Tag: analysis

Memorable Monday Morning Movie Review: They Live (1988)

The Portly Politico1 Comment

Longtime readers know that I love John Carpenter‘s films.  Weird, funny, thought-provoking, action-packed, scary—they all have a certain “quality” that is quintessentially, uniquely Carpenter-esque.

So when my local cinema screened 1988’s They Live a couple of weekends ago, I naturally had to go.

I wrote an entire piece about They Live, entitled “They Live: Analysis and Review” back in 2019.  I rereading my original review, I find that I agree with most of my original summary and assessment, but I think my analysis was colored too heavily by the derring-do of the Trump Administration.

In viewing the film again, I’d still argue that it makes a compelling point about our worship of Efficiency and her consort, Productivity, at the expense of everything else (like God, family, friends, community, art, etc.).  Our elites will sacrifice everything to keep GDP growing, even if it means grinding us into a spiritually empty enslavement to mindless jobs and mindless entertainment—drudges in a machine that only wants to keep us mollified until the next deadening shift at the salt mines.

With that, here is 20 May 2019’s “They Live: Analysis and Review“:

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Myersvision: How Big is Big?

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Earlier this week our senior cryptid correspondent Audre Myers sent me an intriguing video that seems to depict a Bigfoot sauntering along the side of a Canadian lake near Toronto.  If anyone’s going to be hanging out in Canada, it’s Bigfoot!

Audre makes an interesting point:  could every sighting of the hairy lug really be a guy in a gorilla costume?  That does stretch credulity—except that it’s entirely possible, albeit a tad implausible, that everyone filming is in cahoots with a fellow hoaxer.  The Spiritualist Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries produced more charlatans than ghosts.

Regardless, we simply can’t know.  As with everything with Bigfoot, we’re always talking in possibilities, probabilities, likelihoods, etc.  This footage is intriguing, but it’s so easy to doctor video footage, how can we be sure?  Until we have a Bigfoot in captivity or dead on a lab table, we really can’t.

With that, here is Audre with a little note on perspective:

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Retribution (2023)

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There are a handful of actors whose films I will always see:  Nicolas Cage, Kurt Russell, Liam Neeson.  Maybe it’s not always on the big screen, but I’ll find a way to view their films.

If the movie is just $4—as it was when I saw the latest Liam Neeson vehicle Retribution (2023), it’s a no-brainer.  What’s not to love?  An aging action star with improbably young children taking on a dangerous criminal and all of the Europol and the Berlin Polizei?  Take my money, please!

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Remarkable Animals

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My local newspaper, the Darlington News & Press, ran an excellent column entitled “Until one has loved an animal” by Dr. Bill Holland, a Christian pastor and theologian.  His column runs regularly in the paper, and he always offers up some interesting insights into faith and biblical Truth.

Until one has loved an animal

The piece is about the remarkable humanness that animals can sometimes possess.  It’s easy for us to anthropomorphize animals’ behaviors, but anyone who has owned a dog knows that they share something with us that other animals lack.

Specifically, it’s about the remarkable spelling horse Beautiful Jim Key.

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Myersvision – Why?

The Portly Politico1 Comment

One might wonder at times why the Bigfoot people are so gung-ho about what they do. Some of them, I am certain, are charlatans and hucksters, and are putting on a show for clicks and remunerative possibilities.

But there are others who sincerely believe, and respect this legendary creature.  Our senior Bigfoot correspondent Audre Myers is one such soul.

In this short-but-impactful post, Audre details why it is that some folks dedicate their lives, their talents, and their energies to Bigfoot, a creature that is not us, but that seems so similar to us in so many ways:

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Monday Morning Movie Review: The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

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It’s been a big moviegoing summer for yours portly, and I’ve availed myself of the offerings at my local cinema quite frequently.  While I was still on summer vacation I managed to slip into a 4 PM showing of The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023), a film about the doomed ship that carried Count Dracula to England in the original Bram Stoker novel.

I was hoping for a delightfully blood-soaked (and blood-thirsty) romp on the high seas, blending the manliness of stoic sailors in the waning days of the Age of Sail with the Gothic horror of old-school Dracula.  Instead, I got a disappointingly plodding film and a stomach ache from eating too much popcorn, albeit with a pretty terrifying depiction of the dreaded Count.

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Lazy Sunday CXVIII: Monarchy

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I’ve been on a British monarchy kick the past month thanks to the excellent biographies over at The People Profiles.  So, as we enjoy the very American Labor Day weekend, let’s also look back at some recent posts about monarchy.

God Save the King—and Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

In Defense of the British Monarchy

The Portly Politico19 Comments

As a natural conservative, not merely a political one, I have always felt an affinity for the British monarchy, and never bought into the excessively utilitarian (and inherently radical) arguments that favor the abolition of the monarchy.  After weeks of listening to videos from The People Profiles about the monarchy, I am even more convinced in the necessity of the British monarchy as a cultural and political force.

To be clear, I do not advocate for monarchy of any form in the United States.  The reader might ask, “if it’s so beneficial to our British cousins, with whom we share quite a bit of history and culture, why isn’t it good for us?”  The answer is simple:  we’ve never had one!  Monarchy is something almost completely foreign to Americans, at least since 1776.  Our Founding was explicitly anti-monarchical, even if there were Americans willing to submit to a kingship under George Washington.

The British—and, more specifically, the English—however, have possessed a monarchy for over 1000 years, with the exception of that Cromwellian unpleasantness from 1648-1660, ending with the restoration of the Stuarts with Charles II.  That is a great deal of tradition, custom, and ceremony to toss out merely to save a few bucks on maintaining the Royal Family.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: The Folly of King Edward VIII

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Proverbs 31:10-31, the famous passage about the qualities of a good woman.  As verse 10 reads, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.”  The implication is that a true “Proverbs 31 Woman” is a rare and precious thing.

Based on earlier chapters of Proverbs, which extensively detailed the dangers of a wanton floozy, it’s pretty clear that a bad woman can be quite destructive.  Proverbs 7:6-23 is an entire cautionary tale about a foolish young man who dies when a harlot stabs him after a night of passion!

Too many men (myself included) fall for the allure of a pretty face, which is probably why there are three or four chapters in Proverbs warning us off of them (and only one chapter about a good woman).

Such is the potentially corrosive effect of a loose woman that one nearly destroyed a monarchy.  The short-reigned King Edward VIII, who ruled in 1936 for barely eleven months.

The controversy over King Edward VIII’s decision to marry a twice-divorced woman (still married at the time of Edward’s abdication in December 1936), Wallis Simpson, threatened the House of Windsor, and nearly resulted in a constitutional crisis for the British Empire.

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