Happy birthday

Happy birthday, cakmpls!

Walked out of Kingdom of Heaven

I couldn't take more than twenty minutes of it. I had mixed feelings going in. I have never worshipped at the pretty boy altar of Orlando Bloom, but I kinda wanted to see him in his new movie. I was interested in the other actors, and the idea of a collision of cultures, a struggle between two faiths. But not enough to sit through all that mayhem. Ick. I have picked up from the reviews that the "clash of faiths" may not be there anyway; someone at the heart of planning it (who? Was it the director? The producer? the screenwriter?) was an agnostic, and perhaps as a result all the major characters' actions do not spring from any well-spring of conviction that shapes their motivation.

Now that I think of it, i don't think I've ever seen any of the really big iconic R-rated war movies. I never saw Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart. Or Gladiator, for that matter, Ridley Scott's other big opus. I don't go to a war movie because I want to revel in the gore. (I NEVER go to horror movies, either). But I want to see that the characters are struggling for something they believe in.