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At the movies

"Borat" made me laugh. Out loud. Many times.

Officially titled "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," the film also at times made me uncomfortable, especially its derogatory references to Jews (Cohen is Jewish but Borat isn't) and in some of its dead-on observations about Americans.

And I must admit I felt a little sorry for the poor high society types who entertained Borat at a dinner party.

Sadly, Sasha Baron Cohen won't be able to pull this type of comic mock documentary stunt again.

Most of the people in this movie were real, not actors. They thought Borat was real, not a character. They won't be fooled again.

Meanwhile, "Children of Men" was bleak and compelling. It deserves much more attention than it has received. And it definitey deserves Oscar consideration.

I'm waiting this week for Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin in "Last King of Scotland." At least I hope it gets here by then.

You know how theaters can be around here.

Comments (10)

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Cohen's humor seems kind of mean spirited. He goes after all the groups that it's still politically correct to mock like fundamentalist Christians, white bread society types, and lower income middle America then sets himself above them in interviews talking as if his crude humor is some great cultural experiment or social observation. Prejudice is prejudice, no matter what group it's directed at.

Skeet Club Savage said:

Allen, you've already seen "The Last King of Scotland" only you've seen "the Last Queen of High Point" featuring Idi's Guilford co. counterpart-Doti Kearnsani, as she eats a whole Guilford Co. highschool.

Jon said:

The movie that my wife and I really enjoyed recently was In Pursuit of Happyness. A true rag to riches story of an individual who though faced with extreme obstacles would never give up his quest to make good in life for him as well as his child.

Great movie and the team of Will Smith and his son were very touching in their portrayal of the real life individual who has done well in the brokerage business.

Skeet Club Savage said:

Allen, some good rental Dvd's that never made it into the theatre:

"Idiocrasy" a comedy starring Luke Wilson who as an average guy who as part of an Army experiment is frozen for 500 years. He wakes up to find that due to a steady dumbing down of the population subjected to mass consumer culture he is now the smartest man in the country and they make him president. It is hilarious. Done by the same guy- Mike Judge, who ironically brought us Beavis and Butthead.

"The Architect" about the designer of a Chicago housing project who is besieged by an activist to tear down his own brainchild. Based on a play. Very intense drama.

'Brooklyn Lobster'; Intense family drama starring Danny Aiello struggling to keep his family business intact from takeover pressures.
Exec produced by Martin Scorcese.

Radical said:

Skeet Club Savage,

Don't forget "Jack Ass II",,,,

One of the stunts had a guy named Gongshu trying to measure the rear end of a Big White Elephant,,,

God,,,I've seen that Elephant somewhere before?????

Skeet Club Savage said:

You're quite right, Rad. J.A. II would indeed be redundent after attending GCS boardmeetings.

Michael Pope said:

Sasha's Golden Globes speech was the (expletive deleted).

If you didn't catch it, see it at . . . never mind. Dick Clark Productions removed it from youtube.

Michael Pope

Allen Johnson said:

Michael:
I am removing your comment because of its use of the S-word. We try to avoid such language on the blogs.

Allen Johnson said:

Actually, I decided to stop short of that and just deleted the word in question.

Skeet Club Savage said:

Allen, thought "Children of Men" was great. Even better than "Babel". My favorite line was; "A baby should not be used for political purposes".

Talk about the "year of the Mexican director", huh?

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