Valkyrie

I was happy to see this one do reasonably well in crowded Christmas weekend.  Tom Cruise remains a solid actor (an with skilled thespians Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, and Eddie Izzard in the cast, Cruise shows he can hold his own).  Moreover, Bryan Singer knows how to direct a thriller, and Valkyrie is probably his best film yet (The Usual Suspects, while entertaining, is one of the most overrated films of all time).

As others have said, what’s amazing about Valkyrie is how thrilling it is even though you know how it ends.  Fortunately for Singer & company, most in the audience (the American audience, anyway) don’t know much about his particular episode in history.  Singer, I think, was largely counting on the audience’s ignorance, especially with regard to how close the attempted coup was to being a successful coup.  You’ll know better, but as the conspirators piece-by-piece take over Nazi Germany, you think they just might get away with it.  If only.

Peter Falk

One of my favorite actors of all time has Alzheimer’s, a terrible, terrible disease which the political party I grew up admiring does not take seriously.

Secretary of Corn

Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture.  Is anybody who isn’t from Iowa happy with this pick?  I’m with Ezra Klein (except for the last sentence, which perfectly demonstrates why libertarians and liberals will likely never form a political alliance):

At the end of the day, though, Vilsack is arguably less the problem than his agency. In 1862, when the Department of Agriculture was founded, agriculture composed 82 percent of American exports. America had three times as many farms as it does now — and those farms were far more labor intensive, in a country that had one-third the population. Agriculture, in other words, was the main export and one of the nation’s largest employment sectors. You needed a Department of Agriculture. Today, agricultural exports make up 8 percent of the total. Agricultural industry employs a tiny fraction of Americans and is dominated by a few large producers. It is an interest group that has attained cabinet status. That it would be headed by a governor from a state whose reliance on agricultural exports makes it a throwback to the days when the agency had a more obvious claim to existence makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is why you’d have a Department of Agriculture rather than, say, a Department of Food.

Hollywood’s Cyrstal Ball

Before I get back to the all-important most date-able TV characters list (soon, I promise!), I’d like to briefly dissect this ridiculous piece by Mike LaSalle.

He poses a question: Did the Hollywood films of 2008 predict the economic collapse of 2008? Instead of just answering “No” and moving on to something — anything — else, LaSalle wrote this:

It would be too neat to say that 2008’s movies explicitly anticipated the financial crisis, but a recurring theme of civic catastrophe haunted the year, repeatedly telling us that something wasn’t right, that things had spun out of control and that our institutions were on the brink of systemic failure.

How on earth is this theme unique to the films of 2008? Has LaSalle seen any other movie released, well, in any other year? His evidence:

This theme crossed genres and fueled movies of varying quality. “Eagle Eye” was a likable but silly action ride, in which an all-knowing computer creates havoc and comes within one second of wiping out the entire U.S. government. “Blindness” showed how helpless our society might be in the face of a sudden epidemic. “City of Ember,” a futuristic fantasy, depicted a postapocalyptic underground society, days away from collapse, run by greedy, shortsighted government officials. “WALL-E,” an animated postapocalyptic fantasy, depicted an Earth wiped out by pollution, in which survivors lived on a spaceship.

I can play this game too.  Live Free or Die Hard (2007) was a likeable but silly action ride, in which a human hacker creates havoc and comes within one second of wiping out the entire U.S. government. Children of Men (2006) showed how helpless our society might be in the face of a sudden epidemic.  V for Vendetta (2006), a futuristic fantasy, depicted a dystopian society run by greedy, shortsighted government officials.  Apocalypto (2006) depicted an entire civilization wiped out by pollution.

TV Characters I Would Most Like to Date (Part II)

After quickly criticizing my friend’s picks for the ten most date-able female TV characters, I’m still not ready for The Final Countdown.  But I’d thought I’d share my thoughts so far.

I’ve broken down over thirty potential picks into categories (the names of which are references to TV shows and episodes, for added cleverness).  I must warn you: if you haven’t seen the show I’m referring to at any given moment, you may be spoiled and/or confronted with references and quotations which will make no sense to you.

Also, feel free to post additional suggestions in the comments.  It is very, very likely that I have forgotten many, many characters, especially in older series which I have forgotten about.  (And on a related note, I realize that this list is fairly “contempo-heavy” as well, despite my plea for some classic TV characters.)

TV Characters I Would Most Like to Date (Part I)

In the comments, a friend (knowing my interests very well) asked for my input on a most pressing topic:

[M]y friend Justin and I made a list of the top ten most date-able female TV characters of all time. By “date-able” we mean a combination of looks, personality, sense of humor, ambition, etc. This is not a list of the best looking girls on TV. It’s literally, who would you like to get to know better.

