Change Your Image
SeanMarshall
Reviews
Wall of Separation (2007)
What utter trash.
This is purely an attempt to sway public opinion based on a biased view of the issues. What starts out appearing as a well thought out and clearly presented production quickly devolves into a parody of a documentary. Even more insulting is the twisting of the issues, the stances or historical persons, and laws themselves in an attempt to convince the viewers that really law should be based on the Christian God and there should be an overlap of State and Church.
The whole of the show is filled with strawmen arguments with the proponents pretending to present any opposing argument.
Shame on PBS for airing this propaganda piece.
Saved! (2004)
Far better than Dogma! Sharp, funny, and witty.
One only needs to look at the voting record for this film to see that there is something very right about Saved. Hypocrites will vomit up 'stereotype', 'liberal', and 'subversive' and then vote the film a 'one'. Obviously, something is hitting a bit too close to home for this much polarization.
This is an independent film and in many ways is not as polished as more mainstream comedies; even so, it is hands down funnier than any other comedy shown this year.
This film does not stereotype, instead it shows us a slice of life of the fundamentalist movement. Stereotyped? Jeez, if you have a group of people all believing the same 'truth' then sure there's going to be similarities.
I can't wait for this to come out on DVD! I have a spot for it between, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys' and 'Later Days.'
Golden Years (1991)
DVD version: A SciFi movie with a truly original premise and glimpses of real people.
DVD version: A SciFi movie with a truly original premise and glimpses of real people.
I've not really enjoyed a Stephen King horror movie since Firestarter. Just so you know my bias I like Stephen King horror books but not his horror movies. I do enjoy his non-horror films. Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Claiborne, Apt Pupil, The Green Mile, and Dead Zone (both TV show and movie).
Golden Years is on the slow side, as is to some extent every movie I listed above. Golden Years succeeds like the above movies when it explorers characters in ways we are not used to exploring them.
Golden Years is about relationships, about the love and relationship of an elderly couple. Rarely in any movie or book do we see two characters this rich a history and depth of love. The action in Golden Years is not a lab experiment gone wrong, it is about the world of two people suddenly shaken to its foundation as they both come to realize that they have no control over their future. Golden Years is the story about the fear of leaving someone behind and the story of being afraid of being left behind.
The movie works well when the characters are connecting, unfortunatly not all the characters connect well. All in all there is much to be admired here. All in all this is simply a made for TV mini-series of the type often slapped together in the 80s-early 90s.
Both the TV version and Video version are greatly flawed due to rather odd editing choices. The ending of all three versions is still a bit weak, due I suspect to the last two episodes being written by Josef Anderson. The old age makeup for the lead character Harlen Williams leaves a lot to be desired and is often just plain distracting.
I am saddened that Stephen King feels he doesn't have anything to write about any more. Golden Years deserves to have many of its ideas fully realized in a novel.