tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post4788091361745328272..comments2023-09-29T05:32:04.308-07:00Comments on StrangePegs: Philomena (a movie review post)Andrew Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-29307747136682095502014-02-02T17:08:59.922-08:002014-02-02T17:08:59.922-08:00Karen: She certainly doesn't look her age, muc...Karen: She certainly doesn't look her age, much like Helen Mirren.<br />I hope you enjoy it when you see it.<br /><br />TAS: Do you carry a big stick?<br />(yeah, I know that's not exact.)Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-91038170017642366462014-02-02T17:01:12.185-08:002014-02-02T17:01:12.185-08:00If you explore any medium to any depth, even comic...If you explore any medium to any depth, even comic books, intersections with religion are inevitable. Still, I believe in treading lightly.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-4591173460522146782014-02-02T14:34:03.142-08:002014-02-02T14:34:03.142-08:00I really want to see this movie. I basically see w...I really want to see this movie. I basically see whatever Judi Dench is in, saw the trailer and she looks younger than ever. Love that lady!Karen Jones Gowenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11378428503220197256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-84709267294569343142014-02-02T14:02:32.105-08:002014-02-02T14:02:32.105-08:00RG: Well, it's worth seeing, I think, and the ...RG: Well, it's worth seeing, I think, and the movie is actually not as traumatic as I might be making it sound.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-68445569081640477952014-02-01T21:15:26.674-08:002014-02-01T21:15:26.674-08:00Wow. I've never heard of this movie and there&...Wow. I've never heard of this movie and there's no chance at all I'll go see it, and I thank you for the review, because I might have been tricked into seeing it by the happy yellow poster.<br /> Remembering Gracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14760441035721518260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-61178217646699260522014-02-01T17:18:30.537-08:002014-02-01T17:18:30.537-08:00TAS: I don't really look at as taking a risk. ...TAS: I don't really look at as taking a risk. I mean, at this point, it's the same kind of risk as saying, "The world is NOT flat."Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-44286502619012390462014-02-01T10:51:14.140-08:002014-02-01T10:51:14.140-08:00I'm shy about discussing religion in the '...I'm shy about discussing religion in the 'sphere, partly because I am a godless heathen myself and therefore know that mine will forever be the outsider perspective. But it's mostly because I don't want to ruffle feathers. I admire your taking the risk here.<br /><br />My wife's a Steve Coogan fan. I am not so much. If anything, his acting is too authentic. His characters are too much like people I actually know and dislike.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-23021903260271598192014-01-31T21:56:54.241-08:002014-01-31T21:56:54.241-08:00G_G: Oh, no problem. Hopefully, there will be a co...G_G: Oh, no problem. Hopefully, there will be a couple more reviews coming.<br /><br />Jeanne: People who believed that the babies were stained with the sin of the mother.<br /><br />Elsie: The people "buying" the babies were actually adopting them. The Irish government, from what I could tell, did not know the babies were being taken from their mothers against their will.<br /><br />Briane: The reason I can stand behind the US government, so to speak, is that even while trying to cover up things, it supports the people trying to find them out. Not only do we make that possible, but we, as a people, encourage it.<br />Religious organizations rarely support the Truth even while claiming to preach it.<br /><br />(I have not seen The Trip, but I will look it up.)Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-38786022985105116272014-01-31T18:10:44.327-08:002014-01-31T18:10:44.327-08:00The Pope seems all right, but a read through his h...The Pope seems all right, but a read through his history makes him a more complicated figure than the "he lives in a small apartment and takes the bus" Pope that he is made out to be. I like some of the things he has said, and as a guy who was raised Catholic (I don't go to church anymore, although I'm still very religious) I want to believe that the church -- or any church-- can correct the problems rather than make them worse. It is very difficult these days to believe in any organization or entity, as they all seem to have at their core simply a directive to maintain their existence. Whether it be the Catholic Church, the federal (or state) government, or a business, it seems that simple existence and gathering of power is the drive of all entities.<br /><br />(Which, as an aside, might make Google the only company worth rooting for in this world: Google, while insanely profitable, appears to genuinely believe that its mission is simply the cataloging and collection of all information, ever. Weird to think that Google is more loveable than the Catholic Church.)<br /><br />With that said, where to draw the line and stop rooting for someone or something is hard to say. Do you not believe in the US government because of the Tuskegee experiments? Because of Japanese internment camps? Because they wrote slavery into our Constitution and now spy on us?<br /><br />I'm not a fan of the Catholic Church, for a variety of reasons. That comment isn't meant to defend them, and it's perhaps easier to judge a church not only for committing evil but for covering it up. What I really fault the Catholic church for is not necessarily individual acts of evil, such as this, but for fostering a culture in which people could believe that God wants you to hate, or disapproves of things that make life good, or wants to separate mothers and babies. It makes it too easy for things like this to happen. When you convince people that sex is wrong and babies can be evil, when you teach people that a God who could create the entire world full of beautiful things and give it to us, and then that same God could somehow hate people for making a mistake in the height of passion, you set the stage for enormous cruelty.<br /><br />It's that kind of teaching that is the proper reason to resent the Catholic Church (and some other churches). Because it allows this, and all the other problems, to flourish and then covers them up in the name of protecting the church. How much better would it be if the Church stuck to the idea that Jesus was kind and forgiving and wanted us to love each other? If you teach people to think that way, then those nuns maybe help a single teen mother, and none of this happens.<br /><br />That is what Pope Francis has allowed the possibility of: a Church that stops judging and hating, and starts teaching people to love. One that gets past condemning the sin and starts loving the sinner.<br /><br />If this movie helps further that, then more power to it.<br /><br />(Also, Steve Coogan is an amazing actor. Did you see "The Trip"? You should. I bet you'd like it.)Brianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-9457856720341987532014-01-31T16:16:36.419-08:002014-01-31T16:16:36.419-08:00I'm so glad that didn't happen to me when ...I'm so glad that didn't happen to me when I was born. My mom just handed me over to the state. It's all good, I got adopted =)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-76715236696569944152014-01-31T16:01:32.546-08:002014-01-31T16:01:32.546-08:00I want to see that movie but the subject matter ma...I want to see that movie but the subject matter makes me shudder. Who in their right minds could think it was okay to sell children? The bottom keeps dropping on the Catholic Church.J E Oneilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-7433561882639694862014-01-31T10:29:57.444-08:002014-01-31T10:29:57.444-08:00I saw the trailer for the movie before it hit thea...I saw the trailer for the movie before it hit theaters. I have it added to my list of Redbox when it finally comes out on DVD. Great review at least I will know what to expect and keep an open mind when I watch it. Thanks for the review of this movie.Gossip_Grlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06603645371306284338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-9833955915652504032014-01-31T10:23:47.726-08:002014-01-31T10:23:47.726-08:00L.G.: No kidding.
Alex: It's a miracle we all...L.G.: No kidding.<br /><br />Alex: It's a miracle we all don't still think the Earth is flat.<br /><br />Rusty: Actually, much of the movie is about the relationship between Sixsmith and Philomena, so, in that sense, the poster is accurate. The final conflict also has more to do with those two characters than what the nuns did, so it's not far off from the tone of the movie. It's just that that other stuff makes me so mad.<br /><br />And, no, the Catholic Church is not alone, but the Catholic Church has had a very long time to do really bad things with no one to stop them from doing that stuff.<br /><br />Pat: Maybe this is the same one? This convent was certainly like that with the girls locked in and all of that.<br /><br />Jo: I'm not remembering that movie, but I'll look it up.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-69615732166645245572014-01-31T06:47:18.582-08:002014-01-31T06:47:18.582-08:00All the stuff I have seen on TV certainly doesn...All the stuff I have seen on TV certainly doesn't give the impression it is anything to do with nuns and selling babies. I do want to see the movie though. I love Judi Dench. Did you see her play a woman with Alzheimer's I don't remember the name of it, but she was brilliant, of course.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14087140585742801854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-65779019065729299452014-01-31T06:03:08.112-08:002014-01-31T06:03:08.112-08:00That reminds me of another movie I saw. I forget ...That reminds me of another movie I saw. I forget the title but it was about a convent in Ireland that was pretty much a concentration camp.<br /><br />Whoever came up with the poster for this movie should be fired. I mean nothing in there suggests anything about evil nunneries giving away babies. From looking at it I thought it was some kind of May-December romance movie.PT Dillowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09394481476862013009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-21921878109168720282014-01-31T05:45:25.277-08:002014-01-31T05:45:25.277-08:00That poster for the movie is bizarre, the subject ...That poster for the movie is bizarre, the subject your discussing and the poster don't give me the same impression at all. At best, I'm thinking, based on the poster, that this is a 'driving miss daisy' sort of film. I'd be in for a real shock if I just waltzed into a theater and thought it looked cute and decided to watch.<br /><br />And it's doubly difficult to understand any organization that holds itself up as the moral compass of the world is guilty of committing atrocities that most people would find to horrible to believe. I'd just say that the Catholic church isn't alone in this. Other religious groups, more modern ones, have their hands dipped in blood as well. <br /><br />I think it has to do with any group that gets large and then decides it will be self-policing. <br /><br />That. Never. Works.Rusty Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09887821877521181811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-90888271206239342632014-01-31T03:26:22.677-08:002014-01-31T03:26:22.677-08:00I have no doubt the film is excellent.
That's ...I have no doubt the film is excellent.<br />That's why organized religion on that level can get so messed up. Have you ever read the history of the printed Bible? It's a miracle we still have it considering how hard the Catholic church worked to keep it out of people's hands.Alex J. Cavanaughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09770065693345181702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-48325472245376107112014-01-30T22:39:55.550-08:002014-01-30T22:39:55.550-08:00I find it astonishing that an institution that per...I find it astonishing that an institution that perpetrates horrendous acts like this feels that it can try to take the moral high ground on any subject.<br /><br />As for the film, this is definitely one that I want to see.L.G. Keltnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07624902347418621283noreply@blogger.com