conman Bible salesman. She won an Oscar for the role (and deserved it).

But I'm always a sucker for kids in peril or kids who survive the horrors to which their adult co-stars always seem to fall prey. And since I love Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy movies more than most other genres, this blog is about The Best Performances by a Child Actor in a Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie. So, without further ado, here are my choices, in no particular order:

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Patty McCormack for The Bad Seed:

In the 1950's, genetics was a relatively new science, and the debate bewteen Nature vs. Nurture was truly in its infancy. In his then terrifying play, Maxwell Anderson explored the concept in a sordid little tale about a seemingly perfect little girl who was actaully a sociopathic killer who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Reprising her stage role for director Mervin LeRoy's (The Wizard of Oz) 1956 adaptation, Patty McCormack is absolutely chilling as Rhoda Penmark, the bilogical granddaughter of serial killer Bessie Denker. After she kills a classmate for his penmanship medal, Rhoda's mother begins to suspect her daughter may well be a "Bad Seed" and as events unfold, soon becomes sure of it. In the original stage version, Rhoda's mom succumbs to a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while murderous Rhoda survives her mother's murder attempt. In the film, restricted by the still enforced Hayes Code, Rhoda gets her just desserts.

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Henry Thomas for E.T.:

I had a film teacher who said he hated Steven Spielberg's work because it was "emotionally manipulative." I thought, 'Well, isn't that the point?' And of course, it is. A good artist is always able to manipulate an emotional response to his work, regardless of his medium. In his 1982 fantasy E.T., Spielberg found the perfect kid to push our emotional buttons in young Henry Thomas, a lonely boy befriended by a lonely alien. We laughed; we cried and our hearts leapt for joy when Elliot and ET soared across the moon. Reportedly, Spielberg used all kinds of off-screen tricks to get his young actors (including very young star-in-bloom, Drew Barrymore) to react the way he wanted. But who cares how he got those amazing performances? The fact is, he did and they remain indeliably etched into movie fans' psyches.

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Carrie Henn for Aliens:

James Cameron (Titanic; The Terminator) made this uber-exciting sequel to Alien a filmic rollercoaster ride and turned actress Sigourney Weaver into a household name with his action-packed tale of futuristic Marines battling a horde of acid-blooded beasties on a far-away planet. Ms Henn, as the only survivor of a human colony decimated by the chest-bursting creatures, gives one hell of a performance in her one and only film. She even has the movie's best and most chilling line: "They mostly come out at night... mostly." Who didn't choke up when she wrapped herself around Ripley and cried "Mommy!"? And how sad were we that director David Fincher killed her off in Alien3?

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Fairuza Balk for Return to Oz:

Often derided as "dark" and "frightening," (though you'll never hear me complain about those adjectives when it comes to film), Disney's Wizard of Oz sequel is sadly given short-shrift by those who love the Judy Garland classic. Director Walter Murch's 1985 film is far more faithful to the L. Frank Baum originals than it's musical predecessor and features an astonishing performance from young Fairuza Balk, who is probably best known for the underrated horror film The Craft. Fearing young Dorothy is suffering from a psychological disorder, Aunt Em (Piper Laurie) takes her to see a psychiatrist (Nicol Williams) who is about to apply shock therapy when a sudden storm knocks out the electrcity and allows Dorothy to return to the land of Oz, where she must free Princess Ozma from the witch Mombi's (Jean Marsh) prison. Young Ms Balk is the perfect antithesis to Garland's Dorothy, and her performance is nearly flawless in this much under-appreciated film.

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Heather O'Roarke for Poltergeist:

Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directed this Spielberg-produced ghost story about a typical surbaban family's encounter with the supernatural. When their daughetr Carol-Ann is snatched into the otherword, Steven and Diane Freeling (Craig T. Nelson and Jobeth Wiliams) will go to any lengths to bring her back. Fraught with urban legends surrounding the deaths of several of its stars (including Ms. O'Rourke and co-star Dominique Dunne), Poltergiest remains one of the few films I can see over and over and never get sick of. In fact, we've seen it so many times that both my sister and I can tell you exactly what's happening just by listening to the film's score. But it is O'Rourke's plaintiff cry of "No more" towards the end of the movie that gets me every time. A terrific performance by an actress whose young life was cut much too short.

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Dakota Fanning for War of the Worlds:

Post Fail

I was going to post about child actors in Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy movies tonight, but finding the clips I wanted to use took longer than I anticipated, so I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow night to post it.

In any event - I hope you are all still basking in the glow of celebrating the election our 44th President, Barack Obama. Here's hoping that Mr. Obama can heal the wounds inflicted upon us by the second Bush administration. As we move forward toward a more productive, forward-thinking and progressive America, it is my fervent hope that we can come together as a nation, recognize both our flaws and our strengths, and restore the greatest country in the history of our planet to what it once meant: Freedom, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness for all its citizens and all who hope to become its citizens.

As always, more of this anon.

Prospero

Dear California

Dear California;

I used to be one of you, way back when. I always thought that you were the most progressive state in the union. Sadly, you broke my heart yesterday by voting "yes" for hate, discrimination and the loss of human rights.

The thing I really don't understand, California, is how you could possibly try to take away people's right to love whomever they choose to love. I'm almost glad Harvey Milk isn't alive to see this day - it would have killed him. Or perhaps, were he alive, he could have galvanized all of you to do the right thing and vote "No" on hate. The fact that you allowed yourselves to be swayed by the so-called "Christian Right" and believed the out right lies they sold you, makes me sadder yet. I have a button that reads: "The Christian Right is Neither" and never more have I believed that than today. I don't get it. Are you stupid, uninformed or just filled with hate? Or all three? I never thought so, but now I'm beginning to doubt it.

So, shame on you, California! I'm glad I no longer live in a state that can allow a constitutional amendment that denies people rights. Florida and Arizona I can understand -- they're full of old folks who are too scared to know any better. But you, California... From you I had hoped better.

On a bright note, there are less than 75 days left in the most incompetent and hate-filled presidential administration this country has ever seen. Here's to brighter future for America - one of peace, sanity and tolerance. Yes We Did!

More of this anon,

Prospero