They compiled their top ten list by (1) mutually agreeing upon eight characters, (2) each adding a veto-proof character, (3) each ranking the ten in order of dateability, and (4) merging the two rankings into a master list.  The list:

1. Pam Beesly (played by Jenna Fischer), The Office
2. Liz Lemon (played by Tina Fey), 30 Rock
3. Joan Holloway (played by Christina Hendricks), Mad Men
4. Lindsay Weir (played by Linda Cardellini), Freaks and Geeks
5. Sun Kwon (played by Yunjin Kim), Lost
6. The Waitress (played by Mary Elizabeth Ellis), It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
7. Elaine Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Seinfeld
8. Karen Filipelli (played by Rashida Jones), The Office
9. Charlotte York (played by Kristin Davis), Sex and the City
10. Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson), The X Files

Honorable mentions:

• Rita (played by Charlize Theron), Arrested Development
• Olive Snook (played by Kristin Chenowith), Pushing Daisies
• Rose Nylund (played by Betty White), The Golden Girls
• Mel (played by Kristen Schaal), The Flight of the Concords

Right off the bat, there’s a pretty big problem with this list.  For rankings of the most dateable TV characters of all time, this list is incredibly heavy on contemporary characters.  Of the top ten, only four are on shows currently off the air, and two of those had feature film spinoffs in 2008.  The honorable mentions don’t fare much better in the regard (though Rose is a bit of an inspired choice).

My friend’s veto-proof pick is Sunny’s unnamed waitress.  And I think this is a terrible, terrible pick.  If we’re judging these fictional women on “a combination of looks, personality, sense of humor, ambition, etc,” how can she possibly make this list?  Sure, she’s cute.  And the actress is funny, but actress’ talent is irrelevant in this silly game.  The character is a recovering alcoholic whose main goal in life seems to be to convince Dennis to have sex with her (and if not Dennis, she will apparently settle for Danny DeVito’s Frank).  Thanks, but no thanks.

Again, if we are to judge a character by more their her looks, Theron’s Rita must be immediately disqualified, even from being an honorable mention.  In no way is an adult woman of her intelligence and social skills anywhere close to being datable.

Picking both Pam and Karen on The Office doesn’t sit right with me.  Especially since one of them has a personality, and the other doesn’t.  Expect to see Pam on my list, and though this will be blasphemy to the many guys I know who worship her, she won’t be Numero Uno.

The least obvious choice on the list, I think, is Lost’s Sun.  And I think it’s a pretty good one, all things considered.

I’m behind the times with Mad Men and Flight of the Concords, so I’m afraid I can’t quite comment on them.

In my next post, I’ll discuss in detail the many fantastic female TV characters I am considering for my top ten.  Stay tuned.

Goodbye, Greg Maddux

The best, smartest pitcher I have ever seen has officially retired.  If I were a GM, I’d make Maddux the highest paid pitching coach in the game.

Tim Keown’s wonderful ESPN the Mag feature from earlier explains the awe-inspiring legend of Greg Maddux:

How many times had he heard someone say it? How many times over the past 22 years had some catcher or coach or broadcaster said, “Greg Maddux? I bet you could catch him with your eyes closed”? Sounded plausible enough, maybe coaxed a chuckle or two from the pitcher, but mostly it was just something to say. Nobody realized it was just a matter of time before somebody decided to prove it.

…

Right. But when Brad Penny and Maddux were teammates on the Dodgers, during the last two months of 2006, they had a conversation one day that led Penny to reach a stunning conclusion: This guy knows my stuff better than I do. It was eerie, really, how easily Maddux dissected Penny’s repertoire and suggested ways to maximize it. Penny, figuring he’d take advantage of the situation, asked Maddux to call a game for him against the Cubs. And so, on the night of Sept. 13, Penny glanced into the dugout before every delivery and found Maddux, who signaled the next pitch by looking toward different parts of the ballpark. Penny threw seven scoreless innings with no walks and beat the Cubs 6-0. “Maddux probably won’t tell you that story,” Penny says. He’s right.

…

With the Cubs, the story goes, Maddux once sat in the dugout and watched José Hernández of the Dodgers set up in the batter’s box. After two pitches, Maddux turned to the guys around him and said, “We might have to call an ambulance for the first base coach.” On the next pitch, Hernández whipped a shot that hit first base coach John Shelby in the chest.

Hail Mary

NBC, which despite airing the two best comedies on television today (30 Rock and The Office), has still never recovered in the broadcast TV war since Seinfeld left the air a decade ago.

