schism: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/20 07/nov/07113001.html (remove spaces)

review: http://www.catholicnews.com/da ta/movies/07mv242.htm (remove spaces)

My biggest gripe is that characters repeatedly don't seem to have sensible motivations. And I think it's a product of a mediocre script. You don't need to reveal one's motives, but at the same time things should make sense within the context of the story. Nicole Kidman's character in particular makes little sense. And her Darth Vader revelation is not nearly as dramatic as was intended. But who cares, right? Polar bears rip shit up! Well... Iorek is basically TNG's Worf in white furry clothing. Exiled from his people, he has to fight to restore his honor, etc. etc. I was bored and confused for 70% of this movie. It's not awful, it's just not good.

for the record, i don't think the book would be too difficult to adapt well, the first book ain't *that* conceptual. yeah, there's a lot of different stuff to get across (c.f. daemons) but no harder overall than say Dune or Middle Earth.

As an atheist, I'm interested to see how this story might be interpreted as a "Chronicles of Narnia for atheists". The film sounds like it was visually stunning but too fast-paced to be considered great. I'll go see it and decide for myself.

Then I'll call my sister and tell her to return my damn book. Grr!

I never try to unconvince someone of their religious beliefs, since the human condition in its many forms is fasinating to me. Live and let live is my general attitude toward life. But then again (from About.com):

"Every single study that has ever looked at the issue [of atheism] has revealed massive amounts of bigotry and prejudice against atheists in America. The most recent data shows that atheists are more distrusted and despised than any other minority and that an atheist is the least likely person that Americans would vote for in a presidential election. It's not just that atheists are hated, though, but also that atheists seem to represent everything about modernity which Americans dislike or fear."

Furthermore, Atheists are hated twice as much (39.2%) as Muslims (26.3%) in America, and these numbers are even more skewed worldwide. The full rundown:

Atheists: 39.6%, Muslims: 26.3%, Homosexuals 22.6%, Hispanics: 20%, Conservative Christians: 13.5%, Recent Immigrants: 12.5%, and Jews: 7.6%

I'm not trying to incite a riot or backlash amongst talkbackers, just pointing out statistics people might not be aware of. Thus I'm glad as hell this film, with its decidedly less Christian mythology, is being released. Even if it's not a great film (when's the Director's Cut coming out?), I'm thankful for its existence.

Oh, it's just a story about looking for another dimension that may not exist, and then suddenly the universe gets ripped the fuck open.

No, that's not an "oh my God" moment at all.

In the sequel he can team up with an Orca whale that has a friken laser beam attached to his fricken head. They hunt for Steven Segal in this one.

Were you surprised when the Rebels blew up the Death Star?

That would make it end with her meeting her father in his weird northern house? or does it end with Iorek being crowned again?

But here's the rub -- If the author of these books (which I have not read) got so pissed and indignant about Lewis's Narnia series (if internet buzz is to be believed) then this poses two questions in my mind...

1) Why can't religious folks be outraged since outrage is what urged the author to write these books in the first place?

2) Why did the author include "god" as a character that was killed off in the series since said author does not believe that "god" exists? In other words, why would you need to kill something that does not exist?

IMO, as a 3rd party observer, the first question justifies the religious toward their outrage (tit for tat) while the second question lionizes their position for very obvious and evident reasons.

2: Technically, and he goes to great boring pains to explain this during the books, the God character isn't actually God. He's just an angel who pretended he was God. And God is in fact some natural phenomenon of life and other bollocks. But yeah he was trying to sybolically kill God because it suits his Atheist propaganda position.

I'd like to add that I'm agnostic, and have no opinions wither way about religion. But I thought the books started off fair and get exponentially crapper as they continue.

I was sitting near some fellow UCSB students, who were like, "that's the 13 in the rating!"

Knowing full well that there were a good deal of kids (under 8) in the audience, I was gleeful. This oughta teach parents to blindly take their kids to a movie without looking at the rating.

They ought to have gone on and met up with Lord Asriel at the end, instead of leaving it as open as they did. I totally thought they were going to do that too, thinking that the book's ending had it much further than that reunion. I clearly yelled out "What the fuck?!" when the screen blackened and went to credits. What had been an amazingly awesome movie, just crashed into infamy.

Apart from the ending, the entirety of the movie was GREAT. THAT's what pisses me off about the ending.

Add it to the list of things directors should have done with failed movies...

Here's to selling a shitload of "His Dark Materials" books in my bookstore..! Maybe I can add in a copy of Christopher Hitchens' "God is Not Great" to each purchase!

If he were writing non-fiction and referencing a deity, that would be a totally different thing. But this is fiction, and as such he's sort of underlining that "this is the only place you'll ever see this deity-- In stories."

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