delicreep

How can this be? Not only does America finally get a skeptic-oriented cable show, but one hosted by Penn and Teller! The joy was almost too much for me, especially since the first episode was about communing with the dead, a scam enjoying a huge surge in popularity.

The opening dialogue by Penn was sometimes a bit shaky, but I suspect he'll adapt to the format soon enough. The series will hopefully continue to do what the first episode did: show the methods by which mystics and pseudoscientific opportunists take advantage of people in need.

Finally, I was impressed that the show managed to walk the line between skepticism and cynicism, never falling into the simple close-minded denial of the latter. There certainly is anger and sarcasm from the narrators/hosts, but nothing too terrible.

This is a funny show that is entirely relevant. I now have something to counter the pain of Dennis Miller's show being canceled. Watch a few of the episodes and decide for yourself.

I watched The Crying Game for the first time during a summer film class. Even after sitting in a lousy classroom for 3 hours (lecture +film+lecture) I was buzzing when class ended. The performances are uniformly excellent, and the writing as well. Any film that can swirl a mix of sexual and political commentary into such a satisfying and unpretentious experience gets high marks in my books. See it!

Such a hard act to follow. The original Re-Animator was amazing for two reasons: it was a knockout horror flick smack in the middle of the 80's, and it was a knockout horror flick based on the writings of HP Lovecraft. Loaded with daring ideas and sexual energy, it took everyone by surprise. The sequel could have been more of a failure. After all, just the weight of trying to follow such a grand film as the original is daunting. Yuzna and his crew perform admirably, and much of the film is nicely twisted. I especially like Dr. West's couplings of various appendages and organs to make all sorts of weird ambulatory critters. Much of Lovecraft's pulp mechanations (he disliked the finished stories) remain, just as in the first film. Essentially, the grander the experiments West and his colleague contrive, the more costly (and gory)the failure. Screaming Mad George's effects certainly are the highlights. The film moves at a decent clip, but ultimately just can't come together. The humor is far more showy--a bit too much winking and nudging--and detracts from the horror. I would have liked to have seen more hunger in this film, more of a desire to really do a job on the audience. Yuzna and co. make a film that's just a bit too content for my tastes. If you see this flick, by all means check it out. It certainly doesn't fall on its face. The first film just had more of a swagger to it, is all.