Their latest offensive in the war: replacing the 10 pm scripted drama hour with Jay Leno.

What Deregulation?

A firm message from David Henderson at Cato:

One could argue that we need to distinguish here between different kinds of regulation. Often people refer to “economic regulation” when they mean restrictions on whether new firms can enter businesses or that require firms to get government permission before setting their prices. If this is what they mean, then there is a case to be made that, in substantial sectors of the economy, there is less government regulation now than before the late 1970s. There has been substantial deregulation at the federal level of airlines, trucking, railroads, oil, and natural gas, to name five large sectors. And indeed, as we shall see later, this deregulation has had, on net, good effects.

What was the nature of this new regulation? The biggest growth came in so-called “homeland security,” where spending more than quintupled, from $2.9 billion in 1980 to $16.6 billion in 2007 (all in real 2000 dollars). The second-largest growth rate was in regulation of finance and banking, where spending almost tripled, rising from $725 million to $2.07 billion. Together, regulation of homeland security and of finance and banking now account for over half of federal regulatory spending.

Hat tip: Cafe Hayek

Why Christopher Nolan Is the Best Contemporary Film Director

Besides of course being 6-for-6 in feature films (if you haven’t seen his debut film, Following, watch it immediately).

From USA Today (emphasis mine):

Many consider Heath Ledger, who died of a prescription overdose on Jan. 22, a shoo-in for a supporting-actor nomination. But fans won’t find much more of Ledger’s Joker in DVD extras. There are features on the staging of the film’s elaborate stunts, alternate angles and a segment on the technology behind Batman’s gadgets, but not a single deleted scene or outtake from Ledger’s performance.

Nolan says he wasn’t keeping deleted scenes from fans. “For my past three films, I really haven’t had scenes that didn’t make it in the movie,” he says. “If it’s in the final script, I tend put it on screen.”

Few things anger me more than a surplus of deleted scenes — and especially, alternate endings — on a DVD.  There’s typically a reason they were cut in the first place.  The only exceptions I can think of are Christopher Guest or Judd Apatow movies, where deleted scenes might still be funny in their own right but perhaps don’t serve the film’s narrative.

Though he isn’t signed for a third film Batman flick, Nolan says he has started outlining possible story ideas:

“It was obvious when the box office was so big ($530 million domestically) that we had underestimated how ready fans were to reboot the franchise,” he says. “The worst thing you could do now that you’ve gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing.“

I’m obviously not alone in hoping Nolan makes a third film.  What’s important is that he gets it right, and he seems determined to do just that.

Hat tip: BOF

Bond vs. Bourne, Continued

Via Dark Horizons, two bits of spy flick news.

1) Daniel Craig says the next 007 film won’t be a direct sequel like Quantum of Solace was to Casino Royale, but the Quantum organization’s presence may still be felt.  More importantly, he’s up for adding Q and Moneypenny.  Maybe I was right:

The filmmakers used the gun barrel at the end of the film as a punctuation mark, as if to say “Bond is now Bond.”

And Felix is Felix, and M is M.  Bring on the whole gang.

2) Uber-producer Frank Marshall discusses the future of the Bourne saga.  Universal basically has the rights to Robert Ludlum’s non-Bourne books, and apparently Marshall and company are considering using The Parsifal Mosaic as the backbone of the next Bourne film.  I haven’t read that one, but I’m a big fan of many of Ludlum’s books (it still suprises me how long it took for Hollywood to discover their potential as films).  But: I’d rather see them incorporate the Carlos storyline from the Bourne books.

Give Bond his friends, and give Bourne his nemesis!

The State of Columbia

I’m for it.  But really, Yglesias, your first argument for it is that the Democrats would pick up two additional Senators?  He’s right that there’s no principled opposition to statehood.  So let’s keep the argument for statehood entirely in terms of principle.

As for the flag, I like this design.

Obama’s Birth Certificate

I am not inclided to engage conspiracy theorists (Ed Morrissey does a fine job here).  I’d search the Obama-isn’t-eligible-to-be-President sites myself to see if any of these crackpots have even attempted to an offer an explanation, besides a vague concern for the intergrity of the Constitution, about what the danger of a foreign-born President, duly elected by the American people, actually is.  But I don’t think I can stomach five seconds at any of these sites.

Whenever I’m confronted by xenophobic, born-in-America drivel, I’m always reminded of my favorite story about Ayn Rand, as told by Cato’s David Boaz:

When a heckler asked her at a public speech, “Why should we care what a foreigner thinks?”, she replied with her usual fire, “I chose to be an American. What did you ever do, except for having been born?”

I’d love to ask that question to anybody challenging the President-elect’s patriotism.