The New Republic

Thanks for the link, Ms H. A pity you didn't post your interesting and entertaining essay on Open U, but I'm grateful that one of the tpmcafe commenters informed me about "Southland Tales", a new vehicle for Sarah Michelle Gellar as a WWIII-era entrepreneurial pornstar.

From Manohla D's review:

"What is “Southland Tales”? It’s a romp, for starters, a genre pastiche, a blast of conscience. It’s also overly plotted and at once too long and too short.  “Dr. Strangelove".... is one of [Director] Kelly’s touchstones. (His other influences: “Kiss Me Deadly,” “Double Indemnity,” David Lynch, Fox News, comic books, video games, “Saturday Night Live,” years spent living in Los Angeles.)

"...After the big-bang prologue, the story shifts to 2008, when on the eve of a presidential campaign competing interests are jockeying violently for power. Among the sprawling cast of unusual suspects are the “neo-Marxists,” mostly middle-age hippie chicks swinging Tasers and heavy rhetoric; a Republican presidential candidate and his Lady Macbeth of a wife; and a gaggle of totally awesome porn stars in hot pants and lip gloss who preach their own brand of liberation theology on cable television. Skulking on the sidelines is a mystery man with a spit curl who claims to have found a solution to America’s depleted reserves in something called Fluid Karma, which will light up the country by harnessing the ocean’s power.

"There’s more stuffed in Mr. Kelly’s crowded fun house, including the linchpin figure, Boxer Santaros, played with lilting delicacy by Dwayne Johnson. After having gone inexplicably missing, Boxer — identified as an actor with ties to the Republican Party — has re-emerged on the grid in Venice, amnesiac and nestled in the arms of an entrepreneurial porn star, Krysta Now, given dignity and melancholic soul by a lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar. Together, Boxer and Krysta (she’s all about now, not later) have written an apocalyptic screenplay that they’re trying to pitch amid the intrigue and noise. Everyone wants a part of Boxer, but all he wants to do is research his role, which he does by riding shotgun with a mysterious cop (Seann William Scott, terrific)...."

Again, thanks for the link. Doubt I'll ever find myself in Giants Stadium but I will definitely check out "Southland Tales."

- teplukhin2you

November 20, 2007 at 4:11pm

Another reminder why my favorite televised sport was bowling . . .

- norval13

November 21, 2007 at 8:15am

"it’s difficult to see Ms. Rivera’s behavior as the freely given donation of a woman in complete possession of the object in question."

Why, if that is what she wanted to do?

Me, I wouldn't have done it. But that would have been my free choice and completely in possession of the object in question.

- basman

November 22, 2007 at 1:43pm