Saw Independence Day for the first time in years the other day. I'd forgotten how weak the effects and designs were. And it once again struck home how we Americans value arrogance in our heroes and non-self-conscious big mouthed black men. With Will Smith we get both! This is not intended as racism, but rather a commentary on how we perpetuate ignorant differences between the races. Imagine if Tom Cruise in Top Gun acted like Smith did here. It would not be funny--it'd be obnoxious and he'd be looked at as an idiot. But we can all laugh at the extremely outspoken black man because, well, he's black...and black people are always funny. Essentially, I'm actually calling the repeated portrayals of black people like that as racist.
Watched the end of Timeline last night (I'd seen it before, but it's been a while and the wife had already watched most of it), based on the Michael Crichton novel. I've never read the book, but what I have read from Crichton is pretty good, and this movie, while interesting conceptually, is just full of dumb cliches and lame characters. I think of all the weirdness I saw, the part that makes me laugh the most is when the French and English simultaneously launch fiery arrows at each other during a nighttime battle. Okay, right? Then the English quickly launch another volley of "night arrows" (also known as "arrows"). Yes, these night arrows are not lit on fire! They then strike the French who are preparing their next volley of fiery arrows and can't see the night arrows until they are hit without their shields defending themselves. All the while, the snooty, arrogant bad guy watches with a big smirk on his face. The nerve of that guy! How dare he be so amoral as to launch night arrows in a war!? Doesn't he know you're supposed to give your enemy every possible advantage? But he smiles like a jerk because he's soooooo evil and values his apparent tactical brilliance over a fair fight. Just. So. Lame.