If Hollywood hadn’t spent most of the post-9/11 decade portraying Islamic terrorists as nuanced victims driven to violence by the West, their open cowardice when it come to taking on Islamists might make some sense. After all, if these extremists are — as leftist Hollywood would have us believe – nothing more than misunderstood freedom fighters, what is there to be afraid of – why so spineless?

And doesn’t Leftist Hollywood’s refusal to take on Islam add up to a politically incorrect and culturally insensitive insult to Muslims? As Penn Jillette Tweeted so elegantly last week:

“I believe the most damning thing that can be said about Muslims is saying you’re afraid to say anything.”

Or as an agnostic friend of mine emailed last night: 

“Your headline needs to read, ‘Comedy Central Determines That Christians Are Nicer and More Tolerant Than Muslims’”

So I guess that means we Christians should take the announcement of what looks to be another tired, old, cliched, cinematic attack on our faith as a compliment, right?

Hayden Christensen has signed on to star in Snakes of a Plane/Cellular/The Final Destination director David R. Ellis‘ big screen adaptation of John Case’s thriller novel The Genesis Code.

And what is “The Genesis Code” about? As though you have to ask. From the press release announcing the film [emphasis mine throughout]: (more…)

Well, he’s back like Chucky, and twice as Yucky.

I speak not of my former houseboy Roderigo (we still can’t find him, alas), but Al Gore, who mysteriously disappeared as his self-propelled universe of climate change hysteria started to crumble around him.

Gore was always “the boy in the plastic bubble” – he could go anywhere and say anything he wanted about the coming apocalypse – but you couldn’t say anything back. He was protected by the shared assumptions of a like-minded media, fawning academics and that cool habit of skipping out of conferences before those awkward Q and A sessions.

But now he’s reared his hallucinatory head – in yet another bubble – the New York Times op-ed section. There he addresses the “climate-gate” mess – but being a true believer, he prefers to call it an “attack” on science, and focuses only on details he feels comfortable defending. (more…)

I know that embryonic stem cell research can be a touchy subject, so I opted to handle this one with both sensitivity and tact. Those are just the ABC’s of me. However, the truth of the matter is that our “opinions” on the subject don’t really matter. Embryonic stem cell research has never gone very well and few people have shown an interest in investing in it.  Logically, that alone should make it an open and shut case…

… But who needs logic when you’ve got big Government, right? (more…)

The new Will Ferrell comedy, Land of the Lost, based on an astoundingly bad mid-1970s children’s show produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, is typical of Farrell’s films–it’s funny, imaginative, action-filled, nonsensical, and essentially well-meaning. Unlike most of his comedies, however, it didn’t get a very good start at the U.S. box office, and it received very poor reviews.

Certainly there isn’t even a pretense at a coherent narrative or interesting, complex, plausible characters in Land of the Lost. Given that those are among the things critics tend to praise, it’s hardly a surprise that the film has gotten awful reviews.

Nonetheless, Land of the Lost is quite enjoyable. Despite the claims of some critics who seem disposed to hate everything about it, the movie is quite funny, with many instances of Ferrell’s usual blustering and amusing comeuppances as well as numerous funny comments by Danny McBride as Ferrell’s reluctant and cowardly sidekick. Jorma Taccone’s performance as Chaka is also very risible at times.

Moreover, there is actually a very good, important, and timely thought in Land of the Lost. In a very amusing way, the film satirizes the current-day perversion of science in which claims of consensus are used as a blunt instrument to shout down opposing ideas. (more…)

I try to separate the art from the artist, I really do, especially among actors.  The thing is, if you believe you can sense Garofalo’s hatred and disdain for us in her onscreen performance, you must be deeply sensitive.  Whenever I feel myself doing that with an actor, I try to take a step back…. but then she said this the other day:

“The reason a person is a conservative republican is because something is wrong with them. Again, that’s science – that’s neuroscience. You cannot be well adjusted, open-minded, pluralistic, enlightened and be a republican. It’s counter-intuitive. And they revel in their anti-intellectualism. They revel in their cruelty.”

Tolerance. (more…)