March 2006 »

Andrew Sullivan (among others) has been following the story behind Viacom’s decision to pull “Trapped in the Closet”, the episode of South Park that mocks, among others, Tom Cruise and Scientology.

Sullivan is pretty vocal about Viacom’s cowardice on this matter and recommends boycotting MI3 until the episode airs again. Given what I know about Scientology and its operations, I’d say that this sort of threat is completely consistent with its past behavior.

I’m not quite sure when I started reading about Scientology. I know that I have an intense academic interest in the psychology of group behavior, particularly social influence and persuasion, and studying cult behavior is definitely a part of that.

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Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney
Rating:
Buy Kinsey on Amazon.com

Watching this movie made me thankful that I live in a post-sexual revolution era and made me deeply frightened that there are people in this country who very much want to return to a time when people got married without knowing where babies came from and when consummating your marriage was both emotionally and physically painful.

Kinsey is the story of Alfred C. Kinsey, aka “Prok”, the famed sex researcher who is often credited with inspiring the sexual revolution. Overall, I think it handles a delicate subject pretty well. The film doesn’t shy away from any taboo subjects, but it also doesn’t cross the line into being obscene for obscenity’s sake.

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Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet
Rating:
Buy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Amazon.com

When this movie first came out, I wanted to see it because of Kate Winslet, but was almost afraid to see it because of Jim Carrey. When I used to think of Jim Carrey, I used to think of Dumb and Dumber and movies of a similar ilk, and I find that kind of schtick to be tiresome. So for any of those with similar fears: Jim Carrey is completely and refreshingly normal in this movie. The guy he plays is kind of a dork, but at least he’s a normal dork.

Ultimately, this is a touching story about love, loss, and renewal, about re-discovering the all the funny and poignant moments that made you fall in love in the first place, all the moments in a relationship that you kind of forget ever happened after the love spirals downhill. In some ways this is also a story about innocence–remembering a time when life was simpler and maybe happier.

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