a). Did it not occur to the uncredited writer (a shill for Dow Jones…???) that one can go for spangly movies as well as non-spangly ones, even on a tight budget?

b). Why Republicans always get props for understanding money and economic issues is beyond me. Don’t they understand that a low-budget movie, even if its distribution is limited, has a much higher profit margin because of its budget than does some let’s-pay-Tom-Cruise-30-million-for-20-minutes-of-dialogue suckfest, and can therefore stand to have a smaller viewing audience?

In fact, few of the hot topics in movies mentioned in any award category this year are truly original or daring. Racism in America; big, bad government and corporations; sexual harassment; the death penalty; McCarthyism–any of that is news?

Paul Gigot, neatly pressed in between Bob Bartley and Milton Friedman’s daisy chain might not notice such things — being as they are on the front page of his paper as well as others, but, in fact, “racism in America” is news. Ask Joseph Lowery — he just buried a friend who dedicated her life to fighting just that. Hell, ask a Ninth Warder, see how his new house is coming along.

And Big Bad Government and Corporations? How’s that Enron trial going asshole? Has Halliburton stopped shipping poisoned water to our boys in the Gulf?

Seriously. Is it possible to be ignorant and obtuse or does it take special glasses?

Sexual harrassment? Sexism? Thank God that’s over, or else I’d think all this talk about Hillary being unhinged was just thinly-coded messaging about a rampaging monthly or something.

And when’s the last time the Death Penalty has been ‘news’? If you ask a conservative, the obvious answer is “Whenever Sacco and Vanzetti bought it”, but, actually there’s a lot of more recent things.

Of course, McCarthyism is so dead and buried, you hardly even notice it these days in everything Bill O’Reilly threatens.

Who could ever think this was news?

From the MSNBC article:

“It’s (pewter nail) the new symbol of the Christian,� he said. “It’s just a way of identifying and perhaps starting a conversation with someone.�

Me: “Hey, nice old-school nail you got there. Or is it a silver vampire stake?”

Icon-wearer: “This is a symbol of my Christ and Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, who died for my sins.”

Me: “Jesus was a vampire hunter? Far out!”

Getting movie advice from the Journal is like getting music advice from your great-aunt. They just don’t *get* it, and they never will.

They should really leave art criticism to people who have spent their lives dedicating themselves to artistic endeavors, or at least to the appreciation of art, rather than to those who have no real concept of art outside of what kind of scratch it will earn at the box office.

yagi- I haven’t seen it but here you go:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361
Judging by the trailer, a theatre full of people would cover production costs.

Sadly, there actually exists a movie called “Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter”. A DVD of it is sitting not five feet away from my as I type this.

It’s pretty bad, but I’d still much rather watch it than the Mel Gibson Jesus Movie.

Silver stakes? Is that for, like, vampires who are also werewolves?

Shorter WSJ: Movies with meaning are for dirty hippies.

While the chattering classes love pretentious movies with messages, the ordinary folk (values voters) much prefer movies in which people get handcuffed together in disused toilets and then have to saw each other up in order to escape. If only we could return more often to such Realms of Unencumbered Cinematic Joy.

Don’t forget the musical:

“Jesus Christ – Vampire Killer”

Didn’t Pope Leo X precipitate the Protestant Secession by the uncontrolled selling of indulgences and religious artifacts?

I realize that Mel wants to take the Roman Catholic church back to pre-Vatican II times, but I didn’t realize that he wanted to go all the way back to before the Reformation…

On Why I Might Be Considered Liberal:

I saw Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter as part of a LGBA Film Festival in DC, with the screening being held at the DC Jewish Community Center. The kicker? I’m not Jewish, Gay, Lesbian _or_ live within DC’s city limits.