The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Resurrecting the Movies thread...
oilgun:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on June 01, 2013, 12:27:26 am ---You know, I even think that the last part of that sentence is arguably true. According to the website iraqbodycount.org, which to me seems pretty credible, Iraqi civilian deaths since the early 2000s exceed 100,000. They peaked in the Bush years of '06-'07 -- but the site says 34 were killed on Thursday, 873 in May. It's hard to imagine how the U.S. would be reacting if some other country had killed 100,000 of its civilians.
But that doesn't mean "America ... deserves all the criticisms it gets." "America" or anything else only deserves the criticisms that accurately apply. Otherwise those criticisms just wind up sounding stupid, and diminishing the credibility of whoever makes them.
I actually try to avoid calling it America, especially when talking to Canadians, because I know you guys get huffy about that, understandably. But "the United States" is such a relatively colorless and bureaucratic-sounding name that I wish we could just call it the lovely "America," and the other countries could call themselves Canada and Mexico and Uruguay and Brazil and so on. Let's just change the names of the continents themselves.
--- End quote ---
The first time I became aware of this America thing, I was quite young, I was looking up Canada in a French dictionary and the first thing it said was "an american state". I was like 'Whaa?' until I realised that they were referencing the continent. That's how linked the word America is with the USA. (Poor Mexico which was until recently, the United States of Mexico, many people don't even consider it to be part of North America.) Plus I wish there was another way of calling the citizens of the US, Americans, like the Spanish estadounidense and the French états-uniens(iennes). Somehow United-statesman and United-stateswoman, just don't sound right, lol!
oilgun:
--- Quote from: milomorris on June 01, 2013, 04:19:19 pm ---You didn't cite the MPAA specifically. You cited Americans as a whole.
As for drones, please see the Terrorist thread.
--- End quote ---
No, I said too bad Americans won't see the uncut version. And who's fault would that be? The MPAA of course.
Meryl:
--- Quote from: Monika on May 31, 2013, 04:06:17 pm ---In order to get back on topic - has anyone yet seen "Behind the calebra"?
I'm waiting for it to premiere over here so that I can go and see it.
I've been reading up lately on Liberace - he was mostly known in the US and not so much in Europe. I know of him mainly from references made about him in American movies :)
--- End quote ---
I watched it the other night and thought it was well done. It's mainly about Matt Damon's character and his relationship with Liberace, how he evolves from a relative innocent to a bitter, jaded ex-lover. Both he and Michael Douglas give very good performances, and I expect to see them nominated for Emmys. When I was a kid, Liberace was on TV a lot, smiling ingratiatingly, wearing fantastic outfits, doing comic bits and of course playing the piano impressively. He was so over the top you had to love him. I didn't even know what gay was in those days, and neither, apparently, did his legions of female fans.
Liberace's mother is played by Debbie Reynolds, who is almost unrecognizable. In fact, I didn't remember until I saw the credits that she was in the cast. Dan Ackroyd and Paul Reiser have small roles. The sets are great, and having recently seen a youtube of Liberace's home, I'd say they made it look much better than the real thing.
serious crayons:
For those who didn't see Good Night and Good Luck, there's a funny segment involving a network news interview with Liberace. The interviewer asks, "When are you going to settle down and get married, Lee?" I can't remember how Liberace (known as Lee) respond, but it's played for ironic humor.
Jeff Wrangler:
Saw Man of Steel last night. Lots of fun for us little boys who like movies where lots of stuff gets destroyed ;D with no thought for the people who might be getting destroyed along with it. :-\
In addition, in the new get-up to match the new take on the story, Henry Cavill might just be the sexiest Superman ever. Christopher Reeve will always be the standard for what I might call the "classic Superman," but for the new take, Henry Cavill. ... O.M.G. :o Thud!
Plus, I adore Amy Adams. Absolutely adore her! :D
The thought came to me this morning, Next time they feel a need for a new James Bond, they should give that role to Henry Cavill, too.
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