Avalonian, “The skin color issue only looms large if you let it…” I think it’s pretty clear what you were trying to imply with that nonsense. And for someone who’s playing the racism card to whine about ad homeniums in the very next breath is just absurd - if you don’t want to be called a PC apologist, don’t play that ‘oh, you’re letting SKIN COLOR loom large, what does that say about you?’ game when you’re trying to defend someone for a very PC switch in characters.
Munch, US Neo-Nazis are, from all that I know about them nearly universally ‘fringe even to the snake-handlers’ fundamentalist christians. That’s based mostly on reading a bit on them after first encountering them, their own words in various messageboards, and the occasional white supremicist site that gets mocked by somewhere else I read.
Riboflavin, I’m sorry that I left that interpretation open. Please be assured that no implication or accusation of racism was intended in any way. I can, however, see how you might have interpreted my comments that way… though I do not agree that your interpretation is the correct one, I apologize for leaving your interpretation possible.
I reiterate, I’m not “playing the racism card” in the least. If anything, I’m playing the issue of racism down, because I don’t think it’s an issue in this movie. That’s all I’m saying. I’m making no comments about you personally or your beliefs. I disagree with your interpretation of the film, but I don’t think you’re a terrible person because of it.
Again, I apologize for being unclear. I assure you, that’s all it was. I was making no accusation or implications about you personally. And frankly, you don’t know me well enough to call me anything, certainly not a “PC apologist.” And with that, I have little else to say about this, as it’s taken a turn I didn’t intend. I’d rather discuss the movie, as I intended to do in the first place.
JohnT, King’s commentary about his movies can be fun. Did you mean the Kubrick version of The Shining or the TV-movie version? I heard King’s commentary on Storm of the Century, and it was entertaining to say the least. While the director rattled on about the umpteen different kinds of snow they used in making the movie (snore), King was cheerfully all over the place in his commentary… but at least he as funny and engaging. He won points for me when he called The X-Files a “five-year cock-tease”… which shows you just how far off-topic he got.
Clancy’s comments on Sum of All Fears rang slightly of sour grapes, but he also had a number of good things to say about it. Interestingly, he also liked Liev Schreiber’s portrayal of John Clark. It was fun hearing him talk about it.
MaxTheVool: it’s been a while since I’ve read the book, but I think you’ve got some facts wrong. Spoilers to follow, I think they’ve been well marked already though.
Ryan identifies himself, but says no launch. He does this not because they have the wrong target, but because he believes it’s wrong to nuke an entire city to target one man. In Executive Orders, Ryan has Clark and Chavez paint his building so they can take him out with a smart bomb–and live on TV, no less.
I think you are also a bit off on their miscalculation. I’m pretty sure in the book, they say that reflected heat from the parking lot made the bomb look bigger than it was. It’s not until an FBI agent close to the blast realizes that if it was as big as they think, he should be vaporized, that they figure out it wasn’t the Russians. I was surprised though that even in the book they couldn’t get the info to the president that the fallout proves it was an American bomb.