New Jersey Update: Friday

So. Today was pretty darn awesome. We got to sleep in a bit (until 9AM). We then fiddled around for a few hours and helped Claire's mom around the house a bit. Then we headed off to Jersey City.

Once there, we went to Liberty State Park or something. We figured maybe we'd check out prices for the ferry to Ellis Island because Susanna wanted to go there. The ferry cost $11.50, so that was right out. Instead we walked along the sea-side path and actually got as decent a land-view of Ellis & the Statue as is possible. We also saw a police-dog (with -man) guarding the secret employee's-only bridge to Ellis Island. Well, not so much guarding as playing tug-o'-war with a rubber toy. It was pretty fun. They pretty much only close the bridge to the public so that the public has to pay $11.50 to get to the island. Which is dumb.

After that, we went over to a Mall nearby. And... (here it comes) we actually caught V for Vendetta on Opening Day! It was only $6.75 for the ticket, and the theater was actually a lot better than Showcase. The film itself was awesome! It has been a really long time since I saw an awesome movie that I have been anticipating for about a year on opening day! Return of the King may have been the last time. Suffice to say that the movie itself was, in a word, frickadiculous. I am already a big fan of the book (and everything that Alan Moore writes, in general), and I was very pleased with Hollywood's rendition. They did (of course) cut out quite a few subplots (/no/ movie could render full justice to Mr. Moore's intricacies), but left the main plot pretty untouched. They "updated" it a little, of course, but it was a very good interpretation. Natalie "The Mother of Luke Skywalker" Portman and Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving were /excellent/ in the title roles. In short: I had high expectations for this movie. It surpassed them, and sent shivers down my spine several times. It has been /way/ too long since a movie did either of those things. I am definitely buying it when it comes out.

The Bishops (or their old "rating women") with undoubtedly rate it "O", unfortunately, so I'll have to watch it in my room or off-campus. They don't have a rating up yet, but DecentFilms.com gave it a -4 on their Moral Scale, which is as low as it goes. They put it in the same category as "The Last Temptation of Christ", which I don't think that it deserved. Their review was fair and showed familiarity with the source-work, but I think that it focused too much on the film-as-commentary on the Bush Administration, which is certainly there but not necessarily taken from the film. Also: the point of the story is not really to agree with all of the characters but to think about the issues presented. In that respect, the film-makers did very well.I think the part that made me the most happy was that they preserved the /heart/ of the book. V for Vendetta is definitely a "negative utopia" story in the tradition of "1984", but it doesn't have the same negative outlook on humanity. At the heart of it, the story teaches that people are good and have the wits and natural capacity to create a world worth living in. And that same spirit of "compassionate anarchy" (because Moore's book was always about anarchy vs. fascism, not left-wing vs. right-wing, as the movie tends more to see things) is definitely in the movie. Man, I really want to see it again. Maybe I'll convince someone in Steubenville to go.

Hesychia,
-L