Most pagans are able to understand the distinction between reality and fantasy. The White Witch is more of an archetypal figure of abused power and selfish intent than she is a Witch in the modern understanding of the word. (There is a fairly large bunch of militant pagans that think that The Wizard of Oz should be banned because of the inaccurate portrayal of witches. A fairly large bunch of militant pagans really need to get over themselves and their misplaced sense of self importance.)

As far as the "evil Jew" movies go ... there was a bit of a furor over The Passion of the Christ, as I recall. I don't remember as much of a fuss over the 2004 Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino as Shylock, but perhaps the indifference towards films of Shakespeare plays that aren't made by Mel Gibson or Kenneth Brannagh swept that under the carpet.

Plenty of straight people will see Brokeback Mountain. If they don't, it won't make a lot of money. The Birdcage was a gay movie that made megabucks because of the crossover appeal. La Cage a Folles remained a small, amusing foreign film because it had wide appeal for a gay audience, but not a lot of bang for the straight man's buck. Hell, who reads subtitles, after all? (I do, and have most of my favorite foreign films in the original languages. Dubbing offends me because the voice characterizations are NEVER right.) La Cage didn't really hit the mark with straight folks until the Broadway show came out.

A lot of straight Christian Right people will NOT see that movie, but will probably, somewhere along the line, sneak a peek at it when it finally makes it's way to HBO or Showtime. The ones that don't cancel their subscriptions by way of protesting it's airing, of course. HBO knows they'll be back just as soon as Inside the NFL starts up again.

Will and Grace is a top comedy because of it's crossover appeal as well. That's the key to a successful film ... attract the broadest audience possible.

Das Boot.

ja wohl, baby!

[/hijack]

My somewhat meager foreign film collection is primarily German. It's a lot more fun when you don't always need the subtitles, although these days my skills are rusty enough that I have to puzzle things out slowly sometimes.

Das Boot
M
Triumph of the Will (virtually no spoken words, so the subtitle thing really isn't relevant)
Der Untergang (Downfall)

(I dig WWII.)

I guess the silents don't really count ... Metropolis, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ... both have the title cards in English. I don't have a multi-region DVD player, and I'm not so into it that I have to get the German versions.

I had a couple Werner Herzog films on Video, but I don't know where they got to. I used to go to the University of Pennsylvania International House with friends and there was sometimes a Wim Wenders film in the mix.

I'm not going to see Brokeback Mountain, but it's not because of any antigay bias. It's because it looks incredibly boring and full of itself. Whenever the chardonnay-and-brie crowd start dry humping a movie like that before it even comes out, you know it's going to be used as a bludgeon against all the pedestrian, whitebread morons who actually paid to see things like King Kong.

I read the spoilers. It's Bridges of Madison County with swordfighting. And as you would expect, the "victims" are the people who desert their families for so-called love. Why is that supposed to be so cool?

And why would a non-American-Idol-contestant want to see "From Justin to Kelly"?

No, seriously. Why?

You're probably right. But I'm still going to see it -I only ever get out once in a blue moon and my buddies and I pick the only film that none of us has seen already! :lol:

Still looking forward to it, though -we usually end up seeing whatever Brit movie is showing and I always end up feeling a little homesick. At least with this one I know I won't come out pining over anything! :lol:

Oh wow.

I saw it yesterday.

Free, thanks to my sister, incidentally, who bought me the video game for Christmas and it had movie passes in it.

So, as I was saying ... wow.

I don't think I have ever seen a better film adaptation of a book, particularly one that I love so very dearly.

Dialog was correct, casting was good, and the visuals ... well, it was like they were picked up out of my head and put right up there on the screen for everybody to see.

I hope the rest of them (assuming they get made) meet this standard.

Tash is clearly not Allah, and he would eat you for saying so.

Perhaps, but if they dress the Calormenes like Arabian Nights I'm not sure the distinction will be appreciated.