For Beliefs That Would Shame A Gorilla, You Can't Beat The Goyim
Went to see a couple of films at the GFF the other night, both of which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. The first, Religulous, involves Bill Maher, whom I'd never heard of, talking to various people about religion. Possibly because the name reminds me of Bill Moyers, I thought this would be earnest stuff, but in fact Bill Maher is a former stand-up so there's several good jokes and lots of Borat-style comic social faux-pas, usually in the form of his pointing out to people that their most cherished beliefs are completely ridiculous. The usual criticisms have some force: that he picked soft targets - perhaps, but most of them were unctuous people of some wealth and power - and that he edited things to favour himself over his interviewees - no doubt, but it was funnier that way. He also gave an overly sympathetic hearing to Geert Wilders, although I suppose arguing with him would have diluted the "Religion Is Bad" polemic.
The second film, New Town Killers, was a pretty predictable cat-and-mouse Edinburgh thriller, but it was very slick and well-acted. It could have stood a bit of dialogue-doctoring by David Mamet, but I was too timid to tell Richard Jobson that at the Q&A afterward.
Apparently, Religulous is on general release in Britain from April, but New Town Killers isn't out until June, possibly to coincide with the Edinburgh Film Festival.
The second film, New Town Killers, was a pretty predictable cat-and-mouse Edinburgh thriller, but it was very slick and well-acted. It could have stood a bit of dialogue-doctoring by David Mamet, but I was too timid to tell Richard Jobson that at the Q&A afterward.
Apparently, Religulous is on general release in Britain from April, but New Town Killers isn't out until June, possibly to coincide with the Edinburgh Film Festival.