Golden Compass (movie)

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I think there are starting to be enough anti-religion folks out there to sell a movie that's anti-religion... if it's good, anyhow.

Wanna bet?

[Asher]

Let's face it, DD, Religion is on a death spiral. It's lame, we know it, and you will soon know it. Give it time, and education.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by Elok
"Their plan involves electronically separating children from these daemons. Adults, if this sounds silly, it is."

Obviously he's never seen television.

[Dracon II]

I'm a sucker for alternate reality stories... even if they are tacky and often poorly done. That's why I still watch Sliders.

[Adrian Hon]

Originally posted by Elok
I enjoyed Stephen Hunter's gutting of it in the WaPo yesterday. His objections were to the directionless-ness of it, but also to:

"The movie is set in Pullman's idea of a parallel world, which apparently means it's always 1937 and nobody bothered to invent the airplane."
"I saw this girl riding a polar bear over the arctic wasteland and, for some reason, was reminded of Dukakis in that tank. I thought, 'what's wrong with this picture?'"
"The polar bear looks like he escaped from a Coca-Cola commercial."
"Pullman's extreme anti-religious sentiments will fly right over the heads of most children. To adults, they will seem both obvious and boring."
"Their plan involves electronically separating children from these daemons. Adults, if this sounds silly, it is."

And so on, and so on. I mean, he isn't known for generous reviews of films he didn't enjoy, but he positively REAMED it. And of course I enjoyed every word of it.

While I was very disappointed with the movie, this review is being unfair to Pullman; most of the stuff he's criticising was very different in the screenplay compared to the book (the anti-religious stuff being at the fore). The screenplay did an awful job at explaining pretty much everything badly - I didn't think it conveyed the message of daemons at all well. Plus I found the constant references to Dust (and that TERRIBLE intro narration) to be confusing. I got the impression from this Atlantic interview that Pullman was quite disappointed with the movie.

The book, on the other hand, is really very good, although DaShi is right in saying that they go downhill from there. I would say that the Subtle Knife is pretty interesting, but the Amber Spyglass gets rather bizarre and over the top.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Asher
Let's face it, DD, Religion is on a death spiral. It's lame, we know it, and you will soon know it. Give it time, and education.

I believe they were saying that, in French of course, in 1750...how much time do you need?

Snoopy: Exactly how is the RCC kidnapping children, dragging them up to the arctic circle for some reason, and then giving them lobotomies in the name of saving their innocence anything but silly? That's a boogeyman story for six-year-olds, and the great shame of it is that its middle-aged author apparently thought it convincing.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Elok
I believe they were saying that, in French of course, in 1750...how much time do you need?

Compare the pervasiveness of religion in 1750 compared to now, and you'll see a clear trend.

Hell, look at the frequency people attended church over the past 50 years.

[Elok]

To which I can only direct you to look at who's running the most powerful nation on Earth right now. And the relative birthrates of believers and skeptics. But we shouldn't threadjack.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Elok
To which I can only direct you to look at who's running the most powerful nation on Earth right now. And the relative birthrates of believers and skeptics. But we shouldn't threadjack.

If any answer to an argument is ever "Bush", you instantly lose.

[Elok]

A. You're thinking of "Hitler."
B. I didn't say he's a good leader, just that he got elected (or close to it) despite being a born-again loon.
C. Quit threadjacking.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Asher

Compare the pervasiveness of religion in 1750 compared to now, and you'll see a clear trend.

Hell, look at the frequency people attended church over the past 50 years.

Actually, it increased through much of the 20th century. And while Christianity is still growing, but growing slower than the population growth rate, other religions are growing faster than the population growth rate.

JM

[Asher]

Nope.

[Jon Miller]

Islam is.

Look up world census data.

JM

[Asher]

Islam > Christianity

[Jon Miller]

For growth, yeah, but Christianity is sitll growing, just slower than the population growth rate.

JM