douggold

I've been watching this show since it debuted the other month, and I quickly felt a deep respect for it. I'm constantly disappointed by the evening news broadcasts, and prime-time news programs like Dateline or 20/20 seem overproduced and try too hard to be flashy. Rather's show is what I've wanted news to be--it's showing me what's really going on with brutal honesty, if that honesty is the harsh and sad footage of what's going on in New Orleans, or stating bluntly how involved the lobbyists are in the federal government. I thought I had some idea of these subjects earlier, but this show immersed me in them. The fact that it's in high definition adds realism to the images you're seeing, perhaps more believable. It's a high priority on my DVR's schedule.

I liked this movie a lot, and it's definately worth seeing, but when you think about it, it's predictable. If you've seen the trailer you can guess the structure of the entire plot, and I was sorry to see that the final battle scene was lifted straight out of Braveheart. I wonder if it would have been better if Tom Cruise wasn't in it, and they just told the story of the Meiji Restoration period in Japan. It felt silly that we had to throw a white guy into the middle of this critical point in Japan's history to make it appealing to american audiances.

At different times watching this fantastic film I recalled the impact of previous masterpieces. It often achieved the intense, unsettling horror of The Blair Witch Project. It achieved a tone of eerie solitude and helplessness that reminded me of the best the old Twilight Zone could dream up. And so many moments with the children were pure Spielbergian. I believe they'll be studying this movie in film school for years to come.