Religious Paradox: “I thought you said crossing the streams was a bad idea?”

Who you gonna call…United Satanic Empire???

It’s a strange world when religions seem to be switching sides.

This first video I assumed was going to be satirical. You know, one of those flippant internet personalities mocking religion. I’m a Christian and I don’t mind such things, but this sort of thing I do mind…nauseating that people spread the love in such a way. It upsets me that these are the kind of people that determine the outlook of Christianity for the secular world.

And watch the absolutely hilarious and strange response.

Ingmar Bergman dies at 89, July 30, 2007

It’s a sad, sad day.

Jay Stone

CanWest News Service

Monday, July 30, 2007

When the news broke that Ingmar Bergman had died on the lonely and windswept island of Faro, off the coast of Sweden, it seemed like an appropriately tragic spot. Bergman spent a lifetime creating lonely and windswept movies: a cinema of inner life in which man was tormented by his relationship with women and with God. The rest can be read here.

I’ll write something when I get a chance.

Ingmar Bergman’s, um, Burgman’s Greatest film as performed by SCTV

Kids, if you don’t get it, you should…

SCTV was the best.

Bergman must have known after being spoofed by these fine comedians that he finally made it! No better troop to satirize him.

“Hairspray”: Why Haven’t They Made More Musicals Like This?

I’ve never seen the original John Water’s version (I know, shame on me, right?), nor the Broadway version (how can you blame me, most Broadway sucks these days!) so I had no idea what to expect from this movie. My only knowledge was from the so-so trailer, that an overweight high school girl wants to be on a televised dance show. I wasn’t sure how to take this. It looked kind of dopey, but I found my foot moving with the rhythm of the music on more than one occasion.

There’s a reason why “Hairspray” is getting only the best reviews. It’s been assembled in such a way that there’s nothing anyone could dislike about it. There’s nothing in this film that in any way could possibly offend. It’s so sweet natured a film that you can almost taste the cotton candy. But is it a dopey musical, ala Bye, Bye Birdie?

“Sunshine”: Real Science Fiction Burns Back into the Multiplex

“Sunshine”, the new science fiction film (though it does some genre hopping) from Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) has made a film that wants to be talked about. And talk about it people did, as they were leaving the theatre. It’s almost impossible not to. Niche film lovers it seems go to midnight showings (the young gentleman beside me seemed to be having an emotional and physical orgasm) and so people were casually tossing around titles like 2001, drawing the simplest comparisons, and while there are many references to Kubrick’s science fiction opus, visual and otherwise (and other handy sci-fi flicks), Boyle’s film is more the antithesis of what Kubrick seemed to have on his mind when making 2001, in that humanity is destroyed by science and technology, but then reborn by a power far greater than we can understand…an omniscient being perhaps or something beyond our grasp. Boyle’s answer to that is sometimes profound and thoughtful, sometimes harshly literal and other times seems to be placed in a film that isn’t quite brilliant enough to encapsulate everything exactly the way he wants to say it.

Edith Piaf Inspires the most Extraordinary Performance

For those of you lucky enough to have the new film La Vie en Rose playing nearby you you should go check out this brilliant movie with one of the most amazing performances and thrilling endings I’ve seen in a long time. It doesn’t hinge on computer generated special effects, but the effects of wonderful film making and performing

For those of you that have seen it take a look at the videos of the real Piaf below (there are many more on youtube), and even though there are no subtitles in these clips you can see that the actress Marion Cotillard captures not only the essence of her subject, but every nuance in expression and speech…truly amazing to watch. There’s a reason why she’s getting some of the best reviews of any actor since perhaps Brando in Last Tango in Paris.