Remember, Remember...

I saw the movie V for Vendetta yesterday, and I admit I was quite riveted by it. I definitely recommend it. It's not the action-packed thriller the studio seems to make it out to be, but it's got layers that make it interesting. Seems to me it's one of those types of movies where the themes and imagery could be picked apart for years to come. I certainly am thinking about seeing it again.

For those who don't know what it's about, I'll give you a brief summary: it's the near future, Britain is under totalitarian rule, and there is a man called "V" who is instigating a plot to overthrow the government.

In the movie, the government deems V a "terrorist." And there are those calling the movie anti-American, and perhaps promoting terrorism.

Huh?

A talk show host on MSNBC, whose name rhymes with Marlboro, discussed the movie briefly the other night. I normally steer 50 miles in the other direction of this show, but hey, I wanted to see what they were saying about the movie. "anti-American, blah-blah, anti-Christian, blah blah.." He even went on to say that people will walk away from the movie thinking terrorism is good. It was quite an amazing performance, I think.

Natalie Portman stars in the movie, and she grew up in Israel, and has mentioned how she grew up around terrorism. I remember reading in an interview that she says she doesn't believe the movie glorifies violence, but rather raises questions about it and (hopefully) makes us put violence in a harsher light.

People like these talk show hosts and certain religious shows wonder why people look at them strangely or judge their shows harshly. They're going around saying that movies like this are anti-American, and that movies like Harry Potter are going to "destroy your family." These people must not have a very high opinion of the American public's intelligence. I certainly didn't run out of the theater going, "woo hoo! terrorism rocks! I'm gonna go blow @#$%$@ up!!" I doubt very many people are going to do the same.

A couple of things I found funny about the "discussion" I witnessed. One was how he was saying that the movie is sending a terrible message to children and how he took his boys to go see it. The movie is rated R. It's not intended for children. You can't blame the movie when parents are taking underage kids to go see a movie not intended for them.

Secondly, was a theme from the movie. In the film, the government uses the media to basically enforce their point of view and make people think a certain way. In this particular discussion, on a media program, the man was discussing how bad the movie was, how not to go see it, how it had a negative impact.

Hmmm....

Paging Jay Leno

I came across this news story on the web today. Whether the title of the story was intentional or not is unknown. You decide.

Prosthetic Legs Retured; Police Stumped

First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence

In case you didn't know, the Academy Awards were last night. I didn't watch, but I did check out the list of winners. It really seems that this year the Academy decided to stray away from the typical "only child" award style to a "we love each and every one of you equally" style.

I got to thinking, when an person wins an Oscar, from then until the day they retire, movie trailers always bill them as Academy Award Winner. Is this like a legal name change or what? "Your new first name is Academy Award Winner, middle name is George, and last name Clooney."

Or perhaps it is a bestowed title such as "Sir?" Do the winners go backstage when they win, and then the president of the Academy has them kneel, and touches the winner's shoulders with an Academy Award?

Maybe they should start doing that sort of thing in schools. You know, such as, "Hey look, it's Fifth Grade Perfect Attendance Winner Billy Jackson!" Give those kids a little shot in the arm.

Have you tried new MaximumHeight?

In the past few months, NBC has launched a slew of new radio ads for their programming. What's silly about these ads is that they come in the guise of a "casual conversation" between friends. The commercials usually go something like this:

Man #1: So what are you watching tonight?
Woman #1: Oh, NBC has that new critically acclaimed drama, "Lawyer Show #10!"
Man #2: I hear that Guest Star #12 is guest starring on that tonight!
Man #1: I love Guest Star #12! And the show is great, it's so realistic and original. What time is that on again?
Woman #1: 9:00, right after a brand new episode of "Sitcom #578!" I'm ready to laugh out loud!

And so on and so forth. Advertising like this falls into one of my pet peeves about advertising: the odds of actually listening to a conversation like this are slim to none.

Advertisers also like to get away with the "phone conversation" commercial, in which we are led to believe that one person called another to ask them about height supplements for their child, or whatever. One actually went something to the effect of:

Man: I'm worried about the height of my son. He's 15 and hasn't grown an inch!
Woman: Have you tried MaximumHeight?
Man: What's that?
Woman: MaximumHeight! It's a "supplement" that "helps" your child grow in height, and is easy to slip into your kid's glass of milk! No longer will their self esteem suffer! The website is w3.notanactualwebsite.com!
Man: I can remember that website and that product name! Now lets end this casual conversation!

Often there are commercials for medications in which people discuss their medical problems publicly. I believe there was even one where a man walks up to show his passport at airport and is asked, "do you have anything to declare," and his response is "diarrhea!" WHAT?? Who in their right mind would actually say that?! And does security person act offended? No, they actually recommend a product to the man. Yeah, right.

Advertisements like this just don't work anymore in my opinion. Some of my favorite movie parodies of ads like this occur in two movies. First, there's The Truman Show. Truman's wife is always "selling" products to him, till at one point he looks from side to side and responds with "Who are you talking to?" The other is from The Shadow with Alec Baldwin. The Shadow was at one point a radio show, and of course back then they would slip ads into the show. In the film, The Shadow and his nemesis are having a calm discussion about Khan's plans to rule the world, but in the middle of the conversation, Khan breaks in and asks, "that's a lovely tie you're wearing, may I ask where you bought it?" The Shadow responds to the effect of, "Brooks Brothers. 5th and Madison." Brilliant.

What I'm saying is, don't insult our intelligence, advertisers. I don't need a commercial with people having a conversation about a product, and I don't need to see some obscure arthouse type of commercial. Just get to the friggin' point. Tell me what the product is and how cool it is. Stop pretending that me and my friends are sitting down to dinner and actually discussing these things.