Reviews

To begin with we must acknowledge that both the writer (Carl Sagan) and the star (Jody Foster) are well known atheists. Secondly, I believe their agenda is to attempt to explore the idea of faith. Thirdly this plot and the questions it asks uses cliche image and plot points used in many other places.

Palmer Joss and Dr Arraway's discussion in Washington DC is one critical plot point worth mentioning. When Arraway and Joss discuss the existence of God. Arraway suggests that God cannot be proven and Joss comes back and demands she prove she loves her father, but never gets the chance to do it due to being taken away with some new issue. Leaving any argument she might offer unsaid.

And in the end when confronting the senate investigating committee, Arraway is essentially forced to admit she only has her own private experience and nothing else as proof of her 18 hour long experience.

The word "faith" never appears in the dialogue, but it is in fact a central theme of this movie. Joss's Christian faith and Arraway's faith in science which is severely shaken by the final scene. The audience left to decide for themselves just what we should place our faith in.

I highly recommend this film even for reviewing again and again it holds up under multiple viewings.

With all the action centered on the process of obtaining and printing the Pentagon Papers, we find scion of the .01% rich (Streep's character) struggling to find direction after her father and husband both leave her in charge of a major newspaper. We all know from history what the outcome of the political battle will be, but the conflict she faces when people she has personal relationships with (like Robert McNamara) are the very ones who will be damaged by printing the "papers." Will she ever be able to enjoy those relationships ever again? Clearly that life she lived is over now. If anything this movie offers us sympathy for this ultra rich publisher.

This movie is so full of phobia material and fear mongering for very young kids that it should be rated M. Granted the two main factions of plot action BABYCO and PUPPY CO were hardly very creative, but the action was filled with the most horribly subconsciously active fear generation for the younger kids.

The single worst case was an undisputed claim that the first born loses the parent's love when a new born comes into a house. From the view point of a 7 year old this could be devastatingly real but it is rarely true. This movie does not even bother to offer a counter argument! Secondly, fear of babysitters. Not only does this movie encourage that fear by creating a scenario where it comes true but enhances it through the scene by having their phony baby sitter be a cruel MAN dressed as a woman.

Yes in fact I do realize this is a fantasy, but its more like it comes from the horror genre of Hansel and Gretel.

As a fantasy for adults this is maybe OK but please keep the kids away if they're below 10.

Unlike some others here I see an incredibly rich and powerful engineer who has designed huge government projects in the past wants one last bit to screw with the entire earth rather than merely the USA.

He selects his patsy early in her life and works his will to so totally to do his will without her even recognizing he is pulling all the strings. His plot is briefly ended when the government funding is removed and takes awhile before he can manage to get her back on track. But Hadden uses his powerful organization to manipulate Dr Arroway into finding his signal supposedly from the star Vega this signal just happens to be almost exactly what would be expected from some off world intelligence.

When the code he makes up becomes bogged down in translation he provides the clue for its decoding and the government is off to the races. Seems it is the plans for some mysterious machine that ends up costing 1/2 Trillion dollars. But its not just that, seems that most of the money spent goes to subcontractors or wholly owned subsidiaries of Hadden enterprises. Mind you he is dying of some cancer and this is his way to get back at all human society.

There is never going to be anyone but Arroway in the machine (his patsy) and when someone else is selected Hadden manages to get the first machine destroyed and Dr. Arroway goes to the systems test site in Japan with one more Hadden industry subcontractor which has another complete machine ready to go. Hadden doesn't want anyone to realize this machine is bogus yet.

This movie is really about Hadden and not Dr. Arroway and written well enough that it is hard to figure it out. Some people might even reject this theory but it is plain as day if you watch carefully.

Since we are in the second season, its apparent that this series will endure. There is a feeling of inevitability in that we all know Jimmy will find his way into becoming Saul and the twists and turns that lead to that revelation do seem to come rather slowly.

But this is a character driven show, not an action adventure so any criticism based upon its slowness betray a lack of understanding. Character requires relationships and there are some rather well layered ones in this universe of BCS. In fact one can learn about human nature by watching this show since it is so well written.

The inevitability of the end is somewhat of a downer though. Vince Gilligan has already given up a vision of Jimmy's future as the manager of a Cinnabon store. So we all wait for the second shoe to fall and Jimmy signs off to become Saul. Its like rooting for the bomb to win as it is dropped.

Well this is the third Panda movie where this central question leads to the climax. While this may seem rather repetitious, it bears repeating. Can the viewers actually take this message to heart and apply it to their own lives, we'll see wont we.

Focusing on "who we are" is profoundly important and like an onion each of us has multiple layers so does Po the Panda. While it does include kicking a$$ and stopping bad guys, there are other dimensions which go beyond that, like allowing others to be who they are too.

Jack Black and crew do the same great job as the other two movies. Having this be an animated movie allows it to get beyond the natural physical aspects of the story line into the spirit realms.

I feel sandbagged after watching this movie I went and looked up the main character since it was based upon a true story. We first meet Jim Dononvan working an insurance case, but I would have to ask why in the world is this man arguing an insurance case? Certainly I would also question why this man was chosen for the main action of the plot. There is where an opening up of his background would explain it all simply but we don't get it except a single throw away line.

Donovan worked on the Nuremberg trials as a prosecutor, he also was general counsel to the OSS, the predecessor to the CIA. He had extensive experience with handling secrets and dealing with spies and likely knew more than a smattering of German. Not the plain Jane insurance lawyer the movie offers for him. Choosing him for the action in this plot now seems perfectly natural.

However not knowing all of that information means we see the action in quite a different light. So which individual do we cheer for? The plain Jane insurance lawyer or the high powered spy master and Nuremberg prosecutor? Should I blame myself for not knowing ahead of time? Anyone who reads this prior to watching the movie will not see the same movie I saw since I didn't have this information ahead of time. Given the people associated with this movie how can it possibly not be nominated for multiple Oscars. It is a good quality movie though and in this year of so-so movies it could easily make the grade for an Oscar.

Everyone else quite rightly focuses on the music and there is no doubt it is great. Neville Mariner and his orchestra are the epitome of Mozart experts.

But I would open the discussion up and ask viewers to see something else here. The politics of Music. Salieri passes through his active phase as composer and has moved into the realm of politics. There is no doubt Salieri is an expert in that field, sensitive to the political motives of his financial supporter, and able to conflate the issues of German or Italian language for the first Mozart opera in Vienna. Able to manipulate the levers of power within the court to get whatever he wants. A simple word from him can cut the run of Mozart's opera down to the bare essentials.

But politics never satisfies Salieri, he has made his choice and cannot live with it any more. By the time Mozart shows up his skill as musician has faded and all he is left with are clunky, and mediocre products. But this movie simply leaves most of the music Salieri has already done in the past never to be brought up again, there must have been some significant quality that brought him up to the level of Maestro, to the respect of the power elite. You simply do not become court composer with mediocrity.

The character of Mozart that Salieri hates most is his naiveté, a sort of innocence. As a wielder of power there in Vienna, Salieri chooses to use it to kill off this wild child, to destroy the innocent since he is stuck living the life of cynicism and political correctness. His desire is to take credit for the final mass so as to revive his career as musician, since it will be written in his own hand writing and not Mozart